User blog:Morgane of the Mists/A summary of the light novel KanColle: Kagerō, Setting Sail! (Intro and vol. 1)

Note: Despite this book having been out for a year, I haven't seen any translations in English. If this is already done, just let me know, and I'll go spend time elsewhere. ;)

An older "official" KanColle work, Kagero, Setting Sail (KSS for short) is a pretty interesting take on the lore behind KanColle. I thought I would summarize the pertinent points here to inspire and encourage more secondary creations (especially roleplays) on the forum. One of the great things about Kantai Collection is that the world's just loose enough to allow different interpretations on each aspect of the story, ranging from the "fantasy" feel of  Cranes to the "realistic" designs of KSS.

Unlike  Cranes' extremely right-wing author, Tsukiji Toshihiko is better known for his earlier work, 神曲奏界ポリフォニカ (Shinkyoku Sokai Polyphonica), a work largely inspired by Dante's Divine Comedy. He's a lot less "military otaku" than the other KanColle writers, though, and so the story feels more like a typical high school slice of life (with ship girls thrown in). The light novel itself is pretty formulaic, and there isn't nearly as much tie-in with history as  Cranes. Nonetheless, it proves a set of very interesting of characters, and its focus on destroyers - as well as numerous inside joke references that most veteran admirals would get - makes it an entertaining read.

I've translated the author's note below.

'''To be honest, I've always love sea adventure stories, and I especially love the tales of the little escort ships. Alistair Maclean's HMS Ulysses (1955), C.S. Forester's The Good Shepherd (1955), and Douglas Reeman's works, especially For Valour (2000) all still occupy a prominent spot on my bookshelf.

Thus, when I heard that I was to novelize "KanColle," my mind instantly snapped to the idea of writing a story about destroyers escorts. It will be a coming of age story, about growing up and maturing. Luckily, there just happens to be an escort mission in the game. So I decided to throw all those cute destroyer girls to the typhoon-filled, shark infested southern seas (unfortunately, it's not the northern sea). ''' [Note: at the time of composition, the "northern" expeditions were not yet implemented into the game.)

'''Originally, I wanted to write Fukubi and the 6th DesDiv, but because someone already took over the project for them, I thought that I would write about Kagero and the Mutsuki class. I actually thought this was even better, because I really think the Kagero ships were one of the best looking ships in the navy. And, of course, Kagero would be the protagonist of this light novel.

My only problem was: Kagero was basically a nobody in the game. As far as I could remember, she's only scrap-worthy or modernization material. She's not even the rare ship of her class - that's Yukikaze. So what can I learn about the Kagero class? I decided to call the editor of a modeling (navy ship modeling) magazine.

"Kagero? Oh. The only thing interesting about her is the fact that she is extremely uninteresting. How about Shiranui? She's one of our best selling models. I can show you some photos if you'd like."

So you're also ... basically ignored in this community? No no no. Then it'll be up to me to make you into a likable character. Let's become better-known together! And so, I designed Kagero into how you see her in the novel: a girl with emotions, who cries and laughs and is full of energy. Personally, I feel like she's pretty close to what a main character should be.

And, as such, I designed the rest of DesDiv 14 around her. Filled with the honor that is being a destroyer girl, I hope that they'll go on many future adventures. Even though I don't know how far I could take them, I hope to have you continued support in our future endeavors.

Finally, i'd like to thank my good friend, the chief editor of the NAVY YARD magazine. Your help was tremendous, and I would like to take the opportunity to thank you sincerely. It could not be done without you.

<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:13px;line-height:normal;">Tsukiji Toshihiko, 2013/11/5 '''

Because I could not find how to put spoilers on these blogs, the first of the seven chapter summaries can be found on Himeuta's forums, here.