KanColle: Itsuka Ano Umi de

The dawn of a decisive battle nears in Leyte Gulf against the Abyssal Fleet, the mysterious enemies that occupy the sea. As the only ones capable of fighting them, Kanmusu—young girls possessing the souls of warships—reorganize in preparation. The Shiratsuyu-class destroyer Shigure is assigned to the First Striking Force, Third Section—also known as 1YB3H.

Unfortunately for Shigure, 1YB3H consists of the remaining few Kanmusu and serves as a diversionary fleet. Needing to confront the Abyssal Fleet head-on, it may well be their first and final mission together. Even so, Shigure refuses to let the enemy take another comrade from her. As they advance toward Leyte Gulf during this suicidal mission, the members of 1YB3H must support each other and persevere to prove their worth as competent ships.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Shigure Main

Tanibe, Yumi Japanese

Mogami Main

Suzaki, Aya Japanese

Yamashiro Main

Fujita, Saki Japanese

Fusou Main

Fujita, Saki Japanese

Kongou Supporting

Touyama, Nao Japanese

Hibiki Supporting

Suzaki, Aya Japanese

Haruna Supporting

Touyama, Nao Japanese

Yamato Supporting

Taketatsu, Ayana Japanese

Hamakaze Supporting

Komatsu, Mana Japanese

Kitakami Supporting

Ootsubo, Yuka Japanese

Andou, Keiichi Producer

Kasahara, Shuuzou Producer

Miura, Kazuya Director

Imaizumi, Yuuichi Sound Director

Reviews

May 23, 2024

PheasantTaste

Recommended

I think the poor reception by MAL users is easily explained: the show, like the source material, was not localized. The original adaptation pandered to whales to make as much money as possible at the peak of the game's popularity. This season, made a decade later, was a more genuine attempt to make a show that wasn't a 12-episode ad, and this was (again) done with a domestic audience in mind. Usually, this is not a problem, as the content may be easily translatable or the foreign audience may be filtered by its obscurity, but neither was the case with this show. Foreign audiences (including ... the biggest weebs with no life outside of early 2010's gatcha games) were primed to watch another 8 episodes of video game moe slop shounen drama (like Azur Lane) but instead were faced with something more traditionally artistic, and it wasn't something that a simple "just translate the buttons" localization would work on.

Of course, this show was far from perfect. It's clear they were really stretching their budget to make 8 episodes and there are times you feel like you're watching a video at 0.75x speed to pad the runtime. I suspect the original intent was for a movie or 4-6 episode OVA, but some higher-ups stepped in with some forced decisions. There are also some dumb out-of-place parts too, which I also assume were added on in a similar manner. I won't point out specifics just for the sake of spoilers (for those that care).

In my opinion, this season far exceeds the first+movie in quality, yet has the lowest rating of the three on MAL. I don't know how else to explain this discrepancy. Looking at the other reviews, it seems like this TV show was probably the first time they had heard of a "she-goo-ray". This is not a thinly-veiled "to be fair, you have to have a very high Jomon admixture, a descendant of Amaterasu, to understand this show" statement (at least mostly). In part, the show does benefit from an audience with prior knowledge and "memberberries", but even excluding that, I don't even think you could adequately localize it. I'm simply not sure how I would explain why I liked this show to a foreign audience in a single MAL review. I genuinely think there is a significant cultural barrier to enjoying this season.

In MAL's shitty condensed scoring system, I think I'd give it an 8. Maybe I'm remembering the show too fondly or my brain is conflating it with other similar media (namely, *that* music video). Perhaps my score and opinion would change on a rewatch, but It certainly deserves more than a below average score.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Mar 29, 2023

valiantslakr

Mixed Feelings

As an OLD fan of the Kantai Collection/Kancolle franchise who HAS played the original browser game using a bunch of plugins for non-japanese players, and watched the original anime and movie, this anime is just...baffling from every conceivable angle. Kancolle's popularity has long faded since it's golden years of 2014-2015 or so, and Kadokawa never bothered localizing the game officially, nor did they ever think to reinvigorate the franchise with a rebooted game to compete with the likes of Azur Lane and such, so a "season 2" after so many years is so baffling, and the fact that they decided to do a completely reimagined ... setting from the original anime, with a much "darker" tone.

The fact that this tries to "recreate" actual naval battles from WWII that Japan historically lost in, and plays it completely straight with a somber tone despite the ridiculousness of "Shipgirls"/Kanmusu and Fairies is just jarring. Many fans like myself have greatly criticized the original anime doing this, while praising the more cutesy slice of life episodes, which is what any Kancolle anime should have been. YET, this anime doubles down on the dark tone, and with the incredibly boring Shigure as the main character.

Speaking of Shigure, I have no idea why she was chosen as the main character; perhaps she was the director or producer's waifu or something. Her incredibly softspoken demeanor works in a supporting role but is soooo boring as the lead. When Battle-Beaver finally shows up (Yukikaze), it becomes painfully obvious how much better she would have been in the MC role.

Bah, sorry for the ranty review, but TL;DR, the animation is decent, albeit with some awkard looking CGI on some of the abyssal fliers, but story, tone, and characters are completely baffling, and at the end of the day, literally, "Who asked for this?!", on top of the ridiculously long delays.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Feb 10, 2023

SoaringPegasus

Not Recommended

Preliminary (6/8 eps)

Kancolle 1944 is a disappointing show. Despite having only eight episodes, the slow pacing of the show wasted its great potential. The story and setting were bouncing around with a lack of explanation, causing confusion and frustration. Furthermore, the animation was clunky and low-budget, which only added to the disappointment.

In contrast to its colorful prequels, the show was hinted to have a gloomy atmosphere in the trailers, and it did start off with a depressing battle that depicted the dreadfulness of the shipgirls in late (fictional) WW2. The battle was well-executed with great music and atmosphere, but the episodes that followed were a massive let-down. ... The pacing dropped significantly and the show dragged on with filler episodes. I don’t know why the story kept progressing so slowly even though it only has EIGHT episodes. Moreover, the lack of dialogue in these fillers also made the show dull and unexciting.

Furthermore, the show went back and forth with its timeline and setting, making it difficult to follow. In episode four, we were shown that the show took place in the 1940s, but then Shigure had strange memories that came out of nowhere without any explanation. Anyone watching the show without prior experience with the game would be extremely confused.

As a long-term Kancolle player, it is with sadness that I must say this show is not worth watching. I was drawn to the unique theme of a gloomy WW2 anime, but the poor execution really wasted its potential. The only redeeming factor of the anime was the excellent soundtrack. I hope the last two episodes can change my mind, but delays after delays made this season a let down.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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