Girls & Panzer Movie

Having won the 63rd National Sensha-dou tournament, the girls from Ooarai Girls Academy managed to prevent their school from closure by the Japanese Ministry of Education. However, new troubles loom on the horizon: a ministry official argues that the deal was not legally binding and that the Ooarai school carrier is to be decommissioned. Students and their families are frustrated with this injustice and overwhelmed with despair; it seems little can be done to save the school.

Their last glimmer of hope is a proposed match against the All-Stars University Sensha-dou team, consisting of the most talented students from all over the country. Despite Ooarai being severely outnumbered and clearly outclassed, they accept the challenge.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Akiyama, Yukari Main

Nakagami, Ikumi Japanese

Reizei, Mako Main

Iguchi, Yuka Japanese

Nishizumi, Miho Main

Fuchigami, Mai Japanese

Isuzu, Hana Main

Ozaki, Mami Japanese

Takebe, Saori Main

Kayano, Ai Japanese

Shimada, Arisu Main

Taketatsu, Ayana Japanese

Anzai, Chiyomi Supporting

Yoshioka, Maya Japanese

Katyusha Supporting

Kanemoto, Hisako Japanese

Darjeeling Supporting

Kitamura, Eri Japanese

Nishizumi, Maho Supporting

Tanaka, Rie Japanese

Hayashi, Youhei Producer

Maruyama, Shunpei Producer

Kyoutani, Tomomi Producer

Nishikawa, Kazuyoshi Producer

Reviews

Mar 29, 2022

MrRoglosIndo

Recommended

Technically is 9.8/10

At first, i thought is gonna be some those girls military movie that push too much on the drama when making a full length film.
And ofc every great anime i watched, always beyond my expectation. Even it still has little bit of drama is not that kind of annoying.

The lost of school plot after fighting for it from the TV series, makes the stake higher than before and it worth to fight for, specially if both the characters and the audiences has a connection to it. Also the character progression in here are quite good, specially the Morals Committee (quite ... a favorite) and Katusyha ofc.

The animation(Art) as always freaking great with ton of details, specially is CG.

My favorite the strategy; in here ofc from the previous TV series always fun and engaging to watch from the early fight/battle to the last showdown. And of course, flying tank exist somehow.

Lastly, sound/audio/music. Im quite big fan of this film ost, adding or even expanding the existence of old song and make it more fun or epic. And this is something i found when i rewatched it many many times. The meaning of the original theme of this series change at the end of the film.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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May 15, 2021

BabyDriverIX

Mixed Feelings

[While you are reading this, you may begin to think at certain points "Damn, they're gonna spoil it for me!" No, I'm not. THERE ARE NO SPOILERS. Not that there is that much to spoil in this storyline anyway.]

Dude, if it wasn't enough for them to make a series and a couple of side stories and spinoffs of Girls Und Panzer, they made a film as well! In fact, it doesn't actually seem like a lot considering how many series take up many more episodes and seasons and so forth than Girls Und Panzer, but in terms of proper storylines, it is certainly a difficult ... one to be creative with. I mean, girls, tanks... long tank battles...... some weird school-ships......... some more tank battles. It doesn't really change, and I don't see how it can. And this film is no different. It doesn't really add anything new to the table; well technically in terms of story-line, yes it does, but when you're watching it, it does just feel like a the creators have just gone "Out of ideas? No problem! Panzer Vor!" in the true spirit of Girls Und Panzer. So what do they do? They have no new storyline so they just make most of the film a tank battle and make them even more fuck unrealistic than last time. But then it's Girls Und Panzer so what did you expect?!
For me personally, sometimes the tank battles in the film go a little too far. Now I understand that they are not meant to be realistic in the slightest, but when all the tanks are modelled on real tanks, and you have characters like Erwin and Yukari - who love tanks and history in general and show that such is an important part of the series - it makes sense for the tank battles stay relatively physically feasible. Note I said "physically feasible", not "realistic". But anyway, that's just me. I've probably just watched "A Bridge Too Far" too many times. In all fairness, despite being rather infuriating for me, they are pretty good, something that just seems to work for Girls Und Panzer. Despite being so long, they manage to retain momentum rather well.

So that's story, so what about characters? Well it's kind of difficult to rate the characters exclusively from this film, since the series is what really introduces them and the film just hopes you can remember them. That is except for the crazy "Imperial Japan" inspired Chi-Ha-Tan Academy, which I find the presentation of rather interesting from a historical point of view (considering this is an anime, the presentation of their... fuck it I'm not giving you a history lesson). And those crazy Finnish ragging their BT-42 to "Säkkijärven Polkka"! Anyway so with the series in mind as well, they're pretty good man! Well I like them, but obviously it depends who's watching it. They all have very distinct characters, and most seem very original to Girls Und Panzer. Like Erwin for example... Mind you, you got to question why she dresses up like The Desert Fox... Actually, just don't question it!

Graphics? Not going to lie, for some reason I'm not a massive fan. Well, I think the character design is great, with it giving a great balance "cute girls" and originality, complementing Girls Und Panzer's atmosphere very well. And the tank design is pretty accurate too, yes, legitimate tanks, gotta love it! Hence why I ended up giving it 7. But I don't know, pretty much everything else just doesn't always do it for me.

Sound? I love this soundtrack! What makes it great is their use of legitimate World War II marches, and with the correct countries as well! And the fact that all the themes were recorded for the series, they all have that distinct Girls Und Panzer character, which just takes this film to the next level. You feel like the creators genuinely enjoyed making it! And are historians as well!

So, what can I say? It goes without saying, you can only watch this film if you have seen the series. Now; if you didn't like the series, you will hate this film, for it takes everything that is wrong with the series and makes it worse. If you liked the series, then you will - like - this film. It's fun, energetic and completely defies the basic laws of physics. That's it, this film is just so fucking fun! I say "like", if it be more than that you are simply a Girls Und Panzer obsessive, but then you wouldn't be reading this review, you'd be playing World of Tanks or something.
As for me, well I liked it, but then I am into tanks, so it's kind of inevitable. Regardless, I'm sure I'll watch it over and over again just for fun.

Oh, and another thing: never heard those "English Proverbs" Darjeeling keeps talking about...

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Jun 11, 2023

Nox---

Not Recommended

Ok. I rated the series 9/10. But this film is bad. Plain and simple. Why you ask? I will try to illustrate why... and i will probably reference what they did with the original series as well as usual japanese tropes and well-known cultural aspects. Because this was done by japanese after all, it is hard to take it out of context for me.

I disabled the spoiler warning because i don't consider what i wrote here to be a problem when it comes to this. But here is a disclaimer anyway. This film is not about the plot, it is about tank battles, brought about ... by a lame excuse of a plot. The synopsis already states how it starts, and we already know how it will end. So, the synopsis will be your biggest spoiler, in my opinion. I will mostly discuss the characters that spur the bland plot forward, and tank battles and their quirks. If you consider these to be spoilers, then read another review. If you need some mild spoilers to determine if you are likely to like or hate this, then read all you want.

Plot: 3
As i said above, there is hardly any plot to spoil. The guy who promised to the council president that Ooarai will not be dissolved if it wins the nationals never had any intention to follow through with his promise, and so, we start from scratch all over again. We will be introduced to the Shimada iemoto and her daughter, Arisu. There will be less plot and less interesting writing. Everything else will be about 'more of it'. The battle will involve more tanks, be more difficult, against an older team, that achieved more. There will be more explosions, more stupid manoeuvers, cannons will become hand guns that can fire much more often, tracks will be much more solid, tanks will become Citroen rallye cars, drivers will all have Sabastien Loeb expertise, so there will be more skidding, more flying stuff, more duck costumes, more destructions, more idiots, more lolis, more evils schemers, and more than anything, more cringe. There are some nice bits here and there, mostly when it comes to Miho and Maho, which is why i rate it 3.

The tank battles are the worst so far. Even 30T tanks are piloted like sports cars and Alston Martin. Every rule they stated and protected in the original series and detailed in 'Shoukai Shimasu' are thrown out the window for the sake of showcasing more 'Oomph': more skidding, more explosions, more shots, more ludicrous techniques. 5 tanks can manage such a heavy fire that you may believe 20 are firing. But no, they simply fire every 3 secondes. Not 20, as was the case before. If you want to see hairy pursuits of tanks on a roller coaster, where they can actually advance and climb steep inclines easily without skidding (how convenient) or even having their tracks making contact with anything, you are welcome. If you want to see tanks flying or throwing other tanks in the airs, or making a 180° skidding half turn on the beach's sand as if it was a skating rink, you are welcome. If you want to see a large and cumbersome tank turning around 360 degrees while advancing and shooting in 3 directions almost like a machine gun while at the same time dodging every attack, you are welcome. By all means, watch this, you will love it. This sh*t is full of this kind of cr*ap.

While the base series asked for a certain degree of suspension of disbelief, there was a consistent level of exaggeration that defined a norm for what we could expect to see. Here, it is all over the place. They stopped trying to make sense. The in-world logic is shattered to bits and you now have to watch not considering how things will unfold depending on the situation, but considering that anything may happen... Because there are no rules anymore. You can't expect a light tank to outpace a heavy tank anymore. Everything here subverts the expectations you came to have when it comes to battles and in-world logic after watching 'Girld und panzers'. In my case, this destroyed my interest for the tank battles so bad that it became a complete chore to watch. I already disliked it when i first watched it long ago, but now... it is beyond this.

Characters: 3
Here, i rate the new characters, mostly. The old ones are just there, and they do their usual stuff. The Morals Committee has a pretty funny screentime at some point, and as i stated above, you can understand much better the relationship between Miho and Maho here. Almost everything else is so bad that i can only rate it below 0. It is not 'Infinite Stratos' level of cringe, but i can't see anything that is any good nonetheless. Obviously, the worst offenders are newly introduced characters. You will have the mysterious, wise finn girl that appears but is all about unanswered riddles for the sake of pretending to be deep. But she is basically only that: the weirdo with her instrument that appears and disappears like Zorro (the actual Zorro, duh). You will have the blue-eyed russian blonde that speaks only broken russian all along but suddenly reveals that she is so fluent with Japanese that she speaks it without any accent, which will be the start of a cringey, tear-jerking moment of utter stupidity that will make you question how Pravda ever won any battle to begin with... But worst of all is the ministry guy and the loli pandering figures.

The ministry guy is a schemer. He is evil. He wants to close Ooarai. He will go far to undermine them. Why? Well... who t** f*** gives a sh*t about why? He is evil, period. Not once his motivations are exposed, or any logical reason is given for him being so stubbornly opposed to something that should hardly be relevant for him. And again, he is never properly retributed despite existing for the sole purpose of being hated. I pity the seyiuu who was given a non-character but still has to suffuse life in this empty, 2D shell. If anything, he comes up with pretty nasty plots. But he is merely there to be the bad guy that gives an excuse for the lame plot to unfold.

As for the loli... it is even worse... Not only the archetype is uninteresting, but it has been forcefully pasted on top of the GuP cast... despite GuP not being K-ON. On top of being much more questionable than K-ON. It does'nt fit GuP because GuP is not a loli anime in the first place. It is an afterthought only meant to have a loli at disposal to use for promotional material. And so, it stands out in the worst possible way as a creep bait. One needs to question why lolis even exist in anime and what a lolicon is. There is nothing wrong in liking cutesy or moe animes. But in some cases... it can become creepy. Arisu is THE loli you have seen in every loli anime, down to the chara design. She is the cute, shy, small type, the type who has a toddler's level of fascination for teddy bears. But there is worse, and here is a major problem i have with Arisu. Oorai is supposed to oppose university students. Meaning, adults. But, you know, adults can't really make for proper lolis when it comes to pandering. Unless she is underage or looks to be underage, it won't work as a loli. So, do you hear the writers here?

Writer 1: "Ah, we have a problem. She is meant to be in university. We want to sell to creeps, but creeps are not aroused by women stronger than them, or adult girls... what should we do?".
Writer 2: "I know... how about we make her a genius girl that skipped high school? This way she will be even younger than Miho. That means, we can emphasise her petite build, her cutesy, and push the genius stereotype we always push in this case: geniuses are shy, they don't speak much and only in a cute voice when they do, and they may love teddy bears like my 3 years old. And on top of that we have an excuse to make her OP during the match".
Writer 1: "Oh yeah... This way we will be able to showcase more of everything. It will be intense indeed. And... our customers will be allowed to fantasize over a university student instead of a grade schooler. We will be able to protect them from sad feelings of guilt. As japanese, we need to consider others' feelings after all... And... well... anything that makes money is not a waste."

The one good new character here is Bocco. The Teddy Bear character. That is honestly genius concept. Except that it is only good as a concept. If they were to make more out of this, it would become cringe, since the base idea behind is: 'Bocco is weak, Bocco is cocky, Bocco can only fail because he is Bocco, and Bocco is cute because he is Bocco, so he can never win, never change, never evolve. Rince and repeat'. But as a teddy bear background character, this is a great success.

Sound: 6
Sound related stuff is pretty good. Hirano Aya continues to be fantastic as Arisa. Izawa Shiori makes a miraculous performance with the Morals Committee. Whoever voiced the ministry guy did a good job making this non-character almost feel like one. Fukuen Misato, as the council prez, is the same genius she always was.

They tried to give sound to every last thing in there. There are countless different sounds in battles that give what you see the weight of matter. Most are good. Some, though, are plain weird. Some cannons sound like laser rifles. Some tank machinery sound like futuristic power plants. Now, there is a great variety, so, despite it being slightly disctracting at times, i will still say it is pretty good. But... The noise of cannons is rather inconsistent. Most sound like airsoft rifles... and it doesn't work at all. Battles that have no music do rely on immersive sounds to work and convey intensity. If you want an example where it is well done, watch 'Strike Witches - the film'. No music, great impact. I loved it. On the other hand, if the sound is too muffled and inconsistent, the whole battle scene ends up suffering. And quite a few battle scenes suffer from this in here. This is made even worse by the VA that sound cheerful anytime there is a high tension moment. Remember this when the biggest cannon in the battle fires. Yukari destroys every incentive to build a tense atmosphere around shock. In the original series, Miho was put under heavy stress, and the series showcased it. Naturally it would be stressful. The situation felt stressful. But not so much here.

When it comes to music and sound, there are two occurences i thoroughly enjoyed. The first one is the sound (or lack thereof) during the Miho/Maho reminiscing scene (definitely my favorite scene in the whole film). The use of sound here totally underlines the oneiric nature of the memory. This is fantastically well done, because we don't need any more, or any blabbering flashback to understand the relationship between the two. The talent to achieve that is sorely lacking is most works. Notably one i watched recently that sucks big time when it comes to this: "Yowamushi Pedal".

The second one is a very original and seemingly out of place music piece centered around the Continuance tank when they assault this 'major ennemy' during the university senbatsu battle. A bass, a stringed instrument i don't recognize, a slow pace, and the action. In my opinion, the action scene is crap (see what i wrote above about this), but the music almost makes it enjoyable. Overall, this film is a prime example of how important sound design is: it can absolutely make or undo something. And in this particular case: sometimes it makes the show, and sometimes, it is the show's undoing. Weird.

Visuals: 6
I don't care too much about visuals. Still, here are two bits... They make the best use of CGI in order to bring to life their battles. But the thing i liked most about the visuals has nothing to do with flashy stuff. It is, again, during the Miho/Maho scene. The use of colors and the fleeting impression the images on screen give off work very well with the sound and writing departments. This scene may be the simplest one in the whole film, but again, it is the best. There are some interesting camera viewpoints. Onboard a tank. From someone's perspective. From a gun's mouth... They use the fact it is 3D to add traveling, rotations, and all sorts of effects that gives the scene this punchy vibe. But, they don't go as far as crappy Hollywood directors who can only use confusing inserts to suggest actions, but don't seem to be capable of actually filming it, for whatever reason. Instead, here, It is punchy, but still understandable, most of the time. Note that i say it is 3D, but mostly what involves tank battles is. The rest is mostly 2D. The same as the series. Still, it is not always nice to look at. The movements and choregraphy work as intended, but as was already the case in the original series, many 3D environements are plain ugly. But again i can't say i care all that much...

Overall/enjoyment: 4
The worst aspect of this film is the tank battles. Actually, if you love explosions and over the top action scenes, you may love it. This film is rated 8.18 at the time i write this, so many sure love it. I sure don't. And i thought i had to provide a different perspective, for the sake of whoever wonders if they should seek this film or not. The base plot relies on the 2 worst characters in the whole series, and since it is weak to begin with, its only good perk is to even exist... This would have been even worse without even a sore excuse of a plot. To me... New characters suck (except Bocco), the plot suck, battles suck, and the only thing that ensures this was not a complete waste of time is the relationship Miho/Maho. If you look for stuff with explosions, over the top, flashy action scenes, and an entertaining Ommph effect above all else, you may enjoy this. If you are into the universe, History, character developement and interesting writting, like me, you will likely dislike this. Or even curse it to oblivion.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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	Poll: Girls und Panzer der Film Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ) Gar_Logan - Nov 25, 2015	208 replies	by AndreFaquineti »» Apr 21, 6:37 PM
	Finnish Commander is hot GnomeKiller112 - May 31, 2017	2 replies	by jieanteater »» Feb 8, 2023 6:42 PM
	[SPOILER] The Incredible (amount of) Trivia Thread ( 1 2 3 ) kemkemmers - Jun 6, 2016	149 replies	by Guderyukari »» Feb 27, 2021 12:32 PM
	SHould I watch the movie without watching the prequel TV series? Akiteck - Jul 4, 2016	4 replies	by MrGarland »» Apr 30, 2020 11:54 PM
	Time until dubbed? TheOnlyRyan - Sep 5, 2015	7 replies	by TheOnlyRyan »» Feb 15, 2017 7:57 AM