One is the large and varied cast of cute, earnest schoolgirls, an archetype that Japanese anime and video game otaku can’t get enough of.
With this sort of crossover appeal, in arcades you’ll often find long lines for coin-op KanColle machines, and the one that Twitter user @arnval_mk2 recently visited in the port city of Yokosuka is no exception.
“I came to play KanColle, but it looks like the real sailors are already here,” laughed @arnval_mk2.
There are two key factors to the popularity of multi-media franchise Kantai Collection, or KanColle, as fans call it.