Without dissent, without shame, without resentment!

Impression

Make way, best girl incoming!
Make way, best girl incoming!
What-poi?! She doesn't get a role-poi?
What-poi?! Shimakaze doesn’t get a role-poi?
NOOOOOO YOU'RE TOO CUTE TO BE USED AS A DECORATIVE PIECE
NOOOOOOOOO YOU’RE TOO CUTE TO BE USED AS A DECORATIVE PIECE
she'll POI YOU AWAY
she’ll POI YOU AWAY

Ahem. Well, I’m quite impressed! And that was a wonderful OP sequence. The intriguing thing about all this is that Kancolle can go in whatever direction it wants, and isn’t constrained by its source material in a way that a more conventional adaptation would normally be – though of course that’s only because the browser game never really had a plot per se, and contributed to a framework more than anything else. So it’s interesting to see how they’ve decided to characterise the world the kanmusu live in, from their everyday environments to what they do when they’re not in battle – like making the younger kanmusu attend school, for example. That was a lot of fun. And by that I mean Yuudachi was a lot of fun. Actually, there was a lot more humour than I’d expected in general, even if most of it ended up consisting of me smiling at Fubuki’s dojikko failures. Surprisingly though, she’s perfectly fine with the theory – Fubuki can be the next Asashio with all that lengthy reciting. And other surprises lay in wait too. I didn’t think you kanmusu would go to mixers! It’d better just be that teacher. The only male for miles and miles is supposed to be teitoku, whom you’re all supposed to be in love with! Unless your names are Kitakami or Ooi. I bet they conduct ‘repairs’ together, and engage in some ‘night battles’ of their own. Cough.

She's busy teaching her... how hard it is to be a kanmusu. Blush.
She’s busy teaching her… how hard it is to be a kanmusu. Blush.
It's good to have goals, Fubuki-chan.
It’s good to have goals, Fubuki-chan.

Sorry. As for Fubuki herself, I’ve actually started to warm up to her a bit – where I was neutral before, that is. I think there’s a lot of potential in having the plot revolve around a Fubuki who goes through many different experiences and gradually grows stronger. And like I said last week, it’s a more realistic route to take – Fubuki is a gentle, good-natured girl who tries her best while not having too many odd quirks, with that latter part ruling out many of the more prominent kanmusu. I’d appreciate episodes upon episodes of just Kongou, but I can’t say the same for everyone. I think we’re probably done with Fubuki’s major teething issues at least, which is a bit of a surprise as I’d expected her development to come gradually as she gains more live battle experience – though Nagato and the blatantly self-inserted, camera-nodding teitoku seem to want the opposite, with her skills already polished as much as they can be through training before she’s sent on an assault again. At any rate, it was fun while it lasted – we had more of Fubuki’s girl-crush on Akagi, a meeting with Atago and multiple encounters with the Sendai sisters! Although she might want to re-evaluate her aim of becoming MVP for the time being, Fubuki’s aim is still probably better than Slaine’s.

If this was Kancolle’s equivalent of a training arc, then we can be expecting some nice battles soon. While the CGI sections still need a bit of getting used to, I’m really loving the hand-drawn animation quality. It’s actually stunning, considering that this is essentially a niche show – everything’s so crisp and clean, and it’s a real difference especially since I’ve just come off watching the mediocre Seiken Tsukai no World Break, which was disappointing in both its plot and animation. Guess it pays to be a popular browser game. While I don’t think I can accurately pinpoint a clear-cut ‘direction’ as to where the plot’s headed, to me it’s doing fine as is – I’m quite happy with the sort of show it’s turning out to be!

This Post Has 7 Comments

  1. The Traveler (@IWHBYT)

    “Fubuki’s aim is still probably better than Slaine’s.” I lost it. That was a good one.

    I COULD NOT get through this episode fast enough! 😀 I had to keep pausing and re-watching sequences to soak in all the game references (the insta-heal bucket), character portrayals (Akagi still eats big!), voice work (got to love Atago’s intonation), animation detail (that opening…)!

    I wonder how significant the scene Kaga and Akagi seem to be remembering in the opening will be. I’m assuming that’s their “ship spirit” at work causing them to remember how they were sunk. A sign of quite dark moments to come? I can’t say it’d be out of place at all. War can be heaven while with friends, but hell in battle.

    On another note, I, erm… wish Fubuki’s skirt was a little longer. Also, poor Ashigara 🙁 although, I loved how they referenced her “hungry wolf” nature. I do wonder how a young destroyer like Kisaragi found out about what happened in the mixer…

    I’m very excited for the next battle since it sounds like it’ll be a more complex operation than the last one! I’m really glad they took the time to show us how Fubuki was trained to adapt to her new existence, too! 🙂 It’s also interesting how Fubuki can grow to get MVP more often, without having to be the strongest ship overall.

    1. Vantage

      I admit I went back and re-watched the poi scene as well as all the ones where Fubuki flops around on the water after losing her balance 😀 And Fubuki’s skirt is fine! At least it doesn’t barely qualify as clothing like Shimakaze’s, although I’m glad that they reproduced that faithfully.

      The dark foreshadowing indicates that they might be using historical references as inspiration for the plot line. Which is not a good thing for the characters themselves, as the events of WWII places a death flag over practically every kanmusu. It’s interesting you mention Kisaragi actually, because I’ve heard of some worrying things that might happen to her in the near future. On the bright side, there will be serious and tense moments to look forward to – that Wo-class in the OP looked very scary!

  2. The Traveler (@IWHBYT)

    Really, it is fine. I was just a little zoned out by this one scene where it looked like she wasn’t wearing any underwear, but she totally was as I found out a few seconds later.

    I can very easily see them using their past to influence how they’ll be damaged or even sunk throughout the series, because it would be quite sad to see one of them go down similarly to how their “past self” did. However, something doesn’t sit right for me about each one of them reliving their past like that, whether it’s a major injury or being sunk. Part of the advantage of having these ship souls should be to avoid going down the same way, right..?

    Then again, I don’t know if the WWII ships are their “past selves” or they’re more or less “super-soldiers” (I mean, Ashigara must have a hell of an arm to work the eraser as such a potent projectile) who are brought up as “homage” to those ships. Like you said, there are SO MANY ways they could take this series.

    Kisaragi? Do you mean you’ve seen supposed leaks about the third episode? Frankly, I’m surprised that she isn’t called Woe-class just to be punny!

    P.S. Enjoy these blooper comics – http://danbooru.donmai.us/pools/9508 :3

    1. Vantage

      Of course she’s wearing underwear! Fubuki’s a pure girl!

      Yeah, if they’re going to bring in ‘past memories’, they’d have to work out all sorts of things in relation to it. Maybe they’ll just appear as occasional, little-explained visions that end up being imminent foreshadowing to a kanmusu being sunk, or they’ll be vivid and detailed to the point that the kanmusu now know not to make the same mistakes. And some of them may not have this at all, or have it to varying degrees – maybe as Kaga and Akagi are presented as veterans in the anime, they’d be more self-aware of all this than a newcomer like Fubuki.

      They’re not leaks per se, but I hear the assault next week will be something to do with a Wake Island? A quick Google search reveals that a certain destroyer meets her end there.

      1. The Traveler (@IWHBYT)

        It makes incredible sense that the veterans would be more in tune with their ship souls and therefore their pasts! Good call, good call. Indeed, Wake Island ._.

  3. Mekem

    Is teikoku a man? I was under the impression the unseen teikoku was supposed to be the player and therefore gender neutral.

    1. Vantage

      The assumption is that he is a man, yes. Technically teitoku is gender-neutral, and we have no way of knowing thus far, but given that an overwhelming majority of Kancolle players are likely to be male, it’s much easier to take it for granted and refer to teitoku as such. Producer in iM@S is supposed to represent the player too, and making him male was practically a given – although he actually had a proper role in that show.

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