Arpeggio of Blue Steel

It has to be a good one, as they're being pretty much 3D-printed into oblivion by Kongou's flagship equipment. It's just destroyers and subs now, but Ise is up next, and that's pretty much bad news no matter how you slice it.

The US Fog Fleet finally appears in the manga with the introduction of The USS Lexington.

Note that the Lexington is, much like Zuikaku, called an "assault ship" rather than a carrier. I assume it's because she lost all of her planes too.

Also LOL. I did not expect Lexington to be characterized as a bookish professor-type. Lexington University indeed.

Lexington is awesome. And yeah, I'd assume they just gave up on the planes as Zuikaku (or someone) explained, as that was one area humans actually had the advantage.

Since getting caught up with the other ship series, I decided to read this one all over again (about a week ago, so relatively recent), to see what I'd previously missed due to not recognising as many ships and a bit of historical background. It's kind of interesting to see the differences (like Kongou) and similarities (like Ashigara) they have in characterisation.

Well, Ashigara at least is also a hot-blooded idiot, though the reason for the idiocy is explicitly different between Kancolle and Arpeggio at the very least.

Got to hand it to Zordan though, challenging the US fleet with a single wounded sub? Does he think he can do Gunzou better? :P

edited 1st Jun '15 2:19:17 PM by MyssaRei

They're at the very least roughly equals, with Gunzou having the Protagonist and Badass Crew advantages, so Zordan does have his work cut out for him. On the other hand, it's a chance for him to prove himself even more of a Worthy Opponent. On the other other hand, he could be about to be Worfed.

Well, the Ashigaras aren't replicas, but I think you could reasonably well switch them between the series without any major changes (weaponry aside), and they'd fit right in. There's also the minor detail of her hair clips, which I certainly didn't know why they were shaped like that before KanColle. Either way, they're both among my favourite characters. For much the same reason.

I could probably post a list of which version is my favourite for all ships appearing in both series, if that's interesting to anyone else.

edited 1st Jun '15 3:02:36 PM by AnotherDuck

Our first look at the second movie, Cadenza. Looks like they're gonna use the Student Council battle from the manga, and have Musashi stand in for Kongou this time.

Rips of the first movie are already available by the way. Skip to past the 1-hour mark, as that's where the new material begins.

I need to get ahold of that.

Last chapter was pretty interesting. A name popped up I didn't expect, and I wouldn't even have recognised it if it wasn't for Kantai Collection. Also, someone's being awesome.

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2015-08-05/new-arpeggio-of-blue-steel-film-casts-mai-nakahara/.91306

Well heck, they cast Mai Nakahara as Yamato? Kind of wonder now how they'll make her character fit in Ars Nova, as Yamato in standard Arpeggio pretty much only pointed people in a somewhat helpful direction that's important to her own interests...

Something wrong with that casting? I don't really recognise anyone. Well, almost.

I found the latest chapter interesting. More so than the last. Especially the conflict in Ashigara.

Chapter 67 is now out, and it looks like Iona has two new hostages assistants◊. And yes, they're parodying hostages on videos to their relatives that show they're sort of fine.

So what did we learn here? I think the biggest surprise is that Yamato's craftiness has rubbed off on Yukikaze, and Hyuuga is terrified of Ise. Wow.

The funny thing is how fine they actually are. Which honestly is rather complicated. On one hand, they did deliberately walk into captivity, are completely fine with being taken captive, and only somewhat reluctantly agree to help out. On the other, they, or maybe mostly Ashigara, make a big show of how they really don't like being forced to help out. Sort of. That kind of oddly opposite thought goes hand in hand with how they seem to be horrified at being left out in the ocean, after they've already spent a bit of time walking the sea floor.

I'm liking this Yukikaze. Which is more than I can say about the other one.

And Hyuuga being afraid of Ise is kind of expected, considering the little we saw of her before.

For those interested, the first 20 minutes of the Arpeggio Cadenza movie. And holy fsk, not only does it imply that Musashi killed off Yamato off-screen, but Iona would eventually BECOME Yamato's replacement in the end.

Ashigara of course, doesn't disappoint — she's hilarious.

edited 24th Sep '15 5:47:39 PM by MyssaRei

Well, I don't know Japanese, so it'll have to wait.

The lines, barring the ones involving Musashi, are practically lifted from the manga though, especially the parts with Ashigara and Nachi against Iona.

Fair enough.

Yeah, Ashigara has to just enter the scene to show what she goes for. Especially when she knocks. She's hilariously energetic. She'd also make a fine Bullet Hell boss. I'd love to see her meet up with her KanColle counterpart.

The rest of it was too Japanese for me to really comment on. Well, maybe the post-shower scene shows a somewhat more modest version of her than the manga.

And we have summaries of the Cadenza movie. All I have to say is... Welp.

Apparently Yamato IS dead, but before she got destroyed by Musashi she copies a "back-up" into Iona. Who is apparently a dual-cored Fog sub. Yes, how convenient. In any case, we get a massive melee with a Gattai'd Kirishima and Haruna, Hyuuga, and even a super-powered Kongou battle Musashi and Hiei's student council.

Oh, and remember the Ars Nova from the TV series? The second movie one-ups that by introducing Super-Battleship Iona. Yes, it's Yamato's ship body with the I-401 as its core. And it flies.

Yeah. That happened.

edited 5th Oct '15 3:17:59 PM by MyssaRei

Welp, it's turning into an all-or-nothing gambit for Blue Steel in the two new chapters that we have. With Ise in the picture, stakes are definitely higher, especially when Kongou seems to be ignoring Iona entirely to get to Gunzo and his option ships.

Also great line by Youhei to Ashigara. Indeed, they might be at war, but I don't think anyone would feel good about forcing sisters to fight against each other.

At first I mistook "Youhei" as "Yonehara".

Need to catch up on this, then. Although I don't think it was that long since I checked.

It's a ridiculous case of Refuge in Audacity — the plan hinges on forcing the Fog Fleet ships to fly, because Gunzo plans on reducing the buoyancy of the ocean around Kongou and co via freeing the methane deposits on the sea floor. So much can go wrong, ESPECIALLY with Ise there.

By "catch up" I mean "read it myself". Not have you explain what's going on in chapters I haven't read.

Question about the Cadenza movie: Does Takao still play a big role in the movie, or is she—God forbid—Demoted to Extra?

Well, I did manage to watch Ars Nova DC at the local cinemas back in May, but I didn't like how it was—I don't know how else to describe it—"zoomed in"(unfortunately ruining some shots of the Tsundere Heavy Cruiser in her bikini). I dunno if it's because the cinema wasn't widescreen enough (just do the letterboxing or windowboxing trick, if that's the case), or it's a "censored" version... (What is there to censor? The fanservice is quite tame!)

In any case, I'm looking forward to watching Cadenza once it hits the local theaters, but I'm not looking forward to a repeat of my viewing experience of Ars Nova DC.

edited 7th Nov '15 5:35:28 PM by IncognitoNinja

In Cadenza, everyone who isn't Iona is relegated to reinforcements, first Takao, then a LITERALLY gattai'd Kirishima-Haruna battleship, then finally Kongou herself.

So I take it that... Takao got her ship body back? (I'm gonna guess that the Blue Steel crew gathered the nanomaterial from I-400 and 402's wrecks offscreen and used that same nanomaterial to reconstruct Takao...)

Man, this makes me even more excited to see her do a Big Damn Heroes moment.

edited 8th Nov '15 4:28:36 AM by IncognitoNinja