As a brit I love how St gloriana is portrayed its never offensive and always makes me smile

There's a joke I love that goes something like, "Be the American that Japan thinks you are." Basically, when it comes to national stereotypes, instead of being mean-spirited about it like a lot of media, especially nowadays, Japan has often portrayed America as an exaggerated version of our own positive stereotypes. It makes fun, but in the best way. I'm proud to be represented by flag-waving, freedom-loving, burger-eating, gun-toting, over-the-top maniacs who will kick ass and shake hands afterwards, win or lose. It's nice to remember our best qualities through the eyes of others.

I like that even in the stereotypes there is variation. The loud and cheerful Saunders has the cool, collected sniper (gunner) character; the self-assured and endearingly overbearing Pravda has the motherly figure; even the unflappable and dignified Gloriana has an impetuous, rough-around-the-edges character. It's stereotypes played for good, healthy fun, but they aren't all cast from the same mold, and I appreciate that.

So Klara is a Russian girl who goes to Japanese School where they pretend to be Russian?

The stereotypes really help the show out so much. It really gives everyone unique characters and help them out in the long run. Kuromorimine is stoic and precise, Saunders is loud and over friendly, St Gloriana is calm and elegant, Pravda being overly Russian, Chihatan is brave and courageous, Anzio being a little incompetent, but very food focused and happy to share it, BC Freedom having their endless French Civil War, and so much more. It gives everyone unique character and helps make them stand out compared to everyone else, so that viewers don't get girls confused with one another. Even Ooarai does this with each team being from a different club, or friend group like rabbit and anglerfish teams, to help differentiate the teams from one another. The stereotypes really were fun and enjoyable to watch and see everyone interact together based on the cultures they were based on. And Keizuko, Mika's school, is based on Finland. But Mika and Jouko represent the stereotype the best as the Finnish stereotype is that they are very quiet individuals and don't interact much socially/casually. Again, showing how well Girls und Panzer plays off of the stereotypes in a positive way. Can't wait for this Saturday for the next Dream Tank Match livestream. And it will be the end of the story mode, leaving only Domination for all the schools, and the various challenge modes and other stuff you can do in it. See you then, Ascendant, and take care.

While I was visiting the Yokohama Gundam Factory, one of the workers there asked me if I was an American. I didn't speak any English to the guy and I'm Hispanic. Apparently me eating popcorn out of the Haro popcorn bucket gave it away. Wasn't aware that was a stereotype, and then I remembered the scene where Kay is watching the match while eating popcorn.

I think it's genuinely incredible that one show managed to have such a HUGE cast, and I don't dislike a single one of them, at all.

Sanders is enthusiastic, carefree, fields a lot of guns, are chatty, and have big hearts. As an American, I wholeheartedly approve. They're also taller than everyone else, which I find amusing.

About the Finnish stereotype school, and cannot unsee it when you realize, is that they are themed after characters from Moomins.

If I had to nail Oarai down, I think they're supposed to represent a ragtag guerilla army. This fits with them almost always being outnumbered, the fact that their team uses a hodgepodge of tanks, and their unconventional tactics. Even their relationships with the other teams kind of fits that mold. Since guerillas are usually loyal to a cause or ideology rather than a specific country, their allegiances can be very fluid. It's far from unheard of for a guerilla army to find itself fighting shoulder to shoulder with someone they were fighting against just a few months earlier and vice versa.

The Finnish are from being overly philosophical and, as I understand it, fighting Russia, then later in the war joining Germany and getting some tanks, then later in the war taking Germany's tanks and using them to fight Germany. They also took Russia's tanks. They took a lot of stuff. Also, a fun thing people miss that Miho's mom, with her demand to always advance and her poofy pants, is just as much Milf Hitler as Anchovy is pigtailed Mussolini

Also i will add how well Polish stereotypes are presented in GuP Mangas. From Ribbon Warrior to Saga of Pravda, Bonple is presented as a proud school that can hardly come to any agreement, as always someone veto important decisions, like buying better tanks. They are also extremly skilled, mostly being outmatched due to much worse equipment and lack of funding. Perfect summary of Polish history is simple way.

Indeed, the world would be a better place if people understood that sometimes it's ok to make fun. Another great video.

Ok, I'll be the one to point it out. Jouko is basically a teenage female tankery Simo.

The stereotypes are brilliant, i love them. As a Dutchman, i wonder how the show would have portrayed us. I imagine the tank crews would constantly act "stoned", have absolutely no filter in their interaction with others and wear woodenshoes all the time, their tanks would be an odd collection of allied tanks with ambiphious modifications which prompts an obsession to turn EVERY battle into a naval battle, their aircraft carrier would have constant flooding issues which are kept in check by a battery of windmills and their characters would constantly be trying to trade random crap with the other schools. Actually, that would be effing hilarious.

Something I like about GUP is that despite being of different nationalities, they respect each other and get along well, thanks to that they can ally themselves when they need it, like in the movie where they all came together to help Oarai, it's a pity that doesn't happen in real life.

As a French, I really love BC Freedom school. Their stereotypes are on point yet pretty funny and serve the story well. While also giving memorable characters.

its a good use of the ''Show don't tell'' phrase and im all for it as its definitively a thing.

Continuation plays up the Finnish stereotype of being very calm, always, or often, sitting in the sauna, a word that is Finnish in origin). The hat that Mika wears is a hat that you would wear in a classic Finnish sauna, and also a Russian Banja. The instrument she plays is also of nordic origin and the song played in Der Film, Säkkijärven polkka, was used by the Finns to clear russian acoustic mines during the winter war. :)

Continuation High School(Sometimes called Jatkosota High School) plays off from Finland during WW2 with Winter War and Continuation War themes. Especially as Finland was quite poor during those times, so they stole Russian equipment and Germany lent them equipment as well during the wars. That is most likely where the kleptomanic personality of the school comes from. Then fun character references etc. First of all, Mika, Aki, and Mikko are all Finnish male names. To my knowledge they aren't references to any bigger Finnish personalities though(Mika Häkkinen was quite legendary F1 racer but that's all that comes to mind right now). Also their designs reference Moomin characters: Mika is Snufkin, Aki is Moomintroll, and Mikko is Little My. Mika plays Kantele, a Finnish instrument. The song she plays often is "Säkkjärven Polkka" which is a polka played a lot during Continuation War to combat radio-controlled Soviet mines(It's a long story, just google it). Her birthday is November 30th which was the starting day of Winter War. Also Continuation High School's sniper Jouko(Finnish male name as well) with her nickname "White Witch" is a clear reference to Finnish Winter War soldier/sniper SImo Häyhä who was called "White Death". Also Continuation High School gunners being good *might* be reference to Simo Häyhä as well. There's probably much more stuff and some of the Trivia from Wiki might be stretching a bit. Still entertaining stuff and small references which makes a Finn like me happy. Finnish stereotypes are fun, only missing alcohol and PERKELE and it would be 10/10. Der Film scene is one of the funniest and most epic things I know and I always get giddy when rewatching it. Wait, you actually read the whole thing? Respect.

Americans being overly friendly is one that flies under the radar, but is really surprising. As a British Air Cadet (our equivalent to the Civil Air Patrol) i got to go to one of the biggest airshows in the country, RIAT, twice with them and being part of the crew running the event. Without a doubt, the American aircrews were always the friendliest. With most nations that attended theyd be happy to show us cadets around their aircraft, but we'd have to ask first. The American crews would practically race each other to the rope to ask us across. On the Saturday i believe it was of the 2017 show, i did a shift in the main tent where crews and buyers hospitality was, the purpose of RIAT is to sell planes after all. The F-22 display pilot walks down the hall, and completely unprovoked shakes my hand and gives me the the patch off his shoulder as a souvenir. Most other pilots would say hello at most, we were basically just there to keep the place clean. That same year my flight (4 people) got a full guided tour of one of the B-52s in show, again with the crew jumping at the opportunity to show us around. All the people we met there were brilliant, but just how much the Americans stood out will never leave me

The australian team was the funniest.

Australia has a Koala as their commander.

5:08 That's not an insult, it's an objective description.

While most of the schools are play acting, the American school actually has a lot of children from American troops stationed in Japan.

if you insult everyone, then you insult noone

It's sad so many people brush off this show with a simple "High school girls in tanks? That's silly. This is cringe." So many fun characters and great comedy.

It also helps I think that every school gets an awesome moment in the franchise at some point or another, which reinforces the fact it’s all in good fun

Part of the history of Japan's interactions with other countries is involved. Japan's modernisation in the 19th century involved Dutch medicine, French military science, then Prussian military science, then alliance with Germany. Their Navy was modelled upon the British Royal Navy and they bought examples of many British tanks in the 1920s and 1930s, so that their WWII tanks can be compared to improvements on the Vickers Light and Medium Tanks. Later post-WWII their interactions tended to open up further, with the US being the most close to them. I'm a bit surprised that there is no Dutch presence in GuP.

Honestly, the distinctiveness of the characters is why I love GuP and really couldn't get into HaiFuri (besides obligatory Wilhelmina). Giant casts... but in one, you can keep track. In the other, you can break them up by... department?

There is also the fact that some of the schools "lead" teams are in some way a parody of another work. The Finns, for example, are supposed to represent the Moomins (who are a lot more well known IN Japan than the US) . BC Freedom of course has Marie, but the faction leaders are based on "Lady Oscar" and "Andre" from "Rose of Versailles" (thus all the shipping). Saunders is an unusual case. It's not 100% clear for the "Americans" but Kaworu Shintani (Area 88) did a series called "Desert Rose" about an all-female anti-terrorist team. One of the more popular secondary characters was Irene Saunders, a cute, oversexed, ex-Marine perpetually seen blowing blue bubblegum bubbles.

I'm very glad to have found this video. It's not just good GuP content, but especially the whole stereotypes thing: matters like stereotypes, cultural appropriation etc have been so abused in these last years, and weaponized, that sometimes I feel I'm going insane. Talking about that matter you basically said exactly, 101% the same exact thing I feel about it (it's almost scary xD) but you spelled it in a better, better and better way I could ever come up with ^^

If you liked that in GuP, I can only recommend you Hetalia. It's a show about countries being depicted as people, and half of the show is making fun of national stereotypes. It's extremely funny. The one thing that I dislike about GuP is that the Spanish-themed academy (Blue Division) isn't featured enough! Also, it being named after an INFANTRY division is a bit much. It should have been called "Brunete Academy".

There are indeed many finnish stereotypes in Jatkosota. Being silent and almost shy is one that is... well, speaking from expirience, not such a stereotype. Finns generally do talk less, or should I say, make less small talk than most people. This also goes for North Sweden which has a strong finnish influence. Now, finns can talk and be very passionate about things that are interesting and relevant! Talking just for talkings sake is seen a bit like waisting energy. Finns are also seen as very calm and collected, but in the end very helpful when push comes to shove. A bad stereotype you thankfully do not see in Girls und panzer but that exists in Sweden, especially those with less finnish influence is that finns will pull a knife when angered. One important stereotype that is infact also hailed as a national trait among the finns is the concept of "Sisu". Sisu can be translated as determination but that does not really covers it. Sisu is the determination in face of adversity to never quit and never give in. But it is not just stubborness or getting rough. Sisu means to keep going when everything seem lost, but to also to keep your head cool and try to do the best out of every situation. It is really about never giving up the fight but to keep fighting as well as you can, in a way that gives you at least a chance of getting out on top. So Sisu is very much about mental resilience, much more than mere physical resilience. You can see it in Der Film. Jatkosota only comes with their BT-42, because they could not contact their schoolship. But they came anyway with what they had on and. They are not going to let Oarai fight alone. They are very soft spoken and do not say much, but what they say is meaningful. One thing that also is shown is the use of speaking in understatements, something common in Finland and North Sweden. When seeing the Karl and its escort they calmly realize they should help and declare their intention. The song played on the kantele is a finnish classic, Sääkijärven Polkka. This song has a special meaning to the finns due to a special episode during the Contiuation war. In 1941 the finns managed to recapture Viborg (Viipuri) from the Soviet union. But Soviet engineers had rigged several large bombs that were to be triggered remotely via radio. The finns got wind of this and the relevant frequencies. So they had to continously jam those frequencies as bomb squads searched for the bombs. As the story goes, the team in charge of the jamming got the idea to make a continious broadcast of music and the record they had at their disposal was "Sääkijärven Polkka". So they started blasting it over the frequences and I guess they either had two gramophones or had to be bloody quick in getting the record going again. But as the story goes, they ended up continually playing the song until att bombs were found and disarmed. How much of that is true and what has been embellished over the years I do not know. But the hectict nature of the song do give a feel for a desperate race against time. And the song remains a very important part of finnish culture and is today connected to the episode. And with their fighting spirit.

The song played by the finish girls is säkkijärven polka or hoever you write that. It was playd in tanks as it could block the activation of radio controled mines. There was a specific mobile radio signaling tower which constantly signaleld the song from August 1941 to February 1942. During this time it was played about 15'000 times

I understand the stereotype that Kay represents. American girls being tall, with long blonde hair and large breasts. Also, Saunders girls are obsessed with fast food, and drinking soda

The taste of their food and the face of their women made British man the best sailor in the world

The stereotypes actually give every school a unique characteristic

That finnish white death sniper fell great that das finale without Miho team

I find Australias stereotypes to be impeccable, the beach grommit looking girls with the koala puppet head commander ot just makes me smile, Wallaby looks like my Uncle

They also use these stereotypes as a source of character development where certain characters break out of the mold like Miho, Anzio and Chihatan going for a method distinct from their usual when there is pressure for them to improve

I was always happy when St Gloriana just suddenly popped up, I knew they were about to give some calm and intellectual comment over a cup of tea while WW2 Tanks break the laws of physics in the field

99% of the girls are "ethnic Japanese" despite having things like blonde hair & blue eyes. 1 girl is from Russia another 1 is half German & one is half Italian i think. Also Anchovy did say she was from the "land of fashion & good food" so she might of been born in Italy despite being ethnic Japanese.

So no one's gonna talk about the Australian tank crews with their commander being a literal koala?

Huh, don't know why I'm surprised to find you have a KZfaq channel, but here I am stumbling upon it. I'm a backer of both waves of the Light unto Another World novel Kickstarters. ^_^;; Great video by the way!

Outstanding!

I Would have loved to see an Spanish Themed school, being very friendly having a incredible humour and never literally NEVER taking anything seriously... And always eating TAPASSS

love self aware humor that unapologetically makes fun of everyone

Should have a look at the Anime _Upotte!!_ which kinda runs a similar theme with Weapons from different Nations and Generations acting like Girls. Doesn't quite reach the quality of GuP but it's still a fun watch ( and if I recall correctly a bit Ecchi 🤔 )

Italy complaining about British 'cuisine'. It's not even an English word. British food, if it exists, tends to be roast meat, vegetables and too many carbs. To compensate, we have the entire world's fast foods in every town. This Brit has noticed, all joking aside, that British food tends to be 'boiled in a pot / cauldron' to make stored veg and meat 'go further' by making it a broth, soup or stew. Prepared food tends to be ways of preserving food for later: jams, preserves, puddings, sausages, baked pastry like the Cornish pasty, or deep-fried fish in batter ( tempura to the Japanese ). Cold winters and wet the rest of the year placed an emphasis on stored or preserved foods, not fresh items. This is why we love things like strawberries, damsons, fresh eggs, hundreds of kinds of cheese, biscuits scones and other baked goods, etc.

SUPER NICE, they really made the stereotypes fun!

Im polish and I love how in Bonple High School girls have names after popular food from our country xD Jajka, Uszka and Pierogi. Or mention of hussaria and story about vicrory against second team of pravda despite their huge number advantage. And cant mantion bear Wojtek in school Emblem.

Preach it, brother! Edit: By the way, just started book 3 of Light Unto the World and am very much enjoying it, apart from a couple details that I can work with.

Thanks!!

thats a real factor for enjoying this anime, it has Culture into it, even its a pretty straightfoward stereotype they are used in the right way its just perfect for whoever appreciate World war 2 history and the culture of it

When first see Saunders Kay ordered this "RUSH THE ENEMY I DONT CARE IF YOU GET KNOCKED OUT BUT RUSH"

I dunno man All Japanese? I don't know of many blonde-haired, blue-eyed Japanese out there. I see this as international schools collected together to give the girls a broader education and, of course, tank battles. But otherwise, I agree with you. GuP has a very gentle way with international stereotyped humor, further softened because, hey, they're just waifus who wanna have fun.

Finn stereotype: a calm, non-foolish intensity, coupled with a strong inward-looking self-reliance and wide skill base. As a Brit, I feel these guys get it right. ;-)

Fun fact: This video appears in the Expermintal AI results when you google "Girls Und Panzer"

I am a Brit and for me personally the bit with the tea is true.

Finns had that sniper in white coat hidden in the mountains.

I cant remember her name, but the girl with long hair is breaking the fourth wall. 3:28 Just a small thing I noticed.

i wish they had a swedish themed school. As a swede i feel like we don't get so much attention like the others

the Miho school has no real cultural is show as the tanks are mismatch of tanks from every class and country. M3 Lee, Hetzer, Panzer4?, Stug, Tiger (P), Char B1 Bis, Type 89B, Type 3 Chi-Nu, Mark 4.

LOVE ANZIO ,K! and THE TANKETTS!

Honestly as an American I’m perfectly fine with American stereotypes.

Yeah idk about all that.

2 days ago i was watching Das Finale (Continuation vs Oarai) Like GUP fan, it's common for me se lot of stereotypes (common, Japan it's racist as fuck but something this exaggerated racism it's funny because sometimes it's 50% fake/50% true and the "true aspect" make fun) Example, Ponchomon from Digimon (the most mexican stereotype EVER) And literally i fall from my chair when Katyusha say "Hey, that KV-1 was our KV-1 before?, THEY STOLE OUR TANKS" (in referencia to how Finland was smart and stole lot of equipment from soviets) And in the middle of the battle, KV-1 lose his side armor at turret and expose his Pravda logo NO WAY, THEY REALLY STOLE A TANK (like Finland with a lot of KV-1s and T-34s) And Clara explained that was more like a "compensation" (in reference to suomi-russian war compensation) I laugh so much with the references

Wait. This is all LARPing? So, it's kinda like The Venture Bros. in that regard?

Kay from saunders is an American exchange student. Also the Saunders stereotypes are "rich" "hypercompetitive" and "lots of food".

I love how oorai literally have rommel.

I'm a type of man that I cant have more than 3 things memorized in my head. And It's a life-span miracle that I could successfully remember all these many characters names in one Anime.

How many years old is Girls und Panzer and we still have people talking a bit about it?

Mika and her team are the Finland people.

No comments about the Australian team? Wow.

I'm not going to lie I kind of wish that anzio girls constantly move their hands around while they were talking also kind of bummed out that St gloriana's never had at least one or two members of their team that were either Scottish Welsh or Irish stereotypes seriously after all during the second world war at least if I remember it correctly the British ruled over the Scottish and the Welsh and they only have a little bit of the Irish Island left granted it's Northern Ireland which ironically is less north than normal Ireland also kind of disappointed that they didn't make the Australian team at least make one reference to stealing something

If you’re looking for another “cute girls do war things” anime, check out “Lycoris Recoil” from summer 2022. It was an absolute banger of an anime basically John wick with cute girls.

My Smart Dolls love LARPing to GundP. 😁

Wonder how Sweden would be portrayed in Girls Und Panzer? Sweden had tanks, but never participated during WW2, only prepared defense if they even got attacked

How the fuck does the mic quality fluctuate throughout the video?

Somehow they made me fall in love with the american one, maybe bcz she had a gyaru vibe to her

it's racism, acceptable racism

So where does this idea that they're all actually Japanese girls cosplaying the nationalities their school represents? I don't remember reading that in the mangas.

It's funny how all the "finnish" persons names are mens names

I find it weird how many of the tanks are able to use their Machineguns, implying there has likely been a girl in the past hit by a bullet...

I couldn't get past the munitions. Even if the shells had no explosives, the impacts would probably injure the girls inside. You can't flip a tank and nobody gets hurt.

Bro why's it sound like you have your nose plugged

Anchovy's right. Britain has the worst cuisine.

Meanwhile the GuP fanbase...

The only bad thing about the Senshado Sakusen is the time the girls became idols just to pander to otakus, even though that was not needed since the entire franchise is so good. A mobile game like Blue Archive is supposed to be doing ideas like that.

This show is the reason I would be bored with real woman.

Yandere?

I'm always hard pressed to find a person represented by a stereotype in these sort of shows (and in general) being offended, curiously enough. As a French, BC Freedom might be my favorite school in this serie, and it's purely because of the stereotypes, it was just way too funny.