(L) Azur Lane [anime] Anticipation

[Marcus H.]

I assure you, the story isn't as lighthearted as in the Kancolle anime. As others explained, there's a multifaction struggle involving Azur Lane (this world's Allied Forces), the Crimson Axis (this world's Axis Powers) and the Sirens, unusual beings that manipulate both forces for a yet to be determined purpose.

Also, at the very first mission, there's already a canonically dead shipgirl.

[Kakurin]

Originally Posted by Marcus H.

I assure you, the story isn't as lighthearted as in the Kancolle anime.

The Kancolle movie was anything but lighthearted as they expand on the connection between Kanmusu and Abyssals.

Originally Posted by serenade_beta

It's not a bad thing. As long as the art is good, I can enjoy the different types of art styles. And it is nice that they are willing to spend money on getting people like Tony Taka to draw characters when other games try to be cheap and use mainly only illustrators from within their company and all.

Originally Posted by Cosmic Eagle

As long as the art is nice I personally am happy, but anyways, give it time.....

The thing is, some of the art styles look really terrible and unfitting next to the others, making it a disjointed mess. In the end art is always subjective, but I find the ones by realmbw for example (Chicago, Northampton, Houston) just awful. I'm feeding off all of those on sight. And some others have solid art styles ruined by massively oversized breasts, like Takao/Atago or Rodney/Illustrious/Belfast.

Well, the good thing about an anime will be, that all those different art styles will somewhat be streamlined... Although that won't be able to fix the impression I have of several AL girls that looks as if they are eroge heroines given a ship name instead of a carefully designed anthropomorphed ships.

But in the end, I'm very curious about what a staff and studio doing Grisaia can make out of AL.

[Vaans]

Well, I was hoping an anime adaptation be announced in the future and it did. And I've been playing the EN version for three weeks now and I like it.

Storyline? Been playing it on World 4 now and there's no solid storyline in sight. Oh well, the studios and developers can take their sweet time making one. I'm kind of surprise that an anime adaptation got announce faster than KC.

Well, I'm hoping it'll be at least be decent. I just want to see my favorite shipgirls come alive and hear their voice.

[Kakurin]

Originally Posted by Vaans

I'm kind of surprise that an anime adaptation got announce faster than KC.

Bilibili is meaning business.

[Marcus H.]

Bilibili also isn't keeping IPs restrained, unlike Kadokawa that refuses to give Kancolle the global release it deserves just because DMM, the original Kancolle's publisher, also publishes adult-rated games.

Also, it seems like someone doesn't like the game published outside of Japan for some reason. This allowed games like Warship Girls, Abyss Horizon, and Azur Lane to conquer the market Kancolle was unable to reach. The irony now is that while Abyss Horizon was sued by SEGA for being similar to Kancolle Arcade, Azur Lane has successfully broken through the Japanese fanbase... all because Kancolle was forced to stay on deck without any room to expand overseas.

Storyline? Been playing it on World 4 now and there's no solid storyline in sight.

The Sirens won't be entering the scene until much much further into the game's Main Quest. At the moment, they enjoy screwing with the shipgirls that are still deep into the historical recreation business.

[Kakurin]

Originally Posted by Marcus H.

Bilibili also isn't keeping IPs restrained, unlike Kadokawa that refuses to give Kancolle the global release it deserves just because DMM, the original Kancolle's publisher, also publishes adult-rated games.

Not sure where these sort of presumptuous takes come from that Kancolle must do stuff to please international audiences, be it expanding overseas or including more USN ships. It's a game for the Japanese audience. Is that so hard to get?

The irony now is that while Abyss Horizon was sued by SEGA for being similar to Kancolle Arcade, Azur Lane has successfully broken through the Japanese fanbase... all because Kancolle was forced to stay on deck without any room to expand overseas.

Azur Lane gaining market share in Japan has nothing to do with Kancolle not expanding overseas. As if Japanese players care about if there is an English or Chinese version of the game or not.

AL gaining market share in Japan has more to do with DMM/Kadokawa failing to (successfully) spin off alternative games using the Kancolle IP. Kancolle is more of a management type of game and this inherently creates a wall to people who like a more control/shooter style of game. They made a mistake with the PS Vita game when they made it basically exactly as the browser version only with more animated cutscenes for the battles. What they should've done was put out a version of the arcade game for mobile devices. They left this space unoccupied and AL is now using this room to aggressively expand while putting in a lot of money using the power of Bilibili. Sadly the creativity comes way too short in this move.

[Marcus H.]

Not sure where these sort of presumptuous takes come from that Kancolle must do stuff to please international audiences, be it expanding overseas or including more USN ships. It's a game for the Japanese audience. Is that so hard to get?

It's about competition. Pretty sure they were aware of people trying to play the game with whatever means necessary. It happens to most mobage nowadays, and most dev teams and publishers see it as an opportunity to grow. Why not just loosen up on the regional restrictions and let the non-Japanese players play without resorting to VPN? I mean, based on the reception of FGO, there doesn't seem a problem with the overhead costs associated with accommodating overseas players.

[Kakurin]

Originally Posted by Marcus H.

It's about competition. Pretty sure they were aware of people trying to play the game with whatever means necessary. It happens to most mobage nowadays, and most dev teams and publishers see it as an opportunity to grow. Why not just loosen up on the regional restrictions and let the non-Japanese players play without resorting to VPN? I mean, based on the reception of FGO, there doesn't seem a problem with the overhead costs associated with accommodating overseas players.

First of all, you don't need a VPN to play. A simple cookie workaround that's offered automatically by all kinds of KC Players like KCV or KC3 is enough.

Second, DMM/Kadokawa are under no obligation whatsoever to do things specifically for foreigners, so I think it's quite pretentious to think that the international audience has some rights they can demand.

Thirdly, your comparison with FGO is way off the mark as Kancolle is by-and-large a F2P game that does not rely on gacha. Players at most spend on dock expansion and perhaps additional rings. The money I spent in Kancolle over 4 years is not much higher than the costs of one big pack of quartz in FGO.

[Marcus H.]

First of all, you don't need a VPN to play. A simple cookie workaround that's offered automatically by all kinds of KC Players like KCV or KC3 is enough.

Playing by workaround, sure. But I'm currently playing a mobage (Toji no Miko: Kizamishi Issen no Tomoshibi) and it doesn't demand anything aside from a Square Enix account. No VPNs, no cookie workarounds. The only issue is maybe requiring new versions of the APK, which may be country-restricted by Google, but QooApp resolves that problem easily.

Second, DMM/Kadokawa are under no obligation whatsoever to do things specifically for foreigners, so I think it's quite pretentious to think that the international audience has some rights they can demand.

Let's just put it this way: people want to play a game like Kancolle and there's no law that prevents an entity from accommodating overseas players from using their service. Why implement the country restrictions still, considering that many other games can function without such restrictions? It's not even about rights—it's about getting revenue from those who wanted to buy it, regardless of where it came from.

Thirdly, your comparison with FGO is way off the mark as Kancolle is by-and-large a F2P game that does not rely on gacha. Players at most spend on dock expansion and perhaps additional rings. The money I spent in Kancolle over 4 years is not much higher than the costs of one big pack of quartz in FGO.

I think you misunderstood. I didn't compare FGO with Kancolle in the aspect of gacha; I know Kancolle has a blueprint/construction system instead of a gacha system. Instead, I compared them in the aspect of overseas playerbases. Pretty sure that there are a handful of users in Animesuki that are still playing in the JP server before the release of the EN server. Imagine if you'd face the same restrictions and need the same workarounds as in Kancolle to play FGO.

It would be a stupid idea, considering the fans of the Fate franchise, right?

That's the thing: based on the trend of recent mobages, accessibility shouldn't be an issue, and Kancolle is among the very few games that can only be played by Japanese IPs. Things would be easier for the Kancolle franchise if Kadokawa Dwango or DMM loosened their restrictions and just let anyone from around the world to play the game.

Anyway, we're going off on a tangent here, so let me sum this up by saying that Kancolle's lack of expansion these past few years made the rise of Azur Lane possible, and Kadokawa is wasting another potential golden goose with the lack of love for the franchise. Well, I'm not really surprised Kadokawa did this considering the Kemono Friends fiasco.

[Kakurin]

Originally Posted by Marcus H.

No VPNs, no cookie workarounds. The only issue is maybe requiring new versions of the APK, which may be country-restricted by Google, but QooApp resolves that problem easily.

Tell me, what exactly is the difference between going to QooApp to download the APK and using a cookie workaround? There is none. Zilch. Toji no Miko is handled exactly the same as Kancolle: The publisher does not publish it outside of Japan. You are quite dishonest here in your argumentation.

I think you misunderstood. I didn't compare FGO with Kancolle in the aspect of gacha; I know Kancolle has a blueprint/construction system instead of a gacha system. Instead, I compared them in the aspect of overseas playerbases. Pretty sure that there are a handful of users in Animesuki that are still playing in the JP server before the release of the EN server. Imagine if you'd face the same restrictions and need the same workarounds as in Kancolle to play FGO. It would be a stupid idea, considering the fans of the Fate franchise, right?

Again, prior to the release of the CN/EN version, in theory you could only get FGO by having a Japanese Google Play / iTunes account. You got the game by either setting up an extra JP account on those platforms or using QooApp. So how is that any different to the cookie workaround?

Moreoever, you did mention overhead costs while completely ignoring that for FGO overseas companies like Bilibili handle the maintenance of the servers and stuff while paying license fees. For a gacha game this works because popular gacha games generate a steady (and high) income. Kancolle does not work like this.

That's the thing: based on the trend of recent mobages, accessibility shouldn't be an issue, and Kancolle is among the very few games that can only be played by Japanese IPs.

Kancolle is not a mobage...

[Klashikari]

Originally Posted by Marcus H.

Playing by workaround, sure. But I'm currently playing a mobage (Toji no Miko: Kizamishi Issen no Tomoshibi) and it doesn't demand anything aside from a Square Enix account. No VPNs, no cookie workarounds. The only issue is maybe requiring new versions of the APK, which may be country-restricted by Google, but QooApp resolves that problem easily.

That's pretty much the same thing with Kancolle, since you don't need any VPN with the cookie method, which is the very same thing as downloading an APK since the game is restricted behind the store.
By the way, ironically enough, the DMM store app is available for anyone (download on their website without any IP restriction), and playing the android application of KC doesn't require any workaround at all. In a nutshell, KC is restricted in access with its browser version, but is plainly usable anywhere with its android application.

Why implement the country restrictions still, considering that many other games can function without such restrictions? It's not even about rights—it's about getting revenue from those who wanted to buy it, regardless of where it came from.

This issue is more about DMM not willing to deal with oversea customers because it would require special attention to copyright and all the potential issue with their +18 branch which is quite visible. The fact the game proper doesn't have the IP restriction compared to the publisher speaks volume about where the issue is.
But again, as Kakurin stated, this issue has nothing to do with AL since it is mostly Yostar pushing their franchise hard in Japan, whereas Kadokawa just doesn't do much with KC franchise at large. The oversea market has very little to no impact in such kind of marketing decision there.

Anyway, we're going off on a tangent here, so let me sum this up by saying that Kancolle's lack of expansion these past few years made the rise of Azur Lane possible, and Kadokawa is wasting another potential golden goose with the lack of love for the franchise. Well, I'm not really surprised Kadokawa did this considering the Kemono Friends fiasco.

It is more about how AL is inherently different compared to KC, although it obviously use WWII warship + Anthropomorphism formula to appeal a fraction of the KC fanbase and/or satisfy those who don't fancy management type of game.

But more about anything, the game follows the real logic of a mobage, with microtransactions and short burst of gameplay possible and stuff like that. KC is inherently a browser game, and its game features reflect that game design, which isn't exactly mobile friendly. if anything, calling KC a "mobage" is quite disingenuous considering how the game hardly feature stuff that is actually designed for phones, aside of its UI to a certain degree.

You'd need something like Girls' Frontline to adapt the original KC concept with mobage features in mind.




Back to AL anime topic, I'm not exactly sure what they are even planning to show with the anime, considering the factions are kind of a mess. I just hope they won't indulge themselves with the faction war nonsense in the game, because that was anything but interesting the way it was used.

[Marcus H.]

By the way, ironically enough, the DMM store app is available for anyone (download on their website without any IP restriction), and playing the android application of KC doesn't require any workaround at all. In a nutshell, KC is restricted in access with its browser version, but is plainly usable anywhere with its android application.

Good to know that they're not sticking to the Japan-only practice of the browser version.

[...]this issue has nothing to do with AL since it is mostly Yostar pushing their franchise hard in Japan, whereas Kadokawa just doesn't do much with KC franchise at large. The oversea market has very little to no impact in such kind of marketing decision there.

Really? I can't believe that the movements of the Japanese market and the movements of the overseas market have no relationship between each other.

It is more about how AL is inherently different compared to KC, although it obviously use WWII warship + Anthropomorphism formula to appeal a fraction of the KC fanbase and/or satisfy those who don't fancy management type of game.

[...]

You'd need something like Girls' Frontline to adapt the original KC concept with mobage features in mind.

You can't expect me to talk about Girls Frontline because I don't even play that game and whatever secondhand info I have from GFL is way less than what I know of Kancolle.

Back to AL anime topic, I'm not exactly sure what they are even planning to show with the anime, considering the factions are kind of a mess. I just hope they won't indulge themselves with the faction war nonsense in the game, because that was anything but interesting the way it was used.

I won't expect too much of the story mode. It's for an ongoing game, so it might be handled like an ongoing long-running battle shonen, with all the problems associated with it. Hopefully, the anime plot would improve on the game story.

[Metaneo]

Originally Posted by Marcus H.

Really? I can't believe that the movements of the Japanese market and the movements of the overseas market have no relationship between each other.

The only reason to pay attention to overseas markets is if you plan on making money off them, if the makers behind KC are making everything they need off their own markets then they have no need to appeal to the overseas market place.

You dont make a rated R movie and then complain it doesnt appeal to 7 year olds.

[Kuroageha]

^
That's a poor example.

[Sheba]

I'd say that, iirc, Japanese sees Westerners gamers as more into actiony games a la CoD. Kancolle browser game, in its genre and subject matter, is a niche game within a niche within a niche that got its success by accident. How do you plan to sell a game that could be described as a pachinko with pretty girls to an audience who want more controls and action? How do you get past the bad first impression it got in the West when some accused it to be a japanese right-wing propaganda and is still doing it? Thats too much trouble for little potential payoff from KDKW pov.

[LKK]

FYI a game thread has been created. Please post any game discussion there. Thread

[serenade_beta]

https://game-maniax.com/wiki/azurlan...s/detail/19117

-Anime development started in the Fall of last year
-Nothing really on what type of story it will be. The head of the company likes Demonbane and wanted Jin/is glad he raised his hand. From the sounds of it, he is letting Jin create the world setting and all, so I wouldn't be surprised if the anime is completely original (I mean, not that there is much to go on in the first place though).

[Klashikari]

Offtopic comments were moved to the proper thread. Please stay ontopic.

[Stark700]

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