One of the most interesting fascinations of otaku culture is its obsession with anthropomorphized objects. There have been countless examples of this by this point. Hetalia's personification of countries, Microsoft's operating system anime girls, 4chan's infamous Ebola-chan, or even a dakimakura pillow. One of my personal favorites has always been the anthropomorphized naval warships of "Kantai Collection".

I did notice "Azur Lane" as I was browsing the Qooapp game store about a year ago, but I didn't really think much about it at the time. Then one day, I looked at my facebook feed for the first time in ages and noticed an absolute flood of "Azur Lane" fanart, almost at a volume reminiscent of "Kantai Collection's" own fandom. That was the moment I knew I needed to check the game out and see what's so special about it.

What is Kantai Collection?

"Kantai Collection" is a browser game (that later got a mobile app), where you play the role of an admiral, commanding a naval base of anthropomorphic warships to combat a fleet of corrupted, evil warships that are plotting a vague form of world destruction. The warships all have their own real-life counterparts, and take inspiration from in their equipment load-outs and personalities from said warships.

The game was a cultural phenomenon around the world, but especially so in Japan. In 2013, Twitter revealed that #艦これ (KanColle) was the most used hashtag in Japan, and "KanColle" doujinshi were the most prominent presence at the Summer 2015 Comiket. It's fairly safe to say that within the public subconscious, "KanColle" had claimed a stake on the anthro-warship territory.

What is Azur Lane?

Stop me if this sounds familiar at all. In this mobile game, you are the admiral of a naval base where you command anthropomorphic warship girls to fight corrupted, evil ships that are plotting some vague form of world destruction. The warships all have their own real-life counterparts, and take inspiration in their equipment load-outs and personalities from said warships.

Sounds a tad bit like "Kantai Collection", doesn't it? Mind you, I'm not going to say that "Azur Lane" is a copy of "KanColle". Its gameplay design is such an improvement over "Kancolle's" that I can hardly even call "KanColle" a game without breaking out in laughter. But there are also other differences that make Azur Lane far inferior.

Gameplay

Let's get this out of the way first, unless you get a huge rush of ecstasy when you lose money to a slot machine, there is no way you can call "KanColle's" gameplay better than "Azur Lane's". In "KanColle", when you enter a mission, your team of ship girls travels along a map of nodes in almost completely random directions.

Occasionally, your girls will meet enemy fleets and fight by watching them fire shells and torpedos towards almost random enemies and dealing a random amount of damage. Every facet of the game is bathed in a layer semi-controllable RNG. If you have two destroyers and a carrier, then you'll have a 20% chance of traveling east instead of going NORTH THIRTY TIMES IN A ROW...deep breathe Sorry 'bout that, I'm calm again.

Now, "Azur Lane's" gameplay is more akin to a traditional shoot 'em up game. You control a fleet of 6 ships. Three light ships (destroyers and cruisers), and three heavy ships (aircraft carriers and battleships). You directly control the three smaller ships, dodging bombing runs, torpedos, and enemy shells. Meanwhile, the three heavy ships can unleash devastating skills. It's actually fun and challenging as a game.

Everything Else

Now, you might wonder how this is even a competition if "Azur Lane" has gameplay that trounces "Kantai Collection's" gameplay so hard. Well, this is obviously going to be a very subjective thing, but it all comes down to the way the game treats the ship girls.

The Saddest Moment of My Life

I remember when I got my first submarine in "Kantai Collection". Submarines are really rare ships that almost never drop as combat rewards, and appear from construction even less often, so my first one was incredibly special to me. And that love I felt for that submarine made it even worse when the game took it away from me. I was grinding late at night while I was studying, so I wasn't paying the game too much attention, I didn't notice my submarine was in critical condition and I advanced forward anyway. She sank that night...when ships sink in "Kancolle", they don't come back. I was in a depressed state for a month after that.

Appreciation For Value

Because the game makes it so crushingly hard to get rare ships, it makes me care for them so much more. This just isn't a factor in "Azur Lane". The getting rare ships was a cakewalk, and there's no perma-death for them. Not that that even matters, since you'll only ever need 12 competent ships to do anything. In "KanColle", some quests specifically need 3 torpedo cruisers, others will require 5 destroyers, so you can't just power level your favorites and leave the rest to rot.

The result is that I just simply don't care about the ship girls in "Azur Lane". I felt no motivation to play the fun game as opposed to the game with stronger context. I really don't care if the story if either is pitiful, what I care about is role-playing as an admiral. And I can't say that "Azur Lane" does that better for me.

Conclusion

I'm going to stress that in the moment-to-moment gameplay, "Azur Lane" will be better for almost everyone. It's punchy, difficult, and just an ocean's worth of fun. But I just can't understand how "Azur Lane" has amassed such a huge fandom, or why people feel that drive to make fanart of its characters. Knowing that the ships can actually die is what makes "KanColle" doujinshi so memorable to me (This is my personal favorite, btw). And knowing how rewarding it is to get rare ships gets me attached to them even more. On a surface level, they are almost the same game but appeal in very different ways.