It is the story of Miho’s quest to find what she had lost and learn to enjoy Sensha-do once again that drives the series, with the other characters helping to support and follow her in her quest. By presenting a character who is both an exceptional commander, tactical thinker and also fearless, but who nonetheless has a fear or distrust of tanks at its center, Girls und Panzer helped to create a truly wonderful story about the growth of a group of people and a school who had never thought of the sheer joys of tan warfare until this point. While there were numerous other brilliant characters, it was ultimately the story of Miho and her fear or perhaps distrust of tanks that formed the center of Girls und Panzer.
Girl und panzer review series#
The excellent characters in the series helped this, with the story of Nishizumi Miho at its center driving the narrative along at a steady pace. What surprised me most about this comparison is how little it took for me to believe that Sensha-do was as feminine as Sa-do or Ka-do, in fact, after a couple of episodes it seemed perfectly normal for high school girls to be operating tanks. By comparing Sensha-do to Ka-do (flower arranging/the way of the flowers), Sa-do (Tea Ceremony), and even Sho-do (Calligraphy) it is given a place within the great aesthetic Japanese traditions, and more specifically those that many Japanese women are expected to master as a part of bridal training. It effectively turns everything on its heads, and fascinatingly enough, tanks, and the ability to drive tanks somehow managed to become entirely feminine, as if the war films involving big, gruff men never existed.
Tanks are perhaps inherently masculine in terms of appearance, those who used them and when and where they were used, so the very notion of Sensha-do being the domain of girls and women fascinated me. The central premise of Sensha-do also intrigued me since to me as with most people, tanks are largely associated with WWII (or later periods) films involving lots of men fighting for their lives, a place where women are almost entirely absent. However, the very existence of Sensha-do really surprised me, not least in the very accurate, and powerful portrayals of tank combat as shown from the viewpoint of teenage girls. The very notion of a ‘martial art’ involving tanks at first seemed ludicrous and I was almost convinced that it could not be used in an anime without coming across as both ludicrous and plain silly. What we find in Girls und Panzer however is an entirely different take on this well warn aspect of anime, and while it still has cute girls doing cute things, the constant presence of tanks and the important part that they play in life helps to subtly change the way this anime portrays the lives of school girls.
I have never really had any problems with the ‘cute girls doing cute things’ aspect of many anime, finding the ordinary, if rather romanticized portrayal of Japanese school life often charming and entertaining. However, having sat through the gripping action, wonderful character development, and truly superb soundtrack it is safe to say that I can now, entirely un-ironically proclaim it to be a spectacular success. I, like many others on twitter, was quick to laughingly and quite ironically proclaim this series to be the best of the season and perhaps the year just before it premiered. Girls und Panzer is absolutely brilliant and sits as a perfect example of how even the most innocuous series can be turned into a veritable masterpiece with the right direction, writing and a truly engrossing story that has been created by a group of people who truly love classic war films and all they entail.