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Tempesta

In general

Ship prefix: MOT

Archaic Weapon for an Advanced Age: Even among the Schizo Tech of the setting, Tempesta ships tend to stand out. Rather than using the standard naval guns and auxilliary equipment that every other ship uses, Tempesta ships are equipped with items like breech-loaded cannons, ammunition crates, and spare sails & rigging rope to sortie. Doesn't slow them down in the slightest.
Lovecraftian Superpower: A lot of their designs heavily imply the Tempesta ships are wrecks raised from the ocean and given life & power by some supernatural force. Tentacles are very prominent in their art, holding pieces of their wreckages together, handling cannons, or feeling up the girls. Other supernatural sea life floats around them as familiars, as well as wisps and eyes.
Mechanically Unusual Class: Despite every indication in their design, Royal Fortune, Mary Celeste, and Whydah are deployed like SUBMARINES for sorties. And even then, they function nothing like other subs, immediately surfacing and fighting like gun cruisers before eventually leaving the fight due to their various skills.
Older Than They Look: The current queens of this trope in the game. Every other ship in the game at least has the makings of what would be considered a modern naval vessel (steel frame, armor belt, guns and torpedos, etc). Tempesta ships are sail-powered frigates and galleons from the great ages of exploration & piracy, predating even the likes of Mikasa, Avrora, Hai Chi and Hai Tien by hundreds of years!

Sailing Frigates

Golden Hind

Voiced by: Yuka Hinata

"Greetings, my darling Commander. I am Golden Hind. I've heard much about you and am pleased to meet you at last... Heehee, my, what a rousing body you have~♡ *squish squish*"

Ax-Crazy: Hind very much enjoys crushing her opponents and turning them into new additions for her "collection", so much so she'll even ask other ships to bring her back parts to add if set as your secretary.
Creepy Souvenir: Various lines state she keeps a "collection" of parts from enemies she's destroyed.
Lust: Even in a game filled to bursting with Commander-crazed ships, Hind manages to stand out. From the word 'go' she makes it abundantly clear she wants the Commander's body, nearly every interaction with her is her attemping to seduce you, and unlike other ships like Akagi or Taihou, she doesn't even bother with innuendos. By the time you oath her, she implies that she and the Commander have had sex multiple times.
Maniac Tongue: Her base skin shows her with her tongue hanging out a lot, hinting to both her Ax-Crazy mentality in combat and barely-contained lust for the Commander.
Ms. Fanservice: Yes - with her default skin alone, Hind has a very pronounced curves that are accentuated by her Naughty Tentacles. Her Forlorn Femme Fatale skin, meanwhile, gives her a very skimpy wedding dress, with her ass being totally exposed by the garnment - the sole source of modesty there is a strand of her hair.
Naughty Tentacles: Her base skin has her breasts being groped by one of her tentacles, and several lines show she's more than happy to use them for other things as well.
Yandere: Played up in her 'Forlorn Femme Fatale' skin, though it's implied to be (mostly) an act.

Royal Fortune

Voiced by: Aimi Tanaka

ID: No. 571

Rarity: Super Rare

Artist: 掃除朋具

"You're looking at the mysterious, heartstopping Royal Fortune! ...Hm? Scared you, did I? C'mon, don't be so uptight! Now, where are we headed? The fabled Treasure Coast? The cursed Black Reef, littered with shipwrecks? I don't care where we're going; let's just hoist the sails!"

Friendly Pirate: Even though her biography mentions that she used to be a "rough and tough pirate, just like in the stories", she comes off as this now.
Historical In-Joke: Her distaste for alcohol is a reference to how her captain Bartholomew Roberts refused to drink the stuff.
Hour of Power: Tempesta Pact and Guardian of the Deep actually grant her a very generous Firepower and damage reduction boost, as well as a massive 40% max HP self-heal when she's called in to fight. The trade-off is she'll leave the fight once her HP falls below 50% or 60 seconds have passed.
The Teetotaler: A trait she shares with her real life captain as mentioned above.
Royal Fortune: Booze? God no! Just taking a whiff of that stuff makes my head spin, and drinking it leaves me out cold until morning... In other words, keep it away from me.

Whydah

Voiced by: Rina Kawaguchi

ID: 614

Rarity: Elite

Artist: nys

"*Yaaaaaawn*... Surrender all your valuables to meeeee... Oh, I was just saying random stuff. No need to take it so seriously... *sigh*... What a pain..."

Historical In-Joke: She states that collecting her treasure is going to be a huge hassle, a reference to excavations on the real Whydah where it sunk off of Wellfleet Massachusetts, which continue to this day. She also refers to putting it on display in reference to the museum in West Yarmouth built for relics retrieved from the wreck.
Lazy Bum: She has a tendency to send her octopus servants out to do errands for her, and finds doing anything beyond lying in her room in port to be too much of a hassle. Even if set as a secretary she'll try to bribe the Commander to not do her work or even outright ask them to do it instead.
Shout-Out: A petite girl with squishy, tentacle-like hair, cutesy octopus servants, and a large mass of tentacles coming from her back... did we just describe Whydah or Ina'nis?
Trademark Favorite Food: Crisps (potato chips) which come up in several of her voice lines.
Vapor Wear: Her white dress in her default skin is partially see through and it's very obvious there's nothing on under it.
Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: She's terrified of ghost ships. Unfortunately for her, Mary Celeste finds her adorable and tries to hug her every chance she gets.

Adventure Galley

Voiced by: Ikumi Hayama

"I'm Adventure Galley. I've got nothing else to tell you. Then again, you're letting me stay at this port, so I guess let's get along, Captain. Sorry... "Commander," was it?"

Because You Were Nice to Me: Raising her Affinity helps Adventure Galley overcome her paranoia and start to trust in the Commander more.
Chained by Fashion: She has several lengths of chain attached to her gauntlet or wrapped around her body and a prisoner's manacle around her neck, all chaining her to her wreckage.
Historical In-Joke: Several lines and her augment module make reference to her hidden treasure, a nod to the legend that Kidd had hidden a great treasure away and given his wife a coded map to it before being hung.
Jade-Colored Glasses: Being the ship of infamously failed privateer-turned-failed pirate William Kidd hasn't done much for her self-esteem or social skills.
The Paranoiac: Her rather bleak history as a ship^history has left her with some severe trust issues.

São Martinho

Voiced by: Wakana Kuramochi

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/so_martinho.png

ID: 613

Rarity: Super Rare

Artist: Unknown

Angelic Beauty: Her primary visual motif, complete with two sets of wings, though the eyes in her wings leans more into the 'biblically accurate' type of angels & keeps her from straying too far from her faction's more eldritch theme.
Gold and White Are Divine: Her color scheme is primarily gold and white to tie in with her angel motif.
Gratuitous Spanish: She responds with "Gracias" upon being strengthened. Notably, the actual Portuguese word for thank you is obrigado/obrigada.
- Becomes a sort of Historical In-Joke as, soon after her construction, she served the Spanish Armada during the rule of Phillip II of Spain
Navel-Deep Neckline: Her neckline has a cutout to emphasize her navel and only two small strips of fabric covering her breasts.

Mary Celeste

Voiced By: Hinata Sato

ID: 611

Rarity: Super Rare

Artist: Unknown

"I am Mary Celeste, a seaborne ghost birthed by a storm. Hmph, the legend surrounding me... It's merely one of the truths you can't see with the human eye."

Artistic License – Ships: The real Mary Celeste was a civilian merchant vessel that carried no armament of any kind and never sailed under a naval or even a pirate ensign.
Commonality Connection: With Long Island, since both are "ghosts" and enjoying scaring people.
Stock Unsolved Mysteries: The whole basis of her character, with the Mary Celeste being one of the most famous ghost ships.

Universal Ships

In general

Ship prefix: UNIV

This area covers ships that don't fall into any specific nation.

Destroyers (DD)

The Bulin-class

Shared tropes

The Ditz: Neither of them are particularly smart. Prototype Bullin uses a different word^note instead of "rarity" to explain the difference between her and her younger sister besides color. In the first place, Universal Bullin thinks that she's stronger than her older sister because she can enhance more colors than her (since Universal Bullin can be used on Common, Rare, and Elite ships while Prototype Bullin can only be used on Super Rare ones). Meanwhile, the third sister, the Specialized Bullin Custom, insists she's the best since she can do all the colors—she's used on Ultra Rare ships, whose "color" is iridescent.
Genki Girl: All three of them are depicted as extremely hyperactive and cheerful; Prototype Bullin outright says that a regular day at the base for her consists of just running around in Chapter 2 of An Shan's Coloring Book event.
Human Resources: Shipgirls aren't quite humans, but the Bulins' primary role is to act as raw material for level breaking other girls, since they have atrocious combat stats that cannot be upgraded. They're quite happy to serve this purpose and become very confused when used for anything else.
Joke Character: They're consumable Limit Break material, not "real" ships. They are inferior in every aspect to a common destroyer (even in oil cost, at two vs one), whether at level 1 or level 100. Their one skill in combat is a joke one that has no effect except referencing Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann^note with different visuals: Universal Bulin grows to the size of half the screen, Prototype Bulin MKII creates numerous clones of herself, and both show that "nothing happened". It's fitting that April 1st is the date the Universal Bulin gets a free skin.
Last Episode, New Character: In the first anime, Universal and Prototype only appear in the final scenes of Episode 12, where they're shown running around the item shop now that the fleets are combined.
Loophole Abuse: Despite not having a Torpedo slot, they can trigger the Meowfficer talent "Bite Their Fingers" which thematically fires torpedoes to weaken enemy units. The fact that they actually have a weak torpedo stat may justify this.
Moveset Clone: Despite their different rarities, they have the exact same stats, stat growth, and skill when used in combat.

Universal Bulin

Artist: Yumesaki Kaede

Verbal Tic: "Buli". Her JP voiceover also uses "poi!"

Prototype Bulin MKII

Artist: Yumesaki Kaede

Verbal Tic: "Purin"

Specialized Bulin Custom MKIII

Artist: Yumesaki Kaede

Shout-Out: Her pose and hammer size is near identical to Electra from Xenoblade Chronicles.
Verbal Tic: "Bulin".

Non-shipgirl Characters

The Commander

The player character is the newest member of the Azur Lane military organization, recruited from the Eagle Union navy after an aptitude test reveals them as having the highest known affinity with Wisdom Cubes. Accompanied by their chosen starter destroyer and Long Island as their very first ships, they go through a training exercise against Hornet before the main port at Pearl Harbor is attacked and they're thrust into action.

Chick Magnet: Downplayed in the game where he still has to actually earn the affection of the Shipgirls (though more than a few are openly flirtatious and even outright lustful toward him regardless of affinity), but each shipgirl you consistently send into battle will inevitably fall for you. It's definitely Played Straight in Azur Lane: Slow Ahead!, where the Shipgirls don’t even pretend to be anything other than hot for him.
Chivalrous Pervert: While he is undoubtedly a heroic person, it’s rather eyebrow-raising that he gropes every single shipgirl under his command in every single skin they have. Under normal circumstances, he'd be court-martialed.
The Chosen One: This is becoming more apparent in recent events, particularly since the Ashes started to show up. There are apparently multiple versions of Azur Lane in many realities that have battled the Sirens and lost; what makes the main timeline unique is explicitly stated to be the Commander's existence. How this will manifest is yet to be seen, but his Ghost Memory episodes seem to be related to it.
Dimensional Traveler: During the end of Khorovod of Dawn's Rime, Arbiter: The Empress III reveals in her conversation with Observer Zero that the Commander disappeared and reappeared several times in the span of a few seconds, with the implication that they went to the Strings Timeline. This is outright confirmed in the CN version, where Zero notes that the timelines have begun to intersect.^noteThe JP/EN versions have this replaced with Zero saying that said Timeline is being pruned.
- The event also implies that the device which lets the Sirens time travel is responsible for the intersection, which would push it to Interdimensional Travel Device territory.
A Father to His Men: His dialogue in cutscenes really drives home how much he genuinely cares about the well-being of the kansen, to the point of treating them more like normal girls, instead of soldiers or living weapons of war.
The Ghost:
- He has yet to make a single on-screen appearance in Azur Lane: Slow Ahead!, but his presence is still very much felt, given how many kansen in the manga openly fawn over him.
- In the game proper, his hand was finally seen in Taihou's animated school girl outfit introduction where he's scrolling on his phone (it's unclear if this is a younger version of the Commander given the context) and in a loading screen artwork where his hand is holding a hose to douse Brunhilde and Musashi with water (Creating a Sexy Soaked Shirt scene). The latter implies he might be quite towering as the already tall Musashi is shown looking up at him. Still, most of the scenes of the game are his first person perspective so we never fully see what the Commander looks like. Even when Vittorio Veneto takes a photo of the Commander in her animated bikini skin, the photograph that emerges is blank or not from the side his portrait is on.
- Averted in the Anthology comics where he appears on screen as more than just a hand, though the degree to which his face is shown varies. As each Anthology comic is its own universe, his changing form is at least justified.
Ghost Memory: In several events, he experiences memories of a different timeline, implied to be the result of Beacons that were installed by Code G so that the Ashes faction can oppose Observer Zero and her Arbiters. Said memories are implied to have come from John Archer, who is strongly implied to be his Alternate Self.
Hello, [Insert Name Here]: Project Identity would allow the player to give a name/nickname to the Commander for TB to refer to them as rather than simply "Commander".
Heroic Mime: While initially debuting as a Featureless Protagonist, they slowly start developing their own traits, with several lines implying symptoms of PTSD, and several scenes implying him to be [Alternate Self John Archer].
Not So Above It All: Despite ostensibly being their leader and having an expectation of a certain level of professionalism from his superiors, he regularly engages in downtime shenanigans with the Shipgirls and seems to be a pretty fun-loving guy overall. He even has his own Juustagram account and, if the player so chooses, can regularly interact with the Shipgirls over social media.
Only Sane Man: For the most part, the Commander's lack of severe hang ups and quirks allows him to be the glue that holds the Ship Girls together and lets them place their trust him. In many lighthearted character focused events and scenes, the Commander is usually the Straight Man to whatever the ship girls are doing, and in more somber scenes he's usually trying to help them get by with whatever means he can. However, as above, he's also Not So Above It All and delves into Mildly Military at times and just goofs off with his ship girls and can be a major tease as well, knowing how to fluster them.
Powered Armor: In the video as part of the 2023 April Fool they gain a set so they can fight the Sirens personally
Token Human: Azur Lane stars personifications of ships being presented as anime girls, but they are still not obviously human given their powers and all sorts of other quirks they possess, and this reasoning also applies to their Siren counterparts. The other most prominent species in the game are the mascot Manjuu birds that seem to possess a degree of intelligence. The Commander is the only explicit human in the game who doesn't seem to possess any biologically supernatural traits despite his particular affinity for the ship girls. It is still implied that the rest of whatever Command he works with also consists of humans, but the Commander is the only active human in the events of the story.
Unique Protagonist Asset: They have the ability to induce Cognitive Awakening in the Wisdom Cubes of Shipgirls, allowing the latter to grow and exert power far beyond what they should normally able to.
Unwitting Pawn: In several events, Ash and Ember make cryptic statements about their opponents being "lifeless puppets of Antiochus", the Commander included.
Wartime Wedding: Gameplay wise, the Commander can flat out marry any of his Shipgirls even during the middle of the war against the Sirens. The process involves maxing out the Shipgirls affection for the Commander, the much desired Oath Ring, and the special pledge line the Shipgirl has to express their joy. Some Shipgirls even have Wedding Skins to make the marriage even more official and joyful for them.

Manjuus

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/manjuu.jpg

Manjuus are sentient creatures inhabiting the Azur Lane dock. They look like rotund baby chickens, although the presence of elder Manjuu in some events show that they maintain this appearance their entire lives. They primarily exist to provide unspoken comic relief, and to be a cutesy Series Mascot for the game (and its co-developer, Shanghai Manjuu, as a whole).

Absent Animal Companion: Odd case. While they appear on a regular basis in mini-events and character artwork, their very existence is never even mentioned in the game's main story, let alone having them appear in it. This ends up leaving their origins and relationship to the Commander and the shipgirls all but completely unexplained.
Accidental Pervert: The situations a lot of Manjuu find themselves in when featured in premium skin art. Although for any given skin, it's equally likely that the shipgirl is putting them in the situation on purpose.
Blush Sticker: They all sport a pair.
Butt-Monkey: They're a frequent target for abuse by shipgirls for seemingly no reason other than "they're there." Sometimes the "abuse" is a little enviable, like getting squished under Kashino's breasts or La Galissonnière's foot, but sometimes it's just outright cruel, like Eskimo aiming a Solar-Powered Magnifying Glass at one in her skin's original version (it got changed to her aiming it at the Manjuu's ice cream after fan outcry).
Civilized Animal: They are intelligent enough to operate factories, cook food, build cities, and throw seasonal festivals multiple times a year.
The Dog Bites Back: On rare occasion, the Manjuu are the ones tormenting the shipgirls. Tashkent's "The Bound Cruiser" skin has a prime example, with one subjecting her to Tickle Torture. This sort of extends to gameplay as they're the ones piloting the dreaded kamikaze boats
Funny Background Event: They frequently provide these in the artwork for premium character skins. They'll often be trying and failing to do the same activity the shipgirl is doing, or otherwise trying to manipulate objects that are too large for their tiny bodies.
Humanlike Animal Aging: Young Manjuus look like chicks. Old Manjuus look like...chicks with beards and wrinkled facial features. Possibly justified in that they are not just chickens.
Idiot Hair: A universal feature amongst Manjuus. Whether it's a stray feather without much detail or actual hair is unknown.
Series Mascot: Serves as one for both Azur Lane and its co-developer Shanghai Manjuu.

Meowfficers

As the name implies, Meowfficers are cats, or catgirls in case of SSR Meowfficers, that are your officers. They can be assigned to a fleet to grant various stat boosts and special skills.

Historical Domain Character: All of the Meowfficers are based off their real life World War II naval officer counterparts, mostly the admirals and famous captains of their respective navies. The Chinese version of the game retains their real life name reference, but the Japanese and in extension, the English versions changed it quite a bit but the references are still there. Examples:
- Justice is based on the US Navy Admiral Arleigh Burke. Her skill is a reference to Burke's famous nickname, "31-knot Burke". Her JP/EN name references the fact that in-game Charles Ausburne is an "ally of justice".
- Antenna is based on the Vice Admiral Willis Augustus Lee, who commanded the USN Battleship Division 6 during the Battle of Guadalcanal. Her JP/EN name as well as her skill name is a reference of how Lee, commanding the battleship ''USS Washington'', managed to win the first ship-to-ship, gun-to-gun combat against IJN battleship/battlecruiser Kirishima by skillfully using SG radar to identify targets.
- Oscar is based on the famous Kriegsmarine captain Ernst Lindemann, who captained the Bismarck. Fitting enough she looks like a mini catgirl Bismarck. Her JP/EN name as well as her skill name is a reference to Oskar, later named Sam, which allegedly survived the sinking of Bismarck as her ship cat, later named Sam designated as the ship cat of HMS Cossack and Ark Royal.

Navigator The Bridge/TB

Voiced by: Kasuga Nozomi

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/azurlane_tb.png

An identification interface digital assistant and navigator who was apparently assigned by naval HQ to serve as the Commander's adjutant during Operation Siren. She's supposedly an artificial intelligence, but her mannerisms feel too lifelike to just have been programmed...

TB is the focus of the Raising Sim minigame Project: Identity.

Animal Motif: Jellyfish. Just like Zero. It's even the exact same species of jellyfish as Zero's rigging.
Chekhov's Gun: The exact same plushie Observer Zero is always seen holding is a beloved 'friend' of TB in Project: Identity, making the connection between TB and Zero even more explicit.
Emotionless Girl: Starts off Project: Identity with a nigh on complete inability to express her emotions.
Fanservice Pack:
- Type S TB (the "Kind variant") gets substantially bountiful growth with an Impossibly-Low Neckline to boot.
- Type L TB ("Peppy"), although much less endowed than Type S, still flaunts considerably more so than Type A (Quiet) who looks the closest to TB's original form.
Hard Light: her Identity variants appear to use these, if not Holograms.
Humanity Is Infectious: The entire point of Project: Identity is to allow TB to live a normal life with a normal childhood, so as to develop her own personality and sense of identity organically. The end result is that she becomes a LOT less of an Emotionless Girl.
Lethal Chef: While she can be raised to be a Supreme Chef, her phase of growing up is preceded by her lack of understanding in the art of cooking, from being interested in recreating something on a show that's implied to be a parody of Kitchen Nightmares, to repeatedly burning her eggs — which in particular makes the Commander reluctant to let a more grown-up and capable TB to cook out of PTSD.
Nice Girl: Her "Kind" variant is naturally this, whose specific interactions depict them as somebody who's nothing short of grateful towards their father figure for raising her well, wanting to do nothing but repay them in return.
Only Known by Initials: Absolutely no context is given to what 'TB' means (considering her role, it might refer to 'Trail Blazer').
Passionate Sports Girl: One of her possible paths as a Peppy TB.
Robot Girl: At first. Project: Identity turns her into a Ridiculously Human Robot, but how her personality develops depends upon how the Commander raised her.
The Shut-In: Deliberately leaving her stats at rock bottom results in "Shut-In Life", where she indulges in a life of absolutely nothing, only needing video games, soda, and fried chicken to be happy, with it being dubious about the possibly that she'll ever set foot outside ever again.
Soul-Crushing Desk Job: Fail to meet the conditions of any one ending leads to "Repetitive Everyday", where she gets stuck with a dead-end office job, overworked and requiring her father to constantly care for her.
The Stoic: The "Quiet" variant depicts TB akin to her usual self, just with more personality hidden behind her usual "emotionless" mannerisms.
Sweet Baker: One ending turns her into this — which naturally requires her to be the "Kind" variant with a Caring stat of 350, the latter achieved through the Cooking hobby.
You Remind Me of X: In an early cutscene, one of the Commander's dialogue options is swearing they've seen TB somewhere before, only for Saratoga to wonder whether they're just imagining pervy stuff. In fact, TB is almost a dead ringer for Dreamweaver/Observer Zero. The Commander's vague recollection is explained by "Khorovod of Dawn's Rime", which chronologically takes place before the start of Operation Siren: they interacted with a logging system that used said spoiler-ed character as its avatar.
- Her voice actress, Kasuga Nozomi, also provides the voice for the original Kizuna AI, something that fans quickly picked up on.
- In "Abyssal Refrain", Kronshtadt sees the silhouettes of Dr. Aoste and his assistant, and the latter matches TB's outline. "Rondo at Rainbow's End" reveals that said assistant was Zero, according to the memory Compiler experiences in her dying moments.
- In "Parallel Superimposition", none of the above changes, but it's even more explicit. Zero, an Anti-X/Antiochus created by Dr Aoste, is identical to TB. Given the way Siren tech is explained, it's clear that TB must be an exact copy of the Zero AI, and thus is a Siren. But why does Naval HQ have a pet Siren?

Naval Headquarters

The top brass of Azur Lane.

Adaptational Villainy: While they have no mention in the CN version of Tower of Transcendance, Freidrich mentions in the JP and EN versions that "HQ wants the war between the factions to drag out."
The Ghost: Despite having an important influence, none of them are shown.
Greater-Scope Paragon: By definition, yes.
Hypocrite: Despite the use of Siren tech being the main cause for the split between the Crimson Axis and Azur Lane, in Operation Siren they supply the Commander with Siren tech, like TB and the META Coordinates Tracker.

Dr. Anzeel (Unmarked Spoilers)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/azur_lane_2022_12_19_08_28_58.jpg

Anzeel as she appears in Parallel Superimposition

A researcher from a different timeline mentioned in the Operation Siren Record Files. She is the creator of the Wisdom Cube and subsequently Code G, the first kansen.

Author Avatar: She is the closest one to Manjuu's CEO Lin Shuyin.
Cuteness Proximity: She outright squees when she first sees The Devil.
Dub Name Change: Named Dr. Anjuu in the CN and JP servers (a reference to one of the game's developers, Manjuu).
Fling a Light into the Future: She left behind an AI in the data of Wisdom Cubes for the Commander to find.
Gamer Chick: Some of the metaphors her she uses ("speedrun" and "glitch" among others) refer to video games.
Hidden Buxom: It's more of the case of Her default art not showing it, but a story art in the Parallel Superimposition event shows that she is rather well-stacked◊.
The Idealist: A recording in "The Fool's Scales" reveals that she believed Arbiter: The Hierophant V's abilities could potentially allow humanity to communicate with Deus X and end hostilities.
The Madness Place: Her office is described as a disorganized mess in "Abyssal Refrain", with papers strewn all over the floor and her desk. Despite this, she’s clearly a genius of the highest order.
Motherly Scientist: To the Kansen. In the message she leaves in "Abyssal Refrain", she even refers to herself as "Mama" to any shipgirl who finds it.
The Reveal: She is the "Creator" that the Sirens have been alluding to.
Sacrificial Lion: "Khorovod of Dawn's Rime" reveals that she sacrificed herself at the Long Island defense line to buy time for others to be evacuated to Somers.^note
Seriously Scruffy: In "Abyssal Refrain", her silhouette has multiple strands of hair sticking out, and her workplace is noted to be cluttered. When we see her recording in Causality Transposition she has an askew labcoat and visible streaks of grey in her hair.
Unperson: Downplayed. The Ashes' timeline-traveling search for her and Dr. Aoste remain unsuccessful because not a single timeline had either of them. Notably, the only other existence with a similar status is Bon Homme Richard, and that was implied to be caused by her Origination.
Virtual Ghost: The "recorder" AI she left behind for the Commander to find.
Walking Spoiler: It's hard to talk about her without spoiling Code G's past.

Dr. Aoste (Unmarked Spoilers)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/azur_lane_2022_12_23_23_04_33_3.jpg

Aoste in Parallel Superimposition

A researcher from a different timeline mentioned in the Operation Siren Record Files. During the events of Khorovod of Dawn's Rime, the Commander experiences memories where Dr. Aoste apparently talks with them. He is the creator of both the Antiochus faction and the Arbiter Program, the former of which used the creation of Dr. Anzeel's Code G as a basis.

Author Appeal: In-Universe example. Both Dr. Anzeel and another doctor (implied to be her assistant, John Archer) tease him for having a thing for white-haired girls when he officially unveiled Compiler, due to her similarity in appearance to Observer Zero. Aoste denies it, claiming he was only using Zero, the first Siren, as a base template, but given how many other Sirens have white or at least very light-colored hair, there was clearly some truth to their teasing. It's to the point that Anzeel specifically calls it out when she first sees The Devil and that he created something with black hair for once.
The Cynic: A recording in "The Fool's Scales" reveals that he expected humanity's battle against Deus X to not end peacefully, as he designed Arbiter: The Hierophant V (the first Arbiter) primarily to completely eradicate Deus X.
Dub Name Change: Named Dr. Osta in the CN server (a reference to the game's JP/EN publisher, Yostar).
Giver of Lame Names: According to Anzeel, who makes fun of his naming sense repeatedly.
Insufferable Genius: "Parallel Superimposition" has him repeatedly stress all the ways he believes Antiochus is superior to the KAN-SEN program, from their modular, interchangeable parts to their Body Backup Drives that render them functionally immortal and expendable, all while ribbing Dr. Anzeel for allgedly wasting time on "frivolities" like designing the KAN-SEN's appearances, likening them to dolls. To his credit, he does seem to genuinely like the Commander (actually Dr. Anzeel's assistant, John Archer), and even tries to poach him from Dr. Anzeel to work with him on the Antiochus project at one point.
Orwellian Retcon: Yostar initially translated his title as "Inquisitor" and "Master Arbiter", which caused a Dub-Induced Plot Hole with other mentions of "Magister". An update retranslated the relevant scenes for consistency.
The Reveal: He is the "Magister" mentioned by the Sirens; in "College Life" File 6, Dr. Anzeel even calls him "Aoste, the Great Magister". In "Abyssal Refrain", he's also seen speaking to someone whose outline matches TB from Operation Siren, implying a connection to her, which is all but confirmed outright in "Parallel Superimposition".
- His creation of the Arbiter Program in "The Fool's Scales" gives context to his scene in "Fallen Wings" where he decided to "make this world cruel", "for the sake of survival"; he's the one who gave Zero and the other Sirens the mission to antagonize humanity to prepare them against Deus X.
Sacrificial Lion: "Fallen Wings" implies that he was eventually cornered by the Leviathans when he entrusted "humanity's past" to Zero.
Unperson: Downplayed. The Ashes' timeline-traveling search for him and Dr. Anzeel remain unsuccessful because not a single timeline had either of them. Notably, the only other existence with a similar status is Bon Homme Richard, and that was implied to be caused by her Origination.
Walking Spoiler: It's hard to talk about him without spoiling the true nature of the Sirens.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: He's willing to subject humanity to a cruel world if it's for the sake of their continued survival.

John Archer (Unmarked Spoilers)

The captain of the Enterprise (CVN-65) from a different timeline mentioned in the Operation Siren Record Files.

Adaptational Job Change: He's mentioned as a colonel in the "Present and Future" set of Record Files in the JP and EN scripts, when he is mentioned as a captain in the CN script.
Adaptational Late Appearance: The JP server (and in turn the EN server) omitted his name from "Glimmer Project" File 5 and "Confidential I" File 3, but the "Present and Future" set of Record Files explicitly names him as Dr. Anzeel's coworker.
Alternate Self: He is strongly implied to be the Commander in the original timeline via Gameplay and Story Integration: VN-style dialogue options only pop up in various story segments when the Commander is the viewpoint character, and one such set of choices shows up during Kronshtadt's vision when her Wisdom Cubes' lock/failsafe activated during the events of "Abyssal Refrain".
Due to the Dead: The last file of "Richard Archives I" shows his tombstone and reveals that he posthumously earned the Medal of Honor and Navy Cross^note.
Family Man: "Richard Files IV" File 6 is a partial transcript of an apparent friend of John conversing with John's family (his dad Philip Archer, Mrs. Archer, and John's son) after the latter were brought into protective custody.
Happily Married: He apparently has a wife, and the journalists she declined an interview with in the wake of his absence from a scheduled press conference noted that she didn't seem worried about him (which leads them to speculate that he's "probably safe and away conducting a secret military mission").
- When she's brought into protective custody in "Richard Files IV" File 6, she suspects that something has happened to John and demands answers from his apparent friend.
Heroic Sacrifice: "Richard Archives I" reveals that he detonated the nuke on the CVN-65 Enterprise (with him alone on board, after he had everyone else evacuate it) to destroy Pandora's Box in the ship's cargo, which was the source of the first known instances of Origination (including the case of Bon Homme Richard).
The Promise: The "Confidential I" Record File mentions that he was one of the few people that was permitted by Dr. Anzeel to talk with Code G during her training. This gives context to the scene in Fallen Wings between "Enterprise" (implied to be Code G) and her "Commander" as they admire a night sky full of stars, promise to meet other civilizations in space one day, and talk about the meaning of her name; said "Commander" is implied to be him.
Shout-Out: To Captain Johnathan Archer from Star Trek: Enterprise.

Other Entities

Leviathans / "X" (Unmarked Spoilers)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/memory_dreamwakers_butterfly_background_5.png

^{Click to see the appearance of the Gazers}

Beings from another dimension that attacked humanity in a different timeline.

Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Their entire schtick revealed so far.
Evil Counterpart: To the KAN-SEN. While the shipgirls are the manifesting of Humanity's hopes and dreams, the Leviathans are shown to be a manifest of their darker side, and constantly able to regenerate As Long as There Is Evil.
Expy: Interestingly, they have a lot in common to the alien final enemy in the film Battleship.
Hero Killer: They're heavily implied to have been responsible for Dr. Anzeel and Dr. Aoste's fates in the original timeline.
Outside-Context Problem: A notable aversion as the story progresses. Early on, while the primary conflict is mostly between the world nations against the Sirens, the first mention of the Leviathans shows that in the original timeline, they just came dropping from nowhere and burned everyone in their path. As later revealed, this actually becomes the raison d'etre for the Sirens' mission to create simulations to train the girls for the inevitable clash.
Unseen No More: They finally make their debut in the main story during "The Fool's Scales", as the Gazers are indicated to be either a type of the X or derived from them.
You Cannot Grasp the True Form: In "Dreamwaker's Butterfly", it's implied that Northern Parliament technology allowed Shinano to perceive the Leviathans as her Sakura Empire comrades battled them in another timeline. In Khorovod of Dawn's Rime, it's implied that a simulation of them were the enemy force that the Commander and the North Parliament encountered in the Arcana Sanctum (based on a recording of a different North Parliament battling them in another timeline).
(from "Dreamwaker's Butterfly") [Shinano] saw the Leviathan that transcended the very oceans. From its wake grew a calamitous storm that could overwhelm all existence on this planet. [...] She saw a colossus that could rend the sky, its body rippling like a crucible of cold steel, grinding the land into nothingness.
(The Commander's narration, from "Khorovod of Dawn's Rime") They were enormous beasts made of black steel, but even through the high-resolution screens, their shapes were blurred as if light itself was repulsed by their grotesque forms.

Deus X

Big Bad: Dr. Aoste created the Arbiters to "completely eradicate" Deus X for humanity's losses, implying it's the main threat of the entire story.
Punny Name: Its name is phonetically similar to 'deus ex' (of 'Deus ex Machina').

Gazer X

Penumbra X

Collaboration Ships

The game has made collaborations with other works, so each work will be listed separately (with the exception of Armored Trooper VOTOMS, which doesn't have a collaboration shipgirl; instead players get Marshydog as a furniture item).

Neptunia

Ship prefix: HDN

Decomposite Character: The CPUs and their HDD forms are separate characters in this game, with different rarities.
Moe Anthropomorphism: Beyond their existing traits as moe anthropomorphizations of game consoles, their CPU forms receive Kansen rigging that further emphasizes this with more features alluding to their game console heritage (their HDD forms don't require rigging, as they're fully capable of fighting Sirens and their minions without it).
- Neptune's Light Cruiser rigging has extremely round, conical turrets, possibly calling to mind the prominent circle shapes of the Sega Saturn 3D controller and Sega Dreamcast controller, or possibly the distinct dome around the cartridge port of the Sega Genesis.
- Noire's Heavy Cruiser rigging has barbettes shaped like the PlayStation 4 on its rear, superfiring guns.
- Blanc's Destroyer rigging has a torpedo launcher that resembles a Wii complete with its base, as well as additional Nintendo D-pads.
- Vert's Carrier rigging features several instances of the Xbox "X" and straight line vents similar to those on the top of the Xbox 360 S. Furthermore, the fact that her rigging is Carrier-type (carriers being some of the largest ships of WWII, only beat out by the newest and largest battleships) is possibly a reference to the infamous size of the original Xbox and its early emphasis on on-line (and thus, long-range, much like a carrier's aircraft) capabilities.

The CPUs

Neptune

Hull type: Light Cruiser

Voiced by: Rie Tanaka

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hdn_neptuneicon.png

ID: No. Collab001

Rarity: Elite

Artist: Tsunako

"Yahoo! My name is Neptune! Nice to meet you!"

One-Steve Limit: Averted. She shares the same name as HMS Neptune.
Reckless Gun Usage: When she first got her ship rigging, she pointed the guns at someone, and Akashi immediately chastised her about it. Later she played with a torpedo and used it as a baseball bat, which caused others to cringe in fear, but Laffey assured them that she'd already removed the detonator.
Shout-Out: Her skill activation line is a reference to Hatsune Miku, specifically her song "Miku Miku ni Shite Ageru".

Noire

Hull type: Heavy Cruiser

Voiced by: Asami Imai

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/noireicon.png

ID: No. Collab002

Rarity: Elite

Artist: Tsunako

"Are you the Commander? Hmm, well whatever. I'm Noire. Lastation's CPU. You can rest easy now that I'm here."

Tsundere: It wouldn't be Noire without this trope. Best shown in her pledge line.
Twin Tails: Apropos given her Tsundere status.

Blanc

Hull type: Destroyer

Voiced by: Kana Asumi

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/blancicon.png

ID: No. Collab003

Rarity: Elite

Artist: Tsunako

"The name's Blanc. I'll be in your care. Perhaps you can show me some of your world's interesting books..."

A-Cup Angst: Vert still teases her about her chest size. Also, this trope is weaponized: how her skill works depends on whether Vert is present in the main fleet or not.
Stance System: If Vert is present in the fleet, she becomes a Glass Cannon, doing and taking more damage. Otherwise, she's a Stone Wall, doing and taking less damage.

Vert

Hull type: Aircraft Carrier

Voiced by: Rina Sato

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/verticon.png

ID: No. Collab004

Rarity: Elite

Artist: Tsunako

"I'm the CPU of Leanbox - Vert. I'm also good at FPSes. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Cuteness Proximity: She's still looking for little sisters, which in this game are destroyers. She, like Ark Royal, has special lines that are activated when there's 3 escort destroyers. Unlike Ark Royal, Vert isn't as perverted, and she weaponizes this, with her skill giving her buffs the more destroyers are present in the escort fleet. Hilariously, since Blanc is a destroyer, the skill also works on her. Also she seems to be a lot better at interacting with destroyers than Ark Royal.
Gamer Chick: As in their own games, Vert's this. Long Island and Yuubari are completely blown away by her gaming skills when they played together.

HDD CPUs

Adaptation Expansion: HDD CPUs' personalities are more expanded here, since they aren't limited by share energy and stamina needed to maintain their forms in their own games.
Lady of War: All HDD CPUs are this, especially in their alternate skins, although it's more noticeable for Purple Heart and Green Heart.
Nonstandard Character Design: They're the only girls in the game that doesn't have any ship riggings on them (not counting skins, or the Bullins, who aren't supposed to be used for combat). This is to show that they're powerful enough they don't need any riggings unlike their normal CPU forms to fight against the Sirens.