Deegeetal
Since: Feb, 2021
02/23/2021 21:25:18
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FanficRecs Comment from Deegeetal
An excellently written story that brings characterization to a character that has almost no screentime. Also fleshes out the Girls Und Panzer universe through explaining the work that goes into starting up a new Senshado team and finding other schools to compete against.
FanficRecs Updated For Chapter 9
This review covers up to Chapter 9, which is when I ended up dropping the fic
To paraphrase a famous quote referenced in this fic, "Amateurs study tactics, professionals study pacing."
The fic is basically a retelling of GuP in which Koume follows Miho to Oarai. So far, it's stuck fairly close to canon, despite Koume's influence, but perhaps it will diverge from canon more in later chapters.
As one might expect, Koume's characterization is crucial for how well this fic works. The fic does a good job of fleshing Koume out, but she does come off as a bit of an O.C. Stand-in, particularly being relatively snarky and bitter toward the student council, and cynical about the team's chances. Bizarrely enough, she channels the author's belief that it's weird to name Momo, Yuzu and Anzu after fruits, despite the fact that her own name means "little plum" in Japanese.
The fic effectively discusses the logistical details of how much time, effort and money it would take to get the tankery team up and running again, and get all the members up to speed, but at the cost of making the student council seem even more naive and unprepared than in canon, with Miho and Koume coming off as the only competent members of the team. That said, it also provides a plausible explanation for Chouno's short tenure as Oarai's instructor.
The pacing is rather slow, since at just over 80,000 words in, the fic is only up to the start of the match with St. Gloriana, and after another 10,000 words or so, gets to midway through the match. Canon was much better about pacing, effectively using Show, Don't Tell and not getting bogged down on technical details, enabling it to start the practice match at the end of Episode 2, and get to the first match with a rival school at the end of Episode 3.
This may be a minor complaint, but the author doesn't seem to get Japanese culture, finding it weird that the student council girls were named after fruits and having Koume complain that she's never seen Maho hug Miho (concluding that Maho is an Aloof Big Sister isn't entirely unwarranted, but public displays of affection are a no-no in Japan).
All in all, it's an interesting and well thought-out alternate take on canon, but it also makes me appreciate some of the original GuP's strengths more.
Incidentally, be careful if you decide to post a review; The author gets rather defensive when criticized.