I added some grumbling to the note about how frequently underestimated Destroyer Division 6 is:

I want to take a moment here to soapbox about a Fandom Thing. It ties in, don't worry. I mentioned earlier that Fubuki was the protagonist of the Kancolle TV series. That decision by the production team rustled quite a few jimmies in the fandom. A lot of people took to message boards, the comments sections on Danbooru, and whatnot to bitch that she's the least interesting and the oldest starter ship, she's boring, she looks just like six of her sister ships, and so forth. Some of them were taking the stance, as people in the most annoying corners of fandoms tend to do, that she was in some sense not "worthy" of being the main character.

So here's the thing. The Fubuki-class Special Type Destroyers were revolutionary. I noted before that they were so far ahead of their time that they were still front-line effective in World War II, nearly 20 years after they were developed. Two of them (Hibiki and Ushio) even survived the war, which is not something many Japanese destroyers managed to do (the only other one I can think of offhand is Yukikaze, of the later Kagerō class). Basically all Japanese destroyers after them were either attempts to replicate their performance within treaty limitations, or expanded further developments on their line (once Japan stopped participating in naval arms limitation treaties in the mid-1930s). Most other countries' destroyer development in the '30s was geared toward either copying or countering Fubuki and her sisters.

I would contend, therefore, that in her time, Fubuki was quite literally the mother of all destroyers,* and, as such, those people should shut up and cut her some damn slack. :)

(Besides, she's hella cute and she works hard. What more can you ask for?)

* credit where it's due to Phil, for first phrasing it this way in a studio chat conversation.

--G.
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Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.