Ensemble Stars (あんさんぶるスターズ) is a multimedia project by Cacalia Studios and Happy Elements K.K., including mobile games, CDs, stage plays, novels, an anime series, and much more!

The games

The first game, Ensemble Stars!, released in 2015, and its sequel, Ensemble Stars!!, released in 2020 and is set a year after the first.
Ensemble Stars! is no longer available, but its stories are still available on the Japanese Ensemble Stars!! Basic app.Ensemble Stars! is about the troubled history of a prestigious idol school, Yumenosaki Academy. Four students united under the name of Trickstar, together with their friend and producer Anzu (the player), spark a revolution to give every aspiring idol a chance to shine.Ensemble Stars!! is set after the 3rd year students from Ensemble Stars! graduate. It's about Ensemble Square, a self-named paradise for idols built by Eichi Tenshouin. Here, the idols debut in the world of adults as part of different talent agencies, and must face new challenges and threats from the darker side of the idol industry.
The game is currently active and releases new stories biweekly.A now retired game by Happy Elements K.K., Ensemble Girls, features the school Anzu transfered from. She, Leo, and possibly Mika have connections to characters from this game.Each of the games can be enjoyed without reading the others. If you are only interested in reading Ensemble Stars!!, but would still like to know what happened in Ensemble Stars! beforehand, we recommend watching the anime or checking out the stage plays.

Where to read

You can play the official English localization by downloading the Ensemble Stars Music app. However, some stories are not on the official English version yet, either because they're too old or because they're too new. You might also want to read a different translation approach to a story you love.You can find translations of in-game stories by looking up the story name + translation or similar terms on Twitter, Tumblr, or on your search engine.An opt-in masterlist of story translations is additionally currently available, thanks to the contributions of consenting translators to allow their work to be more easily located. Find the masterlist for main, scout, and event stories here, and the masterlist for feature scout and idol stories here. We also RT translation updates for stories that are being worked on.

Adaptations

The Ensemble Stars anime released its first 24-episode season in June 2019, and was localized for English-speaking audiences by Funimation. It covers the first game's main story and some of its events.An original anime movie, -Road to Show!!-, released in March 2022. It features an original, canon story set during the second game (Ensemble Stars!!). This movie has not been localized as of June 2023.Other adaptations include a series of stage plays, covering the first game's main story and some of its main events, a novel series, covering the beginning of the first game's main story, and two manga adaptations: one, Ensemble Stars!, about the first game's main story and the other, Ready for Star, about the event stories from the first game, featuring Anzu.

Basic or Music?

The Japanese version of the game, Ensemble Stars!!, has two different gameplay options: Basic and Music. They are separate apps, and accounts can't be shared, linked or transferred between the two.
- Basic's gameplay is that of an idol-raising game with an idle, tap-tap playstyle. It is recommended for people who enjoy lighter, slow-paced gameplay and would rather focus on the story and collecting cards.
- Music's gameplay is that of a rhythm game with animated 3D music videos. It is recommended for people who enjoy more active gameplay and seeing their favorite characters on stage.The games update simultaneously and feature the same stories and cards, with minor scheduling differences (Basic events last slightly longer).
However, stories and cards from the previous game, Ensemble Stars!, are only available in Basic.

Japanese or Global?

The Global server of the game only features Music-style gameplay and is behind in terms of content, but benefits from having exclusive card sets and stories, alongside many QOL and gameplay features.- The Chinese version is 14 events, or 7 months, behind JP
- The Korean version is 16 events, or 8 months, behind JP
- The Taiwanese version is 19 events, or 9 months and a half, behind JP
- The English version is 50 events, or 2 years and 3 months behind JP.The English version is currently the most accessible version in terms of region, and has an iOS, Android, and PC version available to download.The Chinese version requires a phone number (not necessarily a Chinese one) to play the game.