Girls und Panzer der Film is a highly anticipated anime film in 2015. The BD was just released on May 27, 2016 which is just one day before Fuchigami Mai’s 29th birthday. Fuchigami Mai herself is the lead cast in Girls und Panzer as Nishizumi Miho, the main character in the film. Since this film was highly anticipated by many people, my expectation with this film is very high. Fortunately, I am glad to inform that this film live up to my expectation as an excellent anime film.
Story
Taking place of the tournament in the TV anime, Ooarai Joshi Gakuen had an exhibition match. Ooarai joined force with Chihatan while their enemy is St. Gloriana joined force with Pravda. After the exhibition match ended, Anzu, the student council president of Ooarai was summoned by the Ministry of Eductation just to informed that their school will be closed. With the help of Chouno Amy, a sensha-dou instructor and Nishizumi Shiho, mother of Shiho, they managed to convince the ministry to cancel the closing of the school in one condition, Ooarai must defeat University All Star team. However, Ooarai is not alone as their rivals from previous tournament also helped them which turns the battle to be High School vs University.
Animation
The animation is similar to the TV anime with minor improvement. Not a bad thing because the TV anime already has an excellent animation. In the film, 3D anime shader CGI is used more often than in the TV anime. We also had quite a lot of 1st person point of view camera from the tank which makes the anime feel more and more immersive. Character design still maintain the design from TV anime which is based on Shimada Fumikane design. So, the characters are all pretty and acute. In short, the animation in this film is awesome.
Sound & Music
As excellent as music in anime, Girls und Panzer sits in highest level of musical awesomeness in anime together with Hibike! Euphonium. I can’t complain anything about the musics they are impressive, deeply. The sound effect is second to none, not even Hibike! Euphonium. The sound of tank engine, the sound cannon firing, they are so awesome! Girls und Panzer deserves the title of anime with the best sound effect.
Character
Massive number of (female) character, rivaled only by Girlfriend Kakko Kari. I am not even sure which one has more characters. With this many characters, they manage to share the screen time of each character nicely while keeping Miho in main focus. However, there are sacrifice though because Saori, Mako, Hana, and Yukari gets less screen time and less role in this film. The good thing is, characters from other school like Maho, Kay, Darjeeling, Katyusha, Nonna, Anchov, and Nishi have more role in the story.
With that many characters, you can expect so many seiyuu as well. Indeed. I am too lazy to count the number. But unlike Girlfriend Kakko Kari which relies on popular seiyuu, you don’t often find popular seiyuu in Girls und Panzer list. There are still popular name such as Tanaka Rie, Nabatame Hitomi, Hayami Saori, Uesaka Sumire, Takahashi Mikako, Fukuen Misato, and a few more but I am not familiar many of the other seiyuu. Don’t you worry as their voice acting works nicely for their own character.
The seiyuu of Girls und Panzer. To be honest, I am not familiar with many of them.
Final Thoughts
Another match, another competition. Girls und Panzer is not (yet) boring. Strategies and combat tactics are what makes this anime interesting. Nishizumi Miho and Maho, the two are like Sleeping Dragon and Fledgling Phoenix of Shu in Three Kingdoms era. The two know about strategy more than the others and able to lead the team towards victory, even with when they are at disadvantage, even when they lack of other resources. If there are any sequel of this anime film, as long as they able to deploy another exciting combat with impressive tactics, I’d be glad to follow the show.
| Story | 9 |
| Animation | 10 |
| Sounds & Musics | 10 |
| Characters | 9 |
| Voice Acting | 9 |
| Overall | 9 |
| Rated as | Excellent |
Pros
(+) Art of war
(+) Exciting Story
(+) Cool looking animation
(+) Awesome music & sound effect
(+) Massive characters and great voice acting
Cons
(-) Unless you were expecting a real war, there is nothing to see here, move on
Nippon Insider 