And yet it works. It works really well.
Each ship (or grill) has a distinct personality. Some, like the Yamato, are hilariously tied to the IRL circumstances of their namesakes, but others are just...silly. We have lesbian ship sisters, the boisterous Kongo quartet, wizened fleet carriers, and naturally there are loli torpedo boats with the gamut of anime tropes. Fubuki is the star of the series, a Fleet Grill™ who starts as a clumsy good-for-nothing but grows into a hero who saves everyone (not really a spoiler, since this is an anime and that happens in literally every single anime ever).
All that's fine, but it's the details that made KanColle so good for me. The carriers use bows to fire arrows that poof into planes piloted by doll things (???), destroyers fire groups of torpedoes from their legs like some caricature of a boy doing the humping motion, and battleships make a grand gesture of giving the enemy a full salvo. The ship/grills heal from damage by soaking in a hot spring, when a ship is ready to be refitted they start glowing, the carriers and battleships eat about 400 tons of food per day. Even the seaplane tender girls have fantastic details with their setups. The best part is that it's presented with a nod for magic realism: nothing is explained, it just *is* and that's that. I know this is based on some vidya, and that's super obvious, but even though I haven't played said vidya I still appreciated the entire package.
I know I'm a sucker for all things naval (except the soul-draining leech that is WoWS....ugh) and that definitely predisposed me to enjoy this, but I absolutely recommend KanColle for anyone searching out a great time.
