Girls und Panzer (ガールズ&パンツァー, Gāruzu ando Pantsā) (translation from German: Girls and Tanks) is a Japanese anime franchise created by Actas which depicts a competition between girls' high schools practicing tank warfare as a sport. The series was directed by Tsutomu Mizushima, written by Reiko Yoshida and produced by Kiyoshi Sugiyama. Takaaki Suzuki, who had earlier acted as a military history advisor for Strike Witches and Upotte!!, was involved in the production of the anime.
The TV series initially aired in Japan between October and December 2012, with two additional episodes that aired on March 2013 and an original video animation released on July 2014. Nine manga series and a light novel adaptation have been published by Media Factory. An animated film was released in Japanese theaters on November 21, 2015. A six-part theatrical anime series has been announced, with the first film being released in 2017.
The story takes place where historical World War II–era tanks are maintained for sport-style warfare competitions and large carrier ships, known as Academy Ships, support mobile sea communities. Of the many activities high school students can participate in, one of the most popular is "sensha-dō" (戦車道, lit. "the way of the tank"),[FN 1] the art of operating tanks, which is considered a traditional martial art.
Miho Nishizumi
, a girl from a prestigious family of sensha-dō practitioners who became traumatized by a past event, transfers to Ōarai Girls High School to get away from sensha-dō, as she presumed the school was no longer practicing the sport. However, shortly after Miho begins her new school life and makes some new friends, the student council announces the revival of sensha-dō at Ōarai and coerces Miho, the only student with prior experience, to join. While reluctant to join at first, having practically been forced, Miho soon warms
up to sensha-dō and they enter a national championship, facing off against various
other schools, in a competition that becomes a serious matter after Miho and the others learn that their school will be closed should they not win.
The spin-off manga, Girls und Panzer: Little Army, follows Miho in her elementary school days as she participates in sensha-dō alongside her friends Emi, Hitomi, and Chihiro.
The anime series produced by Actas began airing in Japan on October 9, 2012 and was simulcast by Crunchyroll. It was directed by Tsutomu Mizushima and written by Reiko Yoshida, with original character designs by Humikane Shimada. Due to production delays,the final two episodes were postponed to a March 2013 airing, with recap episodes taking their place. Original video animation episodes are included with the Blu-ray Disc/DVD releases, which were released between December 21, 2012 and June 21, 2013.
The opening theme is "DreamRiser" by ChouCho whilst the ending theme is "Enter Enter MISSION!" performed by Mai Fuchigami, Ai Kayano, Mami Ozaki, Ikumi Nakagami and Yuka Iguchi. The series has been licensed in North America by Sentai Filmworks who released the series on December 3, 2013, and the OVAs on February 25, 2014. A scene in episode eight, which featured the song "Katyusha", was absent in the Crunchyroll simulcast and was replaced with an instrumental version of "Korobeiniki" in the Sentai Filmworks release due to licensing issues. Five character song single CDs have also been released, along with the original soundtrack of the anime.
Five drama CDs, a fan disc CD, and BD/DVD called Girls und Panzer: Heartful Tank Disc were also released after the anime aired. An OVA episode featuring the battle against Anzio was released on July 5, 2014, in 12 theaters across Japan, and was released in Blu-ray Disc/DVD on July 25, 2014.
A video game based on the series, titled Girls und Panzer: Senshadō, Kiwamemasu! (ガールズ＆パンツァー 戦車道、極めます！), was developed by Bandai Namco Games and released for the PlayStation Vita in Japan on June 26, 2014. The game is a third-person tank shooter, which features a game mechanic where the player is able to switch between different tanks on the battlefield in real-time, in order to control multiple tanks on the same team. The player is able to control the tank via both third-person and scoped views during combat. The game features a story mode, in addition to a "Battle Royale" mode where the player can form teams as they desire.
Another video game based on the series and film, titled Girls und Panzer: Dream Tank Match (ガールズ&パンツァー ドリームタンクマッチ), was developed by Bandai Namco Entertainment for the PlayStation 4. It was released on February 22, 2018 in Japan and on February 27, 2018 in Southeast Asia with English text. An enhanced version of the game titled Girls und Panzer: Dream Tank Match DX (ガールズ&パンツァー ドリームタンクマッチDX) was released for the Nintendo Switch in Japan on February 21, 2019. This new version includes content from part one of Das Finale; the new content was also made available for the PS4 version as paid DLC.
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