A Japanese father took his son to the cinema for practically every Girls und Panzer release since he was just 3 years old. For several years, the two turned every new movie into a special father-son outing.

They even had their own little rituals: walking to the cinema together, buying a giant Coca-Cola that his mother normally wouldn't let him have, and watching the movie side by side.

But this year, the boy, now in eighth grade, turned down his father's invitation to watch the new movie that premiered in Japanese theaters.

The last movie the two watched together was Girls und Panzer das Finale Part 4, in 2023.

The story touched other fans, who shared similar experiences of children growing up, developing new interests, or starting to go to the movies with their friends.

flight time: 13:00:00

source

u/lordcalumthe2nd, you asked for it and you shall receive.

(props to anyone who understands this reference)

Source: https://x.com/mitotank/status/2021909855016210667

flight time: 13:00:00

me: 1. viggen high school 2. jatkosota high school

Here is part one

in the anime and manga we are often treated to the sight of massed tank charges organized against other schools by Chi Ha Tan, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

But it contradicts itself in how the IJAC fought doctrinally, the way the Japanese school is depicted leads many to think they were quite effective. It couldn't be any further from the truth.

Japanese tank crews were of the same stock as their infantry and artillerymen, and every bit as dedicated to their Emperor’s cause. However their clumsiness arose because they did not really understand the nature of mobile warfare, always played the role of a subordinate arm, and never produced an officer with muscle enough to push through radical and much needed changes in doctrine.

The Japanese never felt quite ‘comfortable’, fighting in armour. Even during their war with Russia, the cavalry element of the army had been tiny, and could not compete with the Russian cavalry on even terms. Mounted on small, wiry mountain ponies, their primary function was reconnaissance and not shock action or manoeuvre en masse in the European or Indian tradition.

Thus, without the benefit of a cavalry tradition, the Japanese embarked upon the creation of their armoured corps. It was almost inevitable that the hierarchy, dominated by infantrymen, would demand that the new arm existed for the foot soldiers’ benefit, and since there was none to say to them nay, they had their way. Japanese tank officers grew up taking their orders from another arm, and were given little scope to develop their own ideas.

So, whilst Liddle Hart, Guderian and Zhukov were preaching concentration, constant mobility and deep penetration, the demands of their infantry kept the Japanese tanks dispersed, and moving at a foot’s pace to achieve strictly limited objectives. An armoured division did serve in China, but since the Chinese possessed virtually no armour of their own, this was no test at all, and no significant change in doctrine emerged. The Russians’ use of armour at Khalkin Gol could have taught the Japanese much, but did not.

In Burma, the Japanese employed one tank regiment, the 14th. The regimental establishment was generally one light tank company and four medium tank companies, all probably below strength, but able for a while to augment their numbers with captured Stuarts.

There were occasions during the campaign when they could have been used to good effect, notably against the Chindit keeps. One or two tanks did put in an appearance here during Operation long cloth, and caused some trouble before they were disposed of; meanwhile the rest of their regiment rotted away in inactivity until they were called up for operation u-go and in its retreat, the 14th Tank Regiment left some thirty tanks littering the roadside, some still manned by their disease ridden crews. Amongst the Type 95s and Type 97s were a few Stuarts, probably the last of those captured from 7th Armoured Brigade during the early days of the war in Burma.