Fanfic / Dein Weg Ist Mein Weg

The disgraced former star of Kuromorimine has rediscovered her way of life and now she is trying to make things right...

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Dein Weg ist Mein Weg is a Girls und Panzer fanfiction written by Rihnoswirl in 2020 and is currently ongoing. This fanfiction tells the story about For Want Of A Nail scenario where Maho was the one who saved Panzer III crews in the infamous senshadou defeat of Kuromorimine at the hands of Pravda. As a result, Panzer III crews whose tank fell to the river during the said match and Maho who abandoned her tank to save them were ostracized by the rest of Kuromorimine, and later Maho was relieved of her captain rank. Realizing that Kuromorimine no longer needed her, Maho deserted her old school and repeated her second year of high school education at Ooarai, specifically to avoid senshadou program, but fate has decided different things for her. The fanfiction can be read on FanFiction.Net and AO3.

This fanfiction provides examples of:

• '90s Anti-Hero: Maho Nishizumi fits this trope. Dark and Troubled Past? Check. Perpetual Frowner? Check. Tranquil Fury? Check. The Alcoholic? Check. Although fortunately, she is on her way to become Recovered Addict.
• Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder: Chapter 47 reveals that Kikuyo and Tsuneo committed adultery during the times Shiho was far from home. Maho is turned out to be their lovechild.
• Abusive Parents: Shiho Nishizumi, even more so than in canon, as in this fic she instilled Nishizumi style on Maho by force. It is also implied that Shiho successfully brainwashed Miho since her childhood.
• Accidental Aiming Skills: Subverted in chapters 31 and 32. Momo tries to take out Anzio's P40 but accidentally blows Hana's killing shot out of the air instead. Maho is not amused.
• Adaptation Expansion: The fic expands the roles of several characters and spends a lot more time between matches than the anime does. A lot of the matches are also expanded upon.
• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: The story is considerably more angsty than its canon counterpart.
• Adaptational Villainy:
  • Commander Miho Nishizumi is unarguably the most ruthless and cold-hearted tank commander in the story, unlike her humble and soft-speaking canon version.
  • Momo, as much as she is a stubborn hardass in canon, is far worse in this fic.
• Anger Born of Worry: Anchovy is angry at Maho and goes as far as slapping her and calling her a coward, but not because of hatred. It is because Maho stopped communicating with her for months after the dreaded previous senshadou tournament final match, making her thinking that the brunnette has been Driven to Suicide, only to suddenly appears as Ooarai team captain as if nothing happened. When Maho knows the reason why Anchovy gets upset at her, she then makes an...
• Anguished Declaration of Love: As Maho cries and tells Anchovy about her past problems and grievance, she then apologizes for her mistakes and proceeds to confess her love to the latter, who cut it off before Maho finishes her confession, because she is not sure that she can say she loves the brunnette back with how she currently feels.
• Ascended Extra:
  • Azusa's role and character is greatly expanded in this universe, becoming one of Maho's friends and also acting as the secondary main character.
  • Ami Chono, the Sensha-Do instructor for Ooarai's team, has a significantly bigger role than her short appearance in canon. She not only helps guide and teach the team as a whole, but as a former student and commander of Kuromorimine with ample experience of the Nishizumi style she also serves as Maho's friend and confidant.
  • Honorable mention to Taiga Ou, one of the only named Ooarai students who are not part of the Sensha-Do team in canon. In this fic, she gets some more screentime by joining the team as part of the Char B1's crew.
• Ascended Fanboy: In-Universe. Yukari Akiyama is a big fan of senshadou and an even bigger fan of Maho Nishizumi. When Ooarai officially revives its senshadou club, Yukari actually becomes Maho's crewmate, they even ride the same tank.
• Badass Boast:
  • Anzu takes Shiho's threats in stride.
  "You disappoint me," Shiho said with calm fury. "Crossing me... I didn't think you could possibly be that stupid."
  Anzu shrugged. "I've been underestimated before. Why don't you ask your daughter how well it worked out for her?"
  • Nishizumi tells Katyusha to prepare herself for a bitter defeat in the semi final match.
  Nishizumi: It is said we only gain wisdom through suffering, and today I will make you very wise."
• Badass Creed: The ritualistic belief adhered by every Nishizumi tanker that make them powerful, with exception of Maho who instead uses this as a Survival Mantra to prevent herself from having a seizure and panic attack in the middle of the match.
  A Nishizumi doesn't hesitate.
  A Nishizumi doesn't break.
  A Nishizumi doesn't cry.
  When a Nishizumi has the target before them, they fire.
  When a Nishizumi fires, they hit their target.
• Bait-and-Switch: Anzu deploys a masterful Bait-and_Switch when she turns down Shiho's deal to save Ooarai in exchange for Maho.
  "Well, Nishizumi, I guess this is it. I hope you won't hold this against me," the pipsqueak said as she looked at Maho with a sly and satisfied smile, cracking her knuckles as she spoke. "But I'm afraid I'm going to have to decline your generous offer," she continued, and turned her eyes on Shiho instead. "I'm terribly sorry for taking up your time. Good day."
• Becoming the Mask: After the death of her older sister, Azusa does this as she spends years trying to fill the void that her sister left behind. As her friendship with Maho deepens, she slowly starts to come out of it and tries to become her own person.
• Berserk Button:
  • Do not challenge Maho's authority as Ooarai's captain. Despite her past "disgrace", she is still the only one in Ooarai who has actually lifted senshadou tournament winner trophy, while everyone else has just started learning to play.
  • Do not call Momo "Sweetie".
• Big Sister Bully: Inverted, Miho utterly despises Maho and it is revealed in Chapter 25 that she is looking for a chance to personally ruin her big sister.
  [...] an undetectable smirk insisted on forming itself across Miho's lips. Kuromorimine would stand victorious in the finals again regardless of who dared face them, that much was already obvious. But her thoughts betrayed her. Fun was not a factor to consider in Sensha-Do. But the possibility that she would be allowed to crush Maho, regardless of how impossibly unlikely it was, did bring a smile to her face.
• Birds of a Feather: Assam and Naomi are both calm, collected, cool, clever, and excellent shots.
• "Blackmail" Is Such an Ugly Word: Anzu deploys this against Maho to get her to become the commander of Ooarai's Sensha-Do team.
  "Threaten is such an ugly word. I prefer 'encouraging'. It has a much more positive ring to it."
• Bottle Episode: Chapter 36 is one of these, with the entire chapter apart from the opening scene being kept within the walls of the Student Council's office, and focusing on the back and forth of Maho, the Student Council, and Shiho discussing a deal to save Ooarai from being closed.
• Break the Haughty: In the semi final match, Katyusha feels the true horror of defeat at the hands of Nishizumi-style senshadou, enough to make her crying tears of fear, courtesy to Miho.
• Broken Ace: Maho maybe broken, but she is still The Ace of Ooarai senshadou club.
• Brutal Honesty: Both Saori and Mako are not afraid to speak their mind.
• Bullying the Dragon: Momo is guilty of provoking Maho at least twice. The two most notable examples are when Momo blames Maho for Ooarai's defeat at the hands of St. Gloriana in a practice match; and when Momo tries to sell Maho back to Shiho and Kuromorimine behind everyone's back after Ooarai beat Anzio. Maho wastes no time to tell Momo how wrong her actions are, by brutalizing her.
• Cain and Abel: Maho, a jaded senshadou commander of a humble school is the Abel and Miho, a manipulative cold senshadou commander of an elite school who fully embraces Nishizumi style of senshadou is the Cain.
• Call-Back: When Maho and Darjeeling first meet, Maho teels her that she wasn't in command and is only a radio operator. When the two meet again later in the story, Darjeeling calls Maho "Radio Operator Nishizumi".
• Calling the Old Woman Out:
  • In the past, Maho told Shiho that she did not regret saving Panzer III crews because it was the right thing to do, and called out Shiho for forcing her to resign for doing the right thing.
  • Chapter 47 shows Maho calling out her biological mother Kikuyo, for both not standing up for her when she was tormented by Shiho, and hiding the truth for seventeen years.
• The Cameo:
  • Shizuka, Rin, and Haruka of Centipede Team from the Ribbon Warrior-manga are in the stands during the Semi-Finals, with Shizuka having some interesting thoughts on Maho's personality.
  • Louise Tuckerman from the fanfic Ace shows up commanding her tank of the same name as part of Saunders' Sensha-Do team during the first round of the tournament.
  • Valarie Woodlin from the fanfic Dust Devils and her family are in the audience during Ooarai's match against Anzio
  • English Breakfast from the fanfics The Longest Week and The Fallen Crown appears as a student of St. Gloriana during Chapter 40.
  • 'Q', a character from the author's other story Tales from the tea Garden also appears during this chapter, bitterly complaining to Darjeeling over the state of the team's tanks.
  • Roselle, Rosemary, and Rosemallow from the fanfic Speedster and Spymaster: An Unlikely Love Story appear as part of Rosehip's crew during the battle against St. Gloriana
• Converse with the Unconscious: Maho (and sometimes Koume) would sometimes talk to a still-coma Emi Nakasuga in the latter's hospital wing.
• Cool Big Sis: Averted. Miho certainly does not see Maho this way.
  • Ami Chono tries her best to fulfill this role for Maho, acting as a surrogate big sis when she's at her lowest.
• The Corrupter: Massively downplayed. Ogin has her crews serving "Hiroshima" (a cocktail beverage mixed from unknown substances that causes hot burning sensation) to Maho simply because the latter asks for the heaviest drink they have. Ogin is more or less the one who trigger Maho's unhealthy drinking habit in early part of the story, but that's about it. While Ogin hates elite type of students, she never persuades Maho to skip class or cause any kind of trouble. She even cares enough to give Maho something to eat at one time without asking anything in return, so the latter won't have a stomachache.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Kuromorimine under Commander Miho Nishizumi's leadership reach the final round of the tournament by trashing every team they face. In the first preliminary round, Kuromorimine use only three tanks to crush all ten tanks of Chi-Ha-Tan. In the semi final match against Pravda, Kuromorimine win by deploying Maus to distract Pravda, then Nishizumi tricking both Klara' and Nonna into shooting each other's tanks, and Pravda was finally put out of their misery with Nishizumi personally disables Pravda's flag tank, completely destroying Katyusha's hopes and dreams.
• Darker and Edgier: Compared to the original series. Among the changes: The Nishizumi style and Shiho's way of teaching it is overtly abusive, in turn making the atmosphere at Kuromorimine a lot harsher. Maho is understandly more bitter, gruffer, and (initially) meaner than canon because of it, nevermind compared to the canon Miho.
• Dark Is Evil: While series about sports usually have no real evil people, the Darker and Edgier storyline puts Kuromorimine as this, with their dark grey school uniform and black/red senshadou uniform, and their fanatical ideas about valuing strength and victory above all else. People with different values ended up getting relieved of duty by the higher-ups, one way or another.
• Defeating the Cheating Opponent: Subverted. While Alisa cheats just as much during Ooarai's match against Saunders as she does in canon, one of the Panzer IV's treads snaps at the worst possible moment and cost Ooarai the victory. It is later revealed that one of Alisa's fans sabotaged the Panzer IV to ensure Saunders would win. Once Kay finds out, she concedes the match to Ooarai.
• Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Before the practice match between Ooarai and St. Gloriana, Maho said that she will participate as the radio operator for Panzer IV. Saori, Hana, and Yukari who know about Maho's bitter past sometimes shoot some concerned and worried glances at Maho. Maho does not like it one bit.
  Hana's aim, Yukari's loading, and Saori's ability to command also didn't leave much to be desired. What made dealing with them awkward was how much they knew about her, with the exception of Mako. Maho rarely spoke to the trio at school, and they returned the favor during practice. Mostly they just gave her the occasional concerned look, as if she was a glass figurine or porcelain doll, who could crumble at the slightest disturbance. It all annoyed Maho like nothing else. She knew herself better than anyone else did, so they could take their worry and go to hell with it all. Why did everyone who found out about her insist on treating her as being fragile and delicate? She was, despite her own wishes, a Nishizumi, and Nishizumis didn't break. They only grew stronger.
• Downer Beginning: The story starts with Maho showing signs of Post-Traumatic Stress, such as hearing voices in her head and having nightmares at night akin to a Shell-Shocked Veteran.
• The Dreaded:
  • Maho was pretty infamous during her time as Kuromorimine's senshadou captain, but Miho Nishizumi is on a whole different level. Many people who had faced Nishizumi in a match describe her as a monster in a human skin who takes away her opponent's dreams as she beats them into submission.
  • Ogin and her crews who opens a secret bar at Ooarai's lower deck of Zuikaku ship have quite a nasty reputation within Ooarai. Apparently their bad reputation is contagious to their customers as well. Entering Ogin's bar, even if you just did it a few times is enough to get people talking bad about you behind your back.
• Drowning My Sorrows: In early part of the story, Maho skips classes to hang out with Ooarai's gang of undesirables because they are the only ones who serve alcoholic beverage to an underage girl like her. Maho admits that she drinks because it helps her forgetting her bitter past. She gets better, though.
• Evil Counterpart: Miho is this to Maho. Both are captain of their respective senshadou clubs, both have similar hairstyle, both use "Panzer Vor" as battle roar. Their difference lays in how they act towards their crewmates and adversaries.
• Evil Matriarch: Shiho Nishizumi. While in the canon storyline she has very few redeeming qualities, in this fanfiction she is downright villainous, abusive, and spiteful.
• Expy: 'Q', the head mechanic for St.Gloriana's Sensha-Do team, is a gruff, white-haired woman with a propensity for knocking people in the head with heavy objects, and who at one point quotes Lionel Tribbey from The West Wing almost verbatim.
• Fatal Flaw: Maho's anti-social attitude makes her prone to lashing out to people who are trying to be kind and helpful, and this has costed her so much throughout the story.
• Faux Shadowing: In the early parts of the story, Maho makes repeated reference to having lost Miho and keeps an old Boko-bear as a keepsake of her, implying that Miho has somehow passed away. At the end of chapter 14, it is revealed that Miho is not only alive, but also the cold-hearted Commander of Kuromorimine's Sensha-Do team.
• Fiery Redhead: Emi Nakasuga was portrayed as this in Maho's flashback story, both during her childhood and as a Kuromorimine student. That is, until she fell into a coma.
• Flat "What": Maho's response after Anzu turns down Shiho's offer to save Ooarai.
• Foreshadowing: The reveal in chapter 47 that Shiho isn't Maho's mother is subtly hinted towards at several points in the story.
  • Throughout the story, Shiho always refers to Maho as her heir instead of her daughter.
  • In chapter 18 Miho tells Azusa in no uncertain terms that she doesn't have a sister. It is technically true in a sense that Tsuneo was the only connection Miho shared with Maho, and with his death, Miho no longer feels any connection with Maho.
  • In chapter 23 Tsuneo tells Maho "Your mother isn't who you think she is."
• Friendly Enemy: Darjeeling shows a great respect for Maho and her talents, making a point of watching her every game. After facing one another a second time during the Semi-Finals, Maho begins to reciprocate Darjeeling's respect, and after the match the two acknowledge each other as rivals.
• Hard Work Hardly Works: Averted with Maho. She work just as hard, if not harder than her peers to hone her tankery skills, courtesy of Shiho's Training from Hell.
• Heroic BSoD: Maho falls into one of these after her father passes away.
• Hopeless Suitor: Koume's first crush was her childhood friend Erika who saved her from bullies in the past. She moved on past it after realizing that Erika had already set her eyes on Miho. It became worse after Kuromorimine lost to Pravda in senshadou final tournament. Erika became so enraged that she brought her goons to ambush and beat up Koume.
• Inappropriately Close Comrades: Chapter 18 hints that the relationship between Erika and Miho may be deeper than simply being crewmates. Confirmed in Chapter 39 where they share a deep kiss.
• The Infiltration:
  • Like in canon, Yukari infiltrates Saunders before the first round of the tournament, with mixed results.
  • As Ooarai are preparing to face off against St. Gloriana again in the Semi-Finals, Maho sneaks aboard the Ark Royal using a uniform borrowed from Yukari and a Bavarian Fire Drill to be let aboard without question. Unfortunately for Maho, Assam was expecting her to sneak aboard and takes her to Darjeeling.
• Insane Troll Logic: Chapter 46 reveals that Shiho finally decides to disown and disinherit Maho because Maho "have irrevocably stained the honor and name of both the Nishizumi family and the Nishizumi style of Sensha-Do". This despite the fact that Maho successfully leads Ooarai, a team full of novices, to the tournament final round against all odds. If anything, Shiho should be proud of Maho's achievement.
• In the Blood: Dramatically averted with Maho; Chapter 47 reveals that Maho is Kikuyo's biological daughter and not Shiho's, which means that her skills of Nishizumi-style tankery is not a Shared Family Quirks she inherits from Shiho, but a result of Shiho's Training from Hell and her own hard works.
• In-Series Nickname:
  • After the Anzio-battle, Caesar bestows the soul name "Janus" onto Maho.
  • Maho usually refers to Momo as "Cyclops".
• Insistent Appellation: Koume always calls Maho "Commander", no matter how much Maho tries to tell her to call her by her name.
  • As Maho leaves Kuromorine, Koume finally relents: "'Please, just… just take care of yourself… Maho…' Maho smirked. 'So, that's what it took to get you to call me by my name. But yes, I'll take care of myself. It's a promise. Goodbye, Koume.'"
• Insult of Endearment: Maho takes to calling Anzu "Pipsqueak" immediately after first meeting her. As Maho gets more respect for Anzu, especially after Anzu declines Shiho's deal to sell out Maho in exchange for Ooarai remaining open, she starts using it more as a nickname than an insult.
• Jerkass: In a practice match between Ooarai vs. St. Gloriana, Maho deploys herself as the radio operator and tells Saori to be the tank commander. Yet, when Ooarai tanks is getting pulverized one by one, Maho starts to feel bitter, then proceeds to override Saori's commanding chain and begins to yell orders to her crewmates, some are too difficult to follow by novice tankers (Ooarai is not Kuromorimine, Maho!), and she even make some violent threats if someone dares to turn back on her orders.
  • In Maho's defense, that is not what she wants to do. It is Nishizumi-style doctrine that has been instilled into her body and mind by her mother since childhood. Maho even gets My God, What Have I Done? moment after Ooarai loses anyway despite her somewhat tyrannical orders.
• The Juggernaut:
  • Kuromorimine's Maus survives several minutes of artillery fire with barely a scratch, and is only stopped by Nonna leading it onto a frozen lake and getting it to go through the ice.
  • St.Gloriana's Black Prince shrugs off everything that tries to take it out, and in the end Ooarai only win by taking out the enemy flag tank instead.
• Kick the Dog:
  • One time in the past, Shiho slapped Maho for experiencing a seizure in the middle of the training, and proceeded to scold her for "daring to have a flaw".
  • Momo attempting to sell out Maho to Shiho and in return, ask Shiho to persuade MEXT into not shutting down Ooarai regardless of the tournament result, not only it shows how little her faith toward her own comrades is, it also shows her treacherous, ungrateful side, and can possibly put Ooarai into disarray.
  • Erika attempts to slap Azusa before the tournament even began, just because of some petty insults. Fortunately, Maho interferes.
• Last-Name Basis: The narrative point of view mentions Miho as simply "Nishizumi" except when Maho is around.
• Lethal Chef: Maho can't cook to save her life. Apparently Shiho only taught her the Nishizumi way of senshadou, not how to prepare her own food.
• Literary Allusion Title:
  • The fic's name is an allusion to Maho's character song; Mein Weg und Dein Weg.
  • Chapter 40, Tailed through the Tea Garden, is a reference to the author's other work, Tales from the Tea Garden.
  • Chapter 43, Always Retreating, is an allusion to the fanfic Always Advancing.
  • Chapter 45, Devils in the Dust, alludes to another fanfic; Dust Devils.
• Motor Mouth: Nakajima is written as one of these, to the point that when she is completely exhausted at one point, she starts speaking normally.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: In the past, Maho taught Miho everything she knew about senshadou, especially Nishizumi style, so that Miho would not get punished by Shiho for the slightest mistake and being allowed to live a free life. It backfired. Miho embraced Nishizumi style to the fullest and became an ambitious, cold person both on and off senshadou field. She is basically a teenager version of Shiho with different hairstyle.
• Nightmare Sequence: Early part of the fic shows Maho having nightmares of drowning or being tormented by her own dark side.
• Not a Game: After it is revealed that Momo tried to sell out Maho to Shiho in exhange for saving Ooarai, she yells at her comrades in the student council, angry that no one but her seems to take the potential closure of their school seriously and telling Yuzu that they're not in a sports anime and they can't win with just The Power of Friendship.
• Opposites Attract: Maho who rarely shows what she truly feels used to be in a romantic relationship with the hammy Anchovy, and it is revealed that both still care for each other.
• Out-Gambitted: As the Semi-finals kick off, Maho enacts her plan to isolate and eliminate St.Gloriana's flag tank before any reinforcements can arrive, carefully making sure that the rest of the enemy team have gone off elsewhere. But, since Darjeeling has spent the past months studying Maho and her abilities and tactics, the lightly protected flag tank turns out to be only bait to lure Ooarai into a trap.
• The Proud Elite: Commander Nishizumi comes from an elite family with rich tradition in senshadou field. She treats almost everyone around her with disdain, coming off as cold, arrogant, and uncaring.
• Refusal of the Call: Initially, Maho refuses to join a newly rebranded senshadou club in Ooarai, she even goes as far as threatening the Student Council with violence. She also attempts to quit the team after Ooarai lose to Saunders. When Saunders withdraws from the tournament (two of their crews use underhanded methods which Kay despises) and Ooarai proceeds to the quarter final, Maho starts taking senshadou in Ooarai seriously. She even rediscovers her love of tanks in semi final match against St. Gloriana.
• Relationship Upgrade: Caesar and Carpaccio, from Childhood Friends become Official Couple in the story after Ooarai vs. Anzio match.
• Senseless Sacrifice: Maho completed Shiho's Training from Hell in order to become the proper heir of Nishizumi family, so Miho could lead a free and happy life without shouldering the burden of being a Nishizumi. It backfired, Maho's efforts made her the black sheep of the family, Miho, her sister whom she wanted to protect ended up despising her and calling her weak-minded, and she gets disowned even after doing her best as Ooarai senshadou captain.
• Shout-Out:
  • Maho paraphrases Hawkeye's views on Hell when she describes the Nishizumi style.
  "The Nishizumi style is the Nishizumi style, and Hell is Hell. And of the two of them, the Nishizumi style is much worse. [...] There are no innocent bystanders in Hell. But the Nishizumi style destroys everything it touches, no matter who or what it is."
  • Maho quotes Lelouch from Code Geass when she defends her infiltrating the Ark Royal herself instead of letting Yukari try.
  "If the king won't lead, how can he expect his subordinates to follow?"
  • During the Semi-Finals, Azusa calls to engage "Operation McQueen" before using a bump in the ground to jump their M3 Lee like Steve McQueen's character does with a motorcycle in The Great Escape.
  • Ogin puts on a front to intimidate her fellow delingquents into following her, but is in actuality quite pleasant to deal with, much like Captain Shakespeare from Stardust.
  • After defeating St. Gloriana, Azusa gives Orange Pekoe her handkerchief in a reversal of the two's interaction in the doujin Rabbit Sunrise.
  • During the battle with St.Gloriana, Maho orders Ooarai to head to point HK-47.
  • Karina says "Now this is Podracing" to herself when she pushes the M3 Lee's engine in the Semi-Finals.
  • Erwin says a line from Sabaton's song Wolfpack after Hippo team takes out one of St. Gloriana's Matilda IIs in the exhibition match.
  • Maho quotes a line from Hamilton when talking with Azusa in Chapter 38.
  "I was younger than you are now, when I was given my first command [...] I led my team straight into a massacre. I witnessed our loss firsthand. I made every mistake, and felt the shame rise in me..."
  • In the same conversation, Azusa makes reference to the Kobayashi Maru.
  • Like she does in der film, Maho names all of Ooarai's operations after operas by Richard Wagner.
  • When first meeting, Kay calls Maho Kelly.
  "Hmm… Short brown hair, narrow and bitter eyes, a deadpan, no-nonsense expression... I guess that makes you Kelly!"
  • The fic's take on Katyusha presents her as a Chess player, and Pravda consequently use Chess Motifs to denote their various tanks and positions, in reference to the Soviet Union's dominance in the Chess world during the Cold War. The name of the chapter where Pravda fight is also a reference to the Chess opening "The Queen's Gambit".
  • Naomi paraphrases The Sniper from Fortress 2 when considering her views on Sensha-Do.
  She considered herself a professional, and professionals needed standards, of which she had three. She was polite, she was efficient, and she had a plan to take out any foe she met.
  • Nakajima makes use of Scotty's trick of multiplying her repair estimates by 4.
  • As she reckons with being informed that she isn't a true Nishizumi, Maho considers the irony of her situation and the possibility that it's all a joke or experiment.
  ''[...]set up to prove the thesis of some cruel angel.
• Singing in the Shower: In chapter 47, Anchovy is singing songs in Italian while in the shower, changing the lyrics to be about herself.
• Small Name, Big Ego: Momo Kawashima. She is better at talking down Maho's tactical commands than she is at doing her job as the gunner.
• Spock Speak: Hana speaks this way in the fic, never making use of contractions and very rarely showing much emotion when she speaks.
• Stations of the Canon: Despite Maho being the protagonist instead of Miho like in canon, the story hits most of the stations as it goes along. A disgraced former student of Kuromorimine transferring to Ooarai, said student refusing to join Ooarai senshadou club, eventhough she begrudgingly participating in a practice match with St. Gloriana, then meeting Erika at the café, facing Saunders in the first round and Anzio in the second round of the tournament. After that, things start to diverge a bit more.
  • Also, Maho also meets Ogin and the rest of Ooarai "gang of pirates" way earlier than Miho does in canon, under different circumstances as well.
• Super-Senses: The Nishizumis are shown to have incredible hearing and awareness when focused, to the point of being able to keep track of dozens of tanks and their exact location across several miles. Maho finds herself being out-of-touch with her skills at the beginning of the story, but as she works through her depressed mental state she becomes more and more adept at using the skill once again, using it during the semi-finals to guide the Panzer IV through a sandstorm.
• Symbolic Serene Submersion: Maho experiences this when the Nishizumi-parts of her mind take the reigns.
  • Chapter 15 also opens on Maho experiencing it for real during a near-drowning incident as a child.
• Tempting Fate: Maho does this just before the finals of the 62nd tournament.
  "Aren't you being a bit over-confident? What if something goes wrong?"
  "It's just Pravda," Maho said with a laugh. "What could go wrong? That 10-year streak is as good as ours!"
• The Bartender: Takeshi fills this role at The Laughing Cavalier, a tavern aboard the Ark Royal, listening to Rosehip lament about her failure to court Assam. Lampshaded with Cutlass at Ogin's bar.
  "I really hope you're not expecting me to be the sort of bartender who asks how you're doing and helps you figure out your problems," Cutlass said dryly.
  "I'm not," Maho replied as she began to eat. Getting some food in her seemed to do her good. "And I really hope you're not expecting me to be the sort of patron who lays out my life's story in search of advice and answers," she answered equally dryly.
• There Are No Therapists: Downplayed. Maho spends a fair bit of time refusing to seek help for her clear PTSD and depression, and insists that she's doing just fine. She is briefly shown to have been seeing a therapist while staying with her father during chapter 23 however.
• There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Katyusha deploys this against Kuromorimine; luring their forces into a town and then pummeling it to the ground with high caliber HE-shells to knock them all out. Unfortunately, even that doesn't stop the Maus that lurks in the rubble.
• Token Good Teammate: Yuzu is the only nice Student Council member, especially so when she is compared to a scheming manipulator like Anzu or a jerk like Momo. The times when Yuzu asserts her authority to other students can be counted with fingers on one hand.
• Training from Hell: Deconstructed. In the flashback chapter, Shiho subjected Maho to Nishizumi-style training regime, which more or less looks like normal training regime. What's abnormal about it is the severity of punishment Shiho would unleash on Maho should the latter failed a certain task. Maho ended up getting injured and having permanent scars (that she hides beneath her clothes) not from the training regime itself, but from Shiho's violent corporal punishments.
• True Companions: Team Phoenix^note Maho as the commander, Saori as the radio communicator, Hana as the gunner, Yukari as the loader, and Mako as the driver of Ooarai senshadou club shares a powerful bond not unlike a military squad, where they would risk their own safety to help others.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Chapter 15 reveals that Miho used to be a boko-loving Nice Girl just like how she is portrayed in canon. However, during the six months gap where Maho had to stay at Kuromorimine dorm, she was unable to watch over Miho who was undergoing "several changes" no thanks to Shiho's teachings. When Maho finally returned to Kumamoto to meet Miho again, it was already too late. Look at the trope Wham Line below.
• Villain with Good Publicity:
  • Shiho Nishizumi. Japanese senshadou community knows her as a powerful woman with strong leadership and wisdom, with many tankers reached their peak potentials under her Nishizumi-style guidance. Her abusive behavior toward Maho is not known to public.
  • Her daughter Miho, is not better. She is not above using lies and manipulations to ostracize Panzer III tank crews and get them expelled from Kuromorimine. She also has high favoritism toward Erika, who she is romantically involved with by keeping her as an adjutant.
• Walking Spoiler:Miho is implied to be dead until her appearance at the end of chapter 14
• Wham Episode:
  • Chapter 46 has Shiho officially disown and disinherit Maho soon after a gruelling senshadou semi final match between Ooarai and St. Gloriana.
  • Chapter 47 reveals that Maho is a lovechild born from affair between Kikuyo and the late Tsuneo.
• Wham Line:
  • From chapter 15: "'Of course,' Miho answered with a sincerity and smile that made Maho's heart sink. 'That was Nishizumi style tankery. We value victory and strength above all else. I know you always do the right thing.' There was not a shred of doubt or questioning in Miho's voice, and Maho felt her heart shatter.
  • From chapter 16: "'Is that what you're doing?' Miho scoffed. 'You lose us the most important match in the school's history, and now you just sit around here staring at a stupid kids toy?' She snatched the bear from Maho's hands, and held it up to look at it. 'I guess Mother was right. She was too soft on you. If she hadn't been, maybe you wouldn't have been so weak.' She grabbed the bear's head with her other hand and tore it off, throwing the remains in the trash can beside Maho's desk as she left the room."
• What Does He See in Her?: Or on Maho's perspective: What did Tsuneo see in Shiho? How a Nice Guy like Tsuneo could fell in love with a power-obsessed Femme Fatale like Shiho and even courted her to a marriage, Maho would not even want to understand.
• What the Hell, Hero?: When Maho tells Koume that she wants to quit Ooarai senshadou because she isn't hopeful of their winning chance, Koume perceives this as an attempt to desert her comrades who trust her with their lives and hearts. Thus, Koume wastes no time to punch Maho and deliver "The Reason You Suck" Speech. Obviously, Maho won't have any of it and retaliates with her own Shut Up, Kirk!. Koume then leaves Maho alone, and they have never talked again as of Chapter 46.
• You Called Me "X"; It Must Be Serious: Koume, who usually insists on simply calling Maho "Commander", calls her by her real name only two times; When the two part ways and Maho leaves Kuromorimine, and when delivering a "The Reason You Suck" Speech to her after Maho reveals she wants to run away again. Could also be seen as a case of O.O.C. Is Serious Business.