English Dub Review: AZUR LANE “ELEGANCE – Perchance, Like A Human”

Overview

As Enterprise sleeps, she dreams a memory about her sister, Yorktown, who appears to be an aircraft carrier in poor health. Belfast wakes Enterprise, reminding her that she was saved from battle after the Royal Navy intervened and made the Iron Blood and Sakura Empire agents flee. Belfast notices Enterprise’s self-endangering behavior when she refuses to rest and heal. Meanwhile, at breakfast, Javelin appears to want to ask Laffey why she said goodbye to Ayanami after the fight.

Illustrious and Wales go to Queen Elizabeth to discuss Enterprise’s mental health, as she is a key asset in future battles and seems to be on a path of self destruction. Queen Elizabeth then instructs Belfast to look after her, as a royal duty.

Vestal, a repair ship, shows up to aid Azur Lane — Hammann and Hornet ask about Yorktown’s condition, but no improvements have been made. Vestal then graciously scolds Enterprise for not taking care of herself. Shortly after, Belfast informs Enterprise that Unicorn has invited her to the beach with the other girls in order to thank her for saving her. That night, though, Cleveland, Hammann, Enterprise, and Belfast respond to a siren-related distress call at sea, where Enterprise and the crew save Ping Hai and Ning Hai of the Dragon Empery. They take out the remainder of the sirens and they all head home. Belfast offers to help Enterprise with her fighting style.

Our Take

This series has so many characters that it’s hard to keep up. It’s obvious that they want to cram in as many real-world ships and carriers as possible, but after a while, things start to get muddled in an attempt to remember who every single character is. The only reason the abundance of characters are semi-memorable is because of how they’re all divided up into sectors (Royal Navy, Sakura Empire, Iron Blood, Eagle Union, etc.) Their accents also help (and the variety of voices does a good job of separating everyone as an individual.) Still, even with these perks, it feels as though they tend to bring a lot of characters into the fray per episode.

The dumb, fanservicey parts of the show make it even harder to watch — “Oh, I can lift up Hammann’s skirt because she’s my sister! That’s just our way of saying hello, haha!” Was this written by an incest enthusiast? Or a boat enthusiast? Actually, nevermind. Since car fetishists are real, odds are that some boat f**ker out there happened to also love hentai and went, “Hey, I have a GREAT idea.”

Enterprise’s character development is definitely the center of the story. There seems to be a lot of focus on how war has affected her (and her loved ones, it seems.) We haven’t even seen the sirens, though — only their ships. What is the real antagonist in this show? Is it the civil war, the siren war — or was it the emotional, inner war between ourselves?

#Deep. Like the ocean.