welcome
Welcome to 『変わり種』 (Kawaridane), a Touken Ranbu Shrine! It's under construction right now so check back later!
The game was released in 2015 and met with critical acclaim, amassing a large fanbase of over 1 million players in the first year and leading to four anime adaptations, three anime movies, multiple manga anthologies, over 30 musicals, over a dozen stage plays, two live action films, and a spin-off hack and slash game. The Touken Ranbu franchise is one of the most popular in Japan, and fans of the game have contributed to real-world sword restoration and preservation projects as a result of Touken Ranbu's popularity.
You play as a Saniwa （審神者、sage） who oversees a Citadel, and collects historical swords brought to life. These are known as Touken Danshi （刀剣男士、sword men）. The Saniwa and their Touken Danshi continuously battle against the Time Retrograde Army, whose goal is to change the course of history. The Saniwa's efforts are to keep the correct timeline intact, and ensure that history follows its proper course.
Due to regional restrictions, Touken Ranbu is only available for browser play in Japan, and the app is only offered in the Japanese Apple App Store and Google Play Store. However, with the use of VPNs, registeration and play is still possible for overseas players! Please do not become discouraged by the region lock, there are many tutorials in multiple languages on how to register and play, and fans around the world translate the text from japanese to multiple different languages.
If you'd like to learn about playing Touken Ranbu or installing the app, the Touken Ranbu Wiki is the source of several invaluable tutorials that have helped thousands of overseas Saniwas join the game. This shrine will not cover the gameplay mechanics or registration tutorials for the game and will mostly focus on explaining the franchise, characters, and their cultural impact.
'kawaridane' meaning
This shrine is named 変わり種 (Kawaridane) because the meaning of this word is 'oddball', 'variant', or 'something out of the ordinary'. Touken Ranbu is an immersive, incredible, and multifaceted franchise that is so much more than some drawings of beautiful anime guys that represent swords. It is a truly unique cultural experience. The multiple parts of the franchise that make up the whole are like branches on a tree, all connected through a common interest. Touken Ranbu is an 'oddity' because a franchise like this doesn't come around often. It is also a sandbox game, much to the surprise of many people, so 'variant' also represents all the different Citadels in the world, each with unique iterations of the characters.
about
This shrine was a joint creation between Moon & Bot, to share our love with this wonderful franchise with everyone. We hope you enjoy your time here!
If you notice any factual or historical inaccuracies, or mistranslations, please contact us by leaving a message in the chatbox below so that we can fix it! We want to stay 100% true to history on here!
resources/links
touken chat!
disclaimers
kawaridane © midousuji moon & shoku bot (2024)
design by almost sweet ☂ — resources
header art by sata, header bg photo by midousuji moon