328th G-View: Kantai Collection: The Movie

Not much of an intro for this one. It is the Kantai Collection movie. What more needs to be said?

NOTE: The story takes place after the events of the main series so expect spoilers. Check out my review of the main series HERE.

Genres: Action, Sci-Fi

Themes: Milimoe (moe and military), Battleships, War

Running Time: 130 Minutes

G-Rating: 8/10

Plot Summary: A fleet was sent to storm an Abyssal Base. After a hard fought battle a mysterious blood like substance began spreading across the ocean like oil. Any Fleet Girl sailing in the “discolored” water would have their weapons begin to rust away. Also in the middle of the battlefield a Fleet Girl thought to have been lost forever makes a surprising return. To cap it all off there’s a strange, chilling voice heard around the ocean calling for someone to come to them.

Scene from the first battle.

Let us begin by discussing the two battles in the movie, similar to Girls und Panzer: Der Film. The bright side, like the aforementioned movie, is both of them are probably some of the most intense in the anime series by far. They are PG-13 but pretty violent nonetheless. It also helps that the mood during the fights perfectly captures what it would be like to be in the middle of a merciless ship war…if those ships were presented as cute and sexy girls.

The rest of the movie, again like Garupan: Der Film, is centered around character development and emotional drama, specifically the Fleet Girl found in the battlefield and a certain other girl who missed her dearly since the day she sank. Alongside the mystery of the “bloody water” and the recovered Fleet Girl there is also a shocking revelation about the Fleet Girl/Abyssal war and the origin of some of our heroines. To some it may be familiar ground but is still interesting stuff. I will say though that the ending, if people paid attention think about it, kind of made sense. Whether what happens in the movie will carry over to the inevitable second season remains to be seen.

One of several Abyssals in the movie.

Best way to describe the animation in the KanColle movie is similar to most other movies of anime series: “A higher quality version of the TV show”. The Fleet Girls are all cute and sexy off duty and badasses on the battlefield, whereas the Abyssal girls and their monstrous missiles and subs still look like they come from the Black Rock Shooter universe, which is a good thing because I love those designs. Also the soundtrack, especially during battles, is great.

When it comes to characters, the already established important ones like Fubuki, Mutsuki and Poi (Yuudachi) get plenty of screen time and decent to lots of development whereas others either get a decent amount of time in the spotlight, cool introductions for brand new girls who made their animated debuts in this movie or in the case of a select few, relegated to background girl status…

When it comes to yuri…it all depends on how the viewer sees it. Unfortunately the heavy-hitters are either demoted to background characters (Ooi and Kitakami) or get decent screen time but hardly have time to snuggle (Nagato and Mutsu). It kind of makes sense because of the severity of the situation but is still a shame we did not get much yuri goodness. Now there MIGHT be one duo in particular but it depends on how the viewer sees it. Personally I did not think of their interactions as yurirific (more like concerned friend or family) but to others it may be OTP. In the end it is up to the viewer.

Overall KanColle: The Movie is simple to describe: Fans of the show, like me, will most certainly enjoy it. The two battles were intense, the casual time nice and the drama effective. Like the TV show some Fleet Girls got more time to shine than others. The newcomers were pretty cool. Sadly the yuri content was not as plentiful as I had hoped but again it kind of made sense due to the severity of the situation. Besides fans of the show peeps who enjoy “milimoe” series will also find something to enjoy in both the anime and this movie.