Girls und Panzer

I meant "serious stakes" as in something as serious as the TV series' "Our school will be closed and we will be split up among other schools, with effectively zero odds of ever reuniting before graduating from college, if we don't win this tournament!" subplot.

I just finished watching this series and I was impressed. The characters were interesting and enjoyable. While the plot isn't something new, the action scenes were pretty neat. The music also is very nice, especially Pravda's rendition of Katyusha and oddly, the Anglerfish song.

Panzer Vor! (which, as everyone knows, means Panzer Vor)

My favorite moment is when Miho incites the whole team to do the Anglerfish Dance in the middle of their match against Pravda. In what seems to be a Siberian winter. While cameras are broadcasting everything to all spectators. Including her mother and sister.

My headcanon for what was going on in Maho's head.

Watched the OVA/Anzio fight, it was one of the more solid, maybe even the most solid victory of Ooarai. Anchovy is a pretty nice too. I think she was different and more of a bitch in the manga, so I prefer Anime!Anchovy more.

I didn't peg Maho as a villain the first time I saw her, Erika fits more of the "Arrogant Tankery Girl" and is meant to be that. From what I gathered from various sources, Maho is willingly taking the role of the cold and aloof elder sister that is the epitome of their family style, so Miho can pursue her own Panzerkraft.

One thing that has bugged me is where did Yukari get the uniforms for Saunders and Anzio that she used as disguises.

Also, I wonder if there'll be a world tankery tournament and Japan organizes an all star tankery unit.

edited 30th Jun '15 7:35:59 AM by Hoki

Scanlated chapters of Little Army 2 are out now. Based from what I read, I'm loving it. Nice to see Emi and Hitomi back.

I laughed at the St. Glorianna fangirls. Dangerous fans and serious business indeed, in Senshado.

And Ribbon Warrior continues to deliver with Hime's faces.

edited 30th Aug '15 3:11:00 PM by MyssaRei

And it looks like Motto! Love-Love Sakusen Desu is going to poke fun at the spinoffs next.

And it looks like Mizushima WAS holding out on us after all as far as the plot goes!

First, the new characters◊.

So the movie won't be JUST about the Gloriana vs. Oarai battle after all, but a full team-up of the commanders of the local school-ships◊ against someone else. Oh, and it looks like we're getting a Russian-native VA on top of all of it!

edited 24th Oct '15 3:15:57 AM by MyssaRei

Hell yes! More sensha-do!

You know what I'd find interesting? A clash between Japanese/East Asian-style tankery (i.e. Senshadou) and the (hypothetical) in-universe dominant Western style of tankery (hypothetically named "Panzerkraft"), with a sharp divide in each style's philosophy that reflects/parallels how East Asian martial arts tend to have a lot more focus on spiritual aspects than Western martial arts, and even some mysticism (e.g. samurai believed their swords represented their souls, and there are still holdovers of this belief in modern-day kendou).

Basically, Panzerkraft is brutally pragmatic and completely focused on the physical, scoffing at the Eastern styles' more spiritualistic mindset (however subtle it is); they treat their tanks as mere tools, and find it laughable that Senshadou promotes what they perceive as personifying the tanks as if they were "alive" (note: Shintou beliefs hold that everything has a soul/spirit, even inanimte objects).

"But what about the foreign-themed schools?", you ask? Well, these are obviously Japanese schools that are sponsored by foreigners (individuals, families, or organizations) that do not agree with Panzerkraft traditionalists, thus why these schools subscribe to Senshadou's way of tankery. The competitors that we've seen are thusly Japanese in ancestry (at least partly so, in the case of foreign-looking examples, such as the Russian and British schools' leading duos, the American school's Kay/Kei, and so on so forth) who simply adopted foreign names as noms de guerre, just like Ooarai's Hippo Team.

edited 24th Oct '15 6:22:08 AM by MarqFJA

Agreed, especially with regards to the German themed Kuromorimine, and how it would fare against an actual German tankery squad. Also, I remember the reason Japan has focus on Sensh-do is because it will host the World Tournament (I think it was mentioned somewhere in the first episodes), with Maho as one of the Japanese representatives.

Maybe in the future Season 2.

New PV and CM for Girls und Panzer der Film is now out:

New PV:

New CM: [1]

edited 28th Oct '15 3:24:34 AM by Jamibu

This film would be the best film I ever watched..

Looks interesting

That's a pretty tall order

Depends. How many films have you watched?

Just by the new PV, it looks like what started out as a friendly between Gloriana and Ooarai becomes a free-for-all as other schools (like Pravda) drop in instead of waiting their turn. Still got no context for some of the new characters though, don't seem to be part of any school-ship we've been introduced to in ANY media (even Gekkan Senshado).

Well, while I can only speculate that Megumi, Azumi and Rumi are members of the Japan Senshado Federation, the one that organizes the Senshado battles based on their uniforms and the logo of the JSF on the berets, I don't know what role will Arisu will have in the movie. Though she could get along with Miho seeing that she also have one of those bandaged teddy bears.

edited 3rd Nov '15 12:11:15 AM by Jamibu

It's kind of too bad that there isn't a youtube upload for that Niconico fanmade tank trivia series that uses World of Tank models for its explanations — the one I watched about Erika, Darjeeling, Arisa, and Kay detailing the Sherman Firefly was hilarious, doubly so because it was supposed to be Halloween, which meant that you had Darjeeling hunkered in the turret of the Firefly while wearing a full gown of the type worn by Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday...

The soundtrack to the movie is set for release on November 18, three days before the movie's release. There's a tracklist at the linked post, and be warned, there might be spoilers.

edited 5th Nov '15 8:22:17 PM by Person0123452

Wait the movie is airing on November 21st? That's some bad timing.

edited 6th Nov '15 12:01:38 AM by Chariot

Well, Girls und Panzer der Film occupied the Nov. 21 playdate first before Digimon Adventure tri. decided it will be a 6-part Movie series and also picked the same playdate. Also, GUP will be shown in more cinemas across Japan than Digimon Adventure tri. Good luck to the two of them regardless.

edited 6th Nov '15 2:08:27 AM by Jamibu

It comes to my attention that everything we know about Maho skirts the Informed Ability trope when one doesn't read the relevant supplementary materials (and even then Maho just wins by the skin of her teeth during the Little Army match). Really, I wish the anime showed the Kuromorimine/St. Gloriana match to show how Maho embodies the "always advance" philosophy of the Nishizumi-style.

An excellent talk written a ways back suggests that the Nishizumi style is not particularly effective unless they have access to overwhelming numbers and firepower. Consequently, against enemies fewer in number, unprepared for Black Forest's techniques, most enemies are defeated quickly. In other words, the Nishizumi-style simply entails bringing more, bigger guns to a fight to frighten an opponent, and then press that advantage to pound them into oblivion. Against an opponent ill-equipped to fight back, there would be no need to retreat, hence the moniker "...victory and strength, advancing without hindrance by emotions, and achieving victory without fail".

Consequently, in situations where Maho might not have access to the advantages typical to the Nishizumi style, she's unable to fight effectively. For this reason, the Nishizumi style is woefully inadequate in the context of most situations, as it presupposes the availability of hardware (and in Art of War, Sun Tzu warns generals to never take a resource for granted, instead, to make use of all the advantages one can find to gain an edge over their enemies: this is what Miho excels at). Of course, such sentiments might be succinctly channeled by Char Aznable: "I'll show you that a superior mobile suit has its limits when it goes up against a superior pilot!"

edited 8th Nov '15 2:34:19 PM by Person0123452

While that article is impressive and has its merits, it fails to consider the fact that except for Ooarai, other schools can bring a tankery squad equal to that of Kuromorimine in both numbers and firepower. So, if a school can match them in those regards (St. Gloriana comes to mind, since they've been the runner up in past tournaments), the the difference of who wins will be dependent on strategy.

Besides, I do not think Maho has the final say in what kinds of tanks she should deploy in every match, evidenced by the fact that Kuromorimine's tank lineup was intended to counter Pravda's and not Ooarai's.