| Spoiler warning! This Wiki contains detailed information regarding the Girls und Panzer universe. Proceed with Caution! |
- "Leopon is growling!"
- ―Leopon Team
Leopon Team (レオポンさんチーム, Reopon-san Chīmu) is one of the tank crews in Girls und Panzer.
Background[]
Call them petrolheads, speed demons, or grease monkeys - if it has an engine, Leopon Team's interested. As members of Ooarai Girls' Academy's automotive club, their role is to ensure the team's vehicles are always combat ready, and to restore any vehicle that hits their workshop.
Leopon Team packs a punch with one of the most powerful, but mechanically vulnerable prototype tanks ever to roll onto the battlefield - the VK 45.01 P, also known as the Porsche Tiger. Though this platform was rejected by the Heer, this team makes their mark as part of Ooarai's vanguard - one 88mm AP shell at a time.
Members[]
Rera Nakajima[]
- Main Article: Rera Nakajima
The team's commander and radio operator.
Keiko Hoshino[]
- Main Article: Keiko Hoshino
The team's gunner.
Maria Suzuki[]
- Main Article: Maria Suzuki
The team's loader.
Mūton Tsuchiya[]
- Main Article: Mūton Tsuchiya
The team's driver.
Combat History[]
The students who would become Ooarai's Leopon Team were responsible for servicing the team's tanks, ever since the school revived its Sensha-do program. After Miho, Saori and Yukari found the members of Rabbit Team, who had gotten lost while searching for tanks on the school ship, they found themselves staring down the barrel of the Porsche Tiger's 88 mm main armament. The tank was salvaged, and brought to the automotive club to be restored to working order.
After restoring the Porsche Tiger to combat readiness, Miho suggested that the four automotive club members could also become its crew, designating them as "Leopon Team".
63rd National Sensha-do Tournament: Finals (Ooarai vs. Kuromorimine)[]
Leopon Team first saw action against Kuromorimine Girls' Academy. Despite being a last-minute addition to their force, the Porsche Tiger performed remarkably well, being able to match some of Kuromorimine's heavy tanks shot for shot, blow for blow.
After the initial ambush, team Ooarai assumed a defensive position to take out some of the heavy tank destroyers. Leopon Team would later serve as the vanguard, breaking through Kuromorimine's line of heavy tank destroyers to reposition. Although the tank threatened to malfunction, team commander Rera Nakajima was able to make repairs while on the move (to the surprise of her teammates). Driver Muton Tsuchiya demonstrated the Porsche Tiger's new boost system, demolishing a bridge which the team had crossed to prevent their adversaries from using the same route.
Leopon Team participated in taking down the Maus by baiting it into rotating its turret so it could be jammed in place. In the last moments of the battle, Leopon played a critical role as Miho's rearguard. After Ooarai's Anglerfish Team was able to bait the enemy flag tank (Maho Nishizumi's Tiger I) into an enclosed compound, Leopon Team blocked off the complex's entrance, preventing the other Kuromorimine tanks from reaching their commander. Even after going down after a relentless barrage from the remaining Kuromorimine tanks, it was still able to obstruct them from reaching their commander before Ooarai claimed victory.
Exhibition Match (Ooarai and Chi-Ha-Tan vs. St. Gloriana and Pravda)[]
Leopon Team was initially deployed with Mallard Team and Fukuda from Chi-Ha-Tan to defend against advancing Pravda forces, while the rest of Ooarai and Chi-Ha-Tan advanced on Darjeeling's position. After the position was compromised and the match moved into the town, Leopon detached from the main force to lure Pravda's tanks away from their flag tank. When Katyusha refused to take the bait, Leopon was redeployed to hold the OY-line while Miho led the rest of the team to take down Darjeeling's Churchill.
Pravda eventually broke through the OY defensive line, and the Porsche Tiger was eventually knocked out by a combined assault from Pravda's forces, with Nonna's IS-2 landing the killshot.
The Battle for Ooarai (Ooarai Compound Team vs. All-Stars University)[]
In the final annihilation match against the All-Stars University Team, Leopon's Porsche Tiger was assigned to Dandelion Company, commanded by Miho and Darjeeling. Early on, both sides engaged in long-range gunnery against Rumi Company.
Once the battle moved to the theme park, Leopon Team was assigned as a mobile reserve. They were deployed at the main gate, and then were redeployed to the eastern gate to reinforce against the University Team's main column. Leopon Team was baited into an ambush at the Point YO amphitheater, before being rescued by Rabbit Team through Operation "Mifune".
Leopon team then took part in Plan F, linking up with Anteater Team and Katyusha's T-34/85 in a 3-on-4 match through the park's Western set. Just as the All-Stars University Team was about to encircle the Ooarai tanks, Leopon Team used their tank's weight to smash their way through the theater set, catching the University Team tanks off-guard and allowing them to be picked off by Anteater Team and Katyusha.
Towards the end of the match, Leopon Team helped chase down the Bermuda Trio by using their tank to create a slipstream for their allies. Although Leopon Team's overstressed their engine and caused them to break down, taking them out of the match, they were able to allow the slower Pravda and Kuromorimine tanks to catch up to the Bermuda Trio, and take out Rumi before she could regroup.
41st Winter Continuous Track Cup: Round of 16 (Ooarai vs BC Freedom)[]
The Porsche Tiger was initially deployed for solo reconnaissance, pursuing BC Freedom's ARL 44 company. It was eventually discovered, and engaged in a skirmish with one of the ARL 44 heavy tanks before being called to rally with the main Ooarai force, which had been ambushed on a wooden bridge. Leopon Team used their EPS system to boost the tank's speed to rejoin the main force.
In the latter parts of the battle, Leopon took point against BC Freedom's defensive positions, inching the Porsche Tiger forward as a distraction while the Mallard Team sabotaged BC Freedom's team harmony. The Porsche Tiger was one of four surviving Ooarai tanks at the end of the battle, delivering a killshot on BC Freedom's flag tank.
41st Winter Continuous Track Cup: Quarter-Finals (Ooarai vs Chi-Ha-Tan)[]
During the quarter-finals, Leopon Team struggled as it began to rain, and the 45-tonne Porsche Tiger became bogged down in the mud. Leopon driver Tsuchiya would use the powerful V-10 engines and boost system to help Mallard Team pass through a flooded area, as the latter were too heavy and their treads were slippery.
While stationed at the riverbank, Chi-Ha-Tan ambushed Ooarai from the water using their amphibious Type 2 Ka-Mi tanks. When the Porsche Tiger moved to protect the Hetzer flag tank, Chi-Ha-Tan's tank commanders gave the order to focus fire on its tank treads. With the treads damaged, the crippled heavy tank was vulnerable to a well-timed charge from Chi-Ha-Tan, and was taken out by a close-range shot to the engine bay from a platoon led by Tamaki Tamada and her Type 97 Chi-Ha Shinhoto.
41st Winter Continuous Track Cup: Semi-Finals (Ooarai vs. Jatkosota)[]
Following the early knockout of Anglerfish Team, Leopon's Porsche Tiger participated in the defensive holdout at the dam. Driver Tsuchiya drifted the tank to create a snow flurry that obscured Ooarai's tanks from the advancing Jatkosota tanks as they planned their escape. While in the dam's drainage tunnel, Leopon used their "engine doping" power boost to get the surviving Ooarai tanks out of the tunnel and out of range of Jatkosota's KV-1 which was waiting in ambush.
In the later parts of the battle, the Porsche Tiger was one of five surviving Ooarai tanks that was drawn into the downhill ski slope trap. Initially struggling due to the gun's muzzle brake getting lodged on their team's Mark IV, Leopon Team was able to dislodge themselves and quickly got the hang of drifting down the steep slope. The Porsche Tiger was eventually knocked out in the scrimmage, after being blocked by Jatkosota's KV-1 and taking a shot to the engine bay from the BT-42 assault gun.
Trivia[]
- In real-life, a leopon is the hybrid offspring of a male leopard and a female lion, or lioness.
- Leopon Team's members are named after Japanese racing drivers.
- Leopon Team dreams of entering a Grand Prix in the future.
- Leopon Team is the only team which did not have problems learning to drive and operate their tank.
- At 88 mm, Leopon Team's Porsche Tiger has the largest and most powerful main armament on team Ooarai.
- Like most of Ooarai's tanks, Leopon's Porsche Tiger is under-crewed, with tank commander Rera Nakajima serving as the team's radio operator.
- None of the members of Leopon Team are seeing wearing the regular Ooarai school uniform, wearing their coveralls or the Ooarai Sensha-do uniform instead in most of their appearances.
- Outside of Sensha-do, Leopon Team specializes in classic car restoration and drift racing, and have restored a 1989 Toyota Soarer tuned for such driving.
- Leopon Team is the only tank crew known to have boosted the performance of their tank - to great effect, as seen in all the battles they have participated in.
Gallery[]
.jpg "GuP C18 (01).jpg (640 KB)")
 Ooarai Girls' Academy teams ☰
| ||
|---|---|---|
| Schools in The Anime Series |  Anglerfish Team ♦  Duck Team ♦  Hippo Team ♦  Rabbit Team ♦  Turtle Team ♦  Mallard Team ♦  Anteater Team ♦  Leopon Team ♦  Shark Team
| |
| Tanks | Panzer IV ♦ Type 89B ♦ StuG III ♦ M3 Lee ♦ Panzer 38(t)/Hetzer ♦ Char B1 bis ♦ Type 3 Chi-Nu ♦ Tiger (P) ♦ Mark IV | |