SweetOcha’s Reviews: Birushana Rising Flower of Genpei

 Plot

Birushana Rising Flower of Genpei starts off  Fifteen years  later after the war between the Genji and Heike ended.   After the War with the Minamoto Brothers being the last surviving members of the Genji lineage become Orphans. The story focus on the Youngest brother who lives hidden deep within the Mountains of Kurama but in secrecy the Youngest era to the Genji Clan is actually a Young Woman name Shanao.  Shanao was raise to keep her Gender a secret for strong reasons.   Alongside Shanao is her Best and Childhood Friend Shungen (voice by Saito Soma).   

After dealing with the usual bandits that always try to capture Shanao, a Young Man that Shanao notice as she threw a pebble at him to get him to reveals themself.   Turns out to be a young Man name Noritsune Taira (voice by Kengo Kawanishi) who is part of the Heike Clan, Noritsune strong desire in wanting to challenge Shanao to a duel.   But after Shanao refuse the Challenge and a brief heated tension,  Noritsune set a bet to Shanao to see who ever can defeat Benkei Musashibo first will be the winner.

What ever choice Shanao makes she would have to deal with a lot of things piling on her while trying to solve conflicts related to the Genji and Heike Clan, along side with meeting other Colorful cast of Characters threw out her Journey, who will ether be joining Shanao’s side, Be a sworn Enemy or something much deeper….

My take

Playing Birushana was an enjoyable read, especially knowing about the history between Heiki and Genji clan.  While the setting of the over all story is serious, but within the serious moments are sweet and romantic ones.     I really enjoy the LIs and Side Characters, as much as I enjoy the Seiyuu’s performances voicing the Characters that they were given to Voice.  Out of all the LIs I feel an emotional connection to Yoritomo the most which I’ll do a discussion more on when I do a Commentary playing his route.  

Going into playing Birushana without surfing on the Game’s Website to get more knowledge can be a bit confusing in which LI you’re trying to win over,  because they have as I would call it the Lotus heart system.  This is where if you never bought the Physical copy of the game but you bough the Digital copy your gonna to enjoy yourself while embracing the confusion in what ever choice you pick despite you don’t know which LI you will win over let alone if you will get a Good or Bad ending.  

 So to break from the Confusion 

Noritsune- Red Lotus

Benki- Green Lotus

Shungen- Yellow Lotus

Yoritomo- Purple Lotus

Tomomori- Blue Lotus

 I strongly recommended that your follow the Route Order which is Noritsune >Benki>Shungen>Yoritomo>Tomomori.  

Because if you went to play Shugen’s route first, then you won’t enjoy Norisune or Benkei’s route with a Naive mindset.  With out any spoilers, let’s just  say after I play Shugen’s route the Idiom of “Ignorance is Bliss” is strong in this Otome.  Especially for Shanao…

Route Tier (Spoiler warning)

S 

I rank Yoritomo higher than Noritsune in the S tier bracket, not only because I love the whole tone in his route, but because at the time my Past self felt an emotional connect to Yoritomo in the issues that him and Shanao dealt with in his route.  

My Past self wrote why she can relate to Yoritomo’s case since she felt nobody understand the pain she is going threw.    While with Shanano is figuring out what to do next when Yoritomo is sent off to be Wedded after finally reuniting with him and having some-sort of a bond with him.

Noritsune

I really enjoyed Noritsune’s route, out of all the LIs I enjoyed his Chemistry with Shanao. Even though Norisune’s route did made me dislike the other LIs in his route.  But I rather that then to be turn off by his Route.

A

  

Tomomori’s route was really good but when I play it the first time I couldn’t picture myself replaying his route over and over again like I would with Yoritomo and Norisune’s route.  I really love Jun Fukuyama’s performance playing Tomomori. 

Shugen

I almost put Shugen’s route in B tier, but the CG save him to get a ranked up.

B  

Playing Benkei’s route was cozy in a really good way. While there was tension with the other LIs route, Benki’s route had more of a Slice of Life vibe to it.

Shanao’s Spotlight Coner

(HUGE SPOILER!!!)

I really enjoy Shanao as a MC,  but going threw the routes to know more about Shanao’s background I felt so bad for her when she found out about the Bomb shell Reveal that was dump in Shugen’s, Yoritomo’s, and much more in Tomomori’s route.    That the true plot to Birushana is that Shanao is not the Youngest heir to the Genji name, Shanano is not even a Genji in general.  She belong to the Hekei Clan and she is a Cousin to Tomomori, Shigehira, Tokuko, and Noritsune.  And the reason why Shanao was put into all of this was because Kiyomori’s Step-Mother  wanted Shanao to help shovel the resolutions between the two Clans.  And in order to make that happen Shanao need to be brought up as a Boy and have her believe in the false narrative that she is the Youngest heir to the Genji Clan.

Trying to picture yourself in Shanao’s shoes, imagine all your life you where known as the Youngest Heir of the Genji Clan, your Father die in Honor, Your Older Brother that you never met is on House arrest in a different region in Japan but he had witness everything that happen in the Heiji rebellion, while your Mom handed you over to these Monks in Kurama because she doesn’t want you to go threw the same faith that was force upon her by being a Concubine.   So you have to Hide your Gender to not live that faith that your Mom unfortunately or not have to go through.  Then years later you end up finding out everything you knew since you where old enough to comprehend things was all nothing but a flat out Lie.   

On top of that your Best and Childhood friend is actually the Youngest Heir of the Genji Clan and not you. 

 That’s a lot to take in,  sure Benkei, Tadanobu, and Tsugunobu weren’t outrage by this sudden news and still would support Shanao and still call him(her) Lord.     But my gosh, that’s a bomb-shell that I had to take a Minute to get my head together finding this out and going with this narrative. 

Unless you went to School in Japan or you didn’t have a Social Studies/History Teacher like I had growing up where they talk about Historical things outside of America and just only give us a sample of it while giving us that tease of 

“If want to know more about this Topic,  find out more about it in your own time”. 

Then you probity know the History of the Heiji rebellion and you bought this Otome to see how the writers put thier twist/spin on this in a romantic setting with out it being a Copy paste of what went down in that time.  Because of the Characters and the setting in the game are base off of real events that happen around that time. 

I didn’t want to discuss the Cousin piece in the My Take section of this review because of how Spoilery it is.  I heard of Cousin Marriages from Fire Emblem Fates and from going down the Wiki rabbit hole when I learn about Arrange Marriages.  Which both of those things is not as Common in North America, if you do wanna watch uncommon marriages thier is a Reality TV show call Sister Wives but just like all Reality TV shows you need to catch up to get up to date.

So is understandable for some people who had play Birushana to have mix feelings about it and might not be because of the whole Cousin piece.   But you also have to keep in mind that this is a Historical-Romance Genre and with it set in the timeline that Birushana is set in is not something to bat your eyes on.    Just like a lot of mess up things that happen in American history before the 60s that if they do that in current times people will be batting their eyes on it. Thankfully threw the Bomb shell Shanano got her Happy ending with all the LIs.

Overall

I Recommend getting Birushana Rising Flower of Genpei if you love 

*Historical settings

*Romantic moments

*Plot-Twists

*Action pack scenes. 

 I don’t recommenced getting Birushana Rising Flower of Genpei if you don’t like 

*Historical settings

*Plot-Twists

*Action pack scenes 

*Incest Relationship

**No word for word Translations

** When I done my 2nd play-thru(which I really enjoy my re-read) I notice something that got me to do a double take on.  Like Noritsune’s introduction for best example, how he introduce himself he said 

    のとのかみ   のりつね

  能登守教経

In direct translation Noritsune said “Governor of Noto, Noritsune”. Which this information alone is where you will get benefits from know the history of the Genji war. 

In the localization version Noritsune said

“Call me Noritsune…”

And if that was the case then Noritsune would of said

 教経だよ or  教経です

The real life Noritsune wouldn’t address himself this way in a casual matter.

Especially since he was a General he wouldn’t address to Shanao and Shugen that casually, unless he build a relationship with them threw out the years.   But I can understand the Localizers choosing to go this route out of fear of the reader being lost in translation or the Team having no access to put translations notes like you normally would get in the end of reading a Manga.

(I feel sharing my thoughts on Localizations and Translations deserves its own blog post. Because I don't want you to get lost in focus on why you need to check out Birushana or give it Birushana a huge pass.)

So if your trying to learn Japanese this way by buying the Localization for this Otome,  I highly don’t recommend you do that because they’re not translating it word for word.

Is excellent for listening and training your ears in getting use to how Japanese speaker would say words and names.  But nothing else more, is just worth getting if you enjoy the Localization’s craftsmanship in how they translate the game and portray the Characters. 

That’s why I put ** on it because is not that big of a deal breaker unless you do care about translation accuracy.   But if you don’t give a care and you just want a good read. Then don’t feel afraid to buy the Localization because you will get a good read in. 

(On a side comment, if you serious introduce yourself  to your Japanese’s Friend’s  love one by saying

 “No to no Kami, *your name*”  😃

They will be roaring with laughter at you.  Even though you would make their day a bit or much brighter if their having a ruff day at work or they got dump by their Ex or had a blown out argument with a Love one.  But in their mind they will be chuckling to your Japanese Friend behind your back saying

 “*smirk*! Your Foreigner Friend is Goofy. 😂”.)

Thank you so much for reading my in depth Review, I hope you enjoy the Birushana especially when you get it at really good sell. 🪷🗡️

I can’t wait to play the FD! 💗