Gunparade March and the JRPG at the Turn of the New Millennium

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FURTHER READING – Alfa System
Gunparade March Additional Commentary
Ore no Shikabane o Koete Yuke and the Limits of Mortality

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Drawing influence from the apocalyptic narratives and new wave elements of Devilman (Go Nagai, 1972) and Space Runaway Ideon (Sunrise, Yoshiyuki Tomino, 1980), Neon Genesis Evangelion (Gainax, Hideaki Anno, 1995) represents a turning point for otaku culture, deconstructing the mecha genre to question what it means to be human, what it means to become an adult who participates in society, and ultimately, what it means to be an otaku, a figure which at the time was perceived as a social pariah but was also on the cusp of becoming a mainstream identity.¹

While it has been easier to trace the impact of Evangelion on anime, less attention has been paid to the relationship between Evangelion and videogames. Certainly, with its own combination of Judeo-Christian iconography, and mecha, Xenogears (Squaresoft, 1998) resembles Evangelion. On this latter point, the same is also true for Hideo Kojima’s Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (Konami, 2001) and Zone of the Enders duology. However, beyond how video games have reconstructed or mirrored the mecha aesthetics of Evangelion, how have they adapted Evangelion’s proto-sekai-kei approach? That is, the focus on war, the abstraction of a larger world, a focus on psychological interiority, the inclusion of moé, and the search for a new grand narrative.²

Gunparade March (AlfaSystem, 2000) combines these aforementioned elements of sekai-kei with the freedom of table-top games and an advanced A.I. system dubbed, “Karel,” to create a sandbox-style RPG, leaving it to the player to decide on how they engage with the game’s world and narrative.³ It is only fitting then that if Evangelion represents “post-mecha” anime, Gunparade March was proposed as a “post-RPG.”⁴

Although it may appear to be a stand-alone game, Gunparade March is the second title in AlfaSystem’s “Seven World Saga,” or as it’s more commonly called, “Nameless World,” (無名世界観) a shared multiverse including Elemental Gearbolt (1997), the Castle Shikigami franchise, and Kenran Butou Sai (2005).⁵ While these games are largely independent of one another despite their shared connections, understanding Gunparade March‘s approach to world-building contextualizes the game’s approach to storytelling.⁶

Gunparade March takes place in an alternate history where World War II suddenly ended after the appearance of the “Black Moon,” and subsequently, “phantom beasts,” creatures hellbent on slaughtering humanity. Mankind is all but wiped out with Japan remaining as one last stronghold. The year is 1999 and Atsushi Hayami, a teenage boy, has been conscripted into the 5121^st platoon. The goal is not to end the war but to survive—phantom beasts are only active for a brief period of the year before disappearing. The game begins on March 4th and ends May 10th. In between, players will navigate Atsushi through the trials and tribulations of life as a teenage soldier in a post-apocalyptic world.

The structure of Gunparade March is split into two distinct sections: social and strategy (SLG) simulation. During social simulation segments, players begin the day by packing their lunch and heading towards school to begin homeroom class where they will be lectured on both the philosophies of war–such as what it means to be a samurai–and the mechanics of the game. This is followed by a lunch break, more lectures, and finally, an after-school period where players are free to pursue activities of their choice.

Rather than being segmented into fixed events, days in Gunparade March pass by in accelerated real-time, allowing players the freedom to customize their daily schedule. It is entirely possible to spend a day doing a range of activities such as studying at the library, belting karaoke, taking on a shift at the local restaurant, and staring at yourself in the school bathroom mirror. Likewise, it is also possible to spend the entire day–as I did towards the end of my first playthrough–skipping class to work out and shoplift steroids and military-grade equipment from the black market before finally trudging back home to catch 5 hours of sleep.

Every character has stat table which includes the standard HP (体力) and SP/MP (気力) but also morale (士気). Character statistics further extends into a range of skills. These stats and skills can be trained through various activities and shape how players will approach the game. A player who prefers martial techniques may perform boxing drills to train close combat (白兵) and increase their melee damage. A stranger skill yet is synchronization (同期) which endows psychic powers that can then be used to charm and curse other characters and even teleport.

Skill and stats increases and dialogue choices are determined by the “fuzzy input” system (ファジー入力), a dual set of circular coordinates split across four different quadrants, each with their own effects. These effects change depending on the type of activity the player engages in and players will need to experiment to find which inputs give the best results. The school setting and statistical management are drawn from a combination of dating simulation, RPGs, and strategy games, with Tokimeki Memorial (Konami, 1994) appearing as a clear influence. Gunparade March pushes on the design philosophies of its predecessors by emphasizing player agency, combining different genres, and layering together several mechanics.

In leading the development of Gunparade March, Yuri Shibamura was tasked with researching how Alfa System could continue developing games in the future. As a mid-sized game company, Alfa System did not have the resources of their bigger competitors. However, that was also their strength. Shibamura had studied A.I. and programming in college and continued to do so at Alfa System where he was able to receive multiple subsidies because of Alfa System’s smaller size and location in Kumamoto Prefecture, ultimately leading to the development of the “Karel” system. As Shibamura explained to Den Fami Nico Gamer, the idea was to create a game that could be true to modern life. This meant more than just having NPCs abide by a static schedule, or events solely decided by a “flag” system. After all, by the time of Gunparade March’s release, both Shenmue (Sega AM2, 1999) and Majora’s Mask (Nintendo, 2000) had experimented with these elements. Rather, Gunparade March differs from these two titles in that every NPC reacts to one another as much as they do to the main character making way for a more dynamic role-playing experience.

The other 21 members of the platoon can and will involve themselves with the bureaucratic process of the military which itself is composed of its own labyrinthine structure. Certain actions  require speech power (発言力) to be undertaken with additional speech power being earned for doing particularly well in battle or for completing activities, such as successfully repairing equipment. As your homeroom teacher Setsuko Honda explains, speech power functions like an additional form of currency. It can be used to requisition supplies including additional weapons (such as the nuclear-like N.E.P.), request that other members be reassigned, request for repairs to the schoolground, and to call for a meeting between the heads of the sub-divisions where further actions are voted on. A character who has assumed the role of commander may just decide that the classmate that does not get along with them now needs to be on the frontline. A proposition that you wish to pass may have only succeeded because you befriended the right people.

These simulation elements also extend into the game’s social structure with relations between two characters being determined by their level of friendliness and romance which itself is affected by the fuzzy input. A response toward a character might then be one couched in vitriol but also romantic affection. The importance of tone means the systems here are less like Sakura Wars (Red Company, Sega CS2 R&D, 1996) and more akin to Tokyo Makin Gakuen: Kenpucho (Asmik Ace, 1998). Furthermore, each area in the game is governed by a mood resulting from what characters are on-screen and the nature of their relationship. For example, Moe Ishizu comes across as extremely shy and reserved making it so that whenever she’s in the same room as others, characters will find themselves too depressed to converse with one another. Similarly, the presence of a teacher or commander leads to a serious atmosphere making certain topics of conversation impossible to have.

On this point, Gunparade March also features a unique system for handling conversations and social encounters. Visible on each character is their line of sight (LoS), depicted by a beam pointing towards someone else and signaling which characters are interested in each other. Should the player be caught in another character’s LoS, they will be forced into a conversation where they can react with specific expressions, questions, or phrases. Otherwise, players can also approach characters and simply talk to them, but of course, the opposite is also true. Conversing with a character offers a range of options with players being able to have additional choices should they meet the unlock requirements. Players may ask characters how they’re doing, request characters to train with them, and even request a character to spend time with someone else, all which of course costs speech power.

Initially, Gunparade March may seem to incentivize befriending everyone as this unlocks unique skills which are used in both day-to-day life and battle. But, like Tokimeki’s “bomb” system, players may be punished by having an imbalanced social life. In one particular playthrough, I found doing anything on campus nearly impossible as befriending everyone meant that NPCs were immediately drawn to converse with me whenever I appeared, transforming the maintenance hangar into my only refuge. Inevitably, this led to characters arguing with one another giving way to randomly scripted events where you lose 500 speech power—a massive deficit especially in the game’s first month—and the atmosphere became awkward, lowering stats and limiting dialogue choices. In short, the petty politics of school life and the workplace that are decided by friendships, rivalries, and romance are fully recreated here.

It is Gunparade March’s conversation system that will undoubtedly draw players into the world of the game. The characters themselves embody the well familiar “database” characteristics. There’s Mio Mibuya, the swordswoman dressed in traditional Miko clothing; Yohei Kitagawa, the plucky jokester and invariably, the first person players will befriend on campus; Nonomi, the child who’s treated as a little sister, and so forth. While I have described these characters in such recognizable terms, each cast member brings with them their own likes, dislikes, and personalities, all shaped by their personal lives. In turn, the cast members react to one another accordingly. Take for example, the game’s heroine, Mai Shibamura whose cold attitude of superiority demonstrates flashes of Asuka Langley Soryu.

Mai is the heiress to the Shibamuras who earned their fortune through the military-industry and whereas most characters have been drafted, despite her seemingly posh background, Mai has willingly joined the war effort. While her stand-off attitude certainly doesn’t help her secure friends, the rest of your classmates are none too pleased to be working alongside her. Yet, new players might find themselves drawn to Mai especially given that Hayami and Mai are initially assigned as a working pair.

Befriending Mai runs the risk of distancing others who will remark that you yourself seemed to have changed. You’re told that she’s a princess, that the Shibamuras are ruthless, and that they’re probably after world domination. In contrast, Mai tells you that the Shibamuras have long had enemies who wish to see their downfall, but that the clan’s ultimate goal is for humanity to survive–to shepherd a “hero,” a being so powerful that they have left their humanity behind in order to become a guardian of mankind.⁷ Having bought into the Shibamura propaganda, I immediately set myself to growing stronger and clearing the battlefield, earning medals and recognition in the process, only for another classmate–Setoguchi Takayayuki–to comment that I seemed to be enjoying the sorties and had instead become a demon of warfare.⁸

The emergent narrative that I have described here is one that was born from my friendship–and eventual romance–with Mai. Similar stories play out for the rest of the cast members who each have their own secrets and desires that guide their actions. Gunparade March’s own approach to a “free scenario system” was influenced by Romancing SaGa (Square, 1992), but whereas SaGa emphasizes a combination of questing, dungeoneering, and exploration, Gunparade March’s focus lies in its social system which itself gives way to the unfolding of parallel stories.⁹ What is the Central Time Gate? What is the mystery behind the Shikon Gou? Why does Buta, the platoon’s cat, have the best stats in the game? Is there really a secret society devoted to competitive sock hunting? One can imagine Gunparade March’s own variation on Evangelion’s opening whose montage teases the viewer with esoterica: EVA 01, ABSOLUTE TERROR FIELD, and ADAM.

Barring three scenarios, sorties in Gunparade March are random with the 5121^st platoon being called for battle at all hours of the day. Battles themselves take place on a hexless field which looks similar in appearance to military situation maps. Both enemies and allies alike are initially represented by lettered triangles but these can be substituted for actual images of the units themselves. So too is the terrain, such as buildings, abstracted into blocks that determine line-of-sight and height. Actual skirmishes will switch into “battle relay,” a cinéma vérité style camera that offers a more dramatic view of combat, featuring actual 3D models and animation.

While squad compositions will vary between players, a few units remain a universal constant. Players will always begin with three Shikon-Gous—this game’s version of mecha. The first two Shikon-Gous are single-seat only and piloted by Yohei and Mibuya. The third unit is a dual-seat model capable of firing missiles and is piloted by Hayami and Mai. Accompanying the Shikon Gou are two additional “Scouts,” platoon members adorning mechanical armor, “wardresses” that give them enhanced strength and movement. There is also the Command Vehicle which provides support by way of additional equipment and ammunition. Rounding out the field team are random faceless NPCs that are comprised of scouts, tanks, and helicopters. In keeping in line with the game’s design ethos, players only control the third Shikon Gou unit with the rest of the troop behaving autonomously.

There are two modes to the Shikon Gou: manual and automatic. While automatic controls easier, it severely limits the capabilities of the machine. On the other hand, manual completely changes the battle system, opening up the game to further experimentation. Action points take the form of ‘Steps” which are affected by equipment. Actions themselves are represented by combinations of English letters. For example the input for “Punch” is the three step move “GPW.” Queuing an action whose ending step shares the same letter as another action’s opening step will reduce the total steps by one. Here is one common and potent combination emphasizing movement, close combat, and defense—JFSVGDO. It is comprised of the following:

1. JF: Jump Forward
2. FS: Forward Slash
3. SV: Reverse Slash
4. VG: Dodge
5. GD: Crouch
6. DO: Block

Twelve steps are thus reduced to seven. However, even this combination may not be the most efficient maneuver to take. Both enemy and ally turns are taken in individual steps with a higher priority given to letters at the top of the alphabet and then combinations. Enemies who are in range will thereby always take at least a few steps to attack. First to aim and then to fire. While JFSVGDO will give players some defensive options, it will still leave them too vulnerable to a subsequent barrage of enemy fire. A more prudent strategy would be to alternatively emphasize movement and attack so as to never be in range of enemies for more time than necessary. A melee oriented player may favor twin combinations of JFSV which allows for quickly eliminating stronger Scylla units while remaining mobile. A player who prefers artillery might instead use a mix of WG (walk) and GAGW (fire) to both shoot and move out of enemy fire. Yet, even when already deployed to the field, players are not limited to a sole strategy. As your tactician teacher Hisaomi explains early on, a samurai is someone that will always find the appropriate weapon for the given circumstance.

Battles take place across Kyushu which itself becomes abstracted into a topological map recalling early wargames. How well players do in battle shapes the outcome of the war. Accessible at the end of each day is a specialized menu which details the platoon’s work, training results, and the situation of the war. The 5121^st platoon takes charge of defending the various areas of Kumamoto City. The more successful the platoon is in battle, the more territory they control. The same is true for the phantom beasts. Why does any of this matter? Phantom beasts will move through the warfront, going as far as fleeing from battles that are deemed all but lost. Under certain circumstances, the 5121^st platoon may sing the “Gunparade March” which prevents all units in combat from fleeing and while this may be favorable when winning, should the tide of battle turn, the platoon instead will be slaughtered. Phantom beasts who have fled from one battle may appear elsewhere including Kumamoto City, meaning that ambushes should be expected. It is not then advisable to simply sing the Gunparade March and charge the enemy but to be aware of the war’s development and movement across the wider battlefield.

In truth, more advanced players may entirely ignore this aspect of the game. First time players will likely play through the game as a pilot who will be deployed out into the field of battle. However, by requesting reassignment to another job, including being a scout, commander, or mechanic, the player’s approach to reaching the end of the game will change. These are the game’s version of classes and as the name implies, each has a different playstyle. As explained earlier, rather than pilot the Shikon Gou, Scouts don armor that increase their physical strength and mobility albeit at the increased risk of dying. Whereas Shikon Gou pilots eject and escape should their unit be defeated, scouts instead experience direct damage. Commanders are in charge of wartime logistics, deciding which characters to promote, fielding supplies, and deciding on where the platoon will sortie. Finally, mechanics are in charge of repairing the Shikon Gou and the platoon’s tank.

On the subject of mechanics, they remain integral towards the war effort. The battle against the phantom beasts perhaps first and foremost begins in the maintenance hangar. It is here that Shikon Gous and tanks that have experienced damage will need to be repaired. While platoon members will care for their own machines, and as Hayami’s partner, Mai will see to the third unit, players should still make note of their own Shikon-Gou’s health. A damaged Shikon-Gou will be unable to sortie and players will be left helpless as their classmates are made to fight on their own where more likely than not, there will be casualties.

Upon completing the game, players will receive a rank—ranging from D to S—depending on how many enemies they killed and how many platoon members survived. Afterwards, clear data can be loaded for a new playthrough with various rewards—the better the rank, the better the rewards. This time around, players will be able to pick from four new characters: Mai Shibamura, Kurusu Ginga, Maki Tanabe, and Mitsuhiro Nakamura. Given that no single playthrough will ever unfold the same way, compounded by these characters differing from one another—as Mai, I found several characters already disliked me—this second run provides a novel way to reengage with the game, including uncovering new parts of the story.

Perhaps the biggest twist in replaying the game is discovering that lines are now voiced, a particularly risky gamble on the part of Alfa System since, as far as I’m aware, the game was not advertised as having voice-work, a feature that was becoming increasingly common in games of the time. Gunparade had been developed with production assistance from Sony Computer Entertainment who began collaborating with Alfa System just a few years prior, the light-gun shooter Project Horned Owl (1995) being the start of their working relationship. While Shibamura and the rest of the team at Alfa System had even bigger ambitions for Gunparade—the entire cast was meant to playable—a firm deadline decided otherwise.¹⁰

Soon after release, Gunparade March grew in popularity thanks to word of mouth. Although there was virtually no budget for marketing, the game would be featured in issue 157 of Dengeki PlayStation Magazine, gracing the cover. A series of articles therein explained the game’s locale—featuring drawn recreations of the various rooms and areas—mechanics, events, and a guide on achieving the various endings, including the elusive s-rank ending.¹¹ Such dedicated coverage is all the more surprising given that both Dragon Quest VII (Heartbeat, 2000) and Final Fantasy IX (Square, 2000) released earlier that year and were continuing to dominate RPG discourse. Furthermore, this same year also saw the release of other cult-hit RPGs including Skies of Arcadia (Overworks, 2000), Persona 2: Eternal Punishment (Atlus, 2000), and Tales of Eternia (Wolfteam, 2000).

Following its immediate release, Gunparade March’s success would continue. The game would go on to win several awards, including the Excellence Award at the 5^th CESA Japan Game Awards and the Weekly SPA! “Word of Mouth” Award. It would also win the Seiun Award for “Best Dramatic Presentation” and remains the only video game to do so. Capitalizing on the popularity of their new I.P., Alfa System would release a flurry of Gunparade March media ranging from anime, audio dramas manga, novels, and even a TTRPG ruleset. Fans too would also gather to create artwork and cosplay, host social events in Kumamoto, and carry out their own online tabletop games within the Nameless World setting, an activity which continues to this day.

Two spiritual sequels to Gunparade would follow. The first: Neon Genesis Evangelion 2 (2003). Working alongside Hideaki Anno to expand the lore of Evangelion, NGE 2 emphasizes the simulationist aspects of Gunparade March perhaps to an unnerving degree. While NGE 2 allows players to take on the role of a dozen different cast members beyond the protagonist Shinji, an “Absolute Terror” (AT) meter must be constantly managed by attending to various social and bodily needs such as using the bathroom. The second spiritual sequel, Kenran Butou Sai: The Mars Daybreak (2005) would eliminate this latter requirement in part by having the player take on the role of a cyborg. This time the setting is the far future of the “sixth world” where players take on the role of a crew member aboard the Ship of Dawn and fight for the independence of Mars. Despite leveraging the popularity of Evangelion, and both games employing an advanced version of Gunparade’s Karel system, neither title would be as successful as their predecessor.

In 2006, the PlayStation 2 would receive a trio of direct sequels to Gunparade March titled Gunparade Orchestra: White, Gunparade Orchestra: Green, and Gunparade Orchestra: Blue. The setting would return to the war against the phantom beasts except this time focusing instead on soldiers in Aomori, Hiroshima, and the Ogasawara Islands. Much like Bandai’s .hack tetralogy, players were meant to begin with White and carry their save data across titles, bringing with them their characters.¹² Like Evangelion and Kenran Butou Sai, the Orchestra trilogy failed to garner the same interest that March had accrued. The systems were both diminished—owing to the split release—and overhauled. In particular, battles were changed to a real-time system that proceed at a glacial pace, robbing them of the drama they had exhibited in March.

Shibamura did not leave Alfa System so much as he was given away by the company. Seeking a promotion but finding it impossible to rise within Alfa System’s cloistered ranks, Shibamura sought advice from company president Tetsuya Sasaki. Sasaki told Shibamura that the best course of action would be for Alfa System to put out a public call letting other companies know that Shibamura was a free agent. According to Shibamura, Bandai immediately took the offer, having previously collaborated with Shibamura on on NGE 2 and Kenran Butou Sai.¹³ 

Despite Gunparade March’s fame in Japan, having never been officially localized or fan-translated into English, the game retains an extremely minor fanbase in the Anglosphere. Yet, Gunparade March’s influence can be traced to a number of games that have, in fact, been released in the west, transforming it into a missing-link of sorts. Upon release in Japan, players were quick to note the similarities between Gunparade March and Muv-Luv Alternative (âge, 2006): a post-apocalyptic setting where students are drafted to pilot mecha and fight aliens. While some commentators have gone as far as calling the latter a rip-off of the former, in response to these allegations, Muv-Luv creator Yoshimune Kouki would reveal that while he was certainly a fan of Gunparade—even making doujinshi—in developing Muv-Luv Alternative, the team did not set out to copy Gunparade at all.¹⁴ This connection between Gunparade March and Muv-Luv extends to Attack on Titan (Hajime Isayama, 2009 – 2021) whose Survey Corps members propel around the eponymous titans much like Gunparade‘s rocket equipped scouts. In more recent years, George Kamitani revealed that the visuals for Gunparade‘s battle system influenced 13: Sentinels: Aegis Rim (Vanillaware, 2019).¹⁵ So while Gunparade March remains relatively unknown outside Japan, its impact nevertheless remains traceable.¹⁶

In 2023, Shibamura would return to the Karel system, working under Sieg Games to develop Loop8: Summer of Gods which uses Karel 4. Furthermore, the game would also see a worldwide release just five days after its launch in Japan thanks to its two publishers Marvelous Entertainment and Xseed Games. Loop8 takes place in an alternative 1980s Japan with the setting being the fictional rural seaside town Ashihara. Players control Nini, a young teenage boy with the power to reset time. Rather than “phantom beasts,” the monsters are called “Kegai,” and its Nini’s mission to destroy them. To do so, players will forge connections with the townspeople of Ashihara and wield Nini’s powers of temporal manipulation. Here was a game with a rich developmental history behind it being published to audiences with absolutely no context. As part of the game’s English marketing, Marvelous would release an interview with Shibamura that emphasized the game’s locale and culture rather than its social simulation elements. While most English reviews understandably compared the game to the Persona franchise, writing for PC Gamer, Kerry Brunskill was the sole critic to point out the connection between Loop8 and Gunparade.¹⁷ A fact which remains unsurprising considering that Brunskill also reviewed Gunparade March.¹⁸ Suffice to say, Loop8 failed to make a strong impression on its global audience.¹⁹

This year, Gunparade March celebrates its 25^th year anniversary. Since its original release, the global consumption of Japanese pop-culture has radically changed, becoming part of the cultural mainstream in ways that would have been previously unthinkable. In turn, this has opened up the pathway for the localization—both official and otherwise—of niche titles. Yet, as Shibamura points out in his interview with Den Fami Nico Gamer, Gunparade’s Karel system itself has not been very influential. The irony of this sentiment being that in a July 2025 interview with RPG Site, developer Furyu revealed that beyond Persona, their new game Varlet, also took inspiration from Gunparade March.²⁰ Drawing upon the media of otaku culture at large, Gunparade represents a turning point for the history of JRPGs, one in which an alternative subgenre of games eschewed the narrative-heavy and cinematic-focused storytelling Final Fantasy would familiarize to a global audience.

The world of Gunparade recalls the idealized life Shinji creates for himself within Instrumentality. It is a cocoon, one where social reality has largely been erased. The only inhabitants of the town are those belonging to the 5121^st platoon and the handful of clerks running the local businesses, with the larger Kyushu region being abstracted as data—points in a wargame’s map. Here, players can eternally live out their teenage post-apocalyptic fantasy. But, this dream can only last so long and Gunparade seems aware of that. Partake in its social system to learn the truth of the war and see the cracks in the world. The game begins to make this apparent relatively early on when Takigawa asks: just who is Atsushi Hayami?

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Alfa System. Alfa System SAGA. Tokyo: 樹想社 (Jusōsha) / Galaxy Publishing, 2004.

Azuma, Hiroki. Otaku: Japan’s Database Animals. Translated by Jonathan E. Abel and Shion Kono. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2009.

Brunskill, Kerry. “The End of the World Can Wait in This RPG: I’ve Got a Study Session with a God.” PC Gamer, June 1, 2023. https://www.pcgamer.com/the-end-of-the-world-can-wait-in-this-rpg-ive-got-a-study-session-with-a-god/

———. “Gunparade March: Students, Statistics, and Bloodthirsty Beasts.” Kimimi The Game-Eating She Monster, March 14, 2022. https://kimimithegameeatingshemonster.com/2022/03/14/students-statistics-and-bloodthirsty-beasts/

Famitsu. “VANILLAWARE ‘Jūsan Kihei Bōei-ken’ Sutāto Gaido & Vanirawea no Subete” (Vanillaware: 13 Sentinels Start Guide and All About Vanillaware). Weekly Famitsu, pp. 73–121.

Galizio, James. “Varlet Isn’t Just an RPG About Your Self-Discovery, but Furyu’s as Well.” RPG Site. July 12, 2025. https://www.rpgsite.net/preview/17908-varlet-isnt-just-an-rpg-about-your-self-discovery-but-furyus-as-well

Maejima, Satoshi. Sekaikei to wa nani ka (What Is Sekai-kei?). Tokyo: Seikaisha, 2010.

Masan. “Gēmu gyōkai de zettai ni kikaku o tōsu hissatsu waza to wa? Shibamura Yūri-shi ni shinsaku shōsetsu no hanashi o kiki ni itta hazu ga…” (A secret technique for getting your game proposal through the industry? I was supposed to go listen to Yuri Shibamura discuss his new novel but…). Dengeki Online, October 9, 2019. https://dengekionline.com/articles/12071/

Taitai, “Ganpare” no kikakusho, tsuini koukai — Shodai P.S. no densetsuteki taitoru wa, naze umareta no ka? Soshite “LOOP8” e uketsugareta mono 【Gēmu no kikakusho】”(At last, the origins of Gunparade March are revealed — how was this legendary Playstation One title born and how did it influence LOOP8?), Den Fami Nico Gamer, May 26, 2023, https://news.denfaminicogamer.jp/projectbook/230526g

Yoshimune, Kōki (@kycow). “物語もゲームも最高に面白くて同人誌を作るくらい好きだったけど…….” X (formerly Twitter), February 23, 2020, 1:08 p.m. https://x.com/kycow/status/1231642018754904064

END NOTES

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1. Azuma, Hiroki. Otaku: Japan’s Database Animals. Translated by Jonathan E. Abel and Shion Kono. English edition. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2009, pp. 4–5. ↩︎
2. Maejima, Satoshi. Sekaikei to wa nani ka [What Is Sekai-kei?] (セカイ系とは何か). Tokyo: Seikaisha, 2010, 7. ↩︎
3. Taitai, “Ganpare” no kikakusho, tsuini koukai — Shodai P.S. no densetsuteki taitoru wa, naze umareta no ka? Soshite “LOOP8” e uketsugareta mono 【Gēmu no kikakusho】”(At last, the origins of Gunparade March are revealed — how was this legendary Playstation One title born and how did it influence LOOP8?), Den Fami Nico Gamer, May 26, 2023, https://news.denfaminicogamer.jp/projectbook/230526g#i-2. ↩︎
4. Taitai, “Ganpare no kikakusho,”  https://news.denfaminicogamer.jp/projectbook/230526g/3. ↩︎
5. Alfa System, Alfa System SAGA (Tokyo: 樹想社 [Jusōsha] : Galaxy Publishing, 2004), 71. ↩︎
6. The connections between titles largely take the form of recurring characters and plot elements. Yumi Araigi and Buta from Gunparade March appear in Castle Shikigami 2 as the new playable duo, Niigi Gorgeous Blue and Greater Manekineko who are searching for Ginga Kurusu; Tagami, whose appearance bookends Elemental Gearbolt, returns in Castle Shikigami as the playable “???”; and Kenran Butou Sai’s Kato Takigawa Jr. descends from Gunparade March‘s Youhei Takigawa. While I am not under the particular belief that as a collective these games are meant to be approached as a puzzle, like Evangelion, uncovering the mysteries of the Seven Worlds has become a game in itself with fan communities congregating on message boards to exchange and compile information. ↩︎
7. A concept that Kinoko Nasu would explore in the visual novel Fate/stay night (Type-Moon, 2004). Both Gunparade March and Fate/stay night use the genres of fantasy and sci-fi to ruminate on the attachments between modern society and mythic heroes.  ↩︎
8. Later, I was surprised to learn this exact plot plays out in Hiroyuki Sanadura’s manga adaptation. ↩︎
9.  Taitai, “Ganpare no kikakusho,”  https://news.denfaminicogamer.jp/projectbook/230526g/3. ↩︎
10. Infamously, an in-game cheat code exists that allows players to pick the rest of the platoon members with the caveat being that these characters are far from bug-free. ↩︎
11. The game would receive further coverage in issue 159. ↩︎
12. Volume 367 of Dengeki PS2 would include a save file for Blue which featured the clear data for White and Green. ↩︎
13. Masan, “Gēmu gyōkai de zettai ni kikaku o tōsu hissatsu waza to wa? Shibamura Yūri-shi ni shinsaku shōsetsu no hanashi o kiki ni itta hazu ga…,”(A secret technique for getting your game proposal through the industry? I was supposed to go listen to Yuri Shibamura discuss his new novel but…), Dengeki Online, October 9, 2019 https://dengekionline.com/articles/12071/. ↩︎
14. Kouki Yoshimune (@kycow), “物語もゲームも最高に面白くて同人誌を作るくらい好きだったけど「自分たちもやってみたかった」って話した記憶は無いっす(汗｡『マブラヴ』が企画書段階で流通のボスや周囲に「右翼っぽくてダメ」などと酷評されてた時期に発表された『ガンパレ』とその後のヒットはものすごく勇気付けられましたね～,” X, February 23, 2020, 1:08 p.m., https://x.com/kycow/status/1231642018754904064.  ↩︎
15. Famitsu, “VANILLAWARE “Jūsan Kihei Bōei-ken” Sutāto Gaido & Vanirawea no Subete,” (Vanillaware: 13 Sentinels Start Guide and All About Vanillaware) Weekly Famitsu, 100. ↩︎
16. Alfa System’s previous endeavors to establish the Seven World Saga in the west also faced various trouble. While Elemental Gearbolt was a cult-hit, when localizing the game, Working Designs dramatically increased the game’s difficulty, limiting its potential audience. As for Castle Shikigami, XS Games would publish the first title in the United States but under the title “Mobile Light Force,” which was the Japanese title for a different shooter altogether, Gunbird (Psikyo, 1994). Alfa System would eventually release the Castle Shikigami trilogy on modern hardware albeit to little fanfare. ↩︎
17. Kerry Brunskill, “The end of the world can wait in this RPG: I’ve got a study session with a god,” PC Gamer, June 1, 2023.https://www.pcgamer.com/the-end-of-the-world-can-wait-in-this-rpg-ive-got-a-study-session-with-a-god/. ↩︎
18. Kerry Brunskill, “Gunparade March: Students, statistics, and bloodthirsty beasts.” Kimimi The Game Eating She Monster, March 14, 2022, https://kimimithegameeatingshemonster.com/2022/03/14/students-statistics-and-bloodthirsty-beasts/. ↩︎
19. However, this is not to imply an East/West binary where the West simply fails to understand Shibamura and the East uncritically praises him as an auteur. Rather, even in Japan, Shibamura’s post-Gunparade works have received divisive reception. ↩︎
20. James Galizio, “Varlet Isn’t Just an RPG About Your Self-Discovery, but Furyu’s as Well,” RPG Site, July 12, 2025, https://www.rpgsite.net/preview/17908-varlet-isnt-just-an-rpg-about-your-self-discovery-but-furyus-as-well. ↩︎