Girls und Panzer ... FINALLY!

Anglerfish team, the shows' principle characters, sitting atop the turret of their
 Panzer 4. L-R: Mako Reizei, Saori Takebe, Commander Miho Nishizumi,
Yukari Akiyama, and Hana Isuzu.

Girls und Panzer ... FINALLY!

by

Jay Agan


My Christmas present to myself FINALLY arrived on the day after: The Uninvited, a ghost story from 1944 starring Ray Milland, and the anime series Girls und Panzer. And something of a mixed bag it is.

Particularly Girls und Panzer. I had been waiting over a year to have this one in my hot little hands. I was initially attracted to this series as I'm something of a history buff and was always into the vehicles of World War II. The silly premise of "Tankery" (Tinkery, tankery, tock, the Maus ran up the clock ... Good Grief! Call it Sensha-do or Panzerfahren. Anything but THAT!) as part of a schools' athletic program screams ANIME(!) all the way. Having watched the show (Twice!) on Crunchyroll and viewed clips on You Tube countless times, I was ready for Sentai Filmworks to come out with the English dub here.

I'm somewhat disappointed with the English dub. Except for some of the minor characters, I didn't think the voices matched the characters well (Though I thought Hilary Haag, Yui in Angel Beats, was pretty good as Katyusha.). The "old pros" in the cast, (Monica Rial, Brittney Karbowski, Luci Christian, Tiffany Grant etc.) were definitely under used.

Riko "Erwin" Matsumoto: One of the series'
more interesting character designs

In Angel Beats, Sentai avoided substituting the original Japanese singing (Girldemo performances and the graduation song.) with English renditions. Here they didn't. The Anko dance singing in episode 9, sounded half hearted and clumsy as did the "snow march". The substitution of the Pravda girls singing the Katyusha in episode 8 with some kind of Russian "folk polka" music (I guess some copyright issues or something were involved.) didn't help the show either.

Being an old white guy who speaks English, I'm usually all for English dubs. In this case though, the original Japanese is far superior and I'll watch it in that in the future.

All in all I'm glad I now have this series on my shelf. Due to the "poor" English dub, I'm even gladder I got this at a reduced price through Deep Discount DVD (By way of Amazon.).


Article (only) copyright © 12-27-13 Jay Agan

Page 3, Chapter 3 from the manga. The characters seem out of scale. Should be
twice the size they are. Makes the Panzer 4 look like an absolute monster!

Wikipedia review of The Uninvited here.

Wikipedia article of Ray Milland here.

Wikipedia review of Girls und Panzer here.

Crunchyroll anime streaming website here.

Sentai Filmworks website here.

Wikipedia article on Hilary Haag here.

Wikipedia article on Monica Rial here.

Wikipedia article on Brittney Karbowski here.

Wikipedia article on Luci Christian here.

Wikipedia article on Tiffany Grant here.

Wikipedia article on Angel Beats here.

Deep Discount DVD website here.

Amazon.com website here.

The "switched out" Katyusha Girls und Panzer segment here.

Same as above but "full" version with extra footage here.

The Japanese dub "snow march" here.

Japanese Snow March here.

Girls und Panzerlied fanfiction story by C V Ford here.

Girls und Panzer "That Stupid Dance!" fanfiction story by C V Ford here.

C V Fords' profile page with list of stories on fanfiction.net here.

Two of my Girls und Panzer blog articles: 1, 2.


Go to Jays' Tee Vee blog main page here.

A Few For Halloween & One Not

                                                   A Few For Halloween & One Not

                                                                            by
          
                                                                              Jay Agan

        Yes, Halloween! My favorite time of year & what better way to celebrate than with that grand tradition of THE HAUNTED HOUSE. Here's five flicks to get you in the mood.

 1.    House on Haunted Hill- No not that abortive remake from a few years back but the great one from 1958.

        Millionare Frederick Lauren (Vincent Price at his slightly hammy yet sinister best.) is throwing a party. A haunted house party. He  commandeered the idea from his avaricious wife & invited only five people unknown to one another. Survivors (Or next of kin.) get ten grand each if they last the night.

        The party takes place at "the only truly haunted house in the world". Thrown into the mix of ghosts, acid vats, creeping ropes, & bloodstains are party favors packed in little gift coffins. Colt .45 automatics! Soon, everyone is armed & precarious. And the fun hasn't even started yet!

        A mix of toungue in cheek, & deadly seriousness, the film is both funny & absorbing. Along for the ride is character actor Elisha Cook Jr. who even steals a scene or two from Price. This is a must see for any haunted house fan. Rated R (Don't know why. It's not that "mean" a film.).

 2.    The Ghost & Mr. Chicken (1966)- Luther Heggs (Ably portrayed by Don Knotts.), a nervous, high strung, homely type, must, on a dare, spend the night at "the old Simmons place". This is on the 20th anniversary of a murder/suicide that had taken place there. The house is about to be torn down & Luther is assigned by his paper to write a story.

        Complicating matters are sneering townsfolk/coworkers, a Simmons relative keen on tearing the place down, a possible romance, & poor Luthers' chronic squeamishness of life in general. A nice, scarey, little comedy about a "little" man overcoming obstacles & fears within. "Atta boy, Luther!" Not rated.


 3.    The Uninvited (1944)- The first American made film to take the haunted house theme seriously. A brother & sister (Ray Milland & Ruth Hussey) buy an old English mansion & encounter the spirit residing within. As the story unfolds & mystery unravels, it becomes apparant supernatural forces are intent on harm of the living through the living. A great, atmospheric, little chiller. On VHS only. Not Rated.

 4.     The Legend of Hell House (1973)- A wealthy man hires a team of researchers to investigate "the Mt. Everest of haunted houses" for proof of life after death. A scientist, his wife, & two psychics spend several days there in the chaos that follows. These ghosts are not happy & are quite clear about it (Watch out for the killer kitty!).

        Decadence, possesion, dementia & death well portrayed in an oppressive atmosphere of encroaching doom. The "action" scenes in this early 70s chiller more than show it not to be one of those cozy little tales. Rated PG.

 5.    Burnt Offerings (1976)- A writer (Oliver Reed) & his family lease a vacation home that is not haunted but the haunter itself. The family gradually falls under its' spell as it slowly draws the life from & enslaving them before going in for the kill. An interesting study of materialism & obsessivness. Quite  a bit different for a movie of its' type. Rated PG.

                                                                 And One Not

 6.    The Haunting (1963)- Acclaimed by critics & viewers alike, a masterpiece of horror. Or so they say.

        I just can't see it that way. I found the story dull & the scares unexiting. The characters are mostly bland except for Julie Harris. What she does is whine, whine, whine!, making a rather boring film excrutiating as well. I included this due to its' popularity. A lot of folks seem to like this one though I can't.

        There you have it. There are other flicks fitting into this category, but these are the ones (& one not) I enjoy most.

                                                       Article copyright © Jay Agan

Disclaimer: All film ratings are on the films respective containers. Discretion is up to you.

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