Girls un Panzer 07-08: Upgrades, the Musical

By Crusader | Published: December 9, 2012

She made that bouquet for you…

I got caught up with work last week, but now is a good a time as any to celebrate the addition of a Char B1 and more importantly the upgrade to Ausf F2. The KwK 40/L43 is a major upgrade from the 75 short, I would have lobbied harder for a KwK 40/L48 but at least the L43 is good anti-tank option. The Char B1 bis was a good early heavy tank but against T-34/85s and an IS-2 I do not think that the Char B1 is going to make much of an impression. Still that 75mm howitzer is more than enough to deal with the T-34s at point blank and if nothing else it can blow up any cover that Pravda is trying to use. Though I wonder if it is permissible for the shots to count but not have to kill the crew as normally would be the case when using low velocity HE against armor.

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Tank Tactics the 2nd: America Strikes Back

By R1CK_D0M | Published: November 26, 2012

In which I go over the use of informational warfare in the Ooarai vs. Saunders match. That drone could have decided that match. And in a way, it did.

The match starts off with the M3 Lee scouting in a forest in what seems to be the right flank. They see a group of enemy Shermans cresting a hill, and decide to go and bait them. This plan quickly turns south as they instead discover that they are flanked. All of a sudden M3 lee is stuck in a 6 on 1 situation with a disadvantaged position.

Kind of the theme of this fight

Scrub team makes a great analogy right away

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Girls und Panzer – 06: Firefly

By Crusader | Published: November 25, 2012

It’s an ULTRA Secret…

It all came down to two shots and timing…and generous amounts of overaggressive stupidity on the part of Arisa. Kei is okay, but I am not a fan of fighting fair simply for the sake of it, and the rules did not cover radio intercept. The way I see it if the other side is still doing their best to win, then I will do my best to win. Besides it’s not like Kei was running up the score out of malice, but even when she toned it down a bit Kei could have won had Arisa kept her elan in check. Fundamentally Arisa blew it for Saunders, yes there is no “I” in team but there is one in “FAIL” and in this case Arisa violated every tenant of good armor doctrine in her solo pursuit of the Type 89. It is a crappy Type 89 that can’t compete with the Sherman, but it can be used as bait, and Arisa ate it hook, line, and sinker. Tanks should never operate alone, the smallest unit should always be in a pair. Moreover Flag Tanks have no business actively engaging enemy tanks unless they can do so with relative impunity and support.

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Girls und Panzer Tank Primer pt. 3: Saunders team

By R1CK_D0M | Published: November 19, 2012

In part 3 of this primer series, we take a look at the all Sherman team fielded by the “American” school Saunders.

you'll be seeing this screenshot a lot.

Unfortunately, this is all we see (as far as I can tell) of the M4A1 and Firefly in ep 5.

The M4 (Fun fact: The Americans originally only gave the tank its number designation. It was the British who, in thinking it would be confusing without one, dubbed the American tanks with names) was the main workhorse of the American, and indeed most of the allied, offensives.

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Sukitte Ii na yo episodes 6-7: The look of love

By Hana | Published: November 18, 2012

A reluctant Mei persuades Yamato to accept a modelling job with another girl… 

Right. I admit it. This is now officially my ‘Guilty Pleasure’ anime of the season. Like my mother and her dodgy StarPlus doramas, I know that this is mindless fluffy melodrama that shamelessly caters to a specific female demographic. In this case, a youthful (sorry, mum) girly demographic in all of its angst-ridden, wish-fulfilment-seeking glory. Not only do we have the bland self-insert heroine who is painfully shy and insecure, but is actually secretly utterly adorable and a good person and who is always right and is nice to cats and who has Mr Most Popular Bishie hanging onto her every mumble, but we now also have the bitchy bimbo love rival who is no doubt poised to show the world that model looks and slutty boots are no match for a model of virginal virtue. So… Predictable? Well, yes. Bad? Actually, far from it. You see, where something like Bokura Ga Ita, Peach Girl, Itazura na Kiss (etc. etc.) made me continuously eye-roll at the stupidity of all of the characters who threatened to remain scurrying forever in a hamster wheel of misfortune, Sukitte Ii na yo reminds me increasingly of Kimi ni Todoke. Hell, it even has a ‘determined Sawako’-esque chibi-Mei at the end of every episode looking awkwardly adorable, and an equally (albeit at times rather perverted) adorable cat to add to the adorableness quota. Lovely. Not that it’s anywhere near as good as Kimi ni Todoke (which, imo is utterly charming), however, what it lacks in originality, it more than makes up for in consistency. And it continues to have the occasional, but very satisfying kyaarific moments that are the stuff of sparkly shoujo heaven…
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Girls und Panzer – 05: The Fifth Freedom

By Crusader | Published: November 8, 2012

Since Maid Cafes are disappearing in general I for one would welcome Panzer Cafe replacements.

Since Maid cafes seem to be dying out in the US I hope we get a panzer café fad going. After all you can’t possibly construe panzers as degrading, and who wouldn’t want to smell the sweet scent of cordite and motor oil while eating cake? Saori seems to be a fan and Mako can’t get cake tankettes fast enough. Sadly what should have been a nice quite dayto turned sour once Maho showed up with her yandere admirer. The water is a bit murky at the moment but it seems that Miho once served under Maho and her last screw up might have broken up Maho’s win streak and caused an interregnum in Maho’s panzerfahren dynasty. Still with Saunders on the schedule Yukari undertakes a do or die mission to infiltrate the Saunders carrier and get whatever intel she can to give Kampfgruppe Miho a chance to win against superior M-4 Shermans that outnumber them 2 to 1.

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Girls und Panzer Tank Primer pt 2: the St. Glorianna team

By R1CK_D0M | Published: November 7, 2012

In this second part of my tank primer series, we cover the St. Glorianna team, which fields a Churchill and 4 Matilda mk. II’s.

Made a big target though

Starting with the team’s lead tank, the Churchill Mk IV. The Churchill is an infantry support tank, originally designed with WWI specifications in mind. Even though the IV is slightly improved towards the WWII anti-tank doctrine, there is still evidence of its original specifications in the design.

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A closer look at Tank Tactics in Girls und Panzer: St. Glorianna vs. Ooarai

By R1CK_D0M | Published: November 5, 2012

           Hello and welcome to the second of two series of posts I plan to be doing on the show “Girls und Panzer”, this one will take a closer look at the tank battles in the show and how I felt they handled them tactically. This first post will be a bit of a catchup as the battle against the Sherman’s is on the horizon.

nice cliff, bro

I’m bad at images.

Jumping right into it, the match starts we have Miho and her pzIV scouting the enemy team from a vantage point. She knows that her guns (with possible exception of the StuG III, which is an ambushing tank, anyway) can’t do much to the St. Glorianna team from the front, as British infantry tank armor is notoriously thick. (btw, it’s true that it would be difficult for them to maintain formation, as while the Churchill is thick and slow, they’re racecars compared to the Matilda mk. II, and because of that I think Girls und Panzer is portraying them as entirely too fast)

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Girls und Panzer – 04: Tanks Over Flowers

By Crusader | Published: November 4, 2012

Can I get a Tally Ho?

As I had foreseen, the Ooari tanks were driven from the field by St. Gloriana. I could not be happier that the gaudy paint schemes on the Oorai tanks were the instrument of their demise along with Mom’s horrendous aim. Team Teapot saw the StuG III a mile away, any hope of a stealthy ambush were undone by their idiot insistence on having GLORIOUS NIPPON SAMURAI banners on an assault gun that was designed to have a low profile. At least the StuG III was able to claim one kill before getting wrecked. Not only did Oorai shoot themselves in the foot, but Gloriana saw the ambush and executed a text book solution. Oorai was out flanked and forced to retreat, the M3 might be pink but its crew was made up entirely of yellow bellied cowards who fled the field. Miho did play it right by going into urban terrain where she could get up close and personal to the heavily armored Matilda IIs and Churchill. Miho’s plan was sound, but unfortunately the StuG III and the Type 89 were not up to the task.

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Sukitte Ii na yo episodes 1-5: You don’t have to say you love me…

By Hana | Published: November 4, 2012

What a silly question.

’Tis the season to be sparkly! Or, in other words, it seems that Christmas came early this year for shoujo fans, with not one, not two, but three shoujo anime airing this season, in the forms of Kamisama Hajimemashita, Tonari no Kabutsu-kun and Sukitte Ii na yo. However, quantity clearly doesn’t always mean quality. Or, to put it bluntly: I found the first of the three girl-centric Rom-Coms utterly lame in the ‘Com’ department (I didn’t stick around long enough for the ‘Rom’ part); I thought that the second was the anime equivalent of a headless chicken in terms of direction and characterisation; and I thought that the third was… well… okay. I mean, don’t get my less than kyaarific response lull you into a sense of indifference, I think that Sukitte Ii na yo is a solid shoujo anime and, so far, a pretty good watch. In a predictable sort of way. A bit like Kimi ni Todoke, but with more bed-hopping. In short, if you like downtrodden, but brutally (read: masochistically) honest damsels in frequent distress who are saved by the most popular bishies in school, who in turn, help said damsels to see the benefits of having friends and smiling more, then I think you’ll enjoy this…
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