Another autumn season
anime I've been waiting for has been aired. This time is Girls und
Panzer. Now, this is the review of the first episode,
“戦車道、始めます！(Senshadou,
Hajimemasu!; roughly: Tank-Arts, Start!)”
(WARNING! SPOILER CONTENT
INCLUDED! OPEN AT YOUR OWN RISK!)
(Mini-HD encode by AnimeOut, fansub by Commie)
First thing is that I want
to apologize that I actually want to post this review in the week
when the anime is starts aired, which means last week. But I was so
busy that I can't actually concentrate to make this review last week and finish it on time. And this
week, this show also already air its 2nd episode. So I'm sorry with
that.
Back to topic. Yes, Girls
und Panzer is another anime I've been waiting for. One of the main
reason is that Humikane Shimada, a man behind Strike Witches series,
is also working for this anime as the character designer. I actually
not a war-fanatic or such, but I quite like it especially the World
War II era.
Then, the title itself is
actually a Germany for “Girls and Tank”. So yes, this anime is
about..... well..... girls and tank, or girls school live with a tank
I think. Although this is an original anime (made as an anime from
the first), the series itself is actually started with a manga. Well,
2 mangas actually. One has the same title, sets in the anime timeline
with a different character focus. The other one is titled “Girls
und Panzer: Little Army”, sets 7 years prior to the anime and has
the same character focus as the anime. I read both of the manga
before the anime starts. And I can say it's good. So I hope the anime
will be better than the manga or at least as good as the manga.
The anime starts with a
team of “army” girls from Oarai High School battling with
another school.
Okay, that's just the
background of the story, or a prologue to the anime I suppose. Here's
the beginning of the anime. In this episode, Miho Nishizumi, the main
character of the series, is transfer to Oarai Girls High School in
her 2nd year. She transfers there alone.
But in the school's lunch
break, her classmate Saori Takabe and her friend Hana Isuzu invite
Miho to join them eat lunch. They soon become friends since then.
Sometimes later, a group
of student council search for Miho and then forcing her to take up
the Tank-Arts by the time of club election next week. But Miho itself
is actually don't want to take up the Tank-Arts. In fact, the reason why she
transfer to Oarai because she want to avoid the Tank-Arts and the
school itself doesn't have a Tank-Arts curriculum. But, starts this
year (anime time), they resurrect the Tank-Arts as the club
activity, which shocks Miho.
There's also a
presentation, explaining the advantages and benefits of taking up the
Tank-Arts activity.
The student council also explains that few years later, the Tank-Arts World Championship will take place in Japan. So that the reason why the Minister of Education put more efforts to take up the Tank-Arts. And that also the reason why Oarai resurrect the Tank-Arts.
Both Saori and Hana are interested with Tank-Arts and planned to take it up. They also cheering Miho to join with them.
Maybe that's the reason why Miho try to avoid Tank-Arts
With Miho refusing to take
up the Tank-Arts, she then being summoned by the student council with
her friends accompanying her. The student council feel dissatisfied
with Miho's desicion, and both Saori and Hana try to explain the
reason. But then, the student council threaten them by expelling them
if they object against their words, and thus they arguing it. Because
of that, Miho, with her tough heart, finally take up the Tank-Arts.
And then, they eat ice cream after school
And so, as all the members
are gathered......
They also found a scrap Panzer IV in the school's tank garage
the girls school live with tank is finally started.
That's the end of the
recap. Fuah.... I'm pretty much satisfied with this anime. Now,
here's my impression.
"YEAH!!!" - Nearly all of the
show are animated in 3D!
Just look at that. Even the ground debris also drawn in 3D!
Yes, this is actually the
very big plus of this anime. That's because this is the anime that
involves a vehicle as the main subject. So it needs to be drawn in
3D. And also they are also well animated. Though there's still a flaw
in the anime, like the tire-tracks didn't drawn in several scene. But
overall, excellent.
"YEAH!!!" - Real tanks, real
deal!
I'm not actually expecting
about the tank that much. But, I glad they do that. The real tank
cameo so far are Panzerkampfwagen IV, Panzerkampfwagen 38(t), StuG
III, M3-Lee, Type 89, A22 Churchill, A12 Matilda II, and several
other tanks that shown in the video presentation, which I don't
really know what it is. It seems that the tanks are all from the WWII
era. I wonder why.
"YEAH!!!" - City above the
ship!? MEGAFLOAT!!!
Yup, that's the first
thing I did remind after looking this anime City-Ship. Megafloat is
actually a floating city that comes from Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere
video game. It also become a military base in the game, and all of
the facilities there become theirs. To access there, you need either
a boat or a plane. So it's not actually a ship. Just floating there
not moving to anywhere. But well, in this case, both Megafloat and
the City-Ship are floating above the sea grounds. Nice idea. I even leans forward while looking this.
"YEAH!!!" - Shimada-esque
characters
I'm a fan of Strike
Witches series. And each characters of that series are actually has a
very unique characteristic in their designs. And since this anime's
character design is also made by Humikane Shimada, that thing also
applied in this anime. The major difference is there's no magic in
this anime because they're just a normal human, not a witch. So
things like animal ears and tail aren't present in this anime.
"NAAAH!!!" - The reason behind
the Tank-Arts is kinda forceful and somehow nonsense, more like a conscription
If this anime is take
place at the WWII era like Strike Witches series, that's not a
problem. But the problem is, it wasn't. The anime is taken place at
the modern era of Japan, where Japan itself doesn't have a conscription rules. And this anime somehow does show like a conscription for womans. It's okay
that Tank-Arts is actually part of martial arts. But, “Learning
Tank-Arts means learning what it means to be a woman”? What the
hell! This is not a war period anymore, you know! That's only
something that woman can learn, not something that woman should
learn! Good thing that the Tank-Arts isn't actually important to all students, nor a duty for all woman. But it still annoys me somehow.
Yes, I have lots of good
impressions with this anime. I very enjoy it. There's nothing that
bothers me with this anime. Although that “NAAAH!!!” and
the subtitle (since I'm not that fluent with Japanese language, so I
take the fansub) annoys me a bit. And also, it kinda surprise me the
very first scene of the anime is actually the same as the scene in
the chapter 4 of the manga. So I pretty much know what happen there
and what will happen next after that. So well, it's a great anime.
The next episode is
already aired as I said before. And I also have a lot work to do besides the review. Well then, see you in the next review.
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