Kantai Collection shouldn't be this good!

Ach ja, gotta be honest here for a second: I never actually intended to watch KanColle. It initially come up on my radar at the time it aired and was basically featured in every Top Openings List that I watched. Additionally, its premise and discussion even reached the few corners of the internet I lingered around at the time, even before I actively “started” following the general discussions surrounding anime. Arguably one of the earlier Gacha titles to be adapted, it had a certain reputation: First, the obvious “Ships, but they are girls?”, as if anime doesn’t have more weird stuff to offer and second, it wasn’t good.

Some day I added it to my watchlist. Now, there are many reasons why an anime may land in this very weird list: Actual interest, recommendations, classics I think I should watch, etc… Some on the other hand are harder to explain. I certainly watch some anime I think are bad, however I never do so out of hate or as in an “It is ironically good” way. Sometimes, I just watch stuff to see if it is actually bad and why it is so. There is value in seeing how and why something is bad. Yet, this may still not fully explain it. Maybe there was one of my few brain cells that was actually convinced KanColle could, if not good, at least be fun. And to this one lone sailor, I hereby am honoured to present you with a gold star rating.

I almost started watching KanColle with a friend a couple months ago, simply to see if it is bad and planning to eventually drop it after a few episodes. This didn’t happen as I wasn’t really in the mood for watching something bad, especially if we don’t even have the time to get to all the good stuff. Now imagine me, wrapping up my deep dive into the Gundam Universe by finishing Iron-Blooded Orphans and looking for another anime to watch. I went the good ol' way of spin.moe and it eventually landed on KanColle. I hesitated a bit, thinking it would be really funny if I actually decide to watch it and prepared myself for the entire series plus movie. Still kind of hesitant, I watched the first episode and… it wasn’t bad… neither not not good… it wasn’t even mediocre or just good… it was unironically great! And now, after more than 400 words of preamble, let’s go into the how and why.

KanColle is actually an anime club show in disguise, just that the stakes are… different. The base is essentially a school: You got your usual places like the dorm, a cafeteria serving huge portions of ice cream and curry and of course, the group bath used for repair (Don’t question it). The admiral serves as the principal, high command is the student council and most girls are middle/high schoolers. At the same time, it perfectly follows the “Girls have to fight the vague world-destroying threat”-narrative.

I absolutely get why one might dismiss the anime entirely. KanColle, while having a plot, absolutely lacks momentum, especially being in a place were it is allowed to stay stagnant. While giving some hints here and there, we never really deal with the Abyssal as more than enemy ships to be sunk. The focus mostly stays on the fleet girls and their interactions. Being a Gacha game adaptation, the characters are mostly either shallow, underdeveloped or simply defined by the very archetype they are supposed to represent. Whether you like a character or not is basically already defined in advance and actually seeing them will most likely not change your view of them. As such, the entire series might come off as hollow. What makes those anime club show actually appealing? What makes most action/mystery shows so engaging? KanColle has nothing like that. The plot justifies the girls, the girls are what you would expect and anything beyond lies on the good faith of the viewer.
Still, despite its doomed premise for anyone not being here for the cute girls, the anime keeps itself afloat by many little moments of trying to be better than itself.

There is an art to both being funny/uplifting and being serious at the same time. The general tone of KanColle is far from dark and often feels like it has a fun Slice of Life atmosphere to it. The characters joke, get into silly confrontations with each other and some of them are indeed just straight up funny. The whole introduction to the Kongou team is a microverse of great comedy. First seen saving the day in episode 3, they emit an aura of reliability. They are the cool dependable senpai to our fresh newcomer. This image, however, is broken immediately following the next episode. Meeting properly for the first time, they introduce themselves in the likes of a Super Sentai Team, each getting their own titlecard, cumulating in a groupshot with different colored explosions behind them.

Fubukis image of Kongou gets literally shattered just a few seconds later. Kongou-senpai is no more; Long live Kongou-oneesama and her three equally dumb “little sisters”. Those four share at most one braincell together and it is constantly overworked saying random things in english. Honestly, they are hilarious and remind me of the historical team in Girls und Panzer. However, this episode was not just fun and games. Last episode ended with a character dying. Until the very last moment, I didn’t think they would actually kill a character off, because even when the situation looked dire, there was always someone coming to the rescue. Also, are you even allowed to kill one of your Gacha Waifus? There is simply no way one of the characters dies. And then one did and it was truly unsettling. Coming out of nowhere and with nobody to even bear witness, leaving behind friends desperately waiting for her return, it has almost something cruel to it… and it was not taken lightly at all.

Next episode and we see several characters trying to deal with the situation or even trauma. The de facto commander clearly lying calling the operation a success, her classmates not being able to concentrate in class, the teachers being concerned and then there is Mutsuki simply not accepting the death and continuing to wait on the shore for the moment she returns. It is a sincere reaction with actual consequences. People try to confront another,deal with the situation and heal. Does KanColle go about it with the same nuance as other anime specifically dealing with said theme? Not at all. Even anime like Pokémon Sun and Moon certainly did it better on all its occasions, but what matters to me is, that it is not bad. It is sincere and respectful. By all accounts, I didn’t expect to be and yet it did. It eventually results in a bittersweet moment: Mutsubu still waiting on the shore gets confronted instead by the returning Fubuki, who just barely escaped death herself. It may just be a simple hug, but carried this gesture enough weight to make her find peace with the situation. Life goes on and there are people caring for her, in the same way she also cares for others. Why does this anime actually get an emotion out of me?

I obviously don’t give the full context here and most of its pay-off comes from interactions one episode prior, but the point still stands: It is not bad. Both things, Kongous delightful antics, as well as the trauma of losing someone dear to you, happen (mostly) in the very same episode. One is light and funny, while the other is heavy and a downer, and yet, it didn’t clash. It didn’t feel wrong. It worked. This is what surprised me. At the very least, the plot of KanColle is able to pull its punch, as well as being simply enjoyable. However, does that mean the anime is actually good? What I did here is mostly praising it for not being bad on one topic. Not being bad/harmfull/problematic is the lowest bar there is and any media should pass it. I will stand by my initial comment, that the first episode is genuinely great and that it is able to at least tell its story without cannibalizing itself with clashing moods, but beyond that? Let’s talk about what is actually there in KanColle and what is not.

KanColle certainly tries. While none of the girls are interesting characters in the way of development, themes or plot involvement, they still bounce off another well enough, so that their interactions are still enjoyable. It is nothing new and it feels like I have heard the same conversations several times already, but it didn’t bother me. It was nice. The same can be said about the through line of the anime. The main character Fubuki is your shy, unconfident transfer student, being unsure of herself and being surrounded by so many impressive people. It didn’t take me long to see where this is going: She learns new friends, trains like a madlad, gets a motivational speech from someone she looks up to, slowly becomes better and receives her first victory by the end of its respective arc, and by the end of the series stands confident and as equal before everyone else, saving the day and getting noticed by senpai. It is not bad that I essentially predicted the whole thing… It’s just that I have seen this very plot maybe one too many times already :D.

But I genuinely like the concept of it. Hell, it is basically Girls und Panzer to a T. Individual episodes are mostly focused on one or two characters and mostly end nicely by the end of it. Little lessons being learned, new friendships being made. The curry competition? Fantastic episode! Then there are the many things I consider weird, but not necessarily bad, like all the girls being very affectionate to each other all the time, but in a weirdly friendly and not really sexualised way. While all the girls show at least some kind of affection to the admiral… this anime is so ridiculously gay, I have a hard time even emphasizing just how gay it is. From its casual closeness and love confession to… Akagi and Kaga shooting an arrow as a pair, Mutsu just constantly blushing at Nagato and saying how cute she is, Fubuki seeing through rose colored glasses after being patted on the head and oh my god… Ooi going full mama bear for Kitakami. Genuinely my life blood (Yes, I know how weird this must sound).

Then there is the admiral itself, who is never shown, but definitely there. Sometimes addressed in first person, but mostly just hinted in the form of a menacing shadow, he is this almost ominous character. Always there watching over his girls, yet just too powerful to be captured by light, or drawn as an image. I assume the admiral is the player character, which leads me to the some of the stuff I assume comes directly from the game. Notice, I have never played KanColle, nor do I really know anything about it. After being damaged, some of the girls have to go into the dock, also known as the bathhouse and have to stay there until they are repaired, leading to some scenes just playing out with most if its characters naked…. and I am like… yeah, I can see that. At some point, one just gotta embrace its trash. There are also those instant repairs which just scream “premium currency paid with real money”. There are more little references, most of which probably flew over my head.

I am also surprised, just how much stuff I can tolerate in this anime. One of the more prominent characters is an idol… or at least really tries to be one… and she is passable. Obnoxious, sure, but also kind of charming in the way she tries so hard. She is also not limited to just being the idol. Then there is the fact, that most of the cast is more on the young site of things. Akagi and Kaga, Atago and Takao, Nagato and Mutsu (Best Girl), Yamato and Mamiya are the only characters older than… maybe 16?.. and there are like 40 other characters. Maybe I am just getting too old, but watching mostly “young” girls feels wrong in a way, considering there is some fanservice. Their clothes get ripped sometimes, but it isn’t really shown in a provocative manner. It just feels weird. On the other hand, there are also characters like Shimikaze wearing barely (if even) a miniskirt… her canon companions have really funny faces though, so all is forgiven. Of course, there is the designated Loli Squad™ too. We have the one really trying to be a proper lady, the sleepyhead, the clutz and the one randomly speaking russian. They are the main focus of the curry competition episode and as already mentioned, it was great. One might say I am conflicted on some of these topics, but again, it was perfectly tolerable.

There is also something to be said about its production value. The anime looks really generic, from its backgrounds to the style the characters are rendered in to even some of the designs themselves. I really appreciate the many different uniforms, otherwise I would have completely lost the overview of the characters. However, I don’t really thing it is that bad. Most anime look rather generic, but few of them look actually bad. This one certainly doesn’t. I really like the compositing in this anime, being both subtle, but also strong if needed to be, as seen in the ending theme. Compositing often makes or breaks the look of an anime, so it being noticeably good is fondly noted. The animation itself, while not that special outside its fights, often adds some individual flair to its characters in the form of secondary animation. Movement in their clothes and hair brighten up the more mundane scenes that could have been otherwiswe stiff and no one would complain. Randomly, there are also some really great artistic flourishes like the Abyssal being colored and shaded in a completely different style that makes them not only stand out, but also foreign and dangerous, complementing their narrative place in the anime.

What really impressed me however was the CG. It is mostly used when the fleet girls are deployed, adding a lot of machinery to their design. Sometimes, there is a mix of both though. My opinions on 3DCGI is arguably slightly different and certainly more forgiving than the rest of the community, so hear me out. I really appreciate the way they use the 3D models to create choreography that would either look weird or be impossible in 2D. Sweeping through the sea, having multiple characters on the screen doing complex movement with a wide variety of camera angles. This is the stuff 3D is made for. Additionally, the purely technical aspect might just be as impressive. If you pause on most frames, the fact that it is 3D is barely visible, as seen in the image below.

While their might be some errors like outlines being a bit wonky when the hair clips through itself, the shading, rendering and compositing itself is pretty damn solid. Facial expressions might be hand-animated, but do not quote me on that. The models have a big variety of movement and are animated with a certain weight to it. They even got the jiggle physics right and I especially like the little water splashes when the girls are sliding across the water! There is some good stuff in there. It still may seems a bit off sometimes when moving, but beyond that? KanColle is certainly on the better side of anime using CG for more than just background pedestrians.

The music is what one would expect for both the Slice of Life moments as well as the action. There are however some tracks where the military tone really shines and elevate scenes with much needed punch. Also, please give the Ending Theme a listen! Those guys with the brass instruments go so hard!

And that’s about it. Final conclusion: KanColle is, if nothing else, at least fun to watch. However, this is only half the point I want to make. Kantai Collection shouldn’t be this good! is what I thought to myself after the first episode, as well as the fourth and the last. But why did I do that? I didn’t expect to find the next [insert universally beloved anime], of course, but I also obviously didn’t want it to be bad. While expectation management is a tricky subject, there is also part of me considering some media to be just… pulp… seasonal schlock… media whose only purpose is existing, being consumed and later discarded for the next new thing, only for the cycle to repeat itself. KanColle is not the dream project of an ambitious producer, director or studio. It is the de facto assumed anime adaptation of a big mixed media franchise. Fans of the Gacha game may be happy (or not, if it was adapted poorly), but beyond that? Humanity has no need for mediocracy. Whose Top 10 contains KanColle? How many people even watched it after it its initial release? Does anyone even talk about it, beyond a very specific context? If I didn’t add this anime years ago to my list and watched its opening so many times, would I have even remember KanColle existed? The answer is probably obvious.

And yet, despite its circumstances that must have been so very obvious from the start, it is not bad in the way it probably should have been. Take the title of this post both literally, as well as like a sense of bewilderment. KanColle is not a bad product. It doesn’t feel heartless. Obvious effort was made to create something, if not great, at least good or enjoyable. I couldn’t even cover all the little things that put a smile on my face, like the very premise having at least some kind of novelty, or how there are little chibi pilots on the planes or how there are only a couple of Seiyuus speaking all the characters. Nao Touyama is voicing six characters, all of whom are mostly speaking directly to each other… how did I not notice?

For what it is, Kantai Collection shouldn’t be this good. I am, however, glad that it is so nonetheless, despite my seemingly harsh score of 6/10. It is no Girls und Panzer after all and there exist more daring hills to die on.

As of the time writing this post, I have yet to see the movie. But beyond that, I think it is time for another PreCure series ^^

Kantai Collection is available on Crunchyroll.