CdrMike said:

>>(It's an amusing touch that most of the submarines have suntans. All
>>that cruising around at shallow depths in tropical waters...)
>
>Yeah, it's what makes U-511 stand out more before she's refitted into
>Ro-500, how pale she is from operating in North Atlantic waters.

I have to say, only slightly apropos of this, that some of the "casting" choices in the game are a little suspect. I mean, one of the submarines I'm seeing a lot of fan art for is I-8, a boat that was infamous for its crew's habit of committing atrocity-grade war crimes on survivors from ships they'd sunk. Now, I realize that the modern Japanese attitude toward WWII Japan's war crimes record is... unique... but dang, you guys. Was the joke about her having made a trip to Germany really worth that level of baggage?

>>Gosh. They may have to start including ships from Allied navies at
>>some point. That'll presumably involve some tension in the showers. :)
>>
>>"Hi, Oklahoma here. You'll keep them God-damn carriers away from me
>>if'n you know what's good for you, Admiral."
>
>Nah, if you want a real source of tension, wait for Allied subs to
>start showing up.

Oh dear. With (as previously discussed) their regrettable American-submarine names. And their torpedoes that don't work.

I find myself inevitably picturing that bitchy carrier (Kaga, I think?) inquiring of a group of the new American arrivals, "So, I'm curious. Why are you S-class submarines called 'pig boats'? Are you gluttonous, slovenly, or some combination of the two?" And then there is an almighty fistfight. Kaga could probably take a few, but there are 51 of them. :)

(The S-boats would also be sensitive about their wide sterns. Needlessly so, as it happens, because they're quite well-proportioned and stable, but still, it's that kind of show.)

>No, the cruelest joke was played on Isuzu. She could be refitted
>early (lvl 12), came with a unique radar that could be equipped by
>other ships, and added +5 anti-air to any ship that "consumed" her
>during modernization. This led to many admirals "Isuzu farming" just
>for the radars.

That was pretty mean. Still, I have a hard time shaking off that one fanart I saw of the group of Maru-yu cowering in a corner, crying, "Admiral is going to feed us to the battleships! We're not food!" Poor Maru-yu.

Fortunately, the TV series at least seems to be taking the view that the ship girls are individuals (unlike in the game, where you can apparently have a dozen ships that are not just Isuzu-class, but are in fact Isuzu). (Although that does mean it's even sadder when one gets sunk, because you know they can't just work the RNG until they get her back.)

>>As an aside, the KanColle version of Kirishima is on my short
>>list for UF hybridization, on account of a) I'm fond of the Violent
>>Brainiac archetype and b) she's not a sociopathic stuffed animal,
>>which would frankly give her a significant edge even if she
>>wasn't a hot librarian with 104 out of 100 in firepower. :)
>
>I'm right there with you, Kancolle Kirishima is also one of my
>favorites.

They seem to do battleships better over there. I mean, Fog Haruna's shtick with the memorizing words is cute, but the KanColle Kongō-class as a team are just a lot more fun. And Hyūga, but then, Fog Hyūga annoys the crap outta me anyway, so almost anybody would be an improvement there. :)

(It'd be one thing if Fog Hyūga was really as crazy as she seems. Then she'd still be annoying, but at least you could write it off as, oh well, the poor girl's damaged. The fact that she's pretty obviously just using her eccentricity as cover for being a huge jerk is offputting.)

>>One assumes it was, therefore, a carnival.
>
>Indeed, that was one of her lines. And can I emphasize how thankful I
>am that the manga did not go the way of the anime? Because she is
>just too adorable to be a puppet.

I know, right? Most of my take on the Arpeggio characters in UF does come from the anime, but if and when Maya shows up, she's not gonna be a Predacon shell program. That was just nasty-ass writing. That was a full-dress hey-fuck-you.

>>A meeting between those two would be like a theoretical face-to-face
>>between the personification of the original-series USS
>>Enterprise and her counterpart from the Mirror Universe.
>
>It would be interesting...right up until Kancolle Kongou
>dragged her counterpart off to join her for tea time.

"You and your sisters are excessively boisterous. It's unseemly. Beneath the dignity of fast battleships." "Ha, you sound like Nagato now. Have some of this cake, it's awesome."

>>Someone should warn Corwin... He does seem to be starting a submarine
>>shelter.
>
>Corwin's beginning to develop his dad's habit of bringing strays home
>every time he goes out on an adventure.

It's not our fault! We just have that kind of face.

Also, Nova said:

>>The canon contains a number of jokes regarding IJN ships that crashed
>>into other IJN ships; everyone's a bit wary of Mogami in the hallways
>>around the Naval Base, for instance, particularly her sister ships.
>>(They're not actually hostile about it, it's more of a "look
>>out, here comes danger" running gag. :)
>
>Inazuma is the worst offender in this category, rising to the level of
>"superstitious curse"- there have been 4 ships named Inazuma so far,
>and 3 of them have had major collisions (first one sank as a result,
>2nd one sank another destroyer, 3rd one destroyed her bridge and the
>bridge of the ship she hit).

"Hmm," said Ty Lee, without looking up from her book. "I know you probably just picked it because it's Kokugo for 'lightning', but based on what I'm seeing here, your big universe stage name is really apt."

Also also, back at the very beginning Nathan said:

>Also, TBS Nagato is so cool. I have such an enormous
>crush I don't even care how pathetic saying it makes me look.

Your main problem there is that you'd have to figure out a way to work around Mutsu. And there's a lot of Mutsu to work around, know what I mean? :)

--G.
Don't worry, though, I'll help. She's borderline, but there's somethin' about Mutsu. :)
-><-
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.

>(Which reminds me - I'm sure it's just a rating thing that they don't
>have one, but I would be very amused if there was a fleet girl who
>actually talked like... well, a fuckin' sailor, you know? There's the
>one who always calls the player "you shitty admiral," but apart from
>that... :)
>
>--G.
>15 bonus points if it was one of the adorable
>destroyers. Ikazuchi, say.

There was a doujin I encountered* where Inazuma was serving as secretary ship for a very, um, enthusiastically incompetent Admiral, leading to some gratuitously profane breakdowns, but I suppose that's less sailor-speak and more workplace-induced stress.

*I believe the doujin in question exists only as a linked thread of images on Notsafe!booru, which makes it rather difficult to present in any coherent manner.

"This is probably a stupid question, but . . ."

LAST EDITED ON Jul-02-15 AT 07:12 PM (EDT)
 
>Well, you know. Sailors. They pick up all kinds of weird things.

Well, the designers have never said where the accent came from, so the theory is she picked it up from one of her captains. Sort of like how Jun'yō is believed to have picked up her love of drinking from her third captain, who anonymously crashed a drinking party that the junior officers were holding on base the day before he was supposed to arrive to take command.

>(Which reminds me - I'm sure it's just a rating thing that they don't
>have one, but I would be very amused if there was a fleet girl who
>actually talked like... well, a fuckin' sailor, you know? There's the
>one who always calls the player "you shitty admiral," but apart from
>that... :)

Ah, Akebono, yeah, she definitely has a mouth on her. Though you're right, most of it is just verbally abusing the admiral. But, like several of the girls after the introduction of the (provisional) marriage system, it turns out she's just a tsundere with a very abrasive "tsun" side.

>15 bonus points if it was one of the adorable
>destroyers. Ikazuchi, say.

Really, could you imagine any of the girls from DesDev6 being that foul-mouthed?

LAST EDITED ON Jul-02-15 AT 07:18 PM (EDT)
 
>>15 bonus points if it was one of the adorable
>>destroyers. Ikazuchi, say.
>
>Really, could you imagine any of the girls from DesDev6 being that
>foul-mouthed?

Hibiki/Верный. Easily. Russian, I'm told (on this very board, IIRC), has a whole sub-dialect that's so dirty it can get you arrested. :)

--G.
Do not get Sanya started. She'll melt your ears off.
-><-
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.

>Hibiki/Verniy. Easily. Russian, I'm told (on this very board, IIRC),
>has a whole sub-dialect that's so dirty it can get you arrested. :)

Yeah, but only after you got her properly sloshed. The girl's just too reserved to ever go on a tear like that without a bit of vodka.

>>Hibiki/Verniy. Easily. Russian, I'm told (on this very board, IIRC),
>>has a whole sub-dialect that's so dirty it can get you arrested. :)
>
>Yeah, but only after you got her properly sloshed. The girl's just
>too reserved to ever go on a tear like that without a bit of vodka.

... I'm not sure why, but you just gave me the image of Kongou turning up in one of those novelty British-propaganda-poster T-shirts reading "KEEP CALM AND GET HAMMERED".

--G.
and presumably nothing else, as this is surely some key part of Operation Bag the Admiral LXXVI
-><-
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.

>... I'm not sure why, but you just gave me the image of Kongou turning
>up in one of those novelty British-propaganda-poster T-shirts reading
>"KEEP CALM AND GET HAMMERED".
>
>--G.
>and presumably nothing else, as this is surely some key
>part of Operation Bag the Admiral LXXVI

The only thing that makes the mental image funnier is imagining Arpeggio Kongou doing that.

>The only thing that makes the mental image funnier is imagining
>Arpeggio Kongou doing that.

"I don't want to alarm you, Admiral, but I'm afraid Kongō and Kongō might have switched minds after that last photonic armor experiment."

"Oh, great. So now the one with incredible strength and weird gravity weapons is looking to jump me, and the one with a full suite of compact personal artillery is presumably shelling Anchorage in a fit of para-existential pique."

"Pretty much, yes."

"If anyone other than her is looking for me, I'll be in the Secret Nuclear Bunker."

--G.
-><-
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.

>>... I'm not sure why, but you just gave me the image of Kongou turning
>>up in one of those novelty British-propaganda-poster T-shirts reading
>>"KEEP CALM AND GET HAMMERED".
>>
>>--G.
>>and presumably nothing else, as this is surely some key
>>part of Operation Bag the Admiral LXXVI
>
>The only thing that makes the mental image funnier is imagining
>Arpeggio Kongou doing that.

Wonder no more.

http://danbooru.donmai.us/pools/8213?page=1

>>I guess it's a bit easier with ships like
>>Ryūjō, who speaks in
>>Kansai-ben, because most translators decided ages ago that the English
>>equivalent is a Southern accent.
>
>Hang on, isn't that the Osaka dialect? I thought the pop analog for
>that was the Bugs Bunny/Groucho Marx/Harley Quinn Bensonhurst accent.
>I'm so out of touch.

I've often thought it was a shame that anime is dubbed into American and not British English. Translating the Tokyo accent as RP, and Kansai-ben as Scouse or Geordie, would be much more accurate...

I think this is the least worst way to do it, especially for writing- tacking "-ish" on to stuff makes her sound drunk, and sprinkling "poi"s around gets jarring unless all the other Japanese inflections are present as well.

Though it could always be worse, a couple times in the anime (and other works), Yuudachi ends up sounding more like she's related to Mokona from MKR.

"This is probably a stupid question, but . . ."

Mentioned a bunch of other characters I particularly like and forgot to take note of fleet communications ship Ōyodo, who - despite the outstanding efforts of the entire Kongō class! - has the moment of all moments in episode 4.

--G.
"I am Ōyodo, yes."
-><-
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.

If the dark and disturbing interpretations of the shipgirls' situation get too unpleasant, there's always Hisahiko's take on the situation (Notsafe!booru pool, so standard warnings apply, and hopefully you don't mind mousing over dialogue to read it).

For a taste of what it's like, here's Hisahiko's take on the ending of Episode 3

"This is probably a stupid question, but . . ."

I found this incredibly interesting Kantai Collection fanfic the other day, written by someone on the spacebattles/sufficient velocity crowd. It's called 'The Greatest Generation', and it's set in a slightly next-sunday-AD setting where the Abyssal fleets are appearing and terrorizing most of the world, and the shipgirls, correspondingly, are awakening to handle them... except they're under the jurisdiction of the UN, they're spread thinly, and an awful lot of them have... opinions, or even worse lack of understanding, about the actual historical background of WW2.

And then a naval intelligence officer named Yvonne Swanson gets involved to try and find out why the Kanmusu aren't responding to US summons for help, and things get... interesting.

You can check it out at https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11187030/1/Kantai-Collection-The-Greatest-Generation , and tvtropes has links to its in progress threads at http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Fanfic/TheGreatestGeneration. It's ongoing, though.

And of course I mess up the re: entirely...

>And of course I mess up the re: entirely...

I just figured you meant it as another entry in the "if you're scarred from the grimdark" column, although upon further review of your summary, I can see why that might not be the case. :)

--G.
-><-
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.

"For some reason, I feel that I should not open this door..."

--G.
-><-
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.

It's at this point that everybody looks to Jintsuu and asks, "Did you somehow manage to come out normal, or are you just better at hiding it?"

"This is probably a stupid question, but . . ."

>It's at this point that everybody looks to Jintsuu and asks, "Did you
>somehow manage to come out normal, or are you just better at hiding
>it?"

Just better at hiding it.

--G.
-><-
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.

LAST EDITED ON Jul-08-15 AT 00:22 AM (EDT)
 
I don't usually go for the cute couple names portmanteau thing, but "Zuikaga" has a nice ring to it. Maybe because it seems like it could be an actual name.

--G.
-><-
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.

I like the idea of them together, because it pushes some of that whole "doomed by history" crap out of the way, and also because it tends to be cute and subtle.

although compared to Ooi's antics, firing off a 21-gun salute every time something happened in somebody's love life would be subtle.
"This is probably a stupid question, but . . ."

>I like the idea of them together, because it pushes some of that whole
>"doomed by history" crap out of the way, and also because it tends to
>be cute and subtle.

Well, in fairness, part of the subtlety is just a side effect of Kaga's chronic inability to display emotions, but, yes. :)

>although compared to Ooi's antics, firing off a 21-gun salute
>every time something happened in somebody's love life would be
>subtle.

... Kongō would do that.

You know it's true.

--G.
"Fireworks?" "Sounds like Kongō's gettin' laid again..." #obscure80smoviereference
-><-
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.

>... Kongō would do that.
>
>You know it's true.
>
>--G.
>"Fireworks?" "Sounds like Kongō's gettin' laid
>again..." #obscure80smoviereference

So who has the handgun that shoots through schools?

>>... Kongō would do that.
>>
>>You know it's true.
>>
>>--G.
>>"Fireworks?" "Sounds like Kongō's gettin' laid
>>again..." #obscure80smoviereference
>
>So who has the handgun that shoots through schools?

They're naval warships.

The only answer is "all of them".

Except the one that got deported to Italy and wasn't even from there.

--
Geoff Depew - Darth Mephron
Haberdasher to Androids, Dark Lord of Sith Tech Support.
"And Remember! Google is your Friend!!"

>>... Kongō would do that.
>>
>>You know it's true.
>>
>>--G.
>>"Fireworks?" "Sounds like Kongō's gettin' laid again..." #obscure80smoviereference
>
>So who has the handgun that shoots through schools?

"You shouldn't hang me on a hook, Kongō," Musashi growled. "My last admiral hung me on a hook once. Once."

--G.
-><-
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.