I admit it. I am one of those persons who rewatch a movie or tv show and hope something different to happen when the set plot doesn't satisfy me. Mostly it is because it is sad or tragic, but always because it stings and when it is real history, specially so. Apparently I'm not alone experiencing this feeling as some others have taken matters into their hands and re-rewritten events of history to take the edge off of what cannot be changed in reality.
Case in point is that of Kantai Collection, or Kancolle for short. In it the characters, or the players in case of the of the game, relive famous events from the Pacific War from the losing Japanese perspective, and allow them to get the outcomes they want. This franchise consists of the flagship game, manga, an anime series and who knows how much else. I'll center my impressions only on the anime as it is the only one I've tried and because, as in case of Koihime Musou, the game looks like an enormous time-waster, despite, or because of its unalloyed fun.
Not to worry: what I've got from the anime is good stuff and quite good. In it the characters embody the spirits of old time Japanese warships and fight the mysterious Abyssals which have risen from the depths to menace the seas. Taken at it's face value, the premise works. But looking through the thin veil the Abyssals can be equated with the US Navy circa 1942 and the protagonists with the Japanese Navy at the time. These last even share the names of the actual ships and some of their historical quirks (poi). Seen this way the the show lends itself for an even richer immersion to the actual historical theater, which leads me to my next point.
