Review of KanColle

Being original doesn't necessarily mean its noteworthy. Such is Kantai Collection. It's premise may seem absurd but that hasn't stop millions of fans of playing its game. Due to this popularity, it was adapted into an anime a lot of hype was placed on it. Here I am to see if that hype was worth it. STORY: There's really nothing much to say about the story, since it's not meant to be taken seriously in the first place. Despite the theme surrounding the show being all war-like, the story usually leans to the slice-of-life genre and therefore, all the drama, all the friendship, all the funand enjoyment going on and not giving shit about the war that's plaguing their seas. Anyway, what I do like about the story is how the naval battle scenes are referenced to real-life events such as the Battle at Midway, if I recall correctly. Also, the story has some dark-theme to it and I was surprised to see one of the fleet girls actually die and how it affects the other characters.

Anywho, if you are familiar with the game this show is based on, you probably already have the gist of what's to unfold here. If not, you'll probably get lost. The producers did throw in some originality of their own in regards to the storyline but they seem mostly to appeal to the moe-ness of the characters.

CHARACTERS
If you can name any famous World War 2 IJN battleship, expect them to be present in the show, cutesy and battle-ready and all. By and large, KanColle has a huge roster of characters in the video game, but in a show consisting of only 12 episodes, only handful made the cut to be animated and given character.

The main character is a destroyer named Fubuki. Despite the show trying to make her as interesting and lovable as possible, in the end I don't see Fubuki as an interesting main character. Her personality is generic and while there is a sense of character development, in the end it all falls flat. That said, the side-characters seem to have more personality than the MC. My personal favorite, and probably some as well, Kungou, a hyper-active, tea-loving, Engrish speaking battleship; her strong personality even matches her raw power as a war machine. There also exists Yuudachi, who always ends her sentences with a "poi", and that's it.

Aside from all these, these characters were carefully made to match that of their real-life counterparts. For example: battleships and air-craft carriers are personified as more mature women, in contrast to the loli destroyers and dreadnoughts. To give them some variety, some characters have their own special personality while others just seem to fade in the background.

Of course, it goes without saying that the clothing of most of the characters seemed skimpy and impractical for battle and even everyday interactions. This is mostly for the fan-servicing and while that surprised me, in my eyes it's not really a welcoming sight for the most part.

AESTHETICS & AUDIO
Before it started airing, the visuals is where most of my worries lie for the show. Diomedia is in charge of the animation and by basing to their previous shows, I was rather skeptical about the resulting quality of KanColle. Fortunately, I was rather surprised and impressed of how the studio kept everything consistent for the most part. Overall the visuals were decent and the characters designs were faithful to their in-game counterparts. The fast-paced scenes were exchanged for CGI ones and while some scenes may make it look quite out of place and awkward, for the most part it did it job decently.

The outlying soundtrack is also good, fairly complementing every scene. The opening and ending themes were good, despite sounding quite generic.

FINAL VERDICT
While KanColle's appeal mostly apply to that of those who have invested into the video game, I for one, think that KanColle is an interesting concept. One thing it has going for is its huge roster of colorful characters, if some of them are not as interesting as others. While presentation is quite mediocre and predictable, I can see some direction going for it. I also applaud it for having a second season in production already and I'll be glad too see how it presents itself once more.