I've always felt that there was something different between Girl und
Panzer and Saki, which it's reasonably frequently compared to.
Recently I realized how the two are different in a way that makes the
former a genuine sports anime while the latter is not. I know, that
sounds inflammatory; given that Saki involves people playing a sport,
how is it not a sports anime and if it's not, what is it?
My answer is that Saki is actually a shonen fighting anime in the
guise of a sports anime, where the 'fights' happen at the gaming table
and (generally) do not involve the characters punching each other.
What makes the difference between Saki and Girls und Panzer is
the presence (in one) and the absence (in the other) of magic powers
and crazy special moves.
In Girls und Panzer the wins and losses depend on the actual strategy,
tactics, and skills involved in the sport in question (in the real
world). This is not obvious in GaruPan because there is no actual
sport of tankery, but it's there none the less; the battles in GaruPan
turn on actual things that real tanks and real tank commanders can do.
This is not what happens in Saki. Saki is not really about mahjong
and actual mahjong strategy and tactics (and usually low level play) are
almost always irrelevant, in much the same way that punches and kicks
are irrelevant background noise in shonen fighting anime. What the games
are about in Saki and what determines victory and loss is who has what
magic mahjong hack (and can use it best), in the same way as Naruto's
victories generally turn on a carefully timed Rasengan or the like.
This is a large part of why Girls und Panzer is much more interesting
to me than things like Saki. The presence of magic mahjong powers
robs Saki's narrative of a great deal of predictability and suspense
because the story becomes a game of 'okay, so what magic power is going
to appear this time?' Conversely, the absence of unpredictable special
tricks gives the battles in Girls und Panzer genuine tension and
interest, because we can actually understand, follow, and predict what's
going on (and in the process understand the problems Miho faces and make
our own guesses at solutions). The reality of the contests makes them
meaningful to watch.
(This is not the only reason that the battles in Girls und Panzer are
good, because even with this the director has to make sure that you can
understand, follow, and anticipate the action instead of getting lost in
a muddle. GaruPan is very good at this.)
Girls und Panzer is not the only genuine sports anime, of course;
there are plenty of them (just as there are plenty of magic shonen fight
sports anime to go with Saki). For example, Cross Game is a genuine
sports anime since the baseball in it revolves around real tactics and
plays (instead of, say, some magic super-pitch).
(It looks like I don't watch much sports anime so I can't name any other
examples off the top of my head with confidence, although from what I've
read about it Chihayafuru is probably another genuine sports anime.)
Update: it figures that immediately after publishing this I remembered
the other 'genuine sports anime' example I had in mind: Initial D,
at least through the first few seasons. The car racing is probably not
strictly realistic but it's real enough to feel grounded and limited,
so you can understand the challenges that the racers face.
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