Why I like Girls und Panzer

Back in 2012 my friend pointed this show out to me, saying it wasn't half bad, but initially I ignored his suggestion. As a bit of a history nerd and tank fan, I assumed this anime would get it all wrong, and leave a sour taste in my mouth that I'd have to wash out with bleach or something as equally disgusting. I mean come on, it's anime about schoolgirls driving tanks, surely it can't be that good? How wrong I was...

Bored out of my mind, I finally returned to watch Girls und Panzer in December 2014, thanks to the suggestions of a well known World of Tanks youtuber called The Mighty Jingles (we'll get to him later). Girls und Panzer is a short, but well-handled anime series about the adventures of Miho Nishizumi and the girls of Ooarai high school in a martial arts elective known as Sensha-dou. The literal translation for this is 'the way of the tank', though the elective applies to tanks within the World War 2 era. It involves matches between two teams of tanks, sometimes involving elimination rules but more often than not the objective is to destroy the flag tank,

Alongside Miho are Hana Isuzu (the elegant one), Mako Reizei (the sleepy one), Saori Takebe (the boyfriend one), and Yukari Akiyama (the tank nerd). These group of friends (who come together and develop in a believable manner) are all part of Team Anglerfish, the main focus of the anime. Throughout this anime they all grow and develop as characters and as a crew, as they fight to stay in the national contest, and latter on for so much more (spoilers, you'll have to watch to see what they're fighting for).

Unlike many other animes, the main characters of GuP are never overpowered, but are more so the underdogs throughout. Team Anglerfish drive the Panzer IV, a german medium tank that served throughout the entire war (it goes from a Ausf D to an F2 and finally a Ausf H), which is one of the better tanks on their team.

Other teams of Ooarai are:

• Turtle Team (the student council, driving the Panzer 38t, and later the Hetzer). They are Anzu Kadotani, Momo Kawashima, and Yuzu Koyama.

• Hippo Team (the history buffs, driving the Stug III F. Best team btw!). They all use nicknames of famous historical figures (Erwin, Caesar, Saemonza and Oryou).

• Rabbit team (the 1st years, in the M3 Lee). They are Aya Oono, Ayumi Yamagou, Azusa Sawa, Karina Sakaguchi, Yuuki Utsugi and Saki Maruyama.

• Duck team (the volleyball team, driving the weak T89B). They are Akebi Sasaki, Noriko Isobe, Shinobu Kawanaishi and Taeko Kondou.

• Mallard team (the public moral committee, piloting the Char B1 Bis). They are Midoriko Sono, Moyoko Gotou and Nozmi Komparu.

• Leopon team (the automotive club, commanding the Tiger Porsche). They are Hoshino, Nakajima, Suzuki and Tsuchiya.

• Anteater team (the gaming team, inside the Chi-Ha). They are Momoga, Nekonya and Piyotan.

I will go into the individual tanks, crews and characters in later blogs, but for now that is the basics for each team.

The main reason why I like this show is because everything is handled well. The balance between school life and tank battles is perfect, and the general information on tanks and how tank battles work is absolutely spot on. You'd assume an anime from Japan might make a few mistakes here and there out of general ignorance, but it is surprisingly well handled for what it's worth. I'd recommend it to anyone with a passing interest in tanks or anime, because it truly is one of those great shows a lot of people end up missing.

All images used belong to their respective artists, as do the characters of the show. I merely just wrote the blog.