Hey all, I’m back for this week’s Synth Saturday with another fic I’ve yet to cover, and another fusion story to replace As N Approaches Infinity until it gets significantly more chapters. It’s Chapters 1 to 5 of “Harry and the Shipgirls” by Harry Leferts.
Plot: This set is just the beginning and is pretty short as far as chapters go, but it does set the stage for what is one of the longest fanfics I’ve ever read. It also isn’t written by just one person, as there are numerous side stories expanding supporting characters and other parts of the world. Altogether, the main story and side content run into millions of words. I won’t cover all of the side content, but for now I think the early side stories are included in the main threadmarks, so I probably won’t discount them. I might rethink that in the future given just how much content there is.
The basic premise is that Harry Potter is fused with the world of KanColle, along with other series added in over time. The setting makes major changes to both the Wizarding World and the wider nonmagical world, especially once the abyssal threat can no longer be hidden. It’s a fascinating look at a world that could be, and it is highly entertaining.
For background’s sake, KanColle (short for Kantai Collection) is a Japanese browser game built around shipgirls, which are personifications of historical warships, many of them from the early to mid-1900s. In many versions of the setting, shipgirls are humanity’s answer to the Abyssals, monstrous enemies from the sea that threaten the world and can only truly be fought by the shipgirls themselves.
In “Harry and the Shipgirls,” Harry ends up being adopted by the battleship Nagato and lives in Japan after Nagato finds him locked in the cupboard under the stairs during a meeting at the Dursleys connected to the war effort. Needless to say, there’s a lot going on in this fic.
Characters: Lots of characters are introduced, but these early chapters mostly focus on Harry and his adjusting to Yokosuka after the first chapter sets the stage for everything.
Overall: It’s a monster of a fic, but it has easily some of the most detailed collaborative world-building I’ve seen before. It is well worth the read. Even if it takes you months or years, depending on your speed, it’s worth it. It takes even me months to get through it, but that includes the side content that helps expand the world even more.
