The chapter begins in the middle of the match with Saunders, with the vast majority of everything that came before it, and much of the immediate aftermath skipped. The end of the match has Hana firing on a tank behind them, instead of getting to a high point and sniping the flag tank.
Unfortunately, this wastes some potentially interesting scenes involving Yukari, such as:
- The scene in the tankery cafe. This would have been a good chance for Yukari to get a first impression of Maho and Eriks. Considering that Yukari admires Miho as an individual, rather than as a Nishizumi, it might be interesting to see how she views the outwardly "perfect Nishizumi" Maho.
- Yukari's infiltration of Saunders. This could easily have been an entire chapter, covering what wasn't shown on camera.
- The match with Saunders. It's the first time Oarai defeated an enemy outside their school, one that few expected would have lost to them. In that regard, it's arguably a more significant step in Oarai's growth as a tankery team, and Yukari's perspective would have been more interesting.
- Maho's granting the team the use of the helicopter. It's one scene that provides an early indication that Maho is a kind person at heart, and it might be interesting to see Yukari's reaction to this. Unfortunately, as you will see, Maho is severely Demoted to Extra in the manga, to the point at which you could assume that Erika is Black Forest's commander.
Miho greets Yukari on the first day of class after the match with Saunders, and they discuss their schoolmates celebrating the victory.
Momo briefs the team, saying that this is no time to relax, and they must keep up their efforts in the next round. No one finds this at all out of place, even if Momo's a bit taken off guard by their enthusiasm.
Momo then brings forward the students from the clothing studies department, with one nameless student who has Hair Antennae saying that she and her clubmates made the "panzer jackets" the tankery students wore in the first round. Saori is surprised to hear from Hana that all of them were made by hand.
Saori notices the student council doing something with the Panzer IV, and they tell her that they, along with the auto club, are upgrading the tank, but don't clarify how. Anzu then asks for their help in certain matters. As in the anime, Mako teaches Duck Team how to drive the tanks, Hana helps Yuzu with the filing, Miho attends a strategy meeting, Saori helps Rabbit Team with love advice, and Yukari, together with Hippo Team, helps look for a new tank. This is one time in which my bare-bones summary of events is close to a precise description of what happened- all these events get a panel each.
The scene cuts to the tank garage. Erwin says goodbye to Yukari, calling her "Guderian," and Yukari explains how she got the "soul name" to Miho, who just finished her strategy meeting. Again, it's something of a wasted opportunity to show the actual scene, since it was something Yukari did by herself.
Miho is in a pensive mood, saying that the way they're doing things at Oarai is different than what she's been taught at home- the Nishizumi style, and that her life revolved around tankery, with a montage of her friends from Little Army, Kikuyo, Maho and Erika, being shown, but says that she's starting from scratch
Miho then confesses to Yukari that she hasn't liked tankery at all, which gives Yukari pause, but then Miho adds that she started enjoying it after coming to Oarai. Yukari finds this natural, given the amount of pressure she was under, and is glad that Miho is finally enjoying tankery. Miho then says that she finally realized that there are many ways to enjoy tankery.
This doesn't seem entirely in keeping with the entire point of Little Army, even if the manga acknowledges Little Army's existence. I will eventually get to Little Ary, but I'll provide a short summary of the relevant parts here. In it, Miho starts to realize that doing tankery is fun, even if the Nishizumi style isn't something she can do, and in the last chapter, decides to find her own way of tankery as she parts ways with Emi. As such, Oarai can be considered an environment conducive to Miho forming her own ideals in ways that Black Forest was not, but it's perhaps a stretch in light of that to say that Miho conceived the desire to find her own way of tankery at Oarai, even if she did find her own way of tankery there.
The next day, Anglerfish Team learns about the discovery of the Char B1 Bis, with Yukari briefly providing exposition about its capabilities. The Auto Club finishes its work on the Panzer IV, making it into the Ausf. D. Yukari's excited to be on the same level as their opponents.
The scene cuts to Anzio, where Carpaccio reports in to Anchovy's office, reporting that they're going to face Oarai in three days. Anchovy confirms that everyone's morale is good, and that the commander is Maho's little sister. Anchovy strikes a picture of Miho with a riding crop, posted next to one of Kay, declaring that she is "unforgivable."
So with the removal of 100 percent of Episode 5, roughly 95 percent of Episode 6, and at least 75 percent of Episode 7, this chapter covered about three episodes worth of content, including some of the better and more interesting parts of the story. In exchange, they're covering the battle with Anzio. What will be gained? We'll have to see.
Next Installment: Miho faces off against Anzio and gets an unusually cold reception.
