KanCole superfan upgrades his regular bathtub to an ita-bathtub.

In many ways, Kantai Collection, also known as KanColle to fans, is a perfect example of a modern anime hit. Based on a popular video game, KanColle has an intricate concept, involving anthropomorphized historical warships (in the form of cute young women, naturally) battling a mysterious Abyssal Fleet that’s terrorizing the ocean waters.

But really, like with most contemporary anime success stories, KanColle’s fans just like spending time with their favorite characters from the series. That’s not hard to do, what with the franchise media mix encompassing games, anime, manga, light novels, and drama CDs, but superfan and Japanese Twitter user @toyo555555 realized there was one untapped source of potential together-time with the KanColle cast: his bathtub.

KanColle alternates between battles on the high seas and the cast’s cohabiting lifestyle at their naval base, which includes a traditional Japanese communal bath area. So @toyo555555 decided to link the anime’s bathing space with his real-life one by adding bath scene character artwork and backgrounds to the walls of his home bathroom. There’re some clever use of perspective tricks too, such as visually extending the rim of the actual tub so that the KanColle girls can lean over it.

Even in Japan, though, you can’t just roll into your local home center and grab some anime interior paneling off the shelves. @toyo555555’s ita-bath was a self-developed concept, with the first step being taking screen captures of the artwork he’d need. He then printed it out on the same sort of material car customizers use for graphic vehicle wraps (like with itasha anime cars) and put the laminated print-outs up on his bathroom walls.

@toyo555555’s ingenuity has earned him praise online, such as:

“Just…seriously…you’re a genius.”

“I never would have thought of this on my own.”

“Awesome(^-^)It’s an ita-bath.”

“If I had this in my house, I’d take about 100 baths a day.”

@toyo555555 admits that it’s now hard to convince himself to get out of the tub, but if you’re assuming that this level of anime affection in interior design could only come from the mind of a perpetually single man, you’re mistaken. He’s actually married, and what’s more, his wife is OK with the bold redesign of their home’s bathtub. “My wife has reacted favorably this time,” @toyo555555 tweets, suggesting that she hasn’t been as fond of some of his other shows of otaku exuberance in the past. “She says it gives the room a feeling of depth, making it seem bigger then it really is.”

And it’s true. The artwork really does create a more open atmosphere than plain tile walls would. Still, @toyo555555’s wife seems surprisingly accommodating of her husband’s desire to soak his naked body in the company of a half-dozen similarly unclothed anime girls, but maybe part of her leniency comes from the fact, as one commenter pointed out, that the KanColle girls are all permanently placed in a separate tub that’s dimensionally impossible for @toyo555555 to ever get into.

Source: Twitter/@toyo555555 via IT Media

Images: Twitter/@toyo555555