About

Essex is a ship-girl from the Chinese video game Azur Lane and the anthropomorphization of the American aircraft carrier USS Essex (CV-9). She has become a subject of various memes and edits online both inside and outside of the game's community due to her amusing-looking chibi form and her personality.

Origin

Essex first appeared in the 1 year anniversary event on CN/JP/KR Azur Lane servers, which ran from September to October 2018. She is voiced by Kaori Mizuhashi.^[1]

She is notable for her dorky and caring personality and the desire to surpass her kouhai USS Enterprise. She is often associated with lemons because in the Gothic wa Mahou Otome
collaboration event with Azur Lane, it was said that Enterprise dislikes lemons.

Spread

Essex quickly became one of the most prevalent memes in the Azur Lane community thanks in large part to her goofy-looking chibi form which clashes with her serious behavior. On January 12th, 2022, Twitter user @HM_Hmongt^[3] posted a comic with Essex, gaining over 550 retweets and 2,600 likes (shown below, left). One year later, user @rabe26k^[4] posted art of Essex, gaining over 150 retweets and 770 likes in nearly three months (shown below, right).

On the 31st of July 2023 a sticky thread was made on /v/ for the 81st anniversary of the ship's launch, the thread has reached over 3000 posts.^[5]

She was one of the strongest aircraft carriers in the game and she appeared in the original Air Raid Drills with Essex event, which took place between February and March 2018. The event was notable for its high difficulty and poor rewards, which helped solidify her meme reputation.^[2]

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References