GIRLS und PANZER Review — B+

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Panzer vor!

GIRLS und PANZER is basically K-On except instead of sitting around eating snacks, they compete in tankery competitions. Tankery is the most feminine of arts, and it is taken with utter seriousness. Tankery is a very safe sport with low injury rates.

It sounds like a premise that is so stupid it has to be either terrible or brilliant. Fortunately, it’s brilliant. You have all these cute, weak looking girls blowing each other to bits in tanks. We have the silliest of characters (e.g., eyepatch girl, the volleyball club, the girl who does tea ceremony, the automobile club, and more) with the silliest of motivations (e.g., reviving the volleyball club, saving the school through tankery, and getting credit extra excused absences to pass class). The enemy schools are even funnier: for example, there’s this short Russian girl who leads the Russian tanks to battle while singing.

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The battles, as ridiculous as they sound, are actually exciting and even, dare I say, clever. Part of the charm is seeing what strategies and traps the girls will come up with. Plus, you’ll even learn about tanks and tank warfare.

So I recommend watching GIRLS und PANZER even if you hate everything moe.

  • Storytelling – B – Exciting battles, great sense of absurdity.
  • Voice – A – It has GIRLS und PANZERS.
  • Characters – B – An enormous cast of characters, but it makes you feel like you know all of them in only 12 episiodes while giving them very little screentime. The main tank crew gets more attention.
  • Attention Grab – A – I was usually surprised when episodes ended.
  • Production – B – Looks and sounds great.
  • Overall – B+

Recommendations – AKB0048, Saki, Sora no Woto

10 thoughts on “GIRLS und PANZER Review — B+

  1. Girls und Panzer : a moe anime done right

    I gave it 9/10 on my MAL account. The highest score that I have given to a pure moe anime. I think?

    1. An excellent decision. I think I rated Nichijou and Lucky Star higher. Those probably don’t count as “pure moe” since they’re mostly comedy, but girls und panzer is a comedy too so whatever.

  2. Panzer vor! FOR THE WIN!

    I wasn’t sure about this series at the start, but damn did I fall in love with the characters and the action moments! The only thing I hated about this series was that long break before the final two episodes…

    SEASON TWO COME ON BITCHES

    1. Yeah it took forever for the final two episodes. But it was worth the wait! A second season would be awesome.

  3. Well, after months of torture with a guy who told me to watch the damn show. I did.

    And… I actually liked it. And I’m the person who HATES Moe with a passion.

    Mostly because they do NOT act like a bunch of moeblobs (and they actually have some form of substance… for girls their age), the relationships were actually decent without making the characters act all “innocently experimenting on girl friends because innocent”, the characters were diverse AND hella memorable, and the fanservice is… well… not a major thing in the show.

    Also, TEEN GIRLS OPERATING TANKS AS A CONTACT SPORT AND CULTURAL NORM. SERIOUSLY. THAT IS AWESOME.

    1. My thoughts exactly. They don’t act like a bunch of moeblobs (well, for the most part). They treat tankery like it’s totally normal. I love it.

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