Yuzu Soft, the esteemed Japanese eroge developers renowned for their adult visual novels, officially announced on February 20th via their Twitter account that the worldwide sales of Senren * Banka have surpassed a total of 500,000 units.
While 500,000 units might pale in comparison to the typical million-unit milestones achieved by generic video games from AAA publishers/developers, for domestic Japanese titles, especially visual novels, reaching half a million is a remarkable accomplishment.
I am pleased to see Yuzu Soft’s success. Despite the relatively limited resources and finances associated with eroge development, they generously donated one million Yen to the Japanese Red Cross Society to assist victims of the recent devastating earthquakes in Japan. While their contributions may be smaller compared to other companies, they are heartfelt and reflect the company’s commitment to helping those in need.
However, it is disheartening to learn that despite their charitable efforts, Yuzu Soft faced a setback with the denial of the release of their visual novel, Angelic☆Chaos RE-BOOT! on the Steam Store as Gabe and his progressive moderation team at Valve once again remain hypocrites fixated against Japanese developers.
Senren * Banka is however available on Steam albeit as an an all-ages version, though you can install a DLC patch to restore the adult content, the same cannot be said for its Nintendo Switch port however.
Senren * Banka is a bishōjo visual novel game set in the quaint and secluded village of Hoori. This village is renowned for its rustic charm and soothing hot spring resorts. Within Hoori lies the revered divine sword, Murasamemaru, firmly embedded in a boulder, defying all attempts at extraction.
The central character in this narrative is Masaomi Arichi, who, during a visit to the village, inadvertently pulls out (and breaks in half) the divine sword, thus earning the title of the Chosen One.
Subsequently, he is compelled to marry Tomotake Yoshino, a shrine maiden. Alongside, Murasame, who identifies as the female spirit residing within the divine sword, and Mako Hitachi, a female ninja serving the shrine maiden, also make their presence known to him. As Masaomi cohabits with these girls, he gradually uncovers the hidden truths about the town of Hoori.
It’s worth noting that Yuzu Soft announced on October 24th, 2023, that the visual novel had reached 400,000 global sales. Originally released in July 2016 to commemorate Yuzu Soft’s 10th anniversary, the game made its Western debut in February 2020. It wasn’t until the end of 2020 that the visual novel surpassed 100,000 units sold.
For some unknown reason, it’s currently gaining traction faster than ever before, and I, for one, am not complaining. This visual novel is packed with cute characters and has earned accolades in Japan for its artwork and music.
In 2016, it was a runner-up for the Moe Game Awards and ranked first overall in Getchu’s Bishōjo Game Awards. Additionally, it holds an exceptionally high reception on the Steam store, boasting a 99% positive rating from nearly 18,000 reviews.
Despite being released on Steam several years ago, the game’s popularity appears to be surging lately. Over the last six months, the number of concurrent players on Steam has risen from around 800 peak players to as high as 3000.
This surge is likely influenced by the mid-February sale, but then again it’s funny to witness that such a lovely visual novel achieves more concurrent players on the regular than Rockstead Studios’ Suicide Squad for instance.
Senren*Banka’s popularity continues to show no signs of slowing down anytime soon.
