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High School Fleet
Episode 3

by Paul Jensen,

How would you rate episode 3 of
High School Fleet ?
Community score: 4.0

I get the feeling High School Fleet is trying to include every possible variety of naval combat in its first few episodes. After highlighting the Harekaze's torpedo launcher and main cannons in previous weeks, this latest episode sees the ship breaking out the anti-submarine gear. With the news of their ship's renegade status continuing to spread, the girls find themselves in a standoff with a submarine from a boys' high school. Akeno's plan to communicate with the sub backfires, and the late-night encounter quickly turns into a battle. All the commotion wakes up Wilhelmina, the German student from the Admiral Spee, who promptly assumes command of the Harekaze and helps the crew drive the submarine off. Things take a turn for the positive when all the student ships are ordered to return home, but Wilhelmina's story about the incident aboard her own vessel has Akeno worried.

It seems like most war movies tend to depict clashes between surface ships and submarines from the sub's perspective, so it's interesting to see the other side of the fight for once. The show does a good job of maintaining a feeling of tension throughout the battle by playing with the submarine's ability to hide underwater. I actually had to look up what the heck a paravane is (it's essentially an underwater kite that ships use to clear mines), but it's fun to watch the crew trying to out-think their opponents, even if some of the technical stuff goes over your head. Also kudos to High School Fleet for making a nighttime action scene look pretty good, as the show doesn't appear to use the dim lighting as an excuse to cheap out on the animation.

The Harekaze's crew is beginning to remind me of Girls und Panzer's ensemble cast: a lot of shallow but amusing characters to fill out all the necessary positions, with most of the character development reserved for the leading heroines. The show is doing a decent job of letting the audience get to know the cast through their interactions, and some of the little details are pretty charming. Wilhelmina adds an interesting dynamic to the bridge crew, with her overwhelming confidence setting up some potential clashes of personality with Akeno and Mashiro. When you've got three people who feel like they ought to be running the ship, there's a good chance there's going to be a massive argument sooner or later.

Even as it focuses on establishing the cast and delivering big action scenes, the show continues to move the plot forward. Wilhelmina's story about her crew going rogue makes the distress call from the Musashi seem all the more ominous, and it might also help to explain why the Harekaze was attacked in the first place. These serious threats don't seem like they should play well with the show's more lighthearted moments, but the balance is somehow holding for now. I'm a little concerned that the story is trying to juggle so many conflicts early on, but it wouldn't be impossible for High School Fleet to deal with the Harekaze's predicament while finding a way to get Wilhelmina back to her own ship. At least setting up multiple storylines in the opening episodes gives the series plenty of time to let them all play out.

High School Fleet continues to move ahead at a comfortable pace, even if it's not yet clear where the show is headed. Going three weeks without laying everything on the table isn't always easy for a genre show like this, and it's all the more impressive that it's been able to keep up that sense of mystery without employing any obnoxious plot devices. That's reason enough to be cautiously optimistic as long as this “one ship against the world” premise lasts.

Rating: B+

High School Fleet is currently streaming on Crunchyroll, Funimation, and Daisuki.

Paul Jensen is a freelance writer and editor. You can follow more of his anime-related ramblings on Twitter.


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