Kensuke Tanaka Interview: Comptiq Magazine June and July 2020

Comptiq's June July 2019 Interview with Tanaka page 1

Comptiq's June July 2020 Interview with Tanaka page 2

Comptiq's June July 2020 Interview with Tanaka page 3

Introduction

This is an interview with Tanaka that was released in the June / July 2020 Issue of Comptiq. In this interview, Kensuke Tanaka goes over the events involving how long KanColle was in development along with his struggle to make KanColle succeed in the early years. Following this, he proceeds to reveal information about the two events that will make up the "Summer 2020 Event" and how life has been affected from the Coronavirus. He also covers about what the upcoming event will consist of as well as some of the ships that will appear.

Following this, he discusses his plans for the curry organization and some plans for post event.

Feelings as KanColle heads towards its eighth year at sea!

Interviewer (I): Comptiq here! Thank you for having us! Since we're discussing anniversary plans, I suppose I should speak formally from here. Congratulations on KanColle's seventh anniversary.

Producer/Director Tanaka Kensuke (T): Thank you. KanColle began in April 2013 and is now welcoming its seventh anniversary this April as it enters the first quarter of its eighth year. We have been able to run and develop KanColle far longer than we had originally hoped for. I extend my heartfelt thanks to the many Admirals who have loved their shipgirls, to the many, many people starting with our Admirals who have been moved by and supported KanColle.

This is 2020... roughly ten years ago, KanColle emerged in a prototype forms something of an extension of my own hobbies. The vessels and fleets that once cut through waves on the sea, that dashingly strode across it. And the ships and people that struggled in difficult conditions when the war took a turn for the worse and bitterly and regretfully sank beneath the waves. I started making KanColle out of a desire to share their existences, making sure they weren't forgotten. Who would've thought that in the Heisei and Reiwa eras we live in, so many would come to love and, miraculously, form many happy relationships with the shipgirls, who with their support continue to cross the seas for an eighth year? The shipgirls must truly be happy. Comptiq readers, and the Comptiq Editorial Department, have been supporting KanColle and her shipgirls since the first year. Once again, thank you very much.

I: It has become quite a long relationship, hasn't it? It's us who should be thanking you! While continuing for long might not be your objective per se, a tenth year is well within sight. It's rare for a franchise to remain active for close to ten years, and indicates it's very special. What do you make of this?

T: Those working with us didn't have such high expectations either at the beginning. It was the kind of plan where a year of operation would have been more than satisfactory. But Inoue-san over at Kadokawa (currently a Senior VP) and his people always had our back, rain or shine, and gave us many warm words of encouragement that made us very happy. I'm sure any Admirals who have been with us since the first year remember how tough a situation we were in. We would plug a leak in one part, only to get flooded from another! And when we managed to deal with things here, something over there would blow! ... that's the kind of situations we found ourselves in one after another, and with a much smaller staff than we have now. I was really pulling the "Mon-Mon-Tue-Wed-Thu-Fri-Fri" schedule... The launch itself, the flood of new Admirals in July just as we were launching four new naval district servers - we put our Admirals through a lot during that time. The fleet overcame those harsh times and continues to operate into the Reiwa thanks to our supportive Admirals. I wish I could thank each and every one of them in person, as if I was an old war buddy covered in injuries. It does feel satisfying to have, without realizing, made it this far from those daily struggles and surpassed the three year, eight month benchmark I quietly set for myself. By that time we had shared enough that many already knew the capital ships, of course, but also affectionately the compositions of the individual torpedo squadrons, ship-by-ship, as if they were remembering them as their own experiences. At the time I thought, "Ahh, the reason why I made KanColle, why I continued it, is fulfilled" and found myself filled, to my surprise, with a strange sense of contentment from deep in my heart.

It wasn't just the Admirals or the comrades that supported us, but something much further away, yet still close at hand, something important living in our hearts that couldn't speak, expressing a deep and quiet appreciation - that was the strange feeling I felt. I'm sorry for not being able to express it well.

Ever since I felt we had accomplished what we had originally set out to do with the KanColle franchise, I wanted to go further. Not just sharing sorrowful pasts but the present they bequeathed to us and something to sense the future. People alive today can experience countless brilliant, wonderful things if they reach out a little more. If we build something on those opportunities, I'd be happy if we could even produce fragments of them.

We're not necessarily aiming for ten years, but we do have plans in place for KanColle's development up to ten years. Of course the novel coronavirus has become an international crisis, leading to irregular events and difficulties, so we'll have to course-correct. But we will do that step-by-step in tandem with our Admirals.

I: I see. Were you all alright during the novel coronavirus state of emergency?

T: Obviously experiences outside the screen and real events we were working on were restricted or affected by the state of emergency, not to mention the coronavirus itself, and we are making many changes. The C2 Preparat 1MYB Zepp Live Tour and such had to be completely rescheduled. Not everything has settled yet, but we aim to be pretty flexible. KanColle itself is being operated by telecommuting for the most part, but things like voice line recording and confidential work that must be done onsite have been significantly impacted.

Chasing after more on the upcoming event!

I: Speaking of which, was the next limited-time event and batch of new shipgirls pushed back significantly?

T: No, preparations are well underway. We will start releasing information by the time this issue of Comptiq is on sale, but the next event's main operation will begin in the latter half of June. We internally refer to it as the "rainy season event". That alone roughly corresponds to an ordinary medium-scale event, but next month in mid-July we plan to add the "summer event" extra operations. The main operation focuses on the waters near the naval base and is planned to be four maps. The extra operation heads southward and is planned to have three maps featuring joint operation with the land-based air corps. Right now preparations are being made. With these operations combined, the whole event as currently planned could be considered large-scale. We are also rushing to implement about ten new shipgirls and new voicelines.

I: Large-scale! And with nearly ten new shipgirls!?

T: Yes - as a result of the novel coronavirus, we've had to rearrange parts of the events planned for spring, summer, and after a bit and rebuilt everything within a month's cadence. We had originally planned for another visit to the European front this summer like a typical year, but that's been shifted to fall or later. Instead the southern event planned for fall was brought forward to this summer. The Kongou-class fast battleships have been getting their third remodels, and Hiei Kai Ni C's addition in honor of the seventh anniversary will certainly help anywhere, thanks to her significantly boosted night firepower. At this juncture we also plan to add the South Dakota-class battleship South Dakota (BB-57). And the motif of the final map will be... well, it's better everyone finds out next month, right?

I: Uhm, uhm, please do tell! We brought a lot of bread and cafe au lait, you see!

T: I think this has quickly gotten less formal and back to the usual... well okay! I'll tell you! The final map of the extra operations is quite simply the Battle of the South Pacific [Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands], with the great decisive battle of the Mobile Force comrades as the motif.

And about the new shipgirls added in the large-scale operation for both tsuyu and summer!?

I: That, that! That's the kind of scoop I want! So how about the new shipgirls there!?

T: Well now we're completely back to the normal atmosphere... weren't we supposed to be formal and everything to commemorate the anniversary...?

I: That's true, but since we're this far in, I'm fine with just some details on the main operation, so please do tell!

T: The main operation of the next event will revolve around strengthening the defenses of the various islands in the waters near the naval base. You'll send surface escort fleets and torpedo squadrons, as well as anti-submarine sweeps and, to a limited extent, your land-based air corps north, southwest, and east to each area. A new special-type destroyer, Usugumo, who was originally coming in the spring event and has a sort of shipgirl look to her, will be available to those who clear the first map covering from northern Hokkaido to the Chishima [Kuril] Islands, in the way you might catch up to a visitor you missed. The last map of the main operation will be an operation set in the Ogasawara [Bonin] Islands and will finally introduce the first of the Type D, Matsu-class destroyers, Matsu, who gave her life to protect her comrades. We will also implement one of the ships that made it back home due to Matsu's struggle to the death, a tiny coastal defense ship even smaller than shelved designs, a Type D coastal defense ship. Furthermore, we will be implementing an I-type submarine who in the chaos of battle and in the middle of an operation miraculously rescued a life raft, who currently rests on the seafloor near the Gotou Islands, and who was equipped with eight bow-mounted torpedo launchers. That I-type and tiny coastal defense ship, and more, are thanks to the hard efforts Akasaka Yuzu-san as well as two current furniture artists. Please cheer them on in their debut battles.

I: I see! Looking forward to it. Thanks, that's plenty of preview information for us!

T: We ended up in the usual atmosphere, and then I was moved by the cafe au lait and bread, so I think I ended up saying more than I had planned...

C2 Preparat retrospective and mysterious upcoming developments?

I: We learned a lot about the next limited-time event today! How about "Curry Preparat" and other developments?

T: "Food" collaborations are well underway. A lot of work can continue even in the current state of affairs, but we have to keep our eyes open and be flexible on when to roll them out. We plan to reopen the naval district curry store "Curry Preparat" established in Kanda, Tokyo in July or later and are currently researching a new menu. Starting with our C2 Preparat special-made beef stroganoff we'll be adding new appetizers and sweet desserts for the summer. Preparing these is sorta something I do on the weekends, like a hobby almost. We're also still working on collab foods you can enjoy conveniently. A lot of it depends on the coronavirus situation so I can't really go into detail, but we'll say more when the timing is better.

I: What are your plans this year for regional deployments and the like, which were very popular last year?

T: That's another thing that had to be vacated from the schedule for the first half of the year for safety, but we got many warm-hearted words from regions across the country. In the second half of the year, yes, in the fall, we'll set up in... a certain region and partner with them. We have several interesting ideas and things that haven't been done yet in mind that we'll try and make reality, as the situation allows with safety first of course. There is one thing. The famed commander Admiral Kimura once said when he was leading DesRon 1, "Let's return home, for if we do we can always come here again." That's important. Guidance that transcends eras. But there's no rain that never stops. We'll raise our skills and wait for a good opportunity to sortie.

I: What preparations are being made in terms of mechanics overhauls and Kai Ni remodels?

T Right, there are several of those, but the closest one is submarine tenders of which we have several lined up. We're preparing to implement a "submarine flotilla system" based on submarine tenders and several submarines grouped with them. It's not a huge mechanic, but it should expand the use of submarines and the breadth of operations. As for Kai Ni remodels, these are actually making significant progress, and should come in sequence around the time of the end of the event. From ships that were long overdue to surprises, several are being prepared.

This is a little bit of a tangent from the main development work, but work on the new animation is proceeding quietly but certainly. I have a lot of fun meeting with ENGI-san, and we might be able to show clips sometime in the second half of the year somewhere. Interested Admirals, please look forward to it.

Also, as for C2 Preparat, some rough project ideas are starting to take shape. That's also something I'll discuss when the opportunity arises.

I: Ooh, I'd love to dig deep on any one of those, but looks like we're out of time! I'd love any closing thoughts!

T: Admirals, you've supported KanColle and her shipgirls for a truly long time. Thank you. Looking back, there really was a lot on the way. I'd like if we could continue to move forward, one step at a time, together. Once again, I offer my heartfelt thanks. KanColle and her shipgirls will continue to be counting on you!

KanColle Management Naval District (C2 Preparat) Tanaka Kensuke (Late May, 2020, KanColle Management Naval District)

Thank you message from Konishi

Supported by its Admirals, KanColle is celebrating its seventh anniversary. For the Seventh Anniversary, from various candidates I was asked to draw Suzuya and Kumano from CruDiv 7 as the cover art. Right now I am working on new shipgirls as well, in preparation for the upcoming event. Please look forward to it. KanColle and her shipgirls will be counting on you again for their eighth year.

-Konishi

Special thanks to User:/a/nonymous for his translation work