"Cute Anime Girls Doing Cute Things."
That's probably what y'all thought when you clicked on this title, right? Well, Girls und Panzer knows this, so this show is anything but cute anime girls doing cute things.
Girls und Panzer, or Garupan, is the golden standard of historical military anime. It's name is as widely known in the military genre as One Piece is known for shounen. It impresses with faithful accuracy, compelling plot, and interesting synergy. The unique aspect of Sensha-Do, "Way of the Tank", or Tankery as it is in a few translations, give us a fun way to see historic clashes of superior engineering in a modern lens.
Let's start with Overall Plotline
I'm gonna start by saying this, but Garupan's overarching story is far from original. A team of girls unites under one common interest and uses that interest to try to rescue their school from shutting down. To do so, they participate in the closest tournament arc to try to achieve the title of best Senshado school. Apart from that, there are a few minor conflicts going off, like Miho's family ties, Hana's flower tradition, and so on and so on. While they don't deepen the plot by much, they provide a nice little fleshing out of the plotline as well as worldbuilding. But other than that, its a classic tournament arc. Enjoy it, dread it, it is all the same.
Characters
For this section, I think it wouldn't exactly make sense to judge each character for how much the show develops them. You can't just pick out the commander of a tank and say the tank team sucks because their commander sucks, you have to look at the entire team functioning together and seeing the tankers perform in real time.
First off, Garupan made a brilliant job at making their competitors unique in both personality and armament. Each and every school that participated is pure eye candy for history buffs and casual watchers alike. Each and every competing school is based off of a real faction of WWII, and each mirrors their real-world counterparts. Britain? St. Glorianna's obsessive tea drinking, use of proverbs, and tight and unbreakable formations have you covered. America? Try Saunders with their overabundance of finances and resortment to use rather underhanded tactics. Mother Russia? How about Pravda's relentless strategies forged in the cold hearts of winter, and a leader with a superiority complex. Each faceoff against different and I love the uniqueness this brings to the table.
As for our central crews, we see significant development for the main team in the Panzer IV, and some development for the other teams, but the main spotlight comes at the team continuously adapting on the battlefield as well as seeing Commander Miho adapt to the situation. You see so much depth that goes into Miho's thinking that it makes this band of ragtag tankers actually deserve a win. On top of this, thanks to excellent background research, each and every strategy used in the fights are actual strategies used in history. I may not be the biggest history buff in the world, but I sure as hell can recognize a blitzkreig when I see one
Art and Sound
This is by far the most impressive part of Garupan. While there is a good amount of CG used to render the tanks moving around, but dear god the tanks were recreated so faithfully that I cannot give a possible crap about CG in anime. The interiors of the tanks practically mirror their real-life counterparts, the details in when the tanks move is uncanny from the way they screech when drifting to how their cannons fire. The sound is no slouch too. A vast majority of the anime's soundtracks are marching band-like military processions. Here, have a listen.
The constant steady drums of themes like these gives the perfect dramatic vibe. Sensha-do is a respectful imitation of traditional tank-fighting, and the theme actually outlines the fact that this is anime girls commanding these tanks, not professional soldiers. On top of that, it eggs your heart on because that's what military marches do.
Garupan is the golden standard of historical anime for a reason, its faithful recreation coupled with meaningful stories makes it an entertaining watch, and it pleases history buffs like me and casual watchers like my friends. So without further ado, let our tanks march forth! Panzer Vor!