And along came little this gem. On my prowl to find a new anime to move onto, after finishing AOKANA: Four Rhythm Across the Blue, I found this show, and I have to say I was very surprised by how good it actually was. The story of High School Fleet goes as thus, because of some methane or something mining disaster, Japan lost most of it's land mass as it sank into the ocean making it go from being an island nation made up of four big islands to a nation compromised of many small islands so Japan became the first maritime country with most of it's population taking to the sea and pretty much transforming it's population to become a Navy. Thus, the Blue Mermaids were formed. Female naval officers with exceptional sea savvy skills and are entrusted with protecting the sea. As such, naval expansion is a big part of this anime's world. There are several port cities and by this, I do not mean, a city with a port on the edge of the water. There are actually cities built out in the ocean where ships go and get repair or resupplied or just shop. there is at least one that the main crew visit in the show, but that alone prompts me to believe there are probably many more like it.
Anyway, one reason why this anime is so great and what got me hooked onto it is the very first episode. Some anime I have watched either are slow and build up a good story over time, but the ones I have tended to like the best is the ones where the first episode leaves a significant impact and High School Fleet achieves that with it's first episode. With the description and the way it looks initially, I was going into it expecting such a dramatic turn of events, but was more expecting light hearted, comedy story, which don't get me wrong, that part of it's story was pretty much consistent in every episode following from the second.
The anime follows the crew of Yokosuka Girls' Marine High School aboard the destroyer ship, Harekuze, with Akeno Misaki as the Captain of the vessel. It should be noted that this is another one of those "the cast is entirely female" animes, though since the crew a members of an all-girls school, that's not surprising and I have really come to like shows like that, like Sakura Trick, Battle Girls, Inugami-san to Nekoyama-san, and Locodol.
... Anyway! Akeno Misaki is the main heroine and captain of the Harekaze, who treats her crew as family. While not particularly bright or talented, she is good at remembering people's names and shows good judgement under pressure.
And I can fill this post up and stretch it out filling it up talking about the rest of the Harekaze crew, but I won't. I'll just tell you that another one of the other things that made this anime so good was the lively and diverse cast of interesting characters all bringing something different to the table with their each different unique personality. And the anime starts with the girls being assigned to a ship and each giving roles that are mostly decided and assigned by through test scores. Akeno does bemoan a little about the fact that she was assigned to a small ship like the Harekaze and says she would have liked to be in the large battleships, Musashi, where her childhood friend, Moeka China, was assigned to as Captain, but never the less, she accepts her new position with pride and eagerness and devotes herself completely to her role as the Captain. Now, I know it's hard to imagine of a bunch of high school girls somehow operating a big ship like a navy, but you have to remember, this is the lifestyle for these people and their schooling pretty much is the Navy considering that is their livelihood now so they are taught early on how to sail. As the school girls leaving the school part, they are due to arrive at some island for a week long training course, but because of a snag, the Harekaze is late to arrive at the designated island and when they come close, their instructor ship starts open firing upon them. At this point, your just thinking, only "Oh, this is a funny development. Their teacher is pissed at them for being so late (4 hours to be exact) so is firing her ship's cannons at the Harekaze, but she's clearly missing on purpose with each shot right? She's not trying to actually threaten the lives of the crew of the Harekaze, right?" ... WRONG! She is actually trying to put them down in the water! But luckily the Harekaze manages to avoid their instructor ship's bombardant and disable their weapon and cause them to cease fire. This makes you think "Oh, maybe the instructor was just trying to teach them a lesson and now that the Harekaze has successfully retaliated and handled a combat situation pretty well, she'll forgive them now, right?" ... WRONG AGAIN! The crazy b***h gets on the radio and accuses the Harekaze of mutiny and that is how the first episode ends with the Harekaze now branded as criminals and now on the run to avoid pursuit. And that point, I was like: "What the hell is going on here!? I have to know!" and this is what led me to watch episode, next after next after next. You do eventually find out the cause for their instructor's behavior and it turns out...
... What? Did you want to know the cause of why their instructor shot at them and then when they returned fire, reported in that the Harekaze had mutinied? Or if they ever get their names cleared of the above mentioned mutiny charge? Did you actually expect me to tell you? Well, too bad! You want to know, watch the damn show yourself! I wouldn't give away such a crucial plot development, even in a spoiler! But don't worry, High School Fleet is a one cour consisting of only 12 episodes so it does not take long to discover the truth if you decide to pick it up and give it a try yourself.
The animation is pretty solid and the naval battle scenes are all very exhilarating. Every time the Harekaze had a naval encounter, I was practically holding my breath on the edge of my seat the whole time. There was just something really exciting about each battle and I watch in mad anticipation, wondering how they were going to pull another miracle out of their cute butts (I have no physical reference to prove this fact true or not so here is a girl with an unmistakably cute a**, Dat butt though ) to save their a** this time. And speaking of cute. All the characters are cute in their own way and are all pretty likable, but if I had to pick my favorite. I'd probably have to say either Machiko Noma, the look-out of the Harekaze, or Mashiro Munetani, the deputy captain of the Harekaze, who is the complete opposite of Akeno, at least personality-wise anyway and it kinda follows that whole "this two characters couldn't be any more different, but somehow make a perfect team together" kind of thing. Mashiro constantly bemoans her "bad luck" whereas Akeno seems to have a boundless amount of endless good luck and has a fear of cats where Akeno does not and even decides to pick up a stray cat and brings onboard the Harekaze, which causes hilarity to ensue between Mashiro and the cat when we are shown the two interacting together.
All in all, I have to announce that High School Fleet is a resounding success and I would give it a score of...
Quote:
GREAT! 9 / 10
Keep racking my brain thinking there feels like something I am forgetting about that I wanted to mention about High School Fleet, but it's 7AM now and my brain is not wanting to function properly so if I think of something, I'll just add it later. Anyway, since I teased a little bit about AOKANA in the beginning, maybe I'll talk about that next time, but for now, this is your anime otaku gaian CV signing off.
And along came little this gem. On my prowl to find a new anime to move onto, after finishing AOKANA: Four Rhythm Across the Blue, I found this show, and I have to say I was very surprised by how good it actually was. The story of High School Fleet goes as thus, because of some methane or something mining disaster, Japan lost most of it's land mass as it sank into the ocean making it go from being an island nation made up of four big islands to a nation compromised of many small islands so Japan became the first maritime country with most of it's population taking to the sea and pretty much transforming it's population to become a Navy. Thus, the Blue Mermaids were formed. Female naval officers with exceptional sea savvy skills and are entrusted with protecting the sea. As such, naval expansion is a big part of this anime's world. There are several port cities and by this, I do not mean, a city with a port on the edge of the water. There are actually cities built out in the ocean where ships go and get repair or resupplied or just shop. there is at least one that the main crew visit in the show, but that alone prompts me to believe there are probably many more like it.
Anyway, one reason why this anime is so great and what got me hooked onto it is the very first episode. Some anime I have watched either are slow and build up a good story over time, but the ones I have tended to like the best is the ones where the first episode leaves a significant impact and High School Fleet achieves that with it's first episode. With the description and the way it looks initially, I was going into it expecting such a dramatic turn of events, but was more expecting light hearted, comedy story, which don't get me wrong, that part of it's story was pretty much consistent in every episode following from the second.
The anime follows the crew of Yokosuka Girls' Marine High School aboard the destroyer ship, Harekuze, with Akeno Misaki as the Captain of the vessel. It should be noted that this is another one of those "the cast is entirely female" animes, though since the crew a members of an all-girls school, that's not surprising and I have really come to like shows like that, like Sakura Trick, Battle Girls, Inugami-san to Nekoyama-san, and Locodol.
... Anyway! Akeno Misaki is the main heroine and captain of the Harekaze, who treats her crew as family. While not particularly bright or talented, she is good at remembering people's names and shows good judgement under pressure.
And I can fill this post up and stretch it out filling it up talking about the rest of the Harekaze crew, but I won't. I'll just tell you that another one of the other things that made this anime so good was the lively and diverse cast of interesting characters all bringing something different to the table with their each different unique personality. And the anime starts with the girls being assigned to a ship and each giving roles that are mostly decided and assigned by through test scores. Akeno does bemoan a little about the fact that she was assigned to a small ship like the Harekaze and says she would have liked to be in the large battleships, Musashi, where her childhood friend, Moeka China, was assigned to as Captain, but never the less, she accepts her new position with pride and eagerness and devotes herself completely to her role as the Captain. Now, I know it's hard to imagine of a bunch of high school girls somehow operating a big ship like a navy, but you have to remember, this is the lifestyle for these people and their schooling pretty much is the Navy considering that is their livelihood now so they are taught early on how to sail. As the school girls leaving the school part, they are due to arrive at some island for a week long training course, but because of a snag, the Harekaze is late to arrive at the designated island and when they come close, their instructor ship starts open firing upon them. At this point, your just thinking, only "Oh, this is a funny development. Their teacher is pissed at them for being so late (4 hours to be exact) so is firing her ship's cannons at the Harekaze, but she's clearly missing on purpose with each shot right? She's not trying to actually threaten the lives of the crew of the Harekaze, right?" ... WRONG! She is actually trying to put them down in the water! But luckily the Harekaze manages to avoid their instructor ship's bombardant and disable their weapon and cause them to cease fire. This makes you think "Oh, maybe the instructor was just trying to teach them a lesson and now that the Harekaze has successfully retaliated and handled a combat situation pretty well, she'll forgive them now, right?" ... WRONG AGAIN! The crazy b***h gets on the radio and accuses the Harekaze of mutiny and that is how the first episode ends with the Harekaze now branded as criminals and now on the run to avoid pursuit. And that point, I was like: "What the hell is going on here!? I have to know!" and this is what led me to watch episode, next after next after next. You do eventually find out the cause for their instructor's behavior and it turns out...
... What? Did you want to know the cause of why their instructor shot at them and then when they returned fire, reported in that the Harekaze had mutinied? Or if they ever get their names cleared of the above mentioned mutiny charge? Did you actually expect me to tell you? Well, too bad! You want to know, watch the damn show yourself! I wouldn't give away such a crucial plot development, even in a spoiler! But don't worry, High School Fleet is a one cour consisting of only 12 episodes so it does not take long to discover the truth if you decide to pick it up and give it a try yourself.
The animation is pretty solid and the naval battle scenes are all very exhilarating. Every time the Harekaze had a naval encounter, I was practically holding my breath on the edge of my seat the whole time. There was just something really exciting about each battle and I watch in mad anticipation, wondering how they were going to pull another miracle out of their cute butts (I have no physical reference to prove this fact true or not so here is a girl with an unmistakably cute a**, Dat butt though ) to save their a** this time. And speaking of cute. All the characters are cute in their own way and are all pretty likable, but if I had to pick my favorite. I'd probably have to say either Machiko Noma, the look-out of the Harekaze, or Mashiro Munetani, the deputy captain of the Harekaze, who is the complete opposite of Akeno, at least personality-wise anyway and it kinda follows that whole "this two characters couldn't be any more different, but somehow make a perfect team together" kind of thing. Mashiro constantly bemoans her "bad luck" whereas Akeno seems to have a boundless amount of endless good luck and has a fear of cats where Akeno does not and even decides to pick up a stray cat and brings onboard the Harekaze, which causes hilarity to ensue between Mashiro and the cat when we are shown the two interacting together.
All in all, I have to announce that High School Fleet is a resounding success and I would give it a score of...
Quote:
GREAT! 9 / 10
Keep racking my brain thinking there feels like something I am forgetting about that I wanted to mention about High School Fleet, but it's 7AM now and my brain is not wanting to function properly so if I think of something, I'll just add it later. Anyway, since I teased a little bit about AOKANA in the beginning, maybe I'll talk about that next time, but for now, this is your anime otaku gaian CV signing off.
And along came little this gem. On my prowl to find a new anime to move onto, after finishing AOKANA: Four Rhythm Across the Blue, I found this show, and I have to say I was very surprised by how good it actually was. The story of High School Fleet goes as thus, because of some methane or something mining disaster, Japan lost most of it's land mass as it sank into the ocean making it go from being an island nation made up of four big islands to a nation compromised of many small islands so Japan became the first maritime country with most of it's population taking to the sea and pretty much transforming it's population to become a Navy. Thus, the Blue Mermaids were formed. Female naval officers with exceptional sea savvy skills and are entrusted with protecting the sea. As such, naval expansion is a big part of this anime's world. There are several port cities and by this, I do not mean, a city with a port on the edge of the water. There are actually cities built out in the ocean where ships go and get repair or resupplied or just shop. there is at least one that the main crew visit in the show, but that alone prompts me to believe there are probably many more like it.
Anyway, one reason why this anime is so great and what got me hooked onto it is the very first episode. Some anime I have watched either are slow and build up a good story over time, but the ones I have tended to like the best is the ones where the first episode leaves a significant impact and High School Fleet achieves that with it's first episode. With the description and the way it looks initially, I was going into it expecting such a dramatic turn of events, but was more expecting light hearted, comedy story, which don't get me wrong, that part of it's story was pretty much consistent in every episode following from the second.
The anime follows the crew of Yokosuka Girls' Marine High School aboard the destroyer ship, Harekuze, with Akeno Misaki as the Captain of the vessel. It should be noted that this is another one of those "the cast is entirely female" animes, though since the crew a members of an all-girls school, that's not surprising and I have really come to like shows like that, like Sakura Trick, Battle Girls, Inugami-san to Nekoyama-san, and Locodol.
... Anyway! Akeno Misaki is the main heroine and captain of the Harekaze, who treats her crew as family. While not particularly bright or talented, she is good at remembering people's names and shows good judgement under pressure.
And I can fill this post up and stretch it out filling it up talking about the rest of the Harekaze crew, but I won't. I'll just tell you that another one of the other things that made this anime so good was the lively and diverse cast of interesting characters all bringing something different to the table with their each different unique personality. And the anime starts with the girls being assigned to a ship and each giving roles that are mostly decided and assigned by through test scores. Akeno does bemoan a little about the fact that she was assigned to a small ship like the Harekaze and says she would have liked to be in the large battleships, Musashi, where her childhood friend, Moeka China, was assigned to as Captain, but never the less, she accepts her new position with pride and eagerness and devotes herself completely to her role as the Captain. Now, I know it's hard to imagine of a bunch of high school girls somehow operating a big ship like a navy, but you have to remember, this is the lifestyle for these people and their schooling pretty much is the Navy considering that is their livelihood now so they are taught early on how to sail. As the school girls leaving the school part, they are due to arrive at some island for a week long training course, but because of a snag, the Harekaze is late to arrive at the designated island and when they come close, their instructor ship starts open firing upon them. At this point, your just thinking, only "Oh, this is a funny development. Their teacher is pissed at them for being so late (4 hours to be exact) so is firing her ship's cannons at the Harekaze, but she's clearly missing on purpose with each shot right? She's not trying to actually threaten the lives of the crew of the Harekaze, right?" ... WRONG! She is actually trying to put them down in the water! But luckily the Harekaze manages to avoid their instructor ship's bombardant and disable their weapon and cause them to cease fire. This makes you think "Oh, maybe the instructor was just trying to teach them a lesson and now that the Harekaze has successfully retaliated and handled a combat situation pretty well, she'll forgive them now, right?" ... WRONG AGAIN! The crazy b***h gets on the radio and accuses the Harekaze of mutiny and that is how the first episode ends with the Harekaze now branded as criminals and now on the run to avoid pursuit. And that point, I was like: "What the hell is going on here!? I have to know!" and this is what led me to watch episode, next after next after next. You do eventually find out the cause for their instructor's behavior and it turns out...
... What? Did you want to know the cause of why their instructor shot at them and then when they returned fire, reported in that the Harekaze had mutinied? Or if they ever get their names cleared of the above mentioned mutiny charge? Did you actually expect me to tell you? Well, too bad! You want to know, watch the damn show yourself! I wouldn't give away such a crucial plot development, even in a spoiler! But don't worry, High School Fleet is a one cour consisting of only 12 episodes so it does not take long to discover the truth if you decide to pick it up and give it a try yourself.
The animation is pretty solid and the naval battle scenes are all very exhilarating. Every time the Harekaze had a naval encounter, I was practically holding my breath on the edge of my seat the whole time. There was just something really exciting about each battle and I watch in mad anticipation, wondering how they were going to pull another miracle out of their cute butts (I have no physical reference to prove this fact true or not so here is a girl with an unmistakably cute a**, Dat butt though ) to save their a** this time. And speaking of cute. All the characters are cute in their own way and are all pretty likable, but if I had to pick my favorite. I'd probably have to say either Machiko Noma, the look-out of the Harekaze, or Mashiro Munetani, the deputy captain of the Harekaze, who is the complete opposite of Akeno, at least personality-wise anyway and it kinda follows that whole "this two characters couldn't be any more different, but somehow make a perfect team together" kind of thing. Mashiro constantly bemoans her "bad luck" whereas Akeno seems to have a boundless amount of endless good luck and has a fear of cats where Akeno does not and even decides to pick up a stray cat and brings onboard the Harekaze, which causes hilarity to ensue between Mashiro and the cat when we are shown the two interacting together.
All in all, I have to announce that High School Fleet is a resounding success and I would give it a score of...
Quote:
GREAT! 9 / 10
Keep racking my brain thinking there feels like something I am forgetting about that I wanted to mention about High School Fleet, but it's 7AM now and my brain is not wanting to function properly so if I think of something, I'll just add it later. Anyway, since I teased a little bit about AOKANA in the beginning, maybe I'll talk about that next time, but for now, this is your anime otaku gaian CV signing off.
See you next time! 4laugh
it was also the anime of the month for JULY wink
Oh, that reminds me. Because ReLIFE was picked for this month, I binge watched the whole thing in a few days... ugh, I have no social life emo It was super good too, though I have my laments about it as well. Hopefully a continuation is made and I get more of a better conclusion.
Also, I remember what I wanted to mention that I felt that I was forgetting about in High School Fleet. It could just be the inner critic in me, but the whole time I was watching I was like "If the population of probably hundreds of thousands of people have taken to sailing ships and cruising the seven seas that all use by burning oil as fuel than that world has to be very, very, VERY terribly polluted", but the whole time throughout, the sky is incredibly bright blue and crystal clear. That doesn't make sense, right?
