Ōarai: Ōarai Girls' Academy (Anglerfish Team, Duck Team and Hippo Team, Rabbit Team and Turtle Team)
Rival Schools: Rival Schools (St. Gloriana Girls Academy, Saunders University High School, Anzio High School, Pravda High School, Kuromorimine Girls High School)
Others: Der Film Characters | Das Finale Characters | Other Characters
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Team B/Duck Team
"GUTS!!!"
Once members of the Volleyball Team, since disbanded just before Miho's arrival, they hope success in Sensha-do will let them restore the team. They drive the almost-useless Japanese Type 89 I-Go
.
In General
- The Ace: Pointed out by Miho in the Ribbon Warrior spin-off. Their tank is the most accurate and maneuverable among Ooarai's vehicles despite being comically underpowered. When they face a tank of comparable power, they are a terror on tracks.
- Big Brother Mentor: They wind up mentoring Chi-Ha-Tan in The Movie in learning how to use seemingly underpowered, undergunned tanks effectively via ambushes and close range combat rather than massed charges. Fukuda's crew in particular, whole heartededly listens to them, even when being ordered to "Push it back with your willpower".
- Determinator: They run on guts. They won't flee. They won't stop. Should they retreat, it will be to lure enemy units into a trap, and they'll do it firing all the way. They have a Goal in Life, and as Noriko explains..."I'll be damned if I give up here!" (While surrounded by multiple late-war German heavy tanks and tank destroyers)
- Dumb Jock: They're sensitive about being perceived as this, and in Motto Love Love Sakusen Desu, express a desire to perform well in the sports test to erase the shame of how badly they did on the quiz.
- Heroic Willpower: Duck Team believes in this. For example, during the finals...Noriko: (While tank is engaged in Tank Fu) "Push it back with your willpower!"
Taeko: "Great idea, but not very plausible". - Noodle Incident: It's unclear why their team was disbanded, though it might be related to Ōarai's impending shutdown.
- The Smart Guy: Of Ōarai tank teams. Because the Type 89 is so bad it's a running gag, they have to resort to guile and subterfuge instead of direct combat. Their usual role is scouting and acting as bait.
- Theme Naming: All the girls are named after members of the gold-medal winning Japanese Olympic volleyball team during Tokyo 1964.
- Training from Hell: Motto Love Love Sakusen Desu reveals that the Volleyball girls have a ridiculous training regimen (part of which is a direct Shout-Out to Jackie Chan's Drunken Master movies).Oryou: Now I know the reason why they lack club members.
- Wake-Up Call Boss: They are the first team in Ribbon Warrior to give Centipede Team a real run for their money in a one on one fight. They also serve as one for the rest of the Ooarai team, as anyone looking to challenge Ooarai would find themselves facing much stronger tanks after dealing with Duck Team.
Type 89 I-Go
The Type 89 I-Go was the tank that the Volleyball Team found during their search for other tank units at the re-establishment of Ōarai's Sensha-do elective, and ultimately given to them as their unit. Despite being historically known as a piece of junknote , the team manages to make it an integral part of Ōarai's strategies, mainly as a recon/scouting vehicle or a bait.
- The Alleged Car: While this tank was quite effective when first introduced in 1928, it is still about 10 years older than most other tanks in the series and suffers greatly against almost every opponent it faces. The only time Type 89 is not depicted as a piece of crap is this quip from Noriko:Noriko: "It looks so well made!"
- Averted in the Anzio OVA, where it gets to shine against tanks of similar caliber.
- In spite of its overall poor performance, the girls love their tank, and get angry if anyone suggests replacing it.
- Aside Glance: After dodging an intense barrage from Pravda's tanks, the Type 89's turret turns toward the camera, as if saying "Did you see that?" See it here, starting at 8:40.
- Butt-Monkey: Aside from its not-so-stellar reputation, the Type 89 as been subject to some indignities in the Motto Love Love Sakusen manga, such as being turned to a sauna and as a getaway car. The 6th OVA even has the Leopon team have the Type 89 as their "volunteer" in their talent show, momentarily turning it into a Tiger (P), then reverting it back, to everyone but the Duck Team's disappointment.Sasaki: Don't make fun of our Type 89!
- Companion Cube: The reason it's given an entry in the characters page.
- A Day in the Limelight: The Type 89 is the only tank from Ooarai to appear in Ribbon Warrior, due to it being the only tank in Ooarai's arsenal that is able to meet the Tankathalon's 10 ton weight restriction.note
- Fragile Speedster: In a notable aversion of the original tank's performance (top road speed comparable to the cross-country speed of other tanks), it is consistently portrayed as having retreating as its only defense. The "fragile" part is dead-on.
- Insistent Terminology: It's a medium tank, thank you very much.
- Lethal Joke Character: Throughout the series, the Type 89 has garnered zero kills in direct combat, yet it is pivotal in every one of Ōarai's victories. In the OVA, it takes out most of Anzio's Carro Verroce tankettes on its own.
- Reality Is Unrealistic: The Type 89's only remarkable feature was that it had a good diesel engine and a drivetrain with traction to spare; its off-road speed was limited mostly by crew safety note , and there exists vintage promotional photos◊ of this tank stunt-jumping trenches. Meaning that in the hands of "GUTS Team", the stunts it does in the series are (technically) possible...
- Underdogs Never Lose: Averted about every single time it enters combat. Played straight in the Pravda fight.
Noriko Isobe
Noriko Isobe
"Our Team Motto is GUTS!"
Position: Tank Commander/Loader
Voiced by: Mika Kikuchi (Japanese), Genevieve Simmons (English, TV, das Finale), Chelsea McCurdy (English, der Film)
The hot-blooded, energetic, fearless (even to the point of foolishness) ex-captain of the now-disbanded Volleyball Team and by default tank commander of their tank team, as well as its loader.
- Badass Boast: In Motto Love Love Sakusen Desu.Noriko: "We are unchallenged when it comes to athletics! We will dispel the stigma of being accused as the "muscle-headed team" from the quiz battle!"Shinobu: "You didn't have to actually say it..."
- Bifauxnen: Short hair, wears shorts and a tee shirt, and AA-cup breasts. If it wasn't for the fact she's a student at an all-girls school, you might think Noriko was a boy.
- Boyish Short Hair: Rather than keep it tied or put up like her friends, Noriko just opts to cut most of her hair that goes below the ears.
- Chekhov's Skill: She uses her volleyball serving skills to loft smoke flares at the Saunders flag tank.
- Expy: Of Noriko Takaya. Her name is Noriko, and she thrives on HARD WORK and GUTS!!
- Genki Girl: Along with GUTS comes plenty of energy!
- Gratuitous English: She tends to pepper her sentences with volleyball jargon, which are usually in English.
- Hot-Blooded: The team's motto is "GUTS!", and she's The Leader. Unlike Miho's methodical and Anzu's hands-off approaches, she takes a very active role in leading her team.
- I Know Madden Kombat: Tosses smoke flares with great accuracy, due to experience with volleyballs.
- Older Than She Looks: She's the only second year in the Duck Team, but you won't know that when she stands beside her teammates, who not only tower over her, but also have fuller figures.
- Passionate Sports Girl: Noriko lives and breathes volleyball. It's the one reason Duck Team even competes in sensha-do (to restore the club after it got shut down) and she even suffers withdrawal if she doesn't think about the sport!
- Thanks for the Mammary: In Motto Love Love Sakusen, she ends up slapping Akebi's and Taeko's breasts while suffering from "volleyball withdrawal".
- Wingding Eyes: When going through "volleyball withdrawal," her eyes are replaced by volleyballs, and she ends up striking her well-endowed teammates Akebi and Taeko in the breasts as though she were spiking a ball.
Taeko Kondo
Taeko Kondo
Position: Radio Operator
Voiced by: Maya Yoshioka (Japanese), Kalin Coates (English)
The radio operator of the Duck Team.
- Huge Schoolgirl: She's a first year and yet she's taller than Noriko, a second year.
Shinobu Kawanishi
Shinobu Kawanishi
Position: Driver
Voiced by: Mari Kirimura (Japanese), Cynthia Martinez (English)
The likewise hot-blooded driver of the Duck Team, often pushing the otherwise below-average tank beyond its limits.
- A-Cup Angst: In Motto Love Love Sakusen Desu, especially when in the company of either Taeko or Akebi.
- Badass Driver: She's able to do things like running her tank off-road at its maximum road speed and somehow not throw a track, or even balancing the tank on its nose while running away, as flag tank, from six Pravda tanks. That's right: her tank is driven by the very power of guts.
- Drives Like Crazy: Drifts and weaves all over the place, including hitting trees. Against Pravda, it's more like "Drives Like Their Lives Depended on It".
- Hot-Blooded: Even without the help of official manuals, any random two-second sample of her driving shows this.
- Huge Schoolgirl: Also a first year that towers over her senior captainnote .
- In the Hood: Her jogging hoodie obscures her face (and her gender) to the extent that she was mistaken for Saki's would-be boyfriend In Motto Love Love Sakusen Desu.
- Took a Level in Badass: Come the tournament, she becomes a more efficient driver.
Akebi Sasaki
Akebi Sasaki
"It would be nice to have more firepower."
Position: Gunner
Voiced by: Sakura Nakamura (Japanese), Carli Mosier (English)
The gunner of the Duck Team.
- Accidental Aiming Skills: Usually she's a crack shot, but in the manga version of the Final Battle, when harassing the Kuromorimine tanks to lure them into pursuing her tank, she misses completly - then, as she apologizes, the rubble the miss creates falls upon the other tanks, successfully aggroing all of them with a single shot.
- Friendly Sniper: The gunner of the Duck Team and a Nice Girl.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: According to official character sheets
- Hidden Depths: She reveals an interest in ballet in the sixth OAV, and demonstrates some proficiency as a dancer herself in the Alisa Wars OAV.
- Huge Schoolgirl: Like her teammates, except the leader.
- Improbable Aiming Skills: Consistently scores a high number of hits against their opponents, even while their tank is moving quickly and shooting equally fast targets. As a matter of fact, in the Anzio OVA she lands double the number of on-the-move hits of all the other top gunners combined. Unfortunately, her weapon normally isn't up to par.
- Nice Girl: With Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold.
- Phenotype Stereotype: Averted. Despite being tall, blonde and blue-eyed on top of being VERY well-stacked, Akebi is apparently pure-blooded Japanese. This is lampshaded in chapter 4 of Motto Love Love Sakusen Desu by Kei, who, after a glance, wonders why she isn't in Saunders instead.Anzu: "You're Japanese yourself, Kei."
Team C/Hippo Team
A team of military history Otaku who all take their nicknames after famous personages. They drive the StuG III German assault gun/tank destroyer. Despite starting off as rookies, their passionate interests and level heads make them better than most of their teammates, save for Anglerfish Team.
In General
- The Big Guy: Of Ōarai's tank teams — Hippo behaves as their knockout punch, having the most powerful gun and the thickest frontal armor (until the Tiger(P) joins the team).
- This extends to outside of sensha-do as well, where they're shown to be some of the most physically capable people in Oarai, even with Duck Team and Anteater Team (post-Training from Hell). When the student council organizes a survival game, they don character-appropriate historical armor and utterly destroy everyone else.
- Catchphrase (doubles as Running Gag): Oftentimes when one of them happens to say something which strikes the fancy of the rest, they tend to scream "That's it!" in unison. When they consulted Yukari as to their StuG III in Episode 7, she made a favorable comment and all of them uttered the said Catchphrase.
- Cloudcuckoolander: They're so obsessed on living up their 'soul names', they do and use things of their respective specialized history. See their choice of swimsuits in the first OVA and their choice of armor in the survival game organized in Motto Love Love Sakusen Desu.
- Gun Fu: Does this in the seventh OVA against Carpaccio's Semovente.
- Informed Ability: Per their drama CD, they all took ninjutsu training the year before the events of the series. Averted since they utilize those skills a few times in the main series and spin-offs.
- Large Ham: The flashiest of all the squads, with their outfits, quotations of history, and shamelessly loud presence.
- Nonuniform Uniform: They always wear accessories related to their respective namesakes over their school and sensha-do uniforms.
- Otaku: They're nerds when it comes to history, military history in particular. Their knowledge thereof came in handy during their preparation for the match against Anzio in the seventh OVA.
- Stock Ninja Weaponry: Played for Laughs — all the team are seen using mizugumos (Ninja water-walking shoes) in Episode 2 to walk on water while searching for the missing Panzers. After all, Ōarai does offer ninjutsu as an extracurricular.
- Drama CD 3 confirms all four History Club members did take Ninjutsu as their first year's elective.
- Theme Naming:
- In-universe, their nicknames are "Soul Names" based on famous leaders.
- Meta-wise, their birth names are derived from members of the Anime's production team.
- True Companions: To a notable degree even by the standards of Ōarai. The history team are forever completing each others' sentences and the Anzio OVA reveals they actually live together.
StuG III
The Sturmgeschütz III was the tank The History Club found during the search for additional units for Ōarai's Sensha-do team, and ultimately given to them as their unit. Then the only unit that has considerable firepower, it was used as Ōarai's heaviest hitting unit, until the arrival of the Tiger(P). This is also the tank Maho uses in her training match with Miho in Little Army.
- Bling of War: In Episodes 1-4, the StuG III is painted in a mix of red and yellow, with mountains against a blue sky, historical quotes and side-mounted sashimonos note (notice plural.)
- Hoist by His Own Petard: As an exercise for the reader, read Bling of War above and contrast it with the references to low profile in Simple, yet Awesome below. The sashimonos royally screw up the team's attempt to sneak past a low fence, and a Matilda blew them up by firing through the fence.
- Logical Weakness: The lack of a rotating turret means the only way to hit anything behind or to the side of the tank is to turn around. While Miho was saving Rabbit Team from the river, the StuG III is unable to return fire for this reason. Miho considers exploiting this in the practice match with Maho, but realizes that the latter would be expecting this.
- Ninja: The Hippo team has taken advantage of the StuG III's low profile to pull off ambush kills by basically disguising it as part of the scenery. The first instance being hiding it in an alley full of sashimonos and using their own as cover during the practice match against St. Gloriana, hiding behind the bush during the Saunders match and finally, burying it in the snow in order to ambush Pravda's flag tank. The movie takes it even further, as the Hippo team uses prop signs in the classic, "Ninja camouflage blanket" to score kills during the latter stages of the match.
- Simple, yet Awesome: Historically, the StuG III was not a tank, but an infantry-support assault gun vehicle (which is mentioned twice in the show). Take a tank chassis, remove that fancy turret, replace it with a gun bigger than a turreted vehicle of comparable size could carry,and send it to the front lines to blow stuff up; nothing fancy about it. They discovered that the big gun and low profile made them frighteningly effective tank killers—especially once the low-velocity L/24 gun was replaced with a high velocity L/43 or L/48 gun—at a much lower cost than any comparable vehicle. This is why the StuG III was the single most-produced fully tracked German AFV of the war.
- Tanks, but No Tanks: Openly mentioned by both Yukari and Hippo Team themselves. It's technically not a tank, but a mobile assault gun that was increasingly used as a tank destroyer.
Riko "Erwin" Matsumoto
Riko "Erwin" Matsumoto
Position: Tank Commander/Radio Operator
Voiced by: Satomi Moriya (Japanese), Luci Christian (English)
Tank commander of Hippo Team and radio operator, as well as the girl behind their leader during combat.
- Badass Longcoat: Technically it's a regular uniform jacket, but it counts as such since it's way too big for her as it was made for an adult male.
- Dressing as the Enemy: With Yukari, steals a Pravda overcoat and gains intelligence on Pravda's formation and tactics from Nina in OVA 5.
- Large Ham: The most bombastic of the four, if for no other reason than that time she and Yukari went scouting...
- Named After Somebody Famous: Nicknames herself after Erwin Rommel, German general for both World Wars.
- Open-Minded Parent: In the fifth OVA, she mentions that her parents have given up on opposing her interest in military history.
- Visual Pun: Her hair looks much like the ears of a desert fox, her namesake's nickname.
Takako "Caesar" Suzuki
Takako "Caesar" Suzuki
Position: Loader/Tactical Commander
Voiced by: Eri Sendai (Japanese), Shannon Emerick (English)
President of the History Club. Loader of Hippo Team and also the co-commander, as their representative during Ōarai's planning stages.
Tropes for Caesar
- Childhood Friend: To Carpaccio, whom she communicates with online. Becomes the Friendly Enemy during the match against Anzio.
- Chekhov's Skill: She's actually fluent in Italian. She helps Miho in deciphering the data about "Anzio's Secret Weapon" during the latter's visit to Hippo Team's house in the seventh OVA.
- Dowsing Device: She uses an octagram to find the B1 Bis.
- Embarrassing Nickname: Gets called "Taka-chan" by Carpaccio (Anzio's second-in-command and apparent chatmate) in the seventh OVA, much to the surprise of her teammates.
- Luminescent Blush: When her teammates finally met her Childhood Friend Carpaccio in the seventh OVA, after they teased her with her Embarrassing Nickname.
- Named After Somebody Famous: Nicknames herself after Julius Caesar, a great military and political figure of Ancient Rome.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: It's her idea (albeit one that most of the rest of the team eagerly decided to go along with) to throw caution to the wind and go straight for Pravda in the semi-finals, which leads to Oarai almost losing the tournament and their school. She should know better; a disciplined, patient advance in the face of superior numbers was key to Julius Caesar's stunning victory at Pharsalus.
- One-Steve Limit: It's unclear whether she's related to Suzuki of Leopon Team.
- Pretentious Latin Motto: Paints "Veni, Vidi, Vici" on the front of the StuG.
- Scarf of Asskicking: Wears a heavy red scarf even in battle, likely as a nod to the red cape often worn by her namesake.
Kiyomi "Saemonza" Sugiyama
Kiyomi "Saemonza" Sugiyama
Position: Gunner
Voiced by: Yuka Inoue (Japanese), Tiffany Terrell (English), Joanne Bonasso (English, das Finale)
Gunner of Hippo Team and a kyuudou (Japanese archery) practitioner outside the field.
Tropes for Saemonza
- Eyes Always Shut: Downplayed, as it's only her left eye that's almost always shut. note Reference to Japanese pop culture portrayal of her "soul name", usually depicted as one-eyed (even if historically it wasn't the case).
- Going Commando: It's implied in Motto Love Love Sakusen Desu that neither she nor Oryou wear underwear, on the basis that women in the Sengoku and Bakumatsu Eras also went commando.
- Hachimaki: A red one with three columns of two coins. See Named After Somebody Famous.
- Lady of War: As the only girl to practice two out of three martial arts stated to "emphasize a woman's femininity and dignified grace" (kyuudou and sensha-do), and stated in Drama CD 3 to be interested in the third (naginatajutsu), she should be, but this is not the case. Her dignified grace is usually everything but. Just check her choice of swimsuits in OVA 1, from a red loincloth to a golden sarashi.
- Named After Somebody Famous: Uses the same nickname as that of Sanada Yukimura, one of the most famous warriors of the Sengoku period, down to adopting his mon (family badge) of three columns of two coins as part of her hachimaki.
Takeko "Oryou" Nogami
Takeko "Oryou" Nogami
Position: Driver
Voiced by: Ayuru Ohashi (Japanese), Nancy Novotny (English), Elisa Cuellar (English, das Finale)
The fourth member of Hippo Team and its driver.
Tropes for Oryou
- Coat Cape: She wears a traditional haori (kimono jacket) without bothering with the sleeves.
- Going Commando: It's implied in Motto Love Love Sakusen Desu that neither she nor Saemonza wear underwear, on the basis that women in the Sengoku and Bakumatsu Eras also went commando.
- Hidden Buxom: She's quite well endowed, not that you would be able to tell from her slouching posture and the haori draped over her shoulders.
- Named After Somebody Famous: Uses the same nickname as that of Narasaki Ryou, politician and wife of Sakamoto Ryouma, architect of the Meiji Restoration.
- Nerd Glasses: Her squarish half-rim glasses are her most prominent trait for denoting her as a geeky Otaku like the rest of Team Hippo.
- Tareme Eyes: The only one who has this in contrast to the Tsurime Eyes sported by her teammates.
- Verbal Tic: ...zeyo.
