How did the KC devs decide on which would be the starter ships?

FJH said:

How did the KC devs decide on which would be the starter ships?

Just my own theory : they looked at the personality of each destroyer they have made at the beginning of the game, and choose the starters like :

- "We want a tsundere or a strong personality"

- "We want a clumsy or lack of self-confidence"

- "We want an idiotic or energetic one"

- "We want an adorable or Lolicon-bait one"

- And then Tanaka said "Screw all of you, I want my fetish for potatoes face as the MAIN CHARACTER =D"

Myschi said said:
"We want an adorable or Lolicon-bait one"

Trick option, that's all the destroyers.

dasCKD said:

Trick option, that's all the destroyers.

I'm pretty sure Murakumo would object.

zgryphon said:

I'm pretty sure Murakumo would object.

Just sweet talk her with adorable and she might agree with you.

[deleted]

BitRefresh said:

strongly disagree

Yeah, there are the kaibo-kan too huh?

Myschi said:

- "We want a clumsy or lack of self-confidence"

- "We want an idiotic or energetic one"

- "We want an adorable or Lolicon-bait one"

And which one was supposed to be Inazuma, and which was supposed to be Samidare? Because Inazuma is better known for both being clumsy and being more adorable lolicon-bait than Samidare.

Also, Sazanami isn't simply "idiotic", she's made of 2ch memes.

Myschi said:

- And then Tanaka said "Screw all of you, I want my fetish for potatoes face as the MAIN CHARACTER =D"

The lead ship of the Fubuki class was always the best choice for a starter character, because it was the class that revolutionized destroyers and defined all the destroyer classes that came after her. They just then made a "main-character-like" character out of Fubuki (I.E. an eager and energetic girl without any real standout quirks aside from being "the main character" (lol) that would mean she'd immediately be lost in the crowd if she weren't actually the main character) around that assumption that she'd be a main girl.

That also meant that of course she'd be drawn by Shibafu, because Shibafu drew all the earliest ships and set the "standards" for what shipgirl types would look like. (I.E. destroyers being middle-school girls, cruisers being high school or college age, carriers being archers, and battleships being martial artists - although that one didn't stick.)

The other girls were probably picked after they'd been designed to provide some sort of suite of stock anime tropes like you implied, but Fubuki was definitely designed from the ground up to be one of the starters.

(And yes, in a very early draft, Ooi was going to be everyone's starter, but Fubuki is so clearly designed around being a main character (lol) that the change to her being the main character obviously came before her character was fully designed.

NWSiaCB said:

And which one was supposed to be Inazuma, and which was supposed to be Samidare? Because Inazuma is better known for both being clumsy and being more adorable lolicon-bait than Samidare.

You clobber one of your sisters in a training accident and they never let you forget it.

They just then made a "main-character-like" character out of Fubuki (I.E. an eager and energetic girl without any real standout quirks

I've always assumed that Fubuki's standout quirk was that she's insanely diligent. I would submit that it's as distinctive a character trait as, say, Hatsuyuki's indolence or Kasumi's bitterness.

(And yes, in a very early draft, Ooi was going to be everyone's starter, but Fubuki is so clearly designed around being a main character (lol) that the change to her being the main character obviously came before her character was fully designed.

I've seen it claimed that the design used for Shimakaze was first developed for Fubuki, and someone looked at it and said "No... that's too crazy, we need more of a girl-next-door vibe for this one."

zgryphon said:

You clobber one of your sisters in a training accident and they never let you forget it.

Actually, Inazuma collided with another IJN ship, the Sendai Maru after that. Also, "Inazuma" is a name that's been on several Japanese warships, and all but the current one have had collisions. In fact, they say the name itself is cursed.

zgryphon said:

I've always assumed that Fubuki's standout quirk was that she's insanely diligent.

Yeah, but that's exactly what "main-character-like" means. Female anime main character's main personality trait is best described as "GANBARIMASU!"

Even among male shonen main characters, the bog-standard factory default credo is that hard work, friendship, and spiky hair are the winning formula for any hero.

zgryphon said:

I've seen it claimed that the design used for Shimakaze was first developed for Fubuki, and someone looked at it and said "No... that's too crazy, we need more of a girl-next-door vibe for this one."

And oddly enough, Shimakaze became the mascot of the series when it first launched. (Although her Yoshinori-is-off-his-meds-again stripperiffic loli design probably had more to do with that than the personality.)

NWSiaCB said:

And oddly enough, Shimakaze became the mascot of the series when it first launched.

I think I've heard that the base design of current Shimakaze was initially intended for Fubuki instead, but Tanaka settled for the plainer design and saved the design for faster-looking ship.