Kantai Collection, the OTHER moe battleship series (2014)

Grisaia is coming out in October. Kan Colle is January

But, uh, pretty certain we know about Grisaia's staff

Sendai class confirmed.

edited 22nd Aug '14 8:01:11 PM by MyssaRei

The way they keep confirming characters is making it difficult to care. Sure, they're going to show up, but who knows if it'll be a major role?

You've obviously not been following shows like Aikatsu at all — the cast in that is HUGE, with three different schools (and I think this season added a fourth), each with something like a dozen girls per school. Yet it handles itself quite well. It can be confusing at times though.

I expect it'll be sort of the same here, with a "core" character or group interacting with a revolving door of naval district inhabitants.

Plus Kancolle's confirmed cast has been quite small so far, actually:

• D Ds: Fubuki, Mutsuki, Yuudachi, Shimakaze.
• B Bs: Yamato, Kongou Kai-2, Nagato
• C Vs: Akagi, Kaga
• C Ls: Sendai, Naka, Jintsuu.

That's twelve girls, and each represent the major ship classes in the game. All we're missing now are the representatives for the C As (heavy cruisers).

edited 22nd Aug '14 8:53:42 PM by MyssaRei

Aikatsu is much longer than I expect this to be. And it's less the current cast size that bothers me and more that the way they're doing this makes me expect that they're going to keep revealing characters for a while

Also, aren't we missing light carriers and subs in addition to heavy cruisers?

I'd have thought you'd be used to the standard hype build-up adverting style by this point. This is par for course.

As for rounding out the ship list, they don't have to — none of the spinoffs make an effort to complete ship types for the fleets they feature (Shimakaze has no battleships; Itsuka has no light carriers; Kagerou has no heavy cruisers).

edited 22nd Aug '14 9:25:01 PM by MyssaRei

I'm getting used to how they're doing things, but I assure you that this is not how advertising for anime is normally handled

? You were the one that brought it up. And Itsuka has had Tenryuu, Tatsuta, Kitakami, and Ooi appear

You just strengthened my point — there are no Light Carriers in Itsuka, and all that you've mentioned are Light Cruisers.

edited 22nd Aug '14 10:27:00 PM by MyssaRei

Oh, whoops, misread that. Probably just a matter of time before Itsuka gets around to them, though

Does Bismarck have a high chance of showing up?

Nope. If she does, only likely as part of a crowd shot and no lines.

edited 23rd Aug '14 8:47:07 AM by MyssaRei

You know, there's a trend in doujinshi, fan art, and other spin-offs for this series that I've noticed. Specifically, the most popular Ship Girls as the story's "main character(s)" / the artwork piece's central subject(s) appear to be (in no particular order): Fubuki, Atago, Kaga, Tenryu, Shimakaze, Kongou, and Yamato.

Atago, Kaga, Kongou, and Yamato are understandable due to the fanservice factor: At least three of them are designed with noticeably large busts, and the fourth is has a Foreign Fanservice charm due to her bilingualism and exhuberant Genki Girl personality (kinda reminds me of Haruhi Suzumiya). There's also the rather "exotic" designs of Atago and Yamato, with the former's Western-style fashion and the latter's highly intricate Yamato Nadeshiko look (it's almost like someone mandated that she be decked out in Imperial Family-grade fashions).

But the reasons for Fubuki's, Tenryu's, and Shimakaze's popularity are less obvious to me. Can anyone shed a light on this mystery?

edited 26th Aug '14 6:36:50 AM by MarqFJA

Fubuki because she's right in the middle of the first official image on the game (the one I used to front the page in fact) and she was initially conceptualized as the main character, prior to the "starting ships" thing. Shimakaze because of her stand-out outfit (hint, no one else wears a visible thong among the cast), and Tenryuu because she's the brusque tomboy who's actually more bark than bite.

edited 26th Aug '14 7:00:48 AM by MyssaRei

Fubuki also has that "Every Girl" thing going on for her, which makes her more adaptable for whatever the fan work needs. I guess you could say the same for most of her sisters but since they didn't make it onto the cover they just get stuck looking generic. I was actually happy when one of the later 4 koma chapters finally put the Fubuki class in the spotlight for once.

Based on my own observations, the destroyers who really get all the attention are the Akatsuki class girls, Inazuma and Ikazuchi in particular, and Shigure and Yuudachi, for some reason. I'd also add Haruna to Marq's list. Sucks to be the rest of the battleships. I want more Kirishima!

Something worth noting is that there's a major flavour-of-the-month tendency towards character popularity in the fandom. From what I've seen, the Akatsuki class and Kaga-san are the only ones that are really continually popular

You might want to look up Kancolle doujinshi then. A lot of doujin artists seem to really love Atago; one even went as far as to make a doujinshi were the first page has her get married to the Admiral, and while the work is technically porn, only the first quarter and the last quarter involve actual porn, while the remaining 2 quarters or so in the middle are about Atago's home life (with an uber-cute Generation Xerox daughter! ).

I think my favorite Atago moment was actually from one of the official manga where she had planned and implemented the wedding between the Admiral and Yuubari all without Yuubari in the know until she was walking down the aisle.

Atago is certainly one of the more popular ones out there. Not as high as Kaga I'd say, but she was one of the bigger followings.

Personally, a few comics have made me fans of some of the more minor characters; there's a comic with Akebono that's hilarious because the "shitty admiral" is always catching her doing something stupid, and one where Naka pulls a self-sacrifice that was really sad. One that really brought tears to my eyes was a history based one about Ikazuchi rescuing British survivors from a ship that had been sunk the day before. Another history based one I found touching was Yukikaze Tan Yang getting over her survivor's guilt after the war and learning to take pride in her new role as a Taiwanese ship.

edited 27th Aug '14 7:09:19 AM by Parable

Atago's popularity comes due to her... fuel tanks. Indeed, both Takao and Atago are popular first and foremost due to their obvious sex appeal (they're not particularly stand-out as cruisers for example).

Hmm, I think we've had this conversation before.

edited 26th Aug '14 11:41:45 PM by MyssaRei

I'm interested in the Yuubari and Naka mangas that you speak of.

Didn't I already note the "fuel tank" thing, just in different words?

Just google, The Melancholy of Ms. Yubari, to find the Yubari one. I'm always amused the Yubari tends to get really physical in fights when she's pissed off. In the 4 koma she even kicked Sendai in the face.

I'll have to go look for the Naka one, I'll send you a link when I find it.

Akatsuki and Hibiki confirmed◊. That brings up the number of D Ds introduced to 5... which is not an even number, so I expect a few more as well (in the game, you need 2-4 destroyers at the least for the main and secondary fleets as escorts, and you can have a max of 4 fleets at a time so...).

edited 28th Aug '14 4:00:40 AM by MyssaRei

Oh, the Russian-speaking shipgirl!

I used Hibiki for modernization fodder moments before I was informed she was one of the best D Ds. Woe is me, I seem to discriminate by character model.

Just happy Touyama Nao's gonna be in it. She's like, the best.

I count six. Fubuki, one of her sisters, Shimakaze, Yuudachi, and now these two.

I'm willing to bet my leg that Inazuma and Ikazuchi will be joining the cast.

Looks like some anon somewhere got his hands on the Kancolle tabletop rpg guide and made a translation.