oh man i personally was too busy being swept away with the excitement of having a new unit being announced in real time to really pay attention to what's around me (i even drew a little doodle of the two out of excitement). i felt sad about it later upon realizing what it meant for mam the unit, but i was just happy to see madara have some sort of cool thing going on for him

i only experienced the english fandom, but it was definitely negative; i was a fledgling in the fandom, and the little people i followed were all deeply negative about it to the point i think negativity really got to my heart for the first time and i had to mute people. mamPs were definitely upset, but there was a lot of bitterness towards kohaku too; "why is a new character nobody cares about being given a special unit situation?" that sort of thing!

the new units were still having their story told with the final installment of the main story being released only a couple months earlier, with very little people having read it due to there being no translation for such a massive story. people were still lukewarm towards a lot of the new characters, so the english fandom largely didn't feel all too stoked about kohaku, and double face by extension. those who didn't care didn't know how to feel about this new character being in two units yet, and those who did care were confused why kohaku was being distanced from crazy:b.

their jazzy spy movie style of music was very unique and fresh though for the franchise though, i remember there being a lot of people talking about that! there was a lot of people impressed by =EYE= and the mv despite their feelings towards the unit. that's about all i can recall though, from my limited experience.

there is a data transfer system! music does have memorization to an extent well, but definitely do not rely on it! it really depends on the transfer process. i was able to change phones (iphone to iphone) easily without having to utilize the data transfer, just by relying on iphone's transfer system.

data transfer is easy to set up (you will save a code & a password), so i would prepare it, and after your device transfer, you can then use it if it is needed. the wiki page has some details on data transfer that might be more clear.

it's usually good practice to obtain a code & password, and then save it somewhere secure without using it! that way if you lose access to your account somehow, you can just input the saved code&pass and regain access!

i dont thiiiink it's meant to replicate them, i think they're just honestly crafted based on what sorts of fanbases would logically be based on each unit! and it just so happens that those types of logic tend to prove true irl as well.

i wouldn't be surprised if it's a tad inspired though, particularly with how ES expanding each unit's activities to be more general leading to characters having to deal with the fact they have new fans who may view them more casually or generally than how they used to; this is typically a !!-era writing narrative, which lines up a little with how !!-era expanded into a brand new market now that they became a rhythm game. and a lot of the in-universe fanbases are based off of general josei game fanbases (i remember even drama going down when Ephemeral Festival went down, since JP fans felt like they were bring written about just to be laughed at or disparaged by the characters)

but probably not too much past a light inspiring. it's interesting seeing the coincidences, like a lot of valkyrie fans note how the producers have a deep rift between their "new" and "old" fans, particularly formed via !-era and !!-era fans, but that lore about the in-universe valkyrie fanbase was in !-era!

probably going through the similarities might be a bit too much of heavy lifting for me to do esp since i'm not fully familiar with the jp fandoms

i unfortunately do not know much about merch economy, but given they're brand new and lack a large fanbase, i wouldn't expect them to be anywhere near the character taxes most characters have.

but they are a brand new unit and therefore have not that much merch released, so the prices may be a bit high for a while! they're likely in high demand anyways due to the new fans who all want to get merch of some sort for them

i answered an ask about it recently here!

no worries its honestly pretty vague since they don't really interact on screen!

the tldr of it is that they have no blood relation, but as someone whose capable of developing soft spots, he's developed somewhat of a sense of responsibility over them and acts as a psuedo-guardian.

gatekeeper & priest (hitsugi/negi's father) both have ties towards godfather, and gatekeeper holds a sense of responsibility towards godfather that includes cleaning up the mess that priest has made. as victims of priest, hitsugi and negi sort of fall beneath that. he's mostly hands-off with them, but appears to help them stay afloat and find what they need to be independent. in turn, hitsugi and negi have developed a fondness back towards gatekeeper and call him "ojisan", "uncle".

right now we know that...

• it was likely gatekeeper who secretly informed hitsugi where priest kept his older sister
• supplied hitsugi/negi IDs so they can live wherever they like around the world
• aided negi in a plan to rid of priest so they can live without their lives in danger
• took them in under his wing afterwards for the period of time they won't be able to safely show themselves in public

maybe more! but these are the ones i know best
these actions, while they help aid hitsugi and negi, also fall under gatekeeper's attempts to undermine priests power (such as informing hitsugi of his older sister's existence)

a tricky question because when it comes down to it, very little characters confirm that they're ethnically japanese (i think it's just one of those "default" situations), but here are the confirmed characters!

• adonis (half of swana descent)
• aira (quarter french)
• ibuki (ryukyuan, or okinawan)
• hiiro (indigenous, implied ainu)
• rinne (indigenous, implied ainu)
• hitsugi (mixed indigenous, half australian indigenous, half implied ryukyuan, or okinawan)
• negi (mixed indigenous, half australian indigenous, half implied ryukyuan, or okinawan)

priest is also implied to be indigenous (implied ryukyuan, or okinawan) and iirc gatekeeper isn't japanese either but idk much about that guy KJSDFS

worth noting that it's also randomly implied there's a possibility mayoi and kanata have ethnically indigenous roots based on histugi's story in Grand Slam - Blue Requiem 6? but we don't know about that it's not confirmed

edit: also worth noting that for rei & ritsu, they may have ancestral roots in romania! they call it the "holy land of their family" and visit it regularly!

hopefully i didnt forget anyone!

i don't exactly have any favorite name puns/meanings... but i can explain 2winks, as for quite a long time people were unsure if they held any meaning, especially since they are rendered in hiragana rather than kanji!

hinata's arguable the more "easy" one to understand; "hinata" as a word means "sunny spot" (日向, hinata), which is also an informal nickname for "sunflower. his name has been referenced to have a connection to sunflowers since Strawberry Colored Holiday, where he points out that his name (written in kanji) backwards spells out "sunflower" (向日葵, himawari). but through his name and theming, there's a big emphasis on the "hi", 日, the sun.

Twin Peaks - division by zero 6
Hinata: Because I’m “Hinata”. I’m sure I was given that name in hopes I’d be cheerful and forward-facing, just like a sunflower. And… I want to live up to that name.

then we have yuuta. i personally believe that in contrast to hinata's 日 (hi), yuuta is 夕 (yuu); evening! it lines up really well with hinata's dual theming of "daybreak" and "dusk", the "sun" and the "moon".

Twin Peaks - division by zero 6
Hinata: And you, Yuuta-kun, you’re a single ray of light shining in the complete darkness. A light of hope that returns all minuses to zero.
Hinata: And with it, you shine a light into our muddled past. You bring light to what’s hiding in the darkness, and erase them, one by one.
Hinata: A child born of the dusk (夕暮れ, yuugure) that colors beautifully the moment before the world turns to pure darkness.

aaaaand as a bonus, i want to bring up esu's name. what an absolute joy of a name. it's not really a meaning or a pun thing i just am finding it highly entertaining

he has what he describes as a "kirakira name"; essentially the japanese version of the familiar phenomenon of opting for "unique" sounding names and spellings.

his name is spelt with the kanji 笑主, two absolutely ridiculous kanji to use for a name (kanji for laugh/smile & kanji for lord/master).

and then its read as "e" and "su", esu. "e" is an uncommon reading of 笑, and "su" is an uncommon reading of 主... it does NOT come naturally, at ALL

and THEN! on top of that. we are facing the possibility, especially with the katakanasization of their names & evidence that esupuri's official romanization might really be "SPuri", that he was also named "esu" for it to mean the letter "S". because in his 4piece introduction where he raps, he uses words that start with an s, "style" and "smile", spelled from an "s" (esu).

my sweet son, s.

i think so probably eventually! i have a feeling that the 3.0 arc featuing niceP and the new kids is supposed to be a peaceful break from things and allow the idols some room to breathe & esupuri and ibuki to settle in. but there's no shortage of antagonist within the idol industry, especially after anzu was wronged and uprooted by the p-association. its going through a reform right now, but even niceP's values aren't ones that everyone agrees with.

i like the increased focus on the es idols again a lot! and letting them be little bad guys of their own; i particularly am looking forward to rinne's role in establishing his own beliefs within ES and how alkaloid and the rest of his unit will respond to it.

omg yesss i LOVE the random drops of unit fanbase characterizations !!! facts are sort of scattered throughout stories i don't know all ofc... here's at least a start of what i know!

fine

• i actually do not know too much about fine, but i do know they struggled a little in figuring out their formula; since while they had fans that enjoyed their aesthetic and music, they weren't able to reach the point where they would inspire others, particularly in becoming idols like them

Trickstar

• a lot of casual fans, especially because they sell themselves as a friendly unit that fans can relate and feel equal to
• subaru however particularly has more fanatical fans than the rest of the members, since the events of !-era SS caused a lot of people to feel a sense of protectiveness over him

RYUSEITAI

• lots of kids! their roots began with doing free hero shows for the children at the park nearby yumenosaki academy
• they particularly hope their performances bring hope to their young fans and make them believe in peoples inherent good
• they have a consistent and loyal fanbase
• shoutout to chiaki's increasing fanbase of female idols who like his face mentioned randomly in some stories

ALKALOID

• i actually don't know much about alkaloid's fanbase... i just know that they appear to have a fondness for their characters quite a bit!

Eden

• cospro's blueprint typically includes involving their idols in non-idol activities and a variety of non-live-activities, which allowed them to have powerful name recognition and build up a massive fanbase
• shoutout to eve's fujoshi fanbase (as they would appeal by teasing 'close but not too close skinship & gestures' (see: trap for you) lol)

Valkyrie

• their older fans are dedicated and hardcore, these fans would typically appreciate valkyrie from a distance with a semblance of respect (i always liked the detail that they would not even cheer following valkyrie's performance, as a way to give their art the highest respect)
• when valkyrie changed their performances to be less niche & begun to participate in public activities, they gained a wave of newer fans that tended to be more casual and run younger. because of this they have a somewhat noticeable "rift" between their fans
• despite their performances having a sense of maturity that utilize high art, there's a lot of young children who like valkyrie because it makes them feel mature. especially recently valkyrie's fanbase has gained a lot of children, especially since valkyrie has collaborated with brands that cater towards kids (like toys)

2wink

• they have a lot of children fans, as their acrobatic skills and tricks are very appealing for kids!
• when they were smaller, they found a lot of their success around the town's downtown area! they became well-known by those who live there and were typically appreciated by those who lived there, and as such could often get random non-idol jobs like just helping advertise for businesses and such
• prior to their image revamp, they sold themselves as a fully-synced twin unit who were very close. this resulted in a lot of fans who saw them as just a "pair of twins", without any actual ability to tell them apart or know their different individualities
• following their image revamp, they're working on fixing this and making sure they stand strong as individuals and are recognizable as individuals

Crazy:B

• definitely a fanbase that enjoys their antics and chaos! they enjoy their disobedience!
• crazy:b is a unit with a lot of controversy surrounding them, so those in the fanbase obviously do not care much about that
• iirc they're very reliable and loyal as they would consistently help crazy:b hijack lives in a way with their presence

...and i reached character limit halfway through lmao. check out the rest in my twitter crosspost!

this is a good question... i actually have no idea!! if any trickstarP anzuP have any idea i'd love to know!

like there's things like... anzu doing work to ensure trickstar fans can attend SS to support them, but that doesn't exactly imply that the fans know of her and are aware of her closeness to trickstar. i don't think she's been mentioned to get any fanletters or letters from fans thanking her or anything of the sort, so im inclined to assume they may not know too much about her.

it's not like there's no ways for production credits to ever be connected to projects though, so i don't think it's as if shes some ghost producer... i think?

hmmm a pretty general question, i'm not sure if i can remember every instance, so here are a couple that come to mind!

• Element was my first tsumugi story, so i started off feeling like i would never understand him enough to like him. anyway that's long since changed quite a bit
• eichi i thought i understood when reading !-era. as time passed i gradually got more and more confused and realized i understood him less and less and now i feel frustrated with my lack of understanding
• trickstar i foolishly expected to be a flat and stereotypical 'protag unit'. instead i was injected with pure love and whimsy. subaru in particular surprised me, i didn't expect him to be a complete submersion of the "shining, positive, and genki" trope!
• my ex-enstarrie friends were enstarries when Marionette dropped so they had a really negative view of shu, so i didn't expect to like him when i joined the fandom... and then i did LOL
• i didn't expect to like sora at all! i had the impression that maybe he would be written flatly with an exaggerated emphasis on "quirkiness". but then as i read him i would find myself relating to him at every turn :]
• tori given his early writing gave me very little hope for his character development, so as more and more released he'd always impress me so much and make me very happy. just felt like i should mention him too

everoyne. Look at him

LOL well while Doctor's Coat is my favorite funny one to recommend as a knee-jerk reaction, it's really really difficult to pick a story based on just general "bad"ness. mostly because i don't particularly think enstars has glaringly bad stories... it's more like they have a specific thing they fail terribly in. a story that has terrible continuity issues. a terrible was some abhorrent mischaracterization. a story that was excessively racist. or transphobic. a story that went against what it seemed to be trying to say. a story that was so full of nothing it barely said anything. ...etc

and some of the stories that absolutely fumble terrible in a specific aspect will still be one i adore for what they do right. so it's really hard for me to recommend them as bad. so i gotta be more specific

like...

• the characterization in Butlers felt so off i could not enjoy it at all
• Palace of the Ocean hurts to read because its racist remarks towards Adonis
• while i love Astraea's Atelier, the ending fell so flat to me it gives me a headache
• Phantom Airship felt more like a recap than an actual engaging story
• sometimes i stare into the mirror and think of Matrix and scream "WHAT THE FUCK WAS THE POINT OF TAKASHI-KUN"
• bonus: Jewel Candy hurts as a yuutaP i do not understand his role in that story at all

hmm it's been a while, i don't remember too clearly...

i think it's been relatively vague for eichi and tori; i think there's some offhand mentions in Summer Vacation, and Pretty Mission though!

and for eichi and hiyori, Element and Altered yes, there's also Checkmate, Wonder Game, and Pretty Mission again (i think)

there's also White Brim, but it's a bit more focused on just noble family things (and how tori used to think of hiyori)

i'm not the most well versed in names; but rei written as 零 is actually a valid given name in japanese! it's mostly used to mean "drops of water falling" which is more elegant; but the more negative readings of 'void' and 'zero' doesn't make for a very appealing name. and so it's not really common as a modern name at all.

i do think that 零 for rei's name is intentionally chosen to have that sort of dreary connotation ... it is rather depressing for a name haha

Eichis' Management Story 6 with Izumi! that's probably why it was so hard to locate haha

unfortunately i don't know of any uploaded translations , as haranami was the one who translated it on the wiki and he never went around to reuploading it.

it includes crochets and nuis too; essentially any product that features their intellectual property!

this is also why often "original nui clothes/accessories" and other oshikatsu accessories are popular to sell at conventions in japan, as they do not feature intellectual property but are popular purchase for people's own official merch. and in a similar vein, it's also why you may often see "vague representation" merch (such as say, accessories with wine red + steampunk imagery without featuring valkyrie's logo), as it's harder to make a case that it's infringing on the intellectual property.

you may often see "pay for production" fan-nuis and fan-dolls. these are considered to fall under a "grey area", as they are a fan-venture done out of passion, that is typically not facilitated for profit (they're typically done in group orders, where everyone all pays a sum for the production). you might notice that despite this, technically the manufacturers still "profit" from the exchange, as they still did business! but as long as they do not utilize the intellectual property to advertise their services (ie. portraying themselves as a enstars doll-maker, using enstars intellectual property as advertisement), they're typically not pursued for copyright infringement, etc.

this same logic applies to commissioning artists, and hence why it's typically considered a "grey area", despite still being disallowed under happyele's terms of service!

i... do not know </3 and i do not know enough about the gameplay styles to theorize why the decision was made either... i am not much of a mechanics guy

My masterlists have an Esupuri/Special for Princess! filter now you can use!! Scout/Event Feature/Idol as of right now, the filters will show all stories that include esupuri members, as they haven't been featured in any other story as cameos or as 3-stars yet. (once they do then you'll have to check individual character filters!)

to rephrase: i believe it is not against happyele's ToS to commission art of their characters. it is against the ToS to be commissioned art of happyele's characters!

it's typically a responsibility that lies on the one profiting from the exchange. profiting off of the ensemble stars franchise is against the ToS, and this is typically the case for nearly any franchise out there, otherwise they will not have much power over their franchise's merchandise.

that being said, if you're familiar with things like artist conventions, you probably know this is a very grey area, as most franchises do not target artists, as long as they do not infringe on the type of work they are putting out (i.e merch using official images) or use their franchise to advertise their for-profit business. in japan, it is also very common to sell only original work and instead give out fandom-related merchandise as freebies as a sort of respectable loophole!

anyways, similar reason to why i translate, for free; i do not claim to be enstars' official translations and i focus works that aren't in the english versions.

anyhow, they have it stated in their contents guidelines: https://www.happyelements.co.jp/contents-guideline/

knights's core concept is heavy on fanservice, based on a character role (knights), and appeals to princesses. esupuri's core concept also is heavy on fanservice, based on a character role (princes), and appeals to princesses! you can see the similarities in how they both have special nicknames for their fans, etc. i think that's the main reason surrounding the complaints.

fine in contrast has no core concept shared, just i guess sort of a light color/pure white theme. they are actually not princes, but are more akin to angels (as they handed out divine punishment in yumenosaki). tori sometimes is given princely theming, though. but fine is mostly characterized by their elegant style.

it's all up to you, but that would be so so wonderfully appreciated!! story pages are really often viewed and i'm always so grateful whenever summaries are added!!

i can't confidently recognize writing styles i'd say... but i can recognize them to a degree! sometimes its their sense of humor (akira's sticks out like a sore thumb to me, for example, esp with his pacing of it) and sometimes it's just how they write small character quirks (like making certain characters say うむ for example haha).

i do think they all try to follow a general writing style, so it can be a little difficult to tell whose writing what story though. a lot of general assumptions tend to be how they pace conversations and how deeply or differently they may approach a character. kinosei tends to jump subjects a lot (which gets confusing with context) for example which is why when i was a beginner, his stories would always kick my ass lol...

i feel fantranslators might have a bit more leeway with interpreting and expressing the text they're reading, so i think that fantranslators tend to have more distinct styles than the enstars writers themselves. but i also think i might be missing a lot of small subtleties in the jp text i would've been able to pick up on had i been more fluent.

it's a little fun to try to guess which writer wrote what, but i definitely don't feel confident in my guesses it's just like a fun sidequest to do when reading new stories LOL

they're circles; sort of like extracurricular groups that people can join for recreation. the dormitory they live in officially has a circle system where people can create and participate in circles and enjoy their hobbies through them. you can find some general information on the wiki's Extracurricular Activities page! pretty 5 is a circle that gathers to enjoy cute things together, such as fashion or cafes. craftmonster is a circle that gathers to do arts and crafts.