Kensuke Tanaka Interview: Comptiq Magazine December 2017

Introduction

 
Comptiq's December 2017 Interview with Tanaka

The following interview comes from Comptiq Magazine's December issue which was released on November 10th, 2017.

In the article, the Editor in Chief interviews Kancolle's main producer, Kensuke Tanaka, regarding details about the upcoming event. In the short interview, Tanaka reflects on the significance of the Nishimura and Shima Forces and their involvement in the Suirgao Strait along with Mogami's upcoming CG and the 7-Ship Fleet System being prepared for the Surigao Strait portion of the event.

In the middle of preparations to implement the fall event! This month with the KanColle Management Naval District!

Updates are in store in preparation for Operation Shō I, Part 1!

Editor-ko (From now on, E): Thanks for the hard work! This is Comptiq! Wait, what's going on!?

Tanaka-ko (From now on, Ta): Sorry! We're in the middle of preparations to implement the fall event, so I don't think I have time for a very long interview!

E: Ahh, that's alright! I can take a proper look so long as you let me in!

T: That so? Here, some black tea. I'll get you some drinks! Would you like milk tea?

E: Something warm, please. But wow, you all seem pretty fired up with your preparations this time. The upcoming Leyte event this fall will only be the first part, right?

T: It will be a two-part event stretched over fall and winter. We're currently working on this fall's event, Fall 2017: "Showdown at Operation Shō-Gō! The Battle of Leyte Gulf Counterattack (Part 1)"! We plan on starting the event in mid-November. We're also working on updates related to the event that look minor at first glance but are quite critical.

E: "The Battle of Leyte Gulf Counterattack"... a counterattack, huh!

T: We're preparing events this fall and winter based on the crux of Operation Shou-Gou, Operation Shou-Gou I[1]. We plan for the first half being depicted this fall to focus on the First Striking Force [1YB, Kurita] Third Section and the Second Striking Force [2YB, Shima].

E: F-First Striking Force... Third?

T: It was composed of seven ships: BatDiv 2's Fusou and Yamashiro, aviation cruiser Mogami, destroyer Shigure, and DesDiv 4's Michishio, Asagumo, and Yamagumo. The First Striking Force, Third Section... in other words, the Nishimura Fleet.

E: The Nishimura Fleet! Michishio Kai Ni's and the surprise Surigao Strait seasonals for Asagumo and Yamagumo have a lotta energy behind them too!

T: A Surigao Strait seasonal for aircraft cruiser Mogami is also in the works. We plan on implementing it in a small, small update before the fall event itself begins without stopping service. For her, that battle proved to be her last. Her recon seaplanes succeeded in performing aerial reconnaissance at Leyte. [2]

E: So Mogami's getting a Surigao Strait seasonal too? Putting a lotta energy into this... it's like none of the shipgirls in the Nishimura Fleet are acting normally. Ah, but there are seven ships in the Nishimura Fleet, right?

T: Yeah, seven.

E: But in KanColle, the game mechanics only support six ships per fleet...

T: But there are seven ships in the Nishimura Fleet, so.

E: So?

T: So we're hard at work updating the system to ensure that in the last half of this fall's event, the Third Section (Fleet) can be formed as a Seven Ship Fleet. We plan for it to be only possible for that particular sortie.

E: Ehhhh? You're going that far?

T: We are. It's Operation Shou-Gou 1. It's the Battle of Leyte Gulf. It's the sortie of the Nishimura Fleet!

E: Ooph, so that's what you meant by minor at first glance. I knew as much, but the KanColle Management Naval District can't be underestimated.

T One of the keys to this fall's event may be the Second Striking Force, Shima's fleet, which sortied after the Formosa Air Battle's phantom battle reports.[3]

E: Roger that! I'll read a book on the Battle of Leyte Gulf while training my Nishimura and Shima Fleet shipgirls in preparation for the start of the event!

(October 31, 2017, KanColle Management Naval District)

Credit goes to User:/A/noynomous for his translation work.

References

  1. One of the four alternative defense plans that comprised Operation Shō-Gō (Operation Victory). Shō IV featured at the end of the Winter 2016 event.
  2. Admiral Nishimura made the most of Mogami's search capabilities the night of the Battle of Surigao Strait.
  3. The Japanese suffered tremendous losses during the Formosa Air Battle (about a week before Leyte). Yet the pilots insisted they had devastated Halsey's Task Force 38, despite having only damaged two cruisers and shot down 89 planes. Rather than scuttle his damaged cruisers, Halsey grouped them into TG 38.1 ("Cripple Division 1") and used them as bait. Shima's fleet was dispatched and nearly fell into the trap, but reconnaissance detected Halsey's lurking Task Groups and Shima was recalled.