History VideoGame / ToukenRanbu

* ''Theatre/MusicalToukenRanbu'' (2016 - ): A series of 2.5D stage musicals, announced at the same time as ''Stage Touken Ranbu'', although it was the first to premiere. It was also the very first major spin-off of ''Touken Ranbu''. Notably, musicals are tied into two segments: Honpen, which is the main story, and Lives, where the Touken Danshi return to stage as {{Idol Singer}}s. There are also a series of concerts, solo and duet events, tours, and one example of a side story performance.

* ExoticEyeDesigns: Surprisingly not very common among the Touken Danshi, although there are a few examples:
** Mikazuki Munechika was the first example, as he has a golden crescent moon shape under his pupils.
** Nansen Ichimonji has slit pupils, calling back to his cat motif.
** Sanchoumou has red flame-like patterns in his eyes.

** ''Atsukashiyama Ibun'' (2016): The first entry in the series.

** ''Bakumatsu Tenrōden'' (2016)

** ''Mihotose no Komoriuta'' (2017)

** ''Tsuwamono Domo ga Yume no Ato'' (2017 - 2018): Sequel story to ''Atsukashiyama Ibun''.

** ''Musubi no Hibiki, Hajimari no Ne'' (2018): Sequel story to ''Bakumatsu Tenrōden''.

** ''Kishou Hongi'' (2019): Sequel story to ''Mihotose no Komoriuta''.

** ''Shizuka no Umi no Paraiso'' (2020, rescheduled to 2021 due to COVID-19)

** ''Tokyo Kokoro Oboe'' (2021)

** ''Kousui Sanka no Yuki'' (2022)

** ''Hana Kage Yureru Tomizu'' (2023)

** ''~Michi no Oku Hitotsu wa Chisu~'' (2024)

* FlatCharacter: This applies to the vast majority of Touken Danshi in the browser game, as the limited amount of context-related dialogue they receive means that only a few personality traits can be demonstrated. In many cases, the writers will base this dialogue on one or two characteristics or quirks, and it will become their entire character. For example, you could easily characterize Houchou Toushirou as an energetic kid who likes married women and candy, because that's most of what he talks about. That said, some Touken Danshi benefit from more varied dialogue and characterization than others, as well as having HiddenDepths, allowing for multiple interpretations of their character.

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* AlternateContinuity: All of the spin-offs are implied to take place in a different continuity unless stated otherwise due to their wildly different interpretations of how the ''Touken Ranbu'' world works, making it unlikely that they're set in the same universe.

* AmbiguouslyRelated: Since many of the swords in the browser game are from the same schools, they are sometimes considered to be "related," usually brothers, according to ''Touken Ranbu'''s shaky standards, though in other cases it's not made clear whether they see themselves as family or not:
** The Sanjou school was one of the first offenders, as in the early years there were no inter-school interactions between any Sanjou in the browser game except Iwatooshi and Imanotsurugi, who are close but didn't specify the nature of their relationship. The first musical, which included the entire Sanjou school, would go on to silently confirm that in that continuity the Sanjou don't exactly view themselves as a family, which is exemplified by how they use formal, antiquated honorifics when referring to each other, [[note]]Mikazuki only uses "-dono" for Kogitsunemaru and Ishikirimaru, and refers to Imanotsurugi and Iwatooshi without honorifics; Ishikirimaru uses "-dono" for Mikazuki and Kogitsunemaru but "-san" for Iwatooshi and Imanotsurugi; Kogitsunemaru uses "-dono" for all of the other Sanjou; Iwatooshi uses "-dono" for everyone except Imanotsurugi; and Imanotsurugi refers to the other Sanjou as "-sama," except Iwatooshi[[/note]] but that they maintain a sense of closeness and community despite their high regard for each other.
*** Another long-standing mystery surrounds Tsurumaru Kuninaga's status as "related" to the Sanjou swords: although he was actually forged by Sanjou Munechika's apprentice, his school isn't listed in the game, he doesn't interact with the Sanjou, and he's treated more like a Dategumi[[note]]Swords once owned by the Date clan, them being Tsurumaru Kuninaga, Shokudaikiri Mitsutada, Taikogane Sadamune, and Ookurikara[[/note]] sword. The adaptations also don't clarify his relationship to the Sanjou swords either, but they do establish a connection between him and Mikazuki Munechika whenever they appear in a work together.
** None of the Sadamune swords interact, with Taikogane Sadamune being treated more like a Dategumi sword, as is Tsurumaru Kuninaga, leaving it unclear how he feels about the other members of his school.
** In the browser game and even in the spin-off works, most of Osafune swords don't interact with or acknowledge one another, with a few exceptions, such as Shokudaikiri Mitsutada and Fukushima Mitsutada having a Recollection. Interestingly, Fukushima's dialogue suggested that brotherly dynamics can be determined by the swords themselves, since he wants to be considered Shokudaikiri's older brother despite being from a later generation.
** Like the Sanjou swords, the Gou swords all behave more like a close-knit group of friends than a family and imply that they've known each other for a long time, though they never explicitly state their relationship to each other.

* TheAnimeOfTheGame: ''Touken Ranbu'' has two Anime adaptations in the form of ''Anime/ToukenRanbuHanamaru'' and ''Anime/KatsugekiToukenRanbu'', with ''Hanamaru'' having a more SliceOfLife tone and an EnsembleCast sort of episode rotation, while ''Katsugeki'' has a serious tone, is action-oriented, and mainly focuses on a single team.

* ConnectedAllAlong:
** Following the implementation of Taikogane Sadamune, Tsurumaru Kuninaga, Shokudaikiri Mitsutada, and Ookurikara were given in-game interactions to reflect the fact that they were swords previously owned by the Date clan around the same time period.
** After years of Iwatooshi and Imanotsurugi being the only Sanjou swords to interact, Mikazuki Munechika and Kogitsunemaru were finally given in-game interactions after Kogitsunemaru's Kiwame training.
** The browser game does not always acknowledge the historical connections between certain pairs of swords, no matter how well-known they are. Even some swords from the same schools do not have in-game interactions. However, many adaptations tend to compensate for where the browser game falls short:
*** The first musical is dedicated to the Sanjou school (with Kashuu Kiyomitsu), making up for the lack of Sanjou school interactions in the browser game at the time, other than Imanotsurugi and Iwatooshi. The musical also established that the Sanjou school swords do not see each other as a family, but rather as a group of close friends, setting a precedent for subsequent adaptations and the fandom.
*** If Mikazuki Munechika and Tsurumaru Kuninaga appear together in an adaptation, the writer will always take the time to establish that they know each other.[[note]]Touken Ranbu - Hanamaru is an exception, treating their meeting in the citadel as their first meeting, but the way they react to each other gives the impression that they already knew of each other.[[/note]] This is because Tsurumaru was forged by Gojo Kuninaga, the son (or grandson) of Sanjou Munechika, the swordsmith who created Mikazuki.

* EnsembleCast: Due to the sheer number of Touken Danshi in the series, ''Touken Ranbu Hanamaru'' focuses on a different set of swords each episode, although some swords, such as the main characters, are more recurring than others.

* GodsNeedPrayerBadly: For the Touken Danshi, the gods of swords, it appears that in certain circumstances they can lose their identity if people stop believing in them, which is what happened in the musical continuity when a shadow version of Ichigo Hitofuri was believed to be the genuine article over the original.

* KilledOffForReal: Averted in the browser game; While your swords can break, resulting in the loss of that particular version of the sword, obtaining another version of that same sword is always possible through smithing, events, or smithing campaigns.
** Played straight in stage play adaptation, [[spoiler: as Yamabushi Kunihiro was permanently broken, and Mikazuki Munechika was dismantled. Hototogisu, a CanonForeigner Touken Danshi, was also killed in the same stage play he was introduced in, making it unlikely that he'll ever make an introduction in the browser game]].

* OneManArmy: In the spin-offs, a number of the Touken Danshi are shown to be able to dispatch the Historical Revisionists with minimal effort, raising the question of why some of them are required to be in teams in the first place.

* PopularHistory: The series occasionally runs into the issue of mainly focusing on well-known historical stories, although each time it's handled in a unique way:
** Three out of six of the series' major spin-offs have tackled Date Masamune's story with the Dategumi swords [[note]]or some of them, at least, since Taikogane Sadamune has been left out twice, and Shokudaikiri Mitsutada once[[/note]].
** Except for the live-action films and ''Touken Ranbu Warriors'', damn near every spin-off has tackled the story of UsefulNotes/TheShinsengumi at some point during their runs, with the musical doing so ''twice''.
** Oda Nobunaga's story has been adapted four times in the series: first as a stage play (which would eventually go on to be made into an anime), then as an episode of ''Touken Ranbu - Hanamaru'', then as the first live-action film, and finally as a chapter in ''Touken Ranbu Warriors''.

* PresentDay:
** The games 2022 opening movie is set in the present day, with Mikazuki Munechika seen standing on the Tokyo tower as he reminisces about the other Touken Danshi.
** The second live action movie has the Touken Danshi travel back to 2012, with the main setting of the movie also being in Tokyo.

* SeriesMascot: Mikazuki Munechika is the primary face of ''Touken Ranbu'', along with the five starter swords, Kashuu Kiyomitsu, Yamanbagiri Kunihiro, Kasen Kanesada, Hachisuka Kotetsu, and Mutsunokami Yoshiyuki to a lesser degree.

* ShonenDemographic: Not the game itself, which is labeled Joseimuke, but many of its spin-offs, especially when adapted into manga, are marketed to the Shonen demographic. ''Touken Ranbu Hanamaru'', for some reason, also received this treatment after being adapted into a manga and is serialized in the magazine [[Magazine/ShonenJump Shonen Jump+]] while the musicals take a different approach and are deemed {{Seinen}}.

* StaticCharacter: While most characters return from Kiwame training with character development that also affects how they behave, there are instances where a character returns essentially the same person they were when they left, with the excuse in their letters usually being that they accept who they are and don't think it would be worthwhile to change. Justified because some characters--like Nansen, whose appeal comes from him being a cat boy--have peculiarities that define who they are or make them attractive archetypes; eliminating these traits would detract from their appeal or defeat the purpose of them embodying a specific archetype.

* TheTeam: In the musical, the main characters form a group. As we see from the main website:
** Team Sanjou with Kashuu Kiyomitsu[[note]]Mikazuki Munechika, Kogitsunemaru, Iwatooshi, Ishikirimaru, Imanotsurugi,and Kashuu Kiyomitsu)[[/note]]
** Team Shinsengumi with Hachisuka Kotetsu [[note]]Hachisuka Kotetsu, Nagasone Kotetsu, Horikawa Kunihiro, Izuminokami Kanesada, Yamatonokami Yasusada and Kashuu Kiyomitsu[[/note]]
** Team Mihotose[[note]]Sengo Muramasa, Nikkari Aoe, Ookurikara, Ishikirimaru, Monoyoshi Sadamune, and Tonbokiri[[/note]]
* ThereAreNoTherapists: Many of the Touken Danshi are deeply damaged, but given the state of the world, there are no therapists to help them sort out their problems. Instead, they receive Kiwame training, which not only strengthens them but also allows them to embark on a journey of self-discovery to help them in resolving their issues. That said, whether or not they return "better" or have simply come to accept their situation is ultimately dependent on the sword.
* ThoseTwoGuys: Outside of herding swords together based on schools and other factors, occasionally some swords are paired off in duos for one reason or another. Notable examples include:
** Mikazuki Munechika and Kogitsunemaru [[note]]Originally, they were paired off in fandom and official material because they were the only two Sanjous drawn by the same artist, as well as Sanjou Munechika's most famous swords. However, them having a relationship would not become canon in the browser game until Kogitsunemaru's Kiwame, several years into the game. Officially, they frequently appear together in anime adaptations, though it's mostly on Kogitsunemaru's side, as he's more often not seen without Mikazuki than the other way around due to Mikazuki's status as the face of ''Touken Ranbu''. This is especially true in ''Katsugeki/Touken Ranbu'', where Kogitsunemaru appears in brief cameo hanging out with Mikazuki, who plays a bigger role in the show. In the anthologies, Kogitsunemaru and Mikazuki have a few gag appearances together, such as in ''Touken Ranbu Gakuen'', where Kogitsunemaru is Mikazuki's secretary who he bribed into letting him leave the office with Inari Sushi.[[/note]]
** Kashuu Kiyomitsu and Yamatonokami Yasusada[[note]]Because both of these swords were previously owned by Okita Souji, they have been paired off since the browser game's inception. If Yamatonokami appears somewhere, Kashuu won't be far behind, though this isn't always the case for Kashuu due to Kashuu's status as one of the series' main mascots. In terms of official pairings, they both went on to be the main characters in the anime adaptation ''Touken Ranbu Hanamaru'' and have appeared in one musical together. In anthologies, the two are rarely shown apart.[[/note]]
** Izuminokami Kanesada and Horikawa Kunihiro

* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: [[spoiler: Due to the series' frequent use of FlashyProtagonistsBlandExtras, as well as the Touken Danshi's often flashy or anachronistic clothing compared to how normal humans in the setting dress, the visual difference between the Touken Danshi and human characters is fairly obvious. However, in most of the adaptations, human characters rarely comment on how the Touken Danshi look or dress]].

On the browser games 9th anniversary, [[https://www.toukenranbu.jp/ an official website for the franchise was finally released]].

The franchise boasts several manga adaptations (including an official HighSchoolAU manga), several [[TheMusical Musical]] [[Theatre/MusicalToukenRanbu adaptations]], several [[Theatre/ToukenRanbuStage stage play]] adaptations and two anime adaptations; one called ''Anime/ToukenRanbuHanamaru'' by Creator/{{Dogakobo}} which aired as part of the Fall 2016 season, then had a second season in the Winter 2018 season and a movie in 2022, and ''Anime/KatsugekiToukenRanbu'' made by Creator/{{ufotable}} which aired as part of the Summer 2017 Anime season. There are currently more adaptations for the musicals and stage plays in the works, including solo performances for certain characters.

A third Anime adaptation titled ''Touken Ranbu Kai -Kouden Moyuru Honnoji-'', which adapts the story of the first stage play, was announced in 2022 and began airing in April of 2024.

''Wanpaku! Touken Ranbu'', which is a collaborative merchandise and design project between Creator/{{Sanrio}}, and Creator/NitroPlus announced an animated adaptation in 2024.

[[Film/ToukenRanbuTheMovie A live-action movie adaptation]] was released on January 18, 2019, which saw the major stage play actors reprising their roles despite not taking place in that continuity. A manga adaptation of it was also made, with each chapter being posted up until the movie's release to cover each story. A sequel was released on 2023.

''Touken Ranbu'' had its first official mixed-media exhibit called "''Touken Ranbu'' - [=Honmaruhaku=] -" where visitors could explore the world of the game, first held in ''Sunshine City'', Ikebukuro in January 2017.

A mobile version of the game, ''Touken Ranbu Pocket'', was released on March 1, 2016.

A ''[[VideoGame/DynastyWarriors Warriors]]'' SpinOff on Platform/NintendoSwitch and PC, ''VideoGame/ToukenRanbuWarriors'', has been [[https://twitter.com/touken_musou/status/1425411695736856577 announced]], with its release date revealed to be Feburary 17, 2022 on the September 24 Japanese Nintendo Direct. A worldwide release on May 24, 2022 was announced later.