You crazy man? NO! I am most certainly not!
This movie displays the epicness of the whole GuP series in 2hrs, a true masterpiece!
STORY 9/10
The story of the Girls und Panzer series is faithfully followed, and not in dragging on kind of way! There is not much that can be said that won't spoil anything, but the series showed clear development, introduces you very nicely to the movie, they start the movie by reintroducing the schools from the series. There is a clear structure of every story: setting, complication, resolution, and this movie hit the nail on all of these. As per usual there were side plots developing characters and relations between characters.
There are a few plot twists here and there. AND NO THESE WERE NOT BAD PLOT TWISTS... (BTW: The premise of the whole GuP story of Girls School VS Girls School in tanks, is rather weird, but I think they are trying to make a point about gender equality)
About the gender equality: The series, when a promotional video of Sensha-dou is shown, talks about how it's good for women to grow up strong, have skills that are not usually associated with the female gender (and skills that ARE associated with the female gender), and the fact that a usually male job is not a male job here. I may be overthinking this though... and I'm not one to judge these things ^-^
All in all, the story was shallow, but that doesn't stop it from being good!
With good development and reintroduction, the movie lays out for an epic 2hrs of action (which is the main focus of the series after all).
Art 10/10
The art is just like the series' art if not slightly better (I watched the series in 720p and the movie 1080p, so that might be the cause of the difference). If you haven't watched the series, you SHOULD. The 3D tank models have never looked out of place, in the series and here. The models are well done and always accurate to look like the tank IRL.
Sound 10/10
If you had watched the series, you would have heard a lot of flutes and glockenspiels. Some complained about the "high pitch-ness" of the OST, but in the movie they kinda toned that part down and replaced it with more strings and bass. This is quite the improvement as it makes the marching songs that are played suit the battle scenes much more than they did in the series (and I'm not saying they were bad in the series). The guns sounds and explosions actually felt more realistic. To me they sounded like the updated sounds you hear in World of Tanks. I did see Wargamming Japan in the credits.
Character 9/10
Characters are all consistent. Thank goodness for that. EVEN THE NEW CHARACTERS! The new characters are not really introduced, but from watching, you do get a very good picture of who they are with what they do, say and look like. There is a trio of girls that are, probably, purposely kept rather ambiguous.
This is a movie however. Movies are limited to a 2hr timeslot, whereas the series had about 4 hrs (20mins x 12eps). This leaves little time for character development, BUT few characters are introduced, and as stated above, you still do get a clear image of them. OH AND WE LEARN MORE ABOUT THE NISHIZUMI SISTERS AND THE BOKOS (dem teddy bears).
Enjoyment 10/10 (11/10 if i could!)
The movie did not try to be something it could not be, following a similar formula to the series.
Character development --> Tank Battle <-- During battle more development
There are a few laughs here and there and parts where it is very dramatic and some could say exaggerated (my friend was laughing through a part that was very dramatic). This however is no problem as it serves to show character relationships (except for the physics that were "dramatised").
If you dont mind the rather weird premise, the cute characters, and full female crew, this movie will be great and satisfy you like it satisfied me as an anime viewer, and as an GuP fan. The battles keep you on the edge of your seat, and character to character relations warm your heart. The movie is a thrilling masterpiece that is recommended to all anime viewers and GuP fans, or any who enjoyed the series!
PS: IF YOU HAVENT WATCHED THE FIRST SERIES AND MATERIAL RELATED TO IT, DO IT. JUST DO IT MATE.
Overall 9.6/10 - rounds to 10, so... 10/10 :D
So then, PANZER VOR!
I realise my review is a little all over the place, but that's because I added some stuff after my 1st rewatch (so I've watched this twice now). IT REALLY WAS THAT GOOD FOR ME~ (* >ω<)b
WHERE IS THE CONTINUATION? (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
