Video Game / Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE

aka: Illusory Revelations FE

The road to stardom has never been this rough.^note Clockwise from top: Itsuki Aoi, Kiria Kurono, Eleonora Yumizuru, Tsubasa Oribe, Touma Akagi, Mamori Minamoto, Yashiro Tsurugi and Tiki.

Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE (Genei Ibunroku ♯FE / "Strange Mirage Tales ♯FE" in Japan, Working Title Shin Megami Tensei × Fire Emblem) is a JRPG crossover between Shin Megami Tensei and Fire Emblem, released for Wii U on December 26, 2015 in Japan and June 24, 2016 in the western countries.

Mirage Sessions revolves around Childhood Friends Itsuki Aoi, an Ordinary High-School Student in modern day Tokyo, and Tsubasa Oribe, an aspiring Idol Singer with a Dark and Troubled Past. During Tsubasa's first professional audition, the concert hall is invaded by supernatural beings called "Mirages"; spirits who seek to devour the creative energy all people possess in their hearts, called Performa. While attempting to escape, Itsuki and Tsubasa end up fusing with two Mirages, named Chrom and Caeda, after using their own Performa to free the mysterious spirits from the dark force controlling them.

The two are soon approached by the Fortuna Entertainment talent agency, whose clients are all "Mirage Masters" like themselves, to help fight off the invading Mirages while perusing their own careers in the entertainment industry. And so, despite his disinterest in showbiz, Itsuki joins the agency to realize the dreams of Tsubasa and their new friends, and put a stop to the supernatural menace that threatens to destroy all of Tokyo.

If that sounds silly to you in any way... that's because it is. Serving as a love letter to both Fire Emblem and Shin Megami Tensei and also an Affectionate Parody of J-Pop idol culture, the game is firmly on the Lighter and Softer end of the scale of both series, being unrelentingly ridiculous and pretty heavy on Camp. The game noticeably shocked a lot of people because of the change, but the game nonetheless won itself a niche fandom in terms of being a Cult Classic.

An Updated Re-release, Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE Encore, was released for the Nintendo Switch on January 17th, 2020, which includes a new song and additional content.

Additionally, Itsuki, Tsubasa, Mamori, Kiria, and Eleonora have all appeared as Guest Fighters in Fire Emblem Heroes.

For games in the Shin Megami Tensei franchise that feature Fire Emblem-esque tactical style gameplay, see the Devil Survivor games.

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Tokyo Mirage Sessions#FE provides examples of:

• Accent Upon The Wrong Syllable: Kiria's song "Reincarnation" puts the emphasis on the "tion" in both "reincarnation" and "realization".
• Almost Kiss: Itsuki and Tsubasa almost have one as part of a TV show, but get stopped before they can finish.
• Amnesiac Hero: The Mirages have no memory of their past lives.
• Anime Theme Song: Several, given the game's overarching Idol Singer theme.
  • The debut trailer has one, "Reincarnation", which in-universe is Kiria's chart-topping single.
  • "Beastie Game" is in the second trailer, sung by none other than Tiki.
• Anti-Frustration Features:
  • Notices will come in over Topic when you have the items required to perform a new Unity. The enemy guide will also tell you where to find an enemy and what drops they provide once you've fought them and gotten their drops at least once, so you don't have to run all over trying to grind for some items.
  • Ad-Lib Attacks, Duo Acts, and Sessions that have finished off their original targets and moved to a new one will ignore enemy immunities, so the player doesn't have to worry about those attacks hitting an enemy that would normally absorb or repel it.
  • Much like Shin Megami Tensei, weaknesses are not uncovered on enemies until it is applied. However, if the player has any bit of knowledge of how weaknesses in Fire Emblem normally work, then you already have a good idea of where to start.
• Art Shift: The game has three art styles: The hand drawn animated sequences, the pre-rendered cutscenes in a style reminiscent of Awakening and Fates for the character's idol videos, and in-game sequences.
• Artificial Stupidity: How your allies prioritize session attacks will sometimes work against you when fighting enemies that nullify certain elements, such as Touma using Sword-Fire against an enemy that nulls fire, even though he also has Sword-Lance, which would have actually worked. Why they do this is pretty difficult to pin down. This can only be fixed by either shuffling in a new party member, using an SP attack, or hoping an Ad-lib attack activates.
• Ascended Meme: Touma's final sidestory Performa is called "Fight for my Friends".
• Armor Is Useless: Explicitly stated, the flashy outfits provided by the mirages have no advantage over regular clothes, since Chrom explains that the protection is magical and independent from them although Mamori's is the only one whose mirage outfit is an actual armor.
• Assist Character: Characters in the "Sub Cast" part of the party menu can assist the "Main Cast" during Sessions once they learn the respective skill.
• Awesome, but Impractical: Almighty spells are some of the strongest around and ignore resistances, but there are no skills that allow them to start sessions with. Since sessions are the only way to initiate Dual Arts, the only way to get key crafting items for weapons and skills, and are a great source of damage overall, there is almost no reason to ever use spells or Dual Arts with the almighty element, like Dream Catcher in the case of the latter.
• Bad "Bad Acting": Chapter 4 involves Tsubasa, who has no acting experience, being cast as the lead of a TV drama out of the blue. The results are what you'd expect, with her delivering an entire monologue in Dull Surprise and barely changing tone when her character flips into her Split Personality. Itsuki's acting when he stands-in for the role to practice with Ellie is even worse.
• Battle Strip: Tsubasa does this at one point, whipping off her clothing to reveal a tiny white bikini. The Western version changes this to a simple costume change.
• Birds of a Feather: The protagonists are typically paired with Mirages that are similar to themselves in some manner.
• Boss in Mook's Clothing: Savage Enemy Encounters. These spawn as purple-black (instead of the usual red) shadows, and you can't get a First Strike on them because they can't be knocked down by your weapon. The enemies are all Mirages you can encounter in regular fights (except these are of bigger sizes) and are something like six-seven levels above your highest-leveled character, so as you can guess they're pretty powerful, and if your level starts nearing a given set of enemies', they will change to another higher-leveled set. And even if you have devised a strategy against a set, these battles can still take forever due to their high HP and defenses. The game suggests Escaping from Savage Enemy Encounters the first time one appears, but on harder difficulties the chance of a successful Escape attempt is negligible without an item.
• Boss Rush: Most of the chapter-ending bosses pop back up in the final dungeon. They're spaced out enough for you to recover and level up a bit between each one.
• Bowdlerise:
  • Tsubasa's idol outfit was edited for the Western release to be less revealing, and the lines on her hips from her pelvic bones were removed. She was also aged up from 17 in the Japanese version of the game to 18.
  • Interestingly, Kiria's outfit was edited prior to the original Japanese release, as the thong and chaps she wore in early trailers were replaced with pants in the finished game.
  • The localized version of the dungeon centered around Gravure photography was heavily changed. Besides Tsubasa going from stripping to a bikini to changing into a completely different outfit, mentioned above, her poses were also altered to be less suggestive. Also, posters littered throughout the dungeon◊ originally depicted swimsuit models, which are now all fully clothed.
  • The Encore re-release for the Switch retains all of the changes that were in the original's Western release for all releases.
• Broken Bridge: In all the Idolaspheres there are a couple of green walls with pink spheres etched into them that Itsuki notes he can't break. It's in chapter 5 that you get the ability to break them. Some of these passages are actually vital for progressing the game even while being in Idolaspheres you cleared 3 chapters ago, while others just house really rare items.
• But Not Too Foreign: Eleonora "Ellie" Yumizuru is half-Scandinavian.
• Can't Drop the Hero: Itsuki must always be present in battles, and cannot be swapped out for any other reserve party member, unlike the other active fighters, who can be swapped out at the player's choice. The Encore edition removes this limitation in New Game Plus.
• Camp: Like you wouldn't believe. As far as silliness goes, think if 60's Batman, Red Alert 3 and Saints Row: The Third's campiness all had a JRPG baby, and you still won't reach the silliness of this game.
• Character Class System: Both ally and enemy Mirages are classified under the same class system Fire Emblem uses. For example, Chrom is a Lord-class Mirage, while the first boss is a Myrmidon-class Mirage.
• Childhood Friend: Itsuki and Tsubasa.
• Color Motif:
  • Similar to Persona 3 / Persona 4 / Persona 5, this game features an abundance of a particular color throughout its theming and interface. This time around, it's green.
  • Several of the characters also have surnames referring to colors such as Itsuki Aoi (blue), Kiria Kurono (black), and Touma Akagi (Red). The conspicuous exceptions of this being Tsubasa Oribe (though her first name means "wings," a reference to her being a Pegasus Knight) and Eleonora Yumizuru (though the 'Yumi' in her name means "bow" which references her Archer class).
  • Even further, the hair colors of the currently shown characters (Blue, Red, Black, Green, and White) match up with the five colors of the Fire Emblem from the original game.
• Combination Attack: Dual Arts, where two characters pair up and attack together. The attack changes depending on the characters involved, and they also reset the Session chain when triggered, allowing you to get massively long Sessions if you manage to get several of them to trigger.
• Combos: Session attacks involve multiple party members attacking one after the other, chaining attacks that're recorded on a hit counter.
• Creator Provincialism: It's set in the Shibuya ward of Tokyo, Japan, and features female characters who are idol singers.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Chrom, Caeda, and Cain look a LOT more intimidating than their traditional designs, but they are clearly heroic. However, the former two had to be purified by the heroes in order to utilize their powers.
• Defeat Means Friendship: How Mirages become attached to Masters.
• Denser and Wackier: On top of being Lighter and Softer than both its parent franchises, it's also a lot more unabashedly silly and quirky; featuring a group of Totally 18 Teen Idols gifted with the power to fight demons from the Fire Emblem franchise harnessing the power of creative talent, singing and dancing to save the day from the creatures — and yes, you defeat the final boss with a sing-along. Tiki is also a vocaloid here, too. This was apparently because of the fact that Atlus and Intelligent Systems — due to their games likely being on different ends of the Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism — couldn't agree on what direction the game was supposed to take, so compromised by taking an unrelentingly silly approach to both games while acting as a love letter to both series.
• Detachment Combat: Gangrel can detach his head from his body and attack the entire party.
• Easier Than Easy: Friendly mode, which you can't choose at the start of the game; you have to lose a battle on Easy mode for the game to offer it to you. Playing on Friendly mode nets you more EXP than on Easy and enemies don't hit as hard.
• Evolving Attack: Using a specific type of skill (usually the character's main element and weapon attack) has a chance of triggering an Ad-Lib Performance instead, which are special attacks that generally hit all enemies for increased amounts of damage, ignore enemy resistances, and have some kind of an addtional effect.
• Expy:
  • In a broad sense, Itsuki's combat form is one for Marth.
  • Tiki, as a popular "Uta-loid" is a loose one for Hatsune Miku, and vocal synthesizers in general.
• Eyepatch of Power: Kiria has one of these in her Dark Mage form.
• Faceless Masses: Non-important NPCs are rendered as flat, solid multicolor beings, like in the Just Dance games.
• Forever War: The mirages have been engaged in one. Their current appearance is the product of losing parts of themselves that were inefficient for survival and combat.
• Free-Range Children: Itsuki, Touma, Tsubasa, Mamori and Eleonora are all high school aged and Mamori is eleven, but their parents are nowhere to be seen and don't seem to mind the kids becoming pop stars, famous actors, president of a talent agency or fusing with interdimensional spirits in order to combat other interdimensional spirits.
• Fun with Acronyms: The English title can be shortened to TMS, a.k.a. SMT backwards.
• Gameplay and Story Integration: Whenever your characters appear in new casual wear, you have instant access to them. But any costumes worn during a performance must be bought. This is because the ones they're wearing belong to the networks. The ones you purchase are replicas.
• Genki Girl: Tsubasa and Eleonora.
• Genre Shift: One of Ellie's shows, Dandelions in Love, gets reworked from a sappy romance into a horror/action hybrid in order to pull in more views. Despite such a radical shift, it's actually said to have worked, mainly due to Ellie accidentally turning the main character from a timid Final Girl into an Action Girl and the directors going "sure, let's go with that."
• Girl with Psycho Weapon: Subverted. Mamori is eleven years old and wields a huge axe. She can barely lift it and has to use various workarounds to actually attack, rather than just swinging it.
• Gratuitous English:
  • All over the place, most notably in Barry Goodman, who is supposed to be a native English speaker, but whose voice actor clearly isn't.
  • Most attacks are in English, too, with performance-related words like "Session Attacks" and "Performa." The weapons and transformations, on the other hand, are called "Carnage," which is a slightly jarring in an otherwise light-hearted game.
• Guide Dang It!:
  • Itsuki and Tsubasa have hidden Relationship Values that the game never tells you about, and one of the Duo Arts in the game is lost if they don't have enough by the time of her final sidequest. It's somewhat downplayed in that the game is so generous with these Relationship Values that it's easy to get the Art without even trying, but it's still never hinted at in-game.
  • There seem to be more locked chests in the game then there are Treasure Keys. As it turns out, there's a hidden Locktouch Radiant Skill for Itsuki that lets you open them without keys, but unlike all other Radiant Skills that require unique Performa, this one never appears in the Radiant Unity menu until you're able to make it, so there's no indication it exists. How to get it is also fairly obscure: you need to accept the request "Arena Staff on Hire" (itself easily missed, you need to talk to the arena receptionist from behind to start it), talk to the ghost Mirage in Harajuku to recruit him to the Arena, trade Detritus with him 12 times, then speak to him in Illusionary Daitama to get the "Path of the Strong" request, which gives you the Locktouch Performa.
• Hard-Drinking Party Girl: Maiko LOVES hitting the sauce.
• Harder Than Hard: Lunatic, which is unlocked after beating the game.
• Henshin Hero: The leads combine with their respective Mirages, forming outfits based on those Mirage's appearance from the game. A more in-universe example is Touma's occupation as one on television.
• Heroic Host: The Mirage Masters towards their Mirages. They get the phenomenal fighting abilities of their partners in exchange for providing energy for the Mirages.
• Heroic Mime: Averted with the protagonist, Itsuki Aoi, here. Unlike most Shin Megami Tensei protagonists (which are avatars for the player), Itsuki has a defined name, voiced lines, and a canon personality.
• Hidden Depths:
  • Kiria's personality and image is that of a cool, calm, punk rocker and does not in any circumstances do 'cute' things not to mention that she takes the form of a Dark Mage in battle. However, she still keeps a dinosaur plush named Sir Gen and loved cute things as a child and still in fact does; she only cultivated the cool, punk image because a now ex-friend thought her love of cute things was disgusting as she got older. A side quest can be taken to help Kiria embrace cuteness again.
  • Ellie may seem overly obsessed with Hollywood but she has good reason; being referred to as 'bi-racial' makes her feel completely out of place in Japan and while she has gained acting gigs, she feels the chances would be better off in Hollywood as she wouldn't be judged by appearance as much.
• Honorary Uncle: Barry Goodman to Mamori Minamoto whom he absolutely cherishes.
• Hopeless Boss Fight: The first fight against Yashiro ends after several turns with him unleashing an almighty-elemental attack that hits your entire party and easily does over 2000 damage to all of them. Even by the end-game, none of your party will likely have 2000 HP, let alone at that point.
• Hotter and Sexier: In comparison to both parent series. The reveal trailer alone has both male and female characters down to their underclothes, and the female characters' idol costumes in particular are Stripperific as hell. This was downplayed eventually, when at least one heavily revealing costume was made more modest.
• Idol Singer: Pop music, Japanese Idol culture, and the entertainment industry are the central themes. In fact, every character is part of the entertainment industry in some form and the company they work for intentionally scouted them due to their powers.
  • Itsuki is part of the company, but isn't really interested and had to be dragged into recruitment. As such he's often placed as an extra in productions.
  • Tsubasa wants to be a pop singer, and one of her outfits is comprised of a black bra and hot pants with detached sleeves, gold bangles on her wrists and thighs, a collar, and a huge star-shaped necklace. Her Pegasus Knight outfit also resembles a frilly idol singer costume.
  • Touma wants to be an actor and works as an extra on a Tokusatsu show.
  • Kiria, another female character who joins the party at some point, is also a famous idol singer - her Dark Mage Class staff is even a microphone stand - who appears on a billboard on the Shibuya 106 building and on advertisements throughout the game.
  • Ellie is an actress and aims to be a Hollywood star.
  • Maiko is their boss, being the president of a company called Fortuna Entertainment which also scouts Mirage Masters. And she used to be a gravure idol.
  • Tiki is Hatsune Miku in all but name (even being called Uta-loid TiKi). She also sings the theme song for the second trailer.
  • Several of the Dual Arts involve weaponizing duets.
  • The costumes worn in battle by the characters resemble outfits you'd see worn by J-Pop groups.
• Improbable Age: In the True Ending Itsuki becomes the president of the talent agency that manages some of the most famous stars in Japan at the ripe age of 18.
• Instant Runes: Magic casting does this, but with a twist: in keeping with the Idol Singer theme, the runes contain each character's signatures.
• Interface Spoiler: The only characters who get mini-portraits next to their names in dialogue boxes are the main party members, whether they're directly playable or supporting from the sidelines. As such, the fact that Mamori and Yashiro get mini-portraits right from the start of the game should tip you off that they'll join the party at some point.
• Intergenerational Friendship: 11-year-old Mamori Minamoto, presenter of the cooking show 'Microwavin' With Mamorin', and middle-aged, ex-guitarist and vocal tutor Barry Goodman. Though he's friends with the other protagonists as well, he cherishes Mamori the most, making sure that she's looked after.
• In the Hood: The enemies you face in combat appear in the dungeon dressed in red cloaks with no face.
• Invisible Parents: The kids have parents (Tsubasa briefly alludes to her father in one text), but they never appear on screen or do anything plot relevant.
• Jiggle Physics: Kiria and Tsubasa have large busts that jiggle conspicuously during some scenes, but Maiko is even bigger and bouncier.
• Lighter and Softer: Shin Megami Tensei is a very dark series, with games typically involving The End of the World as We Know It, Fighting Your Friend, and Black-and-Grey Morality at best. Fire Emblem is lighter, but tends to at least touch on War Is Hell and often has several sympathetic characters die. Tokyo Mirage Sessions is primarily about aspiring entertainers fighting monsters, has a generally upbeat and optimistic tone, and the only character to actually die during the game is a villain who sacrifices his own life as part of his scheme.
• Limit Break: Special Performances, where a Mirage Master uses varying amounts of SP (SP is a relatively small resource, with EP being used for general spellcasting) to call upon the power of their Mirage.
• Lyrical Dissonance: When translated, the lyrics of Kiria's single Reincarnation are rather dark while still sounding incredibly peppy:
  I want to destroy all of the important things I've held onto
  You can heal me of this painful loneliness
  (Chorus) Reincarnation, Realization
  …I want to disappear
  The noise of the endless city streets
  The melancholy of false smiles
  The real face behind them, in a way that has never been seen
  Whenever someone is anxious
  Even if they don’t say it, we know it
  I want to destroy all of the important things I’ve held onto, give me the courage
  But, I won’t be up front about it
  Even when I’m lost, even when I’m troubled, I still want you
  At least, I will destroy this painful loneliness
  (Chorus) Reincarnation, Realization
  I want to be reborn.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Nearly every character has a name where at least part of it hints at their role or character class. They're even highlighted on the official website.
  • In Japan, the game has the Ibunroku / "Strange Tales" label Atlus used for Shin Megami Tensei Spinoffs like Persona and Devil Survivor, making its name basically "Shin Megami Tensei spinoff: Fire Emblem". In the West, the game is similarly "TMS #FE," i.e. "Reverse Shin Megami Tensei: Fire Emblem".
• Metal Slime:
  • While it has pathetic damage and very low health, Sixth Element has maxed out speed and will run away if you don't beat it, sometimes after the first round, and you need to beat it in order to get the Macca Converter needed for certain Carnages. It is identified on the field as a golden Mirage as opposed to the usual red or black, but good luck finding one; they're extremely rare.^note Saying that though, there is an easy way to find Sixth Element. In Illusory 106, go to the 6th floor and in the orange booth, activate the middle switch. Go up the arm and you'll find yourself in a small space with a wall that can't be broken until much later. Run around and a golden Mirage should appear. If it's red, just swipe it with your sword or run onto the carpet. After a while, no more will spawn but run back to the transporter, warp to any floor, go back to the 6th floor. Rinse and repeat.
  • In later dungeons, the Sixth Elements are replaced with a new rare enemy called Bretorius, which looks like a UFO with tentacles in battle. True to the trope, it has virtually no attack power whatsoever, but its speed is at the absolute cap (999) and its defenses are over 100 each. It may only have 35 HP, but you'll be very hard pressed to do more than one point per attack Furthermore, it has no weaknesses so you'll be relying on Special Performances to pull off Sessions. And as if all that that weren't enough, while it won't directly attack your party, it will cast spells to inflict status aliments on your entire party at once, making it even harder to get in attacks and defeat it before it flees — and you'll need to defeat it to get the Interstellar Sefirot, which is necessary to make several Carnages.
• More than Mind Control: Despite possessing people, the vast majority of Mirages exorcise very little control over their hosts: instead, they blind them with negativity or obsession, and in their delusion the host does the Mirage's bidding, believing that it's what they themselves want. Once the heroes manage to get through the Mirage's deceptions, the host usually turns around and calls the Mirage out on their manipulations.
• Ms. Fanservice: While most of the girls can count, Maiko is the top contender, even having been a gravure idol when she was younger.
• Mundane Made Awesome: Most Ad-Lib Performances and Special Performances that don't directly involve the character's Mirage are usually some form of this and involve the character reenacting an event from their earlier sidequest performances with much deadlier results, such as Touma donning his Tokusatsu outfit and charging into the enemy and Kiria trapping the enemies into an icy tornado as she performs a part of her newest pop song.
• My Species Doth Protest Too Much:
  • The majority of Mirages are parasites who suck people dry of their passion and drive, called Performa. The heroic Mirages such as Chrom or Caeda partner with people with high amounts of Performa in order to let these Mirage Masters fight off more villainous Mirages.
  • Some members of the Mirage species you fight are content to serve as NPCs, giving you hints, sidequests and trading items with you. A good example is the Mirages you scout for the Arena.
• Mythology Gag:
  • Itsuki Aoi, the lead, has the blue hair, blue outfit, cape, and rapier that almost every lord of the series has had. His outfit borrows most heavily from Sigurd, with a white cape and cravat, but also has elements of Marth's manga outfit, with the golden fringe on his shoulders, and Chrom's promoted armor. He is the only cast member who has no desire to be in showbusiness, instead preferring to stay in the shadows, like Kris from New Mystery of the Emblem. He has a proficiency for Zio spells, mirroring Robin's preference for Thunder tomes, and his Mirage is even Chrom.
  • Hitoshi Yamagami, a longtime producer of the Fire Emblem series, once stated he wanted to make a game set in modern-day Tokyo, where a pegasus lands on the roof of the Shibuya 109 department store. While it may not land on it, the Shin Megami Tensei × Fire Emblem trailer opens and closes with a pegasus flying in front of the game's version of said building. And one further, the actual sequence from the game has said pegasus starting from the top of the building before landing in the plaza below to fight a dark flier based monster.
  • Tsubasa Oribe, the female lead, has blue hair and a pegasus theme in her idol clothes and vehicle, which harkens back to Caeda, a blue-haired pegasus rider who was the love interest of the main lead of her games. Appropriately, her Mirage is Caeda.
  • The reveal trailer gives a glimpse at iconic settings from both franchises, namely a destroyed Tokyo and the Mila Tree.
  • The magic energy called Performa is a reference to Forma.
  • The Japanese title is even a nod to other games, but that is known as Megami Ibunroku (which is the original title of Persona and Devil Survivor). Considering the aspects of those games and this one (both having modern-day settings, having The Power of Friendship as a lead trope, and featuring characters in high-school years), this may not be a coincidence.
  • The English title has shades of this as well, since the initials for Tokyo Mirage Sessions is the reverse of the initials for Shin Megami Tensei.
  • Touma is a Hot-Blooded Fiery Redhead, and is paired with Cain, the original Red Cavalier.
  • Navarre and his Master start out as enemies before joining the party, just like he (and most other members of the archetype he popularized) did in his original appearance.
  • Jack Frost appears as the Mascot of the Hee Ho Mart, which is run by an Anna lookalike named Shio.
  • Lookalikes to other Fire Emblem characters have also appeared in some other shops, namely Ilyana in Cafe Seiren, Aimee in Carabia Jewelry and Cath in Anzu Tokyo Store.
  • It's revealed that stores and businesses across Tokyo have demons from Shin Megami Tensei as their mascots. This list includes the likes of Uzume Lessons Studio and Carabia Jewelry, which is represented by Decarabia.
  • Touma is a guy with fire element that is Vitriolic Best Buds with Eleonora, an archer girl. This is a nod to Junpei and Yukari from Persona 3. This may also be a reference to the relationship between Virion and Sully in Fire Emblem: Awakening, further reinforced by their Mirages; Touma has Cain as his Mirage, the character who Sully was the Expy of, and Eleonora's Mirage is Virion himself.
  • Weapon types seem to be taken from both Fire Emblem series staples (Falchion, Iron Sword, Rapier) and Shin Megami Tensei staples (Vajra).
  • The recruiting of Mirages by Mirage masters resembles visually how recruiting enemy units worked in Fire Emblem: The characters colors change from red, in this case the red robe the brainwashed Mirages wear, to their own colors.
  • The Shield of Seals from the original game appears as the crest of Itsuki and Tsubasa's high school.
  • The Bloom Palace, where you create new weapons, skills, and eventually change classes, is accessed by a blue door in Fortuna Entertainment.
  • The Carnage Mastery system is basically the Magatama system from Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne.
  • Ellie's line when she tries to urge Itsuki to awaken after Medeus shoots the latter down is: "There are better places to take a nap than on the ground you know?"
  • There's a Sidequest chain about a character who keeps falling in love with different enemy monsters, just like in Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey.
  • In his first battle, Gangrel has a move called "Reversal of Fortunes," which summons minions to aid him. This comes from a line he says in Awakening, when Aversa summons Risen archers to shoot Phila and her squadron down.
    Awakening!Gangrel: I believe this is what they call a reversal of fortunes.
  • The Genome Monsters from Touma's side stories wear masks identical to those worn by the Risen in Fire Emblem Awakening, and the monster seen in Ellie's show from her second side story is visually identical to the Revenant enemy from the same game.
  • Kiria's live stage performance of "Reincarnation" has her form a magic rune like the critical animation for Sages in the GBA and Tellius games. The Dominant Queen costume that she wears for the performance also bears a resemblance to Lyn, specifically the long green ponytail and feather boa (which is featured on her Swordmaster attire in Awakening DLC).
  • One of Eleonora's Special Performances is named "Mass Destruction," which is the title of the main battle theme from Persona 3.
• New Game Plus: Beating the game unlocks Lunatic difficulty, and allows you to save the cleared data. From there, loading the clear data starts a new game and allows you to choose whether or not you carry over character levels, Carnage, skills, and other data into the new game. Though Lunatic difficulty automatically limits you to cosmetic features, ensuring that the game isn't made easy.
• No Cutscene Inventory Inertia: Averted for the most part. Characters will always have their equipped weapon and any Class Changes to their Mirage will stay in effect. The exception is during Unity scenes and the final battle, where the Mirage Master will always have their default combat outfit.
• Otaku: American Barry Goodman is obsessed with anime, especially "Dia Witch Iroha" which is intended for young girls. He is sometimes distracted from the lessons he's supposed to be teaching because of some limited-edition merchandise on sale and considers real-life girls as somehow lesser than the 2D versions with the exception of Mamori who is "a 3D angel sent from heaven by God".
• Periphery Demographic: In-universe example. The Magical Girl anime Dia Witch Iroha is aimed at young girls but said to also be popular among adults. Barry Goodman, a 35-year-old American man, is one such fan.
• Permanently Missable Content: The game is pretty good about averting this, but there is a single Duo Art you can miss out on if the player doesn't build up enough of the never mentioned in-game affinity points with Tsubasa from the dialogue options throughout the story. Thankfully, about half of the required points are attained through her sidequests alone, with plenty of extra opportunities available in the story scenes, allowing enough freedom so the player is pretty likely to get it without even knowing it could be missed.
• Precision F-Strike: A seemingly out-of-place one from Barry when he realises he hasn't got much time left to collect some special-edition merchandise because the lesson's essentially in the way.
• Power Dyes Your Hair:
  • Ellie is naturally a blonde but changing to an Archer turns her hair cyan.
  • Itsuki gains a light blue tinge to his hair upon accessing his Lord form. Taken even further when the spirit of Marth powers him up, turning his hair a bright blue entirely.
• Rainbow Speak: Important parts of the text tends to be highlighted in red.
• Red Herring: At the end of Chapter 3, while the party is wondering where they should look to try and find the evil Mirage's human collaborator, Hatanaka, who has been trying to look into the incidents on his own, mentions that the new president of Daiba TV has appeared seemingly out of nowhere. Suspicion towards this individual rises as he ends up responsible for the city-wide Enter-Kingdom event, which is in danger of ending up as a feeding ground of Performa for the Mirages to attack like SIV-LIVE was back in Chapter 1. When the president is revealed as an old man, signs point to him even more for players, as Gharnef, the evil sorcerer recently revealed to be the mastermind behind the attacks, is also an old man. But at the end of Chapter 5, it turns out that Hatanaka was the one collaborating with Gharnef from the beginning, and was likely just trying to throw the party off the trail back then. As for the president, he is never mentioned again.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni
  • Itsuki is calm and mild-mannered, while his best friend Touma is very Hot-Blooded. They wear the trope's corresponding colors as well.
  • Tsubasa is a ditzy, cheerful girl, while her favorite idol Kiria is outwardly cold and of few words.
• Refusal of the Call: Played with. Itsuki takes becoming a Mirage Master rather well and is perfectly willing to shoulder the responsibility that comes with it. It's the showbiz side of things he has to be dragged into kicking and screaming.
• Riddle for the Ages: Everything about the shopkeeper in the Black Frost mask. It's never stated why she's Invisible to Normals or what she's collecting Performa for.
• Rocket-Tag Gameplay: Enemies have relatively low HP and Session Attacks eat through it quickly, however all attacks that aren't resisted tend to hit your party hard, especially on the higher difficulties.
• Rule of Cool: Quite blatant. If the various character designs didn't clue you in, then there's the futuristic motorcycles and the pegasai with rocket boosters...
• Shouldn't We Be in School Right Now?: Tsubasa, Touma and Itsuki are explicitly high school students and the intro even shows them at school, yet they never attend a single class. There's a brief mention of Tsubasa struggling to balance her schoolwork, but otherwise the characters seem to loiter all day.
• Shout-Out:
  • Dream ☆ Catcher utilizes the tune of the Squid Sisters' pop song, Calamari Inkantation, complete with matching outfits in neon pink and green.
  • The DLC adds costumes from Atlus's Nintendo lineup, namely Rei, Walter, Hibiki, and Princess. The Encore edition adds costumes for Joker, a Garreg Mach uniform^note more specifically, Annette's uniform, if the hairdo and the fact that both she and Mamori are axe wielders are any indications, the Hero, and the Demonica suit.
  • One of Touma's Radiant Skills, "Get a Freebie!", is a reference to Super Mario RPG, both in name and effect. (Items used in battle have a random chance of not being consumed)
  • This one may have been unintentional, but a Performa Touma can unlock is called Stand Proud.
  • The name for Tiki's first side quest is "I'll Tiki-Tiki You (For Reals)," referring to the translated name of one of Miku's demo songs.
  • Mamori's TV show, "Microwavin' With Mamorin," bears resemblance to a TV show from another idol in another SMT universe.
  • One of the supporting characters is a director named Kuen Tarachino, possibly named after Quentin Tarantino.
  • Several enemies are references to other works.
    • One of the enemies in the first dungeon is called "Nickelwise". One of its Palette Swaps in later dungeons is Skellington.
    • A ghost monster called Gaspar.
    • A Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl monster called Samantha. One of its Palette Swaps in later dungeons is Regan, which in turn has a giant version (appearing only in a specific sidequest) called Blair.
    • A Kaiju like monster called Slattern.
  • The TV show the gang participates in, "Sneeze Detective Maho," which deals with the titular character having a split personality of a meek and shy side but completely shift into a loud and boisterous persona when she sneezes, is probably a reference to Lunch/Launch from Dragon Ball. She even changes from blue hair to blonde.
  • One of Ellie's Radiant skills is Der Freischütz.
  • Kiria is an ice magic user who wears her hair in a single braid draped over her shoulder.
  • A late-game quest in Encore involves a Mirage who wants to make Souji Iori, the NPC who gave three other quests involving him crushing on mage Mirages (and getting dumped by said Mirages) her prom date. The Mirage's name? Carrie.
  • A trophy you get for talking to 100 female NPCs is called City Hunter.
  • Masqueraider Raiga is one letter and a translation away from Kamen Rider.
  • Likewise, the Magical Girl series Dia Majo Iroha shares a title format with Ojamajo Doremi, but there's an extra Shout-Out hidden in the title. Specifically, in the Persona series, Dia is a cure spell.
• Show Within a Show: Naturally, being about show biz, we get to see of the shows that the characters are acting on.
  • Barry's a big fan of "Dia Witch Iroha," a magical girl anime.
  • Touma is a fan of, and ends up starring in, the tokusatsu show "Masqueraider Raiga".
  • Mamori hosts "Microwavin' with Mamorin," a cooking show aimed at children who want to help in the kitchen.
  • Ellie has "Dandelion in Love," which starts off as a romance series before moving into a Buffy style show named "Horror Hunter Angel." To prepare for that, she has Itsuki go with her to see a movie called "Evil Ball of the Dead IV".
• Stalker Shrine: The Chapter 2 dungeon, Illusionary Shibuya, has the feel of one, with the walls being made of photos of models kidnapped by the dungeon's boss, and the final floor being entirely photos of Maiko (who the boss is implied to have once been involved with). Once the boss is defeated, the idol photos are replaced with general photos of Shibuya on revisits to the dungeon.
• Stripperiffic: Tsubasa's idol costume is comprised of a black bra and short shorts, and at one point she removes her clothes, revealing a swimsuit, although this particular scene was edited in the English version. Kiria's idol costume initially consisted of a BDSM-type chest harness, a corset, and black panties and garters, but was replaced with black leggings in development.
• Superboss: M-DEUS, a souped up version of the final boss Medeus that can only be fought in a New Game Plus and would make the Demi-Fiend proud.
• Tactical Rock–Paper–Scissors: The game makes use of Fire Emblem's weapon triangle mechanics.
• Take Your Time: In the last chapter, the Enter-Kingdom event is supposed to take a few days at most, yet you can do all the side stories then, some of which include concerts being presented and even a TV show being completely rehashed. Even if you have completed all the side stories available before the event, Maiko's only can be completed then, and it involves a photoshoot in Guam and the edition of a modeling book from it. Then you defeat the final boss and in the Playable Epilogue the character reminisce of your battles as if at least a few days have passed since, all of this while Enter-Kingdom is still going.
• Team Mom: Maiko to the kids, being not only their mentor but also their boss.
• The Maze: The dungeon of the fourth chapter, Illusory Daiba Studio, features an entrance with ten screens, with a few of the screens featuring an 'episode', and the following area has ten rooms. The player needs to memorize which door corresponds to the correct screen to advance the mission. Picking the wrong door forces the player back into the starting area.
  • The sealed area follows a similar pattern: The player is given a key item with a sequence of six numbers, and the screen displays numbers 0 to 9. The player must memorize which number corresponds to which door, and enter through the doors in the correct sequence.
• Tiny Tyrannical Girl: Dark Clerics are Mirages that look like little girls and have high-pitched voices. A number of them are NPCs; should you engage them in conversation, you'll find yourself being bossed around and possibly verbally abused.
• Token Mini-Moe: Tiki, who looks about preteen at best. Even her voice actress is younger than the rest of the cast.
• Transformation Sequence: Most battles start with one of the party members fusing with their mirage in a flashy manner, although the transformation won't occur (in normal battles, at least) if they're wearing the same outfit as they did in a previous fight. Oddly enough, this sequence can still occur even if you change the character's clothes to what they were wearing outside of battle (the Mirage still transforms into the weapon regardless).
• Updated Re-release: Encore for the Nintendo Switch has several additions. New elements include a new dungeon, a new song for Kiria, Mamori getting an Officer's Academy student uniform as a costume, Tsubasa wearing glasses, and Maiko Shimazaki, Barry Goodman, and Tiki being promoted to assist characters with Tiki even donning her garb from Shadow Dragon.
• Urban Fantasy: As typical of Shin Megami Tensei and Persona, the game is set in Tokyo and stars a group of teenagers.
• The Very Definitely Final Dungeon: Illusory Dolhr, the Idolasphere in the Cosmic Egg. The visual design is vastly different from any other area, and it's the place where Medeus is supposed to be residing. For bonus points, it shares a name with the kingdom from ''Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon'' that Medeus founded in the game's backstory.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Eleonora and Touma have this relationship. They argue during their team up attack and Eleonora even uses Touma's head as a vault.
• Wake Up, Go to School & Save the World: Subverted. While initial trailers gave the impression that the game seemed to share the splitting of time between going to school and fighting monsters, like in the Persona series, the characters are never depicted actually going to school (and only some mentions from fellow students show that they even still attend between chapters).
• We Cannot Go On Without You: Subverted. Losing Itsuki in a fight is not an automatic game over. Rather surprising since both of the game's parent series love to implement this trope.
• Wind Is Green: Wind (though Wind is actually called Force here)-based spells and attacks have a green icon and a green glow when used.
• Word Salad Title: Tokyo is where the game takes place, while Mirage and Session are words that have a unique meaning in the game. These three words strung together make one hodgepodge of a title, specially when it's randomly followed by the 'sharp' symbol and the Fire Emblem initials. It's mainly to act as a reversal of the Shin Megami Tensei initials, as a way to show it's a spinoff.
• You Don't Look Like You:
  • The trailer features Tiki's younger design, albeit not that far removed from her original design... but also Gangrel, Aversa and Chrom, the former two looking incredibly monstrous.
  • The Fire Emblem characters range the spectrum of this trope, from Caeda merely having an outfit swap to Chrom's Glowing Eyes of Doom to Cain having robotic aspects.