This was the final episode I expected, but not the one I might have hoped for.
All in all, what happens this episode?
Exactly what you would you expect would happen. Orochi fires off its
doom rocket (I can’t really call it anything else since it’s kind of
nuke-like but not exactly and not given any particular name) and the
first act of the episode is the struggle to intercept it before the
Azur Lane home port is annihilated. We get, admittedly, a decent
action sequence for this show between Purifier and Enterprise on the
chase. You know Enty is going to intercept, but it at least tries to
sow some doubt the way a good action scene should, and the fighters
are a little less static than a lot of the fighting in this episode
in particular. Purifier still has a fun personality, too. I’d
comment that it’s one hell of a slow rocket but frankly if you
watched episode 1 you know to not expect anything to be logically
consistent with the real world.
Of course, Enterprise gets the rocket,
which goes off and disappears her while giving Purifier membership in
the weirdly not so exclusive “talking severed head” club of
fiction. She’s having fun, though Orochi isn’t entirely pleased with
this turn of events. On the ground (er, surface) Zuikaku and pals
fight Kaga and… the emotions are fine. Their expression is a
little bit clunky. The actual fighting is bad. I get that neither
Kaga nor her opponents actually want to destroy the other, but the
motion entirely grinds to a halt for them to talk, before maybe
exchanging a blow either way and going back to the talking. It’s not
bad talking, but if you’re going to weave dialogue and action,
actually weave them. I’ll admit, it was kind of funny to see Zuikaku
take a plane to the face and then headbutt Kaga into submission, but
that’s about it.
We get another good moment thereafter
where Enterprise grapples with her issues in a conversation with Ash
(name-dropped as Code G by Orochi), where she comes out with the
understanding that her disquiet with the state of the world and of
war can be channeled into the resolve to change it. I said this was
a good moment, but I should stress that’s a relative term: it would
land better if Enterprise’s buildup was stronger and more consistent.
In any case, this gives her the strength to return to the regular
world, her full-sized aircraft carrier breaching out of the water
like a submarine which is at least visually impressive (again, if
this is too silly for you, you didn’t make it past the giant fox.
Which is a legitimate criticism.)
Both mortal sides join forces
triumphantly against the Sirens (including an agreement on the ground
and a state agreement that shows up with Queen Elizabeth and Nagato
shoulder to shoulder), Enterprise puts a hole in Orochi with a spirit
eagle shot, and then it’s onto Akagi.
By this point, it’s been established
that the goal is to save Akagi, not destroy her. And that’s fine.
That’s fair. But the scene for actually doing it is really
scattered. We go into a weird vision space where Enterprise and
Akagi confront each other, and it’s kind of implied that this is a
past/future like where Code G comes from, but then we cut back and
their blocking is the same as in the real world and… honestly? I
don’t know what happened in this ending or how. The full combined
fleet showed up and started blasting, then Enterprise is holding
Akagi’s hand and accepting her redemption and they say goodbye to
Amagi who is somehow there instead of Orochi and… Yeah, it really
doesn’t work, you just sort of have to accept that we come out with
Akagi being nice for those who are still alive and everyone on the
same page about fighting the Sirens.
Okay, this could have worked. Maybe, if the writers were very careful and had constructed it extremely artfully. It is, after all, extremely similar to the ending of Arpeggio of Blue Steel where Iona confronts and ultimately redeems Kongou, facing off against her erstwhile antagonist in both the physical and mental realm, bringing about change through her determination and kindness. But the thing is, Arpeggio of Blue Steel both established better and delivered better. The mental realm in Arpeggio was well-defined, as was the conflict between the ships as free-willed individuals and servents of the Admiralty Code, and Kongou’s precarious position on the middle line between them. And the conflict was visually and emotionally satisfying, with Iona physically reaching Kongou through the crumbling death star of her “ship” and struggling in the mental space to reach her. You can see what’s going on, understand the actions through the blocking, and it’s actually visually impressive. In the ending of Azur Lane, there are some shots that would be impressive as stills, but nothing of the same skill in execution.
And, perhaps most damningly, Arpeggio
had essentially an entire episode to face down and redeem Kongou. In
addition to facing Akagi/Orochi, Azur Lane has to stop the missile,
defeat Kaga, and present a significantly longer denouement than did
Arpeggio with all the faction followups. This is the kind of plot
movement that needs time and respect, and Azur Lane simply didn’t
have enough to give to make it stick.
Speaking of the post-script, we get
scenes with the various factions reacting to the events of the battle
with Orochi. The Sirens (including Purifier’s severed head, still
having a ball) think this is great fun and imply that more action is
ahead. Nagato doesn’t exactly pardon Akagi and Kaga, and when the
two of them interact it seems like they’re cool both with the world
and each other. The Ironblood report to Bismarck (finally showing
herself outside the intro) and say some ominous things. And finally,
there’s an established home port where all the factions can come
together as a united front. In essence, the ending of the anime
recreates the starting situation in the game (at least the one
mentioned in lighter hearted and at-port events) where the factions
have recently put aside their differences to face off against their
common foe. Except Code G is wandering around like some phantom
shadow of Enterprise, and Enterprise herself takes the role of the
Commander. Which really doesn’t fit when you get into the actual
interesting bits of game lore that depict a strong bond between the
Commander and Enterprise and show how Ash might be related to that.
So while I guess it’s a passing wrap-up, it doesn’t work as a prequel
to the game.
It’s a shame, really. In the months
since this started, the game has come out with events that have
advanced its lore, building on the truths behind the Sirens, Ash,
Ember, the Commander, and so on. It’s a fun, consistent story that,
shockingly for a mobile Gacha game, can actually have some intrigue
and even psychological play, even if most of the presentation is more
on the lovably cheesy end. The anime… falls short of its source
material in just about every way. They had a ton of potential
gift-wrapped for them, they just needed to connect the dots, and
instead they created something with only a fraction of what they
should have.
All in all, I think I’m not being too
hard on the show to give it a C-. C- isn’t a good grade, but it is a
passing grade, and that’s about what the anime deserves as a show on
its own merits. If you want cute girls and vaguely naval action, you
will get it, just not in a package that makes much sense or manages
to be intellectually or emotionally satisfying. If you want that,
watch Arpeggio instead, or play the game and follow its lore.
Because either way, you’re going to get more out of it than you will
out of this anime outing.
Game Lore: https://harperanimereviews.com/how-much-lore-does-it-take-to-justify-cute-ship-girls-a-prelude-to-azur-lane/
Previous Episode: https://harperanimereviews.com/seasonal-selection-azur-lane-episode-11/
… and Enterprise didn’t even Owari Da for the eagle hit on Orochi. Come on, that’s like her thing and the only time she says it is the time it backfires? Ugh, I’m done here.