All of my yes.
Aria the Avvenire
First things first. I want to mention something before I get on to discussing the episode, and I’m doing it here because the chances are, if Kancolle is what floats your boat (ha ha), you’ll be interested in this. Now, I don’t know how legit this is, nor exactly what it entails, but if it’s true it’ll be the most wonderful news I’ve heard all year.
A new anime in the Aria franchise has been green-lit. It’s called Aria the Avvenire.
Yes, that’s right. A fourth season of the greatest anime ever made is happening. It shouldn’t even be possible, and no-one expected it -certainly not after the perfection that was Aria the Origination– but it’s here. Somehow, it’s here. Miracles really do happen, and Akari was right all along. As you might have guessed, Aria is my favourite series of all time, and I was devastated when Origination ended. After the Lumis Eterne episode, I couldn’t bring myself to watch the last couple of episodes – because I didn’t want it to end. I just left it like that until about half a year ago, when I finally plucked up the courage to finish it.
I don’t know if this will be a full-cour TV series, or what kind of plot it’ll follow. But Sato Junichi pulled it off three times in a row, so I’m honestly not too worried. Rejoice! Anime is now saved. Now onto ship girls.
Impression
I think I was just as nervous as Fubuki before she opened the door. Which kanmusu would be in her new fleet? Would I know them? If not, would I come to like them?
Then I saw Kitakami and Ooi.
And then Kongou happened.
You won, Fubuki. You won. You get to sleep with Kongou! Maybe Zuikaku could have been swapped out for Shimakaze, and Kaga for Akagi, but we can’t have everything in life! And it’s not like I have anything against Zuikaku or Kaga, either. My heart was quite confused over this whole restructuring business, not least of all because I’m not sure it was even necessary to begin with – what is teitoku thinking?! I know he has a long-term war strategy and all, but did it really require disbanding and reforming each and every fleet? The sad thing is that I’d actually gotten really comfortable with Mutsuki, Yuudachi and the Sendai sisters, and things were going great – especially as only last week, Fubuki had helped console Mutsuki over Kisaragi’s untimely death. And now, all of a sudden they’re going their separate ways! All the kanmusu were nicely pigeon-holed before as well, with sister ships being grouped up together for example – whereas here we’ve ended up with some odd fleets, which is probably the best way I could have described Mobile Unit Five.
If there was any concrete reason for Mobile Unit Five happening in the first place, it’d be to coax a new set of kanmusu into the spotlight. With that in mind, there’s now a clearer rationale for conducting as big a shake-up as they have – they seem to have an aim to introduce us to as many different kanmusu as possible for the duration of the series, and even Mutsuki and Yuudachi aren’t immune to having to take a back seat. Fubuki is Fubuki, and Kongou is there because she’s just too awesome to not be involved. She can take all my hype, and all my burning love while she’s at it. I’m so glad she’s around to stay! As for Kaga, while it might seem a bit odd to have her here instead of the more obvious initial choice of Akagi -which would result in Fubuki living her fantasies on a regular basis- it feels like Kaga’s in fact been shafted aside in favour of Akagi. She’s always been at Akagi’s side without playing too much of a role until now, and being part of Mobile Unit Five will allow her to change that. And while there doesn’t seem to be much invested in Kitakami and Ooi beyond Ooi flooding her panties every time Kitakami says anything, I’m finding it very funny that she’s such a bitch to everyone except Kitakami. That never gets old.
At any rate, this is an incredibly odd fleet – I have no idea how it works in the game, but presumably fleets specialize in a certain thing, instead of being a jack of all trades like this appears to be. And teitoku is starting to sound like he knows fuck all about his own kanmusu, given the initial vibes of the group – it was pretty much the love story of Kitakami-san and Ooicchi, Kaga vs Zuikaku and a pouting Fubuki. Until Fubuki miraculously managed to establish some sort of a working relationship, that is – I suppose facilitating her growth is another reason for Mobile Unit Five’s existence. I did entertain the thought that she might become the flagship, but I honestly believed it would have been Kongou, if not Kaga – going by experience and skill, that is. You do need other qualities to succeed as a flagship, though – and being able to get everyone to listen to you is quite an important part of it all. Kaga and Zuikaku would have never listened to each other, Ooi would have based every single operation around Kitakami, and Kongou… what did Kongou even do wrong? Wait, I shouldn’t be making it sound like process of elimination! Fubuki’s a good choice! Of course she is! Yes!
I may be mistaken, but it sounds like it’ll be loli time next week. Full speed ahead, nano desu!
“A new anime in the Aria franchise has been green-lit. It’s called Aria the Avvenire.”
That’s… How? The series is wrapped up, and it did so well. At least one person who provided a voice for the series is DEAD now. I absolutely love ARIA as a series, but I don’t see how this can work.
Ahem. Kancolle.
I really like how Fubuki went from last week’s “how am I supposed to deal with these lunatics” impression of the Kongou sisters to “Kongou-san, thank goodness you’re a part of the same fleet with me!”
Oh, in regards to the fifth fleet’s composition, the following comment was made elsewhere in regards to how things often tend to be in the game:
“-Fubuki’s fleet is actually a very cookie-cutter type of fleet players use in the game, albeit they usually have another BB or a CA instead of a destroyer”
Apparently that particular fleet has both a lot of firepower and a lot of flexibility, making them a good all-around fleet for general use. Kitakami and Ooi, for instance, when fully upgraded, carry enough torpedoes to sink even Yamato (the most powerful player-run battleship) in a single salvo. The carriers provide all the benefits of air support (which are numerous, both for offense and utility), and Kongou is, of course, Kongou (I don’t need to explain why a fast battleship is good to have, do I?).
Ah, okay! Maybe I’m hating on teitoku a bit too much. It does make sense that normal players wouldn’t run six destroyers in a fleet or something.
I love how it really is ‘Fubuki’s fleet’! Not just the fleet Fubuki’s in, but the fleet she’s in charge of as well!
It was a beautiful ending, and that’s one of the main arguments towards Avvenire not being a full-length series, but instead a set of OVAs or something. The way they emphasised the return of Sato Junichi and Yoshida Reiko to direct and write made their involvement sound very significant, which would make sense if it were a TV series. Other popular theories include them deciding to animate some of the sporadic manga chapters that were skipped over during the series, Akari and Aika’s time as Pairs (although we’d be missing out on lots of dekkai Alice) or perhaps an anime-original story with a grown-up Akari teaching Ai-chan. As I said though, I wouldn’t be too worried if Sato Junichi of all people did an anime-original Aria, given that he’s pulled off successes with the franchise numerous times by now.
Both Kawakami Tomoko and Kawai Eri. It’s unfortunate, but the worst-case scenario is that they just give a smaller role to Athena. Or have someone like Noto Mamiko voice her. It would be a bigger problem if she were as prominent as Alicia-san, though if they set Avvenire in the future they’ve both retired anyway.
Ah yes, Kancolle 😀 Between an arguing pair and a lovey-dovey pair, both of whom were unfamiliar to Fubuki, it’s not surprising she’d latch onto the one familiar face in her new fleet!
Personally I would have suggested that, rather than try to bring back Aria after it ended quite perfectly, the same people should adapt Kozue Amano’s next manga: Amanchu.
I remember reading something about a “big Amanchu announcement” coming in the future. But I think I’d still prefer more Aria, I’ve never lost the love I have for that series. The website is officially up again, since it’s all been leaked now. The animation studio is TYO Animations, which is pretty much modern-day Hal Film Maker, but Onji Masayuki is now the character designer, which is a change. Well, it’s been 7 years since Origination. Apparently, updates will occur on the 5th of every month until the premiere on September 26, which means it’ll presumably air as part of Fall 2015 if it’s a TV series at all.
http://www.ariacompany.net
Exactly. Your ending statement was perfect! Kongou is the best onee-san 😀
I’m wondering if we’ll see more of each sister’s individuality now that they’re split up. I want to see Hiei’s cooking, Haruna’s humility and especially Kirishima’s reputation as the fleet genius.
That’s onee-sama to you! 😀
They will most likely follow Fubuki, but the rest of the sisters are really popular too so I wouldn’t be surprised if we see more of them. There absolutely needs to be an episode where they show off Hiei’s curry.
Ah, yes! Sometimes it takes the newbuki- I mean, a newbie like Fubuki to bring it all together! It was beautifully done how she got the chance to become the Flagship, too!
They all got fair tries first and then Fubuki had to have her try during a real situation which likely made a lot of the difference! Aside from that, well, the others have their understandable bias and non-textbook methods being so experienced. So for a textbook girl like Fubuki to step in is logical, especially with an unprecedented combination!
I kind of got the feeling that she was using herself as bait thinking:
a) I have the lowest recovery time/resource consumption
b) I would make for the lowest impact if lost :T
Oh, to add to what Wanderer was saying about the in-game mechanics and fleet composition:
A Flagship also gets protected by everyone which is great for Fubuki all things considered. A flagship can also never be sunk as the fleet will retreat if it’s heavily damaged. I also found out that apparently heavily damaged ships don’t sink in the battle that they become heavily damaged. They’re more or less out of the battle. It’s if they go back into battle heavily damaged that they sink, so I wonder how that’ll be worked into the series.
Lastly, it’s rather interesting that we may actually be getting insight into the Abyssals eventually if the plan Akagi described really works! 😀 Of course, plans to gather that intel might change if the war leaves no time for it, but we’ll see.
Hmm, imagine Fubuki becoming an Abyssal and become the deuteragonist to give us perspective on the Shinkaisei-ken (although not in season 1 if ever)… o_o
Newbuki is better than Whobuki! And by this point, I admit I’ve come to really like Fubuki as the protagonist. Despite not having any defining features, she’s just too cute. For an adaptation of something like Kancolle, the ‘newbie perspective’ is probably for the best as well.
While I think there’s almost an onus these days to have girls go through suffering, not least of all because of the trend-setting that Madoka did a few years back, having Fubuki die and come back as an Abyssal is far too harsh for this show! I’m already wincing at the possibility that a supporting character like Kisaragi might make her return in such a way. Moving the war plot on like they seem to be doing is a wonderful sign though, objectively speaking.