History YMMV / ToukenRanbu

** No, not every sword considers swords forged by the same smith or school their brother. It's easy to get the impression that they do thanks to the prominence of some sets of brothers, such as the Toushirou swords or Kunihiro swords, but there are plenty of brothers who are not of the same school/smith (The Genji brothers, the Tachi brothers), as well as swords who are of the same school/smith but do not consider each other brothers (The Gou swords). What makes a group of swords brothers varies wildly, and you need to rely on WordOfGod to know.
** Mikazuki was often mistaken as being the oldest sword in the game until Kogarasumaru came along due to his character often making mention of being elderly. In reality, while he is ''one'' of the oldest swords, he was never the old''est'' and was never claimed to be.

* AdaptationDisplacement: Both of the {{Anime}} adaptations, ''Anime/ToukenRanbuHanamaru'' and ''Anime/KatsugekiToukenRanbu'', are more well-known in the West than the browser game because they are more accessible and appeal to a larger audience due to the medium. Obviously, this is not the case for the game (or the series as a whole) in its home country, though both adaptations are successful in their own right.

** Although the game was only available in Japanese until 2021, this hasn't stopped it from gaining a somewhat big Western fanbase. Hotarumaru is very popular with Western fans.

** Nearly half of all the fanfiction for this game on Website/ArchiveOfOurOwn is in Chinese.

** Mikazuki Munechika, full stop. His popularity is so great that he became the face of the game despite (or maybe even because of) the fact that he's one of the most difficult swords to get due to his high rarity value. Fans, non-fans and even {{Hatedom}}s of ''Touken Ranbu'' tend to like him anytime he appears in an adaptation. He's become widely known as one of the most recognizable sword boys, even stated to be iconic by [[WordOfGod Digitarou]] himself. The character's popularity and ascension to official mascot status certainly paid off as he's currently one of the only characters to appear in every adaptation, filling some sort of big role in them, is one of the characters with the most merchandise with more in the making and is the first and currently the ''only'' character to have an official life sized figure out of the entire cast.[[invoked]]

** Tsurumaru Kuninaga has become incredibly popular due to his fun personality, cool design and memetic nature. Similarly to Mikazuki above, he tends to be liked and recognized by fans and non-fans of ''Touken Ranbu'' alike, and has all but become a staple of every major adaptation of ''Touken Ranbu'' despite not being one of the series mascots.

** "Jiji"/"Gramps" for Mikazuki Munechika.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: In the Warriors spin-off game, [[spoiler: Omokage is a composite being made up of multiple swords, with his "primary" soul being a sword called Omokage that was part of the Rai school, making him [[AmbiguouslyRelated potentially related]] to Kuniyuki, Hotarumaru, and Aizen. Had any of the other Rai swords been in the game, the exploration of their relationships and how they feel about Omokage being a composite could have made for an interesting story, but they aren't so much as even mentioned.]]

* ArchivePanic: Due to the browser game being AdaptationOverdosed. As of the time of writing, the game has [[Anime/ToukenRanbuHanamaru two]] [[Anime/KatsugekiToukenRanbu anime adaptations]], one with two seasons and three movies, and the other with a movie [[DevelopmentHell (supposedly)]] in the works, several stage play and musical adaptations (with more being announced every year), two live-action movies, over 10 official anthologies, and as of 2022, a spin-off Hack-and-Slash game that also has a novel adaptation. This is not to mention all of the official, story-based collaborations the game has had with different mediums, such as ''VideoGame/GranblueFantasy'' and ''Thunderbolt Fantasy''. This is made worse when one realizes that beyond the franchise's basic premise and characters, the adaptations have little to do with each other, often varying in tone, substance, character dynamics, and even characterization--meaning that it's extremely difficult for overseas fans to experience every possible variation of the Citadels largely due to NoExportForYou.

* EnsembleDarkhorse:
** Mikazuki Munechika, full stop. His popularity is so great that he became the face of the game despite (or maybe even because of) the fact that he's one of the most difficult swords to get due to his high rarity value. Fans, non-fans and even {{Hatedom}}s of ''Touken Ranbu'' tend to like him anytime he appears in an adaptation. He's become widely known as one of the most recognizable sword boys, even stated to be iconic by Digitarou himself. The character's popularity and ascension to official mascot status certainly paid off as he's currently one of the only characters to appear in every adaptation, filling some sort of big role in them, is one of the characters with the most merchandise with more in the making and is the first and currently the ''only'' character to have an official life sized figure out of the entire cast.[[invoked]]
** Of the 5 starter swords, there's also Kashuu Kiyomitsu, which explains why the two got nendoroid backgrounds in-game and he's frequently a major player in adaptations. In a similar vein, Yamanbagiri Kunihiro is working his up to being a popular starter sword due to his portrayal in the adaptations boosting interest in his character.
** Heshikiri Hasebe, because of his UndyingLoyalty for the Saniwa, to the point he's the most popular choice in Pixiv in "Sword x Master" fanart and he won the Official Popularity Poll. Not to mention that two stories of the Touken Ranbu Comic Anthology are focused on his yearning and loyalty to the Saniwa, and his background apparitions consist of him gleefully doing chores for the Saniwa.
** Tsurumaru Kuninaga has become incredibly popular due to his fun personality, cool design and memetic nature. Similarly to Mikazuki above, he tends to be liked by fans and non-fans of ''Touken Ranbu'' alike.

** In fanarts that draw [[EyesAlwaysShut Juzumaru]]'s eyes open, they're almost always purple. [[spoiler:This has become canon with the implementation of his ''Kiwame'' state.]]

** [[AmbiguouslyRelated While his connection to them is never explored officially]] outside of Tsurumaru interacting with Mikazuki in the adaptations and Tsurumaru is more often associated with the swords owned by Date Masamune[[note]]Shokudaikiri Mitsutada, Ookurikara, Taikogane Sadamune. The group is referred to as the Dategumi by fans[[/note]], Tsurumaru is sometimes treated as a SixthRanger to the Sanjou sword school due to having been forged by Gojo Tsukinaga, a disciple and son (or grandson) of Sanjo Munechika. Some fans even regard him as Mikazuki's grandnephew or grandson.

** Mikazuki was often mistaken as being the oldest sword in the game until Kogarasumaru came along due to his character often making mention of being elderly. In reality, while he is ''one'' of the oldest swords, he was never the old''est'', as Ishikirimaru is older than him by 7 years.

* ShipsThatPassInTheNight: Plenty, considering the amount of swords that have little to no canon interactions in the game/adaptations, primarily due to the swords not having history with each other. Doesn't stop some fans from shipping them. Some examples include:
** Kasen/Mikazuki
** Ichigo/Akashi
** Tsurumaru/Taroutachi
** Doudanuki/Mikazuki and Tsurumaru/Ichigo qualify, despite their popularity.

** Mikazuki Munechika's lines show at most that he has overall an easygoing personality and laughs frequently, with some teasing lines here and there. Fanon however usually gives him more of a direct {{Cloudcuckoolander}}-like personality ([[WordOfSaintPaul which is supported by the Touken Ranbu Comic Anthology]]), perhaps to suit his "grandpa" image. Others go for a StepfordSmiler ObfuscatingStupidity route, putting his nonchalance and casual joking as to conceal that Mikazuki (who has had a ''very'' long existence as well as saw his master's death upfront) is a more melancholic person than he lets it out.

* ArchivePanic: Due to the browser game being AdaptationOverdosed. As of the time of writing, the game has [[Anime/ToukenRanbuHanamaru two]] [[Anime/KatsugekiToukenRanbu anime adaptations]], one with two seasons and three movies, and the other with a movie [[DevelopmentHell (supposedly)]] in the works, several stage play and musical adaptations (with more being announced every year), two live-action movies, over 10 official anthologies, and as of 2022, a spin-off Hack-and-Slash game. This is not to mention all of the official, story-based collaborations the game has had with different mediums, such as ''VideoGame/GranblueFantasy'' and ''Thunderbolt Fantasy''. This is made worse when one realizes that beyond the franchise's basic premise and characters, the adaptations have little to do with each other, often varying in tone, substance, character dynamics, and even characterization--meaning that it's extremely difficult for overseas fans to experience every possible variation of the Citadels largely due to NoExportForYou.

* ArchivePanic: Gradually becoming this seven years into the franchise's lifespan due to how much spin-off material the game is accumulating, particularly for overseas fans of the franchise who may not have access to every release. As explained on the Trivia page, the game has 2 Anime adaptations with movies in the works for each one, several musical and stage play adaptations, over 10 official anthologies, a live action movie and as of 2022 a spin-off Hack-and-Slash game. This is made worse when one realizes that beyond the franchise's basic premise and characters, the adaptations have little to do with each other, often varying in tone and substance--meaning that it's extremely difficult for overseas fans to experience every possible variation of the Citadels largely due to NoExportForYou.

* TierInducedScrappy:
** The obtainable yari for the player can be this, especially prior to the prominence of Rarity-5 yari (which they are effective against). They gain levels very slowly and require a lot of resources to repair, traits that oodachi have; however, the oodachi are considered much more useful for being able to hit more swords. While they are guaranteed to hit enemy swords directly, other swords can do that at a high enough level, so they function as more inconvenient tachi. Individually: Tonbokiri has strong stats but is slow and will hamper your scouting success; Otegine is good at scouting but has rather mediocre stats comparable to an uchigatana; and while Nihongou is surprisingly fast with high stats, he is notoriously hard to obtain.
** For PVP, a well-leveled Jiroutachi (kiwame or otherwise) is not a sword people like seeing on teams. This is because of his high Camouflage stat, which increases your chances of failing the scouting segment, as well as a high Leadership that makes his troops harder to kill. You'll either have to watch your swords waste turns trying to take him down, or pray that they can survive a hit from him, because he's still a strong oodachi.

** Creator/KosukeToriumi would go on to voice Onigiri from ''VideoGame/Onmyoji2016'', which is the personification of the sword that severed Ibaraki-dōji's arm, otherwise known as ''Higekiri''. Many an "Anija voiced by Jiji" jokes have cropped up as a result.
** Creator/DaisukeHirakawa has voiced a personified sword – Dōjigiri, in an adult otome CD under a pseudonym – and a heavily snake-like character – Shiki Janome in ''VideoGame/DankiraBoysBeDANCING'' – before he voices Kokin, who is both.

** In fanarts that draw [[EyesAlwaysShut Juzumaru]]'s eyes open, they're almost always purple.

* AuthorsSavingThrow:
** The January 2016 event, which includes Higekiri as a RareRandomDrop and Hizamaru as the event reward seems to address complaints towards the Bead-collecting mechanic that gets too [[ScrappyMechanic gimmicky]] and the unbalanced RandomNumberGod during events (for comparison, Nihongou had a 0.1% chance of dropping during his event while Higekiri had a 2.3% chance of dropping)
** Announcing two [[Anime/ToukenRanbuHanamaru anime]] [[Anime/KatsugekiToukenRanbu adaptations]] with [[LighterAndSofter different]] [[DarkerAndEdgier tones]] might be a response to fan reactions towards [[MoodWhiplash the wildly inconsistent tone]] of the ''VideoGame/KanColle'' [[Anime/KanColle anime]]. The fact that the Creator/{{Ufotable}} helmed adaptation will be ''directly supervised'' by Nitro+ themselves[[note]] As with other adaptations such as TheMusical and the stage play[[/note]] probably helps.
** The May 17, 2016 update, which added the ''Kiwame'' system and game balance seems to be their response to the many ItsTheSameNowItSucks and ItsEasySoItSucks issues that Tourabu got frequent complaints at.

** CCO for Shishio.[[note]]shared with nearly similarly-named Shishio (with a short "o") in ''VideoGame/{{Onmyoji}}''[[/note]]

** [=TouRabu=]/''VideoGame/{{Onmyoji}}'' crossover fan works have occasionally appeared even before the introduction of personified pretty sword boy Onigiri (a.k.a. Higekiri, and voiced by Creator/KosukeToriumi to boot) into the latter, and after which the fandom overlap ''boomed''.

** Creator/KosukeToriumi would go on to voice Onigiri from ''VideoGame/{{Onmyoji}}'', which is the personification of the sword that severed Ibaraki-dōji's arm, otherwise known as ''Higekiri''. Many an "Anija voiced by Jiji" jokes have cropped up as a result.

** Mikazuki Munechika, full stop. To the point he became the face of the game despite (or maybe even because of) the fact that he's one of the most difficult swords to get due to his high rarity value. Fans, non-fans and even {{Hatedom}}s of ''Touken Ranbu'' tend to like him anytime he appears in an adaptation. He's become widely known as one of the most recognizable sword boys, even stated to be iconic by Digitarou himself. The character's popularity and ascension to official mascot status certainly paid off as he's currently one of the only characters to appear in every adaptation, filling some sort of big role in them, is one of the characters with the most merchandise with more in the making and is the first and currently the ''only'' character to have an official life sized figure out of the entire cast.[[invoked]]

* ArchivePanic: Gradually becoming this seven years into the franchise's lifespan due to how much spin-off material the game is accumulating, particularly for overseas fans of the franchise who may not have access to every release. As explained on the Trivia page, the game has 2 Anime adaptations with movies in the works for each one, several musical and stage play adaptations, over 10 official anthologies, a live action movie and as of 2022 a spin-off Hack-and-Slash game. This i made worse when one realizes that beyond the franchise's basic premise and characters, the adaptations have little to do with each other, often varying in tone and substance, meaning that it's basically impossible for overseas fans to experience every possible variation of the citadels largely due to NoExportForYou.

** Mikazuki was often mistaken as being the oldest sword in the game until Kogarasumaru came along due to his character often making mention of being elderly. In reality, while he is ''one'' of the oldest swords, he was never the old''est'', as Ishikirimaru is older than him.

** No, not every sword considers swords forged by the same smith or school their brother. It's easy to get the impression that they do thanks to the prominence of some sets of brothers, such as the Toushirou swords or Kunihiro swords, but there are plenty of brothers who are not of the same school/smith (The Genji brothers, the Tachi brothers), as well as swords who are of the same school/smith but do not consider each other brothers (The Gou swords). What makes makes a group of swords brothers varies wildly, and you basically need to rely on WordOfGod to know.
** Mikazuki was often mistaken as being the oldest sword in the game until Kogarasumaru came along due to his mascot status, personality, and the way he is treated with such respect and seniority across the various adaptations. In reality, he was never the oldest, as Ishikirimaru is actually older than him.