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- "This is my first time having fun around tanks."
- ―Miho Nishizumi
Episode 3 "I'll Join the Fight!" "Shiai, Yarimasu!" (試合、やります ！) is the third episode of Girls und Panzer, and it originally aired on October 23, 2012.
Plot
The episode begins with the last scene of the previous episode: with the Panzer IV escaping its attackers, and Miho standing and looking out from the turret, only to see an apparently asleep girl laying on the grass with a book on her face. As she screams to get her attention, the girl rises, and as the Panzer comes near, she jumps on it, although she ends up tripping. Miho recognizes her as the girl she helped earlier that day, and as Saori peeks out of the cupola, she recognizes the girl as well, calling her Mako. She tells Miho that they are childhood friends, then, when asking Mako what she is doing there as she is supposed to be in class, is exasperated when she eludes her question. A near miss alerts them that the match is still ongoing, and Miho tells the new arrival to get in the tank as well.
As the tank continues to run, Mako is shown to have low blood pressure, which explains why Miho had to help her during Episode 2, getting late in the process. Miho takes a look outside the turret again, to see that they are nearing a suspended bridge over a river; she jumps down and goes forward to guide Hana, knowing that they have some time before their opponents can fire again. As the Panzer IV cautiously begins to roll forwards, it goes too far to the left, causing a cable to snap and the tank to begin tilting on its side. The StuG III fires again, hitting the Panzer IV straight in its rear armor, but doesn't knock it out (because it's sitting on the bridge). After a moment of shock, the crew has another nasty surprise, since Hana was knocked out and they are unable to move. Realizing this, both the StuG III and the Type 89B move in for the kill.
Mako Reizei takes the drivers seat
As Miho places the unconscious Hana in the radio operator seat, Mako is staring at the driver's place; just as the former says that she'll have to step in as driver, even though she's not very good at it, the Panzer suddenly moves again, and flawlessly rights itself up. Mako is sitting on the driver's seat, the manual before her, and replies to the other's surprise that she "taught herself how to drive just now". However, the situation is still serious: the StuG and the Type 89B are pressing from behind, the other two Ooarai tanks, the Panzer 38(t) and the M3 Lee, are coming from the front. As the Panzer IV begins to move once more, both the history-buffs and the Volleyball club members fire again, but they miss.
After Hana has regained consciousness, Miho tells Yukari to turn the turret, to return fire; as soon as the turret has fully rotated, the Panzer stops and Miho orders to fire, with the shot hitting the StuG III head-on and knocking it out. The girls, save for Miho, are left speechless by the sensation. On the observation turret, Ami announces that Team C is out of the match, commenting to herself that "they're good". Miho orders the girls to get the Type 89B next; the other tank fires first but its shoot goes wide, while Yukari's hits perfectly and scores another kill. The Student Council advances with its own tank to take on the Panzer IV, but despite it being an easy target, Momo misses it by a mile, while again the Panzer IV defeats its opponent. The freshmen, scared by the "Nishizumi style", try to run away, but their eagerness causes their tank to get stuck in the mud and, after a track ruptures, it is declared immobilized, thus giving the victory to Team A (much to Yukari's rejoice and Mako's indifference).
The scene changes to a bathouse, where the five girls (Mako separated from the others, though) are relaxing in the hot water, exchanging their comments about such an experience. Saori however lets through that she believes that Miho should be in command, to which both Hana and Yukari agree; Miho is still resistant to this, but when they insist, she gets up her courage and accepts. The conversation then turns towards the other crew positions: Saori eagerly accepts the position of radio operator, as Miho tells her that she has no problem comunicating with other people (even though Yukari points out, when she mentions it, that it does not matter how fast she writes text messages); Hana explicitly volunteers to be the gunner, remarking that it might help her become stronger, and when that is accepted, Yukari jumps at the loader position. This leaves an opening for the driver, which everyone is convinced should be Mako, but she refuses despite their encouragements and makes to leave; losing patience, Saori yells at her that sensha-dō is the only way she can get enough credits to counter her chronic lateness and not repeat the grade, to which an irritated Mako relents and joins the team.
StuG III with its 'cool' paint job
To Saori's urging, they go shopping, and immediately Saori (joined to a point by Hana) begins to make proposals to make the tank a better ride, i.e. adding cushions, air fresheners, etc. to Yukari's horrified reaction and Miho's surprise. Things come to a head the next day, when it is revealed that the other teams have customized their tanks too: the Type 89B has slogans painted on it (to "make it easier to distinguish"), the StuG III has been painted red, light blue and white and is now sporting flags (to "make it look cool"), the M3 Lee is now a bright pink (to "make it look cute"), and the Panzer 38(t) is now covered in gold paint.
A pink M3 Lee?
As the Student Council plots something about a real match, Saori grumbles about not having repainted the Panzer IV too, while Yukari cannot believe the others did it in the first place; at first stunned, Miho then begins to laugh, saying that she never thought someone could do such a thing, and for the first time she is having fun around tanks.
In a building where some girls are having breakfast, one of them receives the news that Ooarai's Sensha-dō Team has been resurrected, and accepts a proposal, declaring that they never refuse a challenge. Then we see the Ooarai teams having a training session, first by having some firing practice, then by going through the basics of tank tactics (i.e. never stir up too much dust, how to use cover, never cross a ridge carelessly, and so on). As the practice is over, the Student Council announces that the next Sunday they'll have a training match against St. Gloriana Girls High School (to Miho's and Yukari's worry, as St. Gloriana has a strong Sensha-dō Team capable of being the national runner-up). When however they mention that the match will begin early, Mako abruptly announces that she quits, because she is not a morning person; despite the others' pleadings, she refuses to accept having to get up so early, but when Saori mentions that her grandmother would be mad if she had to repeat the grade, a scared Mako finally crumbles.
Later, Momo is explaining to the various teams' commanders that St. Gloriana relies on a good defense and excellent coordination, and that, since they mostly use Matilda tanks, they can't just slug it out with them; instead, she puts forward a baiting strategy to lure the opponent into a kill zone, much to everyone's excitement; but when Miho, pressed by Anzu, objects that such a strategy is pretty transparent, Momo has a fit, daring her to take over command if she believes to be so smart. Anzu intervenes to calm her down, but declares that she is perfect to be the overall commander. She tells her that if they win she'll receive an amazing gift (which is revealed to be dried potatoes, of course), but when asked about what will happen if they lose, she admits that Miho will have to perform the Anglerfish Dance. The scene changes to the promenade; this news shocks Saori, Yukari and Hana, whose reaction makes it clear that it is an incredibly embarrassing dance; but even though they declare that they'll have to win, the three make it clear that if they lose they'll perform the dance together with her, much to her gratitude.
The St. Gloriana school carrier docked next to Ooarai's carrier
On Sunday morning, Miho receives a call from Saori, who is failing to get Mako out of her bed; Yukari arrives to sound "Reveille", and Miho and Hana arrive with the Panzer IV and fire a blank to definitely wake her up. As they go towards the landing site (since the battle will take place on land), and Mako gets dressed up, people take notice and encourage the girls to do their best, to which Miho replies that they will. As the Panzer IV and the other tanks are disembarking, the St. Gloriana school carrier (much larger than Ooarai's) arrives, while Ooarai city on the mainland is being evacuated to make room for the match. The Ooarai team arrives at the match grounds, where they are soon joines by the St. Gloriana tanks: four Matildas and a single Churchill tank, from which steps out the team's commander. With only an oblique comment on the appearance of Ooarai's tanks, the greetings are rather formal, before the two teams head towards their starting point.
As the match is about to begin, the Student Council again tells Miho that they're counting on her. A moment later, the signal is given, and Ooarai's tanks begin to roll forward.
| Previous episode: | Next episode: |
| Episode 2
"I'll Board the Tank!" |
Episode 4
"I'll Do My Best as Commander!" |
Characters Introduced
- Noriko Isobe
- Taeko Kondou
- Shinobu Kawanishi
- Akebi Sasaki
- Erwin
- Caesar
- Saemonza
- Oryou
- Azusa Sawa
- Ayumi Yamagou
- Saki Maruyama
- Karina Sakaguchi
- Yuuki Utsugi
- Aya Oono
- Darjeeling
- Assam
- Orange Pekoe
- Kanon Sasagawa (Seen on screen, not named)
- Remi Takashima (Seen on screen, not named)
- Hibiki Inatomi (Seen on screen, not named)
Tanks Appearing
Main Events
- The practice match ends with the victory of Team A.
- Mako Reizei joins the sensha-dō club, becoming Team A's driver.
- The Sensha-dō Team of Ooarai Girls High School challenges St. Gloriana Girls High School to a friendly match.
Trivia
- Despite Yukari's reaction, Saori's skill at text messaging and calling with her cellphone will turn out to be useful in the match against Saunders as depicted in Episode 5 and 6.
- The M3 Lee is one of only three tanks in the series to be immobilised by a technical fault. (The others are the KV-2, which shows the white flag after it is tipped over by its top-heavy turret, and the Tiger (P) during the match against University when Leopon Team overpowers their engine by cranking up the motor speed, in order to catch up to Pershings and providing a slipstream to Tiger II and T-34/85; the tank engine broke down and catches fire). Anzio's tankettes remain operational even when flipped over.
- The ending sequence features Turtle Team in their Panzer 38(t).
Gallery
_gold_painted.jpg "Panzer 38(t) gold painted.jpg (66 KB)")
| Girls und Panzer Anime | |
|---|---|
| First Anime Season Episodes | Episode 1 ♦ Episode 2 ♦ Episode 3 ♦ Episode 4 ♦ Episode 5 ♦ Episode 6 ♦ Episode 7 ♦ Episode 8 ♦ Episode 9 ♦ Episode 10 ♦ Episode 11 ♦ Episode 12 |
| Recap Episodes | Episode 5.5 ♦ Episode 10.5 |
| OVA Episodes | OVA 1 ♦ OVA 2 ♦ OVA 3 ♦ OVA 4 ♦ OVA 5 ♦ OVA 6 ♦ OVA 7 ♦ OVA 8 ♦ OVA 9 ♦ OVA 10 |
| Animated Movie | Girls und Panzer der Film |
| Final Chapter | Part 1 ♦ Part 2 ♦ Part 3 ♦ Part 4 ♦ Part 5 ♦ Part 6 |