Itsumi Erika and Maho Nishizumi (Girls und Panzer)

BC Freedom is best known for the intense political and social strife between its two factions. Internal strife and conflict are widespread, hindering the school's effective functioning. The school is reminiscent of Free and Vichy France, with elements of the pre-revolutionary era.

A small, intimate school that frequently makes significant modifications to its equipment. Its students are excellent tank drivers and highly accurate marksmen. They are known to enjoy hiking and solitude. The school is located in Finland.

A school that uses a large number of light and small medium tanks. The students have little understanding of strategy and are preoccupied with frontal assaults. They represent Imperial Japan.

The main school in Girls und Panzer. Nominally a secondary school in the Senshado High School League, Ooarai has the smallest Senshado team and the fewest tanks. The school's tanks come from various countries, and the school has no specific theme.

A large school with a strong senshado team. Its members value elegance and restraint. They are also known for their excellent tea service. The school uses many British models from the early war period and is decorated in a British style.

A very large school that operates a huge fleet of tanks. Their students are open, friendly, and enthusiastic. They enjoy eating a lot and often throw parties. Most of their tanks are modified M4 Shermans. They represent the United States of America.

A large but poor school. Its students are energetic and impulsive. They love food and cooking and are known for their lavish parties. They primarily study in a tankette format and are usually the underdogs against other large schools. They are inspired by Italy.

The school often sails far north, resulting in cold and snowy winters. At the time of the anime series, they are the reigning champions of the Senshado Tournament. The school and its tank forces resemble the Soviet Union.

A very prestigious school with a very large and strong senshado team. They have won more senshado tournaments than any other school. The school is the birthplace of the Nishizumi style. Their tank arsenal and tactics emulate the Wehrmacht.

Erica's favorite flowers are butterfly orchids, and her favorite tank is the German Sturmtiger assault tank, armed with a 380mm rocket launcher. Erica's birthday, March 6th, coincides with the following events: The Battle of Medenine began in 1943. It was an Axis "smash-and-grab" attack launched in Medenine, Tunisia, in an attempt to halt the British advance along the Mareth Line. It was the last battle fought by German General Erwin Rommel in the North African campaign, and he finally returned to Europe three days after its conclusion. Operation Spring Awakening (Unternehmen Frühlingserwachen) began in 1945. It was the last major German offensive of World War II, aimed at securing oil supplies and preventing the Red Army from advancing toward Vienna, Austria. The Germans failed to advance as far as they had planned due to a combination of organizational inefficiencies and enemy numerical superiority, and the offensive ended in failure. Erika is named after the German marching song of the same name. Also known as "Auf de Heide" ("On the Heath"), it was written by military composer Herms Niel, published in 1938, and quickly adopted by the Wehrmacht. It became the most popular marching song in Germany during World War II. Erica has an older sister. The film seems to imply that Erika's favorite food is Glühwein und Eisbein (salted pork knuckle combined with mulled wine). Also in the film "Der Film", Erika is one of the few heroines who did not attend Pravda High School and who carries Katyusha on her shoulders.

When Erika becomes the commander-in-chief of Kuromorimine after graduating from Maho Nishizumi's training, Nishizumi advises her to develop her own style of Senshado rather than simply sticking to Nishizumi's method of tank combat; Erika ultimately followed this advice during the Continuous Track Winter Cup, particularly in the quarterfinal match against Pravda, shown in "Girls und Panzer das Finale: Part 3".

In this battle, Erika swapped tanks with Emi Kojima, presumably to prioritize speed and maneuverability over armor, then stealthily approached Pravda's position on the hill and managed to evade enemy fire with swift maneuvers, thus approaching the enemy's flagship tank from a vulnerable position. Since Pravda had based its battle plans on knowledge of Kuromorimine's predetermined strategy, they were caught off guard by the enemy's sudden change in tactics and were unable to save their flagship tank before Erika's tank fired and immobilized the former.

However, in the fourth part of the anime "Girls und Panzer das Finale", Kuromorimine's team is apparently defeated by the St. Gloriana Girls' College team in a very intense match, which ultimately results in the destruction of two flagship tanks within seconds of each other: presumably, Kuromorimine's flagship tank was destroyed first, causing Erika to openly and loudly lament the outcome.

Erika apparently grew up in Kumamoto City and attended the same middle school as Maho and Miho. In the official spin-off comic, a very young Erika (approximately 7 or 8 years old) insults the Nishizumi sisters, calling them immature while they were riding tanks, and threatens to tell "sensei." Judging by her clothing at the time, she may have come from a wealthy family.

After losing the 62nd National High School Sensha-dō Tournament to the Truth (after Miho escaped from her tank to save the crew of the Panzer III (including Koume)), Miho prepares to leave when she is confronted in her room by Erika, who lashes out, accusing her of betrayal, and telling her that she would be a failure if she left now. Miho angrily leaves the room and stumbles along with Koume, asking why she hasn't left school. Koume replies that if she wants to fight Miho in the future, she needs to become stronger, and asks Erika if she will become stronger too. Erika then realizes that this is precisely the kind of strength, different from everyone else, that Miho left behind. Disgusted with herself for not becoming stronger, she decides to move closer to the Nishizumi style and the commander.

Despite her hostility towards Miho, she reluctantly, at Maho's insistence, provided Miho's traveling companion, Mako Reizei, and Saori Takebe, with a helicopter so they could visit Miho's ailing grandmother.

During the finals, Erika frequently lost her composure when her opponents used unconventional tactics like smokescreens to cover their escapes, and she became hysterical when her tank's left tread broke, missing the opportunity to immobilize Ooarai's flagship tank. After desperately trying to contact Maho for help, she was shocked to see Miho defeat her. Nevertheless, she accepted her defeat and resolved that her school would not lose at the next national tournament.

During training, Erika proves herself to be a cool and effective teammate, but outside of training, she is cold and harsh towards Miho. Then, Maho announces that their school will hold a practice match against Keizoku High School, led by the cunning Touko, in preparation for the 62nd National High School Sensha-dō Tournament. Shortly after the match begins, Miho, Erika, and Koume are separated and ambushed, while the main group is besieged. Finally, Erika's group manages to eliminate the enemy, but Erika's tank is destroyed. When Miho approaches to assist her and her team, she orders her to save Maho. Maho complies, abandons them, and saves Maho's tank from a BT-42, ultimately winning the match. Erika congratulates Miho, and the two seem to grow closer.

She challenged Miho to a match that would decide the fate of Sensha-Do. If Erika won, Miho would leave Sensha-Do, and if Miho won, Erika would leave Sensha-Do. Erika defeated Miho in a hard-fought battle. After the match, during a meeting, Maho suspended Miho and then appointed Erika as vice-commander, but Erika declined, believing her victory over Miho was a fluke. They met by chance in the locker room, and Erika asked if Miho had given it her all. Miho replied that she hadn't fought at full strength, as losing the match would have been to her advantage. Feeling insulted, Erika slapped Miho in the face. By pure chance, Maho decided to pair Erika with Miho, so that Erika's stricter nature would compensate for some of Miho's weaknesses.

Erika, along with Maho, harshly criticized Miho for the humiliating defeat to Pravda Girls' High School in the previous Sensha-dō finals, which ended their championship streak, which had lasted only nine years. Miho has since left Kuromorimine and transferred to Ooarai Girls' Academy to avoid participating in Sensha-dō.

In the anime Girls und Panzer: Phase, Erika explains that her cold and callous attitude toward Miho dates back to her first year at Kuromorimine, when she witnessed Maho promote Miho to vice-command, despite Miho being only a first-year. She believes Miho is unfit to be vice-command, and her position is a huge insult to Nishizumi's style and especially to Maho's name. Erika believes Miho made the wrong choice of team, and that her decision to ignore her unpleasant experiences with the team during training instead of reprimanding them was a poor decision for a vice-command. Furthermore, she was irritated that at Miho's age, she still collected and brought a Boko plush toy to school.

Erika initially appears to be a rather arrogant heroine, constantly insulting the Oarai team for their inexperience and constantly seeking to crush them. She has an extremely short temper and is prone to becoming enraged when things don't go her way, similar to Katyusha. She has harbored a strong dislike for Miho since their first year at Kuromorimine, going so far as to have Miho "abandon" Kuromorimine and then betray them by becoming a commander for another school, despite her previous declaration of leaving Sensha-Do entirely. However, by the end of the anime, she shows some decency when (along with Maho) she admits defeat to the Oarai team, cheerfully declaring, "Next time, we won't lose."

Events in Girls und Panzer: Little Army Two showed her softening considerably, scolding Sheska for escaping and bragging about her Kuromorimine prowess to Emi Nakasuga. She also showed humility after defeating Bellwall, acknowledging that the enemy team had outmaneuvered and cornered them at one point in the match despite having fewer tanks.

In the Das Finale series, when Erika is in her final year and Maho graduates, it is evident that she is greatly affected by the absence of her former commander in her life, and as a result, she has become more inclined to think for herself and improvise.

By the time of the 11th OVA episode, she also shows a more casual and humble personality, although she appears serious most of the time.

Erica is a girl of average height with shoulder-length platinum blonde hair and light blue eyes.

She is usually seen wearing either the standard gray Kuromorimine uniform or a black uniform designed specifically for Senshado, the latter including a headdress. She also wore the Ooarai uniform along with the rest of the reinforcements during the match against the All-Stars University Team in Der Film.

She once dressed up in a reindeer costume for Maho's Christmas party, and later in the infamous Anglerfish Dance costume, a Christmas gift from Anzu Kadotani of Ooarai, which she wore during the festivities as well.

Of all the people I've analyzed in the sensha-do community, Erika Itsumi is one of the most complex leaders I've had the good fortune to understand. Beneath her arrogance and harshness lies a burning desire to become stronger by any means necessary.

Having joined the Kuromorimine sensha-dō team, Erika had come to terms with being just a rank-and-file soldier fighting under the Nishizumi banner. But she couldn't accept the fact that her youngest daughter was already being groomed as a future leader—despite her obvious shortcomings both in and out of the tank. The fact that Miho was too kind to her, allowing her to win their first duel on opposing sides, only added fuel to the fire.

When the Kuromorimine team lost to Pravda in the 62nd National High School Tournament, Erika's anger reached its peak. She was furious not only at Miho for transferring from another school ("running away," as she called it), but also at herself for failing to exert the necessary strength. It was at that moment that the flower that bloomed in the wasteland blossomed into a powerful force within the Kuromorimine team, ready to lead the charge and lead the team to victory.

After succeeding at the Tanklathon tournaments and supporting Maho Nishizumi to the finals of the 63rd National High School Tournament, Erika faced Miho again. Although the outcome was the same, the consequences were different. Erika finally realized that to become strong, it wasn't enough to simply strive to be exactly like her idol. She had to forge her own path to become as good as her idol.

Since Maho graduated, Kuromorimine has become unstoppable under the new commander. Conducting lightning-fast raids on enemy positions with a cold glass of wine (non-alcoholic, of course) in hand, Erika has finally discovered her own style of sensha-do. Lay low—or you'll be in for a treat.

Maho's favorite flowers are cherry trees, or sakura, and her favorite tank is the German medium tank Panzer V "Panther". Mahaut's birthday, July 1, marks the start of the First Battle of El Alamein. This battle took place during the Western Desert Campaign of World War II between Allied and German forces in the deserts of Egypt and Libya. It ended in a draw but succeeded in halting the Axis advance on Alexandria and the Suez Canal. Maho's Tiger I tank bears the number 212, which is associated with the German SS Panzer commander Michael Wittmann. Wittmann served in the 101st SS Heavy Panzer Battalion. He is famous for his ambush of the British 7th Armored Division during the Battle of Villers-Bocage, during which he and his crew destroyed up to 14 tanks, 15 armored personnel carriers, and two anti-tank guns before losing their own tank. Wittmann's crew is claimed to have destroyed up to 130 tanks, although this information has not yet been confirmed. Maho owns an Akita dog, which she keeps in the Nishizumi family's home.[ 1 ] Outside of Sensha-dō, Mahō has a stoic, serious personality, which has led to misunderstandings among her subordinates [ 2 ]. Maho is well versed in opera music, particularly the works of Richard Wagner, Adolf Hitler's favorite composer. She suggested the name "Operation Nuremberg Master Singers" ("Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg") for the attack on the university's "All Stars" team. Makho seems to be the only tank commander capable of intimidating the Katyusha.

Maho's name (1) is written in hiragana (まほ), which has no special meaning. However, when written in kanji (愛渉, 愛歩, 雅穂, 間保, or 今歩), it can mean: 愛渉 — “love, affection” (愛) (ma) and “ford, ferry, port” (渉) (ho). 愛歩 — “love, affection” (愛) (ma) and “to go, to step” (歩) (ho). 雅穂 — “graceful, elegant” (雅) (ma) and “grainy” (穂) (ho). 間保 - "while, time, interval, space, pause, chamber, room, apartment, leisure, chance, entr'acte, intermediate, how" (間) ( ma ) and "to protect, maintain, guarantee" (保) ( ho ). 今歩 — “now/just now, immediately, at the present time it is” (今) ( ma ) and “to go, to step” (歩) ( ho ). Maho's family name, Nishizumi, means "west" (西) (nishi) and "residence, dwelling, life, abode" (住) (zumi).

Maho was the first to bring reinforcements to Ooarai's aid during their desperate match against the All-Star University team: four Kuromorimine tanks under Maho's command "relocated" to Ooarai.

In that battle, Maho led the Sunflower unit, which occupied the central hill, but was forced to abandon the high ground when it became clear it had been prepared as a killing zone for the unexpected arrival of Karl-Geret. She later rejoined the combined main force and led the defense of the southern entrance to the amusement park. Although the Stars attempted to distract Ooarai's forces, Maho led a sortie to destroy this Stars unit, after which she rejoined the main force. Maho, in turn, was part of the Ooarai unit that attempted to distract the main Stars force while encircled by the amphitheater, but was unsuccessful; this unit then rejoined the rest after an unconventional distraction by Rabbit Unit allowed the encirclement to be broken. In the final battle, Maho and Miho worked as a team to take out the unit commanders and the All-Star commander, and in the end, Maho's tank was the only one to survive the 30-on-30 battle.

Throughout the battle, she quietly encourages and supports her younger sister, proving her loyalty and reliability as a second-in-command, as well as demonstrating her exceptional skills in Sensha-dō.

Despite her apparent aloofness, she is not without humane feelings. While at the stadium as a spectator after the Ooarai vs. Saunders match, she lends her team's helicopter to Miho's teammates, Mako Reizei and Saori Takebe, when they need to reach Mako's ailing grandmother. Much later, it is implied that she hid her watching Ooarai matches from her mother to avoid attracting her attention. When her mother learns that Miho has returned to Sensha-Do and expresses her intention to disown Miho, Maho becomes visibly upset. During the Ooarai vs. Truth match, when Shiho assumes Ooarai will lose and decides that watching the match to the end is a waste of time, Maho demonstrates her confidence in her sister by convincing their mother to stay. Maho even goes so far as to contradict Shiho after the match, claiming that Miho's victory wasn't the result of luck, but rather her ability to adapt tactics to the situation and inspire her teammates. Nevertheless, Maho accepts her mother's orders to defeat Miho's team.

In the finals, Maho faces Miho in a duel and is defeated, resulting in Miho winning the tournament. After the match, Maho congratulates Miho, admitting her defeat and saying that Miho's style is completely different from Nishizumi's, expressing her joy that Miho has found her own path in Sensha-Do.

Maho, like Miho, comes from a family that traditionally practices Sensha-dō. They attended Kuromorimine Girls' Academy together until they were defeated by Truth Girls' High School in the Sensha-dō finals last year. Miho's decision to leave command of Kuromorimine's flagship tank to aid the crew of a Panzer III tank that had slipped into a nearby body of water led to their defeat. Had they not lost, Kuromorimine would have achieved ten consecutive tournament victories—an achievement unheard of in the sport. As a result of the defeat, Miho left Kuromorimine and transferred to Ooarai Girls' Academy to escape Sensha-dō. Since then, Maho has quietly worked for Miho's benefit, allowing her sister to live the life she wants without the pressure of her mother's expectations.

Maho is known for her passion for Sensha-do and is considered a celebrity and talented leader throughout the country, as well as highly respected by her mother, sister, and teammates. She sometimes appears cold and distant, but this is actually a mask necessary to meet her mother's strict expectations. Behind this mask lies a very kind person, even to her opponents, and she loves her younger sister, Miho, very much. One of the main reasons she strives to be a good heir to the Nishizumi family is so that her sister can live the life she desires.

In the official spin-off manga, "Motto Love Love Sakusen Desu!", she appears quite kind and caring when she doesn't have important tasks, as shown when she tried to throw a Christmas party for the Kuromorimine students who weren't able to celebrate Christmas with their families. However, the general strictness of her school and her penchant for terse messages always make those around her feel uneasy. The fact that she knows little about parties and holidays also didn't help matters.

Maho is a girl with medium-length dark brown hair, dark brown eyes, and is slightly above average height. She has a similar hairstyle to her sister, Miho, but hers is darker, with two strands sticking out on the sides of her head. Otherwise, she bears a striking resemblance to Miho.

Outside of battles in Sensha-dō, she typically wears the casual Kuromorimine Girls' Academy uniform, and during battles, the Sensha-dō uniform. She has worn the Ooarai Girls' Academy uniform twice. In more casual settings, she can be seen wearing a white button-down shirt with gray horizontal stripes, a gray button, and a gray area around the neckline, as well as a light blue, above-the-knee dress, gray socks, and sneakers. She also wore a Christmas outfit to a party with several Kuromorimine tank commanders.

Maho is the daughter of Shiho Nishizumi and the older sister of Miho Nishizumi, a third-year student at Kuromorimine Girls' Academy, the captain of the school's sensha-dō team, and the heir to the Nishizumi family. She commands a German Tiger I tank.