Kantai Collection (艦隊これくしょん Kantai Korekushon, lit. "Combined Fleet Collection"), abbreviated as KanColle (艦これ KanKore), is a Japanese free-to-play shipgirl-themed game developed by Kadokawa Games and published by DMM. It is currently available exclusively in Japanese, though it has started to introduce some English-language graphical assets, and accessing the game for non-Japanese players requiring unconventional means.
Gameplay
Gameplay is centered upon building squadrons composed of individual characters represented as cards with different attributes, and then sending said squadrons out on missions. The player takes on the role of an Admiral (提督 teitoku) and organises their fleets in battle in order to win. Combat is largely automated, and manual actions by the player include micromanagement such as building and repairing.
Each of the characters are moe personifications of World War II naval warships, which are depicted as cute girls known as "ship girls" (艦娘 kanmusu). These personified warships are based on real life vessels which are explained in detail within the game; the physical characteristics, appearances and personalities of each of the girls correlate in some way to the real life vessel.
Originally, the roster of the shipgirls was designed to be limited to the Axis alliances (comprising mainly of Japan and Germany) and major players of the Imperial Japanese Army, and its final mission being an attack on the base, akin to how World War 2 played out for Japan. Due to the game's popularity, it has since introduced shipgirls from wartime rival factions, ironically including ships from the U.S. Navy, the British Royal Navy and even the somewhat-neutral Swedish Navy.
As of early 2022 KanColle features ships from following navies: Imperial Japanese Navy, Imperial Japanese Army, Maritime Safety Agency/Japan Coast Guard, United States Navy, British Royal Navy, Royal Australian Navy, Dutch Koninklijke Marine, French Marine nationale, Italian Regia Marina, German Kriegsmarine, Swedish Svenska marinen, and Republic of China Navy. With the most numerous non-Japanese navies being United States Navy and Regia Marina.
Media
The game has developed into a much larger media franchise; various media including multiple manga series and light novels have been released, in addition to an officially licensed tabletop role-playing game. A PlayStation Vita game was released February 2016. A television anime adaptation aired Winter 2015 with a sequel season planned (current estimated release date being in 2022), and an anime movie was released in 2016. There is also a Japan only 3D arcade game Kancolle Arcade that was released in 2016.
History
The web browser game was launched on April 23, 2013, originally designed to run in Adobe Flash. An Android app version was released on August 1st, 2016. As of January 2015, the game had 2.5 million registered players. The game migrated to HTML5 prior to worldwide decommissioning of Adobe Flash in browsers.
During the Japanese launch of Azur Lane, several disputes emerged between the companies involved in either game, with both sides criticizing the other's game for their different themes and character design motifs. Kadokawa called Azur Lane "a generic idol game with a ship-themed rigging", while Manjuu called Kancolle "a far-right ultranationalist game". Manjuu and Kadokawa&DMM have also clashed over the use of term "Kanmusu" which DMM (had originally trademarked in 2014 but which was used by Manjuu in couple of their Japanese advertisements, ultimately this led to AL devs apologizing and using different term while talking about their warship personifications.
Nevertheless, due to various factors, primarily the stance of KanColle's team to keep the game exclusively inside Japan, Azur Lane has supplanted KanColle as the more popular shipgirl game internationally, though KanColle maintains a considerable amount of followers outside of Japan, and appears to hold the place as the dominant shipgirl franchise in Japan, with only the recent emergence of Umamusume challenging it.
Tagging
DO NOT tag images with mecha musume. They do not accurately fit the tag's origins and would drown out other mecha musume art. Consider using rigging or machinery instead.
DO NOT tag images with ships of the same class as sisters.
ONLY tag images with ship, warship or submarine if an actual, literal ship or submarine is present, such as a shipgirl with her historical counterpart.
ONLY tag images with World War II if it depicts some element of the war beyond simply the ship girl, such as a battle or historical scene.
ONLY tag images with Imperial Japanese Navy if it depicts elements such as the Imperial Japanese Navy's uniforms or historical figures.
