[4Tran]

Originally Posted by Midonin

Why, though, must the people watching for the girls be the "lesser" part of the fanbase? It's the same argument I heard for shows like Sakurasou - the people who enjoy things like comedy and fanservice and familiar elements (such as in this case, the characters) are just there to be roped in, while the people who prefer the "serious" elements are the ones who "get" it. It's a false dichotomy I've never been very fond of.

It's not a question of "getting it" at all - it's just that the show was meant to appeal differently than all of the other bishoujo ones. It's an action show first and foremost, and those have always been on the rare side. If my suspicion about Girls und Panzer originally conceived as a two-cour show is correct, they probably meant to have more bishoujo elements. Most of those ended up getting lost switching to a single cour.

Originally Posted by Midonin

I understand that a lot of people are watching for both, but what the show's doing (and again, the proportion of discussion in this thread), is done in a way that discussion on the other half of the show is minimal, or at least lacks an easy way to wedge itself into the conversation.

Sports anime tends to use three main techniques to characterize their casts: internal monologues, involved flashbacks and out-of-game interaction. Girls und Panzer has made a concerted effort to go with a "show don't tell" approach to storytelling, so it has largely cut out the first couple, and relies almost wholly on the out-of-game interaction.

We actually get a lot of information about the characters, but it tends to be a lot more understated than you'd see elsewhere. For example, how many viewers managed to catch that Hana is a glutton who eats twice as much as the other characters? On a similar note, we do get pretty strong impressions of what Team Rabbit or Team Duck is like even if we don't know all that much about them as individuals. I could say the same for Team Pravda as a whole as well.

Originally Posted by Vallen Chaos Valiant

See, that's where reality comes in. The greatest issue of GuP is NOT that the tanks are getting in the way of the girls; it's that it is impossible for a 12 episode series to handle a cast of two dozen.

Girls und Panzer hasn't really done all that bad a job of it. The characters who have received a decent amount of characterization are:

-Miho
-Yukari
-Hana
-Mako
-Saori

-Anzu
-Momo

-Darjeeling

-Kay
-Alisa

-Katyusha
-Nonno

-Erika

And to a less extent:

-Yuzu
-Erwin
-Naomi
-Saki (yes, even without a single line)
-Hana's mother
-Mako's grandmother

Originally Posted by FredFriendly

I'll start with: why do so many of the characters (and perhaps viewers) think Miho is a great leader? I just don't understand. She seems weak, wishy-washy, confused most of the time, and not well suited to be the commandant. What am I missing here?

She's a lot better than the rest of Ooarai, and she's the only one with any tank experience. Against Pravda, no one, not even Yukari, had the slightest idea of the danger. Her improvisation has also been very good - allowing them to have a chance after suffering setbacks. I'm not a fan of her overall tactical plans, but she's been a pretty good commander otherwise.

Originally Posted by FredFriendly

On the other hand, the only two faces I can name in this series, after eleven episodes in the last eleven weeks, are Miho and Maho. And I can only remember Maho as she happens to be Miho's sister. For me, this isn't because there's so many cast members that I'm overwhelmed, but because the characters, themselves, are not very prominent. And if Miho was not the main character, I probably wouldn't remember her name, either.

I'd say Yukari, Mako, Momo and Anzu are all more distinctive than Miho.