It's amazing how good the character designs are. Every character looks so unique. Even the ones that look similar to each other have noticeable differences that make them their own. The massive list of ships in just 1 year is crazy and shows how much they respect the representation of the main forces that fought in WWII. Even the story and lots of events in the game are based on the real life conflicts. Azur Lane really knocked it out of the ball park, it's no wonder it's taking over everything.
Azur Lane's design has roots in the ships' history (and name) in a different direction than KC. Take both series' Houshou as comparison: KC depicts her as a motherly woman of small stature (given she's the 'mother' of aviation carriers, plus her small size). AL took another turn with making Houshou a top heavy (literally, with big boobs), loaded courtesan that refers other ships as 'little sisters, because all japanese ship at that time are top heavy and prone to lose balance due to putting too much cannons on it.
