Fanfic / Turtles

Turtles is an Girls und Panzer fic by ThatRabidPotato.

Miho Nishizumi left her old school, Kuromorimine Women's Colleague, on bad terms with most of her former teammates after sacrificing a tournament victory to save her teammates from drowning. But one girl, Koume Akaboshi, not only sympathized with Miho, but chose to follow her to Oarai. Now, both girls are once again caught up in tankery, not knowing that they are fighting to keep their new school open.

The fic can be found here and is in progress.

The fic contains examples of:

• Absurdly Powerful Student Council: As per canon. It's noted that the students on the council are free to treat the teachers as subordinates, to the point where they don't bother to address the teachers as "sensei."
• Adaptation Expansion:
  • The fic begins shortly before the start of the first episode and shows some events from when Miho and Koume came to Oarai.
  • The fic greatly expands on the period in which the team is getting started and shows the process in more detail.
• Adaptation Personality Change: In canon, Koume is a Nice Girl who isn't shown having anything bad to say about anyone and appears to have no problem continuing to serve on Kuromorimine's team after Miho's departure. In this fic, she's bitter toward the student council for forcing Miho to take tankery, resents Maho for being an Aloof Big Sister to Miho, and is rather cynical about Oarai's chances of winning.
• Adaptational Dumbass: The student council. The author goes into more detail about the effort needed to set up a tankery team(e.g. keeping tanks supplied with fuel and ammo, and doing the maintenance on them to get them running), so the student council, which decided to restart their tankery team on a whim to save their school, comes off as more incompetent than in canon. To make matters worse, they're also unwilling to listen to Miho or Koume.
• Adaptational Jerkass:
  • Koume is significantly snarkier and more resentful of others in this fic, even if she doesn't openly say it.
  • Downplayed with Maho, but her Aloof Big Sister status is played up in the fic thus far.
  • When Darjeeling meets Miho, she immediately inquires about the circumstances in which the latter departed Kuromorimine, despite the fact that anyone can tell this is a sensitive subject for Miho.
  • The student council. In canon, their threat to expel Miho from Oarai if she refused to take tankery was portrayed as partly a bluff and partly a case of Exact Words- it's not a very nice thing to do, but it's understandable given the circumstances. In this fic, the threat is played seriously, and Miho joins out of fear of being expelled, rather than because she wants to do tankery along with her new friends. The fic also has the student council shoot down many of Miho and Koume's proposals, despite the fact that the two of them obviously know much more about tankery than the student council does.
• Artistic License:
  • Koume finds it rather odd that Anzu, Momo and Yuzu's parents all named them after fruit(apricot, peach and citrus, respectively). Koume's name means "little plum" in Japanese, and she never acknowledges that her own parents also named her after a fruit. As listed here, it's actually pretty common in Japan for girls to have some sort of a fruit-themed name, just like the Student Council members and Koume do.
  • Koume notices that Maho is a rather Aloof Big Sister to Miho, by virtue of the fact that she doesn't hug, kiss or talk softly to Miho in public. Her conclusion isn't entirely baseless, but the Japanese refrain from public displays of affection, so it wouldn't be too unusual for Maho to avoid being openly affectionate to Miho, at least where other people could see her. In fact, that was the very reason why Anime!Miho was shocked/startled when Kay went up and hugged her after the Saunders match. Hugging someone is not something expected in Japanese social interaction.
  • The fic has Koume recall a time in her and Miho's second year of middle school, "when they were about eleven." The second year of Japanese middle school is eighth grade, so Miho and Koume would be 13 or 14.
• Deconstruction Fic: The fic goes into more detail about the expenses related to tankery, such as the fuel and ammo used in matches, as well as the need for a professional repair crew to get the tanks up and running again.
• Didn't Think This Through: Like in canon, the student council revives Oarai's tankery team on a whim, but this fic shows that they neglected to consider the preparations required to get the team up and running.
• Disproportionate Retribution: According to Miho, St. Gloriana sees Oarai as their inferiors in tankery, and expects Oarai to treat them with respect, such as using "-dono" on the St. Gloriana top brass. If they feel slighted, they will field the Tortoise during the practice match and crush Oarai.
• First-Person Smartass: Since Koume's the primary POV character, the narration often shows her thoughts. She has a number of snarky mental notes, many directed at the student council.
• For Want Of A Nail: What if Koume came to Oarai with Miho?
• Ignored Expert: To Koume's frustration, the student council is unwilling to listen to her or Miho, the two students with tankery experience.
• Japanese Honorifics
  • Anzu manages to get away with addressing a teacher as -san rather than "sensei" by virtue of her membership in the Absurdly Powerful Student Council.
  • Koume briefly drops the "-san" from Hana's name to make a point while texting her.
• The Load: The student council. Not only do they perform as poorly in battle as they did in the early series, but they're also unwilling to listen to Momo or Koume.
• The Nicknamer: Koume dubs Momo "Peachy."
• OC Standin: Most of Koume's personality, save for her gratitude and loyalty toward Miho, is made from whole cloth for this fanfic, since she only has one appearance in canon.
• The Stations of the Canon: The fic goes through the basic plot points of the show- Miho joining tankery, the team finding the tanks, the intra-team practice match and the exhibition match with St. Gloriana.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Koume dislikes the student council for pressganging Miho into the tankery team, but not only ends up on the same crew as them, but in the same tank.
• They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!: In a flashback from Phase Erika, Maho insists that Miho call her by her title.
• Undying Loyalty: Since Miho saved Koume's life, Koume follows Miho to Oarai, and does not think well of people who disrespect her.
• Who Names Their Kid "Dude"?: Koume is flabbergasted that Anzu, Momo and Yuzu's parents named them after fruits- name, apricot, peach and citrus, respectively. The fact that Koume's name means "little plum" would make this a case of Hypocritical Humor, but the story never acknowledges this. It's actually fairly common in Japan for girls to have some sort of a fruit-themed name, just like those four girls mentioned above do...