Browser Card Battle Game 'Kantai Collection -KanColle-' to Get TV Anime Adaptation Due Summer 2014

At the media event "Kadokawa Game Studio Media Briefing 2013 Autumn" held today at Tokyo Kokusai Forum, it was announced that the online browser card battle game "Kantai Collection -KanColle-" (Fleet Collection) will get a TV anime adaptation. It was also announced that the game will get a spinoff, named "KanColle Kai", on PlayStation Vita platform. The anime is targeted to be released in summer 2014. Staff information has not been disclosed yet, although it has been made clear that the same cast from the game will continue their roles in the anime.

KanColle was created by Kadokawa Games and distributed by DMM. It is a card based military simulation game that runs on a free-to-play freemium model. The cards are naval vessels from WWII Japan with attributes based historical data and anthropomorphized as cute girls named "Kanmusu" (艦娘 Warship Girl). The player undertakes the role of an "admiral" and needs to build, repair, and train the personified warships and then send them to complete various missions, gaining points and resources in the process which in turn can be used to raise the level of the fleet or acquire new kanmusu cards. Throughout the game, the player has various opportunities to interact with the kanmusu, giving them instructions as well as receiving reports and hearing issues from them.

The game was released on April 23, 2013 and the original plan was to target 100,000 registered users; however, by word-of-mouth, the game grew at phenomenal speed which often resulted in capacity issue as demand got too high and new servers could not be added in time to cope. By mid-July, over 200,000 users registered, which doubled to 400,000 at mid-August. The latest figure released on September 15th had that number doubled again to 800,000, and it has inspired a large number of fan arts and doujin creations already. There was also an "official anthology comic" released mid-September and currently there is a 4-koma manga being serialized on the online manga site Famitsu Comic Clear. Three light novels and more manga adaptations have also been announced earlier this month.

Part of the cast information (only part of the seiyuu cast in the game has been disclosed):

Aircraft Carrier Akagi - Fujita Saki
Aircraft Carrier Kaga - Iguchi Yuka
Aircraft Carrier Shoukaku - Nomizu Iori
Light Aircraft Carrier Zuihou - Komatsu Mana
Aerial Battleship Hyuuga - Ootsubo Yuka
Aerial Battleship Ise - Ootsubo Yuka
Battleship Yamato - Taketatsu Ayana
Battlecruiser Haruna - Touyama Nao
Heavy Cruiser Mogami - Suzaki Aya
Heavy Cruiser Myoukou - Taneda Risa
Heavy Cruiser Mikuma - Nakajima Megumi
Light Cruiser Tenryuu - Iguchi Yuka
Light Cruiser Tatsuta - Iguchi Yuka
Light Cruiser Kitakami - Ootsubo Yuka
Light Cruiser Ooi - Ootsubo Yuka
Light Cruiser Yuubari - Sarah Emi Bridcut
Destroyer Fubuki - Uesaka Sumire
Destroyer Mutsuki - Hidaka Rina
Destroyer Shimakaze - Sakura Ayane
Destroyer Maikaze - Sarah Emi Bridcut
Destroyer Isonami - Uesaka Sumire
Destroyer Shikinami - Touyama Nao
Submarine I-58, I-168 - Nakajima Megumi

Kan Colle game website: http://www.kadokawagames.co.jp/KanColle/
Kan Colle PS Vita game website: http://www.kancolle-vita.com/
Kan Colle wiki (Japanese): http://wikiwiki.jp/kancolle/?%B4%CF%C1%A5
Kan Colle Anime official website: http://kancolle-anime.jp/

Source: Famitsu, Inside-games, KanColle official Twitter

Kantai Collection: Kan Colle on MAL