High School Fleet

Episodes 1-2

It's extremely difficult to watch High School Fleet (or Haifuri if you prefer) without making some variation on the obvious “You got your Girls und Panzer in my KanColle!” joke. If you put those two shows into a blender, the end result would probably look a lot like what we have here. It borrows its basic premise of high school girls operating military equipment from Girls und Panzer, but swaps the tanks for a fleet of warships and leans more towards the life-and-death stakes of KanColle's battle scenes. The good news is that this mixture of familiar elements seems to be working pretty well.

The show follows the story of Akeno Misaki, a high school student who's dreamed of joining a naval unit called the Blue Mermaids ever since she was a young girl. Her ambitions lead her to a school where each class serves as the crew of a ship, and her barely-passing test scores mean she's assigned to a small destroyer, while her childhood friend gets to run a battleship. As the new captain of the Harekaze, Akeno already has her hands full trying to gain the trust of her crew. Things don't get any easier when their instructor's ship starts shooting at them for no apparent reason, and they're declared traitors for trying to defend themselves. With other ships starting to pursue them and ominous distress calls coming in over the radio, it quickly becomes clear that the Harekaze's problems are only just beginning.

High School Fleet's plot seems to be taking itself fairly seriously. The show is keen to point out that the ships attacking the Harekaze are using live ammunition, and that the girls are in serious danger. Thankfully, it goes pretty light on the flag-waving militaristic vibe; Akeno is more interested in keeping her crew safe than winning the battles that they're dragged into. The series has yet to reveal the reasons behind all the sudden attacks, and that adds some extra tension and unpredictability to the action scenes in these opening episodes. I'm sure we'll start getting some answers in the coming weeks, but it's easy enough to just sit back and enjoy the ride for the time being.

We're introduced to a lot of characters in a short amount of time, so most of the girls on board the Harekaze seem to be limited to their basic anime girl archetypes for the moment. There's the clumsy one, the quiet one, the energetic one, the goofy one, and so on. We've seen more of the bridge crew than anyone else on the ship, and it's an encouraging sign that most of them manage to be quirky and entertaining without coming across as obnoxious. Akeno and her deputy-captain Mashiro are the only two who've gotten any kind of character development thus far, and they seem to have some good chemistry. Mashiro's serious attitude and military family history pair up nicely with Akeno's more informal approach to commanding the ship. They could conceivably carry a good portion of the show's dramatic weight by themselves, but I'd definitely like to see a little more depth from the rest of the crew.

Some of the people on High School Fleet's creative staff bring experience from titles like Girls und Panzer, GATE, and Strike Witches, and that pedigree shows itself in the way the series presents its obligatory landslide of trivia and technical terms. The writing does a convincing job of building up its military otaku credibility while remaining approachable for a more general audience. You don't need to know any obscure navy jargon to follow what's going on, and the attention to detail serves mainly to help sell the show's world to the audience. If the series can maintain that balance between realism and entertainment, it'll be in good shape.

High School Fleet's visuals don't quite qualify for the animation A-list, but its quality is consistent and its presentation is competent. The CG and traditional animation play reasonably well with one another, and the ships look good in motion. While the action scenes feature some clever shots, some of the show's most striking images have come in its less frantic moments. Having the Harekaze silhouetted against a sunset on the open ocean makes for a pretty picture and serves as a nice visual transition into the calmer post-battle scenes. The character designs are distinctive enough to help the audience keep track of who's who, and the show is generally able to sneak in its moments of fanservice without disrupting the flow of the story.

While nothing in High School Fleet has really blown me away so far, these first two episodes have been solid across the board. It has the potential to be a strong entry in the “cute girls doing military stuff” niche, and nothing about it has sent up any major red flags for me. It's an easy recommendation for fans of the genre, and it's approachable enough to entertain viewers outside of its core demographic. If you're looking for an action series to follow this season, it could very well float your boat.

Rating: B+

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