Anime Corner: KanColle Review

Reviewer ship, the Infallible Fish, reporting for duty at the Naval District.

What’s the Story?

The seas have been taken over by a mysterious enemy known as the Abyssal fleet. Humanity’s only hope to retake the seas lies in a bunch of girls who don weaponized outfits and possess the spirits of historical naval vessels. Fubuki is one such girl, and a recent transfer to the Naval District. Friendships are forged. Battles are fought. Much moe is witnessed. And maybe one day Fubuki will get to escort her girl-crush, Akagi-senpai, on a mission.

The Review

Ok, I’m sorry for starting off this review on an immature note, but I have to bring this up. I like the opening song (it’s a pretty good song and gets you pumped for watching the show), but every time it starts it sounds like the singer is just screaming ‘wanker’ at the top of her lungs. And I’m sorry, but that cracked me up every single time. I know it’s stupid and childish, but it made sure that I laughed every single episode.

Right, now that that’s out of my system, let’s get to the review a proper. Honestly, I like this show. It was fun, had some dramatic moments, there were a couple of exciting battles, and a few really good laughs along the way. In the end though, it was all kind of superficial. I’d describe this anime as light and fluffy. There’s no real point to it outside of watching a bunch of girls cosplay as ships (which is fine, if a rather niche fetish). The final episode does try to shoehorn in some big message about fate and the nature of a never-ending battle, but it all rings rather hollow considering this theme has never been brought up previously.

It’s not like there wasn’t potential for this series to be something more. We never really learn much about the Abyssal fleet, outside of the fact that they can be a dangerous enemy. We have no idea about their origins or even their goals (though I believe a second season has been announce, so maybe that’ll answer a few questions). We never even learn where these girls with the spirits of ships come from. We don’t even get a glimpse of the world outside of the Naval District, and how this is affecting the public. It’s all just swept under the rug, so we can get on with the girls doing cute things and engaging in battles. And I’m ok with that, surprisingly. The show knows what it is and what it wants to do, and doesn’t try to reach beyond that (except in the final episode as I mentioned, which is a little bit clunky I admit). This is a show based on a game about girls dressed up as ships, fighting naval battles, that’s all there really is to it.

We have a large cast of girls, who all fulfil their roles adequately. They’re all cute and fun, but you do get the feeling that most of them are there just to appeal to someone’s fetish, and there’s enough of them to make sure that all fetishes are covered. It does get a little frustrating sometimes as several characters are just crammed into a scene for no reason other than for them to make an appearance. The only character of any real significance is the newbie, Fubuki. It’s not like she’s deep or compelling or anything, but watching her as she strives to get better and stronger is really endearing. Also her clear crush on Akagi always manages to add some hilarity into an episode. That’s why the final episode of the series was a bit of a disappointment to me, as Fubuki gets sidelined for most of the battle. She hardly does anything outside of pulling the answer to their dire situation out of thin air. Even her moment of victory is glanced over, and she never gets a proper crack at the final boss. It’s just a bit disappointing after watching her go through all of that training (not to mention how the admiral kept saying she was essential to his plan. How exactly was she essential?).

On the technical side of things, the animation is pretty nice. It’s bright and cute. The battles, while nothing epic, are exciting enough and fun to watch. The oddest part is probably how the CGI is integrated into the anime. Sometimes the girls are swapped for 3D models of themselves. Now these models fit in fairly well into scenes and aren’t all that jarring (most of the time), but they’re used very inconsistently. At first they’re used in the battle scenes, but then they’ll suddenly swap back to regular 2D animation, then back to the model again. Now that is jarring, and I don’t understand why they did it. If you’re going to use the models for the battles, then use the models, don’t keep switching between styles.

Now I mentioned that this show is based on a game. I’ve never played the game, so I can’t speak for how faithful this show is, but it certainly feels like you’re watching a game come to life. It’s not that this is just a series of cut-scenes strung together, or the storyline of the game properly dramatised. This feels like an actual game, and that’s thanks to all the little touches of game logic. The instant, health restoring buckets (ok, it’s the stuff inside the buckets that restore health, the characters don’t just put a bucket on their heads and get their health back, though I wouldn’t put that past a weird show like this), the fact that we never see the admiral who everyone is always talking about (I’m assuming that’s the role of the player in the game). Honestly I wish more game adaptations where like this.

The Verdict

This series never really strays too far from its purpose as an adaptation of a game about girls cosplaying as ships, except in a lacklustre final episode. The battles are nice, and the characters are all sweet, if little more than a series of personality stereotypes to make sure they have every fetish covered. The show is light and inconsequential, but still pretty fun.

Chris Joynson, aka the Infallible Fish, is a writer, blogger and lover of animation living in Sheffield. The blog updates every Friday.