History YMMV / SenranKagura

* ThatOneLevel: In ''Shinovi Versus'', any mission that takes place in the interior of Hebijo Academy. You are fighting inside small and enclosed rooms with ceilings so low that it actually disrupts Aerial Raves and mid-air maneuvers, making it difficult to either pull off some attacks from the air or make a quick escape. This becomes grating especially when you're fighting elite mooks like the Bear Assassins or a boss (or both!) as they can easily lay a beating on you in these tight spaces.

* MagnificentBitch: (2013 anime}: [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds Lady Fubuki]] is the main antagonist of the ''Shinovi Master'' season. A [[spoiler:HalfHumanHybrid born to a human shinobi father and yōma mother]], Fubiki swore revenge when [[spoiler:the shinobi took her family away from her]]. Taken in by the yōma Rasetsu and Gessen Master Kurokage, Fubuki bonded with them and Yumi, eventually recruiting Rasetsu to her cause. Manipulating the siblings Gekko and Senko by turning them against the other schools, Fubuki has them kidnap the Hanzo girls, sans Asuka, and use them to force the others into the Shinovi Masters tournament. While Rasetsu guards the captives, Fubuki reveals her true plans at the tournament's conclusion and launches a yōma invasion, intending to kill all shinobi. Sending her minions to surface in a faraway island to divert the top shinobi, Fubuki [[spoiler:[[TheWorfEffect defeats even the powerful True Kagura]]]] and corners the other heroines several times, nearly reaching her goal. [[spoiler:Though defeated in the end, Fubuki [[GracefulLoser accepts her loss]] and gives up on her hatred, [[DefeatMeansFriendship befriending Asuka]] and rekindling her relationship with Yumi.]]

** Although a very minor one compared to the other entries, ''Estival Versus''[='=] release on UsefulNotes/PSVita and UsefulNotes/{{PS4}} made some UsefulNotes/{{PS3}} owners a little disappointed that it wouldn't come to their system.

* MorePopularSpinoff: The Vita spinoff ''Shinovi Versus'' has outsold both versions of the first game combined. The reasons are rather clear as a ''VideoGame/DynastyWarriors'' style 3d brawler is easier to play, far more fanservice (clothing damage doesn't stop at the underwear/swimsuit anymore!) and more characters. The release also coincided with the slashing of Vita's price in Japan. Creator/XSEEDGames [[http://www.siliconera.com/2014/05/08/senran-kagura-shinovi-versus-coming-north-america-fall/ actually localized and released Shinovi Versus over to North America in Fall 2014]] due to the sheer demand for the game over there and the success sales of ''Burst'', which they also localized. Then ''Shinovi Versus'' becomes the first ''Senran Kagura'' to be released on PC, with Steam release in June 2016. This ended up having a side effect on the reaction to ''Senran Kagura 2''. It initially wasn't received well upon release, and some of its detractors were expecting the game to be more similar to ''Shinovi Versus'' than it was. This sentiment was strong enough that sometimes talks about ''Senran Kagura 2'' turned into [[UsefulNotes/ConsoleWars debates about the Vita and the 3DS]].

* EvilIsSexy: Homura, Miyabi, and Sōji, as well as their respective squad members, definitely fall under this trope.

* CompleteMonster: [[spoiler:Dōgen]] shows himself to truly earn his title of evil shinobi in both the game and anime/manga continuities:
** Game Series: [[spoiler:[[DiabolicalMastermind Dōgen]] is an investor of Hebijo Academy and the true mastermind behind the first three games who seeks to TakeOverTheWorld. In ''Burst'', having manipulated several troubled girls into serving him, Dōgen sparks a conflict between Hebijo and Hanzo Academy in order to get many shinobi killed. After sacrificing them to the [[TheHeartless yōma]] Orochi, he forces Homura and her friends to fight the Hanzo girls under pain of death if they fail, and [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness sacrifices Homura's friends]] to Orochi, forcing Homura to fight Orochi to save them. In ''Shinovi Versus'', he returns and [[IHaveYourWife kidnaps Miyabi's father to force her to work for him]], then brainwashes four other girls into working for him and has Homura and her Crimson squad declared traitors, ordering them hunted down. After setting up the Shinobi Battle Royale with Hanzo and Gessen Academy, he kills Tsumuji in front of Homura, taunting her about it. In ''Deep Crimson'', Dōgen begins raising yōma so he can [[WarForFunAndProfit sell them and cause war]], and tests them on the Hebijo students; when initially thwarted, he instead takes the blood of the Hanzo and Crimson girls to create the yōma generals and unleashes them on Kyoto, intending to have them invade all Japan and power up Kagura so he can steal her Reincarnation Sphere to give himself ultimate power.]]
** Anime & Manga: [[spoiler:[[DiabolicalMastermind Headmaster Dōgen]] is the man who runs Hebijo Academy and the antagonist of ''Ninja Flash!'' and the manga adaptations. Desiring to TakeOverTheWorld, Dōgen manipulates several troubled girls into serving him. As Headmaster, Dōgen instills a [[TrainingFromHell brutal training regime]] intended to beat his students into obedience. He orders Homura and her friends to steal one of the Super Secret Ninja Scrolls, then once the Hanzo girls arrive to take it back, he invokes the yoke technique to [[YouHaveFailedMe force Homura and her friends to die if they fail him]]. Intentionally getting as many of his students killed as possible so he can feed them to the Yin and Yang scrolls, Dōgen powers himself with them and tries to kill the girls in a final battle. Upon failing, he [[TakingYouWithMe activates a self-destruct device that will destroy Hebijo]], admitting his complete lack of care that he will be killing many students in the process.]]

* AudienceAlienatingPremise: Due to the fanservice consisting of [[WorldOfBuxom busty girls]] and ClothingDamage, there are gamers that refuse to give the series a second look. [[WordOfGod Takaki's stance on this]] is essentially apathy towards those alienated, as he wants to continue to make games that appeal to him and his fans (see DearNegativeReader on the trivia page).

* WhatMeasureIsANonBadass:
** Hibari might be significantly more capable of fighting compared to your average joe, but she's ridiculously low on the power level compared to other shinobi. Adding the points that she's pink, her summon monster is a rabbit, and she's {{moe}}, many people find a scrappy in her. What really hurts her is she is arguably the worst character to play as on the Hanzo side (at least in ''Burst'') with her awkward [[ConfusionFu play style]], short reach, and that fact that hers are the only Ninja Arts that can't be easily integrated into a combo (her aerial one is basically an instant end to your current chain).
** Minori gets hit with this with her low stats not helping her case.

** With the ''VideoGame/{{Neptunia}}'', ''Manga/IkkiTousen'', ''LightNovel/HighSchoolDXD'' and ''VideoGame/DeadOrAlive'' fanbases; ''SK'' has had plenty of cross-promotion and crossover content with them in some way or another.

* TierInducedScrappy:
** Daidōji and Rin in ''Shinovi Versus''. It doesn't help that these two still remain as game breakers. Daidōji's breach art can ''rip off all your clothes'' if the player charges it. In frantic mode, it's guaranteed to do a OneHitKill. Rin's a bit more subtle, but is still seen as overpowered.
** Minori is the weakest character in ''Shinovi Versus''.
** In ''Estival Versus'', characters like Yomi and Hanabi have attacks that are more about power than speed, but this just ends up making them an easier target in a game where you are constantly surrounded and under fire. Because while you can dash cancel ''between'' attacks, you can't cancel out of the attack itself. It also doesn't help that they still flinch just as easily as the faster characters. The end result is essentially getting a slow character with nothing to really make up for it. Their only potential saving graces are their highly-damaging arts.
** Most of the characters in ''Estival Versus'' have at least one of the following: Excellent damage/combo capability with their regular combos or excellent damage/combo capability with their secret ninja arts. The primary exception is Haruka. Her regular combo skills are somewhat mediocre but her ninja arts are the greater disappointment as they either have very few hits or even worse range than her regular attacks, effectively making her one of the worst overall characters by not having a major strength to compensate for a weakness in one area.
** Characters who lack a nice multi-hitting move in ''Burst'' tend to get on the low end as the lack of such makes it harder for them to level up. Yomi's a chief offender as none of her moves really rack up the hits well, thus she'll lag behind her teammates who have such moves. Hibari is another offender, though lessened by her ability to rack up hits with her normal strings.