The animation and the overall look of this anime is actually quite good and certainly a lot better than Diomedea’s other series and even much better than some other fantasy adaptations this season. The story however is so-so or okay-ish at best. It’s not bad, but not very good either. I guess the problem is how they build a story around the premise and how execute it. It felt rather lacking something. The Kanmusu characters are somehow less relatable than, say, the girls in
GuP. I don’t know if it’s because they are ships-in-girls’-bodies or because the lackluster execution of their story (not to mention the one-note underdeveloped ones or those who only cameo-ing throughout the show). Last, but not least, I just can’t feel real tension in the battles. I know this is maybe a game-thing but the lack of visible physical damage when their bodies got direct hits from missiles and whatnot (the most we get is stripped/burned clothes, damaged equipments, and some bruises) really takes away the tension from me. I can’t compare that element with
GuP or
Arpeggio since both use “real” tanks and ships to do battle (with people and AI inside or on top of them) and those weaponized-vehicles did take “proper” damage when hit by shells, mines, missiles, torpedoes and even graviton cannons, unlike
Kancolle where the girls
are the weaponized-vehicles. Here, the battle approach is closer to
Strike Witches which I think the battle is slightly better and more intense than Kancolle (and this comes from someone who
dislikes Strike Witches to boot). Even Kisaragi who got bombed and sunk feels like an afterthought rather than a real dramatic death. I know it’s just me, but I think Kancolle battles looks a bit too “cute” to be taken seriously with all the angst
.
On another topic, I find the way they are presenting the admiral by not depicting him on-screen nor making his voice heard a bit hilarious. Why? Well, because this approach is very similar to what people have done before to none other than Prophet Mohammad in movies such as
The Message. In Mohammad’s case, it is necessary (and it actually works in the movie) due to honoring the Islamic tradition of not impersonating or depicting Mohammad’s look. But here in
Kancolle, there’s really no need for such approach other than the makers’ insistence to provide self-insert for the audience. Or did they actually afraid that any admiral depiction they choose will upset a number of fans who already have the images of their “ideal admiral” in their minds? If so, I’d say they need to be bolder and just go out with their version of admiral whether it’s a senior/middle-aged man/woman (eg. Gendo Ikari, Bright Noa, Murrue Ramius, Sumeragi Noriega), young bishounen/bishoujo (eg. Chihaya Gunzou, Sinon Kouzuki), shota/loli (eg. Conan Edogawa, Mina Tepes), or sage-like old man (eg. Juzo Okita, Bruno Gloval) and make him/her a “real” character. As long as the writing and execution are good, audience and fans will approve.