is a series of Japanese

adult An adult is a human or other animal that has reached full growth. In human context, the term ''adult'' has meanings associated with social and legal concepts. In contrast to a " minor", a legal adult is a person who has attained the age of maj ...

visual novel A , often abbreviated as VN, is a form of digital semi-interactive fiction. Visual novels are often associated with and used in the medium of video games, but are not always labeled as such themselves. They combine a textual narrative with sta ...

s and strategy video games primarily developed and published by BaseSon for the Windows and is based on the classic 14th century Chinese novel ''

Romance of the Three Kingdoms ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' () is a 14th-century historical novel attributed to Luo Guanzhong. It is set in the turbulent years towards the end of the Han dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period in Chinese history, starting in 184 AD ...

'' by

Luo Guanzhong Luo Ben (c. 1330–1400, or c.1280–1360), better known by his courtesy name Guanzhong (Mandarin pronunciation: ), was a Chinese writer who lived during the Ming dynasty. He was also known by his pseudonym Huhai Sanren (). Luo was attri ...

. The first game was developed by BaseSon, and was first released on January 26, 2007, for

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for se ...

as two DVD-ROMs, followed by a re-release on April 11, 2008, containing an extra

CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains data. Computers can read—but not write or erase—CD-ROMs. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold both com ...

. ''Koihime Musō: Doki Otome Darake no Sangokushi Engi'' has made several transitions to other media. A

manga Manga ( Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is ...

adaptation by Japanese

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complic ...

Yayoi Hizuki was first serialized in the Japanese magazine ''

Dengeki G's Festival! Comic is a Japanese magazine published by ASCII Media Works (formerly MediaWorks) and sold monthly on the thirtieth that primarily contains information on bishōjo games, but also includes an entire section on anime based on bishōjo games, and serial ...

'' on April 26, 2008. An

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

adaptation produced by Doga Kobo began broadcasting on July 8, 2008, and has since released two additional seasons.

Premise

The game is set in ancient China during and after the fall of the Han dynasty with some major differences, most notably; Most of the male characters in the novel have become female and The Three Kingdoms that were formed after the Han Dynasty, had already been established. Despite each kingdom being ruled by an independent monarchy, the three kingdoms are still loyal to the Han empire. However, the empire is on the verge of collapse as civil unrest, banditry and infighting bring turmoil to the nation. As the empire finally collapse and warlords wage war with each other, amidst the turmoil several major factions are formed, ready to rule and unite the fractured nation. These major factions (5 in Koihime Musō, 7 in the sequel) are the Shoku faction (Chinese: 蜀, Shǔ) led by Kazuto Hongō in Koihime Musō and in the sequel, Queen Ryūbi (

Liu Bei Liu Bei (, ; ; 161 – 10 June 223), courtesy name Xuande (), was a warlord in the late Eastern Han dynasty who founded the state of Shu Han in the Three Kingdoms period and became its first ruler. Although he was a distant relative of the ...

) of the Kingdom of Shu, the Gi faction (Chinese: 魏, Wèi) led by Queen Sōsō (

Cao Cao Cao Cao () (; 155 – 15 March 220), courtesy name Mengde (), was a Chinese statesman, warlord and poet. He was the penultimate grand chancellor of the Eastern Han dynasty, and he amassed immense power in the dynasty's final years. As one o ...

) of the Kingdom of Wei, the Go faction (Chinese: 吳, Wú) led by Princess Sonken (

Sun Quan Sun Quan (, Chinese: 孫權) (183 – 21 May 252), courtesy name Zhongmou (), posthumously known as Emperor Da of Wu, was the founder of the Eastern Wu dynasty, one of the Three Kingdoms of China. He inherited control of the warlord regime ...

) of the Kingdom of Wu and in the sequel, her older sister Queen Sonsaku (

Sun Ce Sun Ce () () (175–200), courtesy name Bofu, was a Chinese military general, politician, and warlord who lived during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. He was the eldest child of Sun Jian, who was killed during the Battle of Xiangyang when ...

), the Tōtaku faction (Chinese: 董卓, Dong Zhuo) led by Governess Tōtaku, Governor of Dong province, the En/Yuan faction led by Lady Enshō, Lord of Yuan province, and in the sequel the Kōkintō/Yellow Turban Rebels led by the Zhang sisters, Chōkaku, Chōhō and Chōryō and the Nanban/Southern Barbarians led by Mōkaku.

Gameplay

The gameplay in ''Koihime Musō'' follows a linear plot line, which offers pre-determined scenarios and courses of interaction, and focuses on the appeal of the female main characters.

Development

''Koihime Musō'' is the fifth game developed by BaseSon, known for creating their first title, ''One2: Eien no Yakusoku'', sequel to Tactics' '' One: Kagayaku Kisetsu e''. Direction and planning for ''Kohime Musō'' was done by K. Baggio, who has also provided scenario used in the game, along with fellow writers Izumi Kumashiro, Takuya Aoyama, Assault, and Shiina Arai. Art direction and character designs were split between five people, Kanan Yatsuha, Kantaka, Hinata Katagiri, Eiji Hikage, and Hokuto Saeki. Music in the game was provided by Takumaru, Ryō Mizutsuki, and Ichinoryū Uehara.

Release

''Koihime Musō'' was first available to public on January 26, 2007, as an adult game playable only on

Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ...

PCs A personal computer (PC) is a multi-purpose microcomputer whose size, capabilities, and price make it feasible for individual use. Personal computers are intended to be operated directly by an end user, rather than by a computer expert or techn ...

as two DVD-ROMs. It was subsequently followed by a re-release on April 11, 2008. While the gameplay and scenario in the game is essentially the same, an extra fandisc not available in the original version titled was included with the re-release as a

. An all-ages consumer port for the

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on ...

, retitled as , developed by Yeti and published by Regista was released on October 30, 2008. An enhanced re-release of ''Koihime Musō'', was released on December 26, 2008, with extended scenario. An English translation of ''Koihime Musō'' was released by European publisher

MangaGamer MangaGamer is a video game publisher specializing in the English localization and distribution of Japanese eroge and visual novels. It is run by Japanese-based company Japan Animation Contents. History MangaGamer was originally envisioned as a ...

on February 28, 2011. Additionally, Gamania formally launched a web-browser based MMO strategy game titled on December 7, 2010, which has since been running on eight different servers. The game allows players to control up to 5 generals at a time from the Shin Koihime Musō cast, join one of the 3 warring factions and try to conquer players of the other two opposing factions with the Red Turban Bandit faction acting as a NPC faction. Like most other browser based MMOs, this game is free to play with a Gamania account, however paying users gain access to enhancements otherwise unavailable or very difficult to obtain. A

version, titled developed by Yeti and published by Regista was released on October 30, 2008. A new version of Koihime with many new characters was released on December 26, 2008. A third version of Koihime was released on July 23, 2010.

acquired licensing rights to the first game and released it on February 28, 2011. June 2012 the website Jlist.com began selling copies of Koihime Musō as a DX version with restored voices; in a partnership with MangaGamer. Another game named ''Koihime Eiyūtan'' has been announced; however, it is unknown if it is a follow-up or a remake of a preceding game. In 2017, 28 June the release of the first part of the Kakumei trilogy with the title - . The release of the second part is the title - scheduled for 2018, 27 Jule. The release of the third is the title - scheduled for 2019. A 2D fighting game titled has been announced for a January 28, 2016 release on the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4.

Media

Manga

A manga adaptation based on the original visual novel drawn by Japanese

Yayoi Hizuki, with its title renamed as began serialization in the second issue of the manga magazine ''

'' published by

ASCII Media Works ASCII ( ), abbreviated from American Standard Code for Information Interchange, is a character encoding standard for electronic communication. ASCII codes represent text in computers, telecommunications equipment, and other devices. Because o ...

on April 26, 2008.

Anime

An anime adaptation produced by Doga Kobo began broadcasting in Japan on July 8, 2008 on the

Tokyo MX JOMX-DTV, branded as Tokyo MX (officially stylized as TOKYO MX), is an independent television station in Tokyo, Japan, owned by the . It is the only television station that exclusively serves the city. It competes with Nippon TV, TV Asahi, NH ...

and the

Chiba TV , doing business as , is a Japanese commercial terrestrial television broadcasting company headquartered at 11-25 Miyako-chō 1-chōme, Chūō-ku, Chiba serving Chiba Prefecture but spill-over is received in the neighbouring prefectures. It is a m ...

broadcasting networks, followed by other broadcasting networks later during the same month. The anime television series, with its title shortened to simply ''Koihime Musō'', featured a story very different from that found in the original visual novel. The original protagonist, Hongo Kazuto, is not present in the anime, nor does the grand battle between the three kingdoms take place. Instead, it feature Kan'u's adventure in China, meeting many other characters from the game along the way. The anime is among those noted for sometimes depicting the characters in an exaggerated super deformed manner. After the last episode aired, it was announced an OVA was in production. The OVA was released on April 1, 2009, and actually featured all the characters in an alternate setting - that of a modern high school. The second season of anime, a series based on the second game, entitled , continue where the last season left off, aired from October 5, 2009 to December 2009. The third season began airing April 2010, titled . The first season has been licensed in North America by Sentai Filmworks; distributor Section23 Films, who released the first season on DVD on January 4, 2011. This release, however, uses the Japanese TV masters and omits improvements made to the animation for the Japanese DVD release. The second and third seasons of Koihime Muso are also licensed by Sentai Filmworks. The second season was released on March 1, 2011, while the third season was released on May 24, 2011.

Music

The visual novel has four main theme songs, one promotion theme, one opening theme, one insert song, and one ending theme. The promotion theme was , and was performed by ☆396☆. The opening theme song was "Hφwling Sφul", which was performed by

Rekka Katakiri is a female Japanese singer under the self-published label Closed/Underground. She has released several songs that have served as theme songs for anime shows, including ''Higurashi When They Cry'', '' My Wife is the Student Council President'', ...

. The insert theme was , while the ending theme was , both performed by

Chata is a Japanese singer who has performed theme songs for video games and anime series. She has also participated in various dōjin music circles. Her own private circle is called ''Usagi Kinoko''. History Chata began dabbling in music in 1998. S ...

. All of the songs were composed and arranged by Takumaru, with the lyrics written by K. Bajjo. The opening for ''Shin Koihime Musou'' is called "HE∀ting Sφul" also by Rekka Katakiri. The ending song is a Piano Arranged version of by Chata. The anime has two theme songs. The opening theme, titled "Flower of Bravery", was performed by fripSide, and was composed and written by Chiyomaru Shikura, and arranged by Satoshi Yaginuma. The ending theme, titled was performed by fripSide NAO project!, composed and arranged by Satoshi Yaginuma, and written by Nao, Shinichirō Yamashita, and Satoshi Yaginuma. The anime adaptation of ''Shin Koihime Musou'' also has two theme songs. The opening is titled , also performed by Rekka Katakiri. The ending is titled by Mai Goto, Nami Kurokawa and Miya Serizono. They also voice lead characters Ryūbi, Kan'u and Chōhi respectively.

Trivia

*''Koihime Musōs title names are allusions to

Koei Koei Co., Ltd. was a Japanese video game publisher, developer, and distributor founded in 1978. The company is known for its ''Dynasty Warriors'' games based on the novel ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'', as well as simulation games based on p ...

's ''

Dynasty Warriors is a series of Japanese hack and slash action video games created by Omega Force and Koei (now is Koei Tecmo). The series is a spin-off of Koei's turn-based strategy ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' series, based upon the Chinese novel o ...

'' series. :*''Koihime Musō'' is a play on the Japanese title of ''Dynasty Warriors'', ''Sangoku Musō''. :*The sequel game, ''Shin Koihime Musō'', is derived from the ''Dynasty Warriors'' games after the first one, which are called ''Shin Sangoku Musō'' in Japan. :*The final game in the series, ''Shin Koihime Musō: Moeshōden'' is derived from the ''Xtreme Legends'' games for ''Dynasty Warriors'', which are called ''Mōshōden'' in Japan.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Koihime Muso Tokyo MX original programming 2007 video games 2008 manga Action anime and manga Action video games Anime series Anime television series based on video games Arcade video games ASCII Media Works manga Bishōjo games Comedy anime and manga Dengeki Comics Doga Kobo Doujin video games Eroge Fantasy anime and manga Japanese LGBT-related animated television series Koihime Musō Manga based on video games Pink Pineapple PlayStation 2 games PlayStation Portable games Seinen manga Sentai Filmworks Fighting games Video games based on Romance of the Three Kingdoms Video games developed in Japan Visual novels Windows games Works based on Romance of the Three Kingdoms Yuri (genre) anime and manga