The Magnificent Kotobuki: Initial Impressions (One Step Forward, Two Steps Back)

In my last post, I wrote down some of the most significant differences between Girls und Panzer and High School Fleet. After I was done watching High School Fleet, I saw various posts asking if there was a aerial counterpart to these two shows. Turns out there is. Called The Magnificent Kotobuki (the Japanese title of the show oddly enough roughly translates to "Kotobuki Squadron in the Wilderness"), the show premiered on January 13, 2019. At first glance, this show looks like... well you guessed it... Girls und Panzer but with planes! With this in mind, once more I went into the breach and binged on the show, making it the third anime series I've watched thus far. The following post will talk about my initial impressions.

Like its land and naval counterparts, The Magnificent Kotobuki has a female main cast that utilize authentic looking World War II vehicles in an alternate reality. Once again, don't expect a show that is an accurate simulation of how planes perform. Planes go "at the speed of plot", have improved maneuverability, and fly higher and further than they did in real life.

Before carrying on, let me drop my two cents on what is perhaps the most controversial talking point of the show: the use of 3D characters alongside 2D characters. Since I'm not an anime fan, I must say that while it wasn't outstanding, its not terrible either... just serviceable. Perhaps they could have made certain scenes less jarring to ease the transition and make it less weird for 2D anime purists.

Speaking of graphics, the action is superb. With dogfights that would even make Star Wars fans pay attention. The sound design is excellent as well (as to how accurate the sounds are for specific planes though, you better ask a die hard combat aviation aficionado), heightening the experience of watching the planes fly and getting into combat situations. These two elements are perhaps the highlight of the show and its greatest strength.

The spice of life

One shortcoming that High School Fleet had was the lack of visual variety among its characters. The Magnificent Kotobuki took this to heart and ensured that it had visually distinct characters. Not just the major ones, but all the characters that show up for more than one episode.

Another deficiency that affected High School Fleet was the number of military equipment variants being shown. For The Magnificent Kotobuki utilizes a good number of World War II aircraft types, although they are all Japanese planes... with the exception of a noteworthy plane in the final episode.

Compared to High School Fleet, the musical score was much more noticeable in The Magnificent Kotobuki. The Indiana Jones sounding flourishes helped a lot. Regrettably though, it doesn't match the quality of Girls und Panzer's soundtrack. Despite having Shiro Hamaguchi on board (the same guy who composed Girls und Panzer's score), there was a lack of distinct musical themes for at least the main characters. Heck, a fighter squadron calling themselves "Elite Industries" has a prominent song that plays whenever they fly into the picture, so why couldn't the girls of Kotobuki Squadron have their own leitmotifs that stand out? Speaking of music, playing tracks made by John Williams for Star Wars while watching the dogfights helped tremendously in dialing up the action to eleven.

Buildup and Worldbuilding... or lack thereof

If you thought that Girls und Panzer and High School Fleet needed more worldbuilding, The Magnificent Kotobuki has it worse... much worse. How bad is it? For starters, a major bombshell is dropped in the fifth episode. As one viewer noted:

"The oceans are gone" Are they just going to casually throw a bomb like that, and not explain it at all...How does 70% of the world suddenly just disappear, and how does the world continue on despite that? This is a pretty big deal, don't just casually throw it out, and dismiss it.

Which brings us to this particular observation:

Have we ever seen any of them fly over anything other than desert and towns/cities? Has there ever been even a hint of farmland? How is anyone on this world still alive?

Another viewer summed up the show's worldbuilding problem:

What I have a problem with is how this anime seems to be trying to explain its setting, but isn't making any sense. If they hadn't tried to explain the setting I could have just taken it at the value of "the story is just set in a world like this" and I wouldn't have questioned it. However now they're trying to explain things, and it's incoherent.

This anime is trying to explain itself though, and falling short, when in reality if they hadn't bothered to try and explain things I would have no problems.  

Somehow I am supposed to be piecing together the names of places, the politics, what the factions are, the history of the world, the state of the world and so forth. However they're only giving off hand remarks for most of this. 

And seriously "your people came through a hole and brought factories and planes, then you left and the hole closed" is supposed to explain the technological state of this world? What? 

So this alternate version of WWII Japan rocked up in this world through a wormhole or something? Tried to colonize the place and then left because the wormhole was closing or something? I'm supposed to suspend my disbelief to accept that kind of explanation for why they're all using planes. It's totally unneeded.

It took until episode nine when the lore surrounding the show finally began to coalesce into something tangible. Even after twelve episodes, the show seems to raise more questions than answers. One fan wrote down:

I wonder why people have Japanese and Western names...what was this world like before the Empire of Japan flew into it? What is the missing history here? Why is there no trace of an indigenous culture beyond the pseudo English written language, and everywhere we see only a replication of 1930s-era modernity? It suggests some kind of colonization and imposing of 'civilization' occurred, but this probable conflict is never mentioned despite being something that happened in living memory of at least some of the world's residents. Was this a world that was similar to ours in history but at a different point of technological development?

[The show] has the opportunity, and practically the obligation, to consider the implications of dropping Imperial aircraft on another world without such technology, but it takes about half of its episodes to merely set up a war. For me, this prevents it from having the kind of longevity it might have had otherwise.

Besides worldbuilding, another problem is that the show isn't interested in properly setting up things such as the politics & economics of the world, the motivations behind the corporations & characters, and the like. Regarding the characters, one reviewer noted:

Next up the characters, our cast of... eccentric pilots have great chemistry, but as characters, we know quite literally zilch about any of them except for one of them. We don't even really get satisfying interactions, development, motivations, conclusions, again there is just nothing to show for.

In hindsight, one of the key strengths of Girls und Panzer was setting it at a school where everyone but the protagonist didn't know anything about tankery. Like the audience, the students of Ooarai Girls Academy were fishes out of water and had to learn about the sport from square one. Audiences grew alongside those characters as they got better in tankery. For The Magnificent Kotobuki, the only noticeable growth among the major characters is our protagonist Kylie getting along with her squadmate Chika.

After nine episodes, the showrunners decided to suddenly shift the direction the show was going by turning one of the characters into the main villain (as if to alleviate the seemingly repetitive nature of most of the previous episodes, to shake up things for more drama, and to further distance the show from Girls und Panzer and High School Fleet)... even though there is this one other character who seems more devious than our actual big bad.

MOAR action!

In my High School Fleet post, I commented that the addition of more dramatic elements to the story wasn't necessary to hold my interest. Well, it appears I could consider myself a part of a vocal minority on the web because the creators of The Magnificent Kotobuki decided to cater primarily to action lovers and those with attention deficit disorder. Because my God, the action in the show, while good, is unrelenting in the first half of the season. As if to facilitate the rush to get to the action, how the characters talk in Japanese feel a bit too fast at times. To quote one fan:

The dialogue cadence is really, really tough to get used to. The pacing is just much faster than most anime, which has a lot of established rhythm to it. You really have to pay attention to catch everything being said, and sometimes it can get a bit confusing. I think this was both a strength and a weakness of the show, because it was hard to deal with and I'm sure put some people off.

With this in mind, the show is in a dire need of a slower paced English dub. In what feels like an effort to stand apart from Girls und Panzer, the show creators thought it was a good idea to follow in the footsteps of High School Fleet by having more drama (of higher stakes, and there's a main villain now!) and funnier jokes than the tank based show. And oh, lets completely ditch the high school setting!

The show's first few episodes might come across for some as unintentionally sexist. To quote one viewer:

Sure, cute girls doing cool things can be cool, but only in moderation. Literally this show IN THE FIRST EPISODE has already shown every male fumbling over himself, or being worried, while every single female character has been the only competent and rational voice throughout.

Another viewer had similar concerns:

Also it's complaint-worthy that all these girls that are 2x younger have 4x more skill than them lol. Unless they're special people(like genetically enhanced or something like that), there's no reason for them to be THAT much better when they're that much younger. You can tell by that 1 bearded serious guy that he only fights to live another day, meaning it's SUPPOSED to be tough out there. But then there are these girls that do whatever the fuck they want.

Despite this, the show thankfully hasn't been turned into a battleground between pro and anti-SJWs.

With the show's emphasis on action, one might feel fatigued half way through the series. As one viewer wrote:

It doesn’t take long to realize how skilled the main characters are when the first episode shows their abilities to take down hordes of enemy aircraft.... Throughout the series, they participate in many dogfights that first came as exciting but soon became very predictable. Let’s face it, this anime sells the Kotobuki squad as the aces in the sky. Their feats are easily noticeable for their complex aerial maneuvers. Some episodes even consists of its squad members chasing down their foes in what seems like near impossible scenarios. But if you guessed it, they make it look easy. Now I don’t want to designate the characters as “overpowered” as they certainly do find themselves struggling on occasions. Still, it’s not very fun when the whole show make others look bad after each episode. I’m not going to lie, after watching a good portion of this series convinced me that the Kotobuki squadron is like an end boss video game; only that the they are badass girls.

While having a lot of action isn't necessarily a bad thing, allowing some interesting subplots to be left underdeveloped to accommodate the action is. In my opinion, the biggest wasted opportunity in the show was a particular subplot introduced in the fifth episode. Over the radio, a pivotal character muses:

Well, is one really free with freedom? It's hard to do anything when you are free to do everything. Plus we still have limits and responsibilities. You'd be surprised how many people can't keep up with those. In the end, people just go on about all they want to do, and it gets out of hand.

Later on, this same character would unify several cities into a coalition called the Brotherhood of Freedom Union. The ultimate goal of the alliance? To quote the show:

The Brotherhood of Freedom Union is the only path to world peace! Because only the Brotherhood of Freedom Union has the power to make it a reality! The Brotherhood of Freedom Union is the best!

What's this? A thematic backbone that the show could use to elevate itself from its peers? Wherein the Brotherhood can claim "that 'freedom' caused chaos and upheaval, and ultimately threatens the fabric of civilization itself.... that order, purpose and direction are key in the construction of a perfect world.... to save humanity from itself... free will needs to be controlled or even eliminated... and transform the world and humanity as a whole into an eternally peaceful utopia." Whereas their opponents are in all likelihood adherents to the notion that "free will is an inherent quality and right for all humankind... as it allows for the progression of new ideas and the growth of individuality." Here was a remarkable foundation for an Assassins vs. Templars like conflict that could have been the driving force behind the show. One of the good guys would claim that the villain's true plan was:

He goes around preaching of brotherhood this, and freedom that. But it's all just fancy talk. All he's after is consolidating all power into his own hands!

I was hoping that the show would conclusively prove or disprove this accusation. Was all the talk about bringing world peace and giving "more [jobs] than they could ever hope for" merely lies to justify a cruel & oppressive dictatorship under the Brotherhood? Alas, it got lost amidst the epic dogfights in the last episodes as we never get to see how the Brotherhood treats the people under its rule. Instead, what gets clearly shown in the end is the villain's obsession with controlling the wormholes that appear in the sky. As one viewer remarked:

It just seemed like [the antagonist] was made to be a black-and-white bad guy with shallow motivations “IT’S MINE! MINE TO MANAGE! MINE TO CONTROL!” so none of them would have to consider the ethics of their actions.

Yep, a character who had potentially strong motivations ended up being little more than a "power-hungry manchild."

Final thoughts

Two contrasting views can sum up if whether or not The Magnificent Kotobuki is for you. On the one hand we have:

This anime perfectly knows what it wants to be. A good looking aircraft battle. It wont waste time on character development, nor on a storyline, it just delivers what it wants to: Some good looking aircraft battles [with] a bit of reasoning.

On the other hand is:

Honestly, this show feels like a flight simulator. The story isn’t very well written despite the immense amount of potential. Characters lack development as the show focuses way too much into the action. It almost feels like playing a video game at times like Battlefield or something when every episode just bites into the action and consumes it without stopping. My impression of the whole show didn’t change at all from the first episode to the end. There’s just so much potential in this anime that eventually became a showcase of mediocrity.

Personally, if all you care about is awesome aerial combat, then I can recommend the show without hesitation. That includes anyone who loved the X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter dogfights in Star Wars. However, if you are someone like myself who wanted a show on par with Girls und Panzer, I will advise to check it out but with the major caveat to lower your expectations. Describing The Magnificent Kotobuki as "Girls und Panzer with airplanes" is doing both shows a disservice and sets up the wrong expectations. Perhaps the final blow for me is the fact that this show was directed by none other than Tsutomu Mizushima, the same guy who directed Girls und Panzer (including Der Film and Das Finale)! Whereas I'm lenient to High School Fleet's shortcomings because of that show having a different director, I expected The Magnificent Kotobuki to be at least on par with its tank counterpart, if not better in all aspects... not just the action and sound design. Having a different writer and a different studio might have shot down the show's chances of surpassing its land based precursor. As one viewer remarked:

People who compare this to Girls und Panzer or High School Fleet are fooling themselves as there is no character development or depth to this anime. [And] I very much enjoyed those.

One reviewer commented:

[The show] tried to be a character-driven mystery and/or exploration of ethics on the nature of engagement versus passive neutrality, and in that, it missed the mark. The answers to the questions of Ol' Sab's whereabouts, Isao's motivations, and the resolution [to] Kylie's internal dilemma are all, for lack of a better word, disappointing. Instead of attempting any complexity with Isao, he became an irredeemable antagonist the Kotobuki could fight without thinking too hard about their reasons why.

To quote one fan:

The Magnificent Kotobuki isn't a great anime. It's got tons of flaws and has a ridiculously limited audience. It's not exactly what I would call a diamond in the rough. But it's definitely [a gem], at least. It's got its good parts, its own value, and will make you appreciate the atmosphere behind dogfights.

If you're looking for a touching story full of heartbreak and emotions, this isn't it. But if you want to sit back and relax and see some girls shoot stuff in planes... go ahead.

Another fan wrote:

The Magnificent Kotobuki's greatest enemy is itself, and that's a shame, cause going into this at the start of the season I wanted it to be one of my favorites of the winter 2019 season. Now I'm not sure what to think...

As for what I have said about it's greatest enemy being itself, well pretty much every good thing about this anime, is contradicted by an execution flaw....

You should instead ask yourself, is your interest in well animated dog fighting enough to look past a plethora of small but nagging issues? The same answer to that question should be applied to your previous curiosity of watching this anime. For that, I myself am still disappointed it didn't take just a few minor steps further to become something great.

For those who don't mind the strange mixture of 3D and 2D characters, I suppose The Magnificent Kotobuki's biggest hurdle is the fact that Girls und Panzer and High School Fleet came before it and set the bare minimum we should expect from a show like this. When placed in the context of those two shows, the shortcomings of The Magnificent Kotobuki are made more apparent.

Nonetheless, I still recommend curious bystanders to at least give the show a shot, despite "it wasn't as good as I expected it to be (like Girls und Panzer), but it was a [fun] ride and I want more!" After all, a potential Season 2 would surely feature the iconic World War II fighter planes of other nations such as the P51 Mustang, Supermarine Spitfire, the Messerschmitt Bf 109, the Yakovlev Yak-9, and the Macchi C.202... right?

So when would The Magnificent Kotobuki, High School Fleet, and Girls und Panzer finally have a crossover (aka War Thunder: The Anime)?

How High School Fleet is different from Girls und Panzer (SPOILER ALERT)

In the aftermath of Battlefield V's botched release, I was left with an empty feeling that compelled me to experience almost anything World War II related. In the process, I discovered a little known show called Girls und Panzer. Despite being an anime and not groundbreaking or deep, it helped bring back my passion for World War II and history in general. In retrospect, its tempting to speculate that DICE's obsession with adding female soldiers in Battlefield V was rationalized by Girls und Panzer's "Introduction to Tankery":

Tankery. A part of our culture with a long history. Enjoyed by girls from many nations all throughout the world. A strong but delicate art that aims to make girls and women alike more polite, graceful, modest, and gallant... both on and off the Battlefield™. To learn tankery is to armor the heart of a maiden, the soul that embraces and burns with femininity. Intense and strong like a tank's iron. Cute and lively like the clattering of its track. And finally, passionate and precise like its main cannon. If you train in tankery, you will become a better wife, a better mother, a better student, and a better worker. You will become healthier, kinder, stronger, and men from all over the world will fall at your feet. This is your chance! Train your body, train your mind. Embrace tankery and blossom as a woman on the field of battle.

Once I was done watching all episodes for Girls und Panzer, I became curious to know if there was anything else similar to it. And it turns out, there is this one show that, upon first glance, looks like Girls und Panzer's naval counterpart - High School Fleet.

I took a leap of faith and watched it as well, becoming the second anime I've seen in its entirety. After seeing the whole show, I realized that the notion of High School Fleet is "Girls und Panzer on the high seas" is a misnomer... which is the main topic of this post. Despite both shows featuring high school girls in military like situations, there are prominent differences.

The Credits

One notable difference with the two shows are their opening songs. For Girls und Panzer, its opening utilizes a Japanese song sprinkled with English phrases and words. High School Fleet meanwhile uses a song entirely in Japanese.

The first 50 seconds for Girls und Panzer's opening gives this impression that it's little more than yet another generic high school show. High School Fleet's opening, however, removes any notion that it is anything else but a high seas adventure. Another noteworthy difference occurred during the final episode: the elaborate opening sequence is cut and the show's title appears in front of a black background.

Then we have the end credits. As if to remind us it ain't a serious drama, Girls und Panzer's end credits showcase a cute version of a tank and its respective crew. In High School Fleet, we get to see a montage of the major characters.

The Setting

Besides the obvious "one show is land based while the other is out in the water", there are other striking differences. 

High School Fleet takes place in an alternate timeline where mining somehow caused a disaster that submerged most of Japan. After this event, people built "massive ocean-borne settlements along coastal areas. These cities are safeguarded by the Blue Mermaids, an elite, all-female organisation whose members have dedicated their lives towards the defense of ocean routes and civilian populations living along the coast." The Blue Mermaids is the organization that characters in the show aspire to join. Unlike Girls und Panzer, High School Fleet immediately establishes in first episode's opening minutes that we aren't going to be dealing with a normal school in a normal setting, with our protagonist riding a jet ski through what appears to be Waterworld. On top of that, the series appears to be set in the near future, as there are advanced looking floating cities being shown.

For Girls und Panzer, there is no mention of a major disaster taking place prior to the events of the show that changed the topography of the land or that prompted people to start building the massive school ships. Tankery is merely a sport and isn't viewed as national service or a means to force girls into the military. There is no talk among the characters of enlisting for an armored division once they graduate collage... yet.

The Music

This aspect is where, in my opinion, there is a clear answer to the question of "is one is better than the other?"

As mentioned in my previous post, Girls und Panzer utilizes real world marches such as The Battle Hymn of the Republic, The British Grenadiers, and Panzerlied. On top of that, the show's original soundtrack composed by Shiro Hamaguchi is surprisingly good. So good that I dare say it is superior to a great deal of soundtracks used for TV shows and most films nowadays. The fact that this anime has far more memorable and better music than all the Marvel movies combined is a stunning achievement.

But what about High School Fleet? Sadly, this is one aspect where the show flounders. Besides the opening and closing songs, I'm still struggling to find anything at least as memorable as Girls und Panzer's main theme, the Panzerfahren March. Whereas in Girls und Panzer, you have one music track devoted to each one of the five major characters (track numbers 7, 9, 10, 12 and 25 on the show's official soundtrack), High School Fleet seems to lack any character specific themes. This problem is compounded by the lack of any real world naval marches in the show.

The Protagonists

Lets have a quick overview for the protagonists of each show. Before anything else, time to get some of the notable similarities out of the way, which include:

• brown hair
• they are both below a height of 5'3"
• they are usually seen wearing their respective school's uniforms
• they have low self-esteem
• both seem to like cats

• they have 4 lettered names that start with the letter "M"
• they "Almost never get angry or has anything bad to say about others"
• both are haunted by a past traumatic event
• both manage to make snap decisions effectively whilst under pressure
• when danger seems too great, they hesitate to put any of their subordinates in harm's way

This is not to indicate, however, that High School Fleet stole the protagonist from Girls und Panzer and merely changed her appearance. Far from it. I won't go into detail with the protagonist for Girls und Panzer, Miho Nishizumi, as I'm saving that for a future post. Instead, I'll talk about what sets High School Fleet's protagonist - a girl called Akeno Misaki, who henceforth in this post will be called by her nickname: Mike - apart in a few key points:

• Unlike Miho, Mike joined her new school alongside her childhood best friend Moka (which gave me some odd Max and Chloe vibes... except what if Chloe was a better student and more mature than Max).
• Although both suffered a traumatic experience in the past, the circumstances are vastly different. Miho had to save some of her fellow students from drowning, causing her team to loose. Whereas Mike had to endure much worse: she lost both of her parents during the sinking of a cruise ship they were on.
• It was because of loosing her parents, Mike dreamed of joining the Blue Mermaids. For Miho on the other hand, saving her teammates caused her to have a falling out with her mom and sister, eventually forcing her to change schools.
• Mike came from a family with no direct ties with the navy or the Blue Mermaids, whereas Miho "hails from the most respected (and feared) family of Tank Warriors in Japan."
• Despite admitting that her grades aren't that good, Mike becomes captain of her own ship in the first episode! Miho became a tank commander only after her schoolmates found out she had experience in tankery and demonstrated her skills... and that promotion happens in the third episode.
• Mike "has been blessed by an ungodly degree of luck." She made it to captain in the first episode for starters....
• Despite going to a new school on her own, Miho was fortunate to quickly make new friends on her first day. Mike had to go through a slow burn before she became good friends with any of her crewmates (they saw her first as their captain instead of a friend).
• Mike loves going on away missions right in the middle of battle. For Miho, it took until the eleventh episode for her to do something similar.

The Other Characters

Both shows feature a huge supporting cast. So large, that we barely get to know most of them... or at least the first time around. To help aid audiences, both shows tried making characters distinctive enough (either visually and/or by their traits). One method Girls und Panzer utilized was by naming certain characters after food or drinks! High School Fleet meanwhile has a conventional Japanese naming scheme.

For High School Fleet, there are at least 34+ supporting characters. However, unlike Girls und Panzer, nearly all of them are not on other ships, but are Mike's subordinates on the same vessel. Instead of being on distinct warships, they are instead relegated to a specific department of the ship such as engineering or navigation. Unfortunately, this didn't help with making High School Fleet's secondary characters stand out. Part of the reason is the lack of distinctive outfits for crew members. Whereas in Girls und Panzer you have, for example, a tank team wearing volleyball outfits or auto mechanic attire, High School Fleet has most of the secondary characters wearing the exact same outfit, with a slight add-on such as a jacket or hat. While Girls und Panzer also has some characters wearing the same type of outfit at times, they compensated by at least two ways:

1. Have similar characters grouped together. So the gamers in the school are all in one team, all the grease monkeys are on the same tank, the freshmen stay together, and so on.
2. Ensure that each group (or at least one person on the team) does something distinctive or memorable in at least one episode, if not contribute something of consequence. Being on different tanks helps tremendously. If they can't do something cool, they try to at least say something memorable. (ie: Who knew saying one liners such as "Butterfly" and "Ferris Wheel" helped a long way for one specific character?)

High School Fleet failed to fully adapt the second point. Due to reasons such as the lack of screen time as well as the show's structure, most of the secondary characters failed to leave a lasting mark and sadly blend in if you don't look them up online. Outside of the bridge crew, the only memorable characters on Mike's ship are arguably Maron (the chief engineer) and Minami (the ship's doctor). But even those two characters wear at least something visually distinctive that helps them stand out. Plus the fact those two have adequate screen time compared to the rest of the crew is the second key factor. And of course, they contribute something substantial to the plot of at least one episode. Its kinda sad that you'll probably remember certain characters for mundane things such as "cooking curry on Fridays", or that one girl who seems to have a crush on her fellow crewmate, or that girl who looks French because of her beret, or the girl who doubts Mike and favors the ship's second in command instead (things that barely impact the overall plot when compared to even that one liner about a "Ferris Wheel" from Girls und Panzer der Film). To be fair, High School Fleet has two characters who are proficient in close quarters combat (therefore bad asses), but the show barely gives them enough scenes to do them justice. TV Tropes had this to sum up the quandary of High School Fleet's secondary cast:

...most [High School Fleet] characters have at most a few tropes that apply to them alone, while the characters of the show from which the production staff took inspiration (Girls und Panzer) are all of them so Troperiffic that their page broke the folder system. Twice.

The show's creators seemed to have realized this after finishing all twelve episodes, and decided somewhat compensate for this by taking the spotlight away from Mike in the OVAs.

History... or lack thereof

For folks like me who aren't fans of anime, Girls und Panzer had two main attractions: the tanks and the history. And that show used them to its full advantage, helping non-anime fans to ultimately enjoy the story.

With High School Fleet being likened to Girls und Panzer, one can assume that the former is as jam packed with real world and historical facts as the latter, right? Alas, this is not the case.

First off, history fans and naval enthusiasts don't have anyone among the cast who shares their real world passions. Or does it? Remember Coco, the Yeoman Rand of the show? Can you guess what's her favorite subject? I bet you would have said "acting", "drama" or "performing arts" based on how she's portrayed in the show. Sorry, but you are wrong. Because according to the official High School Fleet website, her favorite subject is (allegedly) world history! When I first learned of this fact after watching the show, I was stunned. Throughout the show, you'll see Coco looking up ship facts from her PADD. And unlike Yukari Akiyama or the History Club from Girls und Panzer, she never gets the chance on screen to show off her knowledge (let alone passion) of history. Also another missed opportunity, in my opinion, was Wilhelmina, who henceforth in this post is going to be referred to as "Will". The show's official site claims that her favorite subject is German history. Once again, this ain't portrayed on screen, despite the fact that she and Coco become good friends! They could have shared notes at least. The show thought it was more compelling to focus on Will and Coco's interest in gangster movies, as opposed to them talking about all sorts of history films from Pearl Harbor to Downfall. If this was Girls und Panzer, it would be as if Yukari and Erwin never discussed history at all when they bonded together. After a strong introduction in the third episode, Will is mostly ignored by the crew "and jokes are made about her being a German." A part of me suspects that Will was made German in the first place to pander to Kuromorimine fans and/or to Wehraboos.

After seeing the variety of tanks used in Girls und Panzer, its really disappointing that we get to see merely five types of surface warships in High School Fleet. Out of those five ship classes, only two aren't Japanese. The scarcity of ships featured in the show, in my opinion, gave less incentive for audiences to find out more about all those real world ship classes. Less ships also meant less varied encounters, causing a shortage of "clever zany tactics like in Girls und Panzer." Did the studio ran out of budget to render more ship variants?

As to why the show's creators thought it was a good idea to have far less history and naval "techno babble", I presume it had to do with this notion that your typical anime fan would be alienated by all the history references and the real world naval trivia.

The Story

And so we get to the core of each show: the story. For Girls und Panzer, it's safe to say that the show's structure can easily be divided by using the opposing team the main characters are facing (or lack thereof) as the point of reference:

• Training (Episodes 1-3)
• The British (End of Episode 3 to Episode 4)
• The Americans (Episodes 5-6)
• The Italians (Episode 7; although you need to watch the Anzio OVA for the actual battle)
• The Soviets (Episodes 8-9)
• The Germans (Episodes 10-12)

(It's probably a coincidence, but with the reveal of Battlefield V's roadmap for 2019, I couldn't help but surmise that DICE was following the chronological order Girls und Panzer had established with its episode structure to introduce new factions in the game. The game started out with only the Germans and the British. The roadmap hinted that by fall of 2019, the game will finally have the Americans! So what's after that, the Italians or the Soviets?)

High School Fleet has a very different structure, which doesn't help the idea that "it's the naval version of Girls und Panzer." If you are expecting nothing less than a similar structure of our heroes facing off navies from different nations, you will be disappointed. The show's structure goes like this:

• The Hunt for the Red October (Episodes 1-3)
• The Last Ship (Episodes 4-9)
• R&R (Episode 10)
• Star Trek 2009 (Episodes 11-12)

Notice that there is no training episode for the show. What was supposed to be training episode got cut short when another vessel decided to fire upon Mike's ship, the Harekaze. While one can argue that the show needed as much time as possible to focus on its main plot, the lack of any episodes devoted to training was somewhat detrimental in the end. Why? Because virtually everyone outside the bridge is already proficient in their respective task! The engineers are competent to run the ship, the gunners can adequately aim and reload, the navigators know where to go on the map, and so on. This deprived audiences of showing the characters grow into their roles, and didn't help make the secondary characters more memorable than they are now. Virtually the only "growth" the other departments get is better teamwork with the rest of the ship. Because of this, most characters remained static. Among the relationships in the show, it was the dynamic between Mike and Shiro, the Harekaze's second in command (and yes, I got a Kirk and Spock vibe), that was the most fleshed out... perhaps to the detriment of other characters.

High School Fleet sets itself apart from Girls und Panzer by adding what I feel are unwarranted embellishments. What do I mean by this? The show had to be more dramatic, funnier, and sexier than Girls und Panzer. On being more dramatic than Girls und Panzer:

• In the first episode alone, we have the Harekaze suddenly being fired upon by their instructor's vessel... with live ammo. On top of that, the Harekaze is declared to have mutinied by the end of the first episode! From that point on until the third episode, our heroes are on the run.
• Then in the fourth episode, it's revealed that there is a virus that causes its victims "to behave extremely aggressive toward non infected people and ships." Somehow, the rats that are spreading the virus also have the ability to affect electronics on a ship. Okay...
• As if all of that wasn't enough, it turns out that nearly everyone on board the flagship of the training fleet - the Musashi (yes, the same battleship that is one of the two largest ever made) - were also infected by the virus. And the Musashi is on a course to Tokyo Bay, becoming a doomsday weapon threatening (potentially) million of lives! To make the effort more dramatic and increase the stakes, the vaunted Blue Mermaids (who lack plot armor) fail to stop the Musashi on their own! It would take a combined fleet of students and Blue Mermaids supporting the Harekaze to save the day.
• Even after stopping the Musashi, the show couldn't let audiences enjoy a happy and satisfying ending. The writers thought it was a good idea to sink the Harekaze right after Mike and her crew return home for the show to end on a (slightly) bittersweet note.

Compared to Girls und Panzer, there is also a lot more slapstick comedy for High School Fleet, starting with that banana peel joke in the first episode. Since Girls und Panzer had two scenes involving a public bathhouse with virtually no one in swimwear (that was saved for the show's first two OVAs), High School Fleet had to amp up the sexiness by showing off more skin and more screen time for girls in bathing suits. The show creators also thought it was a good idea to prominently display food in the series, and allow pets to have actual roles compared to Girls und Panzer.

While there's nothing inherently wrong with making a show funnier and more dramatic, I felt that doubling down on those facets in High School Fleet didn't add anything of substance when all is said and done. Perhaps the show creators placed all of that in the hopes of getting a bigger audience than Girls und Panzer. The three high stakes subplots of "going on the run", curing a deadly virus and stopping a doomsday weapon felt unnecessary and should have been saved for a future season. The show could have simply been about the Harekaze partaking in a military exercise like RIMPAC, facing off against navies from all over the world. I'm just saying that we could have been more emotionally invested with higher stakes drama had there been an earlier season where we see the crew of the Harekaze mature into their roles.

Popularity and Final Thoughts

When all is said and done, High School Fleet is "Girls und Panzer but with ships" only a superficial sense. Critical differences between the two shows keep them distinct enough from each other. In my opinion, the two shows could have swapped names. Girls und Panzer could be known as High School Tanks as it felt like it had more "high school" in it compared to High School Fleet. That being said, High School Fleet would have been titled Girls und Kriegsmarine with its emphasis on naval action and the absence of virtually anything "high school" related.

What if Miho joined the Blue Mermaids?

For High School Fleet, sadly, some of those differences prevent it from being on par with Girls und Panzer. Any efforts made to draw a larger crowd than its tank based counterpart seemed to have been unsuccessful, as High School Fleet doesn't enjoy the cult status Girls und Panzer has. While not a definitive measure of success, the website My Anime List ranks High School Fleet (as of this post's writing) as the 1384th most popular show on the site, whereas Girls und Panzer is the site's 575th most popular show. Then we have this graph from Google Trends:

Again, while this ain't definitive, it gives a good idea of the popularity between the two shows. As of March 2019, the online interest for Girls und Panzer peaked after Der Film was released. Interest for High School Fleet was at its highest when the show premiered in April 2016. From 2012 to March 2019, Google Trends rated the interest for Girls und Panzer at an average of 28, whereas High School Fleet rates poorly at an average of a mere 3!

While this is speculation on my part, perhaps the fact that Girls und Panzer is a show "made by history fans for history fans" helped it tremendously in securing a loyal niche audience, while High School Fleet's attempts to appeal to casual anime fans with higher stakes drama and funnier jokes whilst reducing the amount of history and naval facts didn't do the show any long term favors for its popularity. (The lack of an English dub didn't probably help too.)

To wrap things up, despite the seemingly negative overall tone this post may give off, I'm still recommending High School Fleet to any history and/or naval enthusiasts out there.... just lower your expectations a bit if you've seen Girls und Panzer beforehand. If I were to endorse a show that has a female protagonist with a guy's name, High School Fleet has my approval over real crap like Star Trek: Discovery, a show better called by its acronym of STD. (For starters, Mike is a better and an infinitely more likable protagonist than purportedly more mature "Michael" Burnham.) 

Here's hoping that the planned High School Fleet: The Motion Picture won't disappoint, and that we would get to see it earlier than Girls und Panzer das Finale: Part 6.