Vin Decatur

OK, since it appears that today is the day to discuss weird cultural differences between Japan and the USA, may I strongly recommend to all of my military history nerd followers that you watch “Girls und Panzer”? It’s anime from Japan. You can find it on Amazon Prime. Bear with me while I explain the insane premise. It’s about Japanese all-girls schools that engage in the sport of “tankery.” These schoolgirls ride around in historically accurate, WWII-era armored fighting vehicles and engage in active combat that appears to include actual HEAT and sabot rounds, except when there is a hit nobody gets hurt and a little white flag pops out of the dead tank. So there is this big tankery tournament. But here’s where it gets even weirder: each school has the vehicles, resources, tactics and uniforms of a WWII combatant. So the US-style school has wayyyyy more logistics than anybody else, the Soviet school goes roaring across the steppes (see the video one comment post below) and the German school has the best tanks that break down a lot. Also the British school takes war breaks to drink tea. Why would I recommend such a silly concept? Because whoever did it went to a fanatical level of detail on the vehicles themselves and the associated tactics and employment, as well as very accurate propaganda themes from the era. It’s so incongruous—highly accurate military history and Japanese schoolgirl anime. And I love incongruity in entertainment. It’s so silly, but in a weirdly addictive way. And I don't even watch anime.