The story immediately begins with a tank battle against several Churchills and a Matilda, which the protagonists, whom we're observing from a tank's POV, just below the gun barrel, seem to be observing from a distance. The two are impressed by the formation, but realize that they can't pierce their frontal armor with their guns, so they'll have to improvise. They run back to the tank and one of them wakes up the driver.
The tank slowly turns around, and you get a look at all the other tanks, painted garish colors that are completely inappropriate for camouflage. They then prepare to lure in the enemy, despite one girl's concerns that it might not work, and the knowledge that they'll have to do "that dance" if they lose. One of them ignores all this and is excited to see the English tanks close up.
Their attack on the tanks misses the mark, and they're forced to retreat, but the commander says that they weren't necessarily meant to take them out. They then make evasive maneuvers, zig-zagging to avoid the English tanks' fire
The story shifts back in time, with the girl who took the leadership role in that scene waking up and hurriedly getting ready before realizing that she's no longer at home.
So ends the Action Prologue of this series, which tends to often get replicated in fanfics.
The girl walks to school, evidently new in town. Distracted by the smell of freshly baked bread from a bakery she didn't have in her home town, she collides with a telephone pole. As she recovers, she notices several schoolgirls walking by, talking with each other. It's evident that as the new kid, she hasn't had the opportunity to make any friends yet.
The girl sits in class as the lunch break begins, while others go off with their friends, and accidentally drops her mechanical pencil, following by all her other school supplies falling to the floor when she tries to retrieve the pencil. You can see, by the name on the front of the girl's notebook, that her name is Miho Nishizumi. A cheery and energetic girl calls out to Miho to invite her to join her for lunch, but her friend, a graceful girl with long dark hair, tells the girl, whose name is Saori, that she's scaring Miho. Saori apologizes and her friend repeats the invitation, which Miho accepts.
Saori comments on their success, and her friend says she made for the purposes of getting to know Miho. The new girl knows the names of the two- Saori Takebe and Hana Isuzu, respectively, having memorized the class roster- including student names and birthdays- for the purposes of getting to know everyone else.
Saori immediately asks to call Miho by her first name, and Miho accepts, so excited that she nearly trips. If you're familiar with Japanese standards of etiquette, calling one by their first name is much more significant than it is in the West. However, depending on the anime, characters may be relatively casual with the use of first names.
Miho sits down with Saori and Hana, and reveals that she came to Oarai by herself. Saori and Hana propose some theories as to why Miho changed schools, with Saori suggesting theories along the line of a rejected Love Confession, a Love Triangle, or her boyfriend cheating on her, and Hana suggesting family troubles. Evidently, none of them are accurate, but Miho doesn't want to confirm or deny any of them, so Hana wisely changes the subject.
The scene switches to three girls in a dark room, vaguely deciding to take steps to deal with something. Their faces aren't completely visible, and two of them are only visible from the knees down. All this looks vaguely ominous and makes them seem like the villains.
The scene switches back to Miho and her friends, suggesting plans for later, and Miho says they're like typical high school girls. Saori is confused about how to act around some boys saying hi to her. Hana suggests that she not read into it, and Miho says that Saori is quite easy to approach, so it's natural that they'd be friendly with her.
Hana says she has a good impression of Miho so far, and Miho deflects the compliment, saying she's jealous of the calm and mature Hana (who suggests that people view her as uptight) vaguely implying that she was called "unreliable" at her old school, and asks how she can be more like Hana. Hana says she did flower arranging, and Miho expresses an interest in that.
Meanwhile, the three girls from earlier make their way to the classroom and soon enter, pointing out Miho and calling out to her. Saori identifies them as the student council, and they call Miho out into the hallway for a conversation. Miho reluctantly accepts, finding their tone intimidating.
They then tell Miho to take tankery for her mandatory elective, with the president, Anzu Kadotani, saying, "Thanks," as if Miho has already said yes. Miho says that she thought the school didn't have a tankery class- which the PR rep, Momo Kawashima, says was true until this year- and she chose it because it didn't have tankery. Anzu suggests it's fate, and when Miho points out that they could choose whichever mandatory elective they want, slaps her on the back and says "Thanks" before walking off. The vice president, Yuzu Koyama, says nothing, seemingly uncomfortable with all this; one has to wonder how complicit she is.
A word about tankery's status. It's apparently treated as an elective for the first part of the series (students have to take one of the ten electives- i.e. a class outside of core curriculum), but later on, seems to be treated as a club (which is mandatory in some Japanese schools, but doesn't seem to be the case in Oarai).
Saori and Hana notice Miho upset after this, and the scene cuts to class, with Miho sitting in approximately the same position in the frame, with the same expression. The teacher calls on her, but gets no response, and suggests that she go to the nurse's office. As Miho walks by, Saori and Hana immediately claim to not be feeling well. The nurse says that a lot of people are not feeling well, and tells them to rest quietly.
Saori and Hana speak to Miho and offer to help her. They hear about Anzu's forceful recruitment of Miho, and wonder why Miho is being singled out. Miho reveals that she comes from a family that is famous for tankery, but she hasn't had many good experiences with tanks. Saori says that tankery is less popular among high school girls these days, and Hana offers to support Miho if she decides to refuse the student council.
Of course, you should have some idea of how this will end. Refusal of the Call is not easily accepted, and this goes all the way back to the story of Jonah in The Bible, making this Older Than Feudalism.
Class ends, and the students are called into the gymnasium for an assembly, which Miho's friends note is standard procedure for their student council. The student council puts on a film strip about tankery, which describes it as a way to make practitioners into ideal women, much like how traditional martial arts also teach their students discipline.
Virtually everyone except Miho gets excited by this, including several characters we haven't seen much of yet but will later.
Momo takes the stand and says that a few years ago, a world championship would be held in Japan, resulting in the Ministry of Culture asking high schools and colleges to strengthen their tankery teams. Anzu reveals that they decided to get some incentives to bolster their recruitment efforts, which Yuzu says include 100 free lunch tickets, 200 tardiness excuses, and three times the credit of a normal class, getting the attention of one relatively sleepy dark-haired girl, the one who has the most need of the tardiness excuses.
Saori has an immediate change of heart and wants to take it so that she can appeal to boys, encouraging Miho to do the same, since her family's doing it, but Miho is still reluctant. Hana understands where Miho is coming from, since her family does flower arranging, and seeks a more active alternative. She, too, announces her intention to do tankery, and asks Miho to teach her what she knows.
That night, Miho, in her pajamas, stares at the application form while having a flashback to a tank sinking into a river, with others at the edge of a cliff, and hugs an oddly bandaged stuffed bear.
The next morning, Miho is in class with Saori and Hana, and it turns out that she put a circle in the box for Incense, apologizing for not wanting to do tankery. But without hesitation, Saori and Hana cross off their circle for tankery and choose to do incense. Hana says she doesn't want Miho to relive unpleasant memories, while Saori uses the same logic that she used to get involved, suggesting that she could attract it by not doing it.
Unfortunately, at lunch, several girls in the background are talking about how excited they are to do tankery. Saori plans to distract Miho by suggesting that they go out for ice cream. But then an announcement comes over the PA system, summoning Miho to the student council office. Miho immediately realizes that the student council is not pleased with her decision, and is terrified, but Saori and Hana decide to accompany her.
Momo demands to know why Miho did not choose tankery, saying they need someone with tankery experience and almost no one else has it (something that she should have mentioned when recruiting Miho, not that it would have done any good). Yuzu wails that the school is "finished" at this rate.
Saori and Hana don't think much of forcing Miho to do tankery, but Anzu, undeterred, says that if that's the case, they won't stay at the school for much longer. The girls are horrified, even if later events suggest that Anzu might have been bending the truth, and wasn't necessarily threatening to expel them. Yuzu tries to suggest that the girls apologize, but the plea falls on deaf ears and an argument breaks out.
Miho thinks about how the others are not only willing to forgo tankery in spite of their desire to do it, but also stand up to the student council. In a stunning reversal, she declares her willingness to do tankery.
At the ice cream shop, Miho's friends ask if she's sure of her decision, and Miho says that it was the least she could do for them, since it was the first time anyone stood up for her like that (which isn't the entire truth, as Little Army reveals). She vaguely mentions how she couldn't do tankery without thinking like her mother and sister did, but she drops the subject.
The next day, people gather together for the start of tankery class, with Yukari admiring Miho from a distance. The student council notes that only twenty-one people showed up, less than they'd hoped for, and they hope it works out. Unfortunately, their arsenal is in even worse shape, as only one rusty Panzer IV is left. Miho, however, says it's in working condition.
The episode ends with the camera zooming out and revealing that the school and the surrounding community are all on the deck of a large aircraft carrier. For more details, see OVA 3.
All in all, this first episode nicely established the setting for the series, even if it was somewhat predictable that Miho would do tankey, and the Action Prologue was essentially a way of including some tank combat even while they were setting up, so that viewers wouldn't have to wait until the next episode to see the tank combat that was part of the show's premise, and the requisite preparation work wouldn't end up being rushed.
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