Below this is actually the "story" part that I ripped from a review I submitted for the episode but it got rejected for being too spoilery even though I did mention it would be spoilery. I don't mind, it's technically against the rules, but I spent over 30 mins writing it for my first ever review, so I thought I would at least leave it here instead if allowed! I don't mind if it doesn't even get read, I just didn't want what I wrote to go to waste or be lost forever. Feel free to read and discuss the points I made :)
Review starts below line
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This review will delve into key parts of the OVA, so if you've never watched the OVA and are trying to avoid getting spoiled, please do not read on. Thanks!
This review of the OVA will assume you already have some knowledge of Girl's Und Panzer, since it was released after the first season. If there are some things that don't make sense to you, I would recommend watching season 1 of Girls Und Panzer first, or this OVA.
If you're even slightly into WW2 history, it is no secret that Italy was a poor country during WW2. They had very limited resources, low morale, poor equipment and poor leadership. Their tanks, whilst poor in comparison to many of the tanks they faced, did well in the role in which they were needed. Like so many of the themed schools in Girls Und Panzer, all of this is reflected to an extent, in Anzio school during this episode, where they take the role of being the Italy themed school.
Through the early parts of the episode, a point is being made that Anzio are a weak, poor school, but have been able to achieve good results through teamwork and clever tactics, even if their tanks are inferior. "At least they've got spirit and determination" , a quote from another school. It was meant as mockery, but there is truth to it.
Along with Anzio's leader, Anchovy Anzai, revealing a new "secret weapon" in the form of a Heavy P40 tank, a lot of effort is being put into showing that Anzio have something up their sleeve for their upcoming match with Ooarai, something that will truly shock or challenge their opponent.
Fast forward to the match. All this excitement, all this building up Anzai! What surprise do they have planned for Ooarai? Could they pull off a shock victory? The plan for Anzio was to place numerous wooden boards in specific locations that had been made to look like mock tanks. This was meant to fool the Ooarai scout tank into incorrectly reporting Anzio's location, which in theory would lure the Ooarai tanks into a trap. But the scout soon realized that the tanks she thought she spotted in the distance were in fact these wooden boards. With Anzio's plan foiled, Ooarai proceeded to totally crush Anzio, losing only 1 tank, to a loss of all 10 tanks for Anzio. Anzio never got the chance to show what they were made of during the episode. This sudden failure and subsequent overwhelming defeat made the events of the battle feel anti-climactic. Why continuously tease the viewer that something big is going to happen, only for nothing to happen?
With Girls Und Panzer's tendency to base many of it's themed schools traits and characteristics off of their real-life historical counterparts, along with callbacks to real events and stereotypes, it was disappointing to not see Anzio put up a fight, especially as Italy achieved some shock great results in WW2, such as the battle of Gazala, where the Italian Ariete division defeated a British force of 30 tanks, destroying 20 and losing only 2 of their own.
Ultimately, this is an animation about cute 2D Japanese girls fighting in tanks as part of a school club activity, so I cannot really complain too much about things like authenticity or historial accuracy. However, I believe that this was an opportunity to show that Italy, through Anzio school, are not the incompetent cowards that they are often unfairly stereotyped to be. Overall, I would recommend this to any Girl's Und Panzer fan or anyone who enjoyed the first season. This can also be enjoyed without any prior experience with the series, but I would recommend watching season 1 first!
Sorry, this ended up looking like more of a rant than a review in the end, but thanks for reading :)
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Review ends
My review makes it seem like I did not enjoy the episode, but despite the anti-climactic outcome of the battle sequence, I still enjoyed the episode and it's share of cute moments with the characters. The art and sound were great as we have come to expect, and the new characters we met from the Anzio school were a fun addition to the roster with their fiery, carefree personalities! Carpaccio was a personal favourite, as I'm sure many will notice her familiar voice in the Japanese dub. Anchovy was also a great character, but sadly, one episode was not enough to get to know her and the other members of Anzio well enough. The battle scenes involving the tanks were so entertaining to watch too, with the tankettes flipping through the air!
To put it simply, I'm a bit of an Italy fanboy and was just disappointed that Anzio got crushed despite the fact we were lead to believe that Anzio would have something in store for Ooarai! :) I think most GuP viewers don't really care about things like that, besides, we are supposed to want Ooarai to win!! I just wished Anzio could have given them a bit more of a challenge. |