Final Impressions / First Impressions / Girls und Panzer / OVA/Movie

「ガールズ&パンツァー 劇場版」 (Gāruzu & Pantsā Gekijōban)
“Girls und Panzer Movie”

I’ve been wanting to cover this one earlier, since I’m quite fond of Girls und Panzer and World War II tanks in particular, but time has been tight (as usual, really) and movie posts have a habit of taking up far too much of it. Girls und Panzer der Film weighs in at a whole two hours, which is treat for fans but demands more effort than the usual episode of anime from a humble anime blogger. But with the twin powers of sleep deprivation and masochism, here we are! I probably won’t be able to go on and on about individual tanks like I’d like to, but I’ll be able to give some impressions on the movie, at least. I’m sure there’s plenty of tank nerds in the comments who will be on hand to rattle off all the stats that you may want about the numerous war machines that make their appearance in this animated feature.

I was actually slightly apprehensive about a Girls und Panzer movie—happy, but apprehensive. Conclusions first: I ended up enjoying the movie quite a bit, but let me get some quibbles out of the way before I heap on the praise. While, again, I did enjoy the TV series and would very much have liked a sequel for more tank on tank action, on the other hand Girls und Panzer was more or less a complete anime. There was a goal: it was accomplished. They had beaten the Russian tanks, and then beaten the German tanks—that is, the best tanks (or at least, the sexiest tanks). Miho and her friends have reached a pinnacle in the narrative; would extending the ascent feel too artificial? One of the things I like about anime is that it knows it has to end, as good stories should. Dragging one out too long risks having it eventually twist into nothing more than a parody of itself, which is a sad way to end. Better to go out with a bang. Indeed, the plot of Girls und Panzer der Film is still milking the ‘school will be closed!’ drama, which has by now been stretched a bit thin. Sure, it tries to introduce a new villain, but Girls und Panzer never really had a villain and this piece of ham didn’t make for much of one. In fact, he was hardly a character, just an obstruction with no motivation. Much more interesting was the relationship between Miho and Maho, which predictably played an important role in the climax and maybe could have been the main focus of the movie. What’s the Nishizumi family situation like, anyway? Apparently so bad that Maho has to forge her mother’s signature for her sister (which was sweet, but also terribly illegal). But the mother apparently still cares? Is Miho disowned or not? More in the second season, perhaps.

One way to breathe life into the narrative is to introduce new characters, but that path is also fraught with hazard. Girls und Panzer already features quite the large cast, and to add more may lead to unsustainable weight. It’s inevitable that many of the characters will come off as not very memorable, or one note. The Japanese team, for example, only rises slightly above CHIHATAN MUST ATTACK. The opposition university team does little better. Commander Shimada Alice (Taketatsu Ayana) gets some development, so she’s mostly okay, but the lesser triumvirate don’t make a very strong impression. Perhaps it’s because the university team, unlike the other rival teams we’ve seen before, don’t have a national theme, and no real leitmotif. The strongest aspects of Girls und Panzer, to me, has always been sound design and music, and just having a musical cue goes a long way to give them an identity. I had no real clue what the Finnish were all about (I mean, they weren’t in the original series, and are then suddenly just there) until their leitmotif started playing (or rather, they started playing their own leitmotif), and then I could grok it. The simple fact that other teams get a march while they get a polka says something. Sure, perhaps it’s an obligatory Finnish war song (Finland used that music to defuse mines in the Continuation War. Seriously.), but it gave them personality that I feel the university team lacked. The badassery helped, of course.

Even if the plot and characterisation was a bit thin, they were never really the point of Girls und Panzer, were they? And whatever it be working with, there’s a lot to be said for good execution. The drama is recycled? Push it hard with the wistful shots. And, honestly, the main draw of Girls und Panzer has always been panzer first and girls second, and as long as it does the tank action well much can be forgiven. The tank animation of this franchise has always been surprisingly good, alternating between giving tanks a real sense of weight and not so much weight that they can’t pull off some physics-defying stunts. The unsung hero, in my opinion though, is again the sound design—the gunfire, the explosions, and the whine of the engines go a long way to give the entire experience a sense of authenticity even if we know that, deep down, it really isn’t. These aren’t the most realistic of tank battles, to be sure, but they are the most spectacular. On my part, I am capable of suspending a lot of disbelief so long as the tank fights are cool. And they were way cool. The matches we got in der Film definitely go above and beyond what we’ve been used to in the TV series. They were crazy! And a bit silly. Well, Both at once, really. But ultimately, it all was heaps of fun, which is the important thing. It’s approriate that the big match was set in a theme park, since the entire thing was more or less a theme park ride. Actually, I heard that Girls und Panzer de Film got a ‘4D’ screening, that is with shaking chairs and everything. I wonder if the set was intentional.

While it may seem like the only praise I have for Girls und Panzer der Film is that the fights were cool, but considering that as much as three quarters of the movie was fighting it’s a very important thing to get right. It’s hard to argue that the main draw of Girls und Panzer is not in fact the panzer, so I got what I wanted—tanks doing awesome things, but even more over-the-top than usual because a movie can afford to do so. I do wonder how a potential second season is going to keep up though. Sure, the plot is nicely set up with mentions of the Pro League and whatnot, but as far as spectacle goes, we’re fast running out of bigger guns and bigger explosions. At the same time, GuP is certainly popular enough to sustain a second season. I’d be interested to see how they work it. Perhaps they can’t top a movie—but it’d be very entertaining to see them try.

Random thoughts:

Full-length images: 31.

 

ED Sequence

ED: 「piece of youth」 by ChouCho

88 Comments

    1. I’ve always loved how elaborate some of the battles are in this series. And that there’s a whole lot of positive to their victories. They’re not jerks or anything, they’re just doing the best they can with what they’ve got.

      Lyfe
      Reply

  2. well, some of my fave moments of DER FILM:
    -recycling the matilda in car parking elevator scene, only to twist it out with adding chihatan to the mix
    -Saunders showing up with frigging C-5 to help (though technically it could probably not lift entire tank complement of Ooarai, mostly due to leopon weghing around 60 tons…)
    -maho and miho as kids
    -big damn friends moment when everyone “transfers in”
    -deathstar shot “that thing is operational” moment with the karl
    -nonna’s heroic sacrifice moment
    -and neutralising karl – with special mention to finnish BT antics to the awesome polka music
    -Duce doing excellent scouting work from up above
    -t28/t95 showing up with epic music and dinging everything they throw at him
    -Chihatan finally getting idea that not charging might be better
    -Tortoise land!!!!
    -University commander going sealclubbing… she knocked out 11 tanks including last one!
    -and finally epic final battle

    ewok40k
    Reply

  4. Let’s be fair with the drama, as we know, politics are always the best way to ruin everything, and the politic aspect of the closure of Oarai’s school played alright, because it made the girl’s fight on the TV series useless (for a moment anyway), and don’t tell me that you didn’t cry when the Rabbit Team say goodbye to their School Carrier, because you’d be an even worst lier than the MEXT’s lackey.
    As for Shiho, she want a rematch between KMM and Oarai, as the main house have a reputation to care, but still, she’s her daughter, with her own way of doing Senshado, so that’s why she just made the MEXT SOB crap his pants.
    The TOTSUGEKI Girls and Speedy Rosehip were there initially for the giggles, but it’s nice to see variety and the fact that everybody in the GuP world idolize Miho and the Oarai Batallion, as the gathering of friends was just epic, and then, Chihatan and the Crusader Speedster made sense on their own way. Even Alice and the U girls, since they were there to just finish the job MEXT started, by all means possible (even cheating with a Karl Gerat mortar launcher)
    And there was the combat, first a 30 min friendly match, and then 1 hour of the most epic and mad battle that is Mad Max Fury Road-tier.
    The fact that the movie is still on cinemas (and it’s $5 Mil close to all time selling Love Live! Movie) tells the story of a well planned movie.

    SeedStriker
    Reply

  5. Only in this world can a fleet of tanks get ‘lost’ and nobody cares.

    Nah, I think it’s just Oarai. Recall that early in the tv series, they had to go hunting for tanks and parts. Clearly, their predecessors never bothered to keep track of them. They’re just following a school tradition. :p

    You should try to go through the drama CDs (or at least get a translation script). They provide more characterization and additional tidbits of information (like Darjeeling wrecking Anzio’s P40, team Finnish stealing team University’s food, Clara and Nonna bonding over their love of Katyusha etc etc).

    Arbitrary Wanderer
    Reply

  6. I had an absolute blast with this film, you could say even a bigger blast than a Karl can produce. They really didn’t create that MEXT bastard for the movie, he appears in flashback in the series when the Student Council explain why they restarted a Tankery program. It is a little annoying that they had to reuse the save-the-school plot, but it is a minor quibble.

    The new characters were fun, the battles were fun and creative, and we even get a little more of Miho and her family’s relationship. I have said this on other forums, but I can definitely see more Girls und Panzer anime in the future. This could be the end of the franchise and it wouldn’t be a bad ending. But, we still have Miho’s relationship with her mother and the specter of the World Tournament hanging in the future. I could see this as just the end of Part 1, much like the Avengers was the end of Phase 1, and the other schools teaming up with our protags definitely felt like the Avengers assembling.

    This was a 10/10 experience for me. It was well directed and like any good piece of media made me want more. I am also more impressed as I see other people analyze this film and see all the little continuity nods. From the many obvious ones in the opening battle to Mako and Sodoko being the first to see their school ship at the end because of a throw-away line Mako has in the series about the two of them having the best eye-sight of their team; it really did pay tremendous attention to detail too. I already loved this franchise, the movie didn’t just reinvigorate that love, it made me love it even more.

    Thank you for covering the movie. I was hoping some one on RC would.

    GoukaRyuu
    Reply

    1. They’re not milking this series in the slightest in anime form. They could have decided to immediately produce a second season given how well the first season sold, but they haven’t. You only have to see how the movie has sold over 175,000 copies on Blu Ray already.

      Lyfe
      Reply

  9. This movie definitely expects you to have seen and listened to pretty much everything GuP-related; from the anime to the OVA to the drama CDs, so this is not something for anyone just coming into GuP for the first time or even those who have only seen the series, but not having experienced much else for GuP as it won’t baby viewers with reintroductions or recapping things for people. You also need to see the subsequent 15 minute OVA to see what happens immediately after, lol.

    I loved how the exhibition match at the beginning showcased pretty much every trick Oarai used against their opponents throughout the series; the parking garage trick, drifting in close to get a point-blank shot, spinning around the StuG III to get a shot, the Hetzer being a makeshift jack, keeping the M3 close to keep a heavy tank from firing due to its long barrel, and so on, only for those tricks to actually fail a number of times this time around. It goes to show that good commanders like Darjeeling learn from their past battles while, as we saw in the series, also observing other battles to learn from them. Kind of ironic how Oarai actually loses once again to the Churchill, lol.

    I thought it was adorable the way Sodoko and the Char B-1bis had to push around Tamado’s tank in order to make sure she “followed the rules” (Miho’s orders) and not pointlessly charge and just laughed at the Char B-1bis causing the Crusader’s to pile due to the weight difference when smacking into them, lol, thought it was nice to see Tamado having learned from that experience and help keep the others from pointlessly charging later on and helping plan their ambushes on Continuation.

    Of course, the main battle at the end being just awesome on every level, even if it was a little more silly, sometimes even unnecessarily so, like the Hetzer taking out the Karl Gerat didn’t need such a big stunt as, IIRC, the Karl Gerat was thinly armored to help keep weight down and so hitting it normally with the Hetzer’s 75 mm should have been enough to knock it out. Or all the synchronized tank-fu/ballet with Alice and those other three commanders, but seeing all the other schools coming together to assist Oarai always keeps making me smile, especially with the mix-up of their theme songs as they appear, and them basing strategies on their own styles while coming up with Operation names based on their favorite “local” foods, lol.

    Continuation’s part, especially with the polka music, was just awesome and I can’t stop listening to the song on the OST.

    I especially loved how some more under-looked characters from the series got to be much bigger players this time around like Anzio (barring the OVA of course) and Anchovy’s huge contributions through elevated observation, Duck team actually being pretty smart and Noriko showing herself to be a capable leader (just with a weak tank), Anteater team with their training to be better and stronger (now tossing and loading those 75 mm shells like rolls of paper, lol) and taking out several Pershings with a bit of tank-fu of their own compared to not only arriving very late in the series but also being the first ones knocked out right at the beginning of the match with Kuromorimine (Momoga going from having to use all her strength to pull the shift lever to actually snapping it with her enhanced strength, lol).

    Of course, one of the best parts – Assam speaking! <3 (She spoke in a Drama CD before, but actually seeing it is awesome, lol) Though Nonna and Clara speaking Russian was great too.

    Though, as said, if you're someone who has only seen the series (and even the Anzio OVA), then the appearances of ones like Rosehip, Clara, Nishi and Chi-Ha-Tan, and Mika and Continuation will definitely seem random and out of nowhere.

    As mentioned in the post, they did stretch the "save the school" plot a bit thin by trying to add in a slimy suit "villain" purposely trying to obstruct them as much as he could but never really telling us why he was so insistent on Oarai getting shut down to where he bent the rules so greatly in allowing Continuation use of the Karl Gerat when it's technically not a "tank" (it's a "siege mortar").

    And I miss those little bits of more focused ordinary slice of life bits that the series had in-between battles.

    Overall, definitely an awesome watch and highly recommended.

    HalfDemonInuyasha
    Reply

  10. I love this movie. Yes the plot was just a repeat of the show’s but the movie was so well done that I do not care.

    I think you could have another season ,with a bit of a time skip, about the girls getting ready for the World Tournament by playing in the pro league with no problem.

    Magewolf
    Reply

    1. I actually put some thought into it and posted this over on SB, but this is how I would do continuations of the franchise:

      Basically, I would treat everything that has come before as Part 1 with the movie being the closing of Part 1. Part 2’s goal would be to add both depth and width to the world we have. Girls und Panzer season 2 (or maybe with the subtitle origins) would be a two cour season in roughly chronological order. The first half would deal with Shiho and Chiyo Shimada when they were high schoolers (maybe even actually introduce Miho and Maho’s father as a character too). The second half would be an adaptation of the Little Army and Little Army 2. Basically this would serve to give backstory to the Nishizumis and show even the beginnings of what would be the break between Miho and her mother. The OVAs for this would deal with adapting the Ribbon Warrior and Maginot manga. (I don’t think Part 2 would have a movie)

      Part 3 of the story would finally be a sequel and would delve into the family politics of the Nishizumis and Shimadas, yes I do buy the Mika is a Shimada Theory. This would end with the full reconciliation of Miho and her mother. OVAs here would be to touch on the many characters already introduced, give us more information, and maybe even some character development. This would be a much more slice of life/drama arc to things but there will always be tanks too.

      Part 4 Would be the World Tournament Arc, probably after a significant time-skip. The whole final series could be the tournament with OVAs going into the various characters and finishing their character development or just touching on them one last time. The movie that ends Part 4 would be the final match of the World Tournament and a worthy capstone of the whole series.

      That’s how i would do it anyway.

      GoukaRyuu
      Reply

    2. I think a second season is a given how well this series sells. But I think they’ll take their time plotting it because they won’t want to mess up this hugely successful franchise.

      Lyfe
      Reply

      1. i was thinking more like the Shidenkai no Maki where its just school girls piloting ww2 planes and fighting other schools.

        That said, apart from Toaru Hikuushi e no Koiuta and Toaru Hikuushi e no Tsuioku (and maybe Last Exile) there arent many animes that have propellor fighter aircraft as a theme, there are other aviation animes like Macross, sky crawler that have modern or sci-fi elements in aviation, which is different.

        sithstormjedi
        Reply

      2. i like more the summary of all small things, not just “war planes” naked flesh pictures. i like the interaction between the girls, and such. But lucky this Film had seen many old TV Fans, so they do not needed to go deep into each girls backstory this was an over 2 Hour “Omake” Film for them, and hell yeah!!, they done an perfect landing on 10/10.

        Worldwidedepp
        Reply

      4. Sky Crawlers is probably the first anime that comes to mind when we start talking about planes. As far as I know, they are fictional, but much less fictional than say Last Exile. Although, Sky Crawlers is nothing like Girls Und Panzer due to it’s much more adult themes and tragic story.

        Goodwill Wright
        Reply

      5. Last Exile are not Planes as we know, they have an different force to fly, you could say something alike the Zeppelins as we know. For the bigger Ships is an Force field Generator, provided from the Guild in the past. The small ones something with an Fluid (Water). Perhaps similar with this Mass Effects Zero element

        So Last Exile are Planes but not the one that needs Wings for aviation

        Worldwidedepp
        Reply

  12. This movie topped the show in every way possible IMO. Beyond the premise (which was stretched at best to be fair), the movie gave us everything the show did, but now in larger quantity, and with better execution.

    The big draw of course remains the tanks and by god did they give it to us. Pershings, a Centurion I, T28/95 (complete with side track disassembly!), Crusaders, Chi-Has, Chi-Hes, a Te-Ke, a BT-42, Panzer II Ausf. C, Chaffees, and a bloody Karl Moerser, not mentioning all the series carryovers. This doesn’t include all the cameos either, such as the Whippet monument, T-35 model (looks like mine :P), Chi-Nu Kai painting, Tortoise statue, and P1000 Ratte building.

    The strong point of GuP for me, however, is the references (period and modern) thrown about, and once again the movie had a way of topping the series here. Potemkin villages, Mutiny on the Bounty, cult of personality, the Italian 10th Army, the Continuation War (Continuation High School), all the table-top war games, Thomas the Tank (literally) Engine, the Tsar wheeled tank, AMX-40 ducks (World of Tanks meme), and all the tactics (deep advances/double envelopments, superior firepower, banzai charges), not including all the ones I cannot remember at the moment. A big one too is the assistance Nicholas Moran gave the show, who for anyone not familiar with World of Tanks/Warships is one of the main tank experts at Wargame’s North America office. We got everything and then some for this movie 😛

    Provided one is not a stickler for suspension of disbelief, this was simply pure, unabashed fun. Everything the fans could have ever wanted was given, and then some, with clear indications that another season is not long coming (did I mention Moran has also made some forum comments indicating the likelihood too?). It is no understatement to say the writers/producers have hit gold with GuP, the only question is how long this series can be drawn out. Once you remember we are still dealing with World War II-era tanks and have yet to hit second generation (let alone third or fourth generation modern MBTs) however, the answer becomes a pretty long time. Personally GuP will never be complete for me until I see my Canadian team with the glorious C2 MEXAS accompanied by C1 Leopards and Centurion VIIs. Hell, I might even settle for Rams 😛

    Pancakes
    Reply

    1. It was pure fun, true, but I have to say this or I’ll explode: far from it being superior, the movie was clearly inferior to the series.

      The review already pointed out the most glaring flaws:
      -Recycling the original conflict from the series for no good reason.
      -An opposing party devoid of personality (it’s not just the characters; another goodness of the series was to see how they adapted the spirit of the real-life factions into the schools, from the American school’s spying to the Russian school rehearsing Stalingrad).
      -Silly antics more over the top than ever. Whether Rule of Cool compensates for the disbelief or not, that will depend on each viewer (defintely not in my case).

      I would add other recycled moments, like the exhibition match at the beginning (guess who wins again) and the final dual tank-vs-tank with the sisters in the middle (just this time on the same side).

      Don’t get me wrong, I LOVED the film. Seeing the familiar faces again and every school having a chance to shine in one way or another? Oh, yeah! Even the mini-tank avenged the Italian school’s honour. And the Finnish polka! 😀 Certainly, music and sound is one of the strongest points of Girls Und Panzer (I still can’t forget the Katyusha moment in the original series).

      But larger being the same as better? Not really, even if it’s undoubtedly fun.

      Mistic
      Reply

  13. Hmmm… Where do I start…

    The movie really does justice to the GuP franchise and fanbase IMO. Like what Passerby mentioned, tanks first and girls second and as always, we get to see debut of MORE MACHINES!

    From M26 Pershing to Chaffee to Karl Morser Gerat to T28 monstrosity to the too-late-to-be-used Centurion tank.

    Few things I noticed about the movie itself –

    https://randomc.net/image/Girls%20und%20Panzer/Girls%20und%20Panzer%20der%20Film%20-%20Large%20005.jpg
    From the translated drama CD, Clara seems like the daughter of a “KGB agent” but she’s cute in her own way. Though not like the ice cold SIberian flower that Nonna is

    https://randomc.net/image/Girls%20und%20Panzer/Girls%20und%20Panzer%20der%20Film%20-%20Large%20010.jpg
    CRUSADERS CHARGE!
    Yes to see them being brushed aside by Char B1 bis was downright hilarious. Rosehip was practically useless during the final match. Heck, the only reason she managed to take out that Chaffee was by sheer luck. I don’t think Crusader’s gun has enough penetration to penetrate Chaffee’s armuor

    https://randomc.net/image/Girls%20und%20Panzer/Girls%20und%20Panzer%20der%20Film%20-%20Large%20080.jpg
    Chihatan has better equipment than the volleyball team and still suck… Them pleabs don’t learn. But than again, it is a throw back to the banzai charges done by the Japanese army which often ends up disastrously

    https://randomc.net/image/Girls%20und%20Panzer/Girls%20und%20Panzer%20der%20Film%20-%20Large%20128.jpg
    Again a shout out to old games of the past and bocage fighting in the Normandy countryside?

    https://randomc.net/image/Girls%20und%20Panzer/Girls%20und%20Panzer%20der%20Film%20-%20Large%20088.jpg
    As much as Stalin Katty loves to give threats of gulag and purges to her subordinates, her subordinates have an immense respect and duty for her. I actually cried at this scene seeing that her subordinates gave their lives for the Motherland and Stalin Katty.

    https://randomc.net/image/Girls%20und%20Panzer/Girls%20und%20Panzer%20der%20Film%20-%20Large%20002.jpg
    Among all the teams, I like the Finns along side the Germans. The Finns themselves are rather enigmatic and mesmarising. They’re pretty much doing the narrative for part of the show just like how Darjeeling was doing it in the TV series. And is it just me or that anything Finnish is light blue and white? Witches from Soumous are wearing a similar garb as well.

    https://randomc.net/image/Girls%20und%20Panzer/Girls%20und%20Panzer%20der%20Film%20-%20Large%20094.jpg
    At a Finnish tank workshop – So another BT7… Aurora… Get that 4.5″ howitzer that St Gloriana donated to us. Tonight we shall not sleep.

    https://randomc.net/image/Girls%20und%20Panzer/Girls%20und%20Panzer%20der%20Film%20-%20Large%20093.jpg
    Pershing crew – It’s a bird! It’s a plane! NO! IT’S SUPER TANK!
    You know shit hits the fan when you see a flying BT7 BT42…

    https://randomc.net/image/Girls%20und%20Panzer/Girls%20und%20Panzer%20der%20Film%20-%20Large%20097.jpg
    At that very moment… I already knew what was going to happen. I laughed maniacally when it really did happen

    On other fronts –

    https://randomc.net/image/Girls%20und%20Panzer/Girls%20und%20Panzer%20der%20Film%20-%20Large%20052.jpg
    The scene where they were pressing the Education Minister about Ooarai seems to suggest that there might be a possibility of the GuP franchise to continue. The mention of proteams and world championships really points to GuP possibly going along further on that line. Plus I do believe that in the TV series itself, there was a mention about the world championships. So if GuP continues on, I beileve it’ll be to the world championship.

    https://randomc.net/image/Girls%20und%20Panzer/Girls%20und%20Panzer%20der%20Film%20-%20Large%20047.jpg
    https://randomc.net/image/Girls%20und%20Panzer/Girls%20und%20Panzer%20der%20Film%20-%20Large%20049.jpg
    https://randomc.net/image/Girls%20und%20Panzer/Girls%20und%20Panzer%20der%20Film%20-%20Large%20050.jpg
    The Miho-Maho flashback also seems to suggest that GuP could possibly delve further into the Nishizumi sisters just like how they did in GuP Little Army. If that’s the case, we better stock up on insulin lest we get overwhelmed by the high sugar content of the aforementioned spin off

    Well… That’s just about it.

    Sorry for the LONG POST

    Velvet Scarlantina
    Reply

    1. the problem i see for future “world championship Duels” are their own Panzer size compared to the others. They are to small to compete is this large big world

      Worldwidedepp
      Reply

    2. @Sorry for the LONG POST

      Not at all. That was a great post, you should do more of them. You at least made the effort to add some humor, especially the super tank thing lol.

      @The mention of proteams and world championships really points to GuP possibly going along further on that line

      I would like that. If anything I think they should do two lots of 13 episode seasons.

      Lyfe
      Reply

      1. But first, they need a Story/red Line for an 2nd Tv Season. Like i said, if they want to play in the Pro League, they need more “Pro tanks”. You saw these Pershings? Oarai only had the last ones, they could not sell. Their best Tank is Porsche Tiger, but because they forgot about him, and the Stug “jagdpanzer”

        So, if you go there. Add some “Flesh”(Story) to these naked “Bones” (Tanks) and build and nice looking Body…

        Worldwidedepp
        Reply

      2. – i think i have an idea (its a fast idea)

        Let these Girls here, being Senpai’s and train their new members. So they teach them in how tank!!!.. But i dunno if you can fill an entire season with this

        Worldwidedepp
        Reply

      3. Personally I think the story would write itself with a tournament storyline. With new characters, you have new drama. The “A” story would be the tournament stuff and any drama attached to this. And the “B” story would be anything related to the girls when they’re not in battle. Of course the “B” storyline wouldn’t be as important, but its basically the less serious and the fun stories when they’re not in battle and stuff.

        Lyfe
        Reply

      4. i still remember the “Wake Up taxi Panzer 4” Episode, where they wake her sleepy driver up with an “BANG!” (and the neighborhood)

        Yeah, you could be right. But you need find the jokes first… to much or to less, and the Ramen-soup is not good

        Worldwidedepp
        Reply

      7. I’d like to see them expand their team, and add maybe another tank too in a potential second season. From a merchandising perspective, they’d probably do that. Good Smile have done quite a lot of Girls Und Panzer Nendoroids too, even a cute tank one lol.

        Lyfe
        Reply

      8. not to much “Sugar”/Moe, or the Tanks otakus get toothaches. As i said the mix in the TV Anime is important, this Film here was more an big “Omake”, filled with adrenaline, that would bust the TV Budget behind Pluto…

        Worldwidedepp
        Reply

    3. some notes from tank afficionado….
      -crusaders were armed with 40-57mm AT guns which could have easily penned 25mm of chaffee armor
      -national flag of Finland is blue cross on white background, so colours are definitely matching

      ewok40k
      Reply

  14. In my personal opinion, I think the Girls Und Panzer film is one of the best action films, period. Not THE best, and of course, very subjective to opinion. But the action is not only plentiful (taking up over half the run time of the film) but it’s also well thought out, engaging, and original. Just for reference, the best action film in my opinion would have to be John Wick. Short, to the point, plenty of action, doesn’t drown itself in needless drama. Plus stylish and suave as hell. Girls Und Panzer does dabble a bit in drama, but compared to it’s hour+ of tank battles, it’s nothing.

    The only complaints I would have with the Girls Und Panzer film is that a) they had a villain who really didn’t need to be a villain. It’s easy to explain his motives without casting an evil shadow over him. b) the film did nothing new, however, that isn’t really a bad thing in this case in my opinion. They took their strengths and really hammered it in the film.

    Besides giving us more tank beautiful tank action, the film when you think about it didn’t really solve anything. Oorai’s ship being shut down has nothing to do with someone wanting to be a douche and shut them down cause they feel like it. It’s because they don’t bring in the money it takes to maintain their ship. They have up until this point been living off of the funds they got from selling their previous tanks. I think it would’ve made much more sense if they included some sort of sponsor who’d sponsor the victor of the film’s final battle. Either way, currently Ooarai is still in threat of being shut down unless they can make something of themselves. Even sports stars make more money from media than they would from playing the actual sport.

    Anyway, my complaints really just stem from some under developed points. Other than that, I would have nothing but praise from the film.

    At first, I thought the new characters would be hard to keep track of. But in the short span of the film, they really got their quirks across. Rosehip was a good laugh as she represented everything St Gloriana was not. Impulsive, headstrong, and continually spilt her tea around the place. The Japanese team quickly established their quirk as leeroy jenkins but slowly improved over the course of the film. Contributing greatly to Ooarai’s victory in the end. Plus they had some good back and forths between the Ooarai team. Then you have the Finnish team. They probably created the most strongest impression during the skirmish with the Karl Device. Catchy rendition of a folk song (probably was the main kicker) and the gimmick that their tank could drive without treads which I had a good laugh at. But damn, I thought Pravda’s theme was catchy (still bloody is), but that Finnish folk music is gonna stick with me for a while.

    One thing I think was executed terrifyingly well was Pravda’s retreat and Nonna and Klara’s sacrifice. We all know Girls Und Panzer will 99% most likely not kill off a character. Yet they really managed to pull off a mood swing there. They didn’t die, but just imagine how depressing it would’ve been if they did… On the topic of Pravda, Klara was a really great addition of a character in my opinion and now Nonna has another person she can bounce off of. Also, they need to redo “Katyusha” and add Klara’s VA to the mix.

    In addition:
    Sodoko and the Disciplinary Council are criminally cute when they cry. Loved their BSOD moments (probably going to Hell for that)
    Tanks on a roller coaster, wonder which theme park will patent that idea first?
    Thomas the “tank” engine, so f%#^king done.
    Show Spoiler ▼

    Goodwill Wright
    Reply

      1. @Velvet Scarlantina: True, but as I understand it, one needed to stop the tank and manually engage a chain to the rear-most road wheels. Including the removing tracks, process took like a half hour. The feature worked OK on paved roads, but had little practical use off road to the point that later Soviet designs removed it.

        daikama
        Reply

      2. daikama has it right. The drive train of the BT series was not directly connected to the four road wheels, they required a chain to be connected in order to actually move them with the engine. It’s similar to the removal of the T28/95’s side tracks, the pins holding those in place were not remote explosive (i.e., capable of popping off with the flip of a switch), they had to be physically removed by hand.

        Pancakes
        Reply

      4. i mean, look at the Maus vs Hetzer scene…

        The Mouse weight is 200t, in reality the Maus would crush the Hetzer like an bug, and it even withstand the other light tank on top of the Maus..

        So, since the TV anime the reality is out of the Window, now to bring this it into this movie is a bit to late

        Worldwidedepp
        Reply

  15. I was expecting a post on the newest episode of Netoge no Yome wa Onnanoko ja Nai to Omotta?, but… OH MY GOD! Girls und Panzer der Film?! Wunderbar!

    First off, love the new additions to the cast, especially Rosehip, Clara, and Mika. (The soft-spoken voice of Mamiko Noto in the same movie as the soft-spoken voice of Saori Hayami’s Carpaccio? “HNNNGGG!” overdose.)

    Anyway:
    – “Do not f**k with an IS-2.“ I had a feeling you’d also screencap that… Definitely my favorite scene from the preview of the first few minutes of the movie, but I’m glad that some of the later scenes (like the Continuation High girls driving rings around the Pershings with a BT-42) manage to top that.
    – This is a much better reference pic for the Company of Heroes 2 vehicle skin makers. (Actually, all the screencaps with tanks in them are a reference goldmine. Paging Gobelin/Rytsu…)
    – Man, I know Thomas The Tank Engine was referenced in Marvel’s Ant-Man movie, but Thomas as a Tortoise Tank? XD
    – More tactical genius worthy of Ursarkar E. Creed.

    And finally, (after having started watching this series four years ago), there’s more yuri fanart now of Kay x Darjeeling. Granted, it was following the footsteps of the Iowa x Kongo pairing in KanColle (given a nod in one of Iowa’s hourly lines in the game) but nevertheless, it’s about damn time…

    Incognito
    Reply

    1. yeah, they try to draw the girls accurate to their panzer sizes (The picture you link with “This”), also it is all clear that this Tanks do not have their original engines build in, the car repair crew done a fine job to give the weak ones an turbo loader 🙂 my Smile grown bigger when they try the “Slipstream” ride with the “ESP Boosto!” (Formula 1 boost)… Sadly the Porsche Tiger engine could not handle this power force, and blow up…. Awwww But this was freaking funny, like crushing the bridge with her Engine turbo 🙂

      Worldwidedepp
      Reply

  16. Thanks for covering this a unexpected very nice thing.

    Well a major plot point with Miho was how mother expected her to let some girls drown in order to win, not that safe.
    When asked about keeping her head out of turret Miho states that getting hit is rare, guess there a rule you can’t use machine guns on exposed tank commanders even though that a normal war tactic and why all commanders got inside when up close keeping being out for medium to long range.
    Of course Miho does not mention that being hit by a main gun shell is a instant kill. So Miho admits there not totally safe. Plus one girl exposed was lucky not to be crushed on a roll over.

    The girls are shown dirtied up, even with broken glasses after a tank is taken out thus you can infer bruises, concusions and the occasional broken bones. I assume super advanced pantyhose, “almost impossible to see goes the ad” gives their legs protection and warmth. The mention of carbon as in carbon nano tube inner armor layer does explain no deaths from penetration or fire. No WWII and many modern rounds would have no chance of penetrating carbon nano tube armor and carbon nano tube layers almost completely block heat transfer thus not fire deaths, have to hand wave away deaths from fumes though. Maybe there are breathers inside tanks until the crew is extracted from the tank, almost never show them recovering. No helmet is ok, armor today there is no helmets, not only hard to deal with inside but as shown in race track deaths and in snow skiing despite what I assume is helmet industry pressure the increase in helmet use is not showing a effect in deaths, often studies neglect neck injuries in measuring effects.

    I assume Girls und Panther is far advanced in their warfare that even our current tanks are primitive to them. I imagine a modern tank in Girls und Panther be using a plasma gun, advanced rail gun or particle beam. They might even hover off the ground. But their world seams to be a world in permanent peace so maybe no need for modern for them war machines.

    Would have like the fight over the Karl being outwitting and taking out it’s defender tanks with the Karl being taken out by normal tank gun and machine gun fire of what ever tank got though. Same with the Italians, no need to go up there to shoot them just back out to where you can shoot at them then the Italians can run down the tracks by themselves trying to evade fire.

    Otherwise the drifting modern tanks can do it very well, seen the videos, but assume it a risk to the tracks. Two weeks I spent with armor company as cadet in Army learned tracks had not improved much from WWII and have not heard to much more improvements so tankers tend to avoid stressing them except when they have to, same as crushing though trees or buildings it can win you the fight or get you stuck.

    Short reading of real WWII tank duels up close show that crazy maneuvering is a thing ace crews do though.

    Were are the boys some girls are supposed to be interested in, boys don’t seam to exist, I have even wondered if there was a plague that killed only young men so that most girls reproduce though artificial DNA implants from their lover but as there is no Y chromosome involved no boys are born.

    RedRocket
    Reply

    1. @ after a tank is taken out thus you can infer bruises, concusions and the occasional broken bones

      Can you though? I don’t remember anyone being seriously injured.. Though I tend to ignore the realism point because it would ruin the enjoyment of the series. Some of the tanks take some serious hits and are thrown around, yet the girls walk out just fine.

      Lyfe
      Reply

      1. This Tanks has some kind of Kevlar Armor, they do not let the Shell penetrate their Armor. But the impact force let them shack inside their tank or trow back.

        Hey, it is Anime Magic. if you think seriously about it works, you ruin the magic

        Worldwidedepp
        Reply

      4. They make a point of the girls covered all over with dirt and grease smug and broken glasses with they clothes all frazzled and they tend to talk like they are worn out. To me this shows they bounced around on the inside when there tank bounced around. Thus bruises common with occasional banging of the head sometimes and rare broken bones. Of course this is the future, carbon nano tube armor is only in experimental stage now, the recovery team might cure the bruises, head and broken bones on the spot, they tend to not show recovery that much on the show.

        RedRocket
        Reply

    2. RedRocket: “I assume Girls und Panther is far advanced in their warfare that even our current tanks are primitive to them. I imagine a modern tank in Girls und Panther be using a plasma gun, advanced rail gun or particle beam. They might even hover off the ground. But their world seams to be a world in permanent peace so maybe no need for modern for them war machines.”

      That’s not the situation as far as I know. My understanding is that GuP is essentially RL with some (obvious) deviations (e.g. ship schools – explained in one OVA, carbon fiber safety lining), etc. So no plasma guns, hover tanks/cars/skateboards or whatnot. AFAIK, most advance tanks you’re looking in this world are the same as RL = T-90, Type 10 (in anime TV Ep. 2), M1 Abrams, Challenger 2, Leopard 2, etc. Using WWII era tanks is simply due to Senshado rules. Literally. It’s a sport and those are the rules – just like one can’t use aluminum bats in ML baseball.

      As for the lack of injuries, couple things. Obviously this is much more light/fluffy than anything grim-dark so not going to have deaths, bodies blown apart/burned to a crisp, etc. I’m fine with that, especially given the sport setting. Other thing is that it’s not just the carbon fiber lining, but also all munitions must be “league approved only”. IIRC from the first season, there’s something about a smart-chip in the shells themselves which is used to calculate the “what if it was real” damage when a tank is hit. So it seems to be a combination of modified munitions along with carbon fiber safety lining.

      That’s not to say it’s all realistic of course. I agree that, carbon fiber lining or not, one would still expect more injuries – especially with how tanks go flying and crashing around in the movie. Also, pretty amazing that none of these commanders who insist upon standing in the copula (rather then “buttoned up”) don’t get injured or killed. Yeah, “rare” that you might get directly hit from a shell, but uh, ever hear of shrapnel? >_> BTW, for some reason MGs ARE allowed in Senshado. They were used copiously in some episodes.

      As for tank drifting, yes tanks can drift, but under the right conditions. They (and other tracked vehicles) use tracks for a reason – better traction. You WANT traction in your tank under all conditions so you don’t get stuck. Haven’t watched a ton of tank drifting videos, but the one’s I perused all had one thing in common – slippery conditions. Lots of snow & ice videos, loose dirt, mud, etc. The other thing about drifting (as this video around 1:55 shows) is that, well, tanks can flip over doing that. Finally, modern tanks are a lot faster/more powerful than WWII tanks (which helps with drifting). In the end, whether tank drifting is “cool” or something else is subjective. Personally, at this point I think the show is abusing tank drifting, but, LOL, that’s a relatively minor point given what happens in the movie.

      — “Short reading of real WWII tank duels up close show that crazy maneuvering is a thing ace crews do though.”

      Not sure what you mean about “crazy”, but I think it’s accurate to say that, again, liberties (very substantial at times) are taken in the movie. If you ignore physics >_>, then yes I’d agree some of it’s tactically sound – particularly things like ambushing & sniping are realistic. One of the more creative things I’ve read involved M5 Stuarts shooting down from a hill onto Panzer IV tanks. Normally the little Stuarts with their 37mm “squirrel guns” wouldn’t do much if anything against a Panzer IV (these were later models), but they were able to so in that battle. It wasn’t super easy – a lot of “scoot & shoot” Pop over the hill, take a shot or two, then duck back as another one tried the same gambit. They took out a couple Panzer IVs IIRC which helped win the battle (the main battle was below with other tanks involved on both sides).

      Anyway, once WWII tanks engaged there indeed often was a lot of maneuvering involved – particularly if there’s a disparity in gun/armor (e.g. M4 Sherman vs. Panther or Tiger or really any US TD vs. a tank). Barely armored M18 Hellcats certainly survived on maneuverability (“shoot & scoot”).

      As for WWII tanks busting through buildings/trees, again it depends/situational. In WWII city fighting, tanks may have burst into the front of a building to help infantry clear out blocks. Opinions vary, but IMO “Rhino tanks” were quite important in terms of clearing hedge row country during the Normandy invasion. A LOT better than just infantry trying to do that alone.

      daikama
      Reply

      1. At a moment carbon nano tube and other new armor formation are not yet being use in modern tanks. So I will concede that the technology does not have to be hover level. But clearly they are at least one armor generation ahead of us. It the information that Pancakes and I have heard that indicates that modern tanks are actually used in the sport at the pro levels is the reason I was going several generations into the future of tanks. If modern tanks can be armored to resist modern shells to be used in the game their armor technology is a good deal ahead of ours. I looked it up and a mediocre modern armor piercing round would go totally though the front armor on the Maus and out the back armor and probably though the engine on the way.

        Hover might not even be possible ever, depending if we can ever do anti gravitation. But particle beams are being field tested in the Navy now, to defeat the new armor in the next generations of tanks a working plasma gun might be necessary the only reason we don’t mount plasma guns now is power demands and size of current magnet containment units. I assume like other Sci Fiction speculation that plasma guns are not that far into the future especially if fusion power gets perfected with the fairly small size of the generators they are testing.

        RedRocket
        Reply

      2. Oh forgot yep the last episode of series where drifting the tank caused the tread to come off was more accurate on hard surface, they got away with maneuvers that have a high chance of losing a tread in this movie to many times. Other wise the Pz III vs Pravda was probably the most accurate crazy maneuvers that mirrored history as supported by several in comments after that episode, this movie pushed it to far, but not that far although I’m sure WWII tanks not up to M-60 maneuvers I observed in the 1980’s. It just the traditional tanks are slow, hard to do anything with image from old war movies, TV shows and bad simulations in anime to make the giant robots look practical that this show is a relief from, more the show than the movie.

        RedRocket
        Reply

      3. @RedRocket: Well, I don’t have access to all official materials (can’t read Japanese even if I did) so IDK. Just wrote what I thought was correct. Maybe you have modern tanks in the “pros”. Be a pretty big departure IMO from the WWII theme. As for the rest, again, right or wrong my understanding his that this is pretty close to RL time – armor advances or not. I seem to recall a statement in the anime when it talked about Oorai’s history in Senshado, years taken off, etc. which matched up with that.

        However, could be something out there in official materials which expressly states otherwise (i.e. not “they have this so must be xyz” – stories take liberties with things, but some date). I’ve read a comment that in one of the TV Season 1 BD booklets, it talks about some teams having HEAT rounds for example. Never mentioned in the anime, and obviously makes a big difference when it comes to armor penetration (e.g. Anzio’s Semovente da 75/18). Still, plasma guns, particle beams, rail guns etc. are a MUCH different animal – far past current tanks let alone WWII era. As you say, lots to overcome just in terms of power supply alone.

        daikama
        Reply

      4. @RedRocket: Missed your second post so will have to double post as well (sorry about that). Totally agree that the treads coming off was realistic in Ep. 12, but as I mentioned, that was one long-ass drift. Ep. 04’s was much more realistic (treads or not) IMO. Still, it pales to what goes on in the movie. Not sure what you mean by PZ III vs. Prada. AFAIK, only school with a PZ III is Kuromorimine.

        As for the presentation – totally subjective. Obviously some liked it, but I stand by what I wrote below. I simply cannot see how realistic WWII era tank combat is “boring” by nature – slower speeds compared to modern tanks or not. Frankly, the lack of modern computerized targeting, smart munitions, etc. makes WWII tank combat more exciting to me. Same reason I find WWII era dogfights more thrilling than modern.

        I am willing to give some liberties here with presentation (why I give the higher tank speeds a pass in season one), but personally, some of what went on in the movie was just dumbfounding. Never expected such an over-the-top presentation for this series (even with modern tanks it’s physics defying much of the time). Sadly for me, I stand corrected.

        daikama
        Reply

  17. Weak, or mediocre at storytelling.
    Impressively well done at action.

    By the way, is it only me who find the voice acting of Nishizumi miho a little annoying, even creepy? The kind of artificially high-pitched voice acting in order to sound immature, innocent and younger.

    fripsidelover9111
    Reply

  18. I took the villain as typical bureaucratic funding war in that the villain wanted the funds for his pet project to bring glory for him self. We can assume his pet project is not a very worthy project so we not conflicted on who should get the funds, maybe a road to nowhere or unneeded infrastructure as examples glory projects funded in the pasts. The villain of course probably deluding himself that his project is needed. Or of course he just want credit for cutting the budget.

    I was so exited when I saw Rommel playing a table top cardboard peaces war-game that appeared to be the Western Africa campaign around Trobeck. I was part of the golden age of these war-games in the 80’s and am very glad to see them active even now. Had to pull out my classic Africa Korps board war-game copywriter 1980. Need to find out what clearly more modern version she was playing.

    RedRocket
    Reply

  19. Don’t worry, this sport is totally safe.

    I admit, when the KV2 was blowing up entire wings of buildings with a single shot in that first match I had to wonder a bit.

    Wanderer
    Reply

    1. To be fair, the actual building that got hit by the KV-2’s shells (a waterfront hotel) is currently undergoing renovations in real life, and the hotel’s owners wanted the battle damage to affect the parts of the building that were being renovated.

      I’ve heard/read about side-by-side comparison photos of the building in the anime and in real life, but I’ve yet to see an actual link to those…

      Incognito
      Reply

  20. I’m never especially fond of the slower parts of GuP. The slice of life part is fine, however every time it gets a little bit dramatic I always can’t take the show seriously. Thus, for me the first half of the movie (sans the initial fight) is just a setup that I need to watch before the actual main course.

    But boy, the whole tank sport is as awesome as I expected. Everything is dialled up to eleven, tank fight is very dynamic and hype inducing, both humour and trivia were thrown in a fitting pace along with their own tsukkomi. It even gets the dramatic part of the battle right. It’s deserving every ounce of massive sales they got both from dvds and screenings.

    About the possible second season, I’m unsure that I would want it. There’s not many things left to add that I’m afraid that it simply can’t get any better anymore, both storytelling wise and tank wise.

    Any iconic WW2 tank left that is not yet introduced? From what I can remember I guess we only need to see some french. There are also some important vehicles that is not yet implemented, possibly things such as IS-3, Jagdtigers, Tortoise, and… Dunno, maybe US HT prototypes? Soviet tank destroyers?

    zeroyuki92
    Reply

    1. The Jagdtiger was already featured in the TV series (how it’s taken out by the Rabbit Team is actually one of the high points of the show).

      Meanwhile, the French tanks feature heavily in the manga sidestory, Girls und Panzer: Fierce Fight! It’s The Maginot Battle!!/Gekitou! Maginot-sen desu!! (basically Oarai High’s practice match with the titular Maginot High School).

      Light tanks (those weighing under 10 tons) and the more informal sport of Tankathlon are the focus of the Girls und Panzer: Ribbon Warrior/Ribbon no Musha manga spinoff.

      I’ve yet to see a Comet Tank or a Panzer II Ausf. L Luchs (which is a different machine from the Panzer II driven by Maho and Miho in the movie’s flashback, as the Luchs has interleaved road wheels similar to a Panther or Tiger). I also wouldn’t mind seeing a KV-1 heavy tank (with a normal 76mm gun turret instead of the big-a** “bobblehead” turret of the KV-2) or an SU-85 (the SU-76 definitely doesn’t qualify as it has an open top and rear).

      Incognito
      Reply

    2. There is a huge amount which can be introduced, and that is putting it mildly; even limiting to actual prototypes still leaves lots of options. The US can have everything from Hellcats to Wolverines, M6s to Stuarts, while Britain has the Cromwell, Comet, Tortoise, Achilles, and several turreted tank destroyer designs (Challenger, Avenger, etc.). Russia has the T-50/60/70, SU-76i/85/85i/100, KV-1/3, T-35, T-43/44, IS-3, and a bunch of pre-war designs I cannot remember, while Japan has the Chi-Nu Kai, Chi-To, Chi-Ri, and O-I. Germany of course has countless varieties of Panzer Is, IIs, IIIs, IVs, and Vs (Panthers) not yet featured, and even more closed case mate designs (StuG IVs, Jagdpanzer L/70s). This doesn’t include related tanks like Canada’s Ram I/II, Australia’s Sentinel, and the untouched French designs (especially the Char C2) and Hungarian designs.

      On tanks alone, GuP has more than enough material to fill a few more seasons, and that is before thinking of expanding into post-war/Cold War variants. The only true limiter on the series becomes the story, because one way or another continuing on will require a different cast of main characters at some point.

      Pancakes
      Reply

    3. Yeah, I kinda forgot about JgTiger in final. For some reason I remembered it as a Jgpanther.

      So for some reason I also juat realized that there’s no Wolverine/Jackson/Hellcats in the series, as well as normal KV-1. The problem is that we have been introduced with most major countries, so maybe repeating country-based teams for the Pro League might be redundant? Possibly we might have pro teams using spesific doctrines which are not bound to countries?

      zeroyuki92
      Reply

  22. [Sorry if this is a “TL:DR”. Had a lot to say] I’m a big Girls und Pazer fan, and frankly, if there’s one word which describes my feelings about the GuP movie it’s “bittersweet”. There are a lot of things I liked about the film – particularly early on, but also a lot of LOLWAT/SMH/WTF things as well. Far too many. Given comments above, clearly I am taking the proverbial road less traveled. So be it.

    As mentioned, there were several things I liked. Right off the bat, the show did a good job of getting into the general “GuP vibe”. Definitely a “tadaima” feeling when it started. Parody or not, I liked how the movie used some of the things which happened previously. That gave a sense of continuity to the movie along with some depth/realism to the characters since things didn’t happen in a vacuum and they learned from the past (e.g. the scene with the car garage). As usual, the music was excellent, and the visual quality quite good as well. This wasn’t a cheap production. Still love the “driver’s/gunner’s eye” first person view. Really adds to the excitement and flow of the battle. At times the comedy worked for me though overall more hit & miss than I’d like (more miss than usual for me with GuP). Typical of GuP, there was a lot of WWII “Easter Eggs”, though perhaps for once a few too many shoehorned in (not a lot, but a few).

    The new characters were OK for the most part. Mika (Continuation commander) felt too much like Darjeeling with a Kantele in place of a teacup. Didn’t hate her, but can’t say she added much either to an already crowded cast. Chia-tan’s group was a combination of baka-likeable and baka-annoying with their “always charge” philosophy though they ended up net likable. Alice (University commander) was also OK. Here loving “Boko” (stuffed bear mascot) gave a bit of depth I suppose for the young girl she is vs. simply some random stoic commander. Characterization on the whole was a kind of weak, and at the least I would have liked is more detail with Miho’s relationship with her mother. I guess it’s… kind of sort of OK now?

    The plot line of “it wasn’t in writing so it doesn’t count” was as best serviceable. Pretty weak/non-creative. One big plus for me was the other schools “transferring” in at the last moment. Contrived, yes, but won’t lie. I did a mental “fist pump” YES! when it happened. It also avoided the 8 vs. 30 match (annihilation match even) I was dreading. One thing I did not like about Season 1 was the always escalating numerical odds on top of hardware disparity. Here they got it right because even with same numbers on both sides, definitely a discrepancy in terms of hardware (even disregarding the Karl-Gerät 040). As for the Karl-Gerät, eh, kind of ridiculous, but since the ass-hat school supervisor was being an ass-hat & pulling tricks, I can go with it. I guess. If only that was the most outrageous thing.

    GuP’s never been 100% realistic in terms of tank battles, but for the bulk of TV Season 1, it was IMO “quasi-realistic” (sure as hell a lot more than the movie). There were a few times when the show went with “over-the-top” (“OTT” hereinafter) sensationalism such as the way the Maus battle ended (and to a lesser extent I’d also say the long-ass drifting for the winning shot in Ep 12), but IMO those were more exception than rule. Yes, tanks went faster than they should 99.8% of the time, but to me there usually was some “thread of realism”, however thin, that gave at least some plausible grounding to the whole thing. This balance was one thing I thought made the show superior, and I certainly liked it more for it.

    The OVA pushed the OTT boundaries more (more than I would have preferred. IMO the manga’s Anzio battle is better), but eh, OVA so I’ll give it pass even if less than ideal. To be honest, I was hoping the movie would go back to Season 1’s tank battle “recipe”. The movie, however, made Anzio’s battle practically look like WWII tank battle documentary using vintage film. Sorry, I do not think I’m being a “stickler” for suspension of disbelief considering I’m giving a fair amount of that from the baseline already. Suspension of disbelief? Give me a break. More like obliteration of disbelief as the movie gives a big “fuck you” to realism and physics time and time again. Rather than “exception” as before, it’s so much “rule”, particularly 2nd half, to the point I just gave up with immersion and looked at the pretty pictures.

    After this, what’s left for OTT one-upmanship? Maybe a tank runs down a hill, shoves its barrel into the ground at the bottom, then fires a blank (WHY the hell they would even carry blanks during a match is beyond me), then flies back up the hill, soaring in the skies like some majestic bird of prey. Seriously, WTF is left after this?

    Look, you have as a basis WWII era tank warfare. Even if 100% realistic, how the hell is that boring by nature!? Sorry, but if you can’t even script a quasi-realistic WWII era tank battle, (IMO) you’re doing something wrong! NEVER did I think in Season 1 “Sooo boring, they need more OTT sensationalism”. So yeah, given how much I like GuP TV Season 1 (have to add that detail now >_>), “bittersweet” is definitely one description, and sadly, so is “disappointing”. Certainly nowhere near Season 1 overall quality IMO.

    As noted above, from comments, looks like I’m in the clear minority (at least at RC). Again, so be it. For those loved the movie – congrats, you got what wanted. I didn’t. Is what it is, but I cannot say that the movie whets my appetite for more GuP. That’s something I never thought I’d write. :<

    daikama
    Reply

    1. I know what you mean on how the tanks are used (I did mention how the silliness was a bit much at times); even though I don’t let it bother me as much, I will always be going “WTF WAS THAT?!?!?!” when they do stuff like that, lol. I also do enjoy WWII, and especially WWI, dogfighting; the planes fighting in an area just hundreds of yards wide (and usually with dozens of planes at a time as WWI went on), with only a few hundred rounds of ammunition for their machine gun(s), and being completely exposed to enemy gunfire (as many pilots went down by being shot themselves as opposed to the plane being shot apart or the engine set ablaze or something), as opposed to modern day jets that tend to settle a lot of their fighting from miles away with various smart missiles.

      There’s just a rush when you watch them having to do a lot more manual work rather than a lot of it now being automated and computerized.

      I mean, I’m someone who actually enjoyed the movie, Fury, and I especially love watching their fight against the Tiger I over and over again despite it being “slow moving”. It’s like, just because people hear about the Sherman being “fast” at up to 25 mph, it’s like people expect it to be flying around the battlefield like some race car (like GuP has done with some tanks). Just seeing the crew trying to outflank the Tiger to get that good shot on its rear while seeing their two tank-mates getting taken out and pretty much staring right down its 88 mm barrel trying to traverse to get a bead on them and almost killing them twice…there’s just something about it that you don’t feel when you watch things around modern tanks and taking out opposing tanks from up to two or more miles away thanks to computers.

      HalfDemonInuyasha
      Reply

      1. @HalfDemonInuyasha: Like I said, it’s totally “YMMV” on this, and personally what went on, particularly in the second battle, was just too ridiculous for me. Everyone has their own limits, and what occurred breached mine. Just that simple. I still very much enjoyed parts of the movie – it wasn’t all bad, but can’t get into the second battle with all the OTT theatrics. Didn’t reach Hai Furi levels of shooting shells out of the sky >_>, but still… I wasn’t kidding when I wrote that the “quasi-realism” of Season 1 was a significant factor in why I liked the show as much as I do (GuP Season 1 is one of my very favorite shows). Clearly that approach worked so I don’t know why there’s such a ramp up in OTT “top this” sensationalism. Don’t recall comments about how all the matches (except maybe the finals which was more OTT) were “boring” back when the show aired. Rather, a lot of viewers seemed quite happy with the presentation.

        As for aerial combat, I understand your point though I still prefer WWII era because while you still have a lack of modern long range weaponry (missiles), highly computerized targeting, etc., unlike WWI the planes were not nearly so wonky. Same goes for tanks. WWI ship battles would be OK, though I’d still prefer WWII era.

        Funny you mention the movie Fury and the battle against the Tiger I because I had that same example in mind. 😀 The start was kind of stupid (“Hollywood”) with the three M4 Shermans (and only one with a 76mm gun) charging line abreast at the front of the Tiger I. They should have split up with the two 75mm M4s trying to flank the Tiger on either side (be careful for friendly fire of course). But yeah, the end part was perfectly thrilling IMO (even with little, if any, tank drifting. 😉 ). As as for speed, there’s presentation with that. Personally it didn’t feel “slow”, and the overall more realistic approach helped with immersion IMO. So while not a great start, totally agree the end was quite good.

        daikama
        Reply

  23. So This is it, For me i should say… I really enjoy this series a lot, but i fear that this maybe the last time we ever see these folks cuz i just thinking that if a new season (if they had a chance to do it, that is!) comes out, it will NEVER be the same as this, but who knows…

    as for this Movie uh…Yeah, i think this is much better than 3rd Madoka Movie…Well, Far More Humor and Far Less Psychological distraction, oh wait a minute this is about a friendly tank tournament battle, not about a story of a very loose end girl who want save a friend, from any kind of intent and end up being a…uh…i can’t describe it…Seriously…SHE IS REALLY SUCH A LOSER!!

    Namaewoinai
    Reply

    1. Now for Some Fun Parts…
      https://randomc.net/image/Girls%20und%20Panzer/Girls%20und%20Panzer%20der%20Film%20-%20Large%20093.jpg
      https://randomc.net/image/Girls%20und%20Panzer/Girls%20und%20Panzer%20der%20Film%20-%20Large%20094.jpg
      (When hearing a BGM) For Helsinki with…Love!
      https://randomc.net/image/Girls%20und%20Panzer/Girls%20und%20Panzer%20der%20Film%20-%20Large%20111.jpg
      The BGM of when this tank shows up seems familiar…well…had anyone hear of this?…
      https://randomc.net/image/Girls%20und%20Panzer/Girls%20und%20Panzer%20der%20Film%20-%20Large%20120.jpg
      ALL HAIL THE WHEEL…
      https://randomc.net/image/Girls%20und%20Panzer/Girls%20und%20Panzer%20der%20Film%20-%20Large%20121.jpg
      The Duck People would proud to see this, (IE:Donald, Daffy, Baby Huey, Scourge, and…Duckula?)
      https://randomc.net/image/Girls%20und%20Panzer/Girls%20und%20Panzer%20der%20Film%20-%20Large%20125.jpg
      The Girls had no clue about….Geronimo….Simple…just say…GERONIMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
      https://randomc.net/image/Girls%20und%20Panzer/Girls%20und%20Panzer%20der%20Film%20-%20Large%20151.jpg
      What is she doing…uh…Signal stuff…whatever…

      Namaewoinai
      Reply

      2. That signal is H, meaning ” Request HE shell”, for dragging Maho from behind wall.

        anyway I’m gathering this kind of details and military-related trivia on a board of other site, yet not having much response. Please visit if you have some time!

        kemkem
        Reply

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