ビルシャナ戦姫 ～源平飛花夢想～
Completion date: December 13, 2024
ALL REVIEWS ON THIS SITE CONTAIN SPOILERS. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
This review will be briefer than usual because it’s been a month since I completed it, but fresh enough to get it down in writing.
Overall rating: 8/10
Historical fantasy with exciting plot that keeps you awake and eager to find out what happens next? Check. Gorgeous art with hot LI? Check. Seiyuu lineup? Check. FD? Check but in backlog lol.
Recommend play order: Noritsune > Benkei > Shungen > Yoritomo > Tomomori (which is effectively also the truth route)
Character ranking: Tomomori > Noritsune > Shungen > Benkei > Yoritomo
BACKGROUND
The time is 1100s Japan. The Taira family rules Japan at this time with an iron hand. Shana/Yoshitsune is one of two last direct descendants of the Minamoto Clan who disguises herself as a man and fights like one thanks to the teachings of the monk Kakunichi, but deep down she yearns not for war but peace. She grew up with her loyal servant Shungen. One fateful night, the duo encounter Taira no Noritsune, who coerces Shana into a bet to see who will beat the rampaging monk Musashibou Benkei.
Shana also meets the gold salesman Kichiji Nobutaka who invites her to Hiraizumi where there are still supporters of the Minamoto clan who want to rebel against the Taira regime.
At some point she encounters the famed Taira no Tomomori, who seems to take an unusual interest into Shana and quickly sees that she is no man. The bet with Noritsune ends in Shana’s victory with Benkei becoming her vassal. During the fight Shana used an unusual power that even she was not aware of, and fell into slumber afterwards. Because of this victory and the fragile ego of the Taira leader, he orders an attack on the temple Shana lives in. She now has to flee.
Once the fire of war is ignited it cannot be calmed. Shana, now unable to cling to her peace, is forced to escape the capital with Benkei and Shungen as her vassals, finds allies on the way, including her long-lost older brother Minamoto no Yoritomo. And thus the stage is set with the winds of war blowing across all of Japan…
TAIRA NO NORITSUNE (CV: Kawanishi Kengo)
9/10 Soulmates don’t exi-
Noritsune is a simple man. All he cares about is becoming a stronger samurai. He challenged Shana without thinking about the consequences. When Shana was escaping to Hiraizumi and he had a chance to capture her. However, he was shaken by Shana’s resolve to live her own life and hate for this family name and destiny that she was forced to carry on. If he was previously only curious in Shana’s power, this is when he started reexamining his own and whether this fight in their clans’ name is really worth it all.
And thus begins this fiery and passionate route, with him and Shana both rejecting their decided fate as Minamoto or Taira, and finding their own way of the samurai, and life. Noritsune basically hunts Shana down, in battlefield or disguised as a commoner and helping the local people instead of oppressing them like his clan.
They also fight side by side against Minamoto no Yoshinaka, who invaded Kyoto and started oppressing the people just like Taira did before they left. In various battles, they care for each other’s wounds and protect each other under the name of “once this is all over we will have a duel between two samurai”. In one of the scenes where Noritsune was deeply wounded and started having fever dreams, he thought a goddess from the above came and tended for him when it was Shana all along lol.
He has a surprisingly possessive side to him as well when Tomomori made some moves on Shana.
In the end, they lived happily ever after under fake identities. During one of the battles, they pretended to kill each other but actually escaped, away from this war between two family names that they don’t care about. Tomomori even comes to visit the pair after the dust settled, what a bro.
What I really appreciate was that this route does not use “like” or “love” until the very end, yet everything these two did demonstrated their feelings for each other. Overall, a passionate route and set my expectations high for the rest of the game!
MUSASHIBOU BENKEI (CV: Umehara Yuuichirou)
6.5/10 Otome game LI green flag galore
If Noritsune route was fire, then Benkei route is the calming stream. This ojisan is there to support Shana and everything she does. I won’t be going through the plot this route as the game is localized and many other reviewers have summarized it. Overall, I still think Benkei is better as a vassal/follower/life coach of Shana than a lover. Given Benkei’s identity as a monk, a lot of the discussions between him and Shana are often spiritual. For example in the common route (this was revisited in the end):
Unfortunately I shared the sentiment with many other players that a lot of their interactions really appeared more father/daughter like. I feel so calm when playing this route but no dokidoki at all.
Also what the fiddle is this: GIF credit is not mine, but I died at “helicopter Benkei”.
SHUNGEN (CV: Saitou Souma)
7//10 Osananajimi/Protect hime-sama trope with a bit of a plot twist of “look at me I’m the captain (of Minamoto clan) now”. Saitou Souma casts a range of characters, but it didn’t help the fact that I came back after a 6-month otome hiatus from Uchronia straight into this game… so he just hit this trope twice in a row with me.
Shungen is a fictional character created in this game and did not actually exist in the war. This route reveals that Shana isn’t even the Minamoto heir, Shungen is. The ending is also similar to Noritsune where this time Yoritomo helps them both fake deaths. This works in Yoritomo’s favour because otherwise he will have to compete to be the Minamoto clan leader with Shungen. The two had some cute scenes and CGs, but unfortunately this trope is so predictable. I will never mind it, but it will never wow me, you know?
Honorary mention of the bad ending here where Shana dies and Shungen completely goes off the deep end and swears revenge on Taira:
MINAMOTO NO YORITOMO (CV: Furukawa Makoto)
3/10 Sorry FuruMako… this route was just a miss with me on so two levels:
- He chose a lower voice than usual, and I was just not used to it
- I get where the route was going with Yoritomo’s sad backstory, how he feels he will never deserve love and especially familial love, then he finds out Shana isn’t even related to him by blood and could actually be from Taira, yet because of the love she gave him (thinking they were family) he eventually opens up to her and loves her in the end… but it just didn’t sit well with me especially how he was allowing Shana to go berserk so many times to use her as a tool for victory… Sorry I would have noped out of there…
I hope the FD is better with more romance. From the CGs that may be the case. Moving on
TAIRA NO TOMOMORI (CV: Fukuyama Jun)
10/10 さすがFukuJun
In the very first scene of Tomomori in the common route, he already catches our attention. The Tairas were partying it out with some women but Tomomori did not appear interested. His brother Shigehira makes a reference to “beautiful flowers that are not plucked are sad and lonely” to which Tomomori replies:
While he is a legendary warrior, general, and handsome man, he doesn’t seem preoccupied with preserving the Taira name at all, but instead laments on everything in its height will eventually have their downfall, including his clan. In other words he is insane and does not care about the world falling apart if it means he gets his hands on what he is interested in. Tomomori’s route made me empathize with men IRL who like to date crazy girls, lol. However, Shana also keeps defying his expectations, which makes him more and more interested every day.
This route is the truth route and where this game deviates from history to actual fantasy, from snake gods, human/god marriage and having weird kids, to Tomomori/Yoritomo fighting side by side. What a ride lol. We all know the famed words from him to Shana where she can give all of her love to him, as brother and husband, so won’t post that here again – somethings are definitely only enjoyable in game lol. It is a tension-filled route with a yandere hot LI who calls you Himegimi. Oh my heart.
Casting Fukuyama Jun is probably the best decision made by directors of this game because he sure ate. I don’t even know what I’m rambling on at this point. Play the game! No matter how badly you want him, save him for the last route, it will all be worth it!
Anyway, Birushana main game and FD websites both have a special section where the seiyuu are interviewed. Here is a translation of one of the questions [to make flow better it is not literal translation]:
Q: Please share a message with the fans who are looking forward to the game release.
A: Tomomori is not a type of character that I usually get casted for. Recently, I have hit the 20-year mark of being a seiyuu. In the beginning, I always played the side that protects planet earth (as in positive, good characters), eventually I got to play the side attacking Earth as well.
This time, I played a character who will come and invade you [double meaning in physically capturing Shana and capturing her heart]. Please, do enjoy this game where you are protected by many, but be ready to be invaded and turned into Tomomori’s possession.
If you guys can enjoy this thoroughly to the end, then I will be very happy.
CONCLUSION
This game probably is really a 7/10 but Tomomori made it an 8. The first and last route wowed me while the middle routes were meh. The pace is fast, and you never get bored with stupid filler slice of life episodes. Shana is always on the move and so should you. Lots of romantic scenes. The writer knows how to write confessions and chemistry – Benkei’s character setting makes it way too hard, and many people enjoyed Yoritomo’s route, just not me. Honestly the game is worth it for Tomomori alone. Yeah I’m biased and proud of it.
One complaint I have is that the game is quite clunky – when I force skip to get certain scenes to take screenshots for this post, it is rather slow because of the character image transitions. Even on max setting I often have enough time to completely read the sentences which should not be happening if I’m literally using the “force skip” function to get to places. Uchronia is probably the crispest game so far in this department. I’m not sure if this has anything to do with it being a 2020 game.
I heard the FD is quite short and played a bit of Tomomori’s route before switching gears to playing main stories of my backlog. Hint hint his possessiveness and not allowing Shana to leave the house in the ending becomes carried over to the FD, but I hope they reach a resolution and can both be happy.
Work has started again for me. With the conclusion of this review I believe I’ve “caught up” as in I don’t have any review backlogs of games I recently played. I did finish Even If Tempest but did not get to the FD/after stories so do not think that will be a sophisticated review as there was very little romance and I basically played an adventure game. It’s time to go back to to Olympia Soiree and when I finish I will post my review of that.
otome hitorigoto 