Oh, what can I really say about these kind of shows? Maybe you can see where I’m going with this one: military, moe girls, advanced technology and alien antagonists with even more advanced technology…maybe even some magic to boot. I’ve watched my fair share of these shows, and even reviewed a couple here as well. The most recent one being Azur Lane: an adaptation of that mobile game everyone played at the time (or maybe still plays, I don’t really keep up with mobile games), with ship girls representing battleships of past world wars, on both the Allied and Axis sides. I’ve also done a show called Girly Air Force, where I ended up feeling more sorry for the abandoned refugee girl the main protagonist kept leaving.
Now, I’d heard of Arpeggio of Blue Steel, and had kind of gathered that it would go along with the same route as other shows I mentioned. In the end, was this any different then those other ones? Well, I think that depends on whether you really enjoyed those shows about ship girls doing ship girl things.
I know I slung a bit of mud on both Azur Lane and Girly Air Force back when I reviewed them for the Otaku Theater column. I struggled to find a linear story to enjoy in Azur Lane, while in Girly Air Force, I ended up caring less for the main characters, and more about the poor refugee girl that the main protagonist ended up leaving. So, what did I think whilst watching Arpeggio of Blue Steel?
The show revolves around the submarine ship I-401, a bit of an anomaly ship in a world where the enemy, The Fleet of Fog, have destroyed most of the world’s defense systems, and cut nearly all global communications. With the captain of the ship, Chihaya Gunzou, abandoning naval school to be captain, and the I-401 (or Iona, in her moe ship girl form) being a traitor to the Fog, they make a good team…or couple, depending on how you see it. Arpeggio of Blue Steel opens with the mission of delivering a top secret weapon to the United States, without being detected by the Fog. It’s interesting that they point out that, even after contacting the United States three months prior, they have absolutely no idea if the US still exists…and that sets the mood here, and how it wants to be taken seriously as a sci-fi military show, and not a moe ship girl show.
It makes me wonder why so many of these kind of shows end up coming out, but then I remember how conservative Japan predominantly is, and how the military end up becoming center stage in big shows. We can take Girls und Panzer as a prime example; heck, even GATE and Girly Air Force made the JSDF and Air Self-Defense Force a key part of their plots. Here in Arpeggio of Blue Steel, the military might that battles against the Fog and is humanity’s savior seems to be more international, despite the fact that a lot of the world’s countries have been cut off from one another by the Fog.
To those who aren’t really that familiar with these kind of ship girl shows, I think it’s important to point out that these girls are actually AIs and have no humanoid bodies; they are the ship, or the plane, or whatever. This doesn’t stop these AI girls from struggling with basic human things we all take for granted, like emotions, manners, and the like. Iona initially comes across as extremely cold, but that’s only due to how she was programmed. The more time she spends with her Captain Gunzou, the warmer she becomes to him and the human crew.
Which brings me on to one major problem I have with this show. Our focus is on Gunzou and Iona, leaving the rest of the cast at the back of the bus. Their roles onboard the I-401 are established and all, but that’s about it. The weird-helmet guy Sou is the first mate, Kyohei is the weapons officer and token horny guy, Iori is I-401’s engineer and Shizuka is the sonar operator and token glasses girl. Then we have Hyuga and Takao, who are a completely different story completely.
Both Hyuga and Takao are a bit of an anomaly in this show. We see them for the first time on the side of the Fog, where they introduces themselves as the ‘Mental Models’ of the battleships Hyuga and Takao respectively. So when Gunzou and the I-401 defeat them both in battle, she decides to switch sides and join the fleet. With them both developing feelings for Gunzou, it would be hard-pushed to think that the show has suddenly turned into some kind of weird harem show. Believe me, I was thinking that way as well, but I don’t think it matters too much, as both of them are still likable characters and not really that annoying in any way.
Alright then, so my final thoughts on a show that some would see as just another moe ship girl show. There are some things I like about Arpeggio of Blue Steel, and there are some things that I really found just not enjoyable. I’ve seen a lot of this kind of show, but this was the one I liked the most out of all of them. Even with these near-indestructible enemy force and cute AI girls having to learn human emotions, there are just something in this that I enjoyed a lot. In addition to that, the naval warfare scenes really are something to look at; along with intense and flashy fights, the sci-fi technology that Gunzou and Iona get to be a part of really stands out. Even though we get the impression that our submarine is incredibly powerful against the Fog, we still get a feeling that they could be sailing into real danger.
What threw me off though was the 3D modelling. I accept that Sanzigen isn’t a big-budget studio, but even with this, I found the scenes where 2D and 3D collided a little weird. Perhaps Sanzigen could have thought better, and just not mixed them together, and thus make the show look more beautiful than it already is. I already touched on the lack of character design of the secondary characters, and so while Arpeggio of Blue Steel really is a sight to see, it could have been so much better if we didn’t get to look at Iona, Gunzou and maybe Takao all the time.
The people who love ship girl shows and military battleships fighting for humanity will really love this show, and so it’s just the fact that it doesn’t really cater for any other kind of fan that bothers me…that is, unless you don’t like moe girls.