I'm like the equivalent of a fossil when it comes to this game (started playing in 2017), sorry in advance LOL
My History with Enstars
In the beginning: we got a little silly
I first heard about Ensemble Stars in late 2016. I was a complete newbie when it came to Japanese idol-related games, my only experience being with the Worldwide server for Love Live! School Idol Festival at the time, which I came to know during my tumblr days since it was all the rage on there. As a brief history, I joined a "network" on tumblr during 2016 for Dangan Ronpa 3's anime airing, which is where I came to learn more about idol series through the people there, and figured out how to get a Japanese iTunes account for the sake of installing the Japan-based servers for games because of them. Truly, I think this is what could be called a "canon event".I don't even wholly remember how Enstars became a part of our little group's stitching. It kind of just got brought up one day and stuck. I vividly remember hearing about these guys being on call while browsing AO3 in the middle of the night, reading fanfic about the characters out loud and giggling. This is a very interesting tidbit to add that shows that I am truly an Enstars boomer: if you happen to remember that great big ordeal of the Enstars Fandom wiki being vandalised with text along the lines of "the dog never dies" along with a silly gif... yeah, that was this group. I knew them personally, but wasn't involved because I was asleep when most of it happened because of my timezone being wildly different to everyone else's. Interesting times, for sure.
Let's get it started!
I don't exactly remember when I installed the game for the first time, but it was definitely after the aforementioned group split due to internal conflicts. The first event I remember participating in (and have cards from) was the Knights reminiscence event, and I found the game to be quite simple but charming due to the artstyle, cute designs and easy-to-manage gameplay. I found that it became super addictive very fast, even playing it during class whenever I needed to clear my LP for the events going on... I even dragged two of my real-life friends into it! One of these friends is still very much into it, and is currently one of the very few people I talk to about the series because I can trust him to be normal about it all. Nothing like a good ol' HiMERU joke to soothe the soul.Best... what?
I ended up joining Twitter and absconding from tumblr sometime around getting into the game. Again, no exact dates because I forgot... but I remember coming to learn about the fan culture around the game on that site. Since I never really interacted with fans of idol series outside of my small group and didn't know a whole lot about "producing" characters, I came to figure all that out while I was still finding my footing.I jumped around with my favourite characters for a while. I remember really liking Kanata, Tetora, Tsukasa and Ritsu a lot during my early days. Madara's Concerto banner 5* with the Leo 4* came out around the time I was starting out, and I actually got it first pull! I considered him my best boy for a while, before the truck of feelings known as Trickstar hit.
...Yeah, I'm about to admit this. Trickstar became my top unit for the entire series and I was fiercely defensive of these four, with Hokuto of all characters being my top boy and the closest thing I'd had to a fictional other without even knowing about yume/selfship at the time. To this day I probably would still defend them against the boring allegations even though I know in my heart of hearts that's how protag units typically are. I can tell you now I was screaming and crying and throwing up when the end-of-year SS event happened and I finally got my hands on a Hokuto 5*. To this day, I still freakin' adore that guy. At some point, I even had a shrine page dedicated to him on Neocities, but it's long since been taken down since I wanted to repurpose the site I had (and never did... oops).
Some of my finest moments relating to my time producing Hokke during ! era include:
- Finally getting his Matador scout 5* during one of the revival scout periods!!! My actual favourite card at the time, he was so gorgeous...
- Pulling his Science scout 5* first pull after waiting months and months for him to show up in gacha again!
- Getting his SS 5*, as mentioned above. Truly my finest moment.
- His Romeo and Juliet event 5* coming out on the event that took place on my birthday!! Only got one copy because I was so busy with school, though...
- Soloing his 4th anniversary scout and special album release 4* cards because I was too broke for a 10 scout... lol
- Ranking for a card of his for the first time, his event 4* from one of the last events of ! era...
- Being the absolute genius who wrote the initial information of Hokuto's history on the Enstars Fandom wiki in 2019... with much of my text still remaining there... my power is immeasurable
- OWNING THE TRICKSTAR SPECIAL ALBUM WHICH CAME WITH THE REBELLION STAR MUSIC VIDEO!!!!!!!!!!!! Truly something that had me giggling and kicking my legs u p behind me and shit. I liked him so much
I never ranked for any of his 5* cards, though. #FRAUD
Hiatus era
Because of certain events happening in my life around this time, as well as the lack of interesting stuff going on with Enstars at the end of 2019, I found myself falling off the wagon with the game. I ended up fixated on other games and series, moving away from Enstars and somewhat mocking its overly dramatic nature. As you can tell I was a super edgy teenager, LOL.I heard briefly about the new units coming out, and had my attention caught by a... certain long-haired guy (this will be relevant later, prommy). But for the most part, I was kind of over it and actually got anxiety engaging with the game and other people who liked it for a good while. And that's about that, really. Periodically I'd see updates from the game and think "oh, cool" and just move on without a second thought. The USA cover music video gave me a good chuckle, as did the Times Square billboard event happening. But otherwise, it was something I paid little attention to in favour of other stuff. Nature was healing, or so I thought...
Aw shit, here we go again
As stated before, I didn't really talk much or think about Enstars from when I drifted from the game. Mostly, all I did was complain about the fanbase being genuinely annoying and obsessive over the most ridiculous discourse that'd been cycling since the years I was in the fandom on a public account (a two year age gap between two fictional high schoolers, the horror!). I still think they're like that at this point, but I guess most of them are kids with moderately unsupervised internet access so I just block them and cultivate the spaces in which I talk about and consume the media so I don’t have to see stupid things being said about fictional men. I had installed the games at launch back in 2020 to roll for my boys' initial cards, but I didn't end up staying, evidently enough.When did I get back into Enstars? Well, October of 2023. I'd been in Japan for a few months and seen it around, still somewhat complaining about it because I thought I was too cool for the pretty idol boy mobage because of my superior taste or whatever. I don't even remember how or why I got back into it, but I remember grinding for the Yuuta 5* event back in October like a madman, not realising I could use my old cards from basic for team building until partway through. I think part of me heading towards Enstars again after all this time is related to the death of The Idolm@ster SideM: Growing Stars in 2023. I'm still kind of gutted that Bandai Namco pulled the plug on it less than two years into its run with no good reason as to why, and I suppose I missed playing some kind of funny mobile game since most of my other interests lack one, too. Plus, it all kind of just clicked again and I fell in love with the simplicity yet endless fun of striving towards pretty cards of pretty boys once again when it comes to this game, especially since it's so easy to manage as someone who is busy (whoever at HapiEle decided to implement an auto feature to basic deserves a raise, seriously).
I feel like my tastes haven't changed at all, but it's pretty obvious they have. I'm still a Trickstar enjoyer, of course. I could never truly abandon them. I'm a sucker for "power of friendship" as a trope. They're my little meowmeows, so to speak. Though, if the theming of this page wasn't dead obvious, I've become a huge fan of Niki since getting back into the game. I was actually already interested in him when he was first announced, which I think is hilarious.
And that brings us to today. I currently play exclusively on the Japan server games, using both Basic and Music for engaging. It's very fun, and I'm hoping to continue having fun with it in the future!
Favourite Characters
I consider myself a producer of both Niki Shiina and Hokuto Hidaka! Unit-wise, I like Trickstar and Ryuseitai the most!
I remember falling in love with Hokuto as a teenager due to the gap he has between being Trickstar's serious-yet-kind leader and a natural airhead, as it felt like an overlooked part of his personality by English fans of Enstars. His love for his grandmother also particularly resonated with me too, as someone who spent a lot of her own time with her grandmother growing up.
Niki is a more recent favourite of mine... technically. I didn't decide to be his producer per-se until I got back into the game in 2023. I was, however, enamoured by him the second he was announced and went absolutely mental in my friends' dms about him back then. As a new producer, there's still a lot for me to learn about Niki, but I admire his dedication to cooking as somebody who wishes to achieve more in that regard (average cup noodle consumer).
My goals for 2024
Achieve 5-10k fans for Niki on both servers
13.01: Idol rank D/2k fans reached on both Music & Basic.16.03 Idol Rank C/10k fans reached on Basic. Goal Complete!
Obtain at least 2 5* cards of Niki
20.02: First 5* Obtained on Basic JP! Hot Summer and Memory Niki is now in my card collection!16.03: Second 5* on Basic JP, and first on Music JP! Melody to your Heart Niki is now in my card collection
18.03: Well, this is awkward... I now have two copies of Melody to your Heart on both basic and music, and have obtained two copies of A Dish That Fills You Up on basic, and one copy on music. Mission accomplished!
18.03... 2!: Not even a full three hours after updating, I managed to pull Phantom Hungry. Quite literally suffering from success...
Play music more frequently
12.01: Office rank 5 reached.Buy a nui/start my merch collection
No updates yet!...And more to come
Why I like it
cute anime boys are cute
rhythm game is rhythm game
yayyyyy