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「隊長、がんばります！」 (Taichou, Ganbarimasu!)
“I’ll do my best as commander!”
For the fourth week in a row Girls und Panzer delivers, retaining its spot as one of the best offerings of the season. So far it’s proven itself to be one of those very rare shows that manage to top themselves each and every week rather than starting strong and gradually diminishing in quality over time. This week, it brings us truly spectacular tank battles juxtaposed with a well-handled more emotional side. Of course, through all this, it never once sheds its ability to be completely and utterly ridiculous!
The battle really was a joy to watch, from the tank drifting to switching into that brilliant first person tank perspective which is a lot of fun each time it comes up. So many of the small details add to this entertainment: the idea of Mako sleeping in the tank while she’s not actually driving is adorable; the volleyball team’s short game in the middle of the match is a testament to their long term goal; and the speed with which Momo loses her cool in battle (who cares about aiming! Just fire!) is downright hilarious. When things looked like they were taking a turn for the worse, Miho managed to rally everyone and head into town. That this wasn’t against the rules is both brilliant and once more a show of just how crazy Girls und Panzer can be! Tactically it was a good move too – they seemed to be far more familiar with the town than their opponents, allowing them to use its terrain to their advantage. It’s somewhat ironic how well the StuG managed to camouflage itself despite the extent to which the history club ruined its original colours!
But in the end, superior British armour wins out. Miho may have done extremely well in the battle, but at the end of the day, the inexperience of the rest of the team proved to be something of a burden. They may have managed to push the Gloriana team (Darjeeling even dropped her tea!), but they were severely outmatched from the start. It certainly didn’t help that the M3 Lee was – for the second time – put out of action without having any real impact on the match. So in the end, Oorai suffer an honourable defeat. To be honest, this is far easier to stomach than pulling a victory out of nowhere would have – every team needs to face defeat at some point and their inexperience is plain at this early stage. It really does bring into question just how they’re going to put up a fight against the Saunders University/High School team’s army of Sherman tanks though (are they really allowed to field that many tanks? That seems like it would be unfair!).
So it turns out that there are no safety precautions for anyone outside the tanks during battle. I guess it really emphasises just how naive the first year team was, leaving the relative safety of their tank to flee the battlefield on foot. We can only hope the determination they expressed to improve begins to show itself in future episodes. With the danger to unprotected humans in mind, it’s strange to see people standing calmly in the street as tanks roll by in a battle – perhaps there’s a rule in place that prevents the participants from firing when there are bystanders around, or maybe they’re just expected to be good enough not to actually cause any civilian casualties. Collateral damage certainly does occur though – it’s kind of funny to see shop owners actively hoping their establishment ends up being trashed just so they can renovate – so who knows what could happen. If the series hadn’t been rather light-hearted and ridiculous thus far, I’d wonder at the possibility for it to take a darker turn down the road. At this point, that doesn’t seem particularly likely.
With a cast this big, the issue of parental approval was always bound to come up at some point. Hana was certainly the logical choice in this department thanks to her background in flower arranging – few other things are such a far cry from operating a tank after all. Hana’s mother, Isuzu Yuri (Kurata Masayo) even goes as far as disowning her daughter over the whole issue. As tends to happen in these situations (in fiction at any rate), as time goes on I imagine she’ll find herself drawn more and more towards her daughter’s matches up until the point where she finally accepts her choices. That’s if she doesn’t provoke Yukari into murdering her first though!
And so the show’s refreshingly quick pace has already brought us to the beginnings of the Nationals. As I understand it, while this is a national competition, each of the different schools represents a different faction based around the types of tanks they use. We’ve already had the ‘British‘ team in for a friendly match and the next opponent lined up is the ‘American’ Saunders University/High School team. After much speculation across various Japanese boards, some of us have come up with rough guesses as to which countries are represented in the revealed tournament line-up. From left to right: Sweden (or possibly Norway), Australia, U.S.S.R., France, Italy, USA, Oorai, possibly France again, UK, Bulgaria, Germany, Japan, and Finland. Some of these are under heavy debate such as Bulgaria’s lack of domestic tanks and the two different instances of France, but then this is all merely speculation based upon the names of each of the respective schools. I’m sure we’ll be finding out soon enough!
tl;dr: @MoombaDS – #GaruPan continues to maintain its extremely high standards with one of the most entertaining episodes so far this season.
Random thoughts:
- There’s something really awesome about how calmly Darjeeling drinks tea while under fire.
- Why am I not surprised that Momo would miss even at point blank range?
- It looks like the British team was holding back – is that a Crusader I see?
- Anzu almost seems to be enjoying this… she’s certainly an odd one! I feel sorry for the rest!
- I spy a reference to A Bridge Too Far!
- Where The British Grenadiers continues to be used as a theme for the Gloriana team, it seems The Battle Hymn of the Republic is being used for the Saunders team!
- Finally a clear enough shot that I could read what’s written on the back of the StuG – ‘Vergießt Schweiß aber kein Blut!’ – one of Erwin Rommel’s many wisdoms.
ED1.04 Sequence
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ED: 「Enter Enter MISSION !」 by 渕上舞、茅野愛衣、尾崎真実、中上育実、井口裕香 (Fuchigami Mai, Kayano Ai, Ozaki Mami, Nakagami Ikumi, Iguchi Yuka)
Preview
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https://randomc.net/image/Girls%20und%20Panzer/Girls%20und%20Panzer%20-%2004%20-%20Large%20Preview%2001.jpg -> DO WANT!
At the first place, I was disappointed by the animation and story in the first episode (dat 12FPS scene). But this episode…this anime is seriously awesome!
I wonder what kind of song they’ll use for Russian team, will they use one from Red Army marches?
Oh, and enjoy some tank drifting 😀
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5aWAW2hea4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-X_2dfmEe8s
hard to believe Pz IV can drift….kudos to Mako-chan in doing tank drift
I wish my Pz IV in WoT can drift like that… -_-
(and reload that fast too…)
This is the first I’ve seen a NINJA Panzer IV. The way it moved around and took out several tanks, you’d think Mako would make career on drift racing.
Too bad only three of the five teams show any competence and one of them is in the crappy Type-89. It’s pretty ironic that the Volleyball team are the most aggressive and enthusiastic and yet they have an awful tank. The desertion of the freshman team was pretty sad, considering they have one of the bigger guns on the team.
The volleyball team is surprisingly good. They survived the battle in the hill, and they managed to do one of most hilarious ambush ever. Too bad it’s not counted as tank kill, they need better tank for the tournament.
Momo going crazy really cracked me up. Totally didn’t expect that to happen.
I think the one after Oorai is Canada (with BC being British Columbia), not France. And the one after St. Gloriana (Yogurt Academy!?) is most likely Turkey, considering that the word yogurt is derived from a turkish word.
Hmm that’s plausible. BC Freedom Academy is one of the ones with the most debate since there’s actually a Japanese school with that name already and most people seemed unsure on it. I was unaware the word ‘yogurt’ originated from Turkey but that’s definitely a more likely option than Bulgaria! Nice work!
It’s not impossible that it’s Canada since we contributed quite a bit to the armored war effort in operating Shermans, and Sherman Fireflys. Also we built our own tanks called the Ram which was based on the chassis of the M3 Lee. However unlike the M3 the hull was cast rather than welded and riveted. And it had the main gun in the turret. “Gasp!” Basically the Ram II made the Lee better, though it never really saw combat and was kept in the training role.
Canadians together with Polish 1st armored division mounted the northern prong of encirclement at Falaise, as far as I remember…
I only managed to guess the 1st few correctly
Seriously, this show is made of awesomium.
I wonder if the teams may not be ranged in order of gunnery proficiency ; Momo-chan being Team E suddenly would make LOTS of sense. Seriously, dat awesome entrance is only topped by dat even more awesome miss. How, just how ???? And on the other hand, Team B showed some good gunnery: 3 hits, including a difficult clean hit on the Churchill while starting their retreat from the hill (it probably didn’t even scratch the paintjob ^^).
Team D hopefully gained some guts seeing the other crews keep fighting. Team C has an excellent machine, they will need much bigger fences to hide these banners though, like Wall-of-China-big… And of course, Team A was excellent from start to finish, with special mention to that drift maneuver.
I was laughing my head off when Rommel said that their small size helps them to hide and you see 4 flags behind the fence
Hahahahahaha. That part is the most funniest of all. Indeed very funny because soon after she says that, been hit by the fence..pity
I commend The historians and volleyball team for their tactics.
hoping that loli/freshmen team don’t run away again when they fight Sanders this time.
Also, Darjeelin mention that Sanders and Pravda team are vulgar mannered.
A fellow MAL forumer translated and share this:
The birthdays of the main characters coincide with the start of major World War II operations: German Invasion of Poland (Sept. 1), German Invasion of the Soviet Union (June 22), Second Battle of El Alamein (October 23), Normandy Invasion (June 6), and Battle of the Bulge (December 16).
Some partial translation notes on the rules for Senshadou/Panzerkraft that was included with the series notes:
-You are not allowed to hit any people with the (tank) cannon. To kill someone like that would disqualify you. You can only disable the tank’s body.
-Both the ammunition used and the armour plating are regulated. So you can’t use some dodgy special ammo that cuts a tank in half and kill everyone (there was actually a comment in Episode 4 about this with the use of carbon rounds).
-The battlefield is out of bounds for 3 days until the match begins. Everyone gets maps and details of the area. If there is a disagreement of the battlefield choice you can object during the first 24 hours to the Federation in writing. And they would sort it out.
Here are the “Don’ts”
1.Do not use any tools and materials outside what is regulated.
2. Do not deliberately leave the designated battlefield area.
3. Do not directly fire at people.
4. Do not attack any vehicle that have been disabled.
5. Do not be disrespectful to the umpire or the competitors.
6. Do not throw a match by not trying. Above rules would disqualify you.
How to lose the battle:
1. When your tank can no longer fight.
2. When the crew decided to surrunder.
3. When the umpire decided your suffered so much damage that you can’t can’t be allowed to continue.
4. When you broke regulations.
Once your tank is out of the match, you are not allowed to move until the umpire tell you it is over.
Compensation:
Any damage to buildings and roads within the designated battlefield would be restored using compensatory payments handed out by the Tankery federation.
That’s some nice info there. It’s kind of worrying that there’s absolutely no safeguards against hitting people beyond relying on the participants skills, especially when you have people like Miho who insist on being half outside the tank at all times. I’m sure accidents must happen.
i say quite oops & WHAT
so tank battle give looking fine til all fall apart from pink tank crew run away to student council tank going fire wild & stuck make 5 on 3?
then take battle to the city sure got 1 but now 4 on 1 til student council tank appear & fire but missed in front of the target are you serious bro?
cue comeback but in end failed doing loser dance after battle time relax til hana’s mom going NO why my daughter doing tank give reason for now leave the family.
after long day pink tank crew sorry for being coward now for tournament tank battles beings.
I have high hope for Panzer IV and Stug III. None fails me. These 2 tanks can outrun the Matilda Tank with an ease but with Churcill, they need a greater cannon in doing so. Pity for Volleyball team, and yes, I agree with some of the comment; they deserve better tank than Type-89 (medium/light) tank. The only trump card for Type-89 is speed and mobility. 37 mm Infantry Support not enough punch.
Still, in episode 4 showing us lot of disadvantage of camouflage for Stug III ( The Shogun Flag), T-38(t)(shining gold color) and M3 Lee (Pink?). For Stug III, I don’t mind the color were put but the flag!! Hoping they remove the flag in another episode.
Episode 5 will be promising battle….Sherman making their debut! Pz IV & Stug can survive, other will badly outclass, outgunned and disadvantage.
I place my bets on the Pz IV, Stug III (Please recolour it to dunkelgelb!)
same here. placed on high bet on those 2 tanks. hope for Stug III change the color and rythem. So goes other tank as well, they better replace because the next challenge gonna get harder..
Next incoming debut
German tank – Tiger, Panther, Panzer III, Tiger II (hopefully) and MAUS!!
Russian Tank – T-34, T-34/85, KV 1, IS- 1 & 2
US tank – Sherman (in episode 5), M10 Tank Destroyer and Pershing
p/s; If these were out….sayonara to 38(t), Type-89 and M3 Lee.
Wrt the tanks
Tiger – Seen them in couple of animes
Sherman and M10 – Just don’t like them
Panther – BRING IT ON!
Russian tanks – FINALLY THEY MAKE A DEBUT…. But HATE THE IS SERIES IN WOT
*Now…. Where did I put those 1/48 panzers that needed a new lease of life*
Teh flags helped the StuG hide with the town’s flag poles and that actually helped them knock out the matilda. But also caused their doom, lol,”The StuG have low signature.” *Flags stick over the wall* BOOOM* they get knocked out… hahaha
So the Panzer IV gun is busted. Does this means it will get upgraded to the longer barrel L/43 gun next?
Hope for the best…
Why the L43 and not go straight to the L48?
I think I read somewhere that the L/48 is too heavy and affects the maneuverability of the tank. I dunno, I hope maybe a tank expert here can confirm this.
Than it’ll be from D to F versions
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panzer_IV
Definitely agree with the upgrade straight to the L/48 75mm canon. There was a reason the Germans did that in the actual war. Later Panzer IV models (G, H) were heavier, but part of that was due to increased armor.
Perhaps more troubling that any additional weight added by the L/48 canon would be adjusting to the barrel length. British Firefly tankers discovered you need to pay more attention to driving & turret position with a longer barrel.
Upgrading to an L/48 would make that tank MUCH more competitive – able to take on any other medium tank and even heavy tanks at short range. Whatever lost in speed and mobility is more than oftest by the gains in much needed fire power. FYI – the StuG III model in th anime sports the same L/48 canon. They could buy ammo in bulk :D.
Yea daikama… So agree with you on that.
Just don’t switch the turret for a schmaltrum.
Well pointed there, agree that gain in firepower can make up for the lost of mobility… But damn, that would mean Mako-chan would not be able to do that slick ninja tank drift 😀
It would be awesome if they upgraded it. Meaning bringing more firepower by now having two of their tanks with powerful cannons. I think the Panzer IV need to be stronger since it’s the team commanders tank after all. the Pz IV is my mos favorite tank.
Episode full of tank on tank action ^_^
Love the failed attempt in the initial battle and the move to urban warfare.
Frankly speaking, after this battle, I put my bets on Stug, Pz IV and the volleyball team (they ought to get a new tank!)
Next up… Against the Shermans. Again I place my bets on Stug and Pz IV… Though the Shermans have comparable performance to both… But I think a well hidden Stug can take them out)
If the history club remove the flag attached at Stug, then real Stug shall make her move!
I agree. It proved to be a huge disadvantage. Funny how the historians where praising the Stug’s low signature but forgot the flag gave their position away. And I love Erwin and Caesar’s love. Kept repeating the scene over and over again.
correction, I meant Caesar and Erwin’s laugh. XD
mostly they learned their lessons but hopefully they remove it and btw, lucky to all team or not, The Ankou Performing Dance….hahahahahahaha damn too funny and kept repeating that scene more than twice (not bad for Team A grown up body).
What’s the name of the Stug commander? Erwin Rommel (which is a guy’s name) or Erin Rommel (sounds more like a girl’s name)?
Seriously, the history team’s the best comedy quartet ever.
I just pronounce it Érwin; sounds more feminine. Also we don’t know if that’s her real name. Don’t think we know her last name yet, at least I don’t think her last name is ‘officialy; Rommel IMHO.
I also love the History Team, they need more lines.
I find it weird that the Volleyball team hit the Matilda’s fuel tank but it survived and manage to still be moving? And that was in point-blank range! I was like, “WAT!?”
Their shot hit that large external fuel tank at the rear, which caused the explosion. However, since that fuel tank was outside of the vehicle and not actually connected to it in any meaningful way, the tank itself was unharmed.
even Russian tank T-34 and T-34/85 share similar cases.
What a fun episode. Not sure if this episode is my favorite (tank battle was awesome though), but Moomba is 100% right IMO that the show so far has shown consistent quality and deserves recognition as one of the top shows this season, and if it continues, one of the better shows of the year.
I’m really starting to warm up to the SC members. LOL’d at Momo missing such an easy shot after going nuts ordering everyone to keep firing. As for that dance… it’s so bad that it’s good. You know Anzu wanted to do it. Anzu is turning out to be a bit of a understated comedy character rather than the callous dictator per Ep. 01. I always seem to laugh at her matter of fact attitude when the 38(t) breaks down (ex. track comment this episode was done perfectly. A+ Misato Fukuen).
History team strikes again with another great comedy moment. Did anyone else notice the well placed irony centered around the StuG III’s flags? It’s not enough that those ridiculous flags actually HELPED camouflage it at one point, but then just minutes later “Rommel” brags about how the StuG III’s low profile makes it harder to spot when driving through the narrow lanes… which would have been true if it wasn’t for the flags. LOL. Seconds later, the History Team is knocked out. Well done. I just hope Rommel & Co. get more screen time. They have some of the best moments IMO.
How crazy good is Mako as a driver? Drifting in a tank on pavement!? Not sure what Miho was thinking with that “head-on” attack. If the Panzer IV had the L/48 canon, then at best you’re looking at a tie (both tanks knocked out) since the Churchill’s canon is more than a match for the Panzer’s relatively thin armor. Team A already fired a point-blank turret shot to no avail – so why did she expect it to work on a second try?
The fact they shot straight to the tournament does seem rushed to say the least. Still, I must admit that I have no problem with it since we should get plenty of tank battles in the coming weeks. Question – Did I see Miho’s older sister at the National Tournament for literally like a second or two (21:55-56)? Wonder if we are setting up for a family redemption match as the finals.
Churchill rotation turret consider to be very slow but not too slow for Pz IV. I do believe what Miho want to do is doing the another attempt point blank firing, you can noticed Churchill took some time to rotate the turret. Even in WW2, there’s a record of slow moving turret in firing or panic situation. This goes to all allied and axis tank. Even Tiger and latest IS 1 & 2 having same problem.
Hope the episode 5 will be more epic battle.
I have thought about it, and in a situation where retreating won’t help, Miho may have gambled on trying to hit again the right side of the turret that she hit a few minutes earlier. That would have been her only realistic hope of breaching the armor in one shot.
Nothing is explicitly said to that effect, but that would explain why they went to the far side of the Churchill – that and, as SgtKurtz said, trying to ‘outrun’ the Churchill’s turret. If true, then I guess the British Captain saw through it, as she held her fire and kept tracking the Panzer. In the end, Miho’s crew could only shoot at the frontal armour of the turret, with a predictable result.
That’s a good point, but tough enough to avoid getting hit will driving at the opposing tank, execute a split second turn and fire effectively let along hitting the (or very close to) the spot you hit before. Might need Yukari back as gunner for that ;).
They were able to essentially escape thanks to a self sacrificing SC Team (I was surprised there was anything more than a few rivets left of that 38(t) after taking multiple point blank hits.). I would have gone with Mako’s suggestion – hide back in the alleyways with the goal of getting a clear shot at the Churchill’s tracks. Same thing Miho told the others to target at the beginning of the battle.
No big deal. Miho did remarkably well given the situation – no thanks to a useless freshman team. Gah… make them use the Type 89. That thing is worthless for tank battles. At the very least, make them do that hilarious dance.
The turret is actually a weak spot on the Churchill, as it has very heavy front armor. But the turret is not only less armored, but really flat and even lacking the heavy armored gun mantlet of most tanks.
That may be the case (not utterly familiar with the Churchill tank), but in terms of the story… look at the scene from 14:05-14:10 in EP 4 [screen shot at http://i47.tinypic.com/2a4z86g.jpg%5D. That entire attack was very well though out and executed, yet despite a point blank, straight ahead direct hit to the Churchill’s turret, the result was a sizable circular dent on a still very functioning Churchill tank.
Now if Team A had the Panzer IV Ausf G featuring the L/48 canon (or History Tean’s StuG III, though that would require insanely good driving to get in position) that Churchill would have smoked it’s last cigar.
I was … No…
They were having a battle in town full of civilians! What!?
And yeah they did but the civillians do enjoy right? Or maybe perhaps They do wants it badly for renovations of some kind…
According to the official rules, sufficient compensation is provided for by the Tankery Federation to any damage dealt during a match. Thus why the old man was so happy to see his shop get wrecked: he’s getting money to repair it and then some.
This series is so much fun to watch. Its ridiculously improbable but still I look forward to it each week. Was the same thing with Upotte. If you like this series and have not watched Upotte consider giving it a try.
First I would like to take a moment to thanks Moomba for covering this show. One that according to the season preview was only supposed to recieve a first impression review. So thank you Moomba. I don’t think I need to ask why; cause it’s the same reason we’re all here.
To the show, I came in wanting a great tank fight but I was prepared for disappointment(these shows tend to be like that remember), and I was blown away!
This sounds auful but I was hoping that the Ooarai team would loose. I’m just sick of the main protagonists winning all the time and honestly them winning would have been so unrealistic base on their huge lack of experiance. Fortunately they handled it much better than my most optomistic projections. These guys definately did their homework.
Momo’s overzealousnes reminded me of an old German Army saying on the eastern front: “Don’t worry; the Russians always miss the first shot.” Wasn’t always true but that was the saying.
The first years desertion both surprised me and didn’t surprise me. It surprised me that they put that in the anime, but it didn’t surprise me that these very young and woefully inexperianced girls would abondon the saftey of their armored vehicle and run out on foot resuling in another tank loss on their team. During that scened I was screaming: “Don’t run out there! There’s live ammo flying around.”
Momo’s insubordinate attitude annoyed me(and Miho) greatly. I could practically hear Miho’s exhasperation at the other teams incompetance. Shame to the History team though for being nearly as zealous and forgetting the German army’s rule: Take you time to get a good shot, and then shoot.
Kudos to them though for using the flags creatively. I expected them to do something like that in this fight since last week but I expected it to be in a forest not the twn. Still Kudos to Kommandant(for once the german subs were appropriate)Miho for making the best of the team she has left as well as each crew making use of their knowledge of the ground and their tanks.
As a WoT player I wish that all light tanks were as aggressive as the volley ball team, and as clever. Even though they ultimately failed that hit should be worth points at least.
We all knew what was going to happen when Erwin talked about the low profile of the Stug and we saw those flags above the fence. We all knew that was going to come back to bite them in the ass. Also the tank drifting might now be as unlikely as some of you think. Remember these tanks aren’t using rubber tracks like modern tanks. Tanks are rough.
Though I have to call bull on the British Kommandant ability to drink tea in a tank while going over rough ground. Well she wasn’t drinking much; but still.
As for Hana’s mother. After she dared to insult the name of the Pazer, I had the sudden urge to see if her head would fit inside the Stug III’s barrel. Props to Hana though for dealing with it so well, ad props to the show staff for not being over dramatic about it.
Looking forward to next ep where we deal with the ubiquitous Sherman. Looking forward to some REAL panzers though. So far only the IV qualifies. The Stug is technically not a tank even though it’s built on the chassis of the Panzer III. It’s technically an Assault Gun.
Here some fact you should know; Tea Time
British Army have some habits in some time and that it were called as Tea Time (maybe afternoon or more less). Each of tank design they leave some small compartment for making tea and hot water. Even today, they still linger in British Amour Forces, (do check on Scorpion -Recon/Light tank and Ferret). For the British, Tea Time is a must!! For some officer in Allied ( Yankee), this is some funny and hillarious but to British, this their honorable tradition.
To the British , during Tea Time is like for calming your minds and ease your moods. Girl Und Panzer just proved that.
Indeed. All modern British AFV’s are designed to have Boiler Vessels (“bivvies”) built into the crew compartment so the crews can brew tea inside, and even during WW2 kettles and teacups were a standard for British tank crew.
I’m not debating that the british did this I know they did and do. It’s just that she was holding a tea cup in her hand, over rough ground, and old tanks are not a smooth ride. I just thing it’s a bit much that she was able to hold it without spilling any. Then again now that I think about it the cup wasn’t entirely full then… or entirely empty depending on your view point. Also I’m fairly sure British armored crews didn’t drink tea when in the middle of an assault.
It was more a Metaphor, to explain that they dont took the “Enemy’s” seriously… But after the Damage Reports reporting in, she changed her mind.. And got serious
You’re very welcome! I was intrigued from the moment the premise was announced but after that first episode there was no way I could let it go without being blogged. It’s easily in my top two series of the season so far.
I’m also hoping that Momo will start to follow Miho’s directions more carefully and rein in her eccentricity a bit – I think they could prove quite a force once everyone overcomes these individual team issues.
I like to think Darjeeling was very carefully focusing to make sure her tea wasn’t spilled despite the undoubtedly large shaking of the tank!
I think the main issue with Momo is her bad aim. If she manages to fix that, her aggressiveness could prove to be good.
On another note, it’s kind of funny how we had the british tanks in todays episode and tommorow there will be a new version of WoT(eu) adding british tanks to the game.
I find it unfair that the EU server gets the UK tank tree first. ~.~ But that’s just me.
The episode was a textbook of how do all things right.
The tank action was a real treat and all logic too. Usagi-Team at least had the decency to apologise for that quick run. Momo is all shades of aiming failure (WoT newbie, anyone?) and the volleyball girls show that in terms of cunning they’re good. Shame that they have the most useless tank. While the StuG have a clean hit, I don’t know why they didn’t blast the second Matilda as it came across them, ready to be put out. Once again, the PzIV shows why is the main tank, and Darjeeling must be thanking Montgomery that the german tank had the basic cannon. A direct hit from the L48 from that distance could’ve disabled the Churchill (the drifting was meant to position the PzIV on the rear of the Churchill, so Mako got a little bit off the mark) So, kudos for a batallion with only days of practice putting under the ropes a better prepared (and armored) adversary.
When Hana acts more manly than most male MC of the season, you know that GuP is the AOTS. That kind of showing is rare at the beggining of a series, and I welcome that.
TOTALLY RELEVANT!! :
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/angler
That dance was hilarious
How do you think the tournament will proceed? A somewhat reasonable path (assuming they make it to the finals) would be US, France, Russia and then Germany in the finals (Saunders->Maginot->Pravda->Black Forest Peak).
Let’s just hope Tokyoto sho shall release the RAW file…by next week! I will gladly provide the link if needed!
Saunders’ Zergmans, I’ll leave it at that XD.
Depends honestly. XD the 76mm on those Shermans can punch through the early-war tanks used by Oarai. It’ll be all through skill, tactics, and a little bit of luck for them.
not surprising tho. Early war tank are easily to be defeated, not to Pz IV and StuG III. Let just hope Miho will came up something to repel the onslaught of the Sherman Early Production type. I bet that Military Instructor will give them a hint.
Hi there. Been awhile. I decided to not really follow RC’s posts on PuG mainly because I myself am somewhat blogging it. Generous help comes from the World of Tanks community, who have already specified to me the Sherman model for Saunders.
It’s the M4A3E9,which seems to be an up-armored version of the Easy Eight Sherman (M4A3E8) as seenw ith the added on welded plates in the ammo rack, driver and radio-operator positions, as well as the plate covering the right section of the turret.
To think, when I asked Stilts before on twitter if anyone was gonna cover this, he gave me a negative and I brought it upon myself to blog it. XD;;
Such a surprising choice eh?
It definitely fits everything I would ever associate with a sleeper – I supsected it would be entertaining, but I had no idea it would be as great as it’s turned out to be! Not blogging it would be a crime!
Like Upotte! this impresses me with the little add-ons that they do, such as showing the tanks on transporters after the fight, and having the Matildas angle their turrets to cover a wider front as they maneuvered across the valley. When Miho took them down the road towards the town I expected the townspeople to panic because they’d driven out of the combat area, but that seems to be a normal thing to have happen. No crazier than anything else in this great show I guess. The reactions of the girls to combat seems pretty realistic given that they were all novices. The History Girls paid the price for the Shashimono flags on the Stug, which I was hoping would happen. Now if they’ll just repaint their Panzers….
Tactically, that seemed like a decent plan, but terrible execution. Though they had the high ground, they let themselves be flanked on two sides. If they had set up a cross fire where they could draw them in and let the Stug hit them from the rear they could have taken some out and then retreated. As it was they wound up facing heavier armor head on. I hope Miho does some training before the tournament. That’s the thing about the tournament that bothers me, we’re not getting to see them actually training.
Loved this episode. The tank fights were great.
– I still doubted the safety precautions for both the participants and bystanders in these tank matches. Saori pretty much confirmed it when she warned Miho not to stick her head out and yeah it made me nervous to see civilians standing in the sidewalks DURING the matches.
– Seeing Momo freak out was fun.
– The volleyball team rising from the garage slowly catching Gloriana off guard was comedy gold. The mirror was also a brilliant touch. I really wanted them to win that but remembered Gloriana had tougher armors.
– Caesar and Erwin laughing in unison was fun to watch. Their flags we’re a double edged sword. Already expected the punchline when they were commenting how the streets were hiding their tanks. The flags made them easy targets.
– The collateral damage around the town further made me wonder where all the safety precautions were, until a shop owner commented he was happy his shop was totaled.
– The Student Council team missing their point blank shot and getting wrecked by a combined volley from all four enemy tanks was another comedy gold.
– Really hope the first years can make it up in their next fight after they ran away in this one.
– Already liking the Gloriana team for their grace and honor. Darjeeling commented in the previous episode how they fight honorably unlike Saunders and another team. I get the feeling Miho and company are up against some dirty tactics in their fight with Saunders.
– That. Dance. That’s all I got to say. President Anzu joining in though made me like her even more as a character.
– Those tank themed desserts are a nice touch too.
If anything, the Volleyball Team hit the external gas tank, which more or less ate the entire shot and not get the engine grills. So expectedly, without a gas tank in their way, the ‘Tilda II just KO’d the Volleyball Team.
The Churchill actually has a rather weak turret, but considering the Pz IV is using it’s very first gun and have yet to up the weaponry to the later longer barreled (and therefore higher velocity) guns.
Watched it again and agree 100%. Not sure if the aim was off (if that’s even possible at that range…err, and it’s not Momo) or just the Type 89’s crappy canon. Can’t get an easier kill shot that that unless your tank is in big hole and you shoot upwards into the bottom of another as it drive over you.
You (and someone else I believe) say that the Churchill had a “weak” turret (I’m taking “weak” as poorly armored). Perhaps not the ideal source (there are cites at least), but from Wikipedia:
“The armour on the Churchill, often considered its most important feature… Though this armour was considerably thicker than its rivals (including the German Tiger I tank, but not the Tiger II) it was not sloped, reducing its effectiveness. […] The turret of the Mark VII was 6 in (150 mm) to the front and 3.75 in (95 mm) for the other sides.”
That’s pretty thick turret armor for the day so I’m having difficulty understanding why you say Churchill’s turret is “weak.”
Lastly, you mention that the M4 shown at the end are M4A3E9 (slight improvement over “easy eight” models). The M4A3E8 featured the much longer barreled 76mm which was MUCH longer the the M3 75mm and sported a muzzle brake. JMO, but those look like plain ol’ M3 75mm cannons to me = M4A3 tank.
I’ve been told it’s the E9. Granted, I don’t think it was until the later M1A1C or M1A2 version of the 76mm being used. Those were the ones fitted with muzzle breaks. But it’s definately the 76mm due to the lenght. The 75mm were much shorter. But you’re also partially correct. They are M4A3s…just, the E9 version. It could also be a FrankenTank. If anything, caryring over the E9’s welded add-on armor onto an M4A3E4 Sherman which had the 76mm M1 gun.
As for weak turret on the Churchill, in terms of armor effectiveness, the Brits (and the Americans to say as well) didn’t necessarily adopt rounded/sloped turrets. I mean the M4 at least had a rounded turret, the Brits had boxes, which, as we can plainly see, was more than a match for early-war designs, but mid- and late-war enemy guns went through them like a hot knife through butter. The frontal face of the turret is armored well, but the sides less so. Remember this was meant to support infantry, and iirc, it wasn’t going to have a turret at all, rather, it would be similar to the ones used in the first world war with sponsoons and a forward gun. Basically an assault gun rather than a tank. And you can plainly see that in the earlier Churchill marks due to the hull mounted cannons.
Kudos to Daikama. I agree on what you were saying but sometimes, The Brits doesn’t really use much of their turret. Often sometimes, in battle with Panzer such latest Pz IV, Tiger and Panther, they were the easy target!. Although amour of Churchill were thick but often knock out by Flak 36 88 mm in some random occasions. Only on special mission, Churchill were use.
Even after the war, some veteran of Churchill, still prefer Tiger rather than Churchill. I don’t know why or maybe because Tiger is very perfect in amour thickness and protection of her crews. Maybe
A lot of people are talking about how safe the matches really are if there are bystandards on the streets. HOwever the tanks held their fire at that point. Also is it any different than Ralley Spectators? Those people get run down all the time. A tank you’re more likely to jump out of the way(if you don’t get shot first).
Rewatched the Gloriana vs Ooarai match. You’re right Roguespirit they did hold their fire when they passed by the spectators and thanks Jusuchin for the insight on the gas tank and tank specs.
Sorry for the double post. I just had to show this page at animesuki.
http://forums.animesuki.com/showthread.php?t=112312&page=31
I’m impressed how they used real locations for parts of the tank matches.
Well, I’ve given in and registered a WoT account today 😀
Word of advice. Don’t play the French tree. They’re unforgiving to newbies. In my honest opinion, the German or American trees are good ‘starter’ trees. Also do your research, and get a feel for the various classes of tanks. While there are tree branches that vary wildly from one tier to another, they’re mostly the same in terms of playstyle, and the earlier tiers are very forgiving to those still undecided on what tree one is looking for.
Thanks for the advice. I got this really ugly and wonky German tank. I got 800 free gold coin, so I might buy a premium tank. For now just getting the hang of the control.
Do the training. You’ll get a free 100% crew. I assume you’re playing on the NA server, I’ll be on shortly. Find me at Lorenzo_Ruiz
Actually I’m on the SEA server. I don’t think I can access the NA server.
Find me fine me
cruiser2710
Drop me an in game pm
Thanks for the tip….useful information
Same, I’m downloading World of Tanks SEA now.
Yeah I stated playing WoT again after watching episode 1. I’m on the NA server though so I don’t think I can play with you guys.
I’m Lorenzo_Ruiz on NA Server.
I’m Mightnare on SEA.
Did anyone else notice that Matilda II no. 2 was reused often? It caught my eye the first viewing. Because 02 was clearly KO’d by the Stug, but it reappears many times.
I sure did. This is all the more surprising that they mostly kept track of Matilda II no.5 with its destroyed external fuel tank until it got KO’ed by the Panzer IV after that magnificent demonstration of gunnery, courtesy of our one and only Mako-chan, and we can also see no. 4 clearly has damage to its front-right where it smashed that shop earlier once its turn comes at the hand of the Panzer IV. So the production team obviously paid attention to details.
My own guess is they somehow mixed 2 and 3 somewhere along the line, and 3 was supposed to have fallen against the weight of History… I mean the StuG III. Not a big issue anyway, we have seen much worse 🙂
Dammit, Momo-chan, not Mako-chan !
Ermmm… The traverse speed of the PanzerIV is too fast to be true, but hell with it, it’s a anime, no logic applies.
Free renovation for destroyed shop? I like that idea.
This reminds me of the times I lost a StuG IV or two to American AT guns in my first few games of Company of Heroes… (Well, I now know it’s better to send in a StuG IV/Panzer IV with proper infantry and sniper support.)
Also, how Miho and her crew drove that Panzer IV against Darjeeling’s Churchill reminded me of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JKIZR9zuns (A Tetrarch tank fighting a King Tiger in CoH, hehe.)
And finally (for curiosity’s sake), am I the only one who felt like singing “Blood on the Risers” instead of the original lyrics to the “Battle Hymn of the Republic”? (A bit of gallows humor and I know it doesn’t fit tank battles, but yeah. XD)
(P.S.: Those “Panzer Cakes” look tasty. Looking forward to seeing the Saunders team and their Shermans in action next week.)
This is what Miho were trying to do. The bigger they are, the slower of turret rotation. Miho would probably realize the weak point of the Churchill. The slow rotation of the turret.
https://randomc.net/image/Girls%20und%20Panzer/Girls%20und%20Panzer%20-%2004%20-%20Large%2027.jpg
By drifting or circling around, Pz IV might stay a chance beating the Churchill but, unable to do it. After all, Miho is only experience Panzerfahren.
Yes, I started singing Blood on the Risers and then switched back to the Battle Hymn. XD
I guess mass production shows in the Saunders academy… But they can only send 5 tank team to match, right? Though they probably can have good pool of trained crews to chose from (think of it as reserve bench)…
also DAT DANCE!
I’m wondering if we’ll see a few experimental tanks later on. Sort of want to see a German Maus or the Russian Object 279 in action. Just for pointless laughs and plays on why they were rendered impractical in the first place. Despite having a bigger cannon.
Also…
https://randomc.net/image/Girls%20und%20Panzer/Girls%20und%20Panzer%20-%2004%20-%20Large%2030.jpg
Damn. I keep forgetting just how… Well-rounded… Or filled out… A few of the cast are.
Someone needs to get in touch with the sub group and get them to stop with all the random German subs x_x
They did, switch sub tracks.
Poor girls: Fission Mailed! Well I didn’t expect them to win anyway, right off the bat. They barely had enough experience and time to practice.
Anyway offtopic: I see Jusuchin having a field day with this 🙂
Why yes I am. XD;; Me and every other person in the World of Tanks community who are Anime/Touhou nuts. We were kinda looking forward to this series for awhile, we already got the characters made as replacements to the crew pictures. I think a Major C.G. Miles-themed Matilda is on it’s way by some of the skinners, and yeah.
I have fun and it took me a few rewatches to write the episode 4 blog post. I couldn’t keep still long enough to make a screenshot. XD;;
It’s nice to see a Military Otaku in the conversation. It helps in learning more about them badass tanks.
Anyway, what’s the Churchill weakness? And if you are Miho what would do against a group of experience english tank pros and you having a ragtag team?
Do what Rommel did…
1 – pair a slightly experience crew w the in exp one
2 – ambush pos
3 – use the SC to lure them in
4 – shoot and relocate
@ C2710, Rommel had the luxury of having “lange 88” set up as ambush… our tank girls dont have one (yet, hope they do get a Tiger eventually)
I still demand that they up gun the Pz IV to the L48 or re-equip the team
I’m all for rearming the Panzer IV to at least the 7,5 cm KwK L/40. It would mean a change into the Ausf F2 configuration and later turret (the one with the counterweight and thus being ‘safer’ for Miho) but it would also mean a change on how they’re trained. As for the other tanks, the StuG III can be fitted with the side armour, the Type 89 crew can definitely use a new tank, as would the Pz 38(t).
“Me and every other person in the World of Tanks community…” Never played WoT (play HOI III though :D), but plan to take a look. Really just a big WWII “fan” (not sure if fan is really the right word…). Love the fact that this show is getting a lot of interest and hope it sparks more anime like it. People may have had issues with “echiiness” in Strike Witches, but I loved the WWII setting, clever play on WWII aces and authentic weapons (*cough* ignoring magazine capacity) like the MG 36/42, Boys MK 1 AT rifle, and BAR (stupid choice – should have been an M1919A6 if not an M2HB).
RE: above Churchill turret comment. I understand that rounded/angled/etc. turrets provide much better protection (same goes for angled hulls (e.g. T-34) vs. straight). Clearly there were better designed, more protective turrets. My point is that calling it “weak” given the armor thickness is a bit excessive. When viewed in context of Ep. 04, compared to the other “tanks” (StuG III doesn’t have a turret) – the Type 89, 38(t), M3 Lee, Matilda II, and Panther IV AusF D (30mm turret armor), the Churchill’s turret (armor) isn’t “weak” at all. It’s actually the strongest. The Type 89 (using rivets!) is by far the weakest IMO.
RE: M4 model in the EP 05 preview, I watched it again and it still looks like the short barreled 75mm M4A3. Even without the muzzle-brake, the 76mm cannon barrel was a MUCH longer barrel – extending far in front of the M4. Also, look at the gun mantlet. The 75mm M3 had two curved metal pieces on each side while the 76mm M1 was completely encircled at the base. Comparison pics of the M4 in EP 05 preview, 75mm mantlet (2nd pic), and 76mm mantlet (3rd pic) at http://www.imagebam.com/gallery/ol2r1yrjxhdgbjsqmcuve9zsiim3k949/
Is there the whole dance and the song? I was hillarious
Episode 5 is out and man is it great! The fastest 22 mins of anime this year.