Girls und Panzer - Reviews

In this world, having girls' schools train and battle in tanks in teams against other schools is considered a way to "develop yourself as a proper woman" and as a sophisticated endeavor. One school in particular resurrects their school's team after years of inactivity, and must compete against other schools with more experience and better equipment.

This anime is addicting. When all the niches are peeled away, it really is not that original plot-wise and is similar to a lot of other sports stories, but only with schoolgirls in tanks! And you know what, that premise is just enough to keep your attention and get a few laughs,

Each of the schools the protagonists face are representative of a certain country and feature their tanks. (The series is almost worth watching for 1 scene with the Russian school alone that I won't dare spoil for you.) The girls on the team are given distinct enough personalities, with each of them going through their own little story arch along the way. 

If you're looking for something deep and introspective, you're at the wrong series. This series is just lighthearted fun and makes the most of its bizarre premise. The characters are enjoyable, the tank animations and battles are actually quite good and detailed.

The opening is probably above average, while the ending is just ok.

All in all, I can understand why so many people have consider this series a guilty pleasure. World of Tanks nuts will probably drool over this anime and its lovingly detailed portrayal of different tanks. For everyone else, this is still and enjoyable little romp of a series. Check it out if you have the time for some lighthearted fun.

This series is the third ever anime I've watched and it sticks with me forever; between the great music, characters, animation, story, etc, it is probably my favorite to date! I love this show and the movies, I do wish they made the movies into a 2nd and 3rd season but I digress. 20/10

Making it's way to the legion of solidly crafted anime, namely the Toradora's and Kobato's. Girls und Panzer fits comfortably in to this category of well aniamted, character driven, grounded stories that find themselves having little to no flaws at all.

The first thing I noticed was that the characters had such strong identities that it was impossible to forget who they were. There the one that's doing it to be popular, the sleepy one that's doing it for credit, the one that's a tank nut and the one that's doing it for the thrills. This kind of character design paves the way to being likeable protagonists.

GUP has a knack for humour as well, especially when it comes to ludicrous set-pieces. Ignoring that fact, the characters alone have equally hilarious quirks and personality.
The art and world design is very bold and living, you kind of get the idea of how huge the scale is when you see an entire town atop an aircraft carrier and yet we still get to see the smaller details like the residents going about their daily business in the town or spectating matches. Even the civillians have personality and aren't just there to fill up the background.

I specifically recall the scene where a shopkeeper remarks how his store was wrecked in a tank match and is looking forward to being compensated for it.
That is world building with substance.

It's also worth noting how dedicated the studio was to tank terminology and strategic accuracy. I especially like how it zooms out to an RTS view when they are executing manuevers.
The opening is great too with a pleasant vocal song and striking visuals. It manages to not be break away from genric opening design by being unique in it's presentation resulting in something I seldom skip.

Great details to historical events and a nice selection of people who are interested in the art of tanks. Really enjoined watching it as a World of Tank player. 

i'll start by saying this is definitely worth watching at least once.

you might be wondering why i gave it such low reviews despite that. the reason is beacause, well, really, the story "is" pretty blas'e. the animation is ridiculously simple, like any "group of girls" type anime aiming for the moe. i gave the sound a 6 because, again, the opening and ending are sickening, but very easily skipped, so that doesn't matte, but! there is one song in a later episode, sung by the russians. i find it interesting to note that it is a legit folk song, or whatever. the song itself sounds decent too.

in detail, the story is only blas'e because they fused moe, comedy and drama. it's pretty ridiculous. the drama feels very out of place when they look like... that.

the reason i "like" it so much despite it all is because the tank fights are great. her ridiculous tactics are hilarious. speaking of which, though. i also hate the tank drifting. but honestly, i just do the same thing i do for op/ed themes as i do for this series. i literally just skip EVERY single bit of the show that doesn't involve comedy. it makes this series a whole 2 points better that way.