Tread Tibits: A Glance over 25 Girls Und Panzer Easter Eggs

Tread Tibits: A Glance at Girls Und Panzer's Easter Eggs

One of the biggest trends in entertainment is Easter Eggs, the tiny little references to pop culture, history, or even current events writers sneak into their projects. They vary in size and openness, but they've become an essential part of enjoying new shows, films, or even games, and the practice seems to be expanding every year.

Yet, that trend has taken on an entirely new depth with anime, especially with some recent series, where the lengths many go for audiences is astounding. Between obscure historical figures, famed music/literary references, and the use of little-known mythical creatures, the number of surprises awaiting viewers per episode would put most Hollywood writers to shame.

To better understand this, let's look at a sample of Easter Eggs found in the famed series Girls Und Panzer. For the record, we'll be referencing Stephen Badsey's The Atlas of World War II Campaigns, Chris McNab's The World's Worst Weapons and Key Weapons of the World, and Bryan Perret's Tank Warfare throughout.

Tank Terminology and History

• The term Panzer is the shortened version of the German word for tank, Panzerkampfwagen.
• The term tank itself comes from WWI-era Britain, who created the modern tank in hopes of using it to break the stalemate of trench warfare. As cover, they told the public they were making mobile tracked vehicles to bring water tanks to the front. For reasons unknown, the word tank just stuck.

Ooarai Girls Academy: The International Fleet

The main characters, Ooarai Girls Academy, are the only school in the original high school line-up that doesn't use tanks that're all from the same nation.

Original Roster:

• 1 Panzer IV AKA Anglerfish (Germany).
• 1 Panzer 38t AKA Turtle (Czechoslovakia).
• 1 M3 General Lee AKA Rabbit (USA).
• 1 Sturmgeschütz III AKA Hippo (Germany).
• 1 Type 89 AKA Duck (Japan).

Later Additions:

• 1 Hetzer AKA Turtle (Germany).
• 1 Char B1 bis AKA Mallard (France).
• 1 Porsche Tiger AKA Leopold (Germany).
• 1 Type 3 Chi-Nu AKA Anteater (Japan).

Technical Details:

• Hippo and Anglerfish's final form have such advanced range and force because their main guns have long barrels, which increases their shots' velocity.
• Anglerfish's added armor, later referred to as "Shirts and Skirts", was invented by tank crews to better deal with antitank weapons like the bazooka and Panzerfaust. It works by making an incoming warhead waste its energy against an outside piece of metal, thus allowing the armor behind it to withstand the blast.

Character and Historical References

German References:

• Hippo Team's Erwin is named for Field Marshall Erwin Rommel, Germany's infamous "Desert Fox" in WWII.
• During training, Erwin mentions the Panzer Keil, or Tank Wedge, a German battle formation where tanks form a line, then angle it forward into a rolling wedge to pierce opponents' positions.

The Rival Schools and Their Specialties

St. Gloriana's Girls High School

• Uses all British tanks, plus its three primary officers (Darjeeling, Earl Grey, and Roselip) are all named for different types of tea.
• During the practice bout with St. Gloriana's, Rabbit team's crew is seen playing cards with a unique decal: a Panjandrum, an experimental, rocket-propelled, wheeled bomb intended for use on D-Day. It was ultimately abandoned due to its unreliability.
• In the aftermath of the bout with St. Gloriana's, Anglerfish's crew goes exploring. When they reach the top of a staircase, a sign in the foreground reads "Market Garden", referring to an infamously failed paratrooper-led assault through the Netherlands post D-Day.

Saunders Girls High School

• Uses all American tanks, primarily the M4 Sherman, the most mass-produced tank in western history to date.

Anzio High School

• The name comes from an infamous amphibious landing site in western Italy in 1943.
• Uses all Italian tanks.
• Their leader, Anchovy, refers to defeating Maginot Girls College, whose name derives from a famed line of fortifications constructed by France on its border with Germany.
• Anchovy's deputy, Carpaccio, comes from an Italian dish normally made with raw fish or meat.
• During viewing of the bout with Anzio, the view with Saunders reveals an Army DUKW, an amphibious transport better known as an Army Duck.

Pravda Girls High School

• Uses all Russian tanks and is led by Katyusha, whose name derives from an infamous Soviet rocket launcher.
• During the meeting between Katyusha and Darjeeling, music from The Nutcracker is audible in the background. Later, when Katyusha goes to meet Ooarai's team, more Nutcracker music is in the background.
• When Pravda moves out, the music in the background is a traditional folk song that later became the theme to Tetris.
• During the bout with Pravda, Erwin mentions Stalingrad, an infamous battle between the Soviets and Germans that saw some of the worst urban fighting in history—much of it during a brutal winter.

Kuromorimine Girls Academy

• Uses all German tanks, the most infamous being the Maus. Classified as a Panzer VII, it was a super-heavy tank that had a ton of armor and a very powerful gun, but was so heavy it couldn't cross any existing bridge and could barely move faster than 8-10 MPH.

Chi-Ha-Tan Academy

• Uses all Japanese tanks.

University Team and International Mix

The University team is the second team portrayed whose tanks aren't all from the same nation:

• Primarily uses American tanks.
• Commander Alice's tank is a Centurian, which is British.
• The Mercer-Karl is German.

Impressive Firepower:

• The Mercer-Karl fires 600 mm shells, meaning each is 23.622 inches wide (1 inch = 25.4 mm). To give that some context, the largest guns ever used on any warship were on the Japanese battleships Yamato and Musashi …and they were 18.1 inches.

Additional Easter Eggs and References

Jatkosota High School

• Uses a Russian BT-42 - when it attacks, its driver Mikko mentions the vehicle's Christie Suspension system, which allows it to drive with the treads knocked off. That system is named for its inventor, former car designer Walter Christie—an American.

Musical and Literary References

• When the T-28 smashes into the amusement park, the song playing in the background is the classic American ballad "When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again."
• As Miho's teammates start regrouping, St. Gloriana's Darjeeling says, "Beware the Jabberwock, my son." It's a reference to a famed poem in Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland.

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Bear in mind, this is only a tiny fraction of this series' hidden gems, and there are plenty more just like them elsewhere (Caesar has some very nice ones). Remember, they're much easier to spot than most realize, so why not take another look at an old favorite? It'll make things so much more interesting.