Kantai Collection: The Anime!

[KamenAeons]

Click the picture to see the character art and stuff!

So! I've been planning on this for a while now, and here it is! Kantai Collection, or KanColle as known by most of the fanbase is set to hit the television screens some time in January 2015!

"Just what is Kantai Collection?", I hear a fleet of you asking? Go here!

Anime PV1:

Spoiler: show

So. An anime adaptation of a card game adapting WWII navy ships into adorable girls. Sounds perfectly fine by me! *rolls manically in hype and excitement* Girls skiing on water? Explosions? Really nice orchestral music? Wheee~!

[KamenAeons]

Oh right, this was something that happened last month, but sort of slipped my mind.

Anime PV2:

Spoiler: show

Reactions of two of our Yupienians:

Spoiler: show

By the end of it I was half-amused/disturbed by the thought of such cheery patriotic music playing over battle scenes with girls dying. *shot*

The music caught my attention too, but more for the war-romancing jingoism the franchise is oft accused of. ^_^;

I'd go running around with a "One month to go" banner, but I still have to clear out my backlog. OTL

[KamenAeons]

So... episode one came out a few days ago.

Nothing too exciting just yet, really, but I guess hype for it has let me keep my interest in it.

Spoiler: show

We did get to see a bit of Abyssal service though. Perhaps we'll get more later on. Also whee equipping that flight deck. It's like an odd slice-of-life mecha thing.

[Talon87]

Episode 01: I enjoyed it throughout. It was more the enjoyment of a fanboy than that of a story gourmand, I will admit, as the episode was heavy on the nods to fans and light on explanations to newcomers about what in the hell is going on and who these girls are.

Spoiler: show

PAN PAKA PAN! Atago shows up in one of the episode's briefest cameos.



Nagato.



MUH ABYSSALS. :3





MUH ABYSSALS. :3 Okay, fine, so we only got a close-up of Hakuchiseiki plus one Wo-class cameo, but I'm confident that they're saving all of the best ones for last. :3 (Best ones. The very best ones. )



Fubuki was cute at times ...



... and funny at times ...



... and good God was she gorgeously animated most of the time. (As were most of the girls.)

But for right now, I'm more than a little disappointed by this series' decision to focus on what is not only Team Loli but is furthermore Team Loli That No One Gives A Shit About. :\ When I think of "main characters" for Kantai Collection, I think of Kongou & Crew, I think of Atago, I think of Kaga and Akagi, I think of Nagato and Mutsu, I think of Musashi, I think of Tenryuu and Souryuu, I think of Shimakaze, so on and so forth. Yet all of these girls are side characters in the television adaptation of their very own franchise. All of them are side characters in a story that appears like it's going to focus on a dorm room of no-one lolis and an overlapping squadron of no-one lolis.



But yeah. Gorgeous animation. And when it's focusing on main characters (as above), it's much appreciated.

The two songs we heard in the first trailer each showed up here and were each fantastic. Unfortunately, not much else of the soundtrack stood out to me this episode. But we'll see!

Really hoping that this story has some balls and decides to go with a good, emotional route for explaining the Abyssals' origins. I'm not holding my breath though -- so long as DMM withholds canon confirmation from players of the video game, and so long as they seem so close to spilling the beans (as I've been led to believe they are by fan observations over the past six months), it's unlikely that the anime will be given the green light to reveal much of anything canonical about the Abyssals' origins. But we'll just have to see!

Having not heard everyone's voices before, it's been fun seeing which of them sound like I'd expected and which of them do not or in what way do they not. For instance, Nagato is kinda close, I guess, but I didn't picture her sounding so loud and pseudo-masculine. (I did picture a lower, more masculine voice for her than for other girls though.) Kaga is pretty close but Akagi sounds very similar to Kaga and it's not at all how I pictured her sounding. I pictured Akagi sounding more higher pitched and faster tempo'd than she is. Like Inoue Kikuko's Sanae (Clannad) only a little less high pitched and a little less bubbly. I dunno. Most of them seem spot on, which is as it should be. One would hope that fanart based on characters who had voices to begin with would conjure the right impressions of their voices in the fans' minds!

[KamenAeons]

@ Talon's thoughts

Spoiler: show

Still surprised that Talon doesn't think of love's 2-4-11 when KanColle is mentioned. *shot*

*waits patiently for Re-Class*

[Talon87]

Copying and pasting this from the KanColle Skype chat. It begins with a response to text Kamen had written over the past week but since no one in the chat was online or responsive it gave me the opportunity to just think out loud the entire time.

But first: WARNING! This post may contan spoilers. There are a lot of fires that both fanart and official game data have fanned regarding some of the series' overarching mysteries and plot elements. If you don't consider stuff revealed by fanart or the video game to be a spoiler, then click away as it's all just me speculating based on what I have seen or know from these two sources. But if you're wanting to go into Kantai Collection completely blind, then you shouldn't click.

Spoiler: show

Yeah, you definitely beat me. The last time I'd gotten to use my computer before it died was on Tuesday, and Wednesday was when the episode aired. I didn't get to see it until the day I posted in the thread with my thoughts on it.

I enjoyed the episode okay. I had had lunch with my friend on Tuesday (one week ago today) and he had tempered my excitement with much talk of early disappointing reviews, his own included. Coming at it as someone with nearly no prior knowledge of the KanColle universe, he found the episode to be pretty poor save for the exquisite animation. So I knew I probably wasn't going to be getting a 10/10 experience myself, but I at least hoped that it would prove better for someone with emotional investment in the franchise and prior knowledge (however meager both of mine may be) than for someone without any of either.

And it did. So that was nice.

One episode in, the vibe I'm getting is "As expected, this experience will prove similar to the one I had with Senran Kagura. But it's Senran Kagura on a mammoth budget." But I am hoping that things will get more substantial very quickly. Especially if DMM plans to unveil, concurrent with the anime's airing, the true nature of the Abyssal Fleet. Whether they are sunken KanMusus, whether they are American warships, whether they are geographical locations and/or items that featured in Pacific theater conflicts, etc.

A lot of the recent boats' characteristics have had names that match corresponding characteristics of American warships during WW2. (+1 to the American ships theory) But a lot of the recent recorded dialogue has struck fans as being similar to and/or references to dialogue of fan-favorite KanMusus. (+1 to the sunken KanMusus theory)

I don't really see how the Abyssals can be currently-with-us KanMusus. It's a temporal paradox. Like, how you can have both Kaga and Sunken Kaga at the same time, on the same screen. Does not compute. But I prefer the angst-drama of the Abyssals being sunken ships (WHICH, y'know, KIND OF MAKES SENSE OUT OF THEIR NAME "ABYSSAL FLEET", DON'T YOU THINK? ) to the option of them either being American vessels or landmarks. Through a combination of biases from their fleet name and much of the early fanart I was exposed to, I've definitely assumed that the Abyssals are, at the very least, sunken ships of some kind. Whether WW2-era or not, whether Japanese or not, that they are at the very least boats that sank to the bottom of the sea, were claimed by the ocean floor, and were reborn as Abyssals. This death-and-rebirth idea definitely fits with the Abyssals' various necrotic elements. (The girls' pale skin. The black things' skull-like features and relative lack of color. The fact that so many of the girls who come with the black skull things, like the Wo-class, have the black skulls on top of their heads, almost like the black thing is a parasitic organism that has reanimated the corpse of a sunken ship-girl.) While it could be preserved alongside the Abyssals' identities being all foreign (i.e. non-Japanese), I think it'd lose a lot of pathos. It'd be a hell of a lot darker, hit home a hell of a lot harder, if the surviving KanMusus could recognize amongst the Abyssal Fleet some of their lost comrades.

The thing is, most of the fan-favorite Abyssals have unique personalities -- personalities that don't overlap with fan-favorite KanMusus. I have yet to see a motherly figure amongst the KanMusus that mirrors Kouwanseiki in depictions of her alongside Hoppouseiki. I have yet to see a KanMusu who seems as mentally imbalanced as some depictions of Hikoujouki.

And there's solid supporting evidence for the Allied Forces landmarks theory. For example, Hikoujouki (Airstrip Princess) could be Henderson Field at Guadalcanal and it's hard to argue around Chuukanseiki (Midway Princess) being anything but a reference to Midway Island.

I dunno. We'll see. Or rather -- I hope we'll see. I hope to see all of this explored in the show. If it isn't, and the show is just twelve episodes of inconsequential fluff, then bah. Here's hoping that this show isn't just eyecandy for KanColle fans but that it's one of the best offerings of the Winter 2015 season!

[Doppleganger]

I'm 8:21 in and I'm sorry but I've largely tuned out. Watching this makes me feel like someone took a Gillete Mach 3 Turbo to my cerebral cortex.

It is boring. It's intended to be moe, which for some guys is just "cute :3" or sexy in an oddish creepy way. Either way, I can't say cute girls doing things is a great way to hold my a-span.

[big bad birtha]

I think it might be largely intended for people who play the game, because I was bored out of my mind when watching as well. Not only boring but pretty dumb. I think it's something to have to get used to.

I'm still trying to open my mind and see what all the damn hub-bub is all about though!

[Talon87]

Originally Posted by Doppleganger

I'm 8:21 in and I'm sorry but I've largely tuned out. Watching this makes me feel like someone took a Gillete Mach 3 Turbo to my cerebral cortex.

It is boring. It's intended to be moe, which for some guys is just "cute :3" or sexy in an oddish creepy way. Either way, I can't say cute girls doing things is a great way to hold my a-span.

That's understandable. I didn't think the episode was fantastic myself -- I just had frequent flashes of excitement getting to see girls I knew in a beautifully-animated, filly-voiced format. I did enjoy the episode -- I'm just saying, I didn't think it was Little Witch Academia either.

If you don't have prior investment in this franchise, then Episode 01 is probably going to disappoint. My hope is that this won't be the case for Episodes 02 onward.

[Sparkbeat]

Checked out the first episode, and for the most part I enjoyed it. There were a few times throughout that were a bit off, but I could tell most of those were meant for fans of the series from what you guys have said. Mostly though, I'm interested enough to keep watching, and anything I'm not a fan of is pretty minor and personal.

Spoiler: show

The initial exhibition dump was kinda meh for me due to me personally disliking them, but from what I gather it'd be pretty difficult to explain it well without one.

---

And just watched the second episode before posting this. This one felt a lot a lot a lot more focused, so that was a plus for me at least. I enjoyed it, so I'm definitely gonna keep watching, but not too much in particular stood out for me. Only stuff that did stand out was the animation, and the phenomenal music. Probably gonna download the OP and Ending songs as soon as I can xd

[lilboocorsola]

I've seen the first two eps.

Spoiler: show

Honestly, this gives me the same vibe I had when trying to watch the first ep of iDOLM@STER: just a bunch of cute girls doing cute things. I get there are probably a lot of references for fans of the games, but for me the moe just feels forced. (The constant "poi" especially gets on my nerves, sorry.) I personally can't wait/hope for some sinking/despair to happen to make things interesting. *shot* Like Talon I also hope they at least explore what the Abyssals are/give them a backstory.

The production values are nice at least (although I'm not a fan of the CGI battles). The equipment scene was cool to watch. Reminded me of the NC's review of Waterworld. ("STUFF! MORE STUFF!")

[Talon87]

Episode 02 thoughts later, but for right now, before I forget: this fan edit of a cel from the OP:

Spoiler: show

もしん @mosin_nozomi



OPの愛宕さん&高雄さんシーンのテロップ消してみました。愛宕さんぐぅかわやでぇ・・・ http://t.co/G4reKL2UA0

Really goes to show how, despite the show's various shortcomings thus far, the animation really is top notch at times. (Of course OPs are always on a different level, but still. This looks superb.)

[KamenAeons]

Episode 2!

Spoiler: show

Yes, ignore the overdose of poi. I'll probably end up being destroyed by the hungry wolf anyway.

So that was a nice-ish episode in my opinion. Fubuki's training never ceases to humour me, but I think that's just because I laugh whenever she faceslides on the water. Her accuracy is frighteningly low though. >_>;

It was pretty nice to have a semi-focus on the Sendai class as well, although the fact that it was one VA speaking with herself the entire time in this scene here amazes me a bit

=>Ayane Sakura voices the Sendai class as well as the Nagato class. (Although the One Nao Show still takes the cake = Nao Touyama voicing the Kongou class and... I think a few other ships.)

Not much to say really, but I'm looking forward to the next episode. We're getting ourselves some Abyssals incoming!

Ah, now I remember. The use of the bucket is surprisingly less splashy than I had hoped. But my thoughts on it was that the shipgirl (somethingsomethingAkagiandherlooooongdockstay) would just have the bucket pouring its contents on their head.

Anyhoo, BANZAI!

Oh, and for Sparky, with love from the KanColle reddit:
"60fps WebM of the OP"

[lilboocorsola]

Originally Posted by KamenAeons

Anyhoo, BANZAI!

Forgot to mention this was a cute and clever way of getting Fubuki to strip.

[Talon87]

Episode 02:

Spoiler: show

I thought this episode was fine/okay and gives me 6 out of 10 vibes for the future of the series. A friend in town disliked the episode so much that he hard-dropped the series and rates it a 3 out of 10. Some of you liked the episode a bit more than I did; I gather from your posts that you were feeling anywhere from 6 out of 10 on up to 8 out of 10. I dunno. One thing that has become fast apparent to me with Kantai Collection: the Animation is that wanting to like or dislike the series matters far less than if you have prior investment in the franchise.

Nagato was a personal favorite coming into this series. While I'm glad to see that she's been included, the anime's depiction of her is a bit too mannish compared with what I imagined. I imagined a more ... I guess the best comparison would be Tsugumi from Ever17, someone like her. Whereas Nagato in the KanColle anime feels a lot more like Makoto from THE iDOLM@STER or other masculine women in anime.

More frustrating than the masculine depiction (which I'll grant may be character canon) is the lack of screen time. "Some time is better than no time," true, but Nagato's brief presence on screen is a constant reminder of what I had wanted this anime to be and of what we're getting instead.

I explained it via Touhou to my friend who dropped the series: what I wanted from a Kantai Collection anime was something that would have starred the Hakurei Reimu of this franchise and which would have featured the Kirisame Marisa, the Yakumo Yukari, the Remilia Scarlet, etc, as the main supporting characters. Instead, what we've gotten is the KanColle equivalent of a Touhou anime starring a no-name fairy who is accompanied by Sunny Milk, Luna Child, Star Sapphire, and Cirno as she goes to Keine's school for the young supernatural entities of Gensōkyō. Reimu is given a bit role; Marisa has shown up twice, once only for three seconds; and no one's even seen Yukari or Remilia yet. It's like ... this is not the Touhou anime a Touhou fan would want, and it isn't the KanColle anime I was wanting either.

But unlike my friend, I also knew full well what I was getting into. Ever since the Japanese website went up and we saw the first trailer for this anime, we all knew that this series was going to be based on the fan 4koma featuring Fubuki, that it was going to star a bunch of lesser-known lolis who all go to the naval academy together to try and become war-worthy ships. So I don't feel that betrayed or surprised by what we're getting. Just ... continuously disappointed, I guess is the best way of putting it. ^^; "You had all this money, you animate so well ... and you decided to go with the destroyer loli squadron 4koma instead of the light novels starring Kongou."

Easily the most famous girl of the "main cast" so far is Shimakaze. We haven't seen much of her yet, but she's introduced in this episode as one of Fubuki's classmates. I thought she was fun to have along here. I especially liked what Diomedea did with her hair and eye colors. I feel like most fan depictions have given her a stronger yellow blonde for the hair and either blue or green eyes. The pale blonde hair with the grayish-brown or brownish-gray eyes works well.

Atago requires little explanation: one of the franchise's biggest hoihois, this cheery, busty blonde is effectively this series' Miura Azusa (iM@S) or Otohime Mutsumi (Love Hina). To the surprise of no one, her formal introduction in this episode (the 3-second cameo of Episode 01 notwithstanding) is one of the anime's more perverted ones. While Atago may not be on top of many fans' lists for either No.1 Ship Girl or Ship Girl Most Likely To Be This Series' Star, she's not only a definite Top 10 in both those lists but also the No.1 most popular character in KanColle erodoujinshi written in the first half of 2014. (The focus has since spread out to many different girls, but early on I'd say that over 50% easily, maybe as many as 70% of doujins were about Atago.)

Looks are only skin deep though: what fans also like about Atago, and what I'd like to see more of here, is that Azusa-esque personality. She's a mothering type, at least in fan fiction, and could easily serve as the mother figure of this program seeing as the main cast is almost entirely lolis. It helps that she isn't the senpai Fubuki is aiming for -- Akagi is -- since that frees Atago up to become Fubuki's cheerleader / coach / guide.

Last but certainly not least, we have Akagi, Fubuki's role model. This episode gave us two cute little bits of fan service, neither of which I was familiar with before watching the episode since I don't see Akagi very often in the stuff I read or fanart I collect. First, she apparently has a thing for bubble wrap. Second, she has an enormous appetite, likely a reflection of an aircraft carrier's high rate of fuel consumption.

While I liked the curry bit, I was a little less enthused about the bubble wrap. It's cute, don't get me wrong! But it's awfully anachronistic. I got into a discussion about this with my friend, the one who's dropped the series. He was saying that he thought that Kantai Collection took place in who-knows-what-time and who-knows-what-place and that he based this at least in part on the narrator claiming that the ship girls are "girls born with the spirits of ships" rather than being literal anthropomorphizations of the historical ships themselves. Me on the other hand, I feel like a lot of elements in the franchise, from the architecture and diet to the way they write their characters, reflects on the WW2 time period. So is KanColle happening during WW2 or isn't it? Well, we'll just have to wait and see. But for now, I'm going to stick to my belief that it's supposed to be the WW2 era in an alternate world. And if I'm right, then the bubble wrap being present is silly. Bubble wrap wasn't invented until the 1950s and wasn't marketed until the 1960s.

Then again ... did curry become popular in Japan before WW2? ^^;;

All of the above stated, the bubble wrap was still cute. (Sorry. ) And so was the big plate of curry.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

So what about the episode itself? Fubuki's subplot (or should I say main plot) about trying to become a shipgirl capable of partaking in combat? I thought it was good in that it offered necessary direction for this series. For whatever reason, my friend couldn't see this and kept insisting that the episode, and series overall, was "without a plot". I feel like this criticism is possibly fair for Episode 01 but is no longer fair once you finish Episode 02. :\ The series has a plot now. The plot is, "Shipgirl enrolls in naval academy. Hopes to become good enough shipgirl to be sent on real combat missions. Admires one of the fleet's best shipgirls. Hopes to one day join this girl on a mission. Will train at the academy while the veterans confront a serious threat that lies just beyond their borders." Like, we have the framework for the story. (And really: we have had it, since Episode 01. Everything I just listed off was first introduced in Episode 01. It was just codified in 02 a lot more clearly.) Now whether that story is something you'd want to watch for eleven more episodes or not ...

... Well, that's a whole other question. For now, I'll stay put and continue to watch. I think dropping the show at Episode 02 is far too early for me, especially when I have friends watching it with me and none of us has openly given it a score worse than 6 out of 10. If Episodes 03 and 04 are just rehashes of Episode 02, then ehhhhhhh? ^^; Maaaaaaaaaybe I'll be less enthusiastic about watching more? But I'd like to have faith in Diomedea that we're not going to get something so uninspired.

Hopes for the future:
- more plot
- more Abyssals
- why_not_both.gif

My biggest fear right now with the Abyssals is ... when the source material first came out, I don't think we even had Hikoujouki yet, never mind bigger personal favorites like Kouwanseiki and Hoppou-chan. I'm worried that if Diomedea intends to stay super faithful to the source material that it may restrict us to a bunch of boring generals and a much heavier focus on the lowest-ranking ships in the Abyssal fleet, such as the Wo and Re classes. That's good news for Kamen, as I know he likes both of these characters , but for me who is more eager to see the fan-favorite princesses in all of their full glory ... let's just say that for the first time in a long time I'm hoping that the animation team doesn't stick with the source material and does do make some made-for-TV changes to the plot. ^^;

Either that or else start all over and give us an anime starring Kongou and the other battleships. *tomatoed*

[KamenAeons]

Originally Posted by Talon87

Episode 02:

Spoiler: show

Hopes for the future:
- more plot
- more Abyssals
- why_not_both.gif (Kamen: Yes please.)

My biggest fear right now with the Abyssals is ... when the source material first came out, I don't think we even had Hikoujouki yet, never mind bigger personal favorites like Kouwanseiki and Hoppou-chan. I'm worried that if Diomedea intends to stay super faithful to the source material that it may restrict us to a bunch of boring generals and a much heavier focus on the lowest-ranking ships in the Abyssal fleet, such as the Wo and Re classes. That's good news for Kamen, as I know he likes both of these characters , but for me who is more eager to see the fan-favorite princesses in all of their full glory ... let's just say that for the first time in a long time I'm hoping that the animation team doesn't stick with the source material and does do make some made-for-TV changes to the plot. ^^;

Either that or else start all over and give us an anime starring Kongou and the other battleships. *tomatoed*

Thoughts on the potential of the anime:

Spoiler: show

While I am very fond of Wo-kyuu and Re-kyuu, I would very much appreciate showcasing the fan favourites as well, at least the princesses and the demons. If it becomes an all out war between admirals or something, that would be pretty cool, seeing as the fandom has already gone nuts with an Abyssal admiral. I would be very pleased if the Southern War Princess drops in. More so if she gets to wreck stuff.

[big bad birtha]

Episode 2:
My thoughts can be summed up as....meh.

Spoiler: show

I don't give a damn about Lilly White...I mean Fubuki. Nothing stands out in her training scenes. I didn't really dislike anything about the episode (besides the forced moe), but I can't say anything really excited me either. The only bits I liked were the Shimakaze, Atago, and Akagi bits, and "bits" they really are. Oh well. I wasn't bored enough to drop it. Let's see if episode 3 will do anything for me!

[Sparkbeat]

Episode 3 (Spoils):

Spoiler: show

It was solid, not great but not bad by any means. The first 7 minutes or so honestly had me pretty bored since it was basically rehashing of Episode 2 + swamping me with characters, giving them names, then saying bye bye for now, which'll make it annoying to try to remember who's who. The second half makes up for it though, and I thought the war scenes were good. Still not a total fan of the CGI, but it wasn't bad CGI by any means, so they were enjoyable.

Double spoiler just in case!

Spoiler: show

So, what I think about Kisaragi's sinking is that it gives the series much more potential and will keep me watching, but it definitely could have been handled better. They didn't completely screw it up or anything, but the first half of the episode with the focus on letting people know you appreciated them set them up poorly. It basically locked them into two paths. 1: Nothing happens except they all say "thank you" and "I love you" to everyone, and the entire scene is somewhat meaningless and out of place, serving as really just a time waster. 2: Something tragic happens to someone to give the scene actual meaning. Obviously, the later happened, and it was definitely the better path. Sadly, it came with the downside of making a death / near fatal injury (The latter of which still would have been meh) pretty predictable, and the only question was who is it going to be? Then the clear focus on Kisaragi and Mutsuki made it even more so. I'm not saying it was bad or anything, especially since it makes the show more interesting for me at least, but just that it was somewhat predictable. I admittedly don't have any suggested ways they could do it better, but I just couldn't help but notice this while watching the episode.

So yeah, I'll definitely be looking forward to the next episode!

Episode 4:

Spoiler: show

Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh.

Poi.

[big bad birtha]

Episode 4
Kongou made this show 100x better.

[KamenAeons]

Episode 3:

Spoiler: show

Given that this episode was an attack on W Island, that pinged a death flag almost immediately for me with Kisaragi. In the battle which involved W Island's reference back in WW2, Kisaragi was among the ships sunk. After that death flag after death flag kept pinging with Akagi's little thank you speech and Mutsuki and Kisaragi promising each other.

Needless to say, I was still not prepared for her to sink, as many admirals are when playing KanColle. Many tears were had.

Episode 4:

Spoiler: show

Echoing BBB's comment that Kongou made the show 100x better. (What, no, I totally don't have a thing for Haruna. Lies. Slander and lies.) Bucky was not ready. Also hooray for punching bullets out of the air. I want more Abyssals though, even if it means we have more girls sinking and tears.

[Sparkbeat]

Episode 5:

Spoiler: show

Fun episode, more shipgirl names (try) to remember, more Kongou <3, Bucky taking charge is cool, and in general the episode after the first third/fourth was really enjoyable. I dunno, I'm always kinda "blegh" through the first half of most of the episodes so far, but then I feel really good about it by the end.

[big bad birtha]

Watched episode 5. I went from "probably going to drop" to "interested", so that's a plus.

Spoiler: show

The main crew was just UGH. We have generic short-haired girl #1, generic short-haired girl #2, we have poi. There's some girl yacking about night time battles and nothing else. Her sister is going on about being an idol, and nothing else. Thankfully those characters have been shoved aside for those with actual personalities and development! Fubuki's reactions to all of them are interesting. Fubuki crying in Kongou's arms after seeing how her squad turned out was amusing. Not sure how I felt about how they forced the leader role on Fubuki, but I saw it coming from a mile away, so eh, it's there. Now let's hope this show keeps picking up!

Btw, Kongou is almost exactly like Karen from Kiniro Mosaic. Same personality. Same verbal ticks. Both half English half Japanese. SAME VOICE ACTRESS! The only real difference is that Karen has an appearance more typical of her stereotype, and she's not a battleship. Here's a Karen scene for those interested.

[Talon87]

So I was just shown this (from Episode 06). Cute.

Hoping to catch up soon. While a lot of shows I've seen but not written about, KanColle I'm actually frozen in time on at the end of Episode 02. Gotta watch 03, 04, 05, and now 06! :o

[Sparkbeat]

Episode 6:

Spoiler: show

Super Filler

But anyways, for filler it was pretty good, almost better than some of the actually episodes imo xd

The four girls they focus on are pretty entertaining, and the lightheartedness of the episode in general is captivating. It still suffers the problem of SO MANY CHARACTERS but that really only effects me since I've never played KanColle. For the target audience the multiple cameos or whatnot probably make it even better. The episode doesn't take itself too serious and is pretty over the top, and Kongou and her sisters were great yet again. Only gripe really are the moments when there's a complete emotional 180 in the span of 30 seconds or so, but I guess it just serves to show that the characters are all still pretty simple despite being destroyer ships.

Maybe I'm overanalyzing it, but the show's been pretty good about implementing a contrast between the majority of the fleet girls and Nagato. It's pretty clear she's stressed about the situation their in, and with the threat of the Abyssals it's clear why. She, and probably Akagi, seem to be the only ones who we've seen enough from to determine they actually understand the gravity of the situation they're in. Nagato clearly cares about everyone under her command shown by her reaction to Kisaragi's sinking, so maybe that's why, while still keeping her authority clear in her attitude, she comes off as more lighthearted like the rest of them in her interactions with them. Trying to keep them smiling and positive even when the situation is somewhat dire, though that may not be the case since we really don't know just how much of a threat the Abyssals are currently posing, only rough estimates. She's still like the rest of them, but she's different because she's the only one with all, or most of, the information about what's really happening. I'm just spitballing thoughts that came to me, really, so I could be completely off, but it's just something that came to mind.

But back to simple fun, the flamethrower scene and this were pretty great.

[big bad birtha]

Watched episode 6. Honestly, I originally expected the show to be more like this episode. Whether that's good or bad will be told in ye olde magic spoiler box!

Spoiler: show

I liked it. The sailor suit loli squad was entertaining. I don't know why, but the stuttering scene got me. It was a standard joke, but I thought it was really funny. I guess this is an example of the importance of how a joke is delivered. The curry contest was great. My lord. Hagzilla just depressing everyone with her marital status. I was originally kind of annoyed at loli squad winning the contest until realizing why. Then it became funny.

Let's hope the show can keep it up!