Anime 'of the Month'

'of the Month' is a new segment where I basically spotlight 'Something Awesome'. This will happen on the 1st of each month.

So what is 'Something Awesome'? Well 'Something Awesome' can range from Artists, Music, Movies, Games and anything else that is worth mentioning! If you know 'Something Awesome' that should be mentioned on my Blog, then just share it in the comments!

'Something Awesome' this month is:

Girls und Panzer

Girls und Panzer is a relatively old, or rather not so new, but neither old Anime series. It was released October last year, but ended March this year; the OVA's however ended the series as a whole in June this year.

So what's this anime about? Literally cute girls driving tanks. WWII era tanks to be precise. Ok there's more depth to Girls und Panzer than that, but literally that's the basic summary of the Anime series.

The story takes place in a universe where historical WWII-era tanks are maintained for sports warfare competitions and large carrier ships known as Academy Ships support mobile sea communities. High school girls participate in "tankery" (戦車道 sensha-dō, lit. "the way of the tank"), the art of operating tanks, as a traditional martial art. The carriers travel across the globe and schools that maintain a tank club are welcome to attend an annual tank competition that promises large rewards and prestige for their participation.

Miho Nishizumi is part of a famous lineage of tankers well known for their Nishizumi Style of sensha-dō; she had disgraced her family's name by abandoning her position to save her drowning teammates, leading to her team's defeat within the final match of a competition. Shaken by the whole experience, Miho wished to cease competing in sensha-dō and moved away from her family to start anew by attending Ōarai, a school uninvolved in the sport for nearly twenty years. Miho began her new school life, having made new friends, when the student council announced the revival of sensha-dō. Due to her prior experience, Miho was coerced into joining by the student council president, under threat of expulsion. Following pressure from the student council and seeing her friends suffering because of her decision, Miho reluctantly accepted to join the sensha-dō club.

Despite being initially reluctant, Miho soon comes to enjoy sensha-dō again. Joined by her new friends Saori, Hana, Yukari and Mako, she enters a national sensha-dō championship where they face off against various other schools. Unknown to the whole club, their battles are not merely for recreation, but rather for the sake of saving Ōarai High School.

- Girls und Panzer Plot (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girls_und_Panzer)

Despite the name and the plot description, the Anime is actually quite good. You learn little snippets of fact from the WWII tanks, which goad you into doing more research yourself.

In addition, the characters are quite lovable. Not all, but most. Each character has a personality that relates to the audience in someway.

Like for me Mako Reizei is my favourite character, as she just sleeps all the time; and yet can still achieve super high grades. Almost just like me, the sleeping part anyway.

But hey, this Anime is about tank combat, and the tank warfare is quite good and entertaining. They show the strengths of the tanks, as well as the weaknesses (like a lack of a turret on German Tank Destroyers). They also show off a fair amount of WWII tanks, from each country.

F*** camouflage, we're rolling out in style!

I quite enjoyed this Anime, and fricken glad I listened to one of my mates in A.C.E.S. Go watch it, right meow!!

Edit: Oh hey, I just remembered, I heard a rumour that there was going to be a Girls und Panzer movie coming up some time next year.