Girls und Panzer: TV + OVAs Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

Girls und Panzer: TV + OVAs Blu-ray Movie Review

Girls und Panzer TV & OVA collection provides the original anime series run and the original OVA series run in one box-set for franchise fans. Produced by Bandai Visual, Girls und panzer project, Hakuhodo DY Media Partners, Lantis, MOVIC, Q-Tec, and Showgate, Girls und Panzer has at last received an impressive collection. Featuring animation produced by Actas, the theme song is performed by ChouCho. Featuring original character designs by Humikane Shimada.

Produced by Hirotsugu Ogisu (Space Dandy, Mob Psycho 100), Kiyoshi Sugiyama (Blue Submarine No.6, Crimson Wolf), Takeshi Ishigaki (Dimension W, Matoi the Sacred Slayer), Yōichi Sekine (Arifureta - From Commonplace to World's Strongest, The Qwaser of Stigmata), and Youhei Hayashi (Squid Girl, Witch Craft Works), Girls und Panzer TV & OVA box-set is a worthwhile collection for die-hard fans of the series. The series features voice performances by Mai Fuchigami, Ai Kayano, Ikumi Nakagami, Mami Ozaki, and Yuka Iguchi. The set spans the original television run and the six OVA episodes.

Miho Nishizumi (Mai Fuchigami) finds herself becoming involved with tanking – something she never expected to be involved with in the first place. The tank sport has become all the rage with enormous competition and fierce battling with field tanks duking it out on the grass. The girls are engaging in tank battles (left and right) with the military style militia making the rounds.

 The main outcome is a giant free-for-all. These girls are all in on the action: Saori Takebe (Ai Kayano), Yukari Akiyama (Ikumi Nakagami), Hana Isuzu (Mami Ozaki), and Mako Reizei (Yuka Iguchi). Gun-fu, time. No tanking expertise required.

The characters are a fun part of the program. The cast of characters are entertaining with quirky offbeat styles. The characters are enamored with the tank battles and the adventure on the grassy fields. The tanking aspect is well balanced against the character moments – from the characters eating treats to having some fun hanging out together.

The character designs by Isao Sugimoto (Ultimate Otaku Teacher, The Qwaser of Stigmata II) are quite charming and fun. The designs are kawaii and the style is something that will appeal to the target fan. The design work is stylish and the characters provide a bubbly personality to the series and its action-adventure role.

The animation is one of the best things about the Girls und Panzer anime series. The series animation provides a lot of great design elements. Featuring impressive art direction by Minoru Ōnishi (Brave Witches, Heaven's Memo Pad) and chief animation direction by Isao Sugimoto (Ai Yori Aoshi, The Qwaser of Stigmata), Girls und Panzer has an incredible aesthetic for fans. The team of animators involved on the production provide good background animation and showcase the characters and the tank battles in a compelling visual spectacle.

The cinematography by Naoyuki Ohba (Kino no Tabi: The Beautiful World, RahXephon) adds to the series production, too. The cinematography shines with bright colors and aesthetic elements. An impressive effort by Ohba. Ohba certainly handles the cinematography well and understands the balance of comedic elements alongside action-fun with a sleek visual style highlighting these arenas.

The cinematography styles adds to the sensibilities of the series. Instead of a grim or emo style art approach, the animation opts for something entirely different – colorful, fun, and vibrant. The cinematographer provides this aspect instead visually instead of something brooding and dark (like some mecha anime productions aimed at more mature audiences).

The score composed by Shiroh Hamaguchi (One Piece, Tari Tari) is engaging fun. The score is a charming highlight of the production. Hamaguchi is a talented composer and someone who has worked on many compelling anime series. The music by Hamaguchi has a sense of adventure and works well alongside comedic elements, too.

Written by Reiko Yoshida (Digimon Adventure, Kaleido Star), Girls und Panzer is a light and silly anime series for fans of adventurous and highly-spirited fun. The scripting is solid with the characters a fun highlight. Yoshida enjoys exploring the world of these characters and the tank battles and the cool adventures – adding to the charm.

Tsutomu Mizushima (Squid Girl, Witch Craft Works) directs. Girls und Panzer is an entertaining anime production with solid craft blending comedy and action elements. Fans of charming and silly anime comedies with action-adventure elements will find something to enjoy. The tank battles being an absolute highlight. In fact, mecha fans who like tank series and the kind of battalion that such productions provide will appreciate these aspects of the series most of all. The series combined elements of slice-of-life alongside action-sports tropes for more tank battles across the outdoor terrains. Audiences looking for more tank fun in their animation will appreciate what Girls und Panzer TV & OVA offers.

Girls und Panzer: TV + OVAs Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Released on Blu-ray by Sentai Filmworks, Girls und Panzer: TV & OVA Collection is presented in 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encoded high-definition in the original television broadcast aspect ratio of 1.78:1 widescreen. The animation on the release is beautiful looking with crisp clarity and detail. An outstanding high-definition video encode with crisp colors and wonderful detail. The series animation is preserved by the quality video encoding by Sentai.

The presentation has plenty of "pop" and it looks smooth in the best way possible. The presentation provides superior bit-rates to streaming video platforms. Streaming video services only provide presentations with more compressed video presentations so those seeking ownership of the best possible video will find the Blu-ray a far superior option to simply streaming.

Girls und Panzer: TV + OVAs Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The release includes a selection of lossless audio options: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 and Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (with English subtitles). The lossless audio quality on the release is excellent and adds to the experience. The audio is clear and crisp: providing a dynamic audio encode and presentation. The sound direction by Yoshikazu Iwanami (One Piece, Tari Tari) adds to the series also and is well reproduced.

The stereo sound design is engaging fun. Sentai did a solid job with the release. The lossless audio encoding provides superior audio fidelity with higher bit-rates to audio presentation quality on streaming video services. No streaming video services provide lossless audio presentation quality. To get the best audiophile presentation out of the series, the Blu-ray provides the best option.

Girls und Panzer: TV + OVAs Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The only drawback to the collection is the lack of the Girls und Panzer das Finale and feature-film discs. To get the "full" experience, one will need to pick up these separate releases. The package also doesn't have extensive audio commentaries, documentaries, and other featurettes. Nonetheless, on disc extras include the following:

Disc 2:

Introductions! (HD, 25:53)

Introductions! (HD, 26:01)

Clean Opening Animation (HD, 1:32)

Clean Closing Animations (HD, 18:52)

Disc 3:

OVA Series –

Water War! (HD, 12:01)

Survival War! (HD, 15:51)

School Ship War! (HD, 16:30)

Ankou War! (HD, 6:15)

Snow War! (HD, 17:06)

Banquet War! (HD, 18:46)

Girls und Panzer: TV + OVAs Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Girls und Panzer: TV & OVA Collection is a must-buy for die-hard fans who don’t already own the series and OVAs. The collection comes with the entire original anime series run and the original 6 OVA series episodes. The Blu-ray release provides an excellent video and audio presentation. For fans, consider it well worthwhile – an impressive package. Not only will fans get to own the series for the rest of their lives if desired, fans will also get to experience the series with the best possible video and audio. Fans can rest easy knowing the release provides the ultimate presentation with superior bit-rates for both video and audio compared to streaming platforms. Sentai has done a good job with this nice set for collectors. Highly recommended.