https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/trickstar_1.png

Left: EnStars!, right: EnStars!!

The Southern Cross Sparkling in the Night Sky!

In the first game, they are the academy's nova—a new star that aims to become the brightest shining star! With an incredible bond between the members, Trickstar is a group of the most promising stars that will be sure to stir up the whole academy with their ceaseless energy! Being the protagonist group, these four idols are the unit the player character first produces for and manages.

In the second game, Trickstar is a fairly orthodox idol unit affiliated with Star Maker Productions. Led by Hokuto Hidaka, their fanservice is both dazzling and comfortably personal with their audience. Trickstar overflows with a calming energy and genuine character, so their work in media focuses on appearing in variety shows, hosting official events, acting as radio personalities, and being the face of advertising campaigns in commercials.

Their theme color is orange.

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In General

Breaking the Fellowship: After Akatsuki's loss to Trickster, they split up after Eichi offers each of them membership to other groups (Mao with Akatsuki, Makoto with Knights, and Hokuto & Subaru with Fine). Subaru declines to stay with Anzu/the player in Trickstar, but they all reunite by the finals
Famed In-Story: By Ensemble Stars!!, their fame is near legendary. Not only for their revolution, but also for their victory during the SS live.
La Résistance: Trickstar's goal in the main story is to throw the student council off their throne.
Series Mascot: Despite the Ensemble Stars!! main story focus shifting to the new units ALKALOID and Crazy:B, they’re still promoted as the faces of the franchise.
Perpetual Poverty: Just in L$ but in Ensemble Stars!!, they are often out of funds and can only have limited stage performances because of it. They were one of the first groups to take ALKALOID's invitation during MDM but ALKALOID had to decline since they didn't have the required funds to make it on time
Power of Friendship: Trickstar's tight friendship is often stressed as the strong point of their unit.

Unit Song List

Rebellion Star
HEART→BEATER!!!!
虹色のSeasons lit. Rainbow-Coloured Seasons
Welcome to the Trickstar Night☆
CHERRY HAPPY STREAM
DIAMOND SUMMER
BREAKTHROUGH!
Infinite Star
ONLY YOUR STARS! (Trickstar Ver.)
STARSEEK WAYFARER (Hokuto Hidaka Solo)
My Starry Point (Subaru Akehoshi Solo)
Walking On My Sunny Road (Makoto Yuuki Solo)
MAGICIAN’S PLAY! (Mao Isara Solo)
1st SING-ALONG☆ (Anime Soundtrack)
Kiseki (Trickstar Ver.) (Anime Soundtrack)
BIGBANG REFLECTION!!
BRAND NEW STARS!! (Trickstar Ver.)
Walk with your smile (Trickstar Ver.)
Crossing×Heart (with fine)
FUSIONIC STARS!! (Trickstar Ver.)
Finder Girl
Unstoppable Love!
Daydream×Reality
Surprising Thanks!! (Trickstar Ver.)

Current members

Subaru Akehoshi

EnStars!: First-class Star with a Glittering Smile
EnStars!!: Glittering Shining First Star☆

"Ohh! I found a coin! Lucky~☆"

A hardworking mood-maker who thinks of everything in a positive light, Subaru's always on the go, never settling down. He likes money (not in a materialistic way; he just likes shiny things and loves coins regardless of the value).

He's often with his classmates Hokuto Hidaka and Makoto Yuuki. Together with class B's Mao Isara, the four of them form the unit Trickstar, and they all get along well. Subaru owns a shiba named Daikichi.

Class: 2-A (EnStars!), 3-A (EnStars!!)

Club/Circles: Basketball Club / Sports Survivors, ANIMALS (EnStars!!)

Age: 16-17 (EnStars!), 17-18 (EnStars!!)

Birthday: June 22

Height/Weight: 170cm/55kg (EnStars!), 171cm/55kg (EnStars!!)

Blood Type: O

Hobby: Walking the dog & making nicknames

Specialty: Hip-hop dancing

Voiced by: Tetsuya Kakihara (Japanese), Garret Storms (English)

Portrayed by: Ren Ozawa (stage play)

All of the Other Reindeer: He was estranged in his class in the past, due to his insistence to "have fun" in spite of the Academy's grim situation.
Animal Motifs: Tends to be associated with dogs due to his pet and his general puppy-like personality.
Big Brother Instinct: Subaru thinks very highly of Hajime and his unit Ra✽bits. At the end of Episode 02, he is clearly irate at how differently Ra✽bits is treated in comparison to AKATSUKI. No one even bothered to show up for Ra✽bits performance after AKATSUKI's, and that was unforgivable in his eyes. This is what motivate Subaru to fight back against the academy's current rigid and harsh structure.
Boke and Tsukkomi Routine: The Boke to Hokuto's Tsukkomi, much to the latter's exasperation. Makoto often joins along the routine with Subaru.
Collector of the Strange: Has a crow-like love of random shiny things which he keeps in a transparent piggy bank.
Defiant to the End: In the main story, he refuses both Eichi's offer to join Fine and Chiaki's offer to join RYUSEITAI, saying he'd rather stay in Trickstar than anywhere else.
Disappeared Dad: His family is listed only as his mom and dog. The yonkoma manga mentions he used to be an idol, which apparently played into Subaru's motivation to become one. His father is later mentioned along with Hokuto's father in the April Fools content that talks of the past, though what happens to him in the present remains unknown.
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream implies Subaru's father might have died from overworking.
  - Natsume's substory, and Magicians Assemble implies that his father may have caused a huge controversy/embarrassing incident of some sort, resulting in a huge stigma surrounding him.
  - The anime confirms this. His father was accused of murder during a live show which leads to his arrest and a bad reputation to his family. Just before it could be any worse, his father died in prison
Expy: Of Himari Tsurumi from Ensemble Girls!. Both are bubbly, cheerful, friendly and like giving nicknames to everyone. In the light novel he also motivates Anzu with his energetic presence, just like Himari motivated Anzu's brother in Ensemble Girls!. Bonus points for being the first character they met in their respective series.
Genius Ditz: Despite appearances, he's considered to be filled with natural talent as an idol, as stated by Hokuto and Rei. He also apparently does well in school.
Hokuto: That guy is on a different "level" after all. Just keeping up with him is a trial. By all rights, Akehoshi should be valued even more. He doesn’t have to crawl around at a low level along with us. He surely has outstanding talent that can aim for even higher, but...
Subaru: Give me money, money ☆ I showed you my performance, so give me a reward to match that~♪
Hokuto: ... His character is flawed, however. That's the reason it's hard for people to appreciate his value, I suppose?
Genki Boy: Always cheery and sporting a smile. Turns out to be rather deconstructed as Subaru has such a happy mentality that he can't relate to other people's feelings of distress and pain, and has to work on remembering that sadness is also a valid feeling.
Hates Being Alone: The one thing guaranteed to immediately ruin his typical cheer.
In-Series Nickname : Gets 'Baru-kun' from Natsume, which he dislikes.
Money Fetish: Loves money and borrows it from the other unit members whenever he can, though not for the materialistic value. Rather, he just loves shiny things.
The Nicknamer: Calls Hokuto "Hokke", Makoto "Ukki", Mao "Sally", and Hajime "Shinonon". He basically has one for pretty much every character he interacts with, save for Natsume, Nazuna and Anzu, whom he calls by first names.
- In Ensemble Stars!, Subaru called Madara "Mikejima Madara" in its Katakana spelling^noteミケジママダラ, which high-lighted the strangeness of the name as well as his dislike of Madara due to the events of Shinsengumi. As of Ensemble Stars!!, Subaru instead calls him "Mamu-senpai"^noteマム先輩, with Mamu being the pronunciation of the solo unit Ma M, of which Madara is the leader of. Due to them being roommates in the new game, it can be assumed that the characters are on better terms after some off-screen development. Madara seems to confirm that they’re friends now in his third idol story.
No Sense of Personal Space: He's very touchy, be it with the other boys or with Anzu. Ironically, he hates it when it's his space being invaded without his consent, like with Chiaki or Arashi.
Say My Name: He says Hokuto's name, and not the joke nickname he made for him, when the latter tells him he's leaving Trickstar in the main story. Hokuto remarks he never thought it'll be a time like that that he can hear Subaru calling him by name.
Stepford Smiler: In a way. While he is genuinely cheery and believes a smile is always better than brooding, Subaru later realizes that for a long while, he was probably internalizing his feelings of sadness and emotional pain. It got to the point where he legitimately thought he didn't feel those, and that everyone else preferred to be happy all the time as well, which was one of the factors that isolated him from the rest of his class. Hokuto and the others eventually make him realize what a burden that is, to other people and to himself.
Tsundere: Towards Chiaki only, as he finds him overly touchy, pushy, and altogether difficult to deal with, but genuinely does want to be friends with him and respects him as the president of the basketball club.
You Are Not Alone: As a first year, he had been ostracized in his class, and the other Trickstar members were the one who found him and convinced him he wasn’t alone. Later in the main story, when Trickstar is split and Subaru is left alone, this time Chiaki convinces him of this, by saying Subaru still has him and Anzu on his side.

Hokuto Hidaka

EnStars!: Passion Hidden in Cool Eyes
EnStars!!: The Prince with a Zealous Glance

"Seriously, why are the guys in our class such a handful?"

Calm, cool, and collected, Hokuto is a hard-working perfectionist. He hates when his pace is disturbed. Though he might come across as cold to his noisy classmates at first, he values his friends. He's kind and will explain things thoroughly to those who don't understand, but he's also slightly air-headed.

He likes simple sweets, and his overall tastes are somewhat old-fashioned. The eccentric theater club president Wataru Hibiki gives Hokuto a hard time with his crazy antics, but Hokuto is striving to organize proper club activities. The leader of the unit Trickstar.

Class: 2-A (EnStars!), 3-A (EnStars!!)

Club/Circles: Theater Club / Dramatica, CRAFTMONSTER (EnStars!!)

Age: 16-17 (EnStars!), 17-18 (EnStars!!)

Birthday: December 17

Height/Weight: 172cm/55kg (EnStars!), 173cm/55kg (EnStars!!)

Blood Type: A

Hobby: Crossword puzzles

Specialty: Singing

Voiced by: Yoshimasa Hosoya (2015-2017), Tomoaki Maeno (2017-present) (Japanese), Adam Gibbs (English)

Portrayed by: Ikkei Yamamoto (stage play)

Affectionate Nickname: Hokke, given by Subaru. Later, his mother is revealed to affectionately call him "Hocchan".
Class Representative: Of 2-A.
Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: To Wataru in the theater club. Though he'd often fall victim to said person's eccentricities.
The Comically Serious: Particularly in Theatre Club stories, where he stands as contrast to both Wataru's Large Ham tendencies and Tomoya's eternally frustrated Straight Man.
Implied Love Interest: If the interviews with the staff are anything to go by, they seem to ship him together with Anzu more than anyone. This gets supported by the fact that most of Hokuto's 5* cards have Anzu on them, and his event courses are very tease-y compared to the other characters.
Mr. Exposition: He's in charge of explaining the academy to Anzu/the player at the beginning of the main story.
My Greatest Failure: Hokuto feels terribly guilty over betraying Trickstar to defect to fine in the main story.
Oblivious to Love: Seems not to notice Tomoya's blatant fanboy crush on him.
Perpetual Frowner: He's often described to be "like a robot" in the beginning.
Raised by Grandparents: Is this, and doesn't get along with his actual parents.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: Personality-wise serves as a blue oni to Subaru's red oni, complete with appropriate colour schemes, but beneath the surface Hokuto is much more rebellious than your typical blue oni - don't mistake his coolness for a love of order and stability.
Running Gag: Watch how long can Hokuto last without mentioning his grandma.
The Stoic: Possibly the most expressionless of the entire cast.
Strong Family Resemblance: Hokuto is noted to look a lot like his father Seiya. When we see dear old Dad in the game proper, we learn that "a lot" is an understatement.
Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Usually stoic, but he does have a nice side to his friends, grandma, and Anzu.
Trademark Favorite Food: Konpeito.
"Well Done, Son" Guy: He is actually this to his actual parents when he was younger. But as it seems that they weren't really part of his childhood, their relationship went bitter over the years. Though the Band Ensemble event reveals that he is in more amiable terms with his mother than his father.

Makoto Yuuki

EnStars!!: The View Through the Lens is My World♪

"Have courage, myself! After all, my name is Yuuki! Ah, nice pun."

Although he acts the part of an energetic mood-maker, Makoto is easily overcome by nervousness, and to top it off, fumbles sometimes when trying to communicate his feelings. He's also terrible at talking to girls while alone around them. So that he can overcome all his real and perceived flaws and not let his unit down, he works very hard at becoming the idol he desires to be.

The broadcasting committee relies on him for his excellent ability to gather information. While it was never his intention to become a model, he's been in show business since childhood because of his parents. He's a real looker when he takes off his glasses. A member of the unit Trickstar.

Class: 2-A (EnStars!), 3-A (EnStars!!)

Club/Circles: Tennis Club / CRAFTMONSTER, Mystery Researchers (EnStars!!)

Age: 16-17 (EnStars!), 17-18 (EnStars!!)

Birthday: April 30

Height/Weight: 174cm/58kg (EnStars!), 174cm/58kg (EnStars!!)

Blood Type: O

Hobby: Crane machines & fighting games

Specialty: Playing around with electronics

Voiced by: Showtaro Morikubo (Japanese), Jerry Jewell (English)

Portrayed by: Taiichiro Matsumura (stage play)

Accidental Pun: As part of his and Subaru's Boke and Tsukkomi Routine, they do this sometimes.
Affectionate Nickname: Called Ukki by Subaru and Mako-chin by Nazuna. And Yuu-kun by Izumi, which is also the most widely used of his nicknames in the fandom.
Book Dumb: While he's skillful with electronics, he actually has the worst grades of everyone in Trickstar.
Break the Cutie: His long experience as a gravure model practically served as this for him; by the beginning of the game, he has actually just started to work on becoming less broken. Then the 2017 New Year's Event reveals that he suffers a case of Parental Neglect.
Makoto: "I'm being serious! Trickstar was the first thing I found to treasure in my empty life!"
Broken Ace: In spite of his feeling of not being up to par with the rest of Trickstar and striving to catch up, and implications that he fears he's The Nondescript due to low self-esteem, at one point in-game he speaks of how hard he had to fight in his previous environment as a model, and how the idols of the school don't seem like they put in their all.
Butt-Monkey: Deliberately cultivated as such on stage, both to make Trickstar appear more approachable, and also to mitigate Makoto's worries about messing up, because as long as he's known as the clumsy one the audience will find his mistakes endearing rather than annoying, and might even think it's part of the show.
Cannot Spit It Out: He's shown obvious romantic interest in Anzu, but has a hard time even just so much as inviting her to summer festival together.
Cannot Talk to Women: He's alright when talking to them in a group, but has trouble talking with girls when by himself.
Crazy Jealous Guy: Though they're not dating, he gets jealous easily when it comes to Anzu, especially when he sees her with members of another unit. He'd even trail her or try to eavesdrop. Of course it's more of a Running Gag than treated as anything serious, but Makoto is shown to be aware and somewhat ashamed as his near stalker-like behavior is reminiscent of Izumi.
The Cutie: While he isn't implied to be more innocent than any other 2nd year—in fact, he frequently reveals a cynical side due to his "empty" past—the manga in particular, and occasionally 4komas, emphasize his sweet nature and his frequent cheering of his friends on.
- His seiyu, Morikubo, seems to have taken notice of the emphasis, as it's mainly throughout the manga-based drama CD he voices Makoto with a soft-spoken tone, something that doesn't come naturally to him considering his many other roles.
The Ditz: What he is essentially sold as in-universe; during the versus Akatsuki S1 in the main story, Hokuto notes in his head that Makoto's bumbling character is necessary for the audience to relate to Trickstar, and introducing him as this helps gloss over any mistake Makoto may make due to his lack of skills, since it will let the audience take the mistake as just The Ditz acting in-character.
Dogged Nice Guy: Towards Anzu.
Even the Guys Want Him: Despite Izumi insisting he wants to be called "niichan" (older brother) by Makoto again, his obsession with him goes into this territory, with their peers often using wording that implies he wants to be in a relationship (usually when telling him to drop it since Makoto doesn't like it and doesn't reciprocate). This is made fun of in a 4koma, in which Tori yells about Izumi and Nazuna fighting over Makoto instead of him.
The Everyman: Among focal characters he abides by this role the most, especially in the manga and 4-koma where his hard-working nature and close friendships are emphasized. A few 4-koma strips seem savvy to how, despite his having a defining personality, because of the baggage of this role and his featuring a great deal in the main story and manga versus more popular units and characters, he gets hit with the brunt of Trickstar's Vanilla Protagonist accusations—in one of them, Tori yells "Why are you guys fighting over boring glasses guy instead of me!?" when his popularity status with boys in-universe is parodied. Another has him experiencing a nightmare in which Keito, at the time the only other bespectacled idol known and of course the scary student council VP, takes away what Makoto often insinuates is his defining trait—his glasses—and assembles a studious unit more "suitable" for glasses, until Makoto wakes up frantic and vows to "work harder than ever before" (at studying).
Informed Attractiveness: Despite all the characters drawn attractively, Makoto is described to have very strong visuals with or without his glasses on. This is also stated to be one of his top 3 charm points in Dokidoki! Ensemble Stars!! Seminar.
The Load: Put among geniuses like Subaru and Hokuto and a Jack of All Trades like Mao, Makoto is aware of how far he's falling behind the rest of Trickstar, and thus strives to grow out of this.
Nervous Wreck: Despite his willingness to go along with Subaru's silly antics and cheery speaking style and attitude, anxiety is essentially a defining trait of his, not helped by his past, home life, and Izumi's frequent behavior when around him and overall treatment of him.
Smart People Wear Glasses: Played with. He wears glasses and he is well-informed, has a wide information network, and can work electronics skillfully, but he's actually not very book smart.
Stepford Smiler: Makoto’s cheerfulness hides his low self-esteem. It’s brought into question in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, where Hokuto points out that his smile looks faked, and tells him not to show such fake smile to the audience. Even worse, Makoto asks back, “Aren’t I smiling properly?” implying he himself doesn’t realize this. Later he wonders to Izumi if his smile looks forced, which Izumi doesn’t deny, but he still encourages him to keep it because as an idol, it’s better than no smile at all.
The Glasses Gotta Go: His official profile pins him down as a Bishōnen without his glasses. He seems to indeed make use of them to hide his looks. Izumi, who wants Makoto to return to modeling with him, believes he's better off without them; he takes them off while wearing Izumi's Knights outfit in Duel.
What Beautiful Eyes!: In-universe. It's noted that his eyes are his charm, pointed out by Izumi, and Anzu should you choose the option.
What Does He See In Him?: When a 4koma page parodies Makoto's implied popularity among boys in-universe (as a friend and otherwise) by having Izumi and Nazuna fight over him like girls often do with a main character in Bishoujo Series, Tori essentially yells this.

Mao Isara

EnStars!!: Face to Face with Everyone!

"I just don't want to get pulled into unnecessary troubles!"

Mao is a reliable boy who loves taking care of others and never fails to lend a helping hand, even when he complains about it. Even though he is the student council's treasurer, he's also a member of the unit Trickstar, and the two groups often go head-to-head against each other. He doesn't like getting into trouble, but always finds himself dragged into it.

Being a student council member, he does everything flawlessly. He doesn't like being the center of attention, so he often provides support from behind the scenes. Childhood friends with his neighbor Ritsu Sakuma.

Class: 2-A (EnStars!), 3-A (EnStars!!)

Club/Circles: Basketball Club / Manga Club, BB (EnStars!!)

Age: 16-17 (EnStars!), 17-18 (EnStars!!)

Birthday: March 16

Height/Weight: 169cm/54kg (EnStars!), 169cm/54kg (EnStars!!)

Blood Type: O

Hobby: Watching TV & reading manga

Specialty: Guitar

Voiced by: Yūki Kaji (Japanese), David Matranga (English)

Portrayed by: Riki Tanimizu (stage play)

Affectionate Nickname: Sally by Subaru. Maa-kun by Ritsu.
Ain't Too Proud to Beg: If something can be solved by him prostrating, so be it.
Childhood Friends: Has been neighbors with Rei and Ritsu since they were kids, but is a lot closer to Ritsu, even to the point of going to his house every morning to wake him up to make sure he gets to school on time.
The Ditherer: During the main story he finds it hard to commit to Trickstar against the Student Council, even feeding information to both sides for a period due to his indecisiveness.
Expy: A magazine interview revealed that Mao was originally a Gender Flipped version of Mai Anjo from Ensemble Girls!.
Fatal Flaw: He always can't help but want to help someone in trouble, and even he acknowledges it himself.
The Heart: He's very supportive of Makoto, often takes care of Ritsu, and overlaps as a Big Brother Mentor for Shinobu.
Jack of All Trades: He's smart, his work is always done in a flawless manner, he is good at dancing, and he's pretty good looking.
Nice Guy: A really nice and reliable person, though his nice nature is also considered to be a flaw as well.
Only Sane Man: He's the only one of Trickstar that isn't smitten with Anzu and treats her as a producer. However The Ring That Sounds the Bells reveals that he does has feelings for her (such as feeling jealous at the thought of Anzu marrying), he's just better at hiding it.
The Reliable One: He's responsible for gathering information for Trickstar and helping them out from behind the scenes, to the point that he acted much like a Producer to his own unit before Anzu's arrival. His work in the Student Council is also said to always be done flawlessly.
Token Good Teammate: In the main story, he is the only one to oppose the student council and Eichi's reign, despite his reluctance due to wanting to keep his position there. He ultimately chose to be with Trickstar.
The Unfavorite: Of the neglect variety. His parents spoiled his sister more than him, assuming that because he's so reliable, he'd be fine even if they didn't pay attention to him.
Why Did It Have To Be Sharp Things?: According to one of his course events, he really doesn't like sharp things, to the point that he gets wary of a mechanical pencil Anzu is holding at the time. Ritsu's thoughts in the beginning of the Band Ensemble event suggests that this fear was worse when he was younger. Also overlaps with Afraid of Needles.
Workaholic: He's the treasure of the Student Council, The Vice President of the Basketball club, and a trustworthy member of Trickstar. Poor guy can never take a break.
You Remind Me of X: In the main story, Keito tells Mao, who is hesitating after leaving Trickstar and defecting to Akatsuki that Mao reminds him of his younger self for trying to live too proficiently, and advises him not to turn out like him.

Characters / Ensemble Stars Trickstar

Unit Song List

Current members

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Characters / Ensemble Stars Trickstar

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