Kensuke Tanaka Interview: Comptiq Magazine March 2019

Introduction

Comptiq's March 2019 Interview with Tanaka page 1

The following interview comes from Comptiq Magazine's March issue, which was released on Feburary 10th, 2018.

In the article, Comptiq's T-ko interviews Kancolle's main producer, Kensuke Tanaka, discussing the about the aftermath of the Winter 2019 Event along with the explaining about the Setsubun and Valentine's content. He then goes on to talk about Kazagumo and her Kai 2 remodel along with the upcoming remodel for Mutsu. Then hints about upcoming remodels for a "Certain Aviation Battleship" and "Carrier of the First Carrier Division" being produced by Shibafu.

Finally Tanaka goes into details regarding Amagiri's coat design from her Setsubun and how it has various references to her historical path along with giving details abou Yuubari's underwear design to help design her upcoming figure skating from the KanColle on Ice Festival. And finally hints that possibly more details regarding the anime project might get revealed soon.

Info about the latest second remodel! And more stuff is coming this spring!

Assistant Editor (Hereafter "E"): Greetings, it's Comptiq! The upcoming issue is gonna be the first KanColle special of this year, so I'm here to cover all the latest info!

Tanaka P (Hereafter "T"): Hello there! Oh well, go ahead!

E: The Winter Event "Intercept! Operation 'Buin Defence'" is now over! Good work on that!

T: Yeah, there'd been a lot going on this time! Quite literally a defence operation...

E: That must have been rough, huh. But you guys did well!

T: I'm just glad that we got a lot of help and somehow managed to deal with it. Anyway, the winter event is over, and now it's time for Setsubun, an important seasonal milestone.

E: I'm already collecting beans! I should get the land-based bomber by the time this issue is released!

T: I see, so just in time for the Valentine maintenance & update.

E: Oh yeah, I want the latest intel about that!

T: First we're going to implement a new second remodel. It's for the Yūgumo-class destroyer "Kazagumo", who witnessed the final moments of "Hiryuu" of the 2nd carrier division, who attempted a counterattack on her own all while her fellow carriers sank one after another at Midway.

E: Ooh!

T: The Yūgumo-class was maintained as the main force of the fleet type destroyers and as successor to the Kagerō-class. While her younger sisters were sunk one after another shortly after entering service, "Kazagumo" fought hard on all Pacific front lines, starting with the Battle of Midway.

E: Sounds like something to look forward to!

T: I hope so! With that the first four ships of the Yūgumo-class, also known as fleet type destroyers, will have received their second remodels.

E: Kazagumo also worked for Akigumo as a salesgirl, and her Setsubun Mode right after that was also pretty cute.

T: Oh right, the Setsubun Modes will be replaced by the Valentine Modes around the time this issue is released. The Setsubun Mode casual wear sure is interesting. Among the Special Type destroyer sisters "Amagiri"'s clothing looks very energetic, but its design also features so many small details... like the broach with the same logo as Sagiri's Saury Mode tote bag, showing how close they are, or that badge with the silhouette of the PT boat a certain future president was on, it's really bursting with Drew's passion for the little details.

E: Now that you mention it! So many details! Those two really are close!

T: These clothes and little things that express the relationships between sisters and fellow ships are lovely, right? So much focus on minute details. On an unrelated note, apparently that unique coat can go from "So cozy" to "Nope, too hot".

E: Oh wow! What's with that weird feature? Do you even need that? Oh well, looks fun!

T: The ship girls just put a lot of effort into their casual wear.

E: With lots of details, but at least that part comes across...... by the way, what's that rough design sketch under Konishi's cover illustration WIP...?

T: Oh, that... it's a sketch of what Yuubari is wearing under her uniform. When we were talking with a certain manufacturer about plans for a figurine of Yuubari's Ice Festival artwork, they assumed that Yuubari was totally the sporty type, which made me wonder, so I went back and asked lil' Konishi, and he was like "Nope, she actually wears something like this" and quickly drew this. Which was then taken into consideration for the figurine plans.

E: Gimme! I wanna include it in the issue!

T: Seriously? Fine, as long as it's small.

E: Yay!

T: Didn't this also happen the last time...?

E: Eh, don't sweat the details! Anyway, back to the interview. What are your remodel plans for after Kazagumo K2?

T: After her it's time for a large ship, so basically Nagato-class battleship no.2, Mutsu. We're planning to release "Mutsu K2", her second remodel. Shizuma has already finished her basic design, and it looks like this!

E: Woah! She really looks like one of the Big Seven!

T: She certainly does! It's been a while since the last main force battleship K2, not to mention one of the Big Seven. If everything is going as planned, we're going to implement her second remodel sometime in late February. We're also working on a special attack for her, similar to Nagato K2. I hope you'll be impressed by the sight of her sailing the sea together with Nagato K2 and crushing their enemies.

E: I wanna include this one too then!

T: Already saw this coming, so whatever, might as well let you do it. She's a main force battleship after all!

E: Hooray!

T: Meanwhile, for spring, the Shibafu arsenal is steadily working on the second remodels of a certain aviation battleship and an aircraft carrier who was the flagship of the 1st Carrier Division and who might as well be called the symbol of our powerful task force!

E: Looking forward to them! Oh yeah, now that spring is coming... isn't it gonna be KanColle's 6th anniversary?

T: That's right, it'll be the 6th anniversary. Who would have thought we're about to sail into year 7...

E: It's been a long journey.

T: Indeed. Now that I'm thinking back to our beginnings, it's really been quite the feat that we've come this far. It's all thanks to all the admirals out there. But I also have to thank Comptiq. Thank you so much!

E: Ahem! No, wait, I almost forgot! I also wanna know about that new anime!

T: That's right. Kadokawa, the new animation studio ENGI, and we at C2 Kikan have started working on a new animation project and its production. We'd like show the preview trailer that was shown during New Year again at a certain KanColle festival we've planned for spring.

E: Huh? You mean that spring festival?

T: Yes. I'd like to talk with you again about it once the details have been set in stone. Oh yeah, and we're also doing a pretty elaborate Mitsukoshi and Isetan collab. You can look forward to that, too!

E: Ugh, I still have so many questions, but we're running out of space! Oh well, more stuff to look forward to!

Special thanks to User:Admiral Mikado for his translation work