KANCOLLE #1 -- Special Review

We're sampling all the new pilots this Winter. Check out our thoughts on...

• JOJO'S - BATTLE IN EGYPT ** ASSASSINATION CLASSROOM ** DEATH PARADE


• MARIA THE VIRGIN WITCH ** YATTERMAN NIGHT ** THE ROLLING GIRLS


• THE TESTAMENT OF SISTER NEW DEVIL ** THE IDOLM@STER ** KANTAI COLLECTION


• ABSOLUTE DUO ** YURI KUMA ARASHI ** UNLIMITED FAFNIR ** WORLD BREAK


• CUTE HIGH EARTH DEFENSE CLUB LOVE ** SAMURAI WARRIORS ** ISUCA ** MILITARY!

For anybody who thought STRIKE WITCHES' missile boots (and boobs? I forget) were too ridiculous to be topped...

I wonder a lot of times about how shows like this are perceived in Japan. Does the main core of viewers actually take it seriously? Does the concept of a squad of school girls, outfitted with armor resembling/embodying battleship parts, essentially jet-skiing to fight evil aliens during World War II seem daring and sharp to them? Or is this whole thing meant to be understood as a tongue-in-cheek farce?

If it's the latter, it's not actually that funny. Not intentionally, anyway. Maybe the tongue's pressed so far into cheek that it's slithered back down the throat and totally escaped sight. It certainly feels serious for the most part, so it honestly makes me think of a SNL cartoon parody that some producer decided to run with as legitimate series. I mean, it's not that far off from the TITEY, the Disney-fied version of TITANTIC, is it?

If it is an earnest then, I don't know, this has to be one of the most forced gimmicks ever. It's like they wanted to make Magical Girl show, but everybody else had already called dibs on the Tarot, the planets and every Zodiac around, so they thought, “Well... how about each one's a different kind of battleship?”

This isn't the most egregious example ever, of course, but the more you think about it, the more it reflects a few of modern anime's more... troubling fascinations. It's not as awful as that strategy card game with the slutty MOE pin-ups dressed up as SS officers, but it's definitely part of the curve of titles like GIRLS UND PANZER that use WWII as a setting a with a mildly unsettling level of frivolity.

from Anime Vice Site Mashup http://ift.tt/1EM7koW