I’ve been watching an anime about naval ships represented by super-cute moe girls. You may think I’ve gotten my hands on a pre-release version of the upcoming anime for Kantai Collection, the popular game in which the Japanese ships of World War II are reborn as anime girls, but in fact I’m talking about the new anime Aoki Hagane no Arpeggio, aka Arpeggio of Blue Steel. In the year 2039, several fleets of mysterious sentient warships suddenly appeared, laying waste to the navies of the world with unearthly weapons and blockading all trade between countries. Each of the advanced ships is represented by kawaii anthropomorphic avatars called “Mental Models,” who naturally come in twintail, tsundere and similar varieties. No ship can stand against the invaders, except for I-401, a submarine with a mysterious girl named Iona as its avatar, who seeks out Gunzo Chihaya, the son of the famous commander who was victorious against the invaders 17 years ago, and asks him to become her captain. It’s quite a good show with a unique world-view and enjoyable characters, and I’ll keep watching for sure.
Did you think it was KanColle? Too bad, it was just Arpeggio of Blue Steel!
