Explaining The War in Ensemble Stars! 

I believe he was a second year, actually…? Since the war was the year before !, when Eichi was a third year.

It's 2nd year he's attend school early cause his birthday on January

Thanks!

Though, Sakuma brothers arent really vampires, they just have this rare conditions (illness) that makes them weak to sunlight, like vampires

Well, there are in music(!!) now lol. The current DF event in jp

Yeah I imagined a Danganronpa situation

Something something godfather

You're assuming that fine was directly causing their deaths, which isn't true. Even in narrative it was stated as being an unforseen and unfortunate occurrence of the reformation.

@@saioutakuma you're very okay with evil cute guys I know that about you. You don't have to try to explain how a reformation would naturally cause a full graveyard of students to pop up next to a school that houses the three generic Hitler heads of the verse, nobody would take you seriously anyways.

and souma was ordered to kill him if kanata ever started ”going mad” or “defying” his position. we can thank madara for dismantling the entire religion

@@ouwkaiiomfg which story is this from?

Tf i need to read it please op what storyyyyy

@@hellochako It's ! era Ryusteitai Chiaki flashback story called "Meteor Impact". But good lord, please read it a few times if you do because there is a lot to unpack and it haunts future narrative like you wouldn't believe.

@@ouwkaii actually, Souma's position in relation to Kanata is more complicated than that, due to their shared ancient history, but the order to kill god is actually something that has been passed down in his family, generation to generation since ancient times, and the occurrence of the first Meteor Impact. Madara wasn't the one who dismantled the religion, it was Kanata, but he did help in doing so. Also, the blood thirsty frenzy? Oh man is it insane what actually causes it and Kanata actually gives us hints as to what it was in part two of the Meteor Impact narrative. This will also become insanely lore relevant to Mayoi as well.

Yeah, Keito and Tsumugi do have some haters, but Eichi is by far the least popular

yeah, i was super confused by that when i got into enstars too since eichi deeply regretted it while the other two felt almost no remorse…?

@@dghsdjk44 to be fair, they vowed to never do something of that scale ever again.

I'm pretty new to the fandom and haven't had the chance to read a ton of stories yet but. Eichi's actions during the War are pretty excusable, a complicated situation and he was honestly trying to reach the 'best outcome'. It's fine, complicated character with a good heart... But the story Milky Way/Fall of a Great Star is something that I don't think I can forgive him for. ='l Spoilers for it- This happens around a few months after DDD. After fine destroyed Valkyrie, Shu went into a depressive state for around 6 months. Finally they've recovered enough to start holding tiny lives, hidden away and outside of the school and the DreFes system because of trauma and the system being against them. Eichi hunts them down after one of these and gives a Horrible speech/ultimatum to force them to compete against fine (a second time= Trauma) or he will have AKATSUKI murder Nazuna and the cute little first-year bunnies that he adopted. The story ends with fine winning (because the DreFes is biased) and the last scene is just Eichi being entranced and inspired by Valkyrie's performance- zero regrets or second thoughts. Seriously, there is no way that Eichi didn't know what that first battle did to Shu Itsuki, the first Eccentric sacrificed to the War, the Eccentric who used to rule the school- who immediately stopped going to school and faded away into nothing after the War began with his defeat. The War was over, things were better now, and Eichi went and targeted Valkyrie after they had barely pulled themselves together again Just so that he and fine 2.0 could win against them. Eichi's speech antagonizing Shu is Sooo over the line- "Let us make meat pies out of rabbit flesh" (Fan translated but relatively accurate) He is a pretty great Character, but he is also a Terrible person happy to do and say messed up stuff purely for his own benefit, regardless of the impact on others. I do enjoy Eichi and his shenanigans' but he is just Not a good person. =P

@@StarNinja77 I just reread the stories translation and I think I understand why Eichi did what he did to Shu its because among the 5 eccentrics, he hurtNatsume, only 3 remained and continued to live their lives, shinkai+ryusetai, rei+undead,Shu and wataru+fine,, meanwhile Shu and Natsume refused to, Shu rebels and did not show himself in public stage only on underground music while Natsume is not showing himself, and we all know Eichi loves idols that his willing to hurt someone and be the villain as long as the idol industry thrives and if we say idol, Eichi actually idolize the 5 eccentrics for him their talent is what an idol should be that's why he chose them as the 5 eccentrics a being dominating the Yumenosaki academy that everyone should aspire to overcome uhhhm...(eliminate), but we all know the result, it's bad, buuut~~~ he repented already, especially when he and Tsumugi separated. from what I've read to support Ryusetai his been secretly giving the small jobs that fit their unit, Wataru is with him, and I'm not sure about his love and hate relationship with Rei. sooooooooo after the trickstar revolution/DDD Yumenosaki academy changes, units known and unknown is slowly revitalizing themselves except for Valkyrie and Natsume so for Valkyrie, in order not to waste their talent Eichi blackmails Shu, not just once though haha...😓😭 first is when he blackmails them in ruining rabbits so Shu shows himself in public media again and that's when Eichi+Fine was slap hard that Valkyrie was indeed the top unit talent-wise in Yumenosaki thus the scene where Eichi is admiring Shu, the second is.. I'm not clear I think Eichi blackmailed Shu again into not giving funds to Valkyrie for the lack of participation in official events thus Shu was forced to do live and since then he started doing lives again. while regarding Natsume+switch I think Eichi found out from Tsumugi that Natsume is having a hard time choosing to be future teller or idol thus he asks mao+trickstar to help Switch (i think the event story is titled three magicians) and in Natsumes monologue, he said that he understands why Rei and Wataru did not approve his plan and let themselves be the sacrifices, because he now understands that Eichis plan was actually the fastest and least destructive way in savIng Yumenosaki or the only plan that can save Yumenosaki since then switch was continuously participating lives and events and Eichi was happy with the current statuses. I just hope he lessens being aggressive and socially emotionless though my heart still aches for those babies hurt😞

Same I play ensemble stars music and played it for the music but I was always somewhat curious about the lore but I mainly didn't want the characters being ruined for me 😅

Ooh yeah I remember these, Meteor Impact is THE story when you wanna talk about insane Enstars lore

Damn you're more ReiP than me, thank you for this! Finding translations after the wiki stopped doing them has been really hard, so I don't know what happened in Altered besides Kanata's sad mom thing

@@cupcake_smoothie I think the most fucked up thing about Kanata's backstory is the fact he was lied to about his mother's death, and then finding out he was actually supposed to have gone with her.... the fact Kanata could forgive her, after being left behind, and forced to serve as a living god, let's just say he's far more kind than me, even if everything he went through brought him to Ryuseitai.

@@jumgkoo3079 It's a running joke that Akira the lead writer for the game desperately wants to write mystery thrillers (which he has done before), but he doesn't want to leave Enstars. And so, you got these bewildering events and dialogues. Also Happyele probably had him chained into an office chair somewhere because his writings are sometimes so erratic and out of pocket I wonder if it's due to stress I mean, there are allusions that Wataru's hair is alive and he is the Second Coming of Christ. There's a theory that Koga is an actual werewolf and he uses rock and roll to channel his anger every full moon. Another wild theory is that Adonis is already dead, and he is actually a ghoul that feasts on human flesh. And don't forget of course about how Godfather may have summoned the soul of God Himself and implant it into Nagisa Enstars is wild man

Oh and the lore is just going to keep getting darker I feel like

Oh yeah, all the characters are all little shits, and the overall lore is dark af

real

so true

Also, about the Oddballs; I'm generally very skittish about labels, so, I'm surprised how the characters were very open to absorb the Five eccentrics label? Like, imagine someone going up to you and saying something like "hey, you're in this group now with crazy random people you don't know. Don't ask why we're calling you guys the 5 Oddballs or why you guys are together! Just take it!", like?! I initially thought that they were friends beforehand, and that the label was created to give popularity to said friend group, thus initiating the plan of, you know, fighting against the units that were associated with it and so on. But the fact that they went along with something so out of the blue? It's so confusing

I think that Eichi snapped. That's why he was so cruel to the 5 eccentrics

A lot of what's in the slides (and therefore the video) was taken from the wiki, so it's more of a compilation of sorts. It isn't solely Eichi's fault (I just think the whole cute pictures of anime boy + this guy has done crime is very funny), which is why I said at the end that I didn't want people hating Eichi for it. A lot of factors were involved and at the end of the day it's just the lore of a real bizarre idol game

@@SheHulk-jg2jc Actually, this was somewhat mentioned in the Elements anime! The "label" sort of brought them together and then it became about supporting each other

@@cupcake_smoothie Yeah lol. The idea of a pretty man commiting very morally gray acts is hilarious, but a lot of ppl hate on him as if YA doesn't exist lol, but I think that's the writing's fault

hes misunderstood tho 😭 he did this for the school's good and because he wanted to be an idol before he dies. Other characters also have wished death on others but no one bats an eye

yea but he still did it like even if something is misunderstood it still gets consequences yknow, it's a different thing from "the fandom is singling out eichi"

@@obbl1gato yes but you forget Eichi is nobility. His actions have heavier weight than anyone else,, regardless of the intent behind his actions

alters can actually integrate or front less which can (sometimes) come from the system healing and needing less fragments of their personality to handle the trauma so while Shus OSDD is inaccurate its not because of Madam not showing up as much. Also you cant form the disorder as an older teen but you can form a new alter or have them change from a traumatic event.

@@ronaldreaganhater6982 true, but if read as the wiki implies, it simply states shu just formed the disorder at that point, theres no possible indication in the current story that he had such a thing as a child, rather that he has a hyper fixation on dolls and to the first part yes, i am aware of that, and i wont say that, that isn’t possible, but i just, don’t think its accurate at all to how mado is phasing out of the story, in the sense that again, mado is not a separate identity, but rather a way for shu to express his emotions, so now shu is being more open, without needing mado to express those emotions, rather then a trauma response, because to be quite honest even before the fall of ex Valkyrie, shu was absolutely inept at properly expressing his true feelings in crucial moments. I believe it is all linked to his autism, of course, people are free to interpret this as they wish.

@@Yu2fishh yeah it's not accurate to real life systems with how it's not linked to his childhood meaningfully. Personally I headcanon he has both but when it comes to the actual story I think the writer might just have fucked up the disorder rep when writing a system character. I've seen other media ignore the childhood trauma part while getting a lot of other stuff right too. I think that reading Shus story as autism instead is valid and an interesting perspective though! I don't think it's fair to call him being a system fanon though since we are told that in canon still and the inconsistencies are stuff that most ignorant writers would screw up, and we know that the enstars writers aren't the best with that in general. There's nothing to suggest that they are purposefully hinting it's not actually a system so far.

@@ronaldreaganhater6982 yes i agree, again it is up to interpretation, but i will say whole heartedly believe the DID label is fanon, because, again, it is not properly implied or stated, while there is no direct message saying it isn’t, there is also next to no proper representation of the disorder itself either. Akira is, a questionable writer when it comes to mental disorders, disabilities, race, etc, so, with how he treats those things, if it hypothetically were to be canon, I believe that the way he portrays it would be a mockery of the disorder, similar to TOKO from danganronpa, again, everyone is absolutely entitled to their opinion on this, but, it really is fanon, because it is not at all properly implied, and not stated. The autism angle is implied because shu has set realistic autistic traits, thats what makes the autism angle implied, and the DID angle simply a headcanon. Theres nothing wrong with that, but, as someone whos been playing enstars and producing valk since around 2018, and has read practically everything there is for shu, I just feel like it really has changed peoples perception of his character, and even how some (might i add very ignorant but still) people online in the fandom view DID itself, i think it would be better if people acknowledged the fact that the label is fanon, and that, even if it were canon, the representation is so so so poor, horrible, and downright ridiculous that it does nobody justice. This isnt the first time either, as the same occurrence happens with hitsugi and NEGI, taking fantasy plotlines, (or poorly just written) and then passing it off as real representation for real crippling mental disorders, is more of a romanticization, then representation. I am not saying its wrong to believe that shu has did, or to headcanon this, but, the way the current fandom passes it off as canon, some even putting it on a pedestal, is, a bit insensitive.

@@ronaldreaganhater6982 i also want to add, though i do not like the reality of this, a lot of the characters traits play into fetishes, (ie mayoi, mika, Ibara) and shu is one of them, so there is a point where you have to step back and realize the buyers, and the sellers, the game was never meant to be properly representing or helping anyone, its a idol game, they put in what they think is maybe “alluring” or “sexy” and then go from there. Shu has many god so many issues in that department as well, its just not reliable.

honestly i dont think the franchise would be as popular as it is if it had any less pathos, its part of the charm. theres a reason why things like sb69 and sanrio boys dont stick as hard w ppl

@@lesbirdie The pathos of Enstars is exactly what makes me love it so much. All the characters are so nuanced and detailed with hopes and traumas, and it makes them very interesting to see. Honestly, I started Enstars and Project Sekai at the same time looking for a rhythm game. I dropped Sekai purely because all the characters lacked in interest and pathos imo. (Also the cute animeboy+war crime combo is always funny.)

Ensemble Stars is written by Akira, a novel author who is known for writting dark (and often problematic) themes, he is originally the writer for Ensemble Girls (Enstars' sister game), Engirls story/lore is even darker than Enstars, there's this scene of one of the girls beating another girl's head using guitar

Oh and btw Anzu was originally an NPC in Engirls, she was a student in Kimisaki Gakuen (the school where the setting of Engirls is in), she was bullied by the other girls there and had to be kicked out by the teachers (yes, the teachers were gaslighted by their own students who play victim card) and they punished her by sending her to all-boys high school that was Yumenosaki Gakuen

Yeah, people always think of guns and stuff when thinking of war but nah they're just slightly dramatic

YES! That's always my favourite part. Quite literally the reason I made these slides was just so I could have that at the ready

It NEVER was just a mere 'idol' game

:(

Ayyy funny you say that lol. I'm working on a video explaining the reminiscence stories like rn. It's way more pain cause 1. I haven't read most of them and 2. No one else (that I know of) has summarised it, so I gotta. I'm halfway reading Crossroads for the first time and woooow this is gonna talk a while to summarise/explain. Someone else is welcome to do that in these comments tho

ive read meteor impact twice but tbh i barely know where to start in summarizing it. like, i can spell out the basic story or idk

Checkmate is fun to read tbh.... If ya want a quick summarized here ya go; So, Eichi make a plan for this "revolution" or as we know "war" with Tsumugi and Keito (but he didn't appear in Checkmate only mentioned). In Checkmate, is where he started his planned to create a unit named "5 eccentric" (Eichi do this secretly and Tsumugi is too oblivious to realize his sceme.) Knights didn't exist yet instead a big unit name Chess. But all the students are lazy except Leo and Sena. Eichi took advantage of Leo's naivety and started the "war". He use Chess as an experiment to see if he can make a battle between other units. Since all of his unitmates wanted his song only, that's where Chess split up. Hence, this is where "Knights" rise. Sena already met Ritsu and Arashi that time, so it's easier for them to fight. Leo keep writing song until he broke down (like literally) (there's 2 ep I think a quick flashback in Next Door event). If am not wrong, it's because all of his haters came in their performance and overthrown Knights while yelling out "Checkmate!". Their performance declining rapidly afterward along with Leo's mentality (that why Leo sometimes act crazy). He locked himself in his room and force himself to write even though he couldn't. Sena also mentioned that Leo keep apologizing to him and stab his hand with a pen, then bite his hand until bleeding, forcing himself to continue writing song. And that's all for now I guess, that is long lmao.... But that is the "quickest" explanation I can give. I love angst so much, it really fun to read. ;)

@@dorimikizup Meteor Impact is more than just Chiaki and Kanata, so the easiest way to disection it is basiclly Ryuseitai members, Akatsuki Members, War, and Eccentrics; mostly because the war took place over eight months, and there are several other stories in narrative, that also took place during this time period (Crossroads, Checkmate, Marionette, and Element, being the big four, but by no means the only ones.) Through in Madara's convoluted backstory alongside Kanata and you have a menu for a really fucked up time.

Thank you! I'm glad you found it helpful

Yuzuru wasn't present in yumenosaki during the war era, but regularly attended ex-fine's live shows, since Tori was a fan of Eichi, and transferred to it during his second year, which is around the same time as Anzu did.

@@narciatori what about Trickstars,Ibara,Jun,Tomoya,Hajime,Sora,Tsukasa,Shinobu,Tetora,Midori and the other Character that didn't appear in the war Era,Elements,Crossroad and Checkmate Series?

@@davianananttaliem1660 Trickstar doesn't form until after the war, although all it's memebers would have been first years during it. For Ibara, Jun, Hiyori, and Nagisa, it's just easier to read Obbligato. Hajime Tomoya, Sora, Tsukasa, Tetora, Midori, and Shinobu wouldn't attend until after the war.... same with Yuzuru and Tori. 2wink also attended YA after the war, Shu and Mika technically still were at YA, but didn't actually attend classes and performed at underground live houses (the one we see them come out of in the anime is actually Crossroads), but eventually they return after some prodding by Eichi and their comeback during the Tanabata Fes. Switch is formed just prior to the Tanabata Festival which is interesting if you watch the OG anime because their debut live happened during Tanabata Fes pt1. Not 100% sure about Knights, but yeah, a third of the cast wasn't even around during the war so it's insane. I think the most messed up lore about YA comes in !! 1.5 and that is learning who was actually running the school.

Yeah, I wanted to get pictures of them during the war era and that one was one of them

@@cupcake_smoothie i thought that was when she was getting mad at ryuseitai for being bad at cooking

@@dorimikizup yea that was when he was scolding ryuseitai during chocofes, not war era

They had to be removed due to copyright, so most of the new stories cannot be read on the wiki, however, you can use the Wayback Machine to read about The War, and most ! stories.

well, part of it has do with that, the other part of it is the running gag that he's an ancient vampire XD

Thank you! I'm glad me reading off the slides was at least helpful

You don't 'need' to know lore to play the game, but if you want to read the stories, more will make sense if you know backstory.

I got the info from the Enstars wiki, but all of this happens in the first game, which only has a Japanese server. It's part of the Reminiscence events but if I'm not mistaken you can still read them

@@cupcake_smoothie oh now it makes sense. however i don’t really understand people opposing eichi too much😭 like i completely agree that the fact that he used 5 people as stepping stools is terrible, but that aside, if he didnt reform the school, would that not just mean that students from yumenosaki would fail in the future? by making them work hard, at least now some of them have talent or are not on the path of being immediately rejected from future jobs. although some su!cided because of this system, i believe even more student wouldve su!cided in the future as a result of being failures + yumensaki’s reputation wouldve plummeted even more. so, in a sense, eichi also prevented lives from being destroyed, more so than if he werent here at all. its like, either way there would be people who were bound to fail, but at least this way, the percentage is lower. am i getting that right or did i miss something? thats why although the steps he took aren’t completely justifiable, i think people discredit him too much and overlook the realistic ideology

@@iquit1044 Yeah, you're not wrong. While a lot of people don't like Eichi for what he did he definitely did have good intentions. He was just a kid too. But it's the internet, so a lot of people view things very black and white

@@cupcake_smoothie true, but i still think its wrong for people to say hes the cause of peoples de3th. like many more wouldve died if it werent for his plan. eichi is a very well written character, i really despise it when others just see “good” or “bad” without understanding the depths behind ones actions, whether theyre justifiable or not. youre considerate though!

@@cupcake_smoothie Eichi's guilt also carries over to his creating ES for similar reasons as in the Tempest event, he second guesses if making ES was the right thing to do as he tramples the dreams of others in order to achieve his own. However, it's Wataru who says to him, if Eichi doesn't keep moving forward, he would have trampled those people for nothing (an obvious war reference here, given Wataru is one of the five eccentrics).

Could you elaborate on your question?

@@cupcake_smoothie oh I would like to ask whether tsukasa was able to know what happened to leo and izumi? Because I heard that something happened to leo because of eichi during the war

@@_HIRAETH_04 Oh, I'm not sure actually

@@cupcake_smoothie its okay, thank uu tho 😊

As Tsukasa attened as a first year after the war, I think it was mentioned that he was told stories about Leo, but what specifically he was told is really unknown. We just know he has always looked up to Knights, and after he became leader of the unit, I have no doubt he had to know at least his unit's backstory.

I hope this video wasn't too bad then >.

As I keep saying to people, if you're going to hate him, at least hate him for the right reasons

fucked up characters, and even more dark and fucked up lore. Welcome to Ensemble Stars

A lot of the teachers were apathetic or didn't care either. They were there, but had the same attitude as most of the students. That's why finding out Akiomi is the faculty advisor for the Student Council was insane to me. Whether it was before the war or after, not 100% clear on that

I linked it in the comments cause of RU-vid's new rules, I can't pin the comment either so you'll have to look

@cupcake_smoothie and here starts my journey!! LOL ty for sharing it in the comments!

Hahaha thanks! So THAT'S where the Discord stats are coming from. Whenever I look at my analytics I'm always like whose DMs am I in?? Jokes aside, I really appreciate it! I'm glad you liked the video

It's in the comments (which I can't pin for the same reason the link is cut off), but here docs.google.com/presentation/d/11viN8AfCsrLEr3SaqoaaPjaj4oOYkPA1yjjK27qfv6Q/edit?usp=sharing

You can watch it on the official RU-vid channel! They're releasing a new season soon, actually. You can also check out the Fandom wiki for more info on the characters!

ru-vid.com/group/PL5wEQ3YUNbnBHtrbn-gLh2YM95QM0Un6u&si=_m42Q9Tl8L5BbZh2 Here's the playlist! Someone on Twitter added subtitles too, but I don't really remember who

@@cupcake_smoothie THANK YOU SO MUCH!

also the original anime is licensed on Crunchyroll

Hiiiii! I actually made this cause I said I would make a video version in the first post lol

@@cupcake_smoothie oh wait really I didn’t know

those two are still losers but not complete

Rei and Kaoru are my boyfails

he has nice voice👍

The Checkmate anime tells more about the origins of Knights and is very Izumi and Leo-centric

I FEEL THIS WITH MY ENTIRE SOUL. I use to hate Izumi and then shrimpy boy decided to have music era character development and now I am KnightsP because of him ~_~ XD (I also blame Road to Show XD) And yeah, Izumi 'is' annoying as hell, but you do come to understand his character more through Knights Events in !! era