YMMV / Girls und Panzer

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Many fans theorize that Saki from Rabbit Team might possibly be autistic, given how she seems generally detached from whatever is going on and never really speaks to anybody. Other fans jokingly theorize that Saki might be suffering from a severe case of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. ^note  less and less detached as the show goes on, interacting with the others and even showing emotions. Horse Therapy is used in autism, but we have to wonder how effective Tank Therapy would be in real life? She finally speaks in episode 12, to point out a tank's weak point of all things.
    • There's an internet joke about her being a ghost whisperer and chatting with German panzer ace Michael Wittmann.
  • On some fan comics, the translations of which can be found in Danbooru, Erika is characterized as being in (unrequited) love with Maho and acting like a Jerkass toward Miho out of jealousy. One issue of Motto Love Love Sakusen Desu had a nod to this in the (non-canon) omake page.
  • Maho's hidden support towards Miho being less of a noble sacrifice on her part and more of a raging "imouto complex" is a popular interpretation. Some of these comics indicate Miho's departure has been hard on her, even seemingly taking a toll on her sanity (such as one in which Maho consults a Miho hand puppet during a tank team meeting).
  • Is Nishizumi Shiho's planned disowning of Miho a cruel act, but one that sets her free to be her own person while also preserving the Nishizumi style? Or is she a cold, ruthless bitch who doesn't deserve to be a mother? Note that these are not mutually exclusive. As of the end of the first season, Shiho has not told Miho about her disowning, despite having planned to do so as far back as the semifinals, merely giving a small smile and a Slow Clap while alone after her victory, which in and of itself can be interpreted many different ways.
    • In the manga, Shiho only planned to disown Miho if she lost the tournament, particularly the semifinal against Pravda. She fiercely insisted that Ōarai's victory is the result of their skills instead of luck in the movie, and in Ribbon Warrior and Little Army 2 we see Maho's attempts at adopting some of Miho's methods into Kuromorimine's playbook, presumably with her mother's blessing.
  • A Yonkoma webcomic shows Anteater team in their immobilized tank, watching the fierce battle upmountain and saying over the radio that they feel happy because they have at least protected Miho; but as soon as they cut the radio, it shows Nekonyaa being emotionally devastated by her swift defeat robbing her the one chance to fight alongside her Ōarai companions.
    • This must have disgusted Mizushima-san, because the very first thing Episode 11 does is Joss this through a Mythology Gag nod.
  • Sodoko is sometimes portayed as a Tsundere toward Mako.
  • Kuromorimine. Is it a school full of tankers who see it as their calling in life to crush "weak" teams and value victory over fun? Or are they arguably no worse than most in that attitude, with Erika a Token Evil Teammate of sorts? The fact that Maho, their commander, is ultimately motivated by sisterly love, can be interpreted as her hiding her true nature to fit in, or proof that most Kuromorimine tankers are decent people at heart. They seem nice enough whenever we meet them in Motto Love Love Sakusen Desu, but the manga canon has been trampled by the show a couple of times already, so...
  • Fanfic writers tend to have various theories as to why Ami has virtually no presence in the main series despite only briefly appearing as a tankery instructor. Some believe that the job description for her role essentially stated that she wouldn't be doing much teaching, while others suggest that she willingly stepped aside to let Miho and the others take charge.
  • Some doujinshi like the Lovey Dovey Panzer series (which would win the mangaka the job of creating the Motto Love Love Sakusen Desu spinoff) posit that Miho was a Broken Bird long before the loss to Pravda due to the Training from Hell that is the Nishizumi style. This training extends to all facets of warfare (semi-canonical as Miho is quite a capable close quarters combatant) and when forced out of her vehicle in a "battle royale" match, Miho becomes a Jinroh character.
  • Speaking of Lovey-Dovey Panzer, Hana's and Yuzu's borderline Les Yay tendencies towards Saori and Momo, respectively, have been portrayed to full-on Psycho Lesbian levels.
• Aluminum Christmas Trees: That German dissolvable swimsuit Erwin mentions and wears in OVA 1? That exists.
• Americans Hate Tingle: In China, there's some hate for this. An opinion editorial in the "China National Defense Newspaper" in 2013 criticed the franchise for "militarist sentiments behind the guise of cute characters".
• Awesome Ego: Katyusha. She may have a Napoleon complex, but she certainly knows how to lead like him.
• Cargo Ship: Yukari all but cuddled the Pz38(t) when they found it in the woods. This best exemplified in her part during the shared character song of Team Anglerfish. The other teammates explain their personal aspiration in Sensha-do, but she only gushes about how wonderful the tanks are, concluding with:
  "Panzer is Life, Life is Panzer."
  • Lampshaded and mixed with Companion Cube and Memetic Molester in this canon 4koma.
• Common Knowledge: Everyone "knows" that Erwin is the head of the Ooarai history club. Actually, she's not; that's Caesar. This is an understandable misconception, though, since Erwin does command Team Hippo's tank.
• Crack Pairing: Miho often gets paired with Erika, a Jerkass who spends much of the series mocking her and is practically Miho's polar opposite.Phase: Erika ended up making this pairing a bit more popular, since the manga shows that Miho had known Erika since the start of middle school thus resulting in some doujins pairing the two during their time at Kuromorimine. Ribbon Warrior adds some fuel to the fire as well, with Erika's motivation shown to be wanting to "walk beside" Miho once again.
• Crosses the Line Twice: After winning the tournament in the main series under the belief that it would save the school from being shut down, der Film has the Ooarai girls return to school after a match only to see it closed down anyway; not only did the MEXT department change their mind that the deal was only to reconsider closing the school, and not only did they not reconsider closing the school, but they decided that the school that went from not having a Sensha-do team for two decades to winning the very next tournament needed to be closed down half a year ahead of schedule.
• Diagnosed by the Audience: Yukari's obsession with tanks and WWII history in general and initial difficulty to make friends could be considered similar to high functioning autism. It is common for those in the fandom to diagnose her as such.
• Draco in Leather Pants:
  • Erika, Maho's Jerkass lieutenant, has picked up a fan following despite often mocking Miho, looking down on other schools, complaining about Maho's decision to Pet the Dog by letting Mako take her helicopter to visit her grandmother in the hospital, and even shooting a nasty glare at the teammate who walked over to thank and encourage Miho for saving her, which, combined with her attitude as Miho refuses to abandon Rabbit Team even as Kuromorimine closes in, indicates that she strongly prioritizes victory even over the safety of her troops.
  • Another popular antagonist is Jajka, who serves as Shizuka's main rival in Ribbon Warrior. While the commander of Bonple may be a complete Jerkass most of the time, there is no denying her skill at Tankathalon. It also helps that she's just as much of an underdog as the protagonists in story, coming from a bottom ranked school with no hope of competing in the national tournament. This makes it all the more satisfying when she crushes better equipped schools like Pravda in the Tankathalon.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Yukari is the only character to have her own subreddit separate from the main GuP one.
  • The Finnish BT-42 tank has caught somewhat of a Memetic Badass reputation following its moment of glory in the film, especially in regard for how the real life tank was one of the most poorly performing tanks in WWII. Japanese fans of the film have been reported to travel all the way to a finnish armory museum where the last remaining BT-42 is displayed with some even playing kantele to it. Some japanese fans even gave money to museum’s group founding campaign to help construct a roof for keeping it safe from rainy weather.
• Fan Nickname:
  • The series as a whole got the nickname Girls und Pantsu or Girls Underpantsu. Apparently, this was denied by Word of God; the original series also has zero upskirt shots. Alternative nicknames include Pimp My WWII Tank^note Thanks to the events of episodes 3 and 4, World of Tanks: The Anime, and Moe of Tanks; the latter two became one heck of an example of Hilarious in Hindsight.
  • The OVAs were given nicknames as well, to wit:
    • The first OVA got Girls und Panzervice;
    • The second, Girls und Spamzer;
    • The third, Girls und Flugzeugträger even before it was released
    • The fourth, Girls und Pan Ahn Ahn-Ahn, Ahn Ahn Ahn-Ahn...
    • The fifth, Brrrrrrrrr und Panzer
    • The sixth, Girls und PANZER FIVE!
    • Meanwhile, the seventh got called Girls und Pastah, or alternatively Girls und Dorifto.
  • As for the characters:
    • Kampfgruppe Miho for A Team/Team Anglerfish.
    • "Tank Fairy", "Fluffy Hair", "Floof" and "The Tank Pope" are just some of the many nicknames Yukari has.
    • Hippo Team's driver Oryou is usually just nicknamed as "Oreo".
    • The Sodoko Collective for the Morals and Discipline Committee a.k.a. Mallard Team.
    • Tank Teru for Maho, due to her similar role in the series, although Maho is shown to care significantly more for Miho than she lets on.
    • Tank Sumire for Erika. Both of them are the sidekicks to the main leader of the opposing team, and they both fall prey to attempts by their opponents to hinder them, leaving them unable to fight at full effectiveness. Sturmdere is also a common nickname for her particularly in /a/.
    • Tank Touka for Kay of Saunders.
    • "Wani" (Crocodile) for Erika, because of a typo in Phase Erika.
    • Gunner-chan and Loader-chan for two of the nameless crewmembers of Alisa's crew. The Loader is also nicknamed 'Helmet-chan'.
    • As for the notable crew members from Kuromorimine, pixiv have given them the following names: "Ritaiko"^*Track Girl for the Jagdpanther commander (which the Hetzer tracked Twice), "Geshiko"^*"Kick Girl" since her scene had her kicking the driver in the shoulder as she saw the Hetzer punch through the siege line from behind for one of the Panther Commanders, and "Mauko"^*Maus Girl for the Maus Commander. The former two are usually also called by way of the tanks they commandeered: Jagdpanther-chan and Panther-chan, respectively.
    • The fansub group that first subtitled the movie referred to Renta Tsuji (the MEXT guy) as "glasses dick face" until his name was finally revealed.
    • Continuation High Schools student, especially Mika, usually referred as Hobos by fandom. This partly because the only representation of schools appear so far are Mika and her crews, who was shown camping outside many times and generally gives out this vagrant vibes from her, and also because their less-than-formal outfits (wearing hoodies for school uniform and tracksuit for Senshado uniform).
• Fanon:
  • The supplementary material stating that men were forbidden from entering Sensha-do has been interpreted by many fans to mean that men were forbidden to pilot tanks at all, even in war. This has led to lengthy debates about how to reconcile it with the fact that male tankers are depicted in canon and historically male tank commanders (with unequivocally male names) are explicitly mentioned.
  • The argument is augmented by the historical information included in every booklet that accompanies the Blu-Ray releases, which seem to openly contradict each other about World War II (sometimes in the same booklet). In general there seems to be two separate schools of thought among the writers of the booklets: that the war happened, and had a lasting influence post-facto, or it didn't, and it's just a sports competition that got too heated.
  • This has also led to a Fandom-Specific Plot in which, under various circumstances, boys start getting involved in Sensha-do, sometimes flying World War II-era fighter planes (and unfortunately, often being Marty Stus). There's some double-irony in this, as it shows a hilarious lack of research from information found in said Blu-Ray booklets, which specify the major reason for the declining popularity of Sensha-do: attack helicopters. Not vintage planes, helicopters.^note For those who aren't touched up on Cold War history, when the attack helicopter was first introduced in the 1970s many people were convinced that they would make tanks obsolete. Even though they did not, ever since tanks have no longer been the uncontested rulers of land warfare. It makes sense that the decline in popularity of tanks in the military would carry over to Sensha-do.. Then again, with the way the booklets flip-flop on a regular basis, who wouldn't blame those fans for not trusting/ignoring the booklets, and what's not to say that this particular point would itself get flip-flopped in later released material?
  • Another bit of fanon that occasionally pops up in fan fiction is that Darjeeling and Orange Pekoe (as well as Assam, sometimes) are sisters.
  • Another common piece of fanon is that Shiho Nishizumi is not only head of the Nishizumi school, but also headmistress of Kuromorimine, the school where her elder daughter commands, and where her younger daughter used to attend, despite this not being said at any point. Ditto with Shiho's tie with Kuromorimine in fanon, her once being leader of their Sensha-do team, is confirmed in the Maginot spinoff. No mention of her being anything else, however.
  • Then there's the tank line-ups of each School. Tanks like the Cromwell, Comet, Pershing, IS-3, and the Super Pershing get thrown around quite a bit during online discussions, but in-universe the acquisition of tanks is limited by two factors: the school's budget, and the availability of tank parts. It's noted that even a relatively well-off school like St. Gloriana has had trouble getting the tanks it wanted in the past, to the point of considering converting it's only Cromwell into a Challenger. The same goes for Saunders, which actually has a Super Pershing, but can't field it due to lack of parts.
  • Appearing in various fan art and dojinshi is an individual usually named Nishizumi Tsuneo, Miho and Maho's father. The only piece of evidence for his canonical existence is a piece of official art showing the sisters as children with their mother and with an unidentified male figure, with only the back of his head and shoulders shown, off to one side.
  • Some fanfictions often depict Miho sporting Thousand-Yard Stare and her trauma of senshadou goes deeper than it does in the canon story, it takes more effort for the Student Council (and sometimes Yukari) to convince Miho to help Ooarai.
  • Some fans suggest Andou's tanned skin was because she is of part-Algerian descent (Algeria was a French colony from the early 19th century to 1962, and Algerians form one of the largest immigrant populations in France).
• Fan-Preferred Couple:
  • Kay and Darjeeling became a very popular pairing at the start of 2016, despite the fact that the two have very little interaction with each other. Some fans think this was a byproduct of another America/British pairing that got popular around the same time. Another possibility is the idea that Opposites Attract, and the loud, jolly, outspoken Kay is practically the polar opposite of the calm and refined Darjeeling. It also helps that both girls just happen to be beautiful blondes as well.
  • There's also Miho and Erika which has gotten some traction as a ship pairing as well, resulting in tons of fanart after this edit◊ and this page◊ from Motto Rabu Rabu Sakusen only added fuel to this ship.
  • Fanart and such that pair BC Freedom's combative duo, Andou and Oshida, are plentiful. In this case, the Opposites Attract spice is made even more enticing by the fact that they are designed to resemble the protagonist Star-Crossed Lovers of The Rose of Versailles.
  • Among Chi-Ha-Tan fans, both Tamada with Hosomi and Hamada with Ikeda are typically the most popular.
• Friendly Fandoms: Naturally, there are a lot of crossovers with both World of Tanks and War Thunder, with actual collaborations with the former. Flames of War players are at least vaguely aware of it.
  • There is also been a bit of amiable overlap and a few crossovers with Strike Witches and Kantai Collection, with the three having characters representing different nations and covering land, air, and sea warfare.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • When you consider that Mako had an argument with her mother before her parents died in an accident, her being in a hurry to get to her grandmother in the hospital can be seen as being motivated by fear of something like that happening again. It's also worse when you consider that her grandmother is her only remaining family.
  • Miho's initial decision to surrender to Pravda to prevent a simultaneous bombardment that could result in people being seriously injured becomes a Tear Jerker when you realize that in the manga, it's revealed that she knew that if she'd done that, she would be disinherited.
• Heartwarming in Hindsight:
  • Miho is clearly pleased to see the Panzer IV as the first tank retrieved for the Ōarai Sensha-do team. In the Little Army manga, she and her friends played with the same type of tank.
  • The few frames of the Anteater girls inside their immobilized tank that allow us to see Nekonyaa's eyes, showing that she's happy and relaxed, have the effect of going against the tear jerking Alternative Character Interpretation of her being emotionally devastated by her swift defeat. It seems that she thinks that Taking the Bullet for the flag tank in the Final Battle is a good enough showing for a total newbie.
  • In Episode 5, while training after school with the others besides Miho, Hana says to Miho "We'll show your sister" the validity of Miho's approach to Sensha-do. In Episode 11 while saving Rabbit team with Black Forest closing in, expresses a desire to win to prove that there's nothing wrong with Miho's approach to Sensha-do. In Little Army, it turns out that Maho wants Miho to find her own way of Sensha-do.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Fans of this series and World of Tanks have made mods for the game based on the tanks of the series. Now there is a cross promotion for World of Tanks and Girls und Panzer as it launched in Japan.
• Incest Yay Shipping: Miho x Maho, naturally
• Jerkass Woobie: Emi in the Little Army manga, especially at the start of 2. It's clear that she doesn't have any friends between when she left Miho's group and when she comes to Bellwall, and while her abrasive and brutally honest personality don't help, it's also indicated that racism against her for being half-foreign played a part.
• Les Yay:
  • Yukari seems to be interested in Miho for more than just her tank skills. She's far too happy about getting to hear that she correctly guessed Miho's measurements and obviously jealous when Kay hugs Miho. In Episode 10, where Miho says she "loves" all her friends, Yukari's response is "Nishizumi-dono confessed to me!" In Chapter 10 of the manga, Yukari, in response to seeing Miho with "a beauty in traditional Japanese clothes" (Kikuyo, Miho's maid and Parental Substitute), is to follow them into the restaurant and eavesdrop on their conversation. While Yukari's worried about Miho, it's not hard to see her as checking out her possible competition, or possibly being attracted to Kikuyo. Becomes more explicit in Motto Love Love Sakusen Desu - in one chapter she thinks of going to see a movie with Miho as a date and is very disappointed when the rest of the crew comes along as well. It's probably worth mentioning that the very first English-language fanfic for the series was about Yukari confessing to Miho.
  • In this vein, some watchers find Darjeeling's interest in Miho more than a little suspect as well.
  • Sodoko offering Mako exactly what she wanted (a clean tardiness record) when the Maus knocked out her tank in the Final Battle and delivering on her promise after the team's victory are, for someone like her, the closest you can get to a mid-of-battlefield declaration and an proposal, respectively. Mako blushing and bodily hugging her with a huge smile on her face certainly assists this notion.
  • Hana is often portrayed as the most lesbian member of Team Anglerfish, such as in this comic in which Saori has to convince Maho that Yukari's Valentine's Day chocolate for Miho is friend chocolate. This is due to the fact that, in the art for her Character Song CD, Hana is shown to be holding a lily, the symbol of yuri in Japanese media.
  • Then there's the dynamic between Turtle team's Yuzu and Momo (Anzu's subordinates in the Student Council). The fact that the former almost always calls her "Momo-chan" (much to the latter's chagrin, of course) doesn't help dispel that notion.
  • Even boy-chasing Saori gets a line where she says "girls have their own good points about them, too. Let's try to get popular!" In context, Yukari, Hana and Saori are all discussing their personal interests, and Saori's dream is to be "popular" with the guys.
  • Counting The Real Anzio Battle OVA, we have Hippo Team's Caesar and Anzio Academy's Carpaccio. The former's crewmates in the StuG III teasing her with her Embarrassing Nickname, and later on eavesdropping on their post-match talk (thus implying a Shipper on Deck status) certainly helped. As did this bit from Motto Love Love Sakusen, which rather portrayed it as mutual between each other, and with a similar art style from The Rose of Versailles
    • Also in The Real Anzio Battle, there's a subtle bit where Pepperoni is shown winking flirtatiously at a disguised Yukari.
  • In Motto Love Love Sakusen Desu, Pekoe and Darjeeling have this big time, having a sort of weird not-quite-platonic, not-quite-romantic affection for each other, Like when they visit an onsen:
  Darjeeling: Maybe I should charge you if you look that much?
  Pekoe: Do you take debit cards.
  Darjeeling (*kissing Pekoe's card): There we go. Contract complete - limited for today?
  Pekoe: Darjeeling-sama...
  (*the two remember to their horror that Assam is in there with them)
  • Also in Motto Love Love Sakusen Desu, it seems that all members of Chi-Ha-Tan's Sensha-do team are in love with their commander, Nishi. Like when a misunderstanding convinces them that if you were to charge at her, she'd give you a kiss, she quickly finds herself running from the whole team.
  • There's some implied one-sided Les Yay from Erika toward Maho. A common Alternative Character Interpretation is that Erika is hostile to Miho because she's jealous of Maho's closeness to her. Maho is the only person Erika respects, and Erika desperately tries to get in to help Maho in her final duel with Miho. There's also Chapter 15 of the manga, when Erika angrily tells Miho about what effect her departure had on Black Forest, particularly how Maho was faced with the task of restoring the team's morale, and Yukari has this to say of Erika after she departs.
  Yukari: That girl must really love Miss Nishizumi's older sister...
  • In the Maginot manga, Éclair has a fangirl-crush on Nishizumi Shiho, being quite enamoured by her fighting style and beauty.
  • In Phase Erika, not only does Erika's admiration for Maho continue to get played this way, Erika also has a follower who admires her the same way, and is explicitly stated to love her. And Miho is shown musing how beautiful Continuation's Mika is when she first sees her playing her kantele ...
  • And then there are Rin and Shizuka from Ribbon Warrior. Oh where to start with these two. Practically from the first chapter, Rin is shown getting very excited when Shizuka directs her with her feet, and imagery of her as Shizuka's ponygirl abounds. For the most part this seems one-sided ... and yet, while the two are in a hot springs together, Shizuka observes that the moon is very beautiful tonight, a phrase recognized as having a secondary meaning like those three little words that are so hard to say. Tokuzou, the man who raised Shizuka, outright suggests that they should get married, and Shizuka agrees that Rin would make a great wife.
• Memetic Badass: This is the Nishizumi style - images that show the Nishizumi family (or in some cases their team members) performing extreme, unusual, or sexy accomplishments.
• Memetic Loser: Saunders. While they are allegedly one of the powerhouse schools and are based on the superpower United States, their actual track record on-screen is less than stellar. They often lose to underdog schools and were completely thrashed by the University team in Der Film, performing the worst of all the schools in the match. Thus they have developed this reputation among the fanbase.
• Memetic Molester:
  • Maho is regularly characterized as being creepily obsessed with Miho, such as wearing a kimono with Miho's face on it, stealing Miho's undergarments and wearing them on her head, and secretly hoping Miho gets disowned so that they can marry. Note this pretty much mirrors a popular fan interpretation about Miyanaga Teru as well. This is given a nod in an official (if non-Canon) joke comic◊ showing Ōarai's reporter Ou Taiga interviewing the team about how their panties never become visible even in strong winds, and then about which "victory panties" they are wearing; long tale short, Miho says hers are missing... and then the last few panels imply Maho is wearing them (mercifully not on her head).
  • In a similar vein, Nonna is sometimes depicted the same way with Katyusha. Believe it not it's confirmed (or at the very least implied) in the second episode recap, which indicates Nonna keeps a diary on Katyusha.
  • Anzu is depicted in some fan art as constantly stalking Jagdpanther-Chan... even at her home◊.
  • Then there's Darjeeling's dynamic with her subordinate Orange Pekoe. Sort of confirmed in Chapter 7 of the Motto Love Love Sakusen spin-off manga, where she and Nonna have Imagine Spots of Pekoe and Katyusha wearing the Anglerfish Dance outfit. Chapter 12 confirms something is going on between them, though Pekoe seems to like it as much as Darjeeling.
  • Even the Leopon herself is given this (mixed with Companion Cube) towards Hoshino in this canon 4koma
  • Speaking of 4komas, a previous unofficial one of the series depict Hana as overly fixated on Saori. Averted with the release of Motto Love Love Sakusen, focusing more on her Big Eater tendencies.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • "Panzer vor means panzer vor!" from the Gag Sub.
  • Kay's loud "WHY?!?!" has become a forum image macro.
  • "I touch the fluffy hair."
  • The GuP universe consists of an endless chain of carriers on top of even larger carriers, like the Discworld being set on a giant turtle.
  • Tsuchiya's excited "Dorifto, dorifto!" has been combined with the original Multi-Track Drifting image [1]◊
  • "Cancer isn't funny."^note standard answer whenever the animation mistake in episode 1 of a hairless background character is pointed
  • "Keep calm and UTE! UTE! UTE!!".
  • Damn you, Teenage Mutant Hetzer Turtles!^note 
    Teenage Mutant Hetzer Turtles!
    Teenage Mutant Hetzer Turtles!
    Teenage Mutant Hetzer Turtles!
    Students in a half-shell, Turtle Power!
    They're Ōarai's most fearsome student council team. (We're really hip!)
    They're students in a half-shell, and sixteen. (Hey, get a grip!)
    When the BF Jagdpanther attacks
    These turtle girls just shoot its tracks.
    Teenage Mutant Hetzer Turtles!
    Teenage Mutant Hetzer Turtles!
    Nishizumi taught them to be Hetzer teens. (She's a radical commander!)
    Kadotani eats, Kawashima shoots some things. (You missed again, Momo-chan~!)
    Koyama drives it smooth. (No time to break!)
    And together they will save the school. (Panzer vor!)
    Teenage Mutant Hetzer Turtles!
    Teenage Mutant Hetzer Turtles!
    Teenage Mutant Hetzer Turtles!
    Students in a half-shell, Turtle Power!
  • The In-Universe reference to two infamous memes from World of Tanks:
    • Miho and Anzu basically all but invoke Hetzers Gonna Hetz in episode 10.
    • In a similar vein, Hippo team are clearly living "the StuG life".
  • "This, too, is Sensha-do." ^note Maho's line justifying loaning Mako her team's helicopter to get to the hospital is often brought up as a Running Gag in comic strips in which Maho proceeds to be far more overtly affectionate to Miho in that scene than in canon, such as one strip in which Maho tells Miho to say "Thank you, Onee-chan, I love you!" while hugging her
  • The image of Leopon's Tiger(P) pulling off a You Shall Not Pass! has become an image macro^note with lines like "FEED ME MORE SHELLS" or "Is that the best you've got?".
  • "Operation Symphogear".^note From Der Film when Katyusha recommends the name of "Operation Beef Stroganoff".
  • All tank loaders are depicted as Pintsized Powerhouse and able to manhandle grown adults easily.
  • Erika loves alligators. In the first chapter of Phase Erika, a spin-off prequel manga focused on her, she was supposed to say "Yattekitamani," roughly "I'm finally here," upon first arriving at Kuromorimine. However, a typo resulted in her saying "Yattekitawani," with wani meaning alligator. Fan artists latched onto this instantly.
  • Because the usual roundabout with underage characters shown drinking (despite several schools like Maginot and BC Freedom outright have wine-making as their main industry), the fans have taken Ribbon Warrior's "grape/rice juice for adults" euphemism when talking about alcohol.
  • Coated with carbon for safety.^note The show's technobabble explanation for why tank-fighting is perfectly safe is that the tanks have "special carbon armour". Based on this, some fans like to joke that a carbon coating can make anything safe.
• Moe: All the girls from Oarai qualify, but Rabbit Team represents the strongest concentration in the show.
• Never Live It Down:
  • Since Anzio debuted in the manga before the Anzio OVA, many better remember Anchovy's more Erika-like manga incarnation, rather than being a cross between Kay and Darjeeling.
  • Quite a few fans who haven't read Little Army or saw Der Film tend to conclude Maho is a textbook Aloof Big Sister, rather than a more complex and sympathetic character who actually cares for Miho.
  • Some fans haven't forgiven the Absurdly Powerful Student Council for threatening to expel Miho if she doesn't do tankery, although they do have their reasons for wanting to win the tournament, may have been bluffing using Exact Words, and don't seem that nasty in subsequent appearances.
• Nightmare Fuel: In the manga Ribbon Warrior;
  • The overcompetitive characters' facial expressions delve into Nightmare Face territory, especially Blood Knights Shizuka and Jajka.
  • Shizuka is easily one of the most unhinged and disturbing characters in the Girls und Panzer franchise, a Bushido-fanatic Loony Fan of Miho to the point that she states that she'd be okay with Miho killing her in a match, as long as they got to battle first —and her friends take this statement seriously. She displays Blue-and-Orange Morality to the extent that she's willing to drive her tankette through the crowds of spectators,^note In the "tankathalon" battles that she's competing in, spectators can enter the field, and it is understood that this is at their own risk. Most competitors do try to avoid them, though. use them as Human Shields and burns down a neighbourhood to provide smoke cover. Even Erika is shocked by the last one.
    The whole thing is even eerier when we remember that Ribbon Warrior is told from Rin Matsukaze's standpoint. She's a known Unreliable Narrator with an over-the-top imagination. It's often impossible to tell where the lines are between the characters' actual personalities, the personas that they put on for their sport, and what Rin is projecting from inside her own head.
• One-Scene Wonder: Operation: Kill Swerve in the movie is this for the Continuation High Team with their BT-42.
• One True Threesome: Miho x Erika x Maho is a very popular OT3, with some artworks depicting Erika being dominated by the Nishizumi sisters.
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap
  • Fans warmed up to Maho after spinoffs and the later episodes show that she does care about Miho and has made many sacrifices for her.
  • The student council was widely hated at the start of the series, in which they blackmailed Miho into joining the tankery team. Despite that, some fans revised their opinion of them after the feats they pulled off against Pravda, Kuromorimine and the University Strengthened Team, combined with them being nicer to Miho.
• Ron the Death Eater:
  • Some fanfics portray Maho in a significantly more negative light, as well as more openly hostile to Miho, although it is in large part due to the authors not reading Little Army and not knowing that she does what she does for Miho's sake. This has mostly died down with time, but there are still occasions in which Maho is portrayed more negatively than in canon.
  • Shiho, while largely devoid of sympathetic qualities in the anime, often comes off as even worse in fan works, to the point of being cartoonishly evil. Her disowning Miho is commonly used as a plot point in fan fiction, resulting in her becoming Hated by All if she isn't already.
  • The student council sometimes gets bashed for trying to pressgang Miho into the tankery team under apparent threat of expulsion, even after the fact that the school was at risk of being shut down was revealed. The three of them, especially Momo Kawashima, also come under fire for their initial incompetence in running the team, since with Anzu being too lazy and Yuzu being too much of an Extreme Doormat, Momo ended up taking charge despite being an atrocious gunner and a lackluster commander.
• The Scrappy: Emi from the Little Army manga. While she's too much of a Jerkass for her friends to deal with (even her friends admitted in-universe that she can be hard to put up with at times), she's clearly designed to be a Foil to Miho and has All of the Other Reindeer issues. She gets better later through Character Development, partially though.
• Ships That Pass in the Night: Kay/Darjeeling and Maho/Anchovy pairings are quite popular on the fandom despite them barely spending time on-screen together.
• Spiritual Licensee: People have called it the Animated Adaptation of World of Tanks. Indeed, one of the Ōarai tank crews met playing "an online tank game". And they're cross-promoting in Japan, AND Wargaming apparently provided some needed tank data during the production of The Movie.
• Squick: Likely trying to reference the Empathy Doll Shot, the series shows a large number of bandaged teddy bears in Miho's room. Word of God states that they're just a popular merchandise series in the G&P world,^note Quoting from Mizushima's twitter, "The name is “Bokorare-Guma series”. He likes to fight and has a loose temper, but is weak. He gets bashed up all the time, so you can see why he wears bandages in so many different places". but fans all over the world thought they were another symptom of PTSD shown by Miho. In fact, the information about them given here comes from the director's twitter, when he got tired of fans asking if they were an indication of Miho's PSTD.
  • It should be noted that early in episode 1, while Miho is on her way to school she passes by a Circle K Sunkus with advertisement for this line of teddy bears on its windows.
  • This is cleared up when bandaged teddy bears appear much more prominently in the film. The main characters visit a Boko museum, which their opponent is trying to save by winning her match.
• Suspiciously Similar Song: The theme march played during action sequences is not quite the theme to Hogan's Heroes, but bears a striking resemblance (although the first compasses bring to mind Elmer Bernstein's The Great Escape theme).
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
  • In Little Army 2, Gilbert's commander is essentially a former Bellwall student who left for greener pastures, leaving her old school to suffer a Succession Crisis. She might have been a formidable opponent who knows Bellwall well, or a character who could have shed light on Bellwall's past, but instead, she's treated as an opportunistic Smug Snake who gets easily defeated off screen, a bit like Anzio in the anime.
  • Ami from the original series. She's a JGSDF officer and graduate of the Nishizumi school whose teaching style and personal demeanor are not what one would expect from someone who learned from a teacher like Shiho. Unfortunately, she barely does anything besides having the girls do a training match to get used to their tanks, and later serve as referee for the finals.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Emi sometimes comes off this way. While she doesn't necessarily avoid getting called out for her more jerkish behavior, she usually manages to at least get an apology out of her accusers, which would seem to indicate that both sides are at fault even if Emi's the one in the wrong. Similarly, in Little Army 2, no one besides Sheska seems to care that Emi's Rage Quit of her former school essentially resulted in her old team imploding, when Bellwall's previous commander came off as unlikable for doing the same thing because she got a good offer at Gilbert.
• Vanilla Protagonist: The themed schools and their colorful captains and subordinates seem to be very much appreciated by the fandom, sometimes over the deliberately bland Oarai. Momo points out that Oarai doesn't stand out in any particular way, which is part of the reason why the school's getting shut down, and why they hope winning the tournament will save it. Similarly, the other teams, particularly Hippo (and, within Hippo, mainly Erwin), sometimes get more attention in fanworks than the Anglerfish Team.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: Blending aside, take a good long look at the detail of each tank.
• Wangst: Miho briefly slides into this in the Maginot manga, going into a short Heroic BSoD and thinking of herself as practically incompetent after miscounting the number of Maginot tanks present and enabling them to briefly take the advantage. For someone who usually doesn't angst that much, it's something of an overreaction to a relatively minor mistake.
• The Woobie
  • Miho and especially during the Pravda match. Having finally come to enjoy Sensha-do after her family's strict expectations driving her out, she prepares to surrender to avoid risking her friends coming to harm (and in the manga, knowing that she will be disinherited if she does), yet hears that the school's existence depends on her winning that match and the next one. She has been through a lot in the past and bears quite a bit of responsibility in the present, neither of which is very easy for her.
  • Iron Woobie: Most of the main teams in the Ribbon Warrior, but especially the Centipede Team and Bonple High, are actually only participating in Tankathlon because of their poor schools inability to field equipment that would help them win in normal Sensha-do. Yet despite this, they continue to fight and even relish the chance to participate in an official Sensha-do match against Oarai.
  • Stoic Woobie: Mako and Maho have been through quite a bit, with the former losing her parents after an argument with her mother, and fearing her grandmother might also die as a result of her deteriorating health, and the latter sacrificing much to allow her sister to live freely, only to hear that Miho might get disowned anyway, yet they hardly ever show it.
• Woolseyism: In one of the Russian fansubs, Oryou's "death haiku" from Episode 6 is replaced with "Four silent corpses on the hillside will add to fair morning view", a quote from Soviet Tankmen's Song, much to the viewers' amusement.

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