Azur Lane

AHHH…Azur Lane, how we missed ya then and back, and now out again. The promise that we’d have a decent game adaptation with an original storyline that subsequently went to shit as it progresses, not to mention the many warship waifus and the mediocre animation that accompanies this dreaded show.

Based on the gacha game of the same name (that was insanely popular at the time), Azur Lane features anthropomorphic World War 2 waifu ships that we have the joy of the love-hate relationships between its insanely big cast of allies and enemies to develop their growth overtime as we please and experience some of the

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very best mobile games have to offer. And of course, the anime adaptation was a sure-fire thing back when it got massively popular back in 2017. But what we got instead was a production so haphazard, it’s like the production staff at Bibury Animation Studios knew what they were doing under the tutelage of the studio’s owner and director Tensho (Grisaia, Rewrite series) and on Jin Haganeya (Guilty Crown, Demonbane) being series composer (at the recommendation of publisher Shanghai Yostar’s president Li Hengda, with Demonbane being one of his favourite shows), even all of that went to naught with this show.

Starting with the story, it’s your standard run-of-the-mill “heroes vs. villains” cliche archetype with the impending “ideals vs. realism”-sake type of story with the central huge cast of characters. Of course, they’re already known by which group they belong to (if you played the mobile game). This setting isn’t bad, but it’s one that has been done a thousand times over and over again to the point of boredom. If you’d refer back to my earlier “name-notables” with Jin Haganeya, he’s a pretty mediocre writer, with Guilty Crown being the easiest victim to blame for (since Despite the recommendation for him to be writing the storyboard for this show, I found it to be pretty much nonsensical, or at worse times non-existent even with a decent storyline, other than the waifu ships which have garnered lots of love the way before the anime started, and those same feelings are endorsed here.

Character-wise, what’s there not to love about the character cast? From Azur Lane’s seasoned leader “Grey Ghost” Enterprise with her assistant Belfast, Eagle Union’s loli warships Javelin, Laffey and Unicorn to former comrade-turned-spy Red Axis’s Ayanami and Sakura Empire’s Akagi, they’re pretty much the standard bogfare and the core foundation of the series to date, and I am happy to say that they absolutely have no faults (well, except how they’re utilized in the story).

The elephant in the room has got to be Tensho’s Bibury Animation Studios, who came out of the deal with doing second-rate in-between animation, and then split out to produce the Grisaia: Phantom Trigger movie to decent results. And now, with this show being it’s very first TV series, the same feelings that can be said on the Grisaia movie sadly shares the same with Azur Lane here. Don’t get me wrong, the visuals are all done nicely…for the first few episodes. And then they just seemingly went with the flow of sacrificing quality for quantity when it comes to the bombastic action scenes (that are supposed to be as good as the game itself, mind you) of which Azur Lane (the game) is no stranger to such good animation and lets the gamers feel fulfilled (after tanking hours of gameplay). Even the CGI scenes which were meant to be flashy, ended up as wack and we’re all left wondering if that was actually incorporated at the very last minute or the lack of skill to make even such scenes stand out. Needless to say, all of that didn’t translate well to the anime despite the popularity over in Japan when it was first launched there to successful results.

Another wacky area is always with the music. Other than a forgetful OP (of which May’n is producing decent to mediocre songs nowadays) and the nice ED by Kano, I honestly don’t remember any good tunes, even after the 3-months gap due to production issues. Other than that, it’s only the fanservice that gets us feeling good that is the best part of this show.

When all is said and done, what happened with Azur Lane: The Animation, it’s all the same as selling merchandise: this show is meant to be a cash-cow adding onto the popularity of the series in its many mediums. The same with the subgenre with shows like Girls und Panzer, Kantai Collection, they have their own niches and I can’t complain about that. Stick with the games and forbade on the anime, your experience will vary on the better side than to side with the show, which is a +1 to the many mediocre game adaptations of recent years. This show HAD the potential to be good (and us the audience are honestly in for it), and it was horrendously wasted to trash.

Reviewer’s Rating:

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