Azur Lane — BrandWiki

Azur Lane

collapse	yes
t	碧藍航線
s	碧蓝航线
p	Bìlán Hángxiàn
bpmf	ㄅㄧˋ ㄌㄢˊ ㄏㄤˊ ㄒㄧㄢˋ
w	Pi4-lan2 Hang2-hsien4
hangul	벽람항로
hanja	碧藍航路
rr	Byeongnam Hangno
mr	Pyŏngnam Hangno
katakana	アズールレーン
romaji	Azūru Rēn
nihon	Azûru Rên

Azur Lane is a side-scrolling shoot 'em up video game created by Chinese developers Shanghai Manjuu and Xiamen Yongshi, released in 2017 for the iOS and Android operating systems. Set in an alternate timeline of World War II, players engage in side-scrolling shooter gameplay, using female moe anthropomorphic characters based on warships from the war's major participants. Other gameplay elements, like customizing a dorm and in-game characters, are also present.

First released in China in May and in Japan in September 2017, Azur Lane was successful at launch, especially in Japan, where the player count reached five million within four months after its release. Players have voted the game among the top five on Google Play's Best Game of 2017 list for the region. Critics have attributed the game's popularity to its original and well-designed gameplay system. An English version started open beta in August 2018 and was formally released in May 2019. Later, in December 2019, the English version was expanded to Latin American region. PWB Play simultaneously released it to Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan in October 2019.

The game has been adapted into several manga and novelizations. Azur Lane Crosswave, a 3D adaptation for PlayStation 4, was published by Compile Heart in August 2019 with mixed reception. Crosswave English localization was released in February 2020 for PlayStation 4 and PC. A Nintendo Switch port of the game was released in Japan in September 2020, and in February 2021 in North America and in February 2021 in Europe.

Gameplay

Azur Lane is a side-scrolling shoot 'em up, simulation, and role-playing video game. Players collect characters that are moe anthropomorphic interpretations of World War II warships ("shipgirls"), mainly from the United States Navy, Royal Navy, Imperial Japanese Navy and Kriegsmarine, with other ships from the French Navy (both Vichy and Free France flavors), Republic of China Navy, People's Liberation Army Navy, Regia Marina, Soviet Navy, Imperial Russian Navy, Imperial German Navy and Royal Netherlands Navy being added later; additionally, ships from the Age of Sail were added in as a faction named Tempesta. Players organize them into fleets of six and confront AI-controlled enemies or other players' fleets.[7] These ships can gain experience points (EXP) from various methods (such as from battles, completing commissions, or placing these ships into Dormitories), and they require a certain amount of EXP to gain a stronger level. They have a certain maximum level limit on how far players can level up their ships, which can be increased via Limit Break. Most characters have their own set of upgradable abilities that can be activated in battle.

Personifications of American destroyer USS Laffey (DD-459), British destroyer HMS Javelin, and German destroyer Z23 (Chinese, English release) or Japanese destroyer Ayanami (Japanese, Korean release) are available for players to select as a starter ship. They are referred to as protagonists in-game.[8] As of October 2024, more than 600 characters have been introduced to the game, representing ships from nine countries that participated in the war.[9] The game is also notable for including preserved museum ships as its characters, such as the Japanese Mikasa and Russian Aurora.

An endgame content Operation Siren was announced on December 14, 2020, for a late December release.[10]

Battle

When preparing for the game's main mode, players can organize two fleets (as the game progresses, they will unlock up to a maximum of 6 fleets), consisting of a front row and a back row, with three slots available in each row. Destroyers, light cruisers, and heavy cruisers can be allotted to the front row, while the back row is reserved for battleships, aircraft cruisers, monitors, repair ships, battlecruisers, and aircraft carriers; the positions of certain sailing frigates are determined between either row. Different combinations of ships are required to achieve victory in different battle situations. Players may then select and enter a map.[7]

On entering a map, the player's fleet is placed on a grid-like map similar to that in the game Battleship. The map contains nodes, which are either combat nodes, which are enemy fleets, some immobile and others that pursue the player, or non-combat nodes, which provide ammunition, or mystery nodes, which can provide supplies such as repair kits, upgrade materials, or can spawn a special combat node called a Treasure Fleet. Players must navigate optimally and assemble their fleets tactically to clear obstructing enemies and, using minimal movements, reach the map's boss. When the player moves their fleet across the map, they can be ambushed in random encounters from which they may take damage, or they can be forced to engage the enemy, using fuel and ammo. Fuel is one of the two in-game resources. Ammo points are assigned to player fleets at each map, with one ammo point deducted at each battle.

Development

Azur Lanes producer, Yuwan, a well-known uploader to the Chinese video sharing website Bilibili, began developing the game with five of his college friends, with the initial notion of "creating a doujin game, if a commercial one is not possible".[16] Seeing many similar games created in Greater China after Kantai Collections success, the developers aimed to create "something different from previous works of ship moe anthropomorphism". As such, they intentionally avoided using a turn-based strategy game mechanic like that used by Kantai Collection and most of its followers. They also shifted the focus on Japanese ships to those from other countries involved in World War II.[16]

One particular difficulty was incorporating shoot 'em up elements, as there were no existing works to reference. An early version of the game featured a combat system of a five-character fleet in a single or double column line of battle. World of Warships, a World War II naval warfare simulation game popular in China, influenced some of the gameplay design.[16]

The developers sought to further differentiate the game by featuring characters based on preserved museum ships from earlier times, such as the pre-dreadnought battleship Mikasa of World War I, which was served as a flagship during the Russo-Japanese war, and the Russian protected cruiser Aurora, the ship famed for its October Revolution involvement. Keeping game balance and rarity with these characters was difficult, however, the developers were intent on featuring museum ships, and intend to introduce more characters like this in the future.[17] A series of characters based on proposed or unfinished World War II warships, including Neptune, Saint-Louis and Ibuki, were introduced as part of a collaboration with Wargaming, publisher of World of Warships.[18]

Many young Japanese voice actors lent their talents to the game. The decision to employ an all-Japanese voice cast with a focus on younger actors was the result of a lack of professional voice actors in China, as well as the team's intention to give younger Japanese actors opportunities to perform.[16] The game's notable voice actors include Yui Ishikawa,[19] Rie Takahashi[20] and Risa Taneda.[21]

Shanghai's Manjuu Ltd. provided the audiovisual design and the writing for Azur Lane. Xiamen's Yongshi Ltd. was responsible for programming, game data design and content. The companies share joint authorship of the game and share its copyright, with a 65%/35% share of its revenue.[22]

Reception

Azur Lane was very popular in its home country, contributing to most of Bilibili's 2018 Q1 revenue along with the Chinese release of Fate/Grand Order.[87][88] In Japan, the game enjoyed an overwhelming surge in popularity after its release,[7] despite initial accusations by fans of Kantai Collection that it was a clone.[89][90] After only four months, there were more than five million Japanese players. The first doujin convention dedicated exclusively to the game was held in November 2017.[91][92] From May 2017 to August 2018, the game has earned US$170 million globally on the iOS AppStore. Chinese players spent $28 million, while Japanese players spent $139 million, accounting for approximately 82% of the game's sales.[93]

The game scored within Japan's top five best games of 2017 in a Google Play user vote,[94] as well as a first place in the app section of the Dengeki Online Awards 2017.[95] In September 2018, the game was awarded third place in Game of the Year in the 15th China Animation & Comic Competition.[96]

Azur Lane's popularity was attributed to its gameplay and game system design, which were generally praised. RPG Site wrote the game "acts as an important lesson on how a Chinese-made title can gain popularity in Japan by offering originality in its gameplay".[7] Famitsu liked how the game depended very little on luck, let players develop their own playstyle, and was easy to pick up and play due to few microtransaction elements.[97][98] Japanese writer, actor and radio personality Mafia Kajita was impressed by the tight shooter controls. He felt the game systems were streamlined and avoided any nuisances, and believes the all-Japanese voice cast is likely a reason for its popularity.[99]

Critics have also compared the game to Kantai Collection. Hong Kong media outlet HK01 found Kantai Collections complete lack of post-release improvements and overdependence on luck responsible for upsetting its own players, who switched contributing to Azur Lanes popularity.[91] Mafia Kajita noted the two games had different focuses: Kantai Collection is centred on resource management while Azur Lane is a simulation game about dodging danmaku bullets while shooting the enemy.[99] However, Shigetaka Kurita, director of Kadokawa Dwango corporation, criticized Azur Lane for lacking the sense of "tragedy and heroism" in Kantai Collection. Kurita described the game as "merely an idol action game with a fleet motif". He found the greatest appeal of Kantai Collection to be the "sorrow of the Imperial Japanese Navy" saying that one might cry while playing Kantai Collection but not Azur Lane.[100]

Controversies

In March 2018, Korean players accused Nardack, a guest illustrator in their regional server, of being a radical feminist and alleged that she is a member of Megalia. To this end, the Korean publisher XD Global asked her to publicly announce on her social media that she does not associate with "antisocial groups", and that she does not support feminism. She reportedly declined, and the publisher subsequently removed her artwork in the game. Nardack later criticized and described the publisher's demand as forceful action.[101][102]

In February 2021, one of the game's voice actresses, Ai Kayano, who recorded voice lines for Kaga, Atago, Renown, and Graf Zeppelin, was embroiled in controversy on Chinese social media as a result of a post regarding her February 11 trip to Yasukuni Shrine – a Shinto shrine often known as a subject of political controversy for the enshrinement of Japanese men, women, children, and soldiers who died in numerous wars involving Japan between the Meiji and Showa eras. This number included 1,068 convicted war criminals sentenced to death by the International Military Tribunal, 14 of whom, including former Japanese Prime Minister Hideki Tojo, are labelled as A-Class criminals.[103]