Girls und Panzer

As they should be. Ooarai used to have a tankery club up until 20 years ago, so most of the past generation of Ooarai residents should still remember the days when tanks were a semi-regular site in the city; you'd notice in that scene the old woman saying that she hasn't seen a Panzer IV in quite a while, implying that she was living in Ooarai back then.

edited 17th May '14 6:10:27 AM by MarqFJA

Also, they seem to be living aboard the school ship permanently, so they should probably be accustomed to schoolgirl silliness.

edited 17th May '14 6:14:58 AM by Achaemenid

Of course they're permanent residents. The ships were designed from the get-go as sea-faring towns built around their namesake campuses. And, in Ooarai's case at least, they also have a land-based counterpart town that I assume that is their official home port.

Seeing as Anzu seems to captain the ship (or at the very least decide where it goes), I assumed that the towns were simply residential areas for the school staff, their families, and some shops to support them. Hana and Mako's grandmother live in Ooarai proper, for instance, because they aren't involved in the day to day running of the school.

EDIT: Since Anzu sails the ship to the South Pacific for the winter, does that mean school ships can go pretty much anywhere in the world they like? I can just imagine some irritated Russian coastguard having to deal with Pravda hanging around Kamchatka all year round. Or the Royal Navy having to chase Darjeeling out of the Solent

edited 17th May '14 6:50:51 AM by Achaemenid

Yukari's parents live on the ship too, and they just run a tiny barber shop.

Vaguely alluded-to in the Blu-ray booklets, but yeah, the ships go where they want. There's a bit of fanon about how the ships visit the cultures they're supposedly aping — see the West Coast for Saunders — but then again, there's mention of how Saunders has a high population of US expats...

Though there are some things fanon hasn't latched on to, like how the graduates of the Nautical Engineering class (aka the girls who actually run and maintain the ship) would very likely be shoe-ins for the Maritime industry. Chief Mates, Bosuns, Chief Engineers, you name it.

edited 17th May '14 7:17:03 AM by MyssaRei

As ever, you provide excellent information.

I'm actually surprised that AK seemed to have stopped with the first booklet. There are more hilarious bits of Sensha-do trivia from the second one onward.

Late to the party, but: If we're talking about tanks we'd like to see fielded, I'd like to see Saunders pullout some Hellcats or Greyhounds. And to go totally Wo T on it for a moment, the T29 and T95 GMC would probably be legit from what I understand of the senshado rules. Hell, the T29 was approved for mass production and everything.

The Greyhound was a wheeled armored, wasn't it?

IIRC, open-topped vehicles aren't really allowed for safety reasons, though I daresay the crew could wear helmets.

The T-95 and the T-29 would be awesome though. Personally, I'd like to see a Pershing or a Super Pershing.

edited 25th May '14 1:13:04 PM by Achaemenid

Yep, no open-tops, no half-tracks. Most are fair game however, as long as a prototype or pre-production model was built before the cutoff date. This means for the US most of the T-series (like the pre-Pershing T23, or the World of Tanks staple the T29) have reason to appear. The only thing stopping a school I suppose is the fabrication of the actual parts.

This is one of those things that the booklets, again, can't seem to agree on — one booklet (2 I believe) states that only actual tanks and parts built during the War (literal vintage tanks) are allowable... Which makes the Maus fielded by Kuromorimine literally the tank that in the real world is on display in Kubinka. Except this would make no sense, given the gradual wear and tear these things would suffer over the decades, especially when used in a competitive sport.

What I do believe is, like in real-world vintage automobile restoration, there's also a dedicated fabrication scene for Senshado, with companies building parts-to-order for all of these tanks. You want a Super Pershing? Doable, but you better be prepared to shell out the money for it (see how Anzio seems to have done so for their P40).

edited 25th May '14 4:10:12 PM by MyssaRei

Some US TDs, like the M36 Jackson, were fitted with a folding roof kit post-war. I imagine crews also made some field modifications during the war too - perhaps that might be acceptable?

And, to my delight, the Tortoise and the IS-3. Dat pike face.

Also, you'd need to fit it with all the sensors, that magic carbon spall liner, and other Tankery safety gear they seem to need. My own personal headcanon is this some war veteran tanks are used, but most are purpose-built replicas. Perhaps there's some special cachet to having originals in the Tankery scene.

Very good theory indeed; Wasn't the tankery shop in the series full of stuff like roadwheels and what not? Also, Oarai got the spaced armor for the Panzer IV and the Hetzer conversion for the School Council's Pz 38(t) - presumably from fabricaton companies. Hell, I can even see schools doing it themselves; some Super Pershing spaced armor originally came from a cut up Panther. Somehow, I can imagine Kay with an angle-grinder going to town on some second-hand, clapped out, tank.

edited 25th May '14 5:47:34 PM by Achaemenid

The Hellcat prototype turret also had a roof. It failed more epically with the 90mm as there's no longer the speed advantage it has over other tanks. So they just went with testing the Hellcat with the 90mm without the roofed turret, to also make it somewhat lighter. It still didn't work for the Hellcat. The "covered" turret you see in Wo T in the T25/2 with the 90mm is a further development of that, but obviously it's not a roof, it's a metal cover.

The M10 Wolverine also had a roof-kit made. The M18 Hellcat had one developed, but I'm not certain if it ever saw service. There was still a big armor hole between the bottom lip of the roof and the parapet of the turret, though; it was, as you say, more of a cover than a true roof.

edited 26th May '14 9:16:40 AM by Achaemenid

So, I'm watching the OVAs. Harsh for KMM to be the only school not to send Oarai a letter of congratulation or be mentioned in OVA 6. Although they may just be pissed from Anzu's little stunt at Xmas...

A couple nights ago I dreamt about the girls having a battle just outside of Baltimore City. Now I kinda want an OVA or something that takes place in the Baltimore-Washington area.

I certainly would enjoy a spin off featuring the American Unlimited circuit and the crazy shenanigans that would go along with it

"You knocked over the Washington Monument!"

"... But we won the match at least?"

"YOU KNOCKED OVER THE WASHINGTON MONUMENT!"

Would that mean they made D.C. go flaccid?

Yes indeedy.

Of course, Unlimited Panzerkraft isn't as far out as some people might think:

Also tank related: the Musée Général Estienne at Saumur has managed to get the world's only running King Tiger back up and running after two years of inactivity.

edited 12th Jun '14 8:32:58 AM by Achaemenid

Have people here seen the latest PV of the Anzio OVA? It's already out. Can't post links though.

edited 12th Jun '14 12:34:01 PM by Jamibu

I suspect my resolve will crack and I'll end up watching the Anzio OVA through dubious internet means, but right now I'm determined to actually buy the series and chuck money Actas's way.

Speaking of the Anzio OVA, the latest mag spread on it (showing Anchovy, Pepperoni, and Carpaccio) came out, and among other things, it's because of Anchovy that Anzio was able to scrape enough funds to buy their P40. ^^;

More Motto Love Love Sakusen Desu is out. Here is number 12, in which Miho attempts to deal with non-tankery related real life and Erika attempts to have to talk to other people. I think its pretty good. Funny and quite sad. But its nice to see Oarai and KMM mend fences.

edited 28th Jun '14 4:53:32 PM by Achaemenid

...Chapter 12? I didn't even know that Chapter 10 was released!