GIRLS UND PANZER DER FILM

This is a review of the blu-ray version of “Girls und Panzer Der film. The box-set also comes with a DVD version of the same but I haven’t watched the DVD. It comes in the usual blue plastic blu-ray/DVD packaging.I enjoyed “Girls und Panzer” the series and own the series DVD and the DVD of the OVA (which should be avoided) and so once I discovered the film I knew I was going to own it some day. The idea of high school girls driving tanks and shooting at each other has its own charm. In the series the girls compete to ensure that Ooarai High School for Girls remains open. This sets up the plot for the film.Plot Synopsis – After an exhibition sensha-do (tank battle) the girls from Ooarai learn that their school is going to be closed after all (never trust a bureaucrat who doesn’t write things down). The ship sails and the girls are left to discover their fate until the student president finds a way to give them a last chance. If they can win against a university pro-level team their school will re-open. This time they get this in writing too; Game on.Comments - This is a film in three parts. Think of a sandwich; action, filling, action. The first part of the film is the exhibition tank match between Ooarai and St. Gloriana. This allows each character to be (re-) introduced and has some wonderful animation of the girls in action in their tanks. The middle part of the film is the emotional filling as the girls learn of the closure of the school, deal with their feelings/families and wonder about the future. The final part of the film is the battle with university pro-level team. This is an extended action sequence that moves the tank battle action theme on and is an inventive, action-packed thrill ride that could just be watched on its own. The animation in this series just keeps on getting better and better with tanks now thundering along at crazy angles, doing drifts and jumps and all sorts of stuff. It’s great to watch.The film does leave some open questions such as what happens to Punchy Punch and why is there such a rivalry between the two styles which may leave the door open for another film or series. The character development and plot aren’t great but are just enough to carry the middle part of the film. The tanks aren't characters like they were in the series.Animation and sound – The animation is great. The blend of CGI and conventional animation allows the tanks to move properly and for the characters to look as they should. The soundtrack is fine with ricochets off armour being particularly well done. The music isn’t anything to write home about but doesn’t detract from the movie. The Japanese voice acting is great and I haven’t heard the English soundtrack.Conclusions - This is a great addition to the “Girls und Panzer” universe. The action is amazing and it’s great to see the girls of Ooarai back in action. Highly recommended.Other things you might likeGirls und Panzer (series), Upotte.

A continuation of the anime television series about the traditional female martial art of Sensha-do. (“The Way of the Tank”) (Yeah, this is a very different world.) As always a skillful union of 3d cgi tanks and environments with traditional 2d animated characters. The film is bookended with two long and exciting tank battles. The first is an exhibition match between an Oarai/Chi-Ha-Tan team and a St. Gloriana/Pravda team as Miho tries to finally win one against Darjeeling. The film then slows in the middle for extended character moments when the girls learn their academy ship is being closed. (Again!) The second battle is a wild annihilation match against professional level Selection University to save the Oarai academy ship. (This time class president Anzu insists on a *written* agreement from the Ministry of Culture!) To help out with an eight tank to thirty tank deficit, all of Miho's previous Sensha-do foes temporarily transfer to Oarai Girls High School along with their "personal property" (i.e. their tanks). The final battle is truly epic and climaxes with Oarai's last stand in an abandoned amusement park. Will Miho win? Will Oarai's academy ship be saved? Will Miho and big sister Maho finally reconcile? Like in the series Miho's opponents are not Dick Dastardly caricatures, but simply fellow Shensha-do enthusiasts who "do their best". (For example out of a sense of fair play Selection Univeristy’s Commander Shimada doesn't use her right to veto Oarai's last minute shenanigans that bring their number of tanks up to match hers.) The only villain is the double-crossing Ministry of Culture bureaucrat.Slightly disappointed by the recycled "save the school" plot that will taint any re-watching of the series. Still, the tank battles are longer, larger, and more complex, the cgi crisper, and the sound effects much more breath-taking. In the end a fun and wonderful return to the Girls und Panzer world!

Made it here

I've been a long time fan of this franchise ever since I stumbled upon it on YouTube a few years back. I watched it as it was being released in Japan. And upon learning that it was going to get an English release I was really excited. However unfortunately my hopes continually have been crushed each time. The menu displays are colorful but being completely static images makes them seem cheap and thrown together. No disrespect intended to any of the voice actors but the voices just don't seem to fit. Most of the characters sound far too old to be playing high school girls. As for the special features of the film version well there aren't any. We get a tiny little short film which tells us about the story as a whole but this is something that I've already seen. We also get the ubiquitous Textfree openings and closings but these come on every DVD we don't need them on every DVD. And finally we also get the ubiquitous trailers for other products. We don't even get anything like an audio commentary. For something like a feature-length film you would think that the company would do an audio commentary. Unfortunately like all the other Sentai Filmworks anime that I watch I guess these are going to be permanently restricted to being subtitled only. And that is the only reason I can only afford it three stars. Had the company tried a little bit harder with the voice talent and actually added some extra special features aside from the same old stuff that we get in everyone of their DVDs I might have given it a better score. But on the upside if you are a fan of the TV series you would be remiss to not include the film in your collection.

Firstly the 5 stars are for the film and the sub version,If you liked the series and the Anzio OVA then you don't have to worry about liking this.On a basic level it is like the series, however it surpasses the series and turns everything up to 11 and when it was came out with a fansub over a year ago it was everything I could have hoped for and more, I bought the Japanese collector's blu-ray release and obviously I then had to get this release.There are simple reasons as to why this is better than the series, firstly after the success of the series they were given a large budget to make this film and you can tell they spent it well, the animation is superb, they didn't cut any corners and it makes it a visual delight. The budget also meant that they could go bigger with the action scenes and the fact that this is a feature length film so they could make those battles the forefront and have them last, the opening one clocks in at 26 minutes and the end battle is 48 minutes although proceedings technically start before that and we're left with extra bits at the end giving a 55 minute sequence in total, this makes it slightly longer than the battle at the end of the series, but the key here is that we have an uninterrupted flow to it.Of cause it's not all about Sensha-do as we have a 34 minute portion away from the battles and on occasional rewatches it does feel longer, there are quirky moments and there is a rather nice touching moment in it too, if the section had been any longer then it would have taken away from the film, but as it was it didn't overstay its welcome it is a nice addition with setting up things, and we are then rewarded with the best battle sequence to ever grace anime.As I said before the final battle is actually quite long, but it doesn't let you feel the length of it, it feels fast and furious at times, the pacing is superb, the action sequences are just wild and at times crazy, there are many clips that were taken from this sequence just because of how over the top it can get, but those clips can not compare with the scope of the whole thing, there are sequences that can compare with the greatest of war films, there are moments that will surprise you such as Katyusha in her tank, in the rain and you will know what I mean when you see it.So yes the film itself is absolutely 10/10 brilliant.The blu-ray release itself doesn't have that many special features, it's quite lacking in that regards, but as it's not a collector's edition but just a standard release I'm not surprised it doesn't come with all the extras that the Japanese Collector's came with.And now for what I feel is the negative about this release, the dub, I watched the dub of the series and I didn't think it was that bad, there were issues with some characters but on the whole it was generally a passable dub, here though unfortunately it's a different story, perhaps because they are all together, or perhaps because just the cracks are showing, but there are times when it's just dreadful and it's just so disappointing, I remember when the trailer came out and I thought it was a joke, a bad fandub, then I found that it was the official dub, I did hope that in the full version things wouldn't be that bad, but it started to affect my enjoyment of the film so I had to switch to the sub

Sometimes it's nice to take a break from the gritty modern day dramas, the anguished pathos of most modern heroes and enjoy something so outrageously fun that for two hours you are completely caught up in the whole thing, that's this film.Okay, sure it's just a long episode, sure there is not much actual character development (but what's there, particularly between sisters works very well) and the story...well it's just an excuse to get to some spectacular action.The majority of this film is tank battles, a big one at the start and a massive one at the end. Some spectacular visuals, camera shots and twists are all served up regularly alongside wonderful animation, a good soundtrack and fantastic Japanese voice acting (the dub is fine).If you enjoyed the Anime, you should not hesitate.

Despite having upset the odds and won the Sensha-do (Tankery) finals, Miho and the gang face a new threat to their floating Academy, and this time around they need the help of old friends, and enemies. 'Girls und Panzer: der Film' locks in on battle sequences and effects to the detriment of character interaction, so if you haven't seen the series (or read the manga) you'll struggle to keep track of who everybody is. Though it's never boring, it is, at around two hours, a tad too long, and it rather throws away its most interesting idea - that of a professional Tankery league. On the other hand, the visuals are stunning (the Ferris wheel sequence alone is worth the price) and it's impossible not to get caught up in the sheer bravura bonkers-ness of it all. Panzer vor!

It's Girl's und Panzer, you should know what to expect. Colourful exciting tanks battles starring cute girls with the ridiculous factor being turned up a notch from the series.The extra content is limited though, you get trailers, English dub (is ok, better than series), a 3 minute recap and the obligatory textless opening. Doesn't include the Alice OVA, doubtless getting it's own full price release, and a lot of blurays now come with a poster or nice cardboard sleeve but just the standard box here.

I did expect a bit more from this movie,after having watched the lovely series.It's good,but does not add that much to the original storyline.Watch the series before buying this movie.This makes it easier to understand why schoolgirls are replaying battles from WWII in original tanks from that era as a kind of game to become selfsecured women.