Well, the title says it all, right? No? Okay. We’re fighting the battle of Dunkirk, only this is not the World War II we know. The enemy attacking “Gaul” is not the Nazis: instead, Humanity is facing the enigmatic, alien-looking Neuroi, aided by an aerial force of teenage witches in military uniforms. The valiant effort of the squadron is not enough to grant them victory, though, and Gaul falls. Back in “Britannia”, Inori, Lyudmila and Ginny Robertson, three young witches, meet at Albert Hall after their familiars get into a fight. Inori and Lyudmilla are about to quit the army due to their failures, while Ginny, a happy-go-lucky countryside girl, just wants to find out more about her very unusual pigeon-like familiar. Everything changes, though, when she begins to sing and it turns out that she’s a Night Witch, able to manipulate electromagnetic waves, including sound. She’s just what Major Grace, a young officer searching for a way to boost the morale of the disheartened troops and population, was looking for…

So, what do we have here? Beautiful visuals, very good music, and many interesting concepts, some of which take clear inspiration from the works of Hayao Miyazaki. For example, you have Ginny putting the shining light of her familiar inside her heart. This Zeppelin London is intriguing enough, and I watched the scenes featuring the Army’s bureaucracy with interest. I really liked Ginny’s rendition of Amazing Grace, too. That said, perhaps orienting the whole thing towards music and the morale of the people is a bit too limiting. The show doesn’t seem too keen on fully exploring its fascinating historical context, the cast seems far too large to me, and I’m afraid my excess-of-cuteness detector has been activated by this viewing. So, this didn’t look like my cup of tea. I will acknowledge that it looks like a very well-done show, though.

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League of Nations Air Force Aviation Magic Band Luminous Witches can be streamed on HiDive.