Maid-chan no Anime: Girls und Panzer
The last two of Maid-chan’s anime reviews were about animes with lots of cuteness.
Of course, what cuteness is differs from person to person. For example you may not think that a Pentium 4 is as cute as Maid-chan thinks about it (Maid-chan always gets a warm feeling when one of her algos runs on a P4).
But would you ever expect anyone saying “cute” to a tank (yes, this is about the big, armored cars with guns)?
Maid-chan surely would not, but that is what is normal when it comes to the anime Girls und Panzer! (Which literally means girls and tanks.)
This is because in this anime "sensha-dō" (戦車道 "the way of the tank") is a traditional club activity for girls. It makes girls popular with the boys, too!
But first things first. First we see is Nishizumi Miho, who freshly transferred to Ooarai Gakuen. She especially chose this school because there was no sensha-dō. Miho comes from a renowned sensha-dō family but after a traumatic experience does not want to touch a tank ever again!
Imagine her surprise when it is announced in a big way that sensha-dō will come back to their school.
In the end Miho has no chance. Her new friends are enamored by the student council’s promotion video and the council uses unfair means to get her into joining. But first they have to find the school’s tanks, because most are lost and the one they found in the vehicle hall is not in the best state.
But finally the club members are able to collect and repair several tanks and they can start the training, led by the experienced Miho. To their common surprise though the student council has set a training match very early and Miho and her friends have to do a real fight against an experienced school.
Oh, did Maid-chan mention that schools are not on land? They are all on big ships, looking like aircraft carriers. Because that would teach the youth essential skills for the new time, or so the legend goes.
Anyway, it turns out the Ooarai school will join the school tournament in sensha-dō. After solving several struggles (like which pillow is best to save your lower backside in a tank seat) the Ooarai team wins fight after fight thanks to Miho’s improvisation talent and the steel hard (please forgive Maid-chan’s bad pun) will of the Panzer Girls.
But then, in the final round, Miho and her team have to fight against her old school’s team – Kuromori(mine), which is the literal translation of the German “Schwarzwald” - which is lead by Mihos bigger sister. To make things worse, in the final you can use 10 tanks, which the enemy fields. Even one of the best tank type. On contrast, Ooarai still…
How does it end? Maid-chan will not tell you! You have to find out by yourself! Panzer vor!
Conclusion
It is not hard to see that the manga/anime is made by a tank nut, especially fond of German tanks. Maid-chan will never understand why some humans are so fond of unreliable, smelly machines that are only made to kill you. But no one ever said that humans are rational.
The combination of young girls and tanks seems to make a strangely fascinating mix. The graphics (except the tanks) are only average, but still beautiful. The CGI sometimes looks out of place. The series is the usual underdog-wins-by-willpower story, but with admittedly unusual ingredients.
All in all, on the totally objective Maid-chan scale, this anime rates 7/10.
And if you ever wanted to know how to clean a tank, here is a promotion video for the Girls und Panzer movie:
