Each of the characters in Kantai Collection are moe anthropomorphisms of World War II naval warships which are depicted as cute girls, known as "Fleet girls" (艦娘 kanmusu). These personified warships are based on real-life vessels which are explained in detail within the game.
In the game, Kanmusu are capable of becoming stronger as they gain experience and level up after battles. In the event when a ship's durability drops down to zero, it is considered sunk, and the player will lose the fleet girl. Players cannot resurrect fleet girls that have been lost, and are only able to re-train the ship from scratch.
Fleet girls
Upon the first public debut of the game, there were a total of 94 different fleet girls available. Within an update introduced 15–17 May 2013, additional fleet girls were added. The game holds spaces for 150 different fleet girls.
Voice actors have been employed to voice the fleet girls, with an average of 10 fleet girls being voiced by one actor. The complete list of voice actors involved has not yet been published.