This discussion is meant to talk about my feelings about the IJN ships that play a major role in the book, and how it compares in game because after reading this novel, my perceptions of several Kanmusu have changed reading this book, what characteristics established in Kancolle and my thoughts on what Shinano would be like now.
For this analysis, I’m going to take in all aspects of the ship, from their actions to their captains and crew and compare them to the Kancolle, and talk about Shinano and my new look on her after reading this book.
Before I love Hamakaze, while Isokaze was also liked for her association with Shinano, this made me love Isokaze much more. While ingame Hamakaze feels more active compared to her sister, it’s the opposite in-book.
Isokaze’s portrayal in Shinano is WAAAAAAY different than her canon counterpart. While ingame, Hamakaze has the lines that mention Shinano, after reading the book, I feel that role should have gone to Isokaze. Isokaze in-book is VERY protective of Shinano, because as soon as Archerfish’s periscope was spotted, the first thing Isokaze does is break formation to drive her off, against Shinano’s orders, and she almost comes close to killing her if Shinano didn’t order Isokaze to come back (More on this later). I feel like Isokaze should have been the one to say many of Hamakaze’s lines ingame now, like “Shinano, this time I’ll protect you”. Isokaze, while a soldier focused on completing her mission, knows that sometimes orders cannot be absolute and she will do whatever it must, even if she has to disobey direct orders.
Hamakaze in this book felt like Isokaze’s younger sister who helped her older sisters out of duty. Personality-wise, I don’t think Hamakaze changed much, but she’s definitely not the Shinano-obsessed destroyer Kancolle makes her out to be. She may have a protect theme to her, but Shinano is just a footnote compared to the other famous ships Hamakaze escorted.
Yukikaze’s the older sister who’s sick of the war and just wants it to end. She’s very jaded at this point after watching many people die, to the point where she (To quote Abridged Kirito) starts going cold turkey over emotions. What I noted especially was that Yukikaze was kind of a dick in the story, with her captain telling her sailors to only rescue the calm sailors and let the screaming ones die. Although I kind of prefer her cheerier Kancolle version better.
And finally, we get to Shinano.
Before, I feel that the general personality of Shinano was that she was shy and clumsy, but after reading this book, my perceptions on Shinano’s personality have changed, in my opinion, for a much more interesting and complicated Shinano.
I wouldn’t say Shinano is clumsy now as she is prideful.
To describe my view of Shinano now, she has mixes of both her older sister’s personalities, with some mixture of pride and arrogance.
A major theme in Shinano’s characterization should be family. She’s the youngest Yamato sister who has a different class, yet wants to be just as strong as her older sisters in combat. She loves her heritage and her family, and feels like every action she takes represents her family. Part of me says this because Shinano’s captain mentions family a lot, to the point of his last words being to tell his wife he’s sadly not coming back.
She knows she is a Yamato sister, so she tries to act the part, being traditional, nice, and formal, but she also has elements of Musashi coming out, like being haughty and commanding. Like while she’s secretary, she could be calm in saying her lines, but when out in combat, she lets her pride of being a Yamato get to her and she can get haughty and commanding, even letting some pride mix in. In the book, when Isokaze was trying to look for Archerfish, Shinano flashes her light telling Isokaze to get back in line or else. At night. When there are submarines in the area. I kind of saw it like this, Shinano can command the presence, but it can also make it her weakness, as she does have the charisma and power to have the commanding aura but at the same time, her pridefulness can lead to arrogance and things getting to her head, which can be potentially dangerous.
Shinano in-game should feel a bit like a “book prodigy” where she reads the books and would get an A+ on it, but in reality, where following the rules to a T can get you killed, she could have some development on that reality doesn’t go as the book says it will all the time. While she is prideful, she should also have a cautious side, that can get too cautious and can be dangerous.
If Shinano were to be placed in-game, she would most definitely be a blueprint model, and would have a pre-bp and a post-bp feel. Her pre-bp has her commanding and prideful but also somewhat hesitant because she’s inexperienced, yet she wants to live up to the Yamato name, and she sometimes lets it get to her. Her post-bp, where she gained experience fighting abyssal and getting the equipment she never got, has her more confidant in saying her lines, and letting the Yamato Damashii out.
However, although Shinano has a bit of a prideful and somewhat arrogant side, she is rather submissive to her sisters, referring to them politely as as Yamato-nee and Musashi-nee. She also has a different attitude to the admiral, being calm, but she may get somewhat flustered, potentially releasing a bit of a tsundere side if you poke her too much.
In terms of Non-Yamato interactions, I would absolutely love to see Shinano interact with Akagi and Hiryuu. Akagi can talk to Shinano about being too prideful, and how that can be a danger, based on Akagi’s past experience at midway, and Shinano could be curious listening to the famous Akagi. She should also interact with Hiryuu a lot as well, because Shinano’s captain in the book mentions Tamon Yamaguchi a lot, partially because he was the one who scuttled Hiryuu’s ship, possibly killing Tamonmaru. Throughout the book Shinano’s captain thinks about him, and the second last thing he says before dying was to say that he was going to follow Yamaguchi’s example of going down with the ship. Finally, Shinano can also interact with several of the DDs that escorted her.
While Shinano does have the prideful side, she can also have a bit of a soft, potentially Nagamonish side too. The book mentions that she has a nice cafeteria for a ship, and reading up on what foods were mentioned in-story (A biscuits, red bean soup, rice cakes sugar and fruit) which can be interpreted like this: Shinano is a sweettooth, and goes absolutely Akagi over sweets, and her meals, while simple, are comparable to Yamato’s high-class cooking. Her crew also has some Koreans in it, so I can totally see Shinano going deredere over a yakiniku or a barbeque.
Finally, Shinano herself should have a bit of a nerdy/cultured side as well, because her captain is a huge fan of poetry and haiku, and when off duty just wore a simple Kimono.
As for art, I think a Samurai Carrier would fit her, with her wearing more armor, or adding robes to make her look commanding. I think Shinano should have a modest default art.
Shinano’s gonna have damaged art, her right side needs to be relatively damaged while her left sise is okay, because Shinano got hit on the starboard.
Anyways, about the book, it was a fun read, and I definitely enjoyed reading what relatively little information there was on Shinano. It gave me an insight on what kind of ship Shinano is like. My favorite scene needs to be at the end of the book, when Shinano is sinking and Captain Abe orders everybody to abandon Shinano, his 2nd last words were mentioning Tamon Yamaguchi and lastly his family. Another one of my favorite moments was Isokaze’s rampaging hunt trying to find Archerfish, and actually made it really close when Shinano orders Isokaze to pull back and get in line. It kind of gave my thoughs on Shinano as while commanding, also shows a strategic side, even if that decision to get Isokaze back in line bites her in the ass later.
10/10 book would watch the author sink my wife again.