Girls & Panzer: A Surprisingly Fun Anime
Girls & Panzer first aired in October of 2012 and was published by studio Actas. It started as an original anime with no previous source of inspiration. The story takes place following the journey of Miho Nishizumi and her friends taking a long-standing martial art known as Sensha-dō. Otherwise known as “the way of the tank.” The entire purpose is for the girls at schools to pilot and participate in Tank warfare in a sporting persuasion. We follow the story that Nishizumi finds herself watching as she brings her team and school to the forefront of the Tankery world.
First off, the anime is exceedingly adorable. I love watching cute slice-of-life anime with a nice twist to emphasize the fun and absurdity that comes with shows like Girls und Panzer. The show takes its myriad of colorful casts and makes it work phenomenally. There is a strange comfort in watching high school students manning these extremely clunky tanks and having them be called cute and feminine. Especially when these girls paint their tanks absolutely bright pink.
The story is also a really nice selling point for the anime. Not to mention its phenomenal action sequences mixed with CGI that looks really decent for its time. Mainly focusing on the story I want to touch on Nishizumi. It is very clear in the first episode that she comes from a Tanking background and yet for some reason, we know very little of how she has chosen to leave that world behind. We hear how she chose this new school exclusively because of its lack of a Tankery Club.
Seeing flashbacks here and there gives a heavy indication that she was part of a terrible incident. It rattled her confidence and even her love for the sport. However, with her friends and teammates by her side, she started to develop her relationship with the sport in a more positive light. According to her, she comes from a very prestigious Tanker Family. And her views are that her family just assumed it was something she would do. And them pushing her into that inevitably pushed her away. Paired with a foreshadowed incident caused a break to take place and an attempt to leave the sport behind.
But sadly, the student council from her new school essentially forced her to pick it up or face her and her friend’s expulsion. It’s a little hectic honestly but I don’t credit Girls und Panzer for its fluid and breathtaking storytelling. Believe me, I have gripes on that first episode. But what looks like a poorly written villain plot quickly turns into a story of supporting your friends no matter their decisions. They should not ask sensitive questions and should go along as the shoulder they need.
The girls here do their best to support Nishizumi in earnest. When she said she’d join a different club they abandoned their wishes to join Tankery because they knew she was struggling with the idea of joining the sport. They chose to support their friend rather than cause her second-hand grief because of their decision to join. To have friends like these are dimes a dozen. And Nishizumi made the correct decision to take Tankery and assist her friends. True friends make sacrifices for each other. Both ways.
The fights in Girls & Panzer are fun, the sound design is impeccable and honestly, you feel the weight and power of each tank just from the sound alone. They did a phenomenal job with historically accurate tank design and function. However, issues arise with the crew size. I’ve seen many people argue that there are far too few people manning the tanks to which I say: It’s an anime, it doesn’t need to get everything right.
I adore Girls & Panzer and would watch it over and over again. The characters are lovely to watch with all their unique personalities. The tanks are fun to watch battling it out. And the storytelling can be some of the most endearing if you let it be. Give it a watch. You won’t regret it!