Board Thread:Anime/@comment-25730832-20150317162604/@comment-26183083-20150321154229

Adventwings wrote: 142.16.22.18 wrote: Operation MI, I just realized what that stands for. its supposed to be... The Battle of Midway...

We lose Akagi, Hiryu, Kaga and Soryu. Yeah, you're sorta late for the party there, but you are correct - Operation MI is the Battle of Midway. I'll just leave it at that.

As for why Fubuki was chosen to be the main character: She's the First Ship of (then) modern destroyer with an all-turret design and a vast improvement over the WWI-style destroyers everyone else in the world was fielding. Fubuki was, therefore, something like a girl born to usher in a new age of surface combat ship where a good balance of firepower, speed and maneuverability was attained as opposed to casemate destroyers that had so dominated WWI. Kongou, while as powerful a battleship she may be, was constructed using the old Battlecruiser doctrine that dominated WWI naval battles. Her British half-sister ships were all showing their age even at the start of WWII (and ironically, all sunk from being torpedoed by a sub) and you could say she's the last vestiges of the old war.

Sure, Fubuki is plain as tofu, but that allows her to be a foil to basically everyone else with their odd quirks and specialties. A plain MC who is constantly struggling to define herself is a kind of journey in itself, much more interesting than a Boring Invincible Hero who can end fights just with a single punch. Plus, being plain affords her more character development as the story progresses without her turning into a one-trick pony. I am well aware Fubuki was always meant to be the MC. However, I am of the opinion that she's a perfectly fine starter ship (though I picked Inazuma) and even in that "Story-mode" that was supposedly a concept at the start it might have worked out. But she's less than optimum for an anime or manga MC.

There will always be factions that don't like Inazuma's timid tone, Murakumo's rather radical drawing ... etc, but in being bland Fubuki is unobjectionable. Few would love her, but no one will oppose having her until a destroyer they like drops. Many would soon prefer cruisers, battleships ... etc. She's the water to the juices, milks and cocktails that make up the rest of the beverage table.

Even in the "story-mode" since it is the admiral's actions that count, it can still work.

However, an anime or manga MC needs a little more personality even if the slant means it is not universally unobjectionable. This has led to an attempt to tack a bit of personality on Fubuki. An annoying fangirl liking of Akagi (I've been told she used to like Fuso, so umm...) and a certain suicidal tendency in Ep10. Otherwise, she's still a completely plain schoolgirl.

Just as important since most anime and manga involve their MC doing something heroic, they shouldn't be the Boring Invincible Hero but they do need a setup that allows usefully heroic actions to be at least a demi-realistic possibility. In this, KanColle is disadvantaged because they are shipgirls. Though they find every excuse to give bonuses, Fubuki's record is similarly plain in relative terms. And ultimately, she's a destroyer. It is impossible to power her up too much without it looking ridiculously forced, as we can see with this pathetic effort to Kai-2 her.

Given the plot they wanted to run (be on Akagi's team, change Midway, blah) for this anime, I'll pick Zuiho (Ryujo and Ryuho's personalities don't seem right). You can actually do every scene ... just struggling to walk on water, Ep3 (this time providing air cover to a bunch of light cruisers and destroyers), Ep4 (Kongo, same), Ep5 (rising to leader of 5YB), Ep7 (working with two regular carriers) with Zuiho. Except it will all look significantly more plausible because Zuiho is more powerful - how many people felt sorry for Flagship Wo in Ep7 when she was Dai-haed from a single 5-inch hit just for Plot Convenience?

Obviously she'd need different trainers for Ep2, but you can even get the basic angst of Ep 9 and 10 if you shuffle things around a bit, and really those two are weak episodes anyway so they needed a rethink to begin with. Anyway, my point is, Fubuki just doesn't have what it takes to really work with the big ones, and forcing her in that role just decreases the plausibility of the show as a whole.