Bishoujo Anime Figure (2): Kantai Collection Akagi Figure

Hi everyone! how was your day? Today we are looking at a very popular subject in Japan: Kantai Collection. Kantai Collection (艦隊これくしょん, Kantai Korekushon "Combined Fleet Collection"), abbreviated as KanColle (艦これ, KanKore^?), is a Japanese free-to-play online card game developed by Kadokawa Games. The game was launched on April 23, 2013. As of September 2014, the game is available in Japan only and has 2.2 million registered players with many more waiting for the monthly lottery to become a registered user. This may sound rather arrogant of them but in doing so, they do not over-load their servers unlike many other online games we know.

So far it is only on the PC but will be ported to the PS Vita next year. Hopefully, it would be a stand alone game and not a web-based game so I can play it!!!

Akagi was an Imperial Japanese Carrier during World War II. She was part of Carrier Division 1 along with Kaga and was the flagship of the 1st combined fleet. She was capable of carrying 91 aircraft (including reserves). She took part in the attack on pearl harbour, darwin, and was sunk in the battle of midway. Though there were better Japanese carriers, Akagi remains my favourite... perhaps it was because she was the 1st carrier I built as a young boy. The model above was from the web, mine is still awaiting construction :).





Here is Akagi in Kancolle, personified as a girl in Kyudo attire. I like how Kadokawa Games personify the different classes of ships as girls. Aircraft carriers would be girls in archery attire (range), battleships as shrine maidens or miko sans (power), and destroyers as girls in middle school (equivalent to secondary 1-3 girls in Singapore) to represent youth and hence agility.

A side view of Akagi and a close-up of her shoulder armour, represented by the flight deck. In case you're wondering, that Japanese character is pronounced as "Ah".

A side shot to give a better perspective of the Japanese bow. Stringing it requires substantial strength so never mess with girls from the Kyudo bu, they may look feminine but they are much stronger than they look :).

I love how they incorporated elements of the actual ship as part of Akagi's armour. Her geta or slippers are miniaturised versions of the actual ship, and the smoke exhaust stack doubles as her satchel bag.

Even though this was a prize item from the UFO catchers, Sega has done a great job with the details.

Finally a close-up of Akagi's face. 

A piece of good news for anime fans. Kancolle will be made into an anime series in January 2015. You can catch the trailer at  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABZN292gvRo .

I hope you enjoyed the pictures. Do let me know if you would like to see more of these in the comments. Have a blessed evening!