Azur Lane 06
アズールレーン episode 06

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis

Union carrier Enterprise is awakened by Royal light cruiser Belfast. Enterprise decides to eat in the mess hall. Union battleship Nevada piles Enterprise’s plate full of bacon for helping her sister battleship, Oklahoma. Belfast joins Enterprise for breakfast, which pleases Union repair ship Vestal. After breakfast, Enterprise takes a stroll with Belfast. The run into Union light cruiser Cleveland, who introduces Enterprise to her sister light cruisers.

Cleveland inquires about the Mental Cube taken from the Sakura base. Enterprise briefs them, but does not recount her experience when she touched it. Belfast and Enterprise head to the beach where they find a new shop set up, run by Sakura repair ship Akashi. This leads Enterprise and Belfast to have another discussion on ship-girls being human. Elsewhere, Javelin is depressed over Ayanami being an enemy, so Laffey cheers her up.

Meanwhile on the Sakura base, a group of very young destroyers are racing to buy snacks. One, Uzuki, stumbles and falls, running into Kaga. She panics when she discovers this. Uzuki’s fellow destroyers are afraid and offer bribes to appease Kaga. Kaga attempts to let them know she’s not mad, but Akagi saves the day.

Back at Azur Lane, the ship-girls are heading to the Japanese-styled baths, built by the Royal Navy. Akashi is very pleased with this. Royal light carrier Unicorn seems afraid of entering, but Javelin and Laffey bring her in. They discover Unicorn is depressed about having large breasts on a small body. Laffey cheers her by pointing out how everyone is different and no one is weird. Royal carrier Illustrious is pleased to see Unicorn befriending Javelin and Laffey.

That evening, Javelin, Laffey, and Unicorn have snacks and chat about Ayanami. Meanwhile, Enterprise can’t sleep and goes to the beach. She’s joined by Belfast, who gives her a coffee mixed with an adult beverage.

On the Sakura base, Iron heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen pays a visit to Kaga to discuss Akagi.

Thoughts/Review

Man, it really is getting difficult to attempt to keep track of all of the ship-girls in Azur Lane 06. But I still enjoyed the episode just the same.

Enterprise Journey

One of story arcs in Azur Lane is Enterprise becoming more human. It was fun watching her getting a giant breakfast plate, PILED with bacon.

I also enjoy seeing how Enterprise is attempting to be accepting of the praise and admiration of the ship-girls. It is a fine line she walks, but I think she does it well.

My only complaint is when she touched the Mental Cube, she did not report her experience to the others. It is a cliched thing in anime for a character to experience something horrible, then pretend nothing is wrong. But if this is the only problem, well, I can live with it.

Javelin, Laffey, and Unicorn

One thing Azur Lane 06 had was an abundance of flared out ecchi content. I’m guessing that will be removed on Blu-ray or DVD. That said, I liked how the episode had the opposite take on the normal breast worries of a female character. In this case, the petite, small Unicorn hates her large breasts. So I liked how Laffey was able to cheer Unicorn up.

Speaking of Laffey, our sleepy ship-girl also had to cheer up Javelin. This was more interesting since Javelin was depressed about Ayanami rejecting their offer of friendship. Yet it was Laffey who’s hand Ayanami slapped away.

The Fearsome Kaga and Akagi

You know, if this series goes truly dark (in a Fate franchise sort of way), I will be quite, quite angry. After all, Azur Lane 06 introduced us to a group of destroyer ship-girls who appear to be 5 years old or so. I felt so bad for them during their encounter with Kaga, even though Kaga was doing nothing wrong. (I felt bad for Kaga as well.) Who makes ship-girls who look like kindergartners to wage war?

That aside, while Akagi resolved the situation and made the destroyer girls happy, she said something rather cryptic. I got the sense that while Akagi may care for the other ship-girls of the Sakura Empire, she’d happily sacrifice them for Amagi, an apparent sister ship-girl. Before World War II, Akagi and Kaga were originally Amagi-class battlecruisers. The Amagi herself was damaged in a massive earthquake during conversion and scrapped in 1924. So now I know where the anime is coming from regarding Akagi’s obsession.

Prinz Eugen seems to know all too well that Akagi and Kaga are not on the same page when it comes to the ultimate usage of the Mental Cube. And she knows that Kaga knows this, which is why Prinz Eugen pushed Kaga’s buttons. I have a sense I know how this plot thread will pan out, but we’ll see.

Ship-girl List

As I previously stated, I’m keeping track of a list of ship-girls in each episode aired. I’m thinking I missed quite a few in the bath scene or in the mess hall, but here’s my list from Azur Lane 06. (Let me know in the comments if I missed anyone.)

• Eagle Union: battleships Nevada and Oklahoma; carriers Enterprise and Hornet; destroyers Hammann, Eldridge and Laffey; repair ship Vestal; and light cruisers Cleveland, Columbia, Montpelier, Denver, and San Diego.
• Royal Navy: light cruisers Sheffield, Edinburgh, and Belfast; destroyer Javelin; battlecruisers Repulse and Renown; light carrier Unicorn; heavy cruisers Norfolk and Suffolk; battleships Queen Elizabeth, Warspite, and Prince of Wales; and carrier Illustrious.
• Sakura Empire: carriers Kaga and Akagi, destroyers Fumizuki, Mutsuki, Minazuki, Mikazuki, Uzuki (all kids); and Ayanami; repair ship Akashi (with Azur Lane); and apparent battlecruiser Amagi.
• Iron Blood: heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

In the end, Azur Lane 06 is a fun episode, mostly dealing with characters and slice of life elements. In addition, plot elements are lain out for future use.