If I recall correctly the story behind Kantai Collection is that monsters from the sea, known as Abyssals, have appeared out of nowhere and they can only be fought by cute teenaged girls possessed by the spirits of ancient Japanese battleships. Or maybe they’re reincarnations of the ships? Anyway, a bunch of girls named after ships take on a bunch of monsters because they’re the only ones who can.
Truth be told I’m actually rather fond of the “cute girls doing cute things” trend in recent anime. And I don’t have anything against the ‘only this very specific group of people can fight this threat’ premise several action shows have. And at least Kancolle has less fanservice than trashy shows like Strike Witches. So the odds were somewhat in Kancolle’s favor, at least at first. Having watched an episode though, I don’t think I’ll continue. My reasons are simply:
– Too many characters introduced all at once.
– None of the characters immediately grabbed my attention. Having characters the viewer wants to see more of is the key to a moe show.
– The ship gimmick is wasted on me because I know diddly and squat about the Japanese navy, historical or otherwise.
– Were the big-boobed commanders really necessary?
– Do they really have to fight in easily-ripped school uniforms instead of sensible battle clothing?
– Fubuki’s schoolgirl crush on Akagi-sempai is annoying. If she wanted to be strong for her own sake or to save the world I could get behind that, but ‘I want to be with my crush’ isn’t something I feel like rooting for.
– The action was boring. They skate around for a while, fire a few bombs and then the enemy crumbles to dust. If Fubuki wasn’t such an amateur she wouldn’t have been in any danger at all. None of them would have been. If the enemy isn’t threatening then the characters just look like bullies. I was almost feeling sorry for the Abyssals by the end.
Since there are so many moe girl shows out there, I don’t feel compelled to stick to anything that doesn’t immediately grab my attention. Kantai Collection is dropped like a sack of potatoes.
