Assuming that CrunchyRoll get it for Australia I’m still planning to mock at least one episode for the silliness of the premise. However this article on The Glorio Blog does highlight several problematic aspects of Kantai Collection.
Arguably, although not mentioned, several of those elements should also be considered with respect to Girls Und Panzer.
Recommended, please click through to the original article to read in full.
[We are obligated to point out that these are strictly Aquagaze’s opinions and not those of the Glorio Blog, but we do think having open discussion is important.]
You’ve probably seen them before, whether it’s on social networks, in fanart, as figures on online shops or in the seedier underbellies of the anime fandom. The kanmusu, or “ship daughters”, twee teenage girls dressed like fashionable sailors and armed to the teeth with equally cutesy heavy weaponry, are the heroines and mascots of Kantai Collection, the new cult phenomenon taking the Internet by storm. Like similar viral fads before it, however, a lot of mainstream geeks have little to no idea what Kantai Collection is even supposed to be. It’s everywhere, from the listings of most popular fanart on Pixiv to the newest figurines being put up for pre-order, to the point where Kantai Collection’s fandom, like Vocaloid
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medievalotaku said:
That was a very interesting article. On one hand, it does point out the vexatious trend of the Japanese to whitewash their war crimes. But, I think that it goes too far in saying that an anime or video game must acknowledge these crimes. I felt the same way when people complained about Hetalia ignoring the Holocaust. Just how is a comedy supposed the cover the Holocaust in a respectful manner?
But, the Japanese should have forthrightly admitted their war crimes, like the Germans did following WWII. For that reason, most do not feel the need to shame Germans about the Holocaust or allowing the rise of the Nazi party. But, one doubts whether the Japanese will ever change their way of treating the issue.
John Samuel said:
As you say this is a complicated area. I’m not sure that I entirely agree with the article either, but it does raise valid concerns about what lies behind KanColle, Strike Witches, Girls Und Panzer, the moe recruiting mascots for the JSDF, and the moves to revise the Japanese constitution, plus others that I’m sure I’ve missed. There’s a sense of a shifting zeitgeist in Japan and I’m not sure where it’s leading.
Hypothetically a version of KanColle that was set in the 1960s or later using the JMSDF ships would have been much less problematic. It might also have been much less successful by not catching the zeitgeist in the way that the real KanColle did.