Girls & Panzer Movie

I watched this movie because I wanted to see further development on this series and hoping it can do better on the story and character aspect.However,none of these ever happened,but instead it continues the flaws of the original series,which makes this movie awful to watch.

+crazy tank moments
+good animation
+good sound effects

-Not much emotional moments as the previous anime series
-the tanks are in chaos and hard to follow
-too many characters,hard to grow on them
-the result can be easily predicted
... -insufficient bgm and soundtracks

This movie is split into three parts,two parts are tank battles,which occupied most of the movie duration,while only a small part that it was put into its actual story and characters,which is already a major problem for lacking of character and story development.

If you have watched the previous anime series before,this series is suffered from characters always win in major moments.Well,this movie is also in the same case,so it's very predictable.Even without seeing the lengthy battle,I have already known the result.

Speaking of the tank battles,sometimes it's kinda hilarious with crazy tanks moving in impossible ways,which gives me some laughters.Other time,it's very difficult to follow,since it's in a chaotic situation for most of the time with weird camera angles and transitions.Thus,the information provided about the battlefield and the situation is very insufficient.They're even lazy to provide a map to reflect the actual situation of the battle,the attacking pace is fast and rough,which make things more hard to follow.It seems like I'm blind while watching the characters messing around with tanks,without knowing where the tanks are and where the enemies are.

Like the previous anime series,this movie has many characters,it is also trying to bring more new characters to the film.However,unlike the previous anime series,which has certain amount of time to describe the characters.In this film,you'll know nearly nothing about them,as most of the time are just tank battle fanservice.This film also failed in focusing certain main characters.In tank battles,each character's screentime is split in order to reflect the tank battles.It's hard for me to grow on the characters,especially for the new characters.

The emotional moment,which only occupied only a little duration of the film,is very sudden,without any sort of cliffhanger or any clear explanations.Although it reflects the friendship of the characters,it's like the characters suddenly change their own standpoints.Therefore,it's also hard for me to feel glad or touched for the main characters.

On the animation and sound aspects,although sometime it suffered from poor camera transitions,the skills and techniques used are pretty cool and can be really fun with crazy tank moments,so it's good in general.Some realistic tank sound effects with launching bullets are there,pretty awesome.If it can use more colour visuals and insert more bgms and soundtracks,it'll be better.

Though there're some good features about the film,like the animation and sound effects of the tanks,they don't redeem the movie much from the horrible storytelling and character development with lengthy tank battling.Unless you're a tank lover or into these kind of intense battles,there're not many things worthy to get from this film.If you're expecting a more emotional show than the previous one,then this may let you down and feel disappointed.

Story:2/10
Animation:7/10
Sound:7/10
Character:1/10
Enjoyment:2/10
Overall:3/10 (F)

Story & Writing:

Story-wise, there's barely any story, and that's fine. You don't watch GuP for its story in the same way you don't go to the beach to get sand kicked in your face. It's all about the ethnically diverse girls and the over-the-top tank warfare, and oh boy does GuP der Film deliver in these departments. It's back at it again with the wildly creative and tactically in-depth writing that's so fun to watch, and this time, with cinema-level production quality to boot. This film embodies the very best of what GuP has to offer, consistently surprising the audience with its tactically dynamic tank ... battles. It's a fool's game to try to guess what will happen next, and that's one of the things that makes GuP's tank warfare amazing.

However, what should have been an entirely new TV season has been crammed into 2 hours of film, resulting in frantic and breakneck dialogue, exposition, and pacing. The delivery of information is so rapid and frequent that it's impossible to fully understand how certain tactics and exploits work in just one viewing. But this is completely fine, because you can just sit back and watch the creative tank mayhem ensue without knowing the tactics behind them. You'll enjoy this movie all the same.

Character:
20+ characters, 0 development. Tank warfare is the mainstay in this movie.

Art:
Great synthesis between 3D CG and 2D animation. Amazing visuals as always, putting the oomph and momentum into tank warfare.

Sound:
>tfw you turn the volume up to hear the girls' voices but you get earraped by a tank shot.

Enjoyment:
It's just sheer dumb fun. Don't look too deep into certain things. Just relax and enjoy it and it WILL be very enjoyable.

Overall: 8/10 Hitler Youth has come a long way.

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.

I'm was very surprised to find that I enjoyed this movie a lot more than I expected, after the show which I thought was OK I wasn't expecting too much when I sat down to watch this.

Oh boy, was I wrong.

I'll get the boring part out of the way, the plot is there just to fill in the time between the tank battles. Much like your average Jackie Chan film, the plot is there just to fill in the gaps between those awesome fight sequences he is so well known for.

It's the tank battles we are all looking forward too and this film delivers ... in spades. If you thought some of the stuff they got up too in the show was overboard, you ain't seen nothing yet. Explosions, impossible tank manoeuvers, explosions, no consideration for safety, explosions, impossible tank manoeuvers and even more explosions (yes, I did repeat myself more than once).

The opening sequence takes up almost a 1/4 of the films running time (yes, you read that right) and none of it is boring either, the use of CGI here really fits in with the look of the show, the tanks really work well in this form with the only let down being the commanders who look out of place riding on top of their tanks. There are attempts at giving the cast more meat to their bones but that's just the plot bits I mentioned earlier to fill in the gap before the next battle.

To put it simply, if you enjoyed the show than you will have no complaints about the film as the action is taken up several notches and on occasion runs riot.

I now have an urge to find a video game that lets me command a tank.

Panzer vor.

Big fan of this series so might be a little biased here but it’s a Great work!
Story wise can’t really tell much without spoiling so just watch it 8/10 recommend.
Art is good for the time I am writing in 2021 and Art has improved since then. But in 2015 standard this is quite good!
Sounds are amazing, themes of each schools are presented and well made-well cooperated with the actions ongoing! Brilliant!
Character development is shown and the spotlight is not taken by any single team it made the movie truly looks like an GUP Universe movie and not just Ooarai‘s got talent. Can’t say more without ... spilling the juice, recommend!
With all summarized I really wished the movie could be a little bit longer.
I did clear my schedule for the night and I do want to say that it was really worth the time I spent. 2 hours of fun and thrilling combat(really! like half the movie is tank scenes!). I won’t say this is a masterpiece but I would put it up amongst the stars!

The GuP movie continues the fun atmosphere of the series, executed exceedingly well for the big screen. Despite being a massive fan of the series, it was hard to say the movie was genuinely outstanding despite doing many things well. The issues with pacing and to a lesser extent, characterisation detract quite a bit from it.

The highlight of the movie is probably its comedic elements. Chihatan Academy is an excellent addition to the already solid and varied cast of GuP. If anyone was ever worried about how they caricatured various nationalities, despite it clearly being in good fun, the Chihatans should dispel that immediately. They ... are simultaneously the funniest and most self-deprecating caricature of them all. It solidifies the light-hearted humour of the show and gives some of the best laughs. This is supported well by the inclusion of Rosehip for St. Gloriana which helps break up their prim and proper image with many hilarious moments.

Similarly, the Chihatan addition to the soundtrack is fantastic with an excellent rendition of Yuki no Shingun as their theme. The use of a march interpreted to be in the anti-militarist camp also serves GuP well in continuing to signal that it is not interested in being interpreted as nationalist or militarist. It firmly seeks to remain a for fun, celebration of tanks without taking any of that baggage. The overall movie soundtrack and effects are still strong as ever, with their rendition of Johnny Comes Marching Home being another strong addition.

Where the movie begins to suffer a bit is in its pacing. The opening exhibition match is fantastic, but in the film's grand scheme, feels a bit too long. Perhaps, this is due to the multiple phases the final battle goes through, which exacerbates some of the action fatigue created by the exhibition match. Sadly, this may be a case of too much of a good thing being detrimental. Aside from the interlude between the exhibition match and the University Team battle, there were almost no lulls to get some breathing room with the characters. What this also reveals is that GuP's urban combat is significantly more entertaining to watch. The built-up landscape is more visually exciting and provides more opportunities for creative maneuvres. In contrast, the action sequences in the forest and other natural areas feel relatively lacklustre by comparison. Compared to the exhibition match and the final battle sequence in the theme park, even Pravda and Kumomorimine's escape from the hill seems less compelling.

What saves this scene is the impact they get out of most of the Pravda team sacrificing themselves to keep Katyusha in the game. This emotional underpinning, even if not particularly deep, is what keeps things interesting. This emotional attachment to the battle was produced in the series by characterising Oorai's opponent in each match. GuP has never been very heavy on character, as I noted in my review of the series. It mostly relies on quirks and eccentric personalities to make this enjoyable. Carried over to the big screen, it feels like there were too many new characters introduced for everyone to get a sufficient amount of time. The movie succeeds in refreshing our familiarity with most of the schools and introducing the Chihatans with the exhibition match.

However, the University Team largely remains an amorphous and mostly faceless team. Their mass use of Pershings does not help this, giving them a stormtrooper effect where it is hard to feel anything when one of their vehicles is taken out. The film attempts to remedy this with the Bermuda Trio and, to a lesser extent, showing the Karl-Gerat protection platoon's commander. This is only moderately effective with the Bermuda Trio not getting much screen time and Acorn Platoon's adventure being over relatively quickly. Only when Alice enters the fray does the battle begin to feel like a personal element involved. Even then, her reserved personality does not add much in comparison to the colourful character on the high school team.

Overall, GuP der Film is still an excellent movie, especially for fans of the series. It takes GuP's strengths and replicates it for the big screen. The action is always fun and flashy, the soundtrack fantastic, and it looks great. However, this expansion to movie length also brings out some of the original series's flaws, which were easier to overlook when it was an anime series. Nevertheless, it is well worth watching, delivering exactly what it promises. Though, be sure to watch the great Anzio OVA first to get an introduction to Anchovy.

I knew I'd be at least entertained, because veteran creator/director Tsutomu Mizushima knows how to make a fun anime. "Girls und Panzer der Film" is in some sense the "Redline" of tank combat. The entire latter half is a nonstop battle between a sprawling, cartoon cast and their mighty armored vehicles.

With $20M in the bank, it surpassed the Japanese box office earnings of "Madoka: Rebellion", making it a force of otaku culture I knew little about. If anime of the past depicted the horror and pointlessness of war (Gundam) and promoted consumerism as the antidote to an ingrained war culture (Macross), "Girls und Panzer" goes ... a step further to abstract military combat away from war itself. With my disbelief suspended by the industrial power of a construction crane, "the way of the tank" is a bloodless and totally safe women's team sport, professionally organized and practiced in high school. Nevermind the live ammunition and urban destruction.

The ultimate basis of moe is idealized nostalgia; a return to youth, innocence, and a past that never really existed. "Panzer" is moe for doe-eyed children of course, but also for WWII-era armored vehicles and the quaint nationalism they evoke. The tank fetishism is thick. Each crew is a cartoon of their nationality. The English crew sips earl grey as they work, the proud Russians sing their native folk songs, and a Finnish girl strums her kantele mid-combat. The battle has them zipping across the districts of an amusement park like Wild West Town and "Nostalgic" Japan Town. It's a childish and hyper-sanitized interpretation of WWII, but that's the whole point. You can almost picture the hands of children gripping the tanks on-screen as they bound through the air and powerslide into the enemy: Vroom vroom! Kapow! "Girls und Panzer" is an otaku's tank playset.

There's an innocent joy to the tank-sport, purified of complexities like logistics, infantry, artillery, air, and more importantly, death, consequences and morality. Perhaps it's the natural endpoint of anime's pacifist streak, or perhaps it's merely the anime analog to the popular "World of Tanks" and "War Thunder", which are just as innocent, glamorized and sports-like in their interpretation of WWII as "Girls und Panzer".

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.

Watching anime girls emulate their favorite tank aces has been taken to the next level. Girls und Panzer the movie is absolutely gratuitous 40+ minutes of tank porn that turns venerable (and also rickety) WW2 AFVs into Initial D memes and Russian T90 flying tank videos.
I can see how a lot of these extreme antics would annoy more serious military nerds but this is an anime where we have T28s with jetissoning their outer pair of quad tracks for tight urban combat, possibly the only appearance of a Karl Gerat heavy mortar system we will ever see in anime and Japanese pea shooter tanks ... waging ambush tactics against Pershings that would make South African Elands proud. It's all too fun to not watch!

Definitely the one of the holy meccas of military anime. Now we just need to bring Senshado into real life.

Hello everyone thank you for taking the time to read this review if you read it it will be a short one so no worries.

I ran into this series a couple of years ago and held off on watching the movie for about 2 and half years. So with the first season still being being fresh in my mind the movie starts off with a quick tank match. After the match being done they are basically hit with a spoiler which i wont say lets just say its what they fought for in the first season. So the ... "Movie" ends up with the aww man etc. etc. but then oh man spoiler happens this movie had no story to it if you are expecting story and tank matches well your only gonna get one in detail what sucked for me is that I had to watch this movie in order to watch the next six ova "movies"

It is recommended to watch season 1 first so that you know more about the story problems in this film. After successfully winning in the competition at the high school level. They face a harsh reality. That their school will still be closed because the previous agreement was only a verbal (unwritten) agreement. So they don't have strong evidence to prevent their schools from closing. In order to prevent this, they enter a national competition against universities and make a written agreement to prevent their school from being closed.
Honestly, there are scenes that I don't like, such as camouflage using balloons because they are not ... very realistic. However, the way they fight and the atmosphere really feels tense.