Girls und Panzer der Film
This was an anime movie that feels like a movie. More than I can say for many anime "movies" which end up being either extended OVAs, long episodes, or side stories. Not that there's anything wrong with a really good side story stand alone film though. There's just something special about how this feels. A surprise hit underdog anime series which no one expected, and not only does it not get quickly milked into lower quality sequels and spinoffs, but the feature film sequel the creators promised after the success turns out to be a reward for the fans in every way possible.
This is an incredibly smart movie, without exceptions. It's an unusually smart movie given that it's about high school girls fighting tank battles as a sport, but even compared action or sports films on a whole, the plotting and execution is something to behold. It is exciting, exhilarating, entertaining, funny, emotional, and it captures everything the series was good at without repeating a single beat. Characters who have known quirks and personalities don't beat you over the head with them using the same jokes you've seen before, the script takes pains to showcase other sides of the characters as much as possible, while exploring the progression of character relationships the series didn't have a chance to expand on. That doesn't mean that the characters try too hard to be different either. They mostly act the same way, but given new and refreshing situations, it can paint them in different light or allow them to shine in ways they didn't before.
The most commendable part of the film is how well designed every piece of it is. The majority of the two hour runtime is taken up by long extended tank battles, and not only are they very well designed, they are compartmentalized into very clever segments which are easy to follow, unique and interesting to watch, have different visual elements which set them apart, and ultimately build things up to the next stage of the overall plan. Brilliant stuff. I can't end this review without saying how amazing the music is either. That's to be expected though, since in terms of memorable themes, the TV series soundtrack worked so well. Even then, it was surprising how emotionally invested I got each time the -right- theme started up to denote the respective teams.
A++++
Yuki Yuna is a good show otherwise it's just those bits managed to be the 'mote in my eye' in this case but I can ignore far worse in the case of Illya, no idea why.
