Broken Base / Touken Ranbu

• In July 2015, an update changed several characters^note Izuminokami, Ookurikara, and Doudanuki from tachi to uchigatana. Naturally, fans were divided over this change, with some not really minding while others were unhappy, considering the change a big downgrade for the characters; however, their tachi-grade stats weren't nerfed, making them a strong uchigatana trio. Especially Izuminokami, who currently holds the position as the strongest uchigatana.
• How the Revisionists are portrayed in and out of game counts. Some are fine with their monsterous characterization, since it brings more focus on the Saniwa's swords and leaves less room to root for the empire like what happened with the Abyssal Fleet in KanColle. Others argue that the Revisionists barely have character at all, and treating them as little more than cannon fodder takes away from exploring how the factions operate and the possible implications of how they came to be (See Fanon below).
• The announcement of the two anime adaptations had mixed reactions. Some people fear that the adaptations will not be very good (especially considering the low opinions many fans have of the KanColle anime), while others are happy about the prospect of their favorite swords getting animated. Another reason why a part of the fandom (mostly overseas fans) are against the adaptations is because they fear how the new Touken Ranbu fans will be. It was notable how they held the popularity of the franchise back, however, with two upcoming anime, chances are pretty high the bigger mass will discover Touken Ranbu.
• Related to above, will the Saniwa (and by extension, what will the Saniwa's gender will be) appear in the anime or not has sparked debates, similar to the adaptation of KanColle. While the saniwa of Touken Ranbu - Hanamaru sparked some debate over whether or not they should have been depicted in full or just have another sword take the role (amusingly, similar to KanColle's own adaptation), Ufotable's version for Katsugeki/Touken Ranbu ended up in some wondering why the saniwa wasn't depicted as off screen like the Hanamaru one, why they looked like a little boy, and whether the decision to go for an androgynous look and not confirm either way instead of featuring the more popular interpretations of the character was an example of pandering, chickening out, a good idea, or something else entirely.
• While Kiwame has been well-received by most players as a way to upgrade the weak tantous to be useful on later maps, some are concerned by the changes in their lines that focus more on that Saniwa's attention and less on their own character tics. In a particular case, many fans of Imanotsurugi are reluctant to give him the Kiwame upgrade because it retcons a huge part of his character, and tragically so.
  • However, as later swords got remodels, it seems this trait is only reserved for tantous only. Justified, as tantous are supposed to be protection weapons.
• In the Western fanbase, there are quite a few vocal fans that openly question the morality of shipping the younger looking toudan, particularly the tantou, with the swords that are clearly intended to be adults, believing it to be disgusting despite the actual ages of the swords who in reality are well over centuries old; some of the younger looking sword boys are older than the characters that look like adults. There are fans that argue back that the age they appear to be is irrelevant due to the reasoning mentioned. The JP fanbase generally doesn't make a big deal out of this but that doesn't stop the debates from coming up.
• Now that the first seasons of the Anime adaptations have concluded, which one was superior? Touken Ranbu - Hanamaru or Katsugeki/Touken Ranbu? In Japan, it's made abundantly clear that Fans tend to prefer Hanamaru's adaptation over Katsugeki^note and the dvd/bluray sales only hammer this home but in the west it's more divided.
  • Some say Katsugeki was better because it supposedly had more of a plot, "relevant" character arcs, played up the oft-forgotten "protecting history" angle, and to some felt more like a Touken Ranbu anime in adapting the more dramatic aspects of the swords' backstories^note  mainly only with the two leads Izuminokami and Mutsunokami, plus tritagonist Horikawa; the rest of the squad, despite being a part of the main cast, did not really get much development or arc focus and decry Hanamaru as "the Pixiv version" that makes the series look no different than any other Slice of Life series, and overexaggerates the characters and their arcs to match with fan perceptions (leading to events like Yamatonokami's controversial desicion to stop Okita from getting injured at the Ikeda-ya). Some also feel like the series crams too many characters in to make sure nobody feels left out, at the expense of the main pair's arc and development, up until the end.
  • However, others argue that Katsugeki was a soulless bore of an adaptation whose only saving grace was it being visually impressive, and that it didn't live up to what it promised/was hyped up to be. In comparison, fans of Hanamaru say that this series felt like it was made for the fans, fun to watch, took an Ensemble Cast approach thus giving all fans more time to see their faves instead of staying focused on one (and to a VERY LESSER degree, two) sword group and was supposedly more faithful to the game and characterization; whereas Katsugeki took various liberties, particularly with their citadel's lore (the multiple Konnosukes in one citadel and being able to only send two swords at a time back in history at one point, in particular) and characterization/dynamics. People who prefer Hanamaru often refer to Katsugeki as a "Fate/stay night with a Touken Ranbu skin" anime and various other snarky nicknames involving that franchise due to their similarities in animation and other things ufotable lifted from their previous Fate adaptations.
  • There are some fans who say they like both adaptations but lean more towards one, and those who say that both adaptations sucked or didn't like the heavy Shinsengumi focus on both series' leads (two Okita swords in Hanamaru, two Hijikata swords in Katsugeki) and their commonality of attempting to prevent their masters' most famous historical injuries. Some other fans tend to prefer the Stage play, Musical and Manga adaptations over both, while others just prefer the original game and fan created content.
  • Lastly, there are fans who whole heartily liked both adaptations or felt that both adaptations fulfilled their purpose of what they were adapted to be like with Hanamaru being the Slice of Life anime it was promised to be and Katsugeki being the action oriented other half.
• The English translation of the game divided fans. For one thing, the website it was hosted on was largely known for ecchi and hentai games, so playing the game made certain fans uncomfortable, not only for the porn ads that would surround the game window, but for the sheer absurdity of such a tame game about men being hosted in such a place. For another, many fans took issue with the incredibly liberal translation, which often changed the characterisations of the boys, and contained many spelling and grammar errors. Some fans refuse to touch the English version thanks to all of these issues, while others think that the issues are minor and are just glad the game got an official translation at all.
• The shipping of swords who are brothers can cause controversy, with one side claiming that it's incest and therefore immoral, and the other side countering that fiction has nothing to do with a writer or consumer's morality and therefore what a person ships doesn't matter. The issue gets muddied further by the nonhuman natures of the Toudan, and that what exactly makes a pair of swords "brothers" varies from character to character. Much like the tantou issue above, this argument is exclusive to the Western side of the fandom due to Values Dissonance.
• Some fans and players are vehemently opposed to the incorporation of story elements from the spin-offs into the main game because they believe it interferes with their perception of citadel, given that the games citadel is basically a "blank slate" that everyone, including the spin-offs, builds their own stories off of. For example, there was a lot of backlash over Inaba Gou not only being introduced in the musical before the browser game, but also the fact that dialogue from the musical was referenced in his Recollection with Kotegiri Gou (who saved him in the musical), and got even worse when people began to say that Samidare and Murakumo were only added to the browser game so that they could be introduced in the musical (There was only a month or two gap between their game releases and their appearance in the musicals). It reached a climax in the 2022 Great Invasion event, when some fans abruptly stopped playing after learning that Mikazuki Munechika was repeating history and needed a starter sword to help him progress in his story, which was a major plot point in the stage play, even though it ended up playing out completely differently. On the other hand, some fans believe that overlap was unavoidable, given that there is most likely a rule book that all adaptations and the game itself adhere to for consistency, and similar ideas would emerge in each work as a result of that.