| abstract | - Arpeggio of Blue Steel (Aoki Hagane no Arpeggio) is a fairly recent manga by Ark Performance, centering on humanity, having been pushed back from global warming raising the sea level, and their conflict with the Fleet of Fog, archaic-looking WWII-era ships who have been using Game Breaker weapons and armor to ensure that humans can't set keel or pontoon into the world's oceans without risking getting blown to smithereens. The world's navies banded together 17 years before the opening chapters of the manga and were utterly annihilated. Since then, Japan's fortunes have gone downhill in a huge way: Japan relied on importing and exporting for both raw materials and income for its economy; without either, the nation's industry has fallen quite far. In this rather bleak future is one shining ray of hope: Blue Steel, a bunch of ragtag misfits led by their captain, one Gunzou Chihaya. Having somehow acquired a Fog ship of their own, the Fog submarine I-401, only Chihaya and his crew can actually claim Fleet of Fog kills in battle. However, the I-401 and her crew have more enemies than just the Fleet of Fog: The Japanese government are very keen on getting their hands on what initially was their ship. Bureaucrats look at I-401 and drool. However, what nobody realized is that I-401, like many ships now in the Fleet of Fog, has a mind of her own, and a body to fit.
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