Furutaka
Furutaka is a shipgirl from Kantai Collection, representing the lead ship of the Imperial Japanese Navy's Furutaka-class heavy cruisers. Proud of her role as the pioneer of Japanese heavy cruisers, she actively seeks to demonstrate the merits of her ship class to the player. As a founding member of the Mikawa Fleet and the Sixth Cruiser Division, she has been a dependable presence since the launch of the game.
Overview
Furutaka is a shipgirl from Kantai Collection, representing the lead ship of the Imperial Japanese Navy's Furutaka-class heavy cruisers. Proud of her role as the pioneer of Japanese heavy cruisers, she actively seeks to demonstrate the merits of her ship class to the player. As a founding member of the Mikawa Fleet and the Sixth Cruiser Division, she has been a dependable presence since the launch of the game.
Appearance
She features short brown bob hair and heterochromatic eyes, with her left eye surrounded by a dark shadow that acts as a functional searchlight. Her uniform is a short-cut blue modified sailor suit with a thick red neckerchief on her chest and a wing emblem on her right shoulder representing her name. She wears asymmetrical black socks consisting of a thigh-high on her right leg and a knee-high on her left. Her mechanical rigging is fitted directly to her body, including a back-mounted radar unit, silver main engines as footwear, twin gun mounts on her right arm and left shoulder, and a split quad torpedo tube unit wrapped around her left leg. Her second remodel features a sleek bodysuit.
Personality
Furutaka is exceptionally polite, humble, and earnest. While deeply proud of being a heavy cruiser, she tends to attribute her accomplishments to her ship type rather than pushing her own personality forward. Her extraordinarily gentle demeanor and soothing words toward the overworked admiral have earned her a saintly reputation among fans. Reflecting her combat history, she displays great confidence in night operations, yet harbors a subtle trauma toward enemy submarines.
Abilities
Equipped with 20.3 cm twin gun mounts, quad torpedo tubes, and a searchlight, Furutaka can utilize her left eye's searchlight feature in combat at the cost of rapid fuel consumption. She shows high combat capability during night engagements. Originally balanced with low attributes and economical resource usage due to her older historical design, subsequent game updates and her Level 65 second remodel boosted her firepower, torpedo stats, and armor to perform reliably in front-line surface fleet combat.
Background
Her real-life counterpart was constructed at the Nagasaki Mitsubishi Shipyard as the Imperial Japanese Navy's pioneer modern heavy cruiser. During World War II, she served in the Sixth Cruiser Division and the Mikawa Fleet across major operations including Guam, Wake Island, the Battle of the Coral Sea, and the Battle of Savo Island. During the Battle of Cape Esperance in October 1942, she deliberately charged into the firing line between the hostile fleet and the heavily damaged flagship Aoba. Taking over 90 shell impacts and suffering catastrophic torpedo deck fires, she successfully shielded Aoba's retreat before sinking.
Relationships
She shares a close, mutually respectful relation with her sister ship Kako, with whom she resides in the same room. She maintains a profound bond with Aoba, whom she sacrificed herself to protect during night combat, as well as Kinugasa from the Sixth Cruiser Division. Furthermore, she maintains friendly interactions with destroyers like Fubuki and Murakumo due to shared historical engagements, and shares a design philosophy with the light cruiser Yubari.
Trivia
Her name originates from Mount Furutaka on Etajima, Hiroshima. Historically, her sealed portholes caused exceptionally poor ventilation inside the living quarters, earning her ship the ironic nickname Aquarium. This historical detail is adapted in official derivative media where she and Kako keep pet fish in their shared dorm room. While early fans speculated that the dark shading around her left eye represented a burn scar, the character designer confirmed it was simply artistic shadow.
