As the episode begins, the Panzer IV rolls forward, but Mako wakes up and leaps onto the tank. Miho recognizes her from earlier that morning, and Saori recognizes her from even earlier than that, as the two address each other by their first names without honorifics. Saori wonders what Mako is doing taking a nap in the middle of class, (and should wonder why she wandered onto a tank battlefield), but then gets her to come inside.
Mako falls asleep inside the tank, because of her low blood pressure. Miho infers that must be why she seemed sleepy and lethargic in the morning, and Saori infers that Miho's encounter with Mako was the reason for her tardiness.
The Panzer IV reaches a suspension bridge, and Miho orders it to stop. Despite the danger, she's confident that she has time until the next shell is fired, and gets out, walks across the bridge and orders her tank to slowly advance. The bridge sways under the tank's weight, and begins to tilt until the tank is about to fall off, only to be saved from falling at the last moment by the StuG firing its cannon. The shell pierces the tank's armor but doesn't go in deep enough to disable it.
I'm no expert on tanks, like most fans seem to be, but this is blatantly unrealistic for things to work out this way, even by the standards of the show.
Of course, it isn't all good for Anglerfish Team, as Hana is knocked unconscious. Meanwhile, unaware of everything that happened on the bridge, and how she unwittingly saved them, Caesar is pleased with herself, saying that "(she) came, (she) saw and (she) shot them." Duck Team arrives, and they exchange hand signals.
Miho vaguely suggests that she's bad at driving but she has to do it. Considering how poorly many of the others have done so far, and Miho's reluctance to take up a command role despite her superior competence, I find it hard to believe that she could do any worse. But then the tank begins moving again and rights itself. It turns out that Mako took the controls, and with a quick read through the manual, mastered how to drive the tank. Duck and Hippo Teams resume their attack, while Turtle Team advances, with Rabbit following them and making no attempt to attack them from behind. A shot from the StuG narrowly misses Anglerfish Team, but shakes Hana awake. Hana apologizes, but Miho tells her to rest.
Miho takes command, and orders the tank to fire on the StuG, taking it out with a single shell. The others react to the sound, and Hana apparently finds it quite nice. Ami, watching, reports that Hippo has been disabled, and is impressed with Anglerfish Team. The Type 89 is shot and disabled next, after shooting and missing (given the quality of the tank, I'm not entirely sure it could have defeated the Panzer IV). Next, the 38(t) shoots and misses at the same time as Anglerfish Team's shell strikes it and takes it out. Get used to it, since Momo has an itchy trigger finger and a short temper. Momo also doesn't like being called "Momo-chan."
Duck Team, intimidated by the Nishizumi style (which could explain why they all tried to gang up on Miho), tries to escape, but ends up snapping their track. It's likely that they wouldn't have fared any better.
Ami declares Anglerfish Team's four opponents inoperable and them the winner. Saori finds it difficult to comprehend, as does Miho, but Yukari throws her arms around Miho, even though Mako more cynically points out that the last team put themselves out of the race(even if they didn't stand much of a chance). Ami orders everyone to come back, and Turtle Team is pleased with having Miho take tankery.
Ami says, with smatterings of Gratuitous English, that the tankers did a good job, and suggests that they keep practicing and give her an e-mail if they need help. Oddly enough, no one else comments on the unexpected participant, Mako.
A scene in the bath follows, for some typical fanservice. Saori says that this is more exciting than a boy telling you he loves you for the first time, although apparently, the boy she has in mind is her father. Hana and Yukari are similarly enthusiastic, while Mako sleeps in the background.
Saori, Hana and Mako convince Miho to be the leader, even though she's initially reluctant. They then work on divvying up the other responsibilities. Saori gets the radio operator position, because she's a good communicator, even if her expertise in texting does little good in tankery. Hana volunteers to be gunner, since she loves the sound of the cannon. Yukari volunteers to load.
Mako is left as the best candidate for driver, but she declines, saying she's taking calligraphy. The rest of Anglerfish Team's pleas and compliments on Mako's skill fall on deaf ears, but Saori gets through by telling Mako that unless she gets the additional credits and tardiness passes (sometimes, the script can't seem to decide whether Mako's problem is insufficient credit or excessive tardies, even if tankery solves both problems). Mako accepts, saying that she owes Miho one. While Saori suggests that the credits and other perks are more attractive, Mako's the kind of character who starts out doing something for less than noble reasons, but develops bonds with her teammates and more noble goals over time.
The team has its five people, and Saori decides to go shopping, but not at a tankery shop, much to Yukari's disappointment. Saori says that she wants to make the tank more comfortable by adding cushions, which Miho sees as unusual but not necessarily wrong. Saori also proposes slippers to help prevent the inside from getting dirty (essentially, one of the Japanese customs that Westerners are most familiar with is not wearing shoes indoors), but Mako finds that it's going too far. Saori asks to make the tank a different color, but Yukari says it has to be that color in order to conceal itself, before Saori and Hana rapidly list ideas.
Apparently, none of the other teams listened to Yukari, as Miho looks on in awe
- Duck team has a large "GUTS!" kanji on its Type 89 in white paint. Noriko, their leader, says that t makes telling them apart easy.
- Hippo Team's StuG is mostly red, with large flags on it, which you should make note of for later. Erwin wanted to make it in the style of Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps.
- Rabbit Team's M3 Lee is entirely pink. One of the girls finds it cute.
- Turtle Team's 38(t) is gold, and so bright that it shines in the sun. Anzu is pleased, and prepares to go for a plan that Yuzu, her vice-president, heard nothing about
- Anglerfish Team's outside is not painted even if the inside has Saori's purchases. She wishes they had repainted their tank, Yukari wishes they hadn't done so, and Miho is amused, saying that it's thefirst time tanks have been turned into something like this, and the first time she considered tankery fun.
A word about Miho's comment. The prequel manga, Little Army, indicates that there was a time when Miho had fun playing in a tank with her friends one summer in elementary school. I'll cover it in more detail after the anime, but essentially, the lesson Miho learns is that she enjoys tankery but not her family's style, and she must find her own way of tankery. It's natural that at a place like Oarai, with a tankery team in its infancy and people who don't' have any serious expectations of winning, she would be able to find it, but it doesn't seem entirely accurate to say that she's enjoying herself for the first time.
Elsewhere, in a somewhat posh school, a girl, speaking very formally and dressed in what appears to be a British schoolgirl uniform (a slipover sweater, dress shirt, necktie, and pantyhose congratulates Oarai and says that she accepts their challenge.
The crews begin practicing, and they work out some of the flaws in their performance, such as how to aim properly. The montage offers some amusing sites, like a traveler praying to a shrine while the gold-painted 38(t) is hiding nearby(I wonder if the old woman doesn't notice the tank or doesn't care).
Momo then says, on fairly short notice, that they're up against St. Gloriana Women's Academy on Sunday at 6 a.m. Yukari's concerned because St. Gloriana has won the semifinals before, while Mako's concerned because of the time, and considers quitting (Although The GUP Wiki
has No Sympathy for Mako, I imagine that while she's the only one who would threaten to quit over this, she's not the only one who doesn't like waking up so early).
Saori says that Mako has trouble waking up so early, and as Mako starts to walk off, the others offer help, but Mako says, with unusual vehemence, that they're asking the impossible of her if they expect her to wake up at 6 a.m.
Saori then lists the various consequences of Mako failing to get the required credits- not going up a year, having to call the girls "senpai" (although it's not unheard of for close friends with an age gap to forego that honorific), and her grandmother getting mad at her. Mako becomes horrified at the prospect of the latter, and falls in line.
Momo, who's essentially leader of the team at this point, holds a meeting with the rest of the student council and the four other commanders- Miho, Caesar, Azusa and Noriko- to discuss strategy. She says that since St. Gloriana is good at penetrating strikes into enemy territory and heavily armored, they will have to attack from no more than 100 meters away. To that end, they'll have a tank serve as bait, and lure them in close, where they'll attack from on high.
The other commanders are enthusiastic about this plan, but Miho is less so, which Anzu picks up on. Miho says that the plan is likely to be seen though by their more experienced opponents, who will then counter it by surrounding it. The others seem to conclude that Miho has a valid point, but Momo loses her temper and suggests that Miho has complaints about her plan, she should be the commander instead. That's essentially Momo in a nutshell; she's professional most of the time, but when she's angry or frustrated (which happens a lot, given her temper and tendency to take things personally), she loses her temper, and her judgment is impaired.
Miho starts to back down, but Anzu considers it a valid possibility, promising her three days worth of sweet potatoes if she wins, and forcing her to do the Anglerfish Dance if she loses.
At nightfall, Miho meets up with her friends, who are horrified by the idea of doing that humiliating dance, especially Saori, who claims that those who do it will never be able to marry. They promise to do it with her, so that Miho will not have to suffer alone.
Of course, there's one member who didn't agree to that, one whom the others are concerned about. The day of the match comes, and Saori calls Miho, having no luck in getting Mako awake, as Mako lies in bed, sleepily murmuring her desire to stay there. Yukari plays a bugle call, but has no luck, and Hana ends up firing a blank in the neighborhood, which does the job... barely.
The tank rolls through town, which, contrary to how most would react to seeing a tank rolling through the streets, is happy to see their school's tankery team back in action. Mako goes through her morning routine in the tank, with Saori's purchases serving a practical purpose.
The tank leaves the ship, albeit stuck in traffic, and Saori hopes to go shopping once the match ends. Saori wishes schools were still on land, while Yukari prefers the school ship system. Hana notices that Miho has not been to Oarai before (This tournament roster sheet, a piece of supplemental information, indicates that she's from Kumamoto, the same province Black Forest represents), and offers to show her around later. Miho accepts, then sees the much larger St. Gloriana ship, with its tanks, arriving.
"The March of the British Grenadiers" plays as an announcer explains which areas are off limits and where they can watch the match. Darjeeling and four of her subordinates arrive in the tanks from the beginning, representing St. Gloriana's crews. Momo thanks Darjeeling for accepting, and Darjeeling says it's not a problem. She implies that she doesn't think much of Oarai's judgment in its decision to paint its tanks, but promises to take them seriously, and not fight "dirty" like Saunders or Pravda a somewhat ambiguous remark that later becomes clearer for the latter.
Three judges, whose names are not provided, not even in supplementary materials, command the athletes to exchange bows.
Both sides head to their starting points, with a large screen showing the positions of both teams. The episode then ends, having set the stage for the exhibition Match
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