Birushana: Rising flower of genpei ~ Overall thoughs

Published by: Idea factory/otomate (JP)
ENG: Idea factory 
Available for nintendo switch (ENG & JP)

I had planned to play Varibari next but my friend asked me to join to Birushana playing gang and here I'm lol. Maybe after this I try play Varibari or some psvita games which I still haven't play. 

Summary from Idea factory international

Fifteen years after the Heiji Rebellion, the Heike clan has reached the height of its power, while the Genji clan remains devastated by defeat. Hidden deep within the mountains of Kurama lives Shanao, the youngest surviving male heir to the Genji name. However, Shanao harbors a deep secret known by very few.

The youngest heir to the Genji name is no man.

Torn between her duty to live up to the Genji family name and her desire to live a peaceful life, Shanao sets off in hopes to take down the Heike stronghold and finally bring peace in the country. Her adventure leads her to find new cherished relationships, as well as something deeper than the feud between the rivaling clans.

the boys

Overall thoughs:

After finishing Dairoku I decided to play Birushana what had my friends and some people on internet started playing. I didn't really have any high expectations for this game. I just hoped this didn't ended up to be Hakuouki 2.0 or something. My only though was "okay this is going to be historical/war themed game".  The game tells the story about girl named Shana who have to pretend to be male. She is part of Genji clan which is not in good relationship with Heike clan. Soon when I realized this is about Heike clan I got some flashback for "Heike monogatari" anime which I watched a long time ago. The anime tells story about the Heike clan and what happens for them in the history. So I already kinda knew which war parts there was going to be. 

Like always I looked up to some route guides.
The playing order which I followed was Noritsune, Benkei, Shungen, Yoritomo & Tomomori. And I think this is good order to play the routes. 

So first was Noritsune, one of the Heike boys. 
When I started playing the route I didn't have any idea how the story was going to go. Noritsune was part of the Heike clan, very skillful samurai & strategist. His character type was kinda weird mix of ore-sama & tsundere. 
First Noritsune saw Shana as ideal rival & he really wanted to fight with her. As historical/war themed game the start for the story had a lot war themed stuff, like you can expect. Later there was some parts where they show how Shana's & Noritsune's relationship changed. First their relationship felt very trustful which changed into a respectful friendship which later changes to romantical relationship. 
I think Noritsune's & Shana's relationship felt very real and believable and also Noritsune accepted Shana what she was. 
First I wasn't really sure if I would like Noritsune that much but more I played his route I also started liking a lot more. To be honest I don't have much to say about his route lol. 

Next was Benkei. 
What I understood Benkei is not the most popular character from this game? But I wanted to be this person who end up to like him a lot. 
First feeling what I get from him was that he is this "golden retriever" type of character. He is very gentle, loyal but also at the sametime a little "a troublemaker". 
In the very beginning of the route Shana get to know about Benkei and later Benkei join to Shana & Shungen's gang. Soon you also get to know a little bit about Benkei's past. Couple first chapters felt kinda same what was in Noritsune route too(?) but later there started to be more new stuff. 

Benkei was very loyal towards to Shana and you can see it and Shana also trust him a lot. In the later of the route Benkei start to be kind of "emotional support" for Shana. 

There was also a little bit about Shana's mystical power what she have and at this point I was like "wait a minute....is this really Hakuouki 2.0?". 

Overall Benkei was lovely character and for some reason I ended up to like him a lot.
 But then the route. 

Even though I liked Benkei a lot his route left kinda eh? feeling. I didn't found his route that interesting even though there was some stuff about Shana's power. 

Which makes you have many questions about her and what is the biggest plot in the game.

After Benkei route it was time for Shana's childhood friend Shungen. 

Like I said Shungen and Shana are childhood friends, they have crown together in the temple. So as you can see Shungen was this "childhood friend route" in this game. When I started playing Shungen route I was expecting a lot cute moments with him. But there really wasn't that many...sad. While I was playing the route it felt kinda boring which made me actually have a long break for this game. 

So after finally getting back to this game I really didn't remember much what happened in the beginning of the route :'D But then there was a lot of those same war stuff what Noritsune & Benkei routes had. 

In the last chapters there was some new informations about Shana and well about Shungen too. Which game some new twist for the route. Shungen also had this weird "yandere moment" which kinda came out of nowhere. In the end felt like Shungen route was kinda rushly wroten. 

Overall very the route felt very flat. I kinda liked Shungen but I don't think he is the best boy. 

Second last route was Shana's "brother" Yoritomo route. 

In other routes Yoritomo had give this very cold "I don't give shit" vibe. A little bit I was wondering if I end up to like him or not but my friend had sold me his route very well and said there is good route coming so :'DD
First his route felt very boring & I really started worry if I would even like this route. But I was still open minded for this route. 

I found it also kinda hilarious to play this route when you actually get to know some stuff from Shungen route so you were kinda expecting some stuff from this route too. But there was also some new plot stuff in this one. 

More I played this route I became more interested in it and luckily this "boring" route ended up to actually be very interesting and enjoyable one. Yoritomo route also had this "same war story part moments" curse but luckily there was some new points for those so it didn't feel that boring. And also more of some "behind the scene" stuff. 

As character Yoritomo was this very typical kuudere but his jealousy moments made him look very cute. In weird way I really started to like Yoritomo a lot. Even though he first felt like very boring character. 

FINALLY THE ROUTE WHICH I WAITED THE MOST!!

So yeah I was waiting for Tomomori route the most in this game. He was another Heike clan boy route in this game. I really liked his trash side in other routes. Which actually made me more interst in this character. And everytime when he showed up I smiled like idiot. 

Like I said in other routes he gave this very "trash character" vibe but at the sametime hi was very mysterious too. I also knew I get to know all the other secrets about Shana in this route so I was very excited to play this too. 

Start for Tomomori route felt very "cat & mouse play". I also really liked Shana's & Tomomori's teasy relationship, it was very cute to follow. 

I was actually very surprised how interested I was about this route & how I wanted to know all the secrets about some of the characters. I would not tell about those because it would be a big spoiler. 

Tomomori route didn't disapoint me at all and he ended up to be my fav character!

Final thoughs:

Overall Birushana was very interesting game. But it still felt like in the most of the routes I felt very bored. My guess for this is those same war moments what every route kinda had. And in the end the most interesting routes ended up to be Yoritomo and Tomomori. 

Then there was some routes which might have ended up to be a little disappointment. 

Not really sure if historical/war themed games are really my cup of tea. But I guess it depend on how the game is made. Birushana was very slow start for me. Felt like it took me forever to finish but in the end I started liking the game more. 

I guess it's a little bit sad that you have to play a lot of the game and then only in two last routes it start to be more interesting. So kinda feel like waste of time? 

So yeah not really sure what to say about the game. At the sametime very interesting but then also very boring. Not saying it was bad, but I guess "playable" is right word to say lol. 

Hmmm maybe 6/10.

Then about the characters.

I ended up to like all the boys but then most of their routes were kinda meh. Yoritomo & Tomomori routes ended up to be my fav ones. And I kinda also liked Benkei but then am not sure if I just liked him as character and then his route also felt nice because of that?

I also liked a lot of the side characters which also had a little "side stories" for them. Which actually made my think "why didn't he have full route...". But I guess we have to hope we would FD for this game too. 

My fav boys list ended up to be like this:

Tomomori, Yoritomo, Benkei, Noritsune & Shungen

 It was kinda hard to say were I would but other 3 in the list. Because I knew Tomomori was my fav one and Yoritomo was second one but then other 3 boys hmmm yeah it was difficult to say.