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

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.

Anzio Girls High School basically represents Italy, and for some historical reason that I have not been able to grasp, the battle with Anzio had to be put on an OVA instead of being part of the main series.

The watch order I was supposed to follow had me watching it after episode 7 of the series, but a poster advised me to watch it after episode 12 of the series.

Upon watching it, I can see why. You will be spoiled on the actual results of episode 12, though in my opinion, it's not much of a spoiler. It's predictable anyway. What was not actually ... predictable was how some events took place in the final battle.

Anyway, it's another fun episode. Yukari did one of her - you know what - that led to certain funny situations. You will also meet a certain character that you might be attracted to. The battle is good but doesn't feel as good as later battles that were shown first.

Keep these in mind if you are deciding whether to watch this after episode 7 or after episode 12 of the main series.

TL;DR - This OVA should have been the second half or continuation of episode 7 of the main season of the show, and thus fits perfectly between it and episode 8. It's more of what you love about the show, and an easy recommendation. If you do decide to watch it between 7 and 8, DO NOT WATCH THE AFTER CREDITS SCENE UNTIL AFTER YOU'VE COMPLETED THE MAIN SEASON! It features heavy spoilers for the finale.

The battle against Anzio in the original series run literally wasn't shown; only the outcome was, which, after watching the whole season, felt off since every other battle was played ... out in full. While I'm not sure if there was ever an official word on why this match was skipped in the anime, there is a likely scenario. During the season's broadcast, the show was falling quite behind schedule, so it seems plausible that, rather than devote significantly more resources towards creating unique content, they opted to quickly put together the two recap episodes that aired for the show so more focus could be put on the series in an attempt to catch back up.

Whatever the case may be, this OVA is what we missed in the season; Anzio's background, the prep before the battle, and the battle itself. There's actually some good character building here, as well as a battle that is just as solid as those we saw in the season (albeit shorter due to having to fit into a 38 minute OVA). Simply put, this OVA is more of what you loved from the season and doesn't disappoint.

If I had to put a place in the season to watch this, it would obviously be around episode 7, the episode literally titled "Up Next is Anzio!", despite Anzio only making the equivalent of a cameo appearance at the end of the episode. Watching it after the episode, sort of as an episode 7.5 would be fine enough, but my honest suggestion is to watch episode 7 to the point where Miho finishes addressing the girls in the bath, pause it there, then watch this before resuming. One word of warning though; there is an after credits scene to this OVA, but since it came out after the conclusion of the season, this extra scene contains heavy spoilers. SO DO NOT WATCH THIS AFTER CREDITS SCENE UNTIL AFTER WATCHING THE ENTIRETY OF THE SEASON! Even if you forget to come back to it, you're not missing much, just a cute little bit of comedy that has no impact on the show whatsoever.