The film begins during an exhibition match commemorating Ooarai Girls High School's victory in the 63rd sensha-dō tournament. After a lengthy battle, the joint team of Ooarai and Chi-Ha-Tan Academy is defeated by the combined St. Gloriana and Pravda team, largely due to the reckless charges by the Chi-Ha-Tan team. Upon returning to the Ooarai school carrier, Anzu informs the team that despite their victory in the tournament, the Ministry of Education will not honor their promise to keep the school open, claiming that it was just a verbal agreement with no legal standing. The school ship is then seized for decommissioning but with help from Saunders, the sensha-dō team manage to keep their tanks out of the government's hands. Some time later, at Anzu's urging, Ami Chouno brings the matter to Maho and Miho's mother Shiho Nishizumi, who realizes that Kuromorimine won't be able to have a rematch against Ooarai should the latter close down, and helps Anzu convince the Ministry to reconsider by threatening to pull Kuromorimine from the upcoming World Tournament. The Ministry agrees to hold a match between Ooarai and a university sensha-dō team, this time with a written contract to ensure that Ooarai will not be closed should their team win. However, the rules put Ooarai's team at a great disadvantage, as they must face a team composed of select university students led by child prodigy Alice Shimada, fielding thirty tanks against Ooarai's eight, and held using elimination rules, which require the winning team to eliminate every enemy tank. Despite the odds stacked against them, Ooarai's team does not back down and shows up for the match, but before it begins, to the surprise of all, students from Saunders, Kuromorimine, Anzio, St. Gloriana, Pravda, Chi-Ha-Tan and Jatkosota High School appear and take advantage of a loophole in the agreement to join as temporary Ooarai transfer students, evening out the teams' numbers. The match begins with the university team taking the advantage with their superior firepower and skill, forcing Ooarai to retreat to an abandoned amusement park even after destroying the university's Karl-Gerät self-propelled mortar tank. There, however, Ooarai makes use of the park's attractions to confuse and ambush the university team's tanks, turning the tide in their favor. However, Alice eventually joins the fight directly and takes out most of the remaining Ooarai tanks, leveling the field once again. In a final showdown, Miho and Maho confront Alice in a heated battle which ends with the sisters making a combined effort to defeat her and seal Ooarai's victory. During the credits, all the girls are seen traveling back to their respective schools and the Ooarai team discovers that their school carrier has returned and is waiting at the port for them.
Voice cast
Mai Fuchigami as Miho Nishizumi
Ai Kayano as Saori Takebe
Mami Ozaki as Hana Isuzu
Ikumi Nakagami as Yukari Akiyama
Yuka Iguchi as Mako Reizei
Asami Seto as Kinuyo Nishi
Ayana Taketatsu as Alice Shimada
Ayumi Fujimura as Megumi
Yūko Iida as Azumi
Mai Nakahara as Rumi
Madoka Yonezawa as Tamada
Naomi Ōzora as Fukuda
Natsumi Takamori as Rosehip
Hisako Kanemoto as Katyusha
Sumire Uesaka as Nonna
Jenya Davidyuk as Klara
Mamiko Noto as Mika
Shino Shimoji as Aki
Miho Ishigami as Mikko
Production
The film was announced in 2013.
Casting
The casting of Asami Seto as Kinuyo Nishi was revealed in early June 2015. Additional characters beyond those of the TV series and respective voice actors were revealed in October 2015.
Promotion
A teaser trailer was released in July 2014. A longer teaser trailer was released in March 2015 followed by a third one in early June 2015. A fourth and final trailer was released in late October 2015.
The film was originally scheduled for release in 2014; it was then pushed back to summer 2015 until the final release date of November 21, 2015 was announced in March 2015. It was released in 4DX in Japan on February 2016. The film's home video release on Blu-ray and DVD was launched on May 27, 2016. The film has been licensed by Sentai Filmworks and got a limited theatrical release from November 18–24, 2016 in 33 U.S. Theaters.
Reception
The film grossed on its opening weekend in Japan, becoming the number-one filmin gross. It was also number-two in admissions, behind World of Delight. The film has earned over at the Japan Box Office one year after it premiered. The first week sales of the Girls und Panzer der Film Blu-ray Limited and Regular Edition placed first and fifth in the weekly Oricon chart, having reached 162,361 and 6,554 units. It won the Sanctuary Award from the 25th Japan Movie Critics Awards in 2016. It also won the Best Dramatic Presentation Award from the 47th Seiun Awards in 2016.
