Awesome / Arpeggio of Blue Steel

Events common in both media:

• The Battle between I-401 and Takao where the I-401 reveals to Takao it's secret weapon, a Super Gravity Cannon.
  • Any time a super-heavy cannon is armed counts, either as the moment itself or as the prelude to an epic counter (see below).
• The Battle of Yokosuka Bay between the I-401 and Hakugei 3 against Kirishima and Haruna. Kirishima and Haruna batter the Hakugei with their attacks until the I-401 arrives to rescue it. Later, Kirishima and Haruna combine their ships, trap the I-401 under their gravity field and prepare to fire their combined Super Gravity Cannon. Just when it seems the I-401s last ditch attack to stop Kirishima and Haruna fails, it turns out to be a distraction allowing the Hakugei to fire a Corrosion Torpedo into the Super Gravity Cannon, causing a chain reaction that destroys both ships. Hakugei gets the honor of being the first human ship in history to defeat not one but two Fog ships.

Events unique to the manga:

• The entire battle between Blue Steel, Hiei, her escort fleet, and eventually Kongou equipped with flagship parts, becomes an escalating set of awesome moments, each trying to out-maneuver and counter the other. And then Yukikaze decides to intervene on the side of Blue Steel...
  • Iona's final trump card against Kongou's flagship-equipment final form? Her compliment of three Seiran, unused and unseen since the series began. This, after it's been established that the Fog in general have abandoned aircraft due to their inability to use Klein Fields. So what does Iona do? She personally takes control of the flight of the Seirans herself, much to Kongou's disbelief, and uses them to drop their corrosive payload right on top of Kongou.
• The first time Auxiliary Super-Graviton Cannon Ships (also Option Ships) are used: I-401 parts the ocean to the bottom and then scores a One-Hit Kill against Milchkuh from so far away that Zordan Stark and U-2501 have absolutely no idea who did it.
  • And just before that, Takao's fight against U-2501 and the seehunds.
• Yukikaze one-shotting I-201 with an anchor. Supreme-Flagship's personal guard indeed.
• Kongou deserves a mention for the sheer determination to off Gunzou she displays, not giving up even when most of her hull is reduced to sinking debris.
• Ashigara going full OOC and calling out the whole Blue Steel crew for their utter bonehead decision to try to go rescue Gunzou after his ship is sinking when it's very clear that they're not in the condition to rescue him and get out in time before Ise's fleet comes into combat range. It didn't quite got through (the crew only pulled out after Gunzou's message telling them to get out reached them), but it does show that beneath her Genki Girl tendency she can be quite intelligent and logical.

Events unique to the anime:

• Haruna and Kirishima (with a little last minute assistance from Iona) proving a Mental Model doesn't need its ship to kick copious ass in episode 6.
• Episode 11. Iona completely obliterates a fleet of 22 Nagara-class light cruisers with a mixture of her Wave-Motion Gun and missile barrage.
  • Kongou doing the same in her Death Star form to the American Fog fleet. Her version even has a different look to it, appearing more like two intertwining twisters than a big laser. Awesome and absolutely terrifying!
• Regardless about how one feels about Cadenza's plot, there's no question that the movie has a LOT of great action moments.
  • The running battle with Ashigara in the first half of the movie, and how she and Nachi are eventually defeated, which is a big Call-Back to how Kongou was eventually caught wrong-footed in the manga: by detonating the methane hydrate deposits on the sea floor, which cancelled out their ship bodies' bouyancy, leaving Iona free to engage her burst mode (despite having only one active engine) and escape.
  • The succeeding interventions of Takao and Hyuuga, Haruna and Kirishima with Makie in tow, and finally Kongou, just as Iona is cornered by Hiei's fleet. Made all the funnier by how each of them seemed to unknowingly try to one-up each other with their The Cavalry entrances:
    • Takao announces her arrival with a missile barrage that takes out several Nagara cruisers.
    • Haruna's Graviton Cannon blast (which actually makes Takao's mental model dodge on reflex◊), which clears out a whole line of Nagara-class in one sweep◊ (an experience familiar for KanColle players from the Ars Nova event)a-la Gunbuster. Which is then followed by Kirishima going absolutely bonkers with Haruna's weapon systems.
    • Not to be undone, Kongou makes her entrance◊ after interrupting Hiei's Graviton attack, amidst the burning cruisers◊ she had just destroyed◊. Burning Love, indeed.
  • Ashigara by simply being Ashigara, simultaneously throws a monkey wrench in Hiei's plans (she wanted to form her fleet in Line Ahead formation) and Blue Steel's attempts to support Iona's escape. Her insubordination also inspires Hagurou to join in.
  • Makie showing her worth, as she reconfigures Haruna and Kirishima's Klein Fields to No-Sell Nachi's sniper system.
  • Hagurou pulling a jackknife stand with her ship body.
  • Kongou giving Hiei the verbal smackdown, after the latter accuses her of abandoning her duties to the Fog. After which she opens up a can of elegant arsekicking that leaves her sister ship reeling.
  Kongou: I decide where I go and when I return.
  • The climax of the Cadenza movie. After Musashi experiences a Villainous Breakdown after finding out that Iona wasn't a false personality that Yamato created and decides to destroy everything in anger, Iona as the Yamato charges through Musashi's multiple Graviton Cannon blasts, dives into the lower half of Musashi's own Mirror Ring system, and uses it to warp right on top of Musashi to deliver a point-blank Hyper Graviton Cannon blast of her own.