Review: B-Project Ryusei*Fantasia

B-Project Ryusei*Fantasia was finally released in the West! After the end of B-Project‘s third season, Passion*Love Call, we thought we wouldn’t see more of our favorite boys. So, imagine my surprise when I heard that one of their games was getting an English release. As an idol/music fan and a B-Project fan, I was happy to hear that another idol project was getting more recognition in the West.

Virtual Idol Project: B-Project

B-Project, or B-Pro, is a multimedia 2D Idol Project franchise created by MAGES. It was first announced on X/Twitter in August 2015 before launching in September of the same year. The franchise started out featuring 10 idols from three different idol groups (Kitakore, THRIVE, and MooNs), before introducing four new idols from the group KiLLER KiNG. The project is managed and produced by T.M. Revolution, Shikura Chiyomaru (planning and original works), and character designer Yukihiro Utako. The franchise has released several CDs, manga adaptations, games, stage plays, a range of related merchandise, events, and an anime series.

B-Project Ryusei*Fantasia

B-Project Ryusei*Fantasia is the latest game of the B-Project franchise. It was first released in Japan in September 2021 on the Nintendo Switch, making it its first console game. The game also had an iOS and app version released in February 2022.

Ryusei*Fantasia is an idol management visual novel game, where the player plays as B-Project’s A&R (Artists & Repertoire), Sumisora Tsubasa (players can change the name to their liking). As their A&R, you get to meet the 14 idols of B-Project, each with their unique quirks and personalities.

So, how does this game work out? Is it worth the money? Read on to find out!

An Idol Management Visual Novel Without the Management

Don’t let the game’s characters and artwork fool you, Ryusei*Fantasia is not an otome game. I can understand that it might look like one since it has one girl and a bunch of good-looking guys to choose from. Ryusei*Fantasia is an idol management visual novel game. Just without the management part.

In the game, you follow along the story and the choices you make affect the ending you will get. There are 16 endings that players can get based on their choices. Those choices don’t appear during the story though. In Ryusei*Fantasia, those choices appear through the phone that the player carries. The idols of B-Project send messages through the messaging app “Join,” where you can answer them based on the choices that they have given.

It was quite fun to receive messages from the idols. A lot of the time these messages don’t relate to the actual story and can be random. It feels as if you are messaging a friend and co-worker. Every time I heard the sound that I had a message, I would always stop to open the app to see who it was. I had more fun interacting with the idols through this part of their gameplay than the actual story. I just wished I could see their affection towards me.

The game doesn’t have a screen where you can see their affection. Without that important part of information, you don’t know if you are on your way to getting a certain ending. I’m usually the type who imagines myself in the game and picks the choices that I would say or are close to what I would say in that situation. So, of course, I was trying to be a nice and reliable A&R to all of the boys, but I ended up not knowing which route I was in. The story didn’t even help because it felt like anything that happened to the group was a part of the main story.

Great Characters and Voices

The major charm point of the game is of course the 14 idols of B-Project. As a fan of B-Project idols, I enjoyed how interactive we get to be with the idols thanks to the phone feature of the game. As I mentioned earlier, it feels like you are messaging a friend or co-worker even with the pre-set choices. Through the messages, you can enjoy each character’s personality and learn a bit more about them that you don’t usually know from other media franchises.

The game is also fully voiced by many of the Japanese voice actors reprising their roles, such as Daisuke Ono, Tatsuya Kakihara, and Toshiyuki Toyonaga. Even Asami Seto, the voice actress for Sumisora Tsubasa in the anime, reprises her role in the game. It was nice hearing Seto as Sumisora, but it also felt like I was watching the anime series or felt like the game was a continuation of the anime series.

Minor Typos and Errors

The things that bothered me were the typos and the animation. Unlike other visual novels where the characters are only stills, the characters in Ryusei*Fantasia are animated. While it was great to see them move, there were times when they suddenly stopped even while they were talking. For example, their mouths sometimes stopped moving as they talked. Usually, when the mouth moves, it matches the voices, but there were times where it suddenly stopped, which made the characters’ animation a bit awkward. I think it could be brushed up to make them smoother. The game was delayed before being released in Japan saying that it was to improve their quality, so I figured it was a bug that hadn’t been fixed from the original game. Since the game is being brought over to the West, I figured this might be something they can’t fix.

What can be fixed easily, though, are the formatting and text. There were many typos. These typos were minor and didn’t distract me as much from enjoying the game. It’s just that there were too many to the point that it was a bit annoying to see them. One example of this was the missing letter in the name of one of the idol groups. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been saying KiLLER KiNG every time I saw KiLLER KiN.

There were also times when the text format changed. There were times when in one moment I was reading the text normally and then a wall of text appeared in the text box. This wall of text then became small to fit everything that the character was saying. I feel like these two things could be easily fixed.

Ryusei*Fantasia Is a Game for B-Project Fans

Despite some flaws, Ryusei*Fantasia is a great game for B-Project Fans and I do recommend it. As for those new to the game, I recommend getting to know the franchise first. While the game does give a bit of background, I could see it being a bit confusing for those who don’t know the franchise and the idols beforehand. If you don’t have the time to research, I at least recommend watching the first two seasons of the anime series to get an idea.

B-Project Ryusei*Fantasia is currently out online on Steam and the Nintendo Switch. Fans can purchase their physical copy of Ryusei*Fantasia on VGP, Amazon, or Gamestop.

©B-Project
©MAGES. Published by PQube Ltd.

Disclaimer: Anime Corner was given a copy of B-Project Ryusei*Fantasia in exchange for an honest review.