Arpeggio of Blue Steel is a Japanese manga series produced by Ark Performance and was serialised in Young King Ours, owned by Shounen Gahosha. The series received an anime adaptation from October 8th, 2013 to December 24, 2013. The series then received two subsequent films released on January 31st, 2015, and the second film released on October 3rd, 2015.

The story is set in 2039 after drastic sea level rises from global warming. A mighty fleet of sentient warships with advanced technology known as the ‘Fleet of Fog’ sets up a worldwide blockade and devastates humanity’s naval forces. Each ship possesses a mental model which is a human avatar or a personification of the ship’s heart, also known as the “Union Core.” All ships have a different personality, but all are under the command of Admiralty Code who ordered the blockade that prevented the traversing of oceans by humans. Seventeen years after the embargo was implemented, Gunzou Chihaya, a privateer and graduate of the National Marine Academy, finds I-041 with the mental model named Iona who defects to the humans for reasons unknown at the time. With this new revelation, the hope for achieving peace has increased. Gunzou then forms the group called “Blue Steel”. With Iona’s technology and Gunzou’s tactics, Blue Steel has not only survived multiple encounters with the Fleet of Fog but even managed to sink one of its most powerful assets. With this development, Blue Steel was hired by the Japanese government to deliver a prototype vibration warhead, a possible trump card for humanity to fight back against the Fleet of Fog, to the United States as they are the only nation-state with resources and capabilities to mass produce the warhead. With this new mission, the Fleet of Fog ceased to become their only enemy, with the squad having to fend off their allies, foreign governments and other factions.

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