It's the worst manga I bought on this trip to Japan, by miles... but I'm only saying that because I'm not the target audience. It's for fans who already know these characters and want lots of throwaway side-stories for them. Azur Lane is a 2019 Chinese game/anime/etc. franchise set in an alt-universe World War Two where all the battleships are cute girls. Sounds unique? Nope. It's a rip-off of the mega-hit KanColle (2013), which itself had precursors like Arpeggio of Blue Steel (2009). I avoided the Azur Lane anime when it came out... but then I bought this manga volume at random and only noticed too late that it was an Azur Lane anthology.

Ah well. Maybe it would be good. I read it... and hated it.

It's an anthology series of standalone mini-stories by lots of different writer/artists, set between the ship girls' actual adventures. In other words, nothing here matters. It's slice-of-life nonsense. The first chapter is about a ship girl getting red-faced and its punchline is that she has a cold. Another involves a young-looking ship girl uncomprehendingly wanting to "become an adult" and being dissuaded when an older ship girl models an outfit that flaunts her enormous boobs. What's the point of any of this? Even if I'd been invested in these characters, these storylines mean nothing and go nowhere. Chapter 8 by Left Hand (pages 81-96) gets nearest to being readable, with one ship girl setting some others a battle challenge if they don't want to be late for dinner... but that's a waste of time too.

I'm sure I'd have liked it better if I'd been familiar with the cast. The characterisation is broad and brazen, presumably exaggerated for attempted comedy. Even as it was, I was occasionally amused. Also, everyone has the hots for the male Commander who I presume represented the player in the original game. Thus, on top of everything else, this is a fanservice harem comedy.

If you're not already a fan of this franchise, the art's the only reason to look at this... and even that's variable. Chapter 9 by Hoeru Tarou (pages 97-102) has such horrible inking that it sucks the life from the pages. There's lively, funny art elsewhere, though, including tame fanservice. You won't actually see anything, but you'll certainly be aware when a ship girl is buxom.

Googling, I found this...

"Volume 1, Chapter 9 explores the relationship between Illustrious and Unicorn and it's adorable."

...so there are indeed people who enjoyed this series. I'm happy for them, but that doesn't include me.