Continuing from the last episode, Fubuki arrived to save Akagi from the bombers. Yamato and the other fleets has also arrived to aid them. They tried to take down the Airfield Hime but she still haven't went down and more Abyssals forces appeared.
Fubuki and Kongo took on the One Eye Abyssal carrier and defeated it. With that defeat, everyone fired at the Airfield Hime and she was finally destroyed. However Fubuki could hear a mysterious voice call out to her but ignored it. Nagato finally proclaimed the mission was a success and everyone returned to base not knowing Kisaragi's hair pin surfaced in the water.
Mutsuki and Mamiya welcome back everyone and they took a deserved break. Fubuki went to the top hill and welcome the Admiral...
This episode is expected with everyone saving everyone skins! Fubuki saving Akagi, Shoukaku and Zuikaku aiding Kaga, Ooichi rider kick an Abyssal to save Kitakami, Nagato kicking ass and Taiho appearing as a final reinforcement.
We finally heard the Airfield Hime spoke and it is creepy. (She is voiced by Sakakibara Yoshiko who is voicing Dyspear in Go Princess Precure) and I didn't know that the Abyssals can evolve and regrow limbs. The whole battle felt like a video game with events stacking one after another. Taiho arriving didn't really change the battlefield that much however with the new orders of defeating the carriers, Fubuki battle the One Eye Abyssal carrier and won. Although did the animation staff felt it is all right to kill the carrier off screen? Lazy writing!
Fubuki hearing the strange voice after the battle and Kisaragi's hair pin surfacing on the water could mean the war is far from over. I am thinking that the Abyssals could be learning their ways and the truth of fallen Kan Musume turning into Abyssals might not be a rumor at all. But for now, everyone got some rest for this long battle...
Final Thoughts: Being one of the most popular and busiest web browser game in Japan and having a huge fan base, an animated series is bound to happen. So when it aired on January this year, the question on everyone mind-Did it deliver? (I will be comparing it with Strike Witches since they have similar themes and plot lines)
Let's start with the plot. The problem with this show is there is no official back story about the origins of the Abyssals and how the girls came to be. Fubuki arriving in the first episode with no reasons or doubt make me wonder why did the Admiral choose her to join the fleet? This caused the writers to just come with the simplest plot line of why Fubuki join the fleet? Because of "REASONS!"
Are the Kan Musume real girls or created from the souls of the once fallen ships? No one really know and no one even bother to explain where their technology came from. In Strike Witches, at least we know the technology was a creation of magic and science by Yoshika's father. Here, we don't even have a scientist like character to explain how all their powers work.
As a result, we have a show that tried not to take it too seriously but fall into the usual anime tropes like the beach episode, the friendship episode and the training episode. The story is clique except when Kisaragi died in episode 3 and after that, no one died in the finale! Sorry Kisaragi, your death is as clique as Jean Grey from X-Men. That voice that spoke to Fubuki and Kisaragi's hair pin is also teasing us for a sequel which we are getting it sooner or later.
What about the characters? Given that it has more than 200 characters till date, it is impossible for everyone to be animated so the writers took the easy way out and choose the most popular characters as the starting cast. I don't blame them for doing that since I will also do the same thing. The problem is there was not enough time to develop the starting cast and decide to to use Fubuki's POV to see the world around her.
Fubuki played the classic plucky female lead who is like the little brave ship among the bigger and better ships. She is not a bad character as she make friends with everyone and prove to be the key in winning their battle. The only problem in my opinion is she doesn't really have a female lead aura and felt ordinary like a supporting character.
The rest of the cast is all right with Mutsuki and Yudachi playing best friends with Fubuki. Akagi is the senior that everyone look up to but has a serious eating issue. Kaga is blunt but loyal. The three torpedo sisters and the four destroyers sisters are comic relief. Nagato and Mutsu should just get a room with Kitakami and Ooichi. Kongo is a female Guy Sensei from Naruto and her sisters are like her back up comedy partners.Yamato is awesome but undeveloped in character.
Even the Abyssals are one dimensional except the Airfield Hime who spoke but didn't make sense to anyone and the One Eye Carrier who is obsessed in killing Fubuki also died off screen which make a bad rival to Fubuki.
As a result, the show is a mixed bag for me. There were some enjoyable parts but this show should be two cour instead of one in order to develop both the plot and the characters better. I even read comments from Japanese fans to replace the entire animation staff for ruining the story. For me personally, it is all right as there are even worse shows than this. (Example: Cross (Cough) Ange!)
At least I like some of the characters and the final episode is pretty fun. (Full of Michael Bay's explosions) If there is a sequel, please develop the characters and have a more interesting plot for fans and non-fans to enjoy it!
Final Verdict: C Plus! If there is nothing else to watch, watch it to kill some time!
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