GIRLS und PANZER Episode 2

Miho Nishizumi and her ragtag group of tank-commanding high school girls' adventures continue, as they begin their first "real" battle. Is GIRLS und PANZER's second episode a must-watch, or has the slice-of-life-with-giant-war-machines show run out of gas? Read on to find out!

In keeping with the first episode's generally high level of finesse, GIRLS und PANZER episode 2 continues what I can only call a "Goldilocks formula"; all the elements have been put into place to make for an experience that seems, in the terminology of the famous fairy tale, "just right". Comedy is appropriately light but not too brainless (Yukari's ramblings about miscellaneous bits of tank trivia are sure to amuse), the balance between action scenes and slice-of-life content is handled perfectly, and the CG models for the tanks manage to be fairly unobtrusive when coupled with the 2D animation. The premise is still completely ridiculous, but when a show's this much fun, who cares?

The silliness that is GIRLS und PANZER continues in this episode, as the 5 different groups in the school's tankery club are formed - but have to go out and find the tanks before they can actually be used. Some amusing scenes of high school girls in hilariously dangerous situations ensue, and since this is an anime where the implausible is the everyday, it's a matter of course that a WWII-era tank dredged up from the bottom of a lake can be restored to working condition over the course of a single day. GIRLS und PANZER embraces ridiculousness so wholeheartedly, it's almost impossible not to smile while watching it.

Naturally, the teams get their tanks, and because plausibility is priority number one, it only makes sense that a group of untrained girls who have never so much as sat in tanks before and are all too young to drive are given control over massive war machines with live ammunition and told to engage in a "mock" battle. And, seeing as this is a given, it's also to be expected that the girls pretty much get the hang of controlling a tank in under 10 minutes. Being a tankery instructor in the world of GIRLS und PANZER is a real racket - all that we see the instructor do is wreck the school headmaster's car, and then proceed to recklessly endanger a bunch of young girls. In this anime, that's not the sign of an incompetent psychopath - that's the sign of someone who's awesome at her job.

GIRLS und PANZER's still got it, so to speak. Episode 2 was just as entertaining as the first, and as the tank battles continue I doubt that it's going to be losing any of its steam. It's the most ridiculous thing in an anime season full of utterly insane premises, and it's all the better for it. Definitely looking forward to future episodes of this one.