Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore review - stylish crossover that misses its potential

I love a good crossover, even if they're often limited to fighting games and online events. It's exciting to see developers being fans of each other and working together to interpret and merge each other's stuff, culminating in an enthusiastic collaboration across the industry. With this in mind, Tokyo Mirage Sessions, a crossover between the Fire Emblem and Shin Megami Tensei series, sounds like a pretty fantastic idea.

It focuses on the friends Aoi Itsuki and Tsubasa Oribe. Ever since Tsubasa's sister Ayaha disappeared during a concert five years prior, the timid girl wants to become a singer to continue her sibling's legacy as an entertainer. During her very first audition, Tsubasa is attacked by mirages, demons who are after the natural artistic ability within humans. To fight back, Tsubasa and Itsuki gain the power of Chrom and Caeda from the Fire Emblem series, who help them change into magical "carnage forms". Unfortunately their new friends have lost all memory of who they are and where they're from. The only thing that's clear is that mirages regularly attack entertainers, so what better way than to join an entertainment agency to keep an eye on these occurrences?

It's not the smoothest integration of a theme into its setting, but the entertainment industry gives Tokyo Mirage Sessions its own identity beyond being a crossover, in ways both good and bad. Let's start with the good: Tsubasa and friends are training to become idols, Japanese all-around entertainers, and Tokyo Mirage Sessions makes great effort to showcase different facets of the job. Each chapter is dedicated to another aspect, whether that's being a model, an actor or a show host. Chapters also often culminate in short anime music videos of your characters performing a new song. The round-based battles take place on a stage, a mass of adoring fans following your performance from the stands. Your characters whirl around acrobatically, draw their signatures in the air for every spell and cheer for each other. Each hero is wearing elaborate costumes that spell love for magical girl and boy design. If you complete side quests for the members of your party, they gain special attacks reminiscent of their signature performances. Each win is celebrated with applause and an amount of confetti I haven't seen since Ace Attorney.

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