B-Project RYUUSEI*FANTASIA marks my first time ever non-romance visual novel, and I’m excited to share my experience and thoughts on this game. The format is going to be a bit different from my usual otome game review since there are no character-specific route per se, but I hope it still works with you!
Disclaimer: This review contain minor, out-of-context spoilers – reader discretion is advised. To skip to the spoiler-free summary, click here.
I am also a complete B-PRO newbie, so please pardon any shortcomings or lack of knowledge on my part.
Contents
Basic information
✿ Dev/pub: LOVE&ART & MAGES x PQube
✿ Platform: Nintendo Switch™
✿ Language: Japanese, English
✿ Audio: Japanese
✿ Producer: Nishikawa Takanori
✿ Scenario writer: Gogo Nemuru
✿ Character design: Yukihiro Utako (Break My Case, Hatsukare, Makai Ouji, Issho ni Gohan)
✿ Genre: Comedy, Slice-of-life, Drama, Idol
✿ Rating: CERO D (12+) / ESRB T (Teen) / PEGI 12
✿ Japanese: B-PROJECT 流星＊ファンタジア
Visit the official website here (EN).
Synopsis and setting
From PQube:
“
Put your headphones on and get swept away with this colourful, idol, visual novel experience.
Do you love boybands, JPop? Have you ever dreamed of being the driving force behind a successful idol group? Well now you can experience it in visual novel form!
Step into the hardworking role of A&R (Artist & Repertoire) to the talented idol group, B-Project. Take 14 young members under your wing, each with different personalities and struggles. It’s your job to support them, help them grow, and allow them to flourish!
Discover the beginnings of the different idol groups – Kitakore, MooNs, THRIVE and KiLLER KiNG. Learn about their trainee days and the struggles they faced on the path to success. Follow the story as they join together to become one group, B-Project, and stand on Japan’s brightest stage.
General trigger warning (click to reveal)
Online bullying, anxiety, depression, child abandonment, stalking, obsessive / possessive behaviours, power abuse, and verbal harassment.
Characters and mini impressions
DISCLAIMER: Please note that I may talk about the characters that resonated with me more than the others—absolutely no offence intended! This is all based on my personal experience playing the game.
Main character
Tsubasa Sumisora
✤ Voice actor: Asami Seto
✤ Ultra-talented, adorable protagonist
MINI IMPRESSION
Tsubasa is B-PRO’s A&R. She is passionate about music and talent management, and is incredibly sincere and hardworking. She takes everything at face value and genuinely wants the best for the group members. My girl is also strong – despite the members frequently flirting with her, she is able casually brushes them off (my weak ass could never). That’s my professional queen.
Tsubasa is everything you’d ever want in a protagonist. Cute? Yes. Capable? F*ck yeah. Can think for herself? YES, YES, YES! I just wish she got a sprite or at least have her face shown on the text box ’cause my girl is a STUNNER. Also, she is voiced. Can’t this be the norm, please?
THRIVE
Goshi Kaneshiro
✤ Voice actor: Toshiyuki Toyonaga
✤ Profile: 4 July / 53 kg / 171 cm / 19 years old
MINI IMPRESSION
Goshi was one of the first characters that really stuck with me during my playthrough. Because there are so many characters, I recall trying to remember him as the “angy music boi.” 😂 He is always grumpy and short-tempered, but is actually a softie inside. His passion was especially endearing to me. He loves and breathes music; not just singing and dancing, but also songwriting—and he’s bloody good at it too. I also love Tosshi’s voice profile as Goshi, it’s so youthful and fierce!
Goshi’s character is well-written with great development as well. In fact, his story is sort of a central plot which underpins the entirety of this game. Since his issue is scandal-related, I found it quite fascinating. It’s almost like watching a reality idol TV show! If not for Kento, I think Goshi would have been my favourite character.
Yuta Ashu
✤ Voice actor: Natsuki Hanae
✤ Profile: 24 December / 56 kg / 175 cm / 17 years old
MINI IMPRESSION
Yuta is the group’s sunshine, puppy dog character. He is outgoing, loves to joke around, and is the mood maker of the group along with Akane. While I appreciate Yuta’s charms, he’s a tad too loud for me. 😂
Despite his happy-go-lucky nature, Yuta had moments where he was continually spiralling into the rabbit hole of negativity. I must admit, it was really difficult for me to see through those parts simply because it hits too close to home. We’ve all been there at some point. I wish there was a way to tell a 2D character, “everything will be fine!” His epilogue was so damn adorable, my boy deserves to be happy.
Kento Aizome
✤ Voice actor: Kazuki Katou
✤ Profile: 30 August / 62 kg / 181 cm / 20 years old
MINI IMPRESSION
Overconfident flirts are my weakness these days, so Kento pierced right through my heart. He is my favourite from B-PRO! Not only visually pleasing, I especially love Kento’s playful antics. Listen, I think nearly the entire B-PRO members has a crush on Tsubasa or at least cares about her deeply in some way. But Kento’s flirting was so damn in-your-face that it’s hard for me not to simp over the two! Also before y’all come for me, I know it’s all meant to be platonic, but my otomegokoro just can’t help it. 😫
Being one of the older members of the group, Kento also exudes a “big brother” vibe. That said, he somewhat barely has his sh*t together, and I find that so endearing. Also, his epilogue was SO GOOD. Just get married already!!
KitaKore
Tomohisa Kitakado
✤ Voice actor: Daisuke Ono
✤ Profile: 29 March / 61 kg / 180 cm / 18 years old
MINI IMPRESSION
Gentle, princely and extremely loaded, Tomo’s life is generally pretty drama-free. His family is in the healthcare business or are doctors. He is very close to Ryuji, and the two forms B-PRO’s subunit KitaKore. These two are adorable together, but one thing I didn’t enjoy was how he just lets Ryuji do what he wants. While I understand that’s their dynamic for various reasons, as well as Tomo’s nature of being the caring person that he is, I just wished he stood his ground or voiced his opinion a bit more to Ryuji.
On the other hand, I really enjoyed Tomo’s interactions with Tsubasa! He was bold, and frankly, very romantic (lol). Personally, I really wanted more scenes with him ’cause I really like him. Also, his epilogue was oh, so sweet!
Ryuji Korekuni
✤ Voice actor: Daisuke Kishio
✤ Profile: 11 November / 47 kg / 165 cm / 17 years old
MINI IMPRESSION
Ryuji is the only member in B-PRO with prior experience in the entertainment industry. He’s hardworking, stylish, and can be a bit moody. Before I continue, first let me apologise to Ryuji fans. Perhaps being in my late 20s, I found his personality a tad too childish for me. 🥲 That said, he definitely had the biggest and most wonderful character development! Visually, he was the most striking for me, with the pink highlight and youthful, cutesy face. Put these together with his sassy, tsundere-esque attitude, I can definitely see why lots of fans love him.
MooNs
Kazuna Masunaga
✤ Voice actor: Daisuke Kishio
✤ Profile: 23 February / 55 kg / 176 cm / 19 years old
MINI IMPRESSION
Leader of B-PRO, Kazu is workaholic and perfectionist with a lot to prove. While he maintains a persona, he lets his dark side out when pushed to the edge. His character growth was one of the most satisfying to witness in the entire game—it truly felt like a breaking-out-of-the-cage moment! I ended up enjoying his character and story a lot, despite it being a tad cliché. I also loved his epilogue; he definitely has a way with words and made me blush super hard.
Momotaro Onzai
✤ Voice actor: Tetsuya Kakihara
✤ Profile: 22 September / 51 kg / 169 cm / 19 years old
MINI IMPRESSION
Momo is a mature, calm and slightly mysterious character. When the story highlighted Momo’s issues, I felt he was a little too closed off and negative for my liking. However, this gave an opportunity for B-PRO’s friendship to shine, and I know nobody’s perfect, especially when one is not feeling okay! Momo is also incredibly sensitive to his surroundings. He would be the first person to notice when something is off—his awareness is legit psychic level. I also really enjoyed Kakki’s sound profile as Momo since it’s more on the lower, bassy side.
Hikaru Osari
✤ Voice actor: Showtaro Morikubo
✤ Profile: 9 May / 57 kg / 177 cm / 19 years old
MINI IMPRESSION
Hikaru is an easygoing, cheerful member of B-PRO and a skilled dancer. He is very energetic and loud, and along with Yuta, they are the mood makers of the group. I don’t typically get drawn to characters with these traits, but I appreciate them for always brightening the atmosphere. His personal issue wasn’t easily relatable, but it was easy to empathise with. One thing Hikaru won big time was his epilogue—damn, it was so, so good!
Tatsuhiro Nome
✤ Voice actor: Genki Ookawa
✤ Profile: 11 January / 60 kg / 179 cm / 20 years old
MINI IMPRESSION
Nome is the oldest member of B-PRO. He is kind, observant, and straightforward. He shares a strong bond with Hikaru, as they were together during their Bambi (trainee) days. In the game, he was mostly drama-free, just busy existing and being his adorable self and looking after everyone else. However, that lack of conflict made me feel like I didn’t get to know him properly, so his epilogue felt like it came out of nowhere. Nevertheless, he is one of my favourites simply because he’s so freakin’ manly yet adorable at the same time.
Mikado Sekimura
✤ Voice actor: Toshiki Masuda
✤ Profile: 25 January / 57 kg / 177 cm / 20 years old
MINI IMPRESSION
Mika is a sweet young man who doesn’t like bothering people. He appears friendly but actually puts up a huge wall around himself, and struggles to seek support from those around him. His issue was easy to empathise with since it was family-related, but the payoff wasn’t as satisfying as I expected. He is also the only megane character in B-PRO, and I find him really visually pleasing! Also it’s always a pleasure to meet another character voiced by Massun. 🤭
KiLLER KiNG
Yuduki Teramitsu
✤ Voice actor: Koutarou Nishiyama
✤ Profile: 9 April / 55 kg / 172 cm / 17 years old
MINI IMPRESSION
Yuduki is the twin brother of Haruhi. He is mature twin— always calm and rational, never letting his emotions get the best of him. He shows incredible patience with Haruhi, who is a lot more straightforward and aggressive 😂 more on him later. Yuduki is a soft baby but knows when to stand up for himself and put Haruhi in his place (affectionately, of course). Yuduki and Haruhi grew up in an orphanage before becoming Bambis at Gandara.
Haruhi Teramitsu
✤ Voice actor: Taku Yashiro
✤ Profile: 9 April / 58 kg / 173 cm / 17 years old
MINI IMPRESSION
Haruhi, or Harupyon as Akane calls him, is the twin brother of Yuduki. I love the twins’ visuals, but I’ve got to hand the cake to Haruhi—the blue eyes and blond hair combo is really doing something to me. His CGs even feel lowkey fanservicey, with an air of seductive and manly aura. Haruhi is the obsessive x possessive twin and wears his emotions on his sleeve. He can become aggressive when it comes to Yuduki, and that kind of behaviour is my jam. 😂 Haruhi being the obsessive twin and Yuduki being the chill, composed twin is such a classic combo, and honestly, I ate that ish up like a Sunday brunch.
Akane Fudo
✤ Voice actor: Shouya Chiba
✤ Profile: 30 October / 49 kg / 165 cm / 18 years old
MINI IMPRESSION
Akane is the leader of KiLLER KiNG and another nickname maker in B-PRO along with Yuta. He is slightly petite, which I find really cute! He struggles with low self-esteem due to failed debut attempts. He and Miroku are childhood friends, and both engage in martial arts (dojo). While he didn’t leave much of an impression on me, I relate SO hard to his struggles with impostor syndrome, and he’s such a sweetheart and impossible to hate.
Miroku Shingari
✤ Voice actor: Takuya Eguchi
✤ Profile: 16 May / 65 kg / 181 cm / 16 years old
MINI IMPRESSION
Miroku, or Tono as the members call him, is a stoic, competitive character who becomes especially opinionated when it comes to KiLLER KiNG’s music. He doesn’t like showing much of himself, but once he opens up, he’s actually a very warm person. Again, not a character that was super memorable for me, but I really enjoyed unfolding Miroku’s stoic persona and seeing more of his vulnerable side!
Game features & experience
Notable features
✤ JOIN, Voice Mail and Calls
Choices are made through interactions with your phone, either through the messaging system (JOIN), voicemail, or phone calls. Choices are categorised into good, great, and excellent, each resulting in different storyline possibilities as well as unlocking bonus contents.
The game has a quick save feature, but no skip jump feature. I quite enjoyed their quick save feature, as it would automatically activate when a scene with a choice is about to come up.
✤ Routes and epilogues
The game essentially branches into two routes – Alternative and Backstage. Each route focuses on different characters and results in different sets of epilogues. All the characters have their own epilogue. These epilogues are SO GOOD, I just wish they were a tad longer! You can find my B-PRO walkthrough masterlist here.
✤ Bonus stories and achievements
Clearing the routes will unlock bonus stories and achievements. Each character gets five bonus stories, which is quite generous! This includes a story from their past, allowing you to enjoy more of the sprites showing their younger versions (very babygirl), as well as extra stories from their ordinary life during their idolhood era.
Additionally, there is an achievement system, and you can unlock and collect achievement items as you make different choices throughout the game.
✤ Other features
Other features include music collection featuring all the game’s soundtrack, as well as video collection containing the opening and ending MVs.
Art and graphics
B-Project RYUUSEI * FANTASIA is illustrated by Yukihiro Utako, the same artist as Break My Case, another popular (and fairly new) joseimuke game. The CGs in this game are stunning beautiful splendid, as well as plentiful. Seriously, there are a lot of CGs, which I really appreciate!
The game also incorporates Live2D animation. It’s very smooth and natural, and in my opinion, it’s a strong feature of the game. I also much prefer it to Utakata no Uchronia’s style of Live2D. It would be nice if they had integrated the Live2D into the CGs as well (like in Tokimemo 4), or at least included some eye and mouth animations to make them a bit more dynamic!
Music
B-PRO music featured throughout the game, as well as the background tracks, are quite excellent. This game made me go out and explore more of B-PRO’s songs, achieving exactly what I presume to be one of the main objectives for new fans like myself! My favourite BGM tracks are “Fresh” and “Smily.” Since completing the game, these four songs have been on non-stop rotation on my Spotify: B-PRO’s “無敵*Dangerous,” MooNs’ “Summer Mermaid,” and KiLLER KiNG’s “Blooming Festa!” Honestly, all their songs are insanely catchy!
Length
It took me nearly 30 hours to clear the game. To be completely transparent, I didn’t listen to all the voice acting, so if you do, it will likely take you much longer. I thought the game was of sufficient length—not too long and not too short. It would be great to have chapter signposts throughout the game rather than having the story delivered in continuous form, so I know how much progress I’m making. This information is only shown in the save files, so it was a bit of a hassle to check where I was in the story.
Given the length, they did well to allow players to interact with all members of B-PRO and explore their issues, though I think the depths varied depending on the character.
Localisation
The localisation and translation quality are excellent. However, I was a little distracted by minor typos and glitches. They weren’t too prevalent, but did occur throughout the game and thus became noticeable. There were also parts where the heroine’s name wasn’t properly programmed, displaying as “{player’s name}” or something similar, along with options showing yen signs, missing quotation marks, and the like. I believe some of these issues have been addressed in the latest software update, so unless you’re an early bird player, you probably won’t have to deal with this!
Favourites
Let’s talk about favourites. Group-wise, THRIVE speaks the most to me–I can keep yapping on and on about how adorable these three are. Goshi the grumpy, Kento the narcissist, and Yuta the mischievous—the clashes in personality just make them ultra chaotic and loveable!
Below are my list of favourite characters and epilogues from the game.
Vira’s top 5 characters:
- Kento
- Goshi
- Tomo
- Haruhi
- Nome
Vira’s top 5 epilogues:
- Kento
- Hikaru
- Tomo
- Goshi
- Kazu
Summary
✤ In a nutshell
B-Project RYUUSEI*FANTASIA is a blend of coming-of-age and slice-of-life visual novel. The story focuses on the group’s and each member’s personal challenges and how they overcome them. While certainly not free from it, the game had minimal angst, making for a fairly cosy gaming experience. The game also features a large cast, which offers a wide variety of character visuals, tropes and personalities. The game’s protagonist is also voiced, which is always a treat in my opinion.
✤ NOT an otome game
Since Otomeology is an otome-themed blog, I just want to make this clear. B-Project RYUUSEI*FANTASIA is NOT an otome game. You won’t find kiss CGs or anything too affectionate. Did it stop me from simping Tsubasa with some of the boys? No, and if that’s a crime, then so be it. That said, there are certainly a lot of heart fluttering moments throughout the game. Many of the characters’ epilogues are also very suggestive of future romance. Speaking of epilogue, they were heaps of fun—but so, damn, short!
✤ Endless banters!
One of my favourite things about B-PRO is their humour. They all can be so silly, and I love it! Though there were moments where I felt the banter dragged on for too long, I generally enjoyed their jokes and all the lighthearted moments. I also loved the scenes where they’re discussing their music and how to improve themselves. I find that these moments are where the characters really show their charm as both ordinary (but insanely good-looking) young men and as hardworking idols.✤ Fun gaming system and plentiful rewards
I love the use of Tsubasa’s mobile phone as the primary way of making choices and driving the storyline. The constant ringing of her phone and the frequent JOIN notifications make the experience all the more immersive—just like you’d expect from the phone of an incredibly busy A&R! From a gaming perspective, it can get tedious because there are a LOT of choices throughout the game. But the game’s quick-save feature automatically doing its thing prior to any scenes with choices is a thoughtful touch. They also have slots where auto-saved files get stored, and can be manually accessed and loaded. Why is this not a common feature?! I do wish they had a skip-jump feature, given the number of choices in the game.
Beyond the phone interaction mechanics, I also liked the Live2D feature; it was so smooth and dynamic. The BGMs were excellent as well. I loved that there are heaps of CGs and bonus stories to explore. They are certainly generous with the rewards, I’ll tell you that!
✤ Balanced, yet superficial
Personally, I found the character interactions somewhat superficial, and some issues were not as fleshed out as I’d like. The one-on-one interactions that showcased deeper connections between Tsubasa and the boys were memorable for me, but they felt short and I would have liked to experience more of those. That said, the game struck a great balance between exploring group interactions and issues, and focusing on one-on-one interactions and member-specific challenges. It also had a good balance showing characters maturing, as well as those showcasing their maturity. In reflection, I see the game as a perfect starting point to dive deeper into B-PRO through their other releases, including their anime, music, magazine features, social media, etc., and to see more of my oshis from the group!✤ Heavy on coming-of-age, slice-of-life themes
The core theme of this game is crisis management. It explores slice-of-life, coming-of-age themes such as scandals, anxiety, family issues, friendship breakdowns, and many more. If you are a fan of stories discussing these types of topics, you will likely enjoy the game. Although I enjoy slice-of-life stories, personally, the game lacked the ‘excitement’ factor for me. It had plenty of adorable and heartwarming moments, but they felt like fleeting pleasures—nice in the moment, but quickly forgotten. That’s just my honest experience with it!
One of the things I found slightly frustrating was the frequent use of the “I’m going to quit” plotline. However, since most of the characters are quite young from my perspective (I’m 25+), it might just be my dislike for what I see as an immature approach. While removing these moments entirely would make character growth seem pointless, perhaps it would have resonated with me more if the game explored the characters’ thought processes to make it easier to empathise with them.
✤ Insane mental load, but worth it
As a complete B-PRO newbie, I must confess to my struggles in remembering all 14 characters. I only felt more confident about them once I was probably 70% through the game—the mental load was insane! Because the game did not tell the story, say, focussing with one sub-unit at a time, for me, this brewed more confusion into the pot. Looking back, the amount of times I went “wait, who’s in [sub-unit name] again??” was truly embarrassing. 😂 But is it worth it in the end? Yes, absolutely! While some resonated with more than others, I genuinely feel all 14 members are beautiful characters in their own way. And at the end of the day, B-PRO is a 14-member group, so I can see why the developers would not want to deliver the story per sub-unit (albeit perhaps reducing the mental load for new players like myself).✤ Things to consider
If you’re reading this review because you’re thinking of getting the game, here are a few questions you may want to ask yourself:
- Do you enjoy slice-of-life, coming-of-age visual novels where characters work individually as well as together to overcome various challenges?
- Are you a fan of idol franchises like Uta no Prince-sama or Idolish7?
- Are you looking for visual novels with lots of banter, lighthearted comedy, and some (but not too much) angst?
If you said yes to the questions above, then this might be right up your alley.
And of course, if you have played the game, I’d be curious to know what you think!
+
- Diverse characters with unique personalities
- High-quality soundtrack and background music
- Stunning CGs, Live2D
- High-quality translation and localisation
- Great mix of slice-of-life themes as well as group and personal conflicts
–
- Superficial character interactions due to large cast
- Repetitive character decision can be frustrating
- Can be hard to remember all characters for newbies
