In contrast to the hit online game of the same name, the anime Kantai Collection (more colloquially KanColle) was released with the promise of being 30% action and 70% slice of life. I usually balk at the prospect of having 30% of a show being action sequences—save anything ufotable decides to commit their resources to—but in this case I wish they had switched those numbers around. The fun of KanColle is in watching girls named for actual historic ships skate on top of water, fire massive guns from their hip belt, even shoot arrows in traditional Japanese archery style only to have them transform into planes. Presumably that’s why people played the game. Once you put those characters in a slice of life situation, there is hardly anything left to set it aside, save for the strong writing and fresh new characters that it distinctly lacks.
The ship girls are all together because of a mysterious otherworldly fleet of ship girl monstrosities named the Abyssals appeared out of nowhere one day and began to wreak havoc on mankind. A ship named Fubuki transfers into a torpedo unit at a large naval base that is presumed to be close to the home base of the Abyssals. Soon afterwards she meets a ship in the same unit, who remarks that she never leaves the base given that there’s so much to do on their days off. Things quickly become episodic in nature, with episodes being devoted to developing friendships between the ships, training to fight the Abyssals, and just plain screwing around with curry-making tournaments and nighttime excursions. Even episodes where they leave the base and go to fight the Abyssals follow a pattern of teaching a weekly moral rather than making progress towards an eventual victory. As a general rule, most episodes can be predicted down to the word within the first few minutes, as one character or another takes a long forlorn look of repressed frustration.
For all its poor attempts at melodrama and emotional weight however, one emotional point that does work is the use of objectifying words and verbs to describe the girls. Indeed they are ships, and so words like “sunk” and “scuttled” are much more appropriate than “dead”. But hearing a character asking to be scuttled, and then having her image replaced in the next shot by one of a ship as her allies send torpedoes, strangely hit home more than many dramatic death scenes I have seen from actual battle shows.
In my opinion this is more proof that KanColle should have stuck to its calling as a comical action show. The 3D modeling used is noticeable and slightly headache-inducing, but there is a joy to be found in seeing girls fighting like actual destroyers and aircraft carriers. Yes, they turn faster than any reasonable ship, but they come outfitted with gun turrets, torpedo tubes, and even aircraft carrier launch pads. It’s clever the way they have arrows turn into planes and see their clothes and fittings damaged as they take fire from the enemy fleets. In one scene an aircraft carrier gets shot right across the launch pad; a piece of debris fractures off and snaps her bowstring, rendering her unable to keep firing plane-arrows. This is the kind of cleverness that comes with having people stand in for machines.
A 70% action KanColle would have been loads of fun to watch. Layering each episode with emotional messages and parfait-eating sequences does nothing for a show that already chose a fairly unique premise. Apparently there is much more to be understood should you have already played the game, and I suppose making a slice of life show with the characters gives fans of the source material a chance to see their favorite characters going about daily life like high school girls. I also give it no points for doing so. That is not an adaption; that is fanservice. If you haven't played KanColle then I can't recommend the show. However, if the game is all the action that the show withheld, then I might end up giving it a try.