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Girls & Panzer Film's Japanese BD/DVD Release Includes OVA

The official website of the Girls und Panzer anime franchise revealed on Thursday that the Japanese Blu-ray Disc and DVD home video release of the Girls und Panzer anime film will ship on May 27.

Both the Blu-ray Disc and DVD releases will ship with a new OVA that will take place after the events of the movie, as well as an episode of the "Akiyama Yukari no Sensha Kōza" (Yukari Akiyama's Tank Lecture) shorts, whose previous episodes were included in the television anime's home video volumes. Other features include:

• CD of the "Boko no Uta" song, performed by Miho Nishizumi (Mai Fuchigami) and Arisu Shimada (Ayana Taketatsu)
• Promotional videos and commercials for the film
• Behind-the-scenes footage
• Premiere night event footage
• Greeting event footage
• Ooarai Anglerfish Festival 2015 footage
• Cast commentary track
• Staff commentary track (including director Tsutomu Mizushima)
• Military commentary track (including military history advisers Takaaki Suzuki, Isaku Okabe, and Kiyoshi Sugiyama)
• 20-page correction sheet collection by character designer Isao Sugimoto
• 80-page special booklet
• Bandai Visual+ serial code
• Download code for Girls & Panzer: Sensha-dō Daisakusen! smartphone game

The release will include the film's audio in both DTS Headphone:X and standard 5.1 surround. Original character designer Humikane Shimada will provide the illustration for both the box packaging and the movie's disc case, while animation character designer Isao Sugimoto will provide the illustration for the special video content disc case.

The Girls und Panzer anime film opened in Japan last November, ranking #2 at the Japanese box office and selling 84,752 tickets for 128,438,980 yen (about US$1.05 million) in its opening weekend. The film eventually grossed over 1.1 billion yen (about US$9.65 million), and it ranked #38 in the top 39 highest grossing Japanese domestic films of 2015 (tied with Grasshopper). The film will receive 4DX screenings starting on Saturday.

The anime franchise began with a television series that premiered in 2012. The story centers around high school girls who drive tanks that exist in real life, as they compete in teams. Crunchyroll and Anime Network both streamed the anime outside Japan. An all-new original video anime (OVA) titled Kore ga Hontō no Anzio-sen Desu! (This is the Real Anzio Battle!) premiered in Japanese theaters in July 2014, and the anime shipped on DVD and Blu-ray Disc later that month.

[Via Otakomu]