Girls und Panzer der Film

This week, with the last of my midterms and assignments, as well as lectures winding down for the last week of formal classes, I had some extra time on my hands and finally got around to watching Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress as well as the Girls und Panzer Movie, both of with I had a great time with XD

Without giving too much in the way of spoilers. The film takes place shortly after the events of episode 12 of the anime. Fresh off their Inter-high championship victory, the girls from Oorai Highschool now find themselves against much tougher and experienced opposition in the form of a Proleague match. 

She gets it! Waking at 6am be damned!

Upping the game this time around is the change to the "Total Annihilation" format used in Proleague games, a 30 v 30 tank match that is only won by knocking out every single enemy tank, a far cry from the previous matches where defeating the lead tank was enough, a factor exploited to great effect by lead character Miho in the anime. The fresh format leads to a nice change in pace, with numerous small skirmishes breaking out over a massive battleground, pushing strategy, teamwork, and individual skills as hard as they have ever been. The action in the battles are excellent as per series standard, with tensions always kept high, with moments of awesome aplenty. There are a little more instances requiring some degree of suspension of disbelief, but otherwise the series' appreciation on minute tank details holds strong for the most part, and is more than made up for in some truly sick scenes, especially in the final encounter.

Production wise, the movie clearly benefited from the increased budget and production time. The detailed CG vehicles blend in better with the 2D backgrounds and characters this time around, character designs are distinct and crisp, and the sound design and voicework is topnotch. None of this is of course anything special by today's standards, but there is certainly nothing to complain about either. 

My complaints with the film would have to be the pacing of the middle portions of the show, where it can feel like it drags on a little too long and the scenes don't flow together quite as smoothly, as if they want to hurry on to the good bits. And oh boy do the good bits make up for it, and then some. This is a 2 hour long film where almost three-thirds of it is dedicated to tank battles in some form or another, and they definitely play to the series' strengths. 

Overall, I did enjoy my 2 hour session with the film quite abit. It won't wow anyone looking for masterful character work and writing, but as a general popcorn-flick it doesn't get much better. The movie caters very specifically to people who already watched the anime. For fans of the series, you will be in for a good time. For others, check out the anime first and decide if you like it or not, you never know if this little gem will be just what you're looking for.

Yes, yes it was.

Next week, I will be touching on one of the bigger hits this season, Kabaneri of the Iron Fotress. Till then.