Girls und Panzer das Finale

Girls und Panzer das Finale is a six-part Japanese animated film series and a sequel to Girls und Panzer (2012) and Girls und Panzer der Film (2015). Produced by Actas and distributed by Showgate, the film series is directed by Tsutomu Mizushima from a script written by Reiko Yoshida and features an ensemble cast from previous installments of the franchise.

The film series follows the students of Ōarai Girls' Academy helping Momo Kawashima with her university entrance by winning the Winter Continuous Track Cup. With Miho Nishizumi demoting to Vice-Commander to give her commanding position to Momo, Ōarai faces and defeats BC Freedom Academy, Chihatan Gakuen, and Keizoku High School, advancing to the finals against St. Gloriana Girls' College, where Alice Shimada transferred.

A sequel project for the franchise was greenlit in August 2016. Although the project was first teased as a stand-alone film in September 2016, the format was revealed to be a six-part film series in November. The first film in the series was completed four days before its premiere in December 2017. That month, Mizushima began working on the second film, which was completed in June 2019. Production on the third film continued in May 2020 despite the COVID-19 pandemic, which was completed in March 2021. Production on the fourth film began in April 2021 and was completed in September 2023. That month, Mizushima began working on the fifth film.

Four films in the Girls und Panzer das Finale series have been released in Japan since 2017: Part 1 on December 9, 2017, Part 2 on June 15, 2019, Part 3 on March 26, 2021, and Part 4 on October 6, 2023. The film series has grossed over $20 million worldwide and received nominations at Newtype Anime Awards and Tokyo Anime Awards Festival.

Films

Part 1

As winter arrives, Momo Kawashima is determined to find Ōarai Girls' Academy's missing ninth tank. However, news travels throughout the school that Momo has not been accepted by any universities, resulting in a misleading rumor that she might be held back. Miho Nishizumi and her friends figure that they can get Momo accepted into the same university as Anzu Kadotani and Yuzu Koyama if they can demonstrate that Momo is skilled at Sensha-dō. To achieve this, they name Momo as the commander of Ōarai's tank teams and join the Winter Continuous Track Cup. Anglerfish Team travels below the aircraft carrier's deck to find the tank and wins the challenges set by a delinquent group led by Ogin. Learning of Momo's predicament, Ogin's group decides to join them, forming the Shark Team, to repay their debt to Momo for saving them from expulsion. They also recover the missing Mark IV tank being used as a smokehouse. Ōarai faces off against BC Freedom Academy at the start of the tournament. Yukari Akiyama learns through surveillance that the BC Freedom students are deeply divided between the original students and the high school transfer students, with their commander Marie seemingly oblivious of the situation. Confident that BC Freedom lacks the teamwork for a coordinated defense, Ōarai undertakes a direct attack on their flag tank. However, BC Freedom demonstrates an unexpected esprit de corps and traps Ōarai in a crossfire on a bridge. Ōarai uses Shark Team's tank as a makeshift bridge to escape. BC Freedom and Ōarai retreat following the failed ambush.

Part 2

After escaping BC Freedom's ambush, Ōarai uses Mallard Team's Renault Char B1 and the cover of a bocage's hedgerows to pose as a BC Freedom tank and reignite the quarrel between their students. Exploiting their opponent's temporary confusion, Ōarai takes out Marie's flag tank and wins the match. While on a break before the next match, Saori Takebe accompanies Momo to her home and meets her four siblings and her frail mother. Meanwhile, Chihatan Gakuen, Pravda Girls' High School, Saunders University High School, Kuromorimine Girls' High School, St. Gloriana Girls' College, Anzio Girls' High School, and Keizoku High School advance to the next round. Ōarai's next opponent is Chihatan, which adapts a new set of effective tactics that they learned from Ōarai's examples. Chihatan uses hit-and-run attacks and amphibious assaults to launch numerous ambushes on Ōarai, but the latter forces their retreat after luring them into a trap.

Part 3

After regrouping, Chihatan resumes its hit-and-run attacks on Ōarai. Chihatan's commander Kinuyo Nishi decides to focus on taking out Anglerfish Team to destroy Ōarai's morale. Ōarai tank teams quickly become separated in the confusion and multiple skirmishes take place. Miho decides to turn on her tank's headlight to expose her location and draw all of the Chihatan tanks towards her. As Chihatan celebrates after disabling Anglerfish Team's tank, Turtle Team, Ōarai's flag tank, comes out of hiding and disables Kinuyo's tank, winning the match in the process. In other matches, Kuromorimine defeats Pravda after Erika Itsumi followed Maho Nishizumi's advice and used her tactics that diverge from the school's traditional frontal attack, St. Gloriana easily defeats Anzio, and Keizoku manages to pull an upset victory against Saunders. This leaves Ōarai to face off against Keizoku and Kuromorimine against St. Gloriana in the semifinals. At the outset of the third match, Keizoku uses hit-and-run attacks and guerilla tactics against Ōarai, splitting their forces as a result. As Anglerfish Team protects the Anteater Team, their flag tank, one of the Keizoku's tank team, commanded by the one known as the "White Witch", disables Miho's tank with a single long-range shot.

Part 4

The quick elimination of the Anglerfish Team sinks the morale of Ōarai and sends shockwaves to viewers of the game. Anzu takes an impromptu role as commander to keep the team from falling apart and has their tanks protect the Anteater Team by digging trenches in the snow. After discovering an abandoned underground aqueduct for escape, Anzu appoints Azusa Sawa as the new commander, before the Turtle Team's tank is taken out by the "White Witch", Jouko. Sawa leads the Ōarai tank teams to weed out Jouko and eliminate her, through baiting tactics. With Sawa's commands, she allows Ōarai tanks to outnumber Keizoku's flagship tank, Mika. However, Mika lures them into a trap, causing both Keizoku's and Ōarai's tanks to plunge down the side of a mountain. As the two teams fight, while sliding down the mountainside, an avalanche takes out all but the Anteater Team and two Keizoku tanks, including Mika. Keizoku chases Ōarai into a village, where they are tricked by a diversion allowing the Anteater Team to eliminate Keizoku's flagship tank and win the match. Meanwhile, Kuromorimine and St. Gloriana face each other in the semifinals. Darjeeling overwhelms Erika, by spreading Kuromorimine's teams apart. Before St. Gloriana can corner Kuromorimine, a sandstorm allows Erika to regroup and bring the match to an even playing field. St. Gloriana then introduces their new transfer student, Alice Shimada, who enacts a decisive blow on Kuromorimine and wins the match, deciding the final match between St. Gloriana and Ōarai.

Cast and staff

Voice cast

The table shows the Japanese voice cast (green-colored cells) of the four films in the Girls und Panzer das Finale series and the English dub cast (white-colored cells) of the series' first three films.

Staff

Production

The Girls und Panzer Heartful Tank Carnival II event announced the start of the anime sequel project's production for the Girls und Panzer franchise in August 2016. At Tokyo Game Show in September 2016, producer Kiyoshi Sugiyama indicated the project to be a film but later retracted his comments, apologizing for the confusion he had caused and asking the fans to wait for the reveal instead. The format of the project was revealed to be a six-part anime film series at the 20th Ōarai Anglerfish Festival in November 2016. Screenwriter Reiko Yoshida revealed that the sequel was intended to be released as an original video animation. By the time the decision to make six films had been made, Yoshida began writing the script for the last film first and worked from there backward to adjust the length of the overall story.

The first film in the series, Girls und Panzer das Finale: Part 1, revealed new cast in October 2017, including Yumi Hara as Marie, Minami Tsuda as Ando, Chika Anzai as Oshida, and Ayane Sakura as a "mysterious new character". Director Tsutomu Mizushima announced the completion of the film four days before its theatrical release in December 2017. In the same month, Sakura's character in the film was revealed to be Ogin, with Natsumi Takamori, Yō Taichi, Madoka Yonezawa, and Ami Nanase joining her to respectively voice Rum, Murakami, Flint, and Cutlass. Sentai Filmworks revealed the English staff and dub cast for the film in September 2021.

Mizushima began working on the second film in the series, Girls und Panzer das Finale: Part 2, in December 2017. During the production of the film, the staff used Unreal Engine 4 for the jungle match between Ōarai Girls' Academy and Chihatan Gakuen. In May 2019, Mizushima revealed that the film would be seven minutes longer than the first film. The film was completed in June 2019. Sentai Filmworks revealed the English staff and dub cast for the film in December 2021.

The third film in the series, Girls und Panzer das Finale: Part 3, continued its production despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, with Mizushima stating that the staff started to edit the film and prepare for the cast's dialogue recording in May 2020. The film was completed in March 2021. Sentai Filmworks revealed the English staff and dub cast for the film in December 2022.

The fourth film in the series, Girls und Panzer das Finale: Part 4, began its production in April 2021. Mizushima announced the completion of the dubbing for the film in June 2023. The final cut was finished in July 2023, with the film's runtime clocking in about 53 minutes. Studio Katyusha used 3DCG for about 800 cuts out of 1,100 cuts and Unreal Engine for about another 600 or so of those cuts. In September 2023, Shion Wakayama was revealed to be voicing the character Jouko. That month, Mizushima announced the completion of the film. New characters that had appeared in the film and their respective voice actresses were revealed in October 2023: Konomi Tada as Yuri, Ai Kayano as Tami, Ikumi Nakagami as Tomi, Nozomi Nakazato as Reino, Satomi Akesaka as Ari, Satomi Moriya as Hida, Sumire Uesaka as Iruma and Katsuya, Misato Fukuen as Cranberry, Kana Ueda as Vanilla, and Yuka Iguchi as Peach.

In February 2022, Mizushima confirmed on his Twitter account that he began to work on the contents of the fifth film in the series, Girls und Panzer das Finale: Part 5, although the progress might be "intermittent" due to other work commitments. He began to work on the film a week after the fourth film was completed. He stated that the film would be focusing more on "everyday life" of the characters.

Music

In July 2017, Sayaka Sasaki was revealed as the performer of the opening theme song for the first three films in the Girls und Panzer das Finale series, titled "Grand Symphony", and ChouCho as the performer for the final three films after previously doing so for Girls und Panzer (2012) and Girls und Panzer der Film (2015). Fuchigami, Kayano, Ozaki, Nakagami, and Iguchi performed the new arrangement of "Enter Enter Mission!" song as the ending theme song for the film series. Lantis released the original soundtrack of the first three films in the series, which was composed by Shirō Hamaguchi, on May 12, 2021.

In July 2023, the title of the theme song to be performed by ChouCho for the final three films in the series was revealed as "Never Say Goodbye". ChouCho wrote the song and title about "'graduation' but it's not goodbye" as the franchise was on its final chapter. The regular edition CD, which includes a cover version of "Grand Symphony" as the coupling song, was released on October 4, 2023.

Marketing

In September 2016, Bandai Namco Arts released the teaser trailer for the Girls und Panzer das Finale film series, which was first shown at the Girls und Panzer Heartful Tank Carnival II event last month. A teaser visual for Girls und Panzer das Finale: Part 1 was released in March 2017. A teaser trailer for Girls und Panzer das Finale: Part 2 was released in July 2018. A teaser trailer and visual for Girls und Panzer das Finale: Part 3 were released in September 2020. A teaser trailer and two teaser visuals for Girls und Panzer das Finale: Part 4 were released in November 2022, followed by the film's full trailer and first key visual in July 2023, and the second full trailer and key visual in September.

Promotional partners in Japan did collaboration with the film series: the motorsports team Pacific Racing Team; Lawson; Tsutaya, which released a film series-inspired design for their T-Card membership cards; Mastercard, which released their card design based on the five members of Anglerfish Team; the family restaurant Coco's; Daily Yamazaki; Morinaga Milk Industry; Sega, which set up a collaboration cafe; HMV & Books; the karaoke brand Joysound; Baskin-Robbins; the ice cream store Marion Crepes; World of Tanks; Tower Records; Seiko; Cospa; Big Echo; the coffee shop Saza Coffee; the anime goods shopping site The Chara; Azora Gear, which unveiled a hand warmer with Miho Nishizumi design; the gyoza restaurant Dandadan; Don Quijote; JX Nippon Mining & Metals Corporation; the anime-themed cafe and bar Cue Lamp; Sato Pharmaceutical; Amnibus, a company specialized in anime and character goods; and audiovisual brand Aviot.

In November 2023, Heiwa Corporation announced a smart pachislot (smaslot) based on the film series, which was introduced in February 2024. In January 2024, Culture Entertainment announced that original goods based on the film series would be available in their online lottery Kuji Luck Online.

Release

Theatrical

Girls und Panzer das Finale: Part 1 was released in Japan on December 9, 2017. Girls und Panzer das Finale: Part 2 was released in Japan on June 15, 2019, and in Dolby Atmos and DTS:X theaters on August 16. Girls und Panzer das Finale: Part 3 was released in Japan on March 26, 2021, and in 78 4DX and MX4D theaters on October 8. Girls und Panzer das Finale: Part 4 was released in regular and Dolby Atmos theaters in Japan on October 6, 2023, and was followed by a 4D screening on November 23; an early release was held one day before the premiere, which was preceded by the screening of the first three films of the series.

Home media

Girls und Panzer das Finale: Part 1 was released on Blu-ray and DVD in Japan on March 23, 2018. Sentai Filmworks released the first film in the series on Blu-ray in the United States and Canada on September 14, 2021, while Hidive began streaming it on December 13. MVM Entertainment released the film on Blu-ray in the United Kingdom and Ireland on April 11, 2022.

Girls und Panzer das Finale: Part 2 was released on Blu-ray and DVD in Japan on February 27, 2020. They include a new original video animation (OVA) titled Taiyaki War!. Sentai Filmworks released the second film in the series on Blu-ray in the United States and Canada on November 23, 2021. Hidive began streaming the film on February 21, 2022. MVM Entertainment released the film on Blu-ray in the United Kingdom and Ireland on May 16, 2022.

Girls und Panzer das Finale: Part 3 was released on Blu-ray and DVD in Japan on December 24, 2021. They include a new OVA titled Daikon War!. Sentai Filmworks released the film on Blu-ray in the United States and Canada on September 20, 2022. MVM Entertainment released the film in the United Kingdom and Ireland on October 31, 2022. Hidive began streaming the film on December 19, 2022. The electronic sell-through for the film began on streaming services in Japan on August 1, 2023.

Girls und Panzer das Finale: Part 4 was released on Blu-ray and DVD in Japan on March 27, 2024. They both include a new OVA titled Commander War! and a new episode of Yukari Akiyama's Tank Course. Ahead of the home video release was the electronic sell-through for the film, which began on February 28, 2024.

Reception

Box office

Girls und Panzer das Finale: Part 1 earned ¥146 million (US$1.3 million) in its opening weekend in Japan in December 2017, ranking in fourth place at the box office. The film earned ¥53 million (US$473,204) in its second weekend and ¥37 million (US$330,392) in its third weekend. It grossed more than ¥500 million in its sixth weekend.

Girls und Panzer das Finale: Part 2 earned ¥145 million (US$1.3 million) in its opening weekend in Japan in June 2019, 0.9% more than the first film did in its opening weekend, and ranked fourth place at the box office. The film earned ¥62 million (US$571,368) in its second weekend.

Girls und Panzer das Finale: Part 3 earned ¥107 million (US$973,844) in its opening weekend in Japan in March 2021, ranking in sixth place at the box office. In its second weekend, the film earned ¥45 million (US$409,708) and dropped to tenth place at the box office.

Girls und Panzer das Finale: Part 4 earned ¥212 million (US$2 million) in its opening weekend in Japan in October 2023, ranking in fourth place at the box office. In its second weekend, the film dropped to tenth place at the box office ranking after earning ¥64 million (US$450,459).

Critical response

Ian Wolf of Anime UK News gave Girls und Panzer das Finale: Part 1 9 out of 10, praising the production, the comedy with the "humour [that] is basic and based on stereotyping, but... it works", the "pleasing" new naval tank characters, and a "pretty good" opening theme music. In regards to the whole film series, he felt "frustrat[ed]" about how it is taking a long time to be completed due to the "two-year gap between each one" and suggested "mak[ing] a few longer films rather than many short ones".

In his review of Girls und Panzer das Finale: Part 2 with a score of 9 out of 10, Wolf praised the action scenes, describing it as "thrilling, with unexpected twists and turns", the music, and the film's "slightly longer" runtime.

The Japanese review and survey firm Filmarks placed Girls und Panzer das Finale: Part 3 first in their first-day satisfaction ranking, with an average rating of 4.17/5, based on 284 reviews. Fuminobu Hata gave the third film in the series 9 out of 10 for IGN Japan, praising the tank action sequence, the "inductive flow and cliffhanger-style" direction for a 48-minute runtime, and the "exquisitely composed" sound. Wolf gave the film a score of 8 out of 10. He noted the use of mixed CGI during the scene taking place in the jungle and found the characters being animated with CGI "disappointingly clunky". As for the action scenes, Wolf found it in Part 3 "more substantial" as compared to Part 2.

Filmarks placed Girls und Panzer das Finale: Part 4 first in their first-day satisfaction ranking, with an average rating of 4.33/5, based on 477 reviews. Hata gave the film a score of 9 out of 10, lauding it for featuring tank battles from start to finish which resulted in its content to be "more gripping than the previous film" and noting the use of visuals to develop a story which had minimal dialogue. He also noted the theme of the film was about "successor" (後継者, kōkeisha).

Accolades

In December 2018, Girls und Panzer das Finale: Part 1 was included in the list nominated to win the Anime of the Year at Tokyo Anime Award Festival 2019. In December 2021, Girls und Panzer das Finale: Part 3 was among the Top 100 Favorites nominated for the Anime of the Year at Tokyo Anime Award Festival 2022. In December 2022, Part 3's 4D version placed sixteenth among the top 20 Japanese animated films voted by fans to win the Anime of the Year at Tokyo Anime Award Festival 2023.

Related books

Manga

Girls und Panzer das Finale: Heartful Tank Anthology

A manga anthology based on Girls und Panzer das Finale, titled Girls und Panzer das Finale: Heartful Tank Anthology (ガールズ＆パンツァー 最終章 ハートフル・タンク・アンソロジー), was released by Kadokawa under their MF Comics Alive Series label. As of March 23, 2018, it has been published in a single volume in Japan.

Girls und Panzer das Finale: Keizoku High School's Starving Art of Dining

A manga spin-off illustrated by Ashimoto☆Yoika, titled Girls und Panzer das Finale: Keizoku High School's Starving Art of Dining (ガールズ＆パンツァー 最終章 継続高校はらぺこ食事道, Gāruzu ando Pantsā: Sai Shūshō – Keizoku Koukou Harapeko Shokuji-dō), was serialized in Monthly Dengeki PlayStation Comic magazine from November 28, 2018, to March 28, 2020. It follows Mika, Aki, and Mikko of Keizoku High School struggling with their meals due to financial difficulties. The first volume was published in Japan on June 10, 2019, and the second and final volume was published on June 27, 2020.

Light novel

A light novel adaptation of Girls und Panzer das Finale: Part 1 by Media Factory under their label MF Bunko J was set to be published in Japan on March 25, 2024, but its sale was cancelled due to "various circumstances in the production process".

Original video animations

The Blu-ray and DVD of the films in the Girls und Panzer das Finale series include OVAs. Mishuzima stated in September 2021 that the second OVA would have Western influence. That month, Saori Onishi and Azusa Tadokoro were announced to respectively voice Jane and Belle. Mizushima announced in February 2024 that the third OVA, titled Taichō War!, was completed. That month, new characters and cast introduced in the OVA were revealed, namely Kebiko as Minami Iinuma and Chinami Hashimoto as Sofia and Yūko.

Works cited

Notes

References

External links

• Official website (in Japanese)
• Girls und Panzer das Finale (film) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia