Ōarai
Girls High School is basically a charter school with tanks. As is often the
case for charters, the Ministry of Education would like to shut them down, but it
is politically difficult for them to do so, as long as Ōarai keeps winning
their sensha-dō armored warfare matches. Once again, the plucky Oarai tank
crews will have to win to save their beloved academy, but this time they will
have to face off against a seasoned college team in Tsutomu Mizishima’s
(dubbed) anime feature, Girls und Panzer
der Film (trailer
here),
which is currently screening across the country, including tonight in Los
Angeles.
The
Ōarai team commanded by Miho Nishizumi will experience a rare defeat in an
exhibition match. Allied with the more impulsive Chihatan Academy, they lost to
the joint forces of St. Glorianna and Pravda, who sound like they should be
bitter enemies, but this is anime, so whatever. To add insult to injury, the
oily Department of Ed bureaucrat suddenly explains an oral contract is not
worth the paper it is printed on, so he is closing Ōarai despite their
agreement.
However,
thanks to the intercession of a rival’s benefactor desiring a re-match, Ōarai
gets one more chance to save their school, but they will have to face the
university champions, commanded the child genius, Alice Shimada. Ōarai is
vastly outnumbered and outgunned, but they get surprise reinforcements from the
other high school teams, who arrange temporary transfers to even the odds.
Basically,
der Film is two massive tanks battles
separated by a mild bit of fan service. As blueprints for anime features go, it
is certainly a workable plan that takes into account what the franchise’s fans
want and delivers accordingly. The tank action is undeniably supercharged and over-the-top
explosive, but chief animation director Isao Sugimoto and his team make the
battlefield action clear and easy to follow.
Granted,
der Film does not waste a lot of time
on character development, but it is probably assumed most of the audience will
be familiar with the GirlPan crew
from the manga and television anime series. Besides, what’s not to get? They
are high school girls who blast the heck out of each other in vintage WWII
tanks, periodically stopping for a cup of tea.
It
is easy to imagine Newton Minowesque critics of TV and film violence blowing a
gasket over GirlPan’s war games, in
which tanks take direct hits from artillery shells, resulting in a little white
flag dispatched, while the big-eyed crews pile out, safe as houses. It is not
very realistic, but this is a fantastical anime world—and it is a lot of fun.