(L) Girls und Panzer

[Tak]

Originally Posted by ForwardUntoDawn

Because guys take things a little too seriously at times I wonder if they were able to eradicate warfare in general...

I have a feeling that the creators of the show probably did not intend to even answer that question, until persistent fans kept on bringing it up...

They finally had it, it seems...

- Tak

[Infinite Zenith]

They are so mad XD

The fact that there is still a world might suggest that at the very least, wars have not erupted into world-destroying events. Compare and contrast Battlefield 3 and the mission Thunder Run

[arkhangelsk]

Originally Posted by Sumeragi

Regular road lane width is around 3.5 meters. Given that all the tanks except the Tiger II and Maus are narrower than that, it makes sense for most tanks to be able to pass through.

Is that the global (or at least European/US) standard or Japan? Because IIRC Japan's roads are particularly narrow and the car width limit is thus set to 2.5m.

Originally Posted by Tak

I have a feeling that the creators of the show probably did not intend to even answer that question, until persistent fans kept on bringing it up...

They finally had it, it seems...

- Tak

That also conveniently crushed the final hopes of many a fan (judging from FanFics) that somewhere, someplace, males are doing Sensha-do.

I wonder whether any masculinists are fighting the ban in their world...

[Gravitas Free Zone]

Originally Posted by ForwardUntoDawn

Because guys take things a little too seriously at times I wonder if they were able to eradicate warfare in general...

Now hold on a minute here, that seems biased. Women are also fully-capable of taking things a little too seriously and starting wars lethal brawls. Look at how some of the senshado matches have been!

[Tak]

Originally Posted by arkhangelsk

Is that the global (or at least European/US) standard or Japan? Because IIRC Japan's roads are particularly narrow and the car width limit is thus set to 2.5m.

They are indeed very narrow. In Japan, there is really no such thing as suburbs the way we have in the United States. Houses are located in what could be considered as an alleyway. The roads that divide the residential areas are so narrow it often fits only one car.

Its not a wonder why people prefer public transportation. Driving in Japan is not exactly an enjoyable experience. It also does not help when the public highways are also known as the National Parking Lot.

- Tak

[Ithekro]

The underground man leagues (how do you underground tank battles?)

It be interesting if the producers had some of the other team captains come with Ooarai to the Internationals. For one thing it give them a spot in the end credits bouncing tank (there were some artist that kept having Darjerring pacticing for her time in the credits before they started modifying the Panzer IV and adding new tanks to Oorai's team). Though there may be serious personality clashes. Especially if they added Anchovy.

[Gravitas Free Zone]

Originally Posted by Tak

They are indeed very narrow.

I was watching some of the videos of the real Ōarai again, and it finally sunk in that aside from the main roads the streets there have no sidewalks. Unless you consider a foot of frontage a sidewalk.

[Tak]

Originally Posted by Endless Knackwurst

I was watching some of the videos of the real Ōarai again, and it finally sunk in that aside from the main roads the streets there have no sidewalks. Unless you consider a foot of frontage a sidewalk.

Indeed.

When you have a car coming through, there is only barely enough space to stand on the side. No such thing as a proper sidewalk.

And children playing on the streets? Forget it. However, there are small recreational parks in the city, except they are often crowded, too.

And don't get me started on the neighboring gossips...

- Tak

[Myssa Rei]

Originally Posted by Endless Knackwurst

Now hold on a minute here, that seems biased. Women are also fully-capable of taking things a little too seriously and starting wars lethal brawls. Look at how some of the senshado matches have been!

The gist was the men were actually leaving their tanks and attacking the other players in their tanks.

(note the following tweets after the "No men in Sensha-do" answer seemed to be tongue-in-cheek)

[arkhangelsk]

Well, that could happen. If the Jadgtiger and Elefant had male crews, I think after the way they lost they'll be just a little bit inclined to assault the M3's crew.

[Infinite Zenith]

Originally Posted by Myssa Rei

The gist was the men were actually leaving their tanks and attacking the other players in their tanks.

(note the following tweets after the "No men in Sensha-do" answer seemed to be tongue-in-cheek)

I find that to be most amusing: that entire notion reminds me of hockey fights in the NHL

[vuluc88]

Originally Posted by Marina2

Something I noticed, the city where ep.12 took place seems to be just a ruin, buidings are cracked, windows are broken, the road is damaged. There are no people live here before the match for sure.

I wonder what happened in this city or it just the stage set up.

Remember Yukari have said that: "this is the holy land of senshadou". You can imagine just how many game had been set in here. So the run down is just natural

[Vallen Chaos Valiant]

Originally Posted by Endless Knackwurst

I was watching some of the videos of the real Ōarai again, and it finally sunk in that aside from the main roads the streets there have no sidewalks. Unless you consider a foot of frontage a sidewalk.

That's what happens to really old cities. In the old days when people walk everywhere, the streets were narrow. As cities modernise the issue is you can't just expand the roads as the land owners lose out. To build modern roads in an old city you practically had to knock down entire neighbourhoods. London has similar problems.

[SatelliteCannon]

Originally Posted by Myssa Rei

The gist was the men were actually leaving their tanks and attacking the other players in their tanks.

Exactly. Here, let me explain further...

The most important element of safety in senshadou is the cannons and shells are specifically constructed to not harm the human body. As such, if a projectile were to hit a crew member, it would just bounce off:



So it turns out that in the early days of senshadou, there actually was an all male exhibition match. It was expected that a good showing here would open the door to more men in the sport.

The battle started normally. Then, a shell was fired accidentally at an exposed tank commander. He batted away the incoming shell by reflex with his arm.

That should have been the end of that, but...

The commander, as if coming to a realization, started actively swatting away incoming shells. His crew joined in, and eventually, all of the men in the battle were concentrating more on punching, bodyblocking, or headbutting away projectiles than actually fighting a tank battle. What was worse was that most of the tank commanders carried dress uniform swords (like their comrades in the navy) and they started using those to deflect rounds.

Finally, the tanks used up all their ammo, and this farce of an exhibition match should have ended in a pathetic stalemate. Then one commander looked at his weapon in hand and bellowed:



As one, the tanks rammed into each other. A number of tanks were taken out in the collision, and it might have been possible that one of the teams may have just won.

However, the crews were past the point of caring about a technical victory, for they had all bailed out of their vehicles and were fighting in a massive brawl. The (female) judges couldn't break up the melee and local police had to be called in.

One of the observers, the future international legend Nishizumi Shiho, had only one thing to say about the match: "This is not senshadou."

And thus, whenever the matter of male tank crews is brought up, everyone recalls this fiasco, their faces turn into ﺧ益ﺨ and the topic is dropped.

[Gravitas Free Zone]

LOL, SatelliteCannon.

[Ithekro]

I've been attempting to find locations for the finals around Mt. Fuji, but have been met with little success using only Google Earth and the line.

[Sumeragi]

Originally Posted by Ithekro

I've been attempting to find locations for the finals around Mt. Fuji, but have been met with little success using only Google Earth and the line.

Here you go.

[Random Wanderer]

Originally Posted by Tak

I have a feeling that the creators of the show probably did not intend to even answer that question, until persistent fans kept on bringing it up...

They finally had it, it seems...

- Tak

That's what they get for making us sit on the series for three months. People's interest hasn't faded all that much because they knew it wasn't over, but they've had all too much time with nothing to do but speculate.

Next time they'll know better than to have production issues when releasing a series.

[Midonin]

Girls & Tanks FIN - Mickey Maus Club

I don't have a whole lot of commentary on what went on in episode 11. The flow of the episode was easy to get into, but it goes in one ear and out the other for me. Except for three scenes. The moment when Miho decided, when presented with the same situation from her past, to repeat it, shows that she has a real strength of character. The repair en route was also kinda cool - memories of Basquash's Miyuki, one of my favorite mechanic characters. She never repaired a robot like that, but it does make me wish the mechanics got a little more screentime. Katyusha commenting on Miho's jump was also kind of cute, mostly because I know them as Yayoi and Alice in my head.

For the final episode, the action was once again, nice and engaging, but I don't think I got much out of it beyond the surface stuff. If the final match between Saki and Teru ends up being anything like this, I'd be okay with it. (Is there a version of Achiga for this show?). The stuff after the match, while short, was nice. Mako's plotline being resolved was a nicely emotional moment for her, and her grandma can dance well for her age. I had never really noticed the Saki meme (this show's Saki, not Miyanaga), but hearing her have one line (voiced by Mikako Komatsu at that) was a nice little moment. Not sure how I feel about the Volleyball Club's decision. Maybe they can be in both clubs. A fine finale, all things considered.

These three months drove up everyone's emotions, so for my thoughts on the show as a whole, I have a lot to say. You can stop right here and I won't mind. Just a new experience for me, in my time in the anime fandom.

Girls & Tanks Retrospective - Three (Six) Months on a Blurry Venn Diagram

I was never watching for the tanks. I know that might lead to a few rebuttals of "What are you doing in here?" From the start, this anime was attempting to reach two groups of otaku, the Akiba-type and the military types, but when it comes to the Western fandom, it's clear which group ended up being dominant. Some people were probably a mix of both, but from the beginning, I was planted firmly in the first, treating the second element only as a method of conveyance for getting to know the girls. That's what my emotional reactions draw upon. This has worked for me before. Strike Witches. So Ra no Wo To. The Lime-iro series. I know World of Tanks has come up a lot in this thread, and I suppose my past isn't entirely free from war games. The only one I've really played is Advance Wars (the earlier ones before Days of Ruin... because with a subtitle like that...), and even then, I played it because I wanted to know more about the COs, particularly Sami/Domino. She's like Yukari before Yukari was ever concieved as a character. This parallels my current situation almost exactly.

The first episode was almost entirely character driven, and hooked me, but from about episode three onward, I began to feel shortchanged. The girls taking away their personalized designs was a sign of that. Both in the show and the thread itself, with only a few moments of peace amongst pages of stuff I had no interest in desire to learn about - history that didn't seem to factor into the modern lives these girls were living, statistics that felt extraneous to the narrative, an online game I've never heard of and wasn't my style anyway - I know these things weren't, but from my perspective, they were drowning out what I thought would be the real heart of the story. Only I had misaimed and it seemed like I was watching for the skin. Even when the show focused on other things that aren't tanks (Hana's flower arranging and Saori's romantic interludes), it still goes back to tanks. This is why I appreciated the moment when the student council showed photos from their past - it gave a look at the broader world, for a moment or two.

There's a lot of praise for the realism of the show, and I know having a writer who's done their stuff is important, but at times the show felt like it was just rattling off trivia. That's the same problem I had with Upotte. Since it's on a subject I don't care about, it all became a mess of white noise after a while. I would've gladly sacrificed some realism if it meant the focus could shift, just a little. Again, I point to the three series I enjoyed at the top of the list. I'm not singling out anybody in particular, but when the threads are filled with pages of this stuff, and the length of the thread is more than ten times the length of Busou Shinki's, to draw on the closest possible comparison (from the same season), coupled with the Western macrofandom's at times dismissive attitude towards moe, I ended up feeling a litle alienated. I know it's mostly my fault, but the series looked close enough to the kinds of things I enjoy, but apparently the element I was watching for was made to feel lesser, both in and outside the show. It's not the first time I've experienced something like this, but it's one of the more frustrating times.

That's not to say there weren't character elements. The Angler Dance is one of my favorite moments in the show, both times it appears. It's just that it was only for certain characters, and the tank element kind of ended up overshadowing everything. The student council and the main characters were all defined well enough (if a bit one note), but if a character was neither them nor the team leaders, I feel that they ended up functioning more as a hive mind. And that the show only kept adding more characters as it went along only worsened this problem. The first years suffered greatly, and the mechanics and the gamers both may as well have not existed with how little of a role they ultimately ended up having. Unlike Saki, where, as was previously brought up, Mahjong is an individual sport, a plurality of the characters are barely defined as individuals, which showed the most in the recap episodes. The humans got one adjective at worst/best, and the tanks could get an entire Wikipedia entry. To me, that feels like a case of wonky priorities, though I know there's an audience for it.

I really did like the characters. For what little time we got to know them, they made a strong impression that I feel was never really followed up on. Sure, everybody except for Saori got something of a character arc, but the comparative amount of screentime in relation to the action scene was too little for me. They all needed more screentime in order to feel like they weren't just being glossed over. Miho's actress is now in a role I can really appreciate over in Doki Doki, and a lot of other VAs (including some of the newbies) make strong impressions. I'm always glad to have Mika Kikuchi getting more work. Though Yukari is confusing to me by embodying the personality type I enjoy the most with the strongest representation of the series element I'm the least fond of. If the entire series had been like the OVAs, or it had more time, or if the balance had shifted even slightly, I would've looked at it much more favorably. Because I like these characters, I just want to see them in a different kind of series. Having machines that aren't sentient or humanoid be more important than the humans just feels weird to me. I don't know how or if "interpersonal relationships" became a bad word (or is it only certain kinds?), but that's what I wanted to see more of. Even if the series was more of an atmosphere/daily life kind of series that had tanks rather than a tank series that has girls, it still wouldn't have been "generic" because the tanks would still be there. Every series tries to stake its claim in some way. That's what my views boil down to. I'm not opposed to the tanks being in the series or being involved in its world building, I'm annoyed that they're treated with more screentime and definition than the girls element of the show. For example, if Miho transformed into Magicannon Girl IV it would... be a rather different show, but one I would've been able to discuss a little more passionately.

The show itself was well produced. The scenery looked good, the character designs vibrant and unique, and I enjoyed the opening and ending themes, and even the character songs were a nice treat. I can't fault it on animation, but simply due to sheer preferences, I wouldn't have minded a slight bit more fanservice. The bath scenes were good, though. Like I've stated at the start, the visuals are all really pretty, and even in the toughest battles, the show gave off the same lighthearted atmosphere found in other works I do enjoy, like Tamako Market. Even the CGI was really nice. The short version of this essay comes down to "I like everything about the show but the main content of the show", but it's not even the sport itself. It's the effects it has on the script of the story, and what that script chose to do with it. It's fine for a certain kind of audience, but coming to terms with the fact that I'm not that audience has been at times confusing, frustrating and leaving me wondering where to send these feeling toward. There's hardly been a show with a primarily female cast that I haven't enjoyed, so it's a bit of a weird feeling. If you've read this far, thank you for listening.

So, yes, I admit I got baited and switched, but I don't hold ill will towards anybody. When I was playing Ota-Ma!, the military otaku Ameri and the tokusatsu and anime otaku of Koyori and Kirara can exist side by side and be friends, so I should be able to get along with people here too... but there are some fundamental differences in what we're seeking in anime that might be difficult (but not impossible) to come to an agreement on.

There was a term used in the finale of Joshiraku, about things that only need to be experienced once. This is that series for me. If/when it gets a second season, I'll still watch, because it's a sequel to something I mostly enjoyed, but I don't think I'll be around to discuss it. Maybe I'll enjoy it more that way. It was fun, I just came out of it a little disappointed. I place it on the same level as Upotte. Some good ideas, but too overtaken by technical aspects, minimizing individuality (or in Upotte's case, severely blurring the line between trivia and personality) to be something I'll find memorable. My wish is that this summer's Stella C3 Bu is able to balance the elements of the Akiba-type and the military otaku in a way that will give both sides equal presence.

[florallia]

Originally Posted by Myssa Rei

re WW2: Mizushima apparently put his foot down finally and replied via tweet that it happened more or less like ours. The effect of this on Senshado was to unequivocally ban males from participating for fear that they'd turn even Sensha-do matches into lethal brawls.

Yes, that is most important essence for this series.

Please read back entire log of this thread, gentlemen. Many dumb mens talk about "HOW TO KILL" outloud many time, causing trouble and want to set fire in the community who talking about entertainment for enjoy, annoying by topic of blood-leaking War & Destroy Something.......I think there's a truth. Men should not involve Sensha-Do for good.

Hurrah for Girls & Panzer!!