[2020] 7 Things I like and don’t like about Tokyo 7th Sisters

I made a similar post on the old version of the game, and since I’ve returned to playing 7th Sisters, might as well make another one with the new, updated version.

In this post, I will list 7 things that I like and 7 things I don’t like about the game and the franchise in general.

7 Things I like

1. The Depth of the story

“Seventh Sisters is not yours alone anymore.”

This line from Episode 0.7 sums up how 7th Sisters tread where not many idol franchise go into: music is an industry, and it’s not always about sparkling, glittery dreams behind the stage.

I like how they could turn Seventh Sister’s lighthearted, goofy nature and fit it in to a more melodramatic story so well. Especially with Memoru’s obsession with money.

Episode 4.0 is about one big marketing scheme that almost effed up the entire cast’s career. Although that episode is a bit over the top, it further emphasized that music is a business built on people’s dreams. Not something you’d expect from an idol game, huh?

2. Cinematic story

The recent episodes really overdid themselves with the cinematics. Reading them felt like watching a movie. (And sure enough there’s an anime movie of 7th Sisters coming up.)

3. Diverse music

The number of songs added to the game have expanded like crazy after I stopped playing way back in 2016. More genres, more bands, old units getting revamped, and overall it makes the game more fun.

Now we got the jazzy unit CASQUETTE’s, the easy-listening Nanabana Otome, the rock band Queen of Purple, the fluffy head-bobbing Ci+Lus, the upbeat Kodomo Rengo, and LeSCa is still going strong as ever with their superb vocals.

4. Auto-live

One thing that made me quit 7th Sisters initially was that I didn’t have enough time to grind and resources were hard to come by (this was in 2015/2016, the game gives items away like crazy right now) so I just gave up. With auto-live, I can do something else while the game plays itself, and finally I don’t have to worry about somebody needing to desperately talk to me while I farm.

5. Not afraid to make people age

Aging in the idol realm is rare. However, 7th Sisters made some of the cast age 9 years. 9 years, mind you. And KARAKURI 2039 just came out in the game, and the twins have aged 5 years and still look better than ever.

While this has made Shinjuu all the more appealing (I’m gay for 2043 Shinjuu lol), some of the characters’ quirks are lost… notably Shirayuki. I loved the way she spoke as a kid and now she’s a normal glittery-eyed girl.

6. ING/scout system revamp

FINALLY I don’t have to play those minigames anymore. Sheesh.

7. Free items! Free coins! Rate up!

The game is very generous with giving away items and coins. Plus, the gacha rate is good. You have 6% chance to get a P card (highest rarity) on some of them. F2P friendly.

Oh, and they removed that stupid system where free coins have expiry dates. Yay.

Things I don’t like

1. Seneka

Okay, I get it that Seneka is cute. And rarely do I hate specific members of a group. The furthest I’ll go is that I don’t like a certain member (like Hina from Pasupare) but it’s not the case with Seneka. I strongly dislike her.

I don’t want to spoil Episode 4.0, but Seneka was such a… bitch. She has this warped sense of justice and she’s not afraid to show it, I’ll leave it at that.

Also, the AXiS members got some kind of redemption scene at the end of 4.0 but somehow I felt like Seneka never got any lol. It was so satisfying to see Nero diss her.

2. Oh gosh the Kanji

It’s okay for voiced dialogues because I can listen instead of read, but one of the main characters of episode 0.7 is not voiced. And I have to guess what he said because I’m too lazy to use google translate.

The menus are all in Japanese so sometimes I have trouble finding a setting I want to adjust or finding the button that do what I want it to.

3. Small notes

I’m playing on a tablet and I have a lot of problems hitting small notes that appear near the edge of the screen. Maybe it’s just that I have bad peripheral vision.

4. Wait, I need 50 Momoka’s to do a special lesson?

The recent update introduced a P Momoka that can be used to do a special lesson on a P card. And you need 50 of her. When will I even gather that many of a specific type, bro?

5. Cap on Auto-live tickets

Yeah, you can hold 15 at a time and if you get more than that, it disappears. Sad.

6. Merch is hard to find

T7S used to have an entire section, but since the Thai server closed down, merch became really hard to find. It’s getting overshadowed by Love Live and BanG Dream and Idolmaster.

The price is standard, though it’s still expensive just because of the currency. Like, when I was in Japan it didn’t feel expensive, but when I came back, suddenly I could by 6 meals with the money I’d spend on a single piece of IC card holder with Shinjuu on it.

7. Too many units

This is not an issue in itself, but the thing is that you have to wait ages before the unit you like release a new song. (Even given the fact that 7th Sisters releases new songs like crazy).

That was it. Happy gaming.