Why Girls und Panzer Works So Well

CGDCT, or “Cute Girls Doing Cute Things,” is a genre in anime that usually revolves around a high school setting where cute girls in school uniforms talk about love, discuss fashion, go shopping, share a hobby, and do other things without a single guy in sight. One of the great advantages of CGDCT is that it's a very versatile genre that can easily mesh with other genres. By its very nature, it pairs really well with slice-of-life anime (examples include Gabriel DropOut and Lucky Star), but it can also work with comedy (Asobi Asobase) and even horror (School-Live!).

But if there was a genre that CGDCT should absolutely not be compatible with in theory, it would be military themes. After all, is there anything more traditionally symbolic of masculinity and virility than warfare, tanks, guns, explosions, and military tactics? It's just not supposed to work. Yet, not only does Girls und Panzer manage to pull that combination off, but it completely subverts the stereotype.

Girls und Panzer, or GuP for short, follows Miho Nishizumi, a second-year student at Oarai Girls' Academy, as she tries to lead her haphazard Sensha-Do team to victory. Sensha-Do, or "Tankery" in English, is a women's discipline in the GuP universe that pits teams against each other in battles with tanks that were designed before August 15th, 1945, the date of the Japanese surrender.

The main protagonist, Miho, happens to descend from a long line of Sensha-Do practitioners, and has inherited the Nishizumi-style (or the equivalent of German mid- to late-war Panzerkeil tank tactics). Unfortunately for Miho, as vice-commander of Kuromorimine High School, home of the Nishizumi-style, she committed the terrible transgression in her family's eyes of saving a teammate from possibly drowning instead of fighting her opponent, which cost her team their tenth consecutive win in the high school tournament. Cast out in the eyes of her mother, Miho decides to transfer to a school without a Sensha-Do team, Oarai Girls' Academy. Regrettably for her, she is once again pulled back into the sport when the school's student council decides to score a victory in the Sensha-Do tournament as a way to save their school from closing.

In addition to being the commander of the entire Oarai team, Miho is the tank commander of a Panzer IV Ausf.D, which is crewed by the anime's principal supporting characters: flower arranger Hana is the gunner, tank enthusiast (and everyone's floofy raison d'être) Yukari the loader, sleepy genius Mako the driver, and love-obsessed chatterbox Saori the radio operator. Between the Oarai team and its opponents, GuP has a colorful cast of characters that each have a distinct personality and contribute to the show in a significant way.

Of course, visual appeal is one of the main reasons why the GuP turned out so successful. Looking at the way the girls behave, what they wear, and the way they look, there is an obvious intent to maximize the cast's girliness in every way. However, the genius of Girls und Panzer is in how the show manages to mesh the girliness with militarism. The best example is in the uniforms the girls wear during Sensha-Do matches. The top of the uniform is designed similar to the military uniform that a soldier of a given country would wear during World War II, but the bottom is short skirt. Somehow, it just works.

This combination is well-executed in the girls' characterization as well. For instance, Miho's family legacy and her ensuing conflict with the rest of her family sticks out in the usually conflict-avoidant CGDCT genre, but since the source of friction originated from an act of kindness – even heroism – on her part, it makes Miho easy to root for as the underdog. In fact, in every match, Oarai is always presented as the overwhelming underdog only to come out on top at the end thanks to Miho's prowess as a commander. A similarly complementary dynamic exists in the characterization of Miho's companions as well, such as Saori's extraversion and talkativeness turning her into an excellent tank radio operator. Once again, all the pieces just fall into place.

The strength of Girls und Panzer does not lie in its linear and repetitive plot. Oarai always faces a team presented as an overwhelming threat and Miho always has to find creative ways to win. To force the encounter, the show will employ straightforward plot devices such as the government shutting down the school unless Oarai wins in Sensha-Do. However, the simple plot arguably doesn't take anything away from the show. A lot of anime that start out with an ambitious plot tend to get lost in the weeds with side stories, flashbacks spanning several episodes, or dull exposition that only leave more plot holes, ruining the flow of the show (DARLING in the FRANXX is a good example of trying to do too much). Girls und Panzer's barebones premise allows the show to focus on its strengths, which are worldbuilding, tank battles, historical references, and cute girls.

That said, there is more to worldbuilding than simply making the most imaginative setting possible or adding a few gimmicks here and there. Even the most outlandish fictional world needs a semblance of coherence to its internal logic, which largely depends on how the characters react to the world in which they inhabit. And in this regard, Girls und Panzer excels: its first episode does an amazing job at presenting the anime as a cookie-cutter CGDCT series in a high school before slowly lulling its audience into accepting Sensha-Do – and all the madness that is to come later – as a natural extension of girls' normal high school life.

Hence, even the absence of male players in an activity so rooted in masculinity becomes a trivial detail in GuP when the girls wholeheartedly believe that Sensha-Do is a women's sport that helps women become more feminine, and admit that they have a hard time associating men with tanks. The same can be said about other oddities like school campuses being built on giant school ships that look like aircraft carriers, the student council essentially running said schools as they see fit, or high school students having the technical expertise to operate and maintain automobiles, let alone World War II era tanks. Girls und Panzer simply treats these absurdities as the most mundane of affairs, and brings its audience along for the ride.

By now, it's clear that Girls und Panzer is a successful blend of the military and CGDCT genres. However, Girls und Panzer uses the powers of gap moe to push itself even further into the sports genre as well. The anime goes to great lengths to detach Sensha-Do from warfare and violence, structuring it more as a sport with official rules and friendly competition. This also allows the show to incorporate many tropes typically found in other sports anime.

First, there is a clear progression between Oarai's amateurish Sensha-Do team at the start of the anime to the well-oiled machine it becomes later. Then, there is the main protagonist, Miho, being a uniquely talented individual in leading the school to victory with her brilliant strategies. In every arc, there is an overwhelmingly powerful team presented as an almost insurmountable threat, but there are no hard feelings once the battle is over, as both Oarai and its rivals strive to uphold the sportsmanship of Sensha-Do together. Between matches, the Oarai team will search for new tanks or improve its existing ones, as well as hold practice sessions.

Girls und Panzer even contains the usual exaggerated stakes that sports anime are known for. For example, Oarai's entire existence hinges on its success in a high school sports tournament. The exaggeration is also extended to character arcs. Miho isn't the only one who is cast out from her family; Hana's mother literally disowns her for choosing Sensha-Do over dedicating herself fully to arranging flowers. In fact, Miho being condemned for saving a life instead of winning the match is reminiscent of episode 64 of Captain Tsubasa where Jun's ailing heart finally gives in, and the only one to have stayed with him, Kojiro, was later chastised by his coach for not continuing to play.

Above all, what Girls und Panzer excels at the most is in its historical references. They are often presented as humoristic, lighthearted stereotypes of various countries that perfectly fit the simple narrative and military theme of the anime. All the schools in Girls und Panzer are entirely situated in Japan, but each of them is themed after a country, which is reflected in their philosophy, lifestyle, and of course, Sensha-Do.

For example, the Russian school is based on the Soviet Union and named Pravda (“Truth” in Russian), which was the official slogan of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The school also has no elected student council, and is instead run by their Sensha-Do commander, Katyusha, who is essentially blond loli Stalin. During their match against Oarai, the Pravda team sang “Katyusha”, which is a Soviet folk song commonly sung by Red Army soldiers. Similarly, Pravda's tank tactics are based on Red Army doctrine, such as double envelopments and fighting in winter conditions.

Girls und Panzer finds ingenious ways to poke fun at every country no matter how little screen time they might get. The Australian team, Koala Forest Academy, only appears for around 30 seconds in the second part of Das Finale, but in that time, we see that the team's commander is a literal koala, and their vice-commander's name is Wallaby. The Japanese team, Chihatan Academy, demonstrates that the show's writing isn't above self-derision, as the team constantly obsesses over charging into battle no matter how tactically unsound it might be. The British St.Gloriana Girls' College constantly drinks tea, the American Saunders University High School is the wealthiest, and the French BC Freedom Academy had an actual revolution in the Taiyaki War! OVA, and so on.

The historical references don't stop there. Almost the entire original soundtrack of Girls und Panzer is military music. This is especially true for each school's background theme, such as “Panzerlied” playing whenever the German Kuromorimine Girls' Academy appears, or “Funiculi, funicula" for the Italian Anzio High School. Even character names in the anime are historical references. For example, Nishizumi is a reference to The Legend of Tank Commander Nishizumi, a 1940 Japanese humanist film, and Erika refers to the popular German military song of the same name. Oarai's Hippo Team, which operates a StuG III, is made up of history buffs who each have nicknames based on a major historical figure, and are knowledgeable about their respective eras, which leads them to make many obscure historical references in their remarks that are really funny if you understand them.

Of course, the tanks and tactics that each school uses are also based on their respective countries, but the tank battles themselves are quite entertaining even if you're not an expert on tank warfare. However, for those who are in the know, the depth of historical detail in Girls und Panzer is astonishing, and a delight for historians.

While there are many moments that remind viewers that Girls und Panzer is indeed an anime – such as tank drifting, impossible jumps, and fanservice beach OVAs – the historical references sprinkled throughout keeps it feeling fresh even during repeated viewings.

Overall, it is the characters and the worldbuilding that ensure a fluid transition between the slice of life scenes and the tank battles of Girls und Panzer. That's why the show's fusion confusion works so well. Who would've thought that a series about high school girls in short skirts fighting tank battles would be the peak of military-themed anime?

Bhromor is a student at the University of Ottawa, Faculty of Civil Law, and an executive of the Flagrant Délit Civil Law Journal. Aside from Anime News Network, he has also written for The Game Crater and GameRant