I watched this when it it was airing and Ive been playing since it came out in the west. If youre wondering thats over 6 years ago since the game got a global server and little over 4 years since the anime came out. If you couldnt tell by my pfp at least at time of typing this review I adore Sheffield. Shes brutally honest but cute and always does her best for her master. Now Im one of the lucky ones that can say their favorite showed up in the anime in more than a cameo. Unfortunately for some peoples favorites at least at the time of the animes release because over 200 have been added since they get shafted. I had high hopes for this anime and unfortunately it reeks of compromise or lack of understanding. If you watch the anime you expect a great deal of fan service like showing off its massive cast or an engaging and interesting story. The anime tries to do both but fails. The story itself is a huge mess and I can tell you its not much better in the actual game. And for fanservice hope you like Sakura Royal Navy or Eagle Union shipgirls because you arent getting diddly squat from Ironblood. Sure you have a few choice characters but they dont even do anything in the anime besides Prinz Eugen roundhouse kicking a Siren. Their leader doesnt even show up until the last FIVE MINUTES of the last episode. Sure maybe they dont have much point in the story being told since its more about Eagle Union vs Sakura Empire you should at least have a duty as the first real anime project for the game to show off its massive cast and have them do something. I dont know if its because they wanted to stay away from nazi imagery but if they can do it in the game and distance themselves from that kind of junk why cant the anime? The starter ships get their own storyline that is infinitely better than the main story with the warring factions but Z23 Ironblood gets nothing. Sure shes not a starter ship on JPs server she still is massively important to the squad even then. The animation was also a big deal when this came out. It was so bad they actually paused the development of the last few episodes until the fixed episodes aired. They also uncensored the bathhouse episode which is more like it in terms of fan service but it was hilariously censored because of convenient fog. Thankfully there are better projects that they came out with that are much better fitting for the game like Slow Ahead or the Queens Orders OVAs which just have the girls... do stuff which is all you need for them to do. The anime itself is painfully outdated from the games current state with such a huge cast and more focus on ships introduced afterwards like New Jersey Shinano Musashi etc. trying to watch this as a fan and getting anything out of it isnt really possible in my opinion.