DVD Movie Review: Girls und Panzer: Der Film

Girls und Panzer: Der Film (UK Rating: 12)

The series saw protagonist Miho Nishizumi transfer in Ooarai Girl's Academy and is tapped to take part in the newly renewed Sensha-do, something Miho is not particularly interested in as she only joined Ooarai because of its lack of Sensha-do activities. What followed was the usual story of a new girl at school as Miho took up the Tank Commander role of the Anglefish team, getting over her fears of Sensha-do and gathering a group of friends to build the team. At first, this is a team of five who are the main team of the story; flirty Saori Takebe, the Radio Operator who uses Sensha-do to meet men, the quiet one, Hana Isuzu, who becomes the team Gunner, the hyperactive Yukari Akiyama, who serves as the Gun Loader and, finally, the dry and deadpan Mako Reizei acting as Driver. The cast is quickly expanded with tons of characters from Ooarai and rival schools and, of course, these enemies quickly become friends, too.

Despite being told the school would be kept open, the girls were lied to. From here the film plays out an encapsulation of the TV show. The girls all have to deal with the reality of losing their school and are given a last minute chance of saving their home. This time there's a contract to prove the school will be kept open should they win, but there's a bigger challenge ahead of them - they will need to be able to take out a University level team of professionals; worse still, they are massively outnumbered. Child prodigy, Alice Shimada, will lead thirty tanks against Ooarai's eight in an annihilation match, where the only way to win is to destroy all of the enemy's tanks.

Those going into this hoping for a story will be mostly left wanting; there are some fun moments for fans of the series, but there is practically no real character development or three act structure here. That being said, anyone going into this hoping for tank battles is going to be overjoyed. The CG-laden WW2 style clashes are abundant with the majority of the movie being made up of this combat. The film is high quality, too, both in the soundtrack, which incorporates familiar themes from war movies, and even Westerns at one point, along with some original thumping drum themes. The visuals don't disappoint, either; the girls have a diverse cast of designs to live up to their diverse personalities and the CG tank battles are fantastically done.

7/10

Very Good - Bronze Award

It's weird that this works, but somehow it does. The cute girls doing cute things moments are charming and the tank battles are surprisingly compelling. They aren't particularly dramatic or dynamic, as the WW2 machines trundle at a deliberate pace, but even so, the huge matches that open and close Girls und Panzer: Der Film are enthralling. It's hard not to prejudge this type of show as being just for the moe-fans out there, but this is one that deserves to be judged on its own merits, of which there are plenty.