This week on KanColle, well, I guess a Light Aircraft Carrier appeared.

At this stage of the series, I think it’s probably pretty obvious that the gag episodes of KanColle, rather weirdly, actually have substance more to them in addition to simply being more entertaining to watch on a surface level. It’s partially because they’ve continued to struggle to make Fubuki a particularly entertaining character, even if she is surrounded by crackpots like Kongou, but mostly it’s just lacking a certain density of content in comparison. There’s less going on, and there’s fewer goofy historical references to enjoy picking apart.

Which isn’t to say that episodes like this aren’t entertaining, but it does leave me with considerably less to write about.
(more…)

The German submarines are attacking, and they’ve already conquered Pixiv.

There’s an event running in the KanColle game at the moment. As in most of these games, the reward for actually partaking is accquiring some rare in-game items, which likely won’t be available otherwise for months, for progressing beyond certain points within the duration of the event. One of the new ships introduced to the game as a reward item is the German-build submarine U-511.

The German ships in KanColle tend to attract a little attention regardless of the specifics, in so much as their designs and art are provided by Shimada Humikane (or Fumikane), best known as the character designer on Strike Witches and Girls und Panzer. U-511 is no different, but there’s a bit more of an arc to her than there is with most shipgirls.
(more…)

As they say, the Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away, and indeed, in one fell swoop, with Fubuki being reassigned to a new fleet, we suffer the likely writing out of the beloved Naka-chan’s frequent screen time just as we see Kongou’s increase. Swings and roundabouts, I suppose.
(more…)

This week on KanCollle, we are distracted from depression with a gag episode, as we enjoy a much appreciated Kongou sisters overload.

There may be a little local bias causing it, even if she does hail from the countries other coast, but Kongou is definitely one of my favourite ship girls. Certainly, she’s top two, possibly top one depending on how I feel about Naka-chan on any particular given day. I’m pretty partial to Mutsu, who actually appears in this episode for more than a few seconds, as well (Infact, I’m pretty sure she continues to be my highest level ship girl). All we are (well, I’m) really missing from the anime at this point are the submarines, as I’m curiously fond of that adorable little war criminal Hachi.
(more…)

From episode 4 of Kantai Collection, we have Naka-chan standing ontop of a Mikan box, challenging Kongou to an idol throwdown. This is it – anime has clearly peaked. I may as well stop watching cartoons, like, right this minute.

*ahem*

The rest of the episode is maybe something to write about another time, but the vaguely interesting thing about the actual box here is that it’s a little vintage – aside from the fact that it’s wooden, the more astute may notice that it’s actually upside. Of course, if you rotate it the correct way upwards, you’ll also note that the katakana are written right-to-left, instead of the usual left-to-right – the Japanese manner of writing was reformed post-World War 2, so this is another one of those peculiar vintage details the show occasionally likes to adhere to.