Perhaps because it’s been awhile since I’d watched any anime
that I felt myself drawn to check out this series, which also has the distinct advantage over
most other anime of being a mere 12 episodes compared to the 100+ episodes that
most series seem to be stretched out currently.
Set in a world were schools are based upon converted
aircraft carriers and Tankery is a class which can be taken alongside flower
arranging and tea ceremonies. Now arriving at Oarai Girls Academy it’s a world
that Miho is looking to escape from despite her family’s legacy with the sport
as the result of an incident during a match for her previous school
Kuromorimine Women’s College which left her traumatised and reluctant to
compete in the sport again. Unlike her
previous school though Oarai hasn’t fielded a tankery team in over twenty years
and in a case of bad luck for Miho has now decided to reboot its program
despite only having a ramshackle collection of old WW2 tanks.
Now essentially forced to compete again, Miho teams up with
her new friends which include the boy crazy Saori, the gentle Hana, the tank
obsessed Yukari and lethargic yet genius Mako who manages to learn how to drive
a tank minutes after scanning through a handy instruction manual. The other tank
crews of course being none the less thrown together with each tank being
fielded by a different social group including the student council, a disbanded volleyball
team who give all their commands like they are on a volleyball court, a group
of history buffs who all dress like different famous generals and a trio of
frenzied hall monitors who perhaps take their duties alittle too seriously. Needless to say they all manage to embrace their
roles on the team, much like Miho who soon rises to become a skilled tactician
as the series goes on.
This is an anime which essentially rests on the idea of its
audience getting behind schoolgirls engaging in tank battles for sport if
controlled ones were they strike at each with impressive looking explosions
which surprisingly never kill anyone taking part. Equally this show somehow
manages to switch between gentle light hearted comedy and intense drama during
the tank battles especially when the girls constantly find themselves being
outnumbered by the teams fielded by the rival schools especially with their
seemingly being no rules on the amount of tanks any team can field in a match.
The tank battles are truly the highlight of this show with
these scenes combining high angle shot with views though the tank’s rangefinder
to great effect. At the same time with each opponent the girls face providing their
own tactics it ensures that the battles are constantly exciting to watch, more
so when they often rest on a skillfull play from Miho to gain the win. The fact
that they are played so seriously only coming as more of a surprise especially
when the teams are shown customising their tanks to match their personalities
when they first get them, only to suddenly and without reason become uniformed
as soon as they enter the Tankery tournament .
The tanks for the most part are animated with a sense of realism
to them however the limitation of this are frequently thrown out of the window
when required as she frequently see tanks moving with the same kind of grace
and drifting skills not seen since the likes of “Dominion Tank Police”. Despite
these far-fetched moments of super skilled tank driving it somehow manages to
not seem to fantastical and instead only adds to the excitement of the action
scenes, even if we know that there’d be zero chance of such things working in
real life.
Outside of the battles scenes the series tends to fall apart
slightly with many of the characters being given little to no depth outside their
surface colourful characters, with many being known better for the group they
belong to or their looks than any kind of personal qualities. Elsewhere
plotlines are equally less developed with Miho’s family issues being quickly
wrapped up despite being introduced as a major plotline for the series. That
being said the series moves at an enjoyable pace and helps to gloss over a lot of
the flaws as you instead find yourself looking forward to the next battle
rather than what’s happening outside of the tournament.
While everything is wrapped up in this series it still has
left me interested to see more and while the recent spin off film picks up
after the series, I’d still be keen to see another short series like this to
further utilise these characters and unique premise. At the same time its light
nature and limited episode run makes it a non-threatening starting place for
the non-anime fan looking for something a little different.
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