Kantai Collection: KanColle

(This has been adapted from my reddit thread. Spoilers ahead!) In an anime like KanColle, with all of its ships, all of its "moe," and all of its torpedoes, there actually exists something that the audience can relate to. And that is the idea of support. Everyone needs help, from the student looking to get tutored for the next exam to the adult wanting to learn how to use the computer. We almost can't get through our daily lives without someone, in some form, providing some kind of aid in our direction. And receiving such support can often times be both a rewarding and eye-opening experience. STORY KanCollefollows young Fubuki, an up-and-coming Destroyer Class ship looking to do what she can in a war that involves her, her friends, and her beloved Admiral. KanColle is a show that only anime could tackle; essentially, all of the girls from Kaga to Naka are anthropomorphized navy vessels, having turned from venerable war machines into really cute girls. While technically a "Military" genre anime, the show is mostly a slice-of-life offering, aiming to showcase the girls at various points in their training, lives, and careers as battle cruisers. And for the most part, the anime is able to pull this off. One tactic used to accomplish this goal is by divvying up the screen time for the majority of its cast. While Fubuki garners the most limelight, the show often times splits characters into respective groups, and even occasionally changing said groups up. In this way, the anime gives the audience the chance to watch their favorite ship do everyday things, from bathing, to eating, and even cooking. Another tactic is in the very nature of a militarized zone: each girl is relegated to specific tasks. While the majority of the girls are designed for battle -- Akagi, Kongou, and Yuudachi come to mind -- some are designed for other, more nuanced tasks. For example, Nagato is the overall leader, Yamato has her own "hotel," and Hibiki is used for collection. By separating the ships into further, more specific roles, when the anime naturally transitions from one location to the next, so do the characters involved. The slice-of-life antics only make up about half of the anime; the other half moves into the aforementioned military facet. Here, the various girls actually start to be the very war vessels they actually are. It's at this point the show really begins to suffer. KanColle would like these battles to have any significant meaning attached to them, but sadly there isn't any to be had. While a wide range of girls receive attention, the amount isn't enough to constitute a connection deep enough to warrant their predicaments worthy of drama. Instead, it feels lacking, forced even, that the girls are placed within these situations. And such a feeling also comes from the purpose of the battles themselves; the victory never does anything. They may fight for an island or protect a strategic location, but the outcomes of the fights are always the same: win, go back to base, and wait for the next skirmish. Among the cuteness and firepower, KanColle does at least attempt to have some sort of thematic presence throughout its run. "Attempt" is the operative word, because the show somewhat fails at doing so. It sticks to the general and tired themes that most cute anime strive for: dealing with hardship, learning to accept others, and fighting against destiny. Nice little motifs, and certainly insights that one can take to heart, but none are looked at extremely seriously and only there for the structure of the anime. Think of the themes as a stack of paper; one piece is pulled from the stack and used to hold the show up. But since it's just one piece of paper, it breaks under the weight it is holding. Yet before it falls, it is held up by the next piece of paper -- the next theme -- only for the process to continue repeating indefinitely. It's not until the entire stack is placed underneath that the anime is prevented from falling. This interconnected support is literally just that: a theme of support. For while each individual, fun message is fine, what they all have in common is this idea of supporting one another, no matter the circumstance. And that's something that is not only consistent throughout the anime, but makes sense in context; whatever kind of military it is, supporting each other is the number one goal. ANIMATION KanColle is a mixed bag when it comes to its art and its animation. The art for the show can actually be quite nice at times, but it largely depends on location. When the girls are at home base, the track field, mess hall, and dorms may not be detailed exquisitely but it still looks rather pretty. Yet, just like the move from slice-of-life to military, when the girls move onto the water, all of that art disappears. It's replaced with a lot of sky and ocean, with such a replacement losing any flair the show may have generated. The character designs for each of the ships are nicely done. The girls are given unique outfits depending on the character -- Yamato has her umbrella, Shimikaze has her bunny ears, and Atago has her blue pilot's outfit, to name a few. Furthermore, they each have their own, specialized weaponry to go along with their persons. Depending on the class and the size of the girl, their cannons match accordingly. When it comes to actual animation, it's a bit of a toss-up. When the girls are on their missions, the use of CG isn't too jarring, but the use of their weapons and the maneuvers they pull off aren't anything extraneous. It's usually them standing still, one arm out, and a bunch of smoke that covers the screen. When they're not out on the water, their casual conversations and simple motions are still of the same complexity; quite average. CHARACTERS KanColle contains quite the large cast. The majority of the characters don't see significant progress, but here it's prudent to take a look at three of the most important from the show: Fubuki, Yamato, and Mutsuki. Taking the lead, Fubuki is the average main character. She's kind and intelligent, but it's obvious that her skills are far lower than the others in the troupe. She struggles and fights to earn her place among their ranks, wanting to prove to herself and to everyone that she is capable of being the Destroyer that she is. This drive, this incessant need to be more than she is, is what the Admiral sees in her that the rest cannot. It's not so much that she has the largest guns, or can fire the biggest torpedoes, or has the greatest accuracy. What she provides is something intangible, something that not a lot of people immediately have. And that's courage. The courage to train from morning to night without rest. The courage to face your faults, to fix your mistakes. The courage to take a chance rather than holding back. And in this way, her fortitude gives her not only the ability to lead those around her but also support the very ships she calls friends. So while she may be the stereotypical hero, her exemplification of the underlying theme of the anime marks her as at least being slightly more than generic. In a stranger position is Yamato. Her enormous firepower makes her the fleet's secret weapon. But because of this, she's kept hidden away, unused in battle and forced to toil on an island that rarely gets visitors. She feels both lonely and worthless for these reasons, which, in a rather interesting way, makes her Fubuki's previous self. For Fubuki was in the exact same position; on the outside looking in and not being able to work with the girls she had come to respect. And so Yamato learns from Fubuki. She sees her determination, drive, and dedication at doing whatever it takes to fix the situation at hand. This instills in Yamato her own sense of purpose; that while she may be constrained to a more unique role, that doesn't mean she isn't valuable in some form. Thus Yamato gains her own kind of courage, showing up when the going got tough and proving to the girls and to the audience that everyone has a purpose. Perhaps the strangest of the ships, though, is Mutsuki. She's overtly sweet, always shouting niceties and aiding the friends around her. What's interesting is that she is rarely seen in battle; she makes a few appearances, but her prominence is her location outside of it. And that is usually in a flower field, near a shrine, or at the pier, where she is most often found believing in the aptitude of the ships at sea. She's not particularly noteworthy for her battle prowess, nor is she famous for being one of the cuter girls. In a way, she acts the most human, praying, wishing, and wanting the girls to perform to the best of their abilities, cheering from the sidelines rather than being the very vessel she is known to be. She experiences difficult times -- the loss of the girl she looks up to -- which tests her will, but, in true Fubuki fashion, Fubuki gives Mutsuki the courage necessary to continue believing in the ships around her. For nobody goes through life without problems, thus making how you deal with those issues to be the most important lesson. SOUND The OP contains quite the strong singer, whose vocal power carries the entire track from start to finish. The hard guitar and drum beat work nicely in unison, and help to support the vocalist throughout. The lyrics and tune can be catchy at certain points, though it is still an overall alright piece. Once again, the singer takes center stage in the ED. Although here, it features something weird: fast, catchy lyrics. The song is at first not that good of a listen, but after hearing it a few times, one gets used to the guitar, chimes, and quick singing, making the piece the stronger of the two. The soundtrack often fits the mood for the show, depending on whether it is partaking in the slice-of-life or military genres it falls under. The former usually uses piano and violins for those everyday sounds, and a single-drum for that training feel. The military aspects, in contrast, incorporate orchestral music for a more resounding vibe. Trumpets and violins work overtime during these scenarios, making the fights gain a heightened feeling of importance. Also of note are the cannon, gunfire, and ocean sound effects that give the battles further realism. As for voice acting, those involved give above-average performances. Special shout-outs are in order for Ayane Sakura for voicing what seems to be half of the cast and Yuni Tanibe for her signature "Poi!" ENJOYMENT When it comes to anime, I'm a fan of cuteness. And while not all of the girls were fun to watch on screen, some were quite entertaining to see. My favorites from the show were Yamato and Nagato for their attractiveness, while Oochi and Kitakami's relationship nearly always got me to laugh or smile. On the other hand, though, I despised Mutsuki. Just the combination of her voice and her extreme sweetness had me wanting her to leave the screen as quickly as she appeared. That's pretty much it in terms of enjoyment. The rest of the girls are alright, and there can be some cute moments here and there, but there is nothing entirely memorable. The actual battles, watching the girls at sea fighting against the enemy, were where the anime really began to lag. Instead of seeing the "cute girls being cute," I was instead treated to warfare that wasn't all that impressive or fun to watch. A lot of screaming, a lot of explosions, but zero adorableness. As an anime, KanColle does what it set out to do. Its average story and characters are backed by a good amount of cuteness and some interesting sound work, making the whole package an alright experience. At the end of the day, though, there isn't much more to it than that. SUMMARY Story: Fine, interesting slice-of-life, meaningless battles, and individually weak yet collectively strong themes Animation: Fine, mix of good and bad art, nice character designs, average actual animation Characters: Fine, Fubuki is good, Yamato and Mutsuki are okay, with the rest not seeing significant progress Sound: Fine, okay OP, okay ED, okay soundtrack, nice sound effects, above-average VA work Enjoyment: Fine, some of the girls are fun to watch, some are not, with the actual ship aspect being rather boring Final Score: 5/10

TL;DR: At face value, it's a cute girls doing cute things show that combines Japanese otaku's two favourite fetishes: high school girls & military hardware. However, as the series progresses, it seems that Kancolle is not only meant as harmless fetish porn, but is in fact an attempt to deal with Japan's demons over their defeat in World War Two by having cute girls dress up as boats & literally blowing those demons up. For all its ham-fisted handling of the subject matter, it's good for a laugh, albeit in a “if you can't laugh, what can you do?” kind of way. Anyone who follows internationalnews may have seen Japan put its foot in it, so to speak, when it comes to its approach to remembering World War Two. Be it angering South Korea when government figures call for the retraction of Japan's recognition of “comfort women” as being sex slaves, or Prime Minister Abe angering everyone when he very publicly paid his respects at Yakasumi shrine, it seems that Japan, or at least a sizeable proportion of its population, continues to struggle with how to conceptualise & remember this period in history, or how the echoes of it continue to reverberate in South-East Asian & world politics today. This might seem an odd way to start a review of Kancolle (not to mention being simplistic to the point of offensive), an adaptation of a popular pay2win game where cute girls dress up as warships from the Imperial Japanese Navy to fight demons. Well, strictly speaking they posses the spirits of said warships, but it amounts to the same thing. Our protagonist, Fubuki, is the new girl at the all girls scho...navel base where they train to fight the mysterious demons from across the seas. As you'd expect, Fubuki is high on determination & resolve but low on talent or skill, the bulk of the series being about her gradual rise from being barely able to float to becoming the most important battle boat in the babefleet. In addition to her, we have a vast ensemble of other girls whose one dimensional character types loosely match with the ships they represent (the pirate lolis are destroyers, the elegant seniors are carriers etc etc). Much like Girlfriend BETA, the cast is so large that really you can't even try to remember who they all are, or why what they're doing is supposed to matter. (note that from this point things will be discussed that may be considered spoilers) A lot of Kancolle looks & feels cobbled together from other cute girls shows. There are girls who make animal noises because moe. There's a girl with random mascot creature companions because every show has to have mascots. The bigger ship girls love eating mountains of food because otaku love busty girls with big appetites. There's a random cooking episode in the middle of the series because why wouldn't there be (no points for guessing that they cook curry). There's yuri undertones all over the place & Fubuki has a serious “notice me, senpai” girl crush on fleet carrier Akagi because of course she does. Even the more serious sides to Kancolle feel like they're just going through the motions. A mentor character dies in episode three because a mentor character always dies/disappears to mark the end of Act 1, only in this case you'd only really know her to be that type of character if you know the history of the ship, since her on screen time is negligible. Even the ending, which is ultimately a we'll fight to change our fate showdown, feels like it could have been taken from almost any other action based anime out there. However, draped around all this generic storytelling & characters is something that becomes increasingly uncomfortable viewing as the show moves towards its climax. As already said, all the girls in the babefleet posses the spirit of an actual IJN warship from World War Two. Indeed, while the plot progresses in a pretty standard way, Kancolle does make an effort to ensure that when things happen to specific girls, it mirrors in some way the actual events their warship counterpart were involved in. Why is this problematic? Well once you see Kancolle as in effect a re-enactment of the Pacific War with cute girls, their demonic enemies can only been seen as the US navy (& possibly also the Royal navy, though less explicitly). Indeed, the final battle is an unapologetic re-imagining of the Battle of Midway, complete with a demon carrier that is easily interpreted as a stand in for the USS Yorktown, where the Japanese win. It's made even more questionable by the preceding event having been a surprise attack by the demons on their main navel base, as though it's not enough to imagine winning at Midway but they had to be the victims of Pearl Harbour too. If this had been a German movie re-imagining the Battle of Stalingrad as a glorious Nazi victory, or an American one re-imagining Gettysburg as a heroic victory for the Confederacy, one might imagine it would piss people off a bit. Yes, you can say it's only fiction, & Kancolle is certainly making sure to look as fantasy as possible. But the moment you combine fiction with real events you are in effect expressing a view on those events, & Kancolle's seems to be that its audience should not only be proud of their wartime military but in fact celebrate the military aggression it was involved in, presenting the whole thing as in fact a defensive war against a demonic foreign power that couldn't be reasoned or negotiated with. When looked at in it's current day context, Kancolle ties in with both pressure from the Japanese right on the government (including from some of its own members) to revise what they see as a defeatist & emasculating view of Japan's wartime past & the increasingly bellicose calls for re-militarisation of the Japanese armed forces, including the right to expand the Japanese navy, under the mantra of “collective self-defence.” Yes, you can say it's just a niche late night fanservice anime that hardly anyone watches & seeing it as anything more is just over thinking, but I disagree. For one, cultural products are not created in a vacuum, & at the very least Kancolle depicts the views the creators &, one assumes, their target audience hold. There are no neutral observers of history & Kancolle choosing to depict its version of history in the way that it does is no accident. It might hide its ideas behind more obvious fan service, but they're still there & they're clearly not meant to be ignored by the audience, even though you can always choose to do so. On the subject of fan service, Kancolle is, as you'd probably expect, riddled with it (I'm aware this is a rather awkward tonal shift, from discussing history to boob grabs, but bare with me). When I first heard of Kancolle, I thought it would be more like Girlz und Panzer, in that it would be about actual warships crewed by high school girls. The reality is something much more laughable, as the girls instead transform into weaponised versions of themselves Nobunagun style. I don't know why it was considered good character design, but what this amounts to is girls in high school uniforms, on jet skis, with scale model parts of their ship class stuck to their clothes. It does work to a degree with the carriers, which are depicted as archers whose arrows turn into aircraft upon firing, but for all the others it just looks stupid. Of course, it allows for the girls to strike lots of cliché & titillating body poses while firing, so I guess if your fetish is girls wearing bits of boat, it's got you covered. It's ultimate form of fan service, however, comes in the shape of the mysterious admiral. In case you were wondering if there are any male characters in Kancolle, there is one. You never see more than his shadow, but he is always there, always with the right plan for victory. All the girls worship him & Fubuki outright loves him, with one out of nowhere dream sequence involving her in a white dress, confessing while looking straight into the camera. Who is this mysterious, genius Lothario, you ask? Well that's simple: he's you*. You, the (presumed male) viewer &/or player who fantasise as is always assumed in cute girl shows that everything the cast do, they do for & because of you. You're awesome, guy watching a cartoon about 13-18 year old girls in revealing clothes, striking sexy poses while playing with phallic military hardware when they're not playing with each other. Shine on you crazy diamond. (at this point the reviewer caught his reflection in the monitor & cried) *One could also read the faceless admiral as Kancolle's way of getting around depicting Admiral Yamamoto, the actual mastermind behind the Battle of Midway & someone whose actual depiction in a otaku pandering show like Kancolle would have probably caused the producers far more of a headache than it would be worth. Kancolle, then, is a fairly standard action anime with cute girls that does manage to distinguish itself, but ultimately in all the wrong ways. Viewed purely as a TV show, stripped of all context or implication behind its subject, it's not bad but at the same time it makes it very obvious that it is doing everything it can to pander to it's intended audience to the point of obnoxiousness. In a broader context, it is an uncomfortable example of Japan's continued struggle to come to terms with it's role in World War Two or how that role continues to shape the opinions of Japan held by other countries. Hayao Miyazaki said of making “The Wind Rises” that he felt torn between viewing Japan's military aggression as having been foolish but taking pride in the Zero as a machine & the bravery of the pilots that flew it. Kancolle lacks such a conflicted view, & either by intention or an accidental by-product of poor writing presents a counter-factual version of history where Japan was both victim & victor. It'll take more than a wide eyed girl in a short skirt to make me agree with that.

Kantai Collection or KanColle is an anime adaptation of a hit web browser game. I haven't played the game or seen it. But what I did see before this anime came were pictures, lots and lots of pictures of girls with guns. Not just any guns, torpedoes, missiles, cannons and what not. And of course, I was intrigued as to whether this game would ever become an anime. When the anime was announced, I put it at the top of my list since I wanted to see what awesome action we would get. The series started off good, it didn't give as much action as Ithought but the animation and art was splendid except for the CGI part (no one likes CGI). But still, this anime was really good and as a slice of life, military, action style anime, it does a good job. Story 7/10: Low score because there isn't much of a story. It's just girls who are ships fighting abyssals or enemy ships/girls. The whole anime surrounds Fubuki, a Destroyer ship who joins the Naval District. She makes friends, trains to become stronger and has senpai's she looks up to. That's the slice of life part. For those who think this is gonna be a dark type war with blood, gore, deaths and some psychological stuff, don't be mistaken. The war barely puts a dent in the happy atmosphere that surrounds the series. Yeah, they do go fighting but that's all there is. The effects of the battle wear off as soon as they return and live like normal girls going to class etcetera etcetera. Though near the end of the series, stuff gets a bit serious and the war takes a higher importance than the slice of life. Art 8/10: Aside from the CGI, the artwork was pretty amazing. Each and every character is awesomely designed. I've seen artworks all over the internet but I think this anime did a pretty good job in the art department. I couldn't find a single character that I can say has a bad design. As for the abyssals, only some have a humanish figure whereas the others are just fish type things with cannons. The backgrounds are also really pleasing. So don't worry about the animation in this anime. But you'll have to make it through the battles which mostly take place with CGI which I do not understand why they did. Sound 10/10: The opening "Miiro" is epic. Loved this song. Good enough to download and listen to all the time. The ending "Fubuki" is also good. Rarely have I seen anime having great opening and endings. The sound gets a 10/10. Character 8/10: There are different types of ship in the navy. Each having it's own abilities, arsenal and tasks. The same is with KanColle. Each girl has a different ship to her. Some are Destroyers, carriers, battleships etc. But they are not alone. In the Naval District, there are tons of Destroyers, carriers and other ships. Each having her own duty. Some are teachers, some manage the district while others study, train and go into battle. Aside from their roles as ships, they are like any other character from an anime. Just think of the girls as from a school slice of life anime. Friends, rivals, senpais and teachers. That's how the characters are. And each has her own unique personality to contribute to the show. Our main lead, Fubuki is a hardworking girl who doesn't know much at first, but trains to become stronger. Alongside her, are her friends who also take part in training and who worry for her when she gets in trouble or gets injured. Fubuki and her friends are sort of like the first years of a school. Then come the seniors. Veterans in warfare and having amazing skills, they are the senpais everyone looks up to. Of course, rivalries exist and some grudges too but not so much to spoil the warm atmosphere the Naval District has. Enjoyment 9/10: I don't know how can one not enjoy this series (aside from the CGI parts). You've got some fillers to lighten up the mood and your average slice of life just to give this military anime a warm feeling. When the battles start, stuff gets intense, with planes flying around, cannons firing, ships sinking. But like any other slice of life anime, KanColle tends not to kill off many girls even though it is a war. The mechanics of the anime are figured out as it progresses. As I didn't play the game, it took some time for me to know how these girls are ships and why the rest or eat as they do. It's a good anime. A really good anime for this season. If you've seen pics of any KanColle characters on the net, I'm sure you would want to see this anime too and go ahead, it's worth it. And the best thing is that it's getting a sequel. So many new characters yet to see in action.

Don't take my score rating at face value. Kancolle (the anime) is a mesh of conflicts which makes it difficult to rate, also because of its target audience. The anime, before it aired, was announced to be crafted to exhibit a slice-of-life/battle ratio of 70%/30%, and that is where the problem lies. The anime basically hands you a platter of samples from the Kancolle universe but doesn't quite put in the effort to ensure that each sample is well crafted and fully developed. Let us start with the slice-of-life part first. Here's a warning to those who don't play the game: You won't get much of itat all. Most of the slice-of-life humour and interesting points stem from puns (like the Curry Operation) from the game and real history, to the characters' personalities which are well-exhibited in the game. Even for people who play the game, unless you know your waifus well (i.e. you understand the Japanese lines they say), you will also not be able to catch much. The scripts have the game's lines well weaved in in most parts, and almost every other line you hear will be either an exact or slightly modified line from the game. To fans, this is probably the most appealing part, because it brings out the personalities of each shipgirl and makes them come alive. Some people might dislike the overuse of in-game lines, but I'd say it's most of the time done quite appropriately, and is likely the best way to show the character's personality that we're familiar with. Bonuses are included as well. "Unexpected" character behaviours like Nagato (aka Nagamon) and Zui-Kaga are included too, which are based off the fanfics. Good effort! Apart from that, the slice-of-life plot, is typical: entertaining, relaxing, and nothing much happens. Well done! The battle scenes are on the whole not too bad, apart from the awkward CGI here and there (and my friend spotted a single frame render error as well). Problem is, it's split as well. About half the battles, mostly at the beginning of the anime, are pretty exciting and nice to watch (they feature the fairies in the planes too!), but then after that it falls stale towards the later part of the anime. By the time you get to the end, it's really nothing new, apart from just more and more ships getting involved and starts to feel cheesy. The battle scenes are the part of the anime which doesn't really require you to know the game since the game battles are not very similar, but it doesn't impress both audiences, which is a shame. Drama in the show is also very awkward. There are some heartfelt scenes, and I must say I thought the anime (hint of a very slight spoiler here) was going to build up nicely from about ep 3 and ep 4, but it doesn't. The drama doesn't flow from one episode to another well, if any at all. While that's not a problem for slice-of-life, the writers decided to (try to) inject lots of seriousness in certain places, and because it just fizzles out by the next episode without a hint to its previous existence, the whole thing feels contrived. Character development is practically zilch, except for the main character, Fubuki, who gets a bit. But I can understand that because it wants to stay true to the game, the characters can't change much. Also, some personalities (like Kongou) are based off the history of the ship itself, and so can't be changed much. With such a wide cast of characters, you'd be hard pressed to find enough time (for the slice-of-life segments) or impact (for battle and drama scenes) to develop any character in particular. So on the whole, the anime is just very awkward because all the elements cancel each other out. You get heavy scenes of drama and battles only to be totally forgotten by light-hearted ones later as though none of that happened. They are not particularly well executed either. OP and ED of the anime is great, and I think, if it was more focused on battles, these songs would fit it very well. To conclude, you'd have to be in to this show for the characters to enjoy it, I'd say, and thus, you'd need to know the characters WELL either by seeing lots of fanfic or playing the game (or both!), otherwise the good parts will just fly past you leaving you with only the bad parts, which is likely why there's a whole lot of people bashing the show. Please be aware of that if you're taking up this series! PS: I gave it a 7/10 because the 70% slice-of-life part was basically done right.

Merchandise

Links may contain affiliate references

Studio

Producers

Themes