Arpeggio of Blue Steel

I see now why the CG bothers so many. I watched the first episode on my smartphone, and having watched the second on a proper screen I see how stiff Takao's model is. It's rather puzzling, since other characters are 2D.

Good use of tactics, though as the waterfowl said a lot of explanations were missing. And I never felt that they were in real danger.

I hope Takao will show some personality beyond vengeful antagonist, if she's to be a regular.

I'm just going to say yes on Takao.

Show's episode 1 is a bit meh.

And now I've read the manga up to chapter 48.

One thing that strikes me as being unlike most other alien or robotic invasion stories is that they fight very much within their own rules. Unless Haruna is an exception, they avoid needless casualties, and they only seek dominance on the seas. Which means there doesn't seem to be a full extinction threat.

I like Takao. She seems to me to be the most independent individual, humans and fog alike. Sure, a few of the leaders can be seen as independent too, but they have people below them they depend on to some degree, and some of them have the power to be independent with little risk. Takao acts on her own, for her own sake, even if she doesn't really have the power to back it up. I also wonder if she'd rather have Gunzou as her captain, or as her equal. She is following his orders, and makes excuses for it, but it's still her own choice. I also saw a popularity poll for the ships. She had almost 60% of the votes. Tsundere Heavy Cruiser for the win.

Shizuka's "Sorry~<3" note was rather funny, actually. Also, she's a badass.

Of course the mecha maniac has a Rocket Punch. I wonder if that's specifically why she had it...

I like Iona's mentality. "If Gunzou says it's possible, it's possible, and it's my job to show that it is possible."

Seems like the reason for the mental modes changes depending on who's telling whom, and by now I'm not sure what I'd actually believe.

I kind wonder what will happen in the series.

Also if you've read the special chapter, you should see that Takao's pretty much inadvertedly buttered up to Gunzou's mom.

Yup. She just has to ask, "may I date your son?" and she'd be all set. And if I don't misremember, she did realise it afterwards.

My current theory (and by that I mean what I hope will happen with no correlation to probability) for what will happen is that the Fog will split into two major factions, with Chihaya Sr. leading one, and Yamato and Chihaya Jr. leading the other, preferably with rebuilt Tsundere Heavy Cruiser, Hyuuga, and Haruna. Probably not the most likely course of events, but it would be awesome.

The Fog is just so fragmented right now that in any other situation, it would be the perfect opportunity to strike back... Except aside from Gunzou and his companions, no one likely has an inkling that there's infighting going on. Oh, and it's not like Humanity can take advantage, at least until the I-400 makes its delivery to the USA...

edited 15th Oct '13 10:18:12 PM by MyssaRei

There's still the little bit that there's a lot of the Fog fleet we haven't seen. We've only really seen the major ships of part of the entire force. There are a lot of smaller ships that are only mentioned in passing by numbers. So even if they're fragmented, they're not small forces. Well, aside from the ships that break off, as they're generally more or less solitary.

I think I'm liking the placeholder ending image more, compared to the "under construction" ED that was previewed below.

Also Haruna without her coat just feels wrong somehow.

Wait, there was a Haruna in that video?

I just like Taka's mid-face strand of hair. Makes her instantly recognisable, even if she changes clothes and hairstyle more frequently than most characters. Since that part is usually the same.

Episode 3, where we have modified material. Goddamnit.

We have the stuff from Iona docking at Yokosuka to Haruna and Kirishima commencing their attack... Pretty standard stuff, except manga readers will DEFINITELY notice the glaring changes. For one, where the hell is the Hakugei? The Hakugei was pivotal in both the plan to defeat the battlecruisers AND the transport of the torpedo blueprints.

Also they're clearly drumming up Kongou as the FINAL BOSS here, as all of Yamato's lines were given to her.

But the biggest crime here? How they reduced the time of Takao's tsundere delusions.

edited 21st Oct '13 6:10:05 PM by MyssaRei

Episode 3. In which they don't eat dinner.

I find it amusing, after reading the manga, that when you see them all up on the sub, posing in the wind, the most badass one is the dainty girl.

So that's how you tickle a boat.

He speaks of "highly trained, experienced men". Who're land soldiers, with no marine experience. Kind of not so significant on the seas.

Both he and Kongou seem far more arrogant and hostile here.

She had around 10 sugar cubes in her tea, and then wonder it's too sweet? One makes it too sweet... And Kongou's speech feel a little more like plain exposition since the one she's talking to seems more concerned with her tea.

A fog ship without a plan sounds very much like she's running spontaneously on a will to achieve something. Which is rather human.

Kirishima looks nicer in the anime.

You know, some of that sounds dangerously close to They Changed It, Now It Sucks!. They seemed to fit in just about what was needed to introduce the upcoming battle (intro ep, battle ep, exposition ep, battle ep). While Takao's tsundere delusions certainly are amusing, they don't really add much to the plot, other than showing that they're there. And it was about a could of pages in the manga. So no, I wouldn't say time was reduced for that. On the other hand, Hibiki and a few politically important people didn't show up. The meeting about the torpedo was only mentioned.

The manga hinted at the attack by the Fog earlier than the anime, and the Hakugei was introduced after that, so it's likely just going to be introduced later. If it isn't, it's a completely different story.

I also think it's mainly the lack of Yamato that paints Kongou as the Big Bad. Otherwise she's pretty much the same, and painting someone up as the Big Bad just to subvert it isn't exactly unheard of (especially for anime adaptations you don't know if they will get renewed), especially if it means you can delay the introduction of the real Big Bad, while still keeping tension in the story.

Including all that would make for a source-accurate anime, but not necessarily a good one.

edited 21st Oct '13 9:19:55 PM by AnotherDuck

This kind of thing is expected in a series that's been followed closely by very few people, so any change can quickly become a stickling point.

Do note, the only activity in this thread prior to the anime was pretty much just me and Tenzen. Over at Asuki it's not much better (about 5 or 6 regular followers), so this is comparatively low key.

The decisions the production seem to be taking seems to be bipolar. Episode 2 was, barring cutting out some parts with Gunzou and Takao, very faithful... Then this comes along, and I dunno. If the I-401 manages to pull of a victory next episode without the Hakugei, then all bets are definitely off.

edited 21st Oct '13 9:50:56 PM by MyssaRei

That's rather logical, though. As I mentioned, episode 2 was a battle. And the difference between exposition and action is one of the major differences between anime and manga. Having battles fully animated and exposition reduced to the main points is rather common for anime adaptations. And for a good reason to, as it works much better. So I'm not really sure bipolar is the word for it. I'm expecting the next episode to be a battle episode, covering the battle against Haruna and Kirishima.

As we've both said, next episode will show a lot about how they're doing things.

Randomly, I wonder if they're going to make an episode-ending cliffhanger out of (manga spoiler) the crew getting apparently killed at the island, or if it's just going to be a mid-episode cliffhanger. Making the meeting and talking the first half, and the action bit of that sequence the latter half of the episode makes sense.

edited 21st Oct '13 10:22:49 PM by AnotherDuck

Funny anthro stuff with Iona at the start. Apparently the supergravity cannon is on her stomach.

Takao's tsundere delusions were great. Interestingly, something that makes perfect sense when applied to ships becomes creepy when the ships have mental models

Not sure what the Admirals plan there was. You thought that would work? I can see why they kicked you up to administration.

Anyway, no Yamato in the opening, while Kirishima and Haruna are, so they either arnt' getting that far(I should read the manga at some point), are trying to avoid spoilers or are saving characters.

I think the reason Yamato doesn't appear is because she's not particularly relevant to the arcs they're animating, as there's often little point in introducing a character who doesn't do anything.

Your choice in reading the manga now or later (but I do recommend reading it). Depends on how much you like backstory and explanations for stuff, rather than having a lot of them implied and more focused on action. Granted, it's still early to tell, but that's the basic difference thus far.

Ironically the Yamato connection will come into play at Iwo Jima, which will be covered given how Hyuuga is in the OP. However, the discovery there by both Hyuuga and Takao... won't really make much sense anymore as there's no Yamato (in the manga the part where she talks with Kongou is where we first see her mental model), which means that Takao's and Hyuuga's shock won't be merited.

I'm expecting it to be cut out though, though, unless they're planning on sticking Kongou's face to you-know-who.

That said, one thing that didn't make me roll my eyes, and laugh at how stupid applying New Criticism to anime is, was the endcard with both the Kantai Collection's Haruna and Arpeggio's Haruna◊. The former is missing her battleship backpack though...

edited 22nd Oct '13 7:52:44 AM by MyssaRei

Magazine scan on future episodes◊. Looks like episode 4, and a good part of episode 5 will be devoted to the Yokosuka battle. No mention of reinforcements for Iona in either summary though.

So that's who she was... I don't really recognise the Kantai Collection ships.

The artist for the endcard is the same one who did the art for all the Kongou sisters (Kongou, Hiei, Kirishima, Haruna), so it's VERY iconic and noticeable for Kantai Collection players.

edited 22nd Oct '13 4:21:57 PM by MyssaRei

Episode 4, in where there is no Hakugei.

Again, its interesting how they're glossing over the fact that Iona has few corrosive torpedoes left. Some people in other fora are calling it the Voyager syndrome all over again.

edited 28th Oct '13 4:26:11 PM by MyssaRei

Voyager syndrome ?

I read up to what coincidentally turned to be about the same part in the manga. There was some stuff left out, but it seems like a pretty reasonable adaptions so far.

Unless the Hakugei turns out to be really important later, I don't think it was a huge loss here. No ridiculous sonar stupidity either, which was nice

Hibiki is the only I can see them regretting not introducing and she didn't really do all that much anyway. It seems like they are gonna focus more on Takeo, which is probably good. They should have used Haruna's coat as the end-card. That was the funniest "random filler" page I've seen in a long time.

I like the anime 401 design a bit better. Looks closer to the real thing.

The Hakugei helps the Repulse and the Vampire (Fog ships from the European theater loyal to the Admiralty Code) while they were escaping from the forces of the battleship Prince of Wales, so yes, it's kind of important. There's no way Iona could have done it, as she was in another part of the Pacific at the time (and looking for Takao).

edited 29th Oct '13 2:51:49 AM by MyssaRei

Episode 4. In which there is regret.

I like how she's complaing about using words while using words. It could be seen as a Translation Convention, but then the speed is wrong.

"If that were to happen, we may experience regret." That just sounds a little odd coming from her before the battle. Also makes it much too obvious it's going to happen.

"Too large to be a decoy." Couldn't they deploy exact replicas as decoys? Exact enough to fool people on board?

I knew that ship was going to play a part in the strategy. It was marked on the map, after all.

Anchoring at that speed is a bit silly. Even assuming the chain could take the strain, the sea floor wouldn't. The manga did it at what can be assumed to be a slower speed or standstill, which is a little more acceptable.

How does a helmet get completely turned around after an impact? Or at all? I do find it amusing that Shizuka just adjusted her glasses, though.

There's less reason for them to join together here. Seems more of a, "Sure, why not?" type of decision.

I don't really think the exclusion of the Hakugei harms the series much. At least not to the point the manga's gotten. It can be worked around, and that part wasn't badly done. Makie's shenanigans don't really add much on their own, so cutting them out doesn't change anything except leaving out a bit of characterisation that can be done later if needed.

I kinda wonder if that will be included at all. The important part isn't the help, though, but the human intervention.

By the sonar stupidity you mean the sound curtain with conventient holes in it?

And what random filler did you mean?

Glossing over? Didn't they mention that early in the episode?

Interesting point, but aside from Iona WHAT can humanity intervene WITH without the Hakugei? Take note of the context here, as by this point Kongou has ordered full pursuit of Iona, and closed the blockade of Japan again through Nagato.

Hakugei was able to intervene because it was already outside the picket, and only because it had finished rendezvousing with Iona. The anime... well, only has Iona really.

edited 29th Oct '13 3:21:34 AM by MyssaRei