50 Fun Facts About Ensemble Stars!

Which Chinese-founded company publishes the Ensemble Stars! idol franchise through its Japanese division?

Happy Elements runs the series through its Japanese division, with Cacalia Studio handling development. The first app reached Android phones in April 2015, a few days ahead of iPhones.

Which seaside performing arts school is the setting of the original Ensemble Stars! story?

Yumenosaki Academy overlooks the ocean and works like an agency as well as a classroom. Students on its idol track take on professional jobs while they are still training.

What is the default name of the transfer student whom players control in Ensemble Stars!?

Anzu is only a default, since players may rename her. The name may have been built from the first and last syllables of the title as it is read in Japanese.

Which orange-haired Ensemble Stars! idol loves anything that sparkles and owns a dog named Daikichi?

Subaru Akehoshi has kept Daikichi since he was very young. He lives with his mother, and his late father was an idol before him.

Which supernatural creature does UNDEAD leader Rei Sakuma claim to be in Ensemble Stars!?

Vampire is a persona built on a real weakness: an inherited condition leaves him drained in daylight. As a student he spent most of the daytime asleep in a coffin.

Which frail student council president, nicknamed the Emperor, leads the unit fine in Ensemble Stars!?

Eichi Tenshouin spent most of his childhood in hospital, where idols on television became his one bright spot. That love is why he set out to remake the whole academy.

Which free-spirited Ensemble Stars! idol is a gifted composer who communicates through music?

Leo Tsukinaga led Chess, the oversized group that came before Knights. When it broke apart, he and Izumi Sena named their new unit after the plural of a chess piece.

Which Ensemble Stars! unit is modeled on Super Sentai heroes, with a color assigned to each member?

RYUSEITAI translates as meteor squad. It is also the oldest unit at the academy, already active when teacher Jin Sagami was a student there.

Which Ensemble Stars! idol lives like a modern-day samurai and carries a Japanese sword everywhere?

Souma Kanzaki keeps to old-fashioned speech and manners as well. His one-track mind can make him seem like a reckless little brother to those around him.

Which glasses-wearing Ensemble Stars! idol is a former child model with a knack for games and gadgets?

Makoto Yuuki came away from modeling with a severe fear of cameras, freezing whenever a lens pointed at him. He swore never to model again.

Which pink-haired Ensemble Stars! idol is a wealthy heir attended by his butler, Yuzuru Fushimi?

Tori Himemiya is the eldest son of a rich clan, and that butler has served him since both were children. The pair now perform side by side in fine.

Which hot-blooded Ensemble Stars! idol admires superheroes, lives like one and loves watching tokusatsu?

Chiaki Morisawa was a sickly child himself, and a sudden change in the weather can still make him seriously ill. His straightforward nature puts friends ahead of everything else.

Which carefree Ensemble Stars! idol loves the ocean, manages an aquarium and hates leaving the water?

Kanata Shinkai was raised as a living god at the heart of his family's religion. Having left that role, he prizes simple things such as time with people he loves.

Ensemble Stars! idol Shinobu Sengoku leads a school association devoted to which kind of warrior?

Ninja skills are his whole act, and he hopes to spread their charm around the world. He looks like a small kid, yet his performances are packed with acrobatic feats.

Which techno-pop Ensemble Stars! unit is led by Hinata Aoi?

2wink hides the word twin in its name, along with the number of members. Its logo uses pink for elder brother Hinata and blue for Yuta.

Which caring Ensemble Stars! idol loves being called big sister and started out as a child model?

Arashi Narukami first joined Knights out of loyalty to Izumi Sena, a fellow child model. The modeling work has carried on alongside idol life ever since.

Which studio, known for JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, animated the 2019 Ensemble Stars! television series?

David Production handled the story scenes while a second studio, Marza Animation Planet, built the 3D concert sequences. The series had been due in 2017 before a long delay.

The Ensemble Stars! unit Valkyrie takes its name from maidens who served which god of Norse mythology?

Odin's maidens guided the souls of fallen soldiers. In the story the name was picked by Nazuna Nito, after watching the unit's leader leap from the second floor draped in cloth.

The heroine of Ensemble Stars! is the first student ever enrolled in which newly created course?

Producer training was so new that she was its only student, managing the idols as part of her schoolwork. She had been meant to enter the normal course instead.

Which long-haired Ensemble Stars! performer is a genius at drama and magic tricks and collects masks?

Wataru Hibiki counts vocal mimicry and disguise among his talents too. He treats any reaction from the people around him, good or bad, as a reward.

Which Ensemble Stars! idol calls himself a lone wolf, plays electric guitar and chases a rock lifestyle?

Koga Ogami has a surname that puns on the Japanese word for wolf. His nose is so keen that he cannot stand anything with a strong smell.

Which tall, physically strong Ensemble Stars! idol hates violence and wants to sing songs of peace?

Adonis Otogari is half-Japanese and came to Japan from the Middle East to become an idol. Having been raised abroad, he still finds Japanese society hard to navigate and leans on friends for help.

Which Ensemble Stars! idol, heir to a noble family, took over as leader of Knights?

Tsukasa Suou comes from an old samurai lineage that he has described as poor nobles. He is unusually curious about the everyday culture of ordinary people.

Which cute Ensemble Stars! unit of first-years gained Nazuna Nito, formerly of Valkyrie, as its leader?

Ra*bits got its name from him as well. The younger members reminded him of rabbits, being cute while also standing their ground.

Which exacting Valkyrie leader in Ensemble Stars! adores antique dolls and is skilled at knitting lace?

Shu Itsuki wants to change what an idol can be through art, and he now works from France to widen his outlook. He also headed the school's handicraft club.

Which singer and voice actress plays the player's heroine in the 2019 Ensemble Stars! television anime?

Maaya Sakamoto voices the heroine in Japanese, while Felecia Angelle took the part for the English dub. That dub began streaming only weeks after the Japanese premiere.

When the 2020 relaunch split Ensemble Stars!! into two apps, what was the original-style one called?

Basic kept the franchise's original format going beside the new Music app. Both carried the same events, storylines and items, so players could pick whichever style they liked.

What term do the Ensemble Stars! games use for their gacha, in which players draw new idol cards?

Scouting does more than fill a card collection. New draws also unlock idol stories and outfits, and the banners range from event scouts to anniversary ones.

Which Ensemble Stars! unit, led by gambler Rinne Amagi, was created as a counterpart to ALKALOID?

Crazy:B takes its final letter from bees, which serve a queen and die soon after using their sting. Executive Ibara Saegusa assembled the unit as a precaution.

Which Ensemble Stars! unit has a single member, a solo idol who specialises in working up a festive mood?

MaM takes its name from its lone member, Madara Mikejima. It doubles as another word for Mama, which is what he often calls himself.

Eden in Ensemble Stars! divides into two duos; which one pairs Hiyori Tomoe with Jun Sazanami?

Eve teams a nobleman's son with a partner who worked his way up from the bottom. The other half of Eden, Adam, is made up of Nagisa Ran and Ibara Saegusa.

Which energetic Ensemble Stars! idol sprints off at full speed anywhere and is a huge lover of bread?

Mitsuru Tenma is naive and struggles with complicated matters, yet he has a sharp instinct for what really counts. Backflips are another of his specialities.

Which stern Ensemble Stars! idol, the son of a Buddhist priest, also loves reading and drawing manga?

Keito Hasumi tends to drone on whenever he lectures, a habit tied to his temple upbringing. The lotus character in his surname points to the same family background.

In Ensemble Stars!, Rei Sakuma informally leads which group of geniuses branded enemies of the student body?

Five Eccentrics is not an official unit, though merchandise often treats it as one. In Japanese the label was chosen because it sounds like a word for cockroaches.

Which 2022 Ensemble Stars!! anime film sends a group of idols to New York for a film festival?

Road to Show!!, an original story, has films starring the idols up for festival awards. While the cast goes sightseeing before the ceremony, a suspicious figure closes in on them.

Which Ensemble Stars! concert series projects the idols on a screen, backed by real musicians?

Dream Live pairs pre-recorded vocals with a band playing in the venue. Concerts where the voice cast performs in person run under a separate banner, Starry Stage.

In Ensemble Stars!, what is the name of the antique doll that speaks for Valkyrie's leader in crowds?

Mademoiselle is treated by most of the cast as a person in her own right, greeted and chatted with separately. Her owner insists that he is no ventriloquist.

Which tall, pessimistic Ensemble Stars! idol entered the business by accident and takes comfort in mascots?

Midori Takamine knows his vegetables because his family are greengrocers. Mascots comfort him, as their wobbliness gives his own self-esteem a lift.

Which gentle Ensemble Stars! idol grew up very poor, belongs to the Tea Club and is stronger than he looks?

Hajime Shino has such a calm, non-judgemental manner that other characters confide insecurities they would normally hide. Drawing is another of his talents.

Which martial art does Tetora Nagumo practise as captain of his school club in Ensemble Stars!?

Karate fits his drive to become the most masculine man he can be. That ideal of manliness is shaped by his admiration for an older idol, Kuro Kiryu.

Which voice actor plays both Aoi twins, Hinata and Yuta, in the Japanese cast of Ensemble Stars!?

Soma Saito voices the elder and the younger brother alike. The English dub followed suit by casting a single actor, Justin Duncan, in both roles.

Which company streamed the 2019 Ensemble Stars! anime in North America and gave it an English simuldub?

Funimation premiered its simuldub in August 2019. Garret Storms, Adam Gibbs and Jerry Jewell voice three of the four Trickstar boys in English.

Which Ensemble Stars! character was recast in 2017 after voice actor Yoshimasa Hosoya took a medical hiatus?

Hokuto Hidaka passed to Tomoaki Maeno, and every earlier voice clip was replaced. In the story he is the son of a famous idol and a renowned actress.

At which Ensemble Stars! Dream Festival did the four future members of Trickstar first perform together?

Venus Cup rules put two unattached students from each first-year class on stage, and the four clicked at once. Seeing Valkyrie's downfall soon after pushed them to form a unit.

Before transferring, the Ensemble Stars! heroine attended which school, the setting of Ensemble Girls!?

Kimisaki Academy is where she presided over the tea ceremony club. Her younger brother later transfers there himself, which is where the earlier game's story begins.

The Ensemble Stars! unit name fine comes from a musical term in which language, used to mark a piece's end?

Italian scores use fine, said fee-nay, to signal where a piece stops. In the story the name stands for ending an old era so that a new world can begin.

Which sheltered Ensemble Stars! idol speaks in a Kyoto dialect and learned about the world from TV and the internet?

Kohaku Oukawa never actually grew up in Kyoto. His family left the region long ago but still insists, out of tradition, that its members speak the old dialect.

Which Switch leader in Ensemble Stars! is a renowned fortune-teller's son who reads fortunes alongside his idol work?

Natsume Sakasaki fronts a unit styled as magicians and runs experiments in pursuit of his ideals. He tends to speak and behave in a deliberately enigmatic way.

The island that houses Ensemble Square in Ensemble Stars!! is shaped like which kind of creature?

Fish imagery belonged to the religious sect that once owned the island, which explains the outline. A wealthy conglomerate later bought the land.

Tatsumi Kazehaya of Ensemble Stars! often sounds like he is preaching because his family home is which kind of place?

A church provides the family's livelihood, with his father serving as its priest. They openly follow a faith descended from Japan's hidden Christians.