Girls & Panzer: Kore ga Hontou no Anzio-sen desu!

This will be a quick one. I'll assume you've already seen Girls und Panzer and are wondering whether the OVA is worth checking out. If you haven't watched the show yet, it's best to watch it first but you could probably still enjoy this title on its own if you really wanted to. Although you will find a lot more to like about it if you're familiar with the original tv series.

The story takes place during the battle against Anzio, a "Japanese-themed Italian school". Be prepared for a lot of deliciously animated pasta.

Just about all the elements you loved about the show are here. The ... characters are up to their usual antics - Mako sleeping on the job, Saori being an air-head, and of course Miho whipping up moments of tactical brilliance when it matters most. Technically the outcome of the battle is already known to begin with, but this doesn't really take away from the watching experience.

Anchovy brings a (highly tongue-in-cheek) Italian flair to the mix, and there is plenty of humor to be found throughout the 40 minutes of screen-time. One of her generals is even called Pepperoni... Feel like a pizza yet?

The lead-up to the battle is plenty of fun and Yukari's recon mission is a highlight. However, the OVA really shines when it's time for the main event.

The battle is shown from multiple perspectives, and there's a plethora of strategy and mind-games going on as usual. This is the real magic of the Girls Und Panzer franchise: It's written in a way that balances comedy and action like almost no other. The viewer gets treated to a comprehensive view of the battle, and the quality of animation is even better than it was during the original series. The time and effort taken into making this OVA look and feel beautiful very noticeable and rewarding, particularly during the more intense moments of the battle. It must be difficult to balance such a vibrant colour palette with gritty tank warfare but somehow it all works.

As usual, tank otakus will probably relish the more intricate details to be found over the course of the OVA. There's also a fairly good balance of screen time for the main girls, so your favourite character will almost certainly get the time and attention that only you know she needs.

In short: This OVA is a treat. Side-effects may include a heightened enthusiasm for Italian cuisine, but it all goes away after you eat a good pizza. Panzer Vor!

I rated the original GuP a 9, and that's actually because the original production hit a snag after episode 10, which the cast joke about during a live show:

"Well, you know, we were going for the split 1-cour release. It could be a thing."
"So what were you girls doing during those weeks where you weren't broadcasting?"
"Influenza."

I suspect that the production staff actually wanted to do the second round match, but because time/budget was tighter than expected, they basically cut the entire thing out except for the final white flag. It worked as a punch line, but if you enjoyed the series and wanted to see ... the completed second round match, here it is with the lead-up and aftermath.

The "old friends" subplot involving Caesar is cute, but a bit meh for my tastes. It's good to see the show putting a little spotlight on someone other than Team Anglerfish for once, but I guess Caesar was selected this time around because Rome/Italy.

As for the Italian-themed team, like the other teams, the jokes are stereotypical: the general ineptness in combat is a callback to the failed invasion of Greece (the Germans then had to clean up their mess), the "we had to save up to buy a P40" is a shout out to Italy's economy (such as it is), etc. The biggest thing that revealed the staff's ignorance of Italian culture is Pepperoni's pasta recipe (Italians, unlike the Japanese, don't mix eggs and tomatoes as a general rule), but that's nothing worth writing home about. Fortunately for those who get wound up over their home nations getting stereotyped like this, they do it to Japan in the movie. Heh heh.

As always, the scenario is ridiculous: why in the world would you put tankettes like the CV-33 into the match? The answer, of course, is so we can see them flip over and over when hit, and we want to see Team Duck and Team Rabbit score some kills for once-- the Type 89's gun is so bad that the CV-33 is probably the only thing it could reliably penetrate, and while the M3 Frankentank wasn't as good as the Sherman, it still held its own historically.

Without spoiling the story, I love how the show explains why Anzio wasn't spectating the final match. Delightfully in-character and unabashedly pulling on Italians' chains.

The main additions to the already excellent soundtrack are Le Fiamme Nere, Funiculi Funicula, and a new BGM for Yukari's covert ops scene featuring "drunken clarinets" as I like to call them.

In conclusion, hilarious episode, but this one's mainly for fans of the show.

I've talked about Girls und Panzer as a franchise more than once. This time around we're looking at the OVA Kore ga Hontou no Anzio-sen desu! If the rest of the franchise thus far is anything to go by, this one should be good.

Story:

This one is set during the series proper. If you've seen it, you may recall that the Anzio Battle doesn't have a whole lot to it. The episode sets up the battle and then they show Ooarai's victory without showing anything that leads up to it. Well, this OVA seeks to rectify that by actually showing more of the lead ... up as well as the actual battle.

The biggest issue with this OVA is the simple fact that it feels like it should have been part of the anime to begin with. Like, episode 7 should have ended with their prep talk and this should have been episode 8 rather than being a separate thing. Which does tie into one of the points I made about the original series when I reviewed it years ago, it needed to be longer.

On the positive side, this does add to the original anime. It gives you more details about the Anzio girls as well as showcasing a lot more about the strategies employed during the altercation. And they do all of it while being funnier than the old joke of building up a fight only to not actually show it. The ending in particular is very funny.

Characters:

The main cast is a delight, as always. The big thing this does that you didn't get before is give some characterization for the Anzio team. Which is pretty nice to see. The friendship with Caeser and Carpaccio is the big highlight since it's pretty adorable.

Art:

Like with every instalment of this franchise, the tank battle is amazing and the tanks themselves have a lot of detail put into them. The environments are really nice. And the characters do look good, in spite of certain groups of students that are designed to basically look identical for some reason.

Sound:

The vocal cast is great. I'll especially shout out Sendai Eri, Hayami Saori, Yoshioka Maya & Iguchi Yuka. The first three benefit from having an increased role while Miss Iguchi is just the best character. The music is solid as well. Which has been pretty consistent in the Girls und Panzer titles we've looked at.

Ho-yay:

Caeser & Carpaccio's relationship does come across as a bit Sapphic. Aside from that there are some cute interactions amongst the girls in general.

Areas of Improvement:

1. There's no reason for this to have been a separate OVA instead of a part of the series proper.
2. The series still begs for a smaller cast since there are so many characters who really don't do much.
3. If you're going to have a hundred characters, at least make them visually distinct.

Final Thoughts:

Ultimately, Kore ga Hontou no Anzio-sen desu! is a solid addition to the Girls und Panzer franchise that helps fill in some of the gaps from the series proper's overly condensed story-telling. For me, this is a solid 7/10 OVA. If you're someone who enjoys the franchise, you'll almost certainly like this piece of it as well.