Girls Und Panzer Collection [DVD]

The sport of Tankery (Sensha-do) sees women and girls fight each other in Second World War era tanks. Miho Nishizumi transferred into Ôarai Girls' Academy to get away from the sport due to a traumatic experience in her last match but as the new year begins she discovers that Ôarai is restarting their Tankery program. As the only person with any experience in the sport the Student Council pressure Miho to join the program forcing her to come to terms with her past and her family.This first season of 'Girls und Panzer' was the surprise hit of the Autumn 2012 anime season that despite a somewhat troubled production managed to become popular enough to get a second series announced as well as a movie. The series is very entertaining with some very nice tank battles mixed with some good humour and an entertaining, if basic, plot. There are also a few moments throughout the series where the makers show their knowledge of World War II tanks and although there are some moments where realism takes a little knock these are generally forgivable due to how entertaining they are (such as the tank drifting). The characters in the series are all very good with my favourites probably being the history obsessed Hippo Team.The animation of the series is generally good even if the CGI tanks don't gel well with the more traditional animation in places but even this is better than in some series I have seen. The battles are all very good with the battles against the British themed St. Gloriana and the second half of the fight against the Soviet themed Pravda being especially entertaining. The final battle against the German themed Kuromorimine (Black Forest Peak) is also extremely good and a great way to end the series.Both English and Japanese versions of the soundtrack are included of course and while I would say that the Japanese version is better, the English dub is still good despite having a few issues. For the most part the English dub does away with the original Japanese honorifics but strangely retains them in some places (using sempai at one point and a couple of others). As well as this, the term Tankery doesn't sound quite as good as the original Sensha-do (although it is better than Tank-Fu or Tankwondo that I have seen used in some places). Other than these minor issues though the English dub is relatively good with all the voices generally suiting their characters, although some took some getting used to, especially Rozie Curtis's performance as Student Council President Anzu Kadotani. Of the English voices my favourites were probably Caitlynn French voicing Hana Isuzu and Molly Searcy as Mako Reizei.The music used in the series is very good with a good opening and ending song as well as nice versions of the British Grenadiers March and he Battle Hymn of the Republic. Unfortunately due to copyright issues Pravda's brilliant rendition of the Soviet song Katyusha had to be replaced with an instrumental version of the traditional Russian folk song Korobeiniki (best known from Tetris) which isn't quite as good.For extras the set contains the usual clean opening and closing sequences, as well as a number of trailers. Also included in the extras are episodes 5.5 and 10.5, introductory clip shows that were included in the original run of the show due to the trouble the animation studio were having with the series.The closest series that I would compare 'Girls und Panzer' to is probably the mah-jong anime 'Saki' (one of my favourite series). Both series have a main character who is disillusioned with a sport/game only to rediscover their love for it with the help of friends and take their team to the national championships to have a showdown with their estranged older sister. 'Girls und Panzer' just has tanks instead of superpowered yuri mah-jong. While I still think 'Saki' is the better series (due to having more time to develop its characters) 'Girls und Panzer' is still extremely entertaining and is probably one of my current top ten anime series and as such is more than worthy of a full five stars.

This DVD includes the six short OVA episodes that go with the 'Girls und Panzer' anime. Each OVA is around ten to fifteen episodes long (although they are much shorter without the opening and ending songs) with all of them being quite funny while some of them include some interesting exposition for the series. While the series itself is relatively light on fanservice, these OVA do include more (although still less that some series). This set doesn't include the 'This is the Real Anzio Battle!' OVA unfortunately as that has only recently come out in Japan.The first episode is 'Water War!' that sees the girls go shopping for swimsuits in preparation to their trip to a beach. This is probably the most fanservice heavy of the episodes with the characters modelling an array of swimsuits in of varying types such as Victorian swimsuits and Africa Corp swimsuits.The next episode, 'Survival War!', sees the cast going on a camping trip. This is a very entertaining episode that includes some very funny scenes, including a homage to Monty Python's Flying Circus. The episode also has a little information on rations.Episode 3, 'School Ship War!', is the most exposition heavy of the episodes as it details the history of the School Ship system as well as explaining how the ships are run and what courses are available. The episode also ends with a bit of fanservice in the form of an hot springs scene but is otherwise quite interesting.Episode 4 is 'Ankou War!' and it sees the Anglerfish, Duck, Rabbit, Turtle, Hippo and Mallard teams all doing the full version of the Ankou/Anglerfish Dance in the full costume. This was a relatively amusing episode.The penultimate episode, 'Snow War!', takes place during the match against Pravda and shows what Erwin and Yukari got up to on their reconnaissance mission. This was a probably my favourite of the OVAs in this set as it ties in well with the plot of the series, as well as including a little information about the history of snow warfare and some quite funny moments as well.The final episode is 'Banquet Wars!' and it sees the characters have a victory party where each team has to perform in a talent contest. Each teams act is quite funny ranging from the comically bad (Mallard Team) to the actually quite good (Duck Team). It is Anglerfish Team's homage to Gosei Sentai Dairanger and Turtle Team's ballet.Overall this was a relatively entertaining OVA series and I will probably give it a five star rating. It is just a shame that these episodes weren't included as special features in the proper 'Girls und Panzer' series.

This is the sort of anime that people shouldn't attempt to rationalise or criticise. It's one of those anime collections that should just be watched.The idea of a load of huge aircraft carriers, modified into schools for girls was a stretch. Adding to this the idea that as one of the curricular choices is 'Tankery' is a stretch too far. Although it's done quiet well.All the tanks involved are lovingly detailed so fans of the tank world can recognise them straight away. War tactics are genuine also, so the action is believable and easy to follow.However I would have liked for there to be a greater emphasis on showing more tank training and battles. The series is a short twelve episode collection, following a group of girls who take up Tankery and enter a tank tournament. However there is a lot of moments in the series where they seem to spend more time looking at the girls and their lives, rather than the tanks, which for me become the stars.If the series were a few more episodes longer, maybe the spotlight on the girls would be entertained. Unfortunately the series is a little too short and leaves me thinking I wanted to see more of the tank battles.Of the battles they show, you should not be disappointed though. Strategies on the fly and a good mix of tanks on display make for interesting set pieces.This isn't a series where you get flashes of skin constantly from the girls by the by. Don't expect to see schoolgirl panties and other sexually provocative moments every five minutes. However there are a couple of scenes that are in there for the boys to enjoy.This show in my opinion should have been longer and had more emphasis on the tanks. However what is on show is a very good mix and would in my opinion be a recommended series.