Worlds collide as Granblue Fantasy unites Love Live and Idolmaster fans

Mr. Cygames, tear down this wall

Characterizing the relationship between the fanbases of the Love Live! and Idolm@ster tends to veer between “beautiful friendship” and “vicious rivalry”, depending whose social media feeds you follow, but mobile megagame Granblue Fantasy is casting its ballot for unity, thanks to its latest event. Fresh off the back of its summer specials and Persona 5 crossover, Love Love Sunshine!! Aquors Sky-High! kicks off today. It’ll feature a new stoyline that will see the school idols of Aquors (the idol unit featured in Love Live Sunshine) debut in Granblue Fantasy‘s skybound setting. Aquors’ music will feature in the game during the event, as well, and new pieces of gear themed after the Love Live franchise and idol fandom in general will be available.

All nine members of Aquors – Yoshiko Tsushima, Hanamaru Kunikida, Ruby Kurosawa, Chika Takami, Riko Sakurauchi, You Watanabe, Dia Kurosawa, Kanan Matsuura, and Mari Ohara – will be playable in-game, but in a twist, appear on the battlefield in trios based on their “year”, making for three distinct units. A tweet from the official Granblue account previewed the mechanic, which looks like it will make for a crowded front line once you catch ’em all:  

【グランブルーファンタジー】8/9から開催の「ラブライブ！サンシャイン!!」コラボで加入するAqoursメンバーのバトル演出を一足早くご紹介！バトルには学年ごとに3人1組で参加！さらに、図鑑やマイページでは3人の掛け合いボイスも聞けます！
開催まであと少し！お楽しみに！#グラブル #lovelive pic.twitter.com/mVgfSoysmf

— グランブルーファンタジー (@granbluefantasy) August 7, 2018

Where, you might ask, does the element of Idolm@ster rivalry come in? It’s simple: Over the last few years Granblue has run no less than five different collaboration events with the Idolm@ster franchise. And while the Idolm@ster has the numbers on its side with twenty playable Idolm@ster characters between the Cinderella Girls and SideM banners, all of them are merely silver “SR” characters, while the nine (technically three) new Love Live additions start at gold “SSR” rank. Whichever side of this collaboration comes out on time, one can at least be sure that Granblue is at least trying to have something for everyone.

As an aside, if you’re thinking about starting with Granblue Fantasy, idol events like this (and their reruns) are a good time to do so, as the various idol characters are all easily obtainable without spending a cent on gacha rolls, and in many cases are good enough to carry an early and mid-game roster. Some are even competitive as the best characters in their rarities and elements.