As we discussed in a previous piece, likely one of the most popular smartphone games has to be Granblue Fantasy (from here on referred to as GBF). For all those of you who may be unfamiliar with this title, it is a heavily story and character driven gacha game produced by Cygames with music by Narita Tsutomu and his amazing band Stella Magna*, and character design by CyDesignation.

* Be sure to watch out for these guys! I plan on discussing their past, current, and future endeavors soon!

And yes, I did say the most dreaded word for some: gacha. These are essentially random draws that you either need to earn by playing the game or purchase them through in-game microtransactions. Personally, I’m not a fan of how frequently gacha appears in smartphone games, but I suppose there’s really no way around it. Thankfully, though, progressing through the story in GBF is not difficult until much, much further along. It really isn’t hard to gather enough items you need to use in the gacha.

Anyway, all that being said, Famitsu magazine had asked their readers to answer several questions regarding GBF and their playstyle, and some of the results are really fascinating. Let’s take a look at some of the questions!

The Questionnaire

User Breakdown

Male/Female Split:

• Male: 15.1%
• Female: 84.9%

Age:

• Teens and Younger: 11.8%
• 20s: 53%
• 30s: 29.9%
• 40s: 4.6%
• 50s and Up: 0.7%

Rank Level:

• 1-50: 0.6%
• 51-100: 4.6%
• 101-150: 23.6%
• 151-200: 54.1%
• 201-250: 17.1%

Platform:

• Smartphone: 54.9%
• PC: 8.9%
• Both: 45.2%

Experience:

• Less than 6 months: 1.3%
• 6 months: 2.9%
• 1 year: 16.9%
• 2 years: 27.5%
• 3 years: 21.3%
• 4 years: 13.5%
• 5 years: 11.0%
• 6 years: 5.6%

From these statistics, we can see how users are overwhelmingly female in their 20s, and since the majority of people are Rank 150 or higher, this means that they’re actively playing the game. Generally speaking, the more you play, the faster you will gain Ranks. So, given the fact that the majority of users have only been playing the game for around 2-3 years, they’re playing a ton of it to raise their Ranks. Personally, I’ve been playing for a little more than a year and I’m only Rank 89. Or... maybe that’s pretty good for just a year...?

And as a slight note, I don’t know about every, single character there is in the game, so some will not have a brief introduction or comment.

Favorite Characters Overall

#1 - Sandalphon (516 votes) - What Makes the Sky Blue
CV: Suzumura Kenichi

I cannot express how happy this makes me, that I’m not alone in my love for Sandalphon! He is by far my favorite character in the game, and it’s not only because of his wings… Well, having wings might help, but it’s mostly because of the Side Story in which he was first introduced, “What Makes the Sky Blue”. This is actually a 3-part story that was told over the course of several years. The final episode “000” will be making a comeback from April 20, 2020 to April 28 at 6:59 pm.

The 3rd episode was first released during the 5th Anniversary celebrations last year, and I couldn’t help but play through it even though I hadn’t played through the first two parts. Even still, the story and characters gripped me like things rarely do, so I would highly suggest checking out this Side Story while you can even if you haven’t done the earlier parts--you can always play those later!

As a complete side note about the voice actor Suzumura Kenichi, he also plays the role of Zack Fair in FFVII Advent Children and FFVII Remake. So, it’s always cute to me that both he and Sakurai Takahiro play such tight-nit characters as Sandalphon and Lucifer. It’s almost like Zack has been reunited with Cloud. (heehee)

#2 - Yodarha (241 votes) - The Girl Who Leapt Through Mountains
CV: Chiba Shigeru

#3 - Belial (116 votes) - What Makes the Sky Blue
CV: Hosoya Yoshimasa

This is one of the main antagonists in the “What Makes the Sky Blue” Side Story. He is sly and cunning, which is probably why it’s difficult to see him as anything but evil.

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Favorite Male Characters

#1 - Sandalphon (566 votes) - What Makes the Sky Blue
CV: Suzumura Kenichi

Again Sandalphon is right there on the top!! I really hope the developers at Cygames take this seriously and give us some more stories with and about him.

#2 - Belial (242 votes) - What Makes the Sky Blue
CV: Hosoya Yoshimasa

Yet again this bad boy is still a fan favorite! I suppose he does have that “bad boy” sort of charm!

#3 - Percival (180 votes) - Four Knights of a Fallen Land
CV: Osaka Ryota

Percival is one of the beloved four knights in the game alongside Lancelot, Vane, and Siegfried.

#4 - Lucilius (164 votes) - What Makes the Sky Blue
CV: Sakurai Takahiro

Lucilius is an Astral who worked on experiments to create the first Primal Beasts. His ambitions grew more destructive, however, as he wished to become a god himself. What’s interesting about Lucilius is that he created the Primal Beast Lucifer to be his exact image, so if you’re confused why they look so much alike… that’s why. Of course, they’re both voiced by Sakurai Takahiro!

#5 - Seox (157 votes) - Seeds of Redemption
CV: Hiyama Nobuyuki

This was a bit of a surprise to see Seox appear on the fans top 5 male characters list. He has apparently appeared in a couple other Side Stories, but the recent “Seeds of Redemption” was all about him. Since this was my first time to meet this character, I was pleasantly surprised that Hiyama Nobuyuki did his voice. He was the voice actor for my absolute favorite anime character, Teppei, from B’t X, so some of my love for that character has certainly rubbed off on this guy. It’s just nice to hear his voice again, although the type of voice Hiyama’s doing here is very different from Teppei’s.

As far as the character goes, he is one of the last survivors from a particular clan that had been assassinated many years previous. He is very distant and holds quite a lot of self-hatred for the sins of his past, which are slowly revealed throughout the story.

Favorite Female Characters

#1 - Lyria (172 votes) - Main Heroine
CV: Toyama Nao

#2 - Narmaya (136 votes)
CV: M・A・O

#3 - Vera (127 votes)
CV: Imai Asami

#4 - Tweyen (110 votes)
CV: Minaguchi Yūko

#5 - Cagliostro (106 votes)
CV: Tenge Sakura

Most Wanted Character Units

This list is dedicated to special unit pairings of characters, such as Lancelot and Vane. The two characters appear as a single unit.

#1 - Sandalphon & Lucifer (414 votes)
Again, with this number 1 ranking and the sheer distance between first and second place, I am beyond giddy and hopeful we may get a new story with these guys in the future!!

#2 - Albert & Lucius (161 votes)

#3 - Cain & Reinhardtzar (101 votes)

Strongest Elements

• Light (1130 votes)
• Dark (456 votes)
• Wind (368 votes)
• Fire (333 votes)
• Water (235 votes)
• Earth (173 votes)

Afterword

So, what do you think about these fan rankings? Are you just as excited about some of these results as I am? Please be sure to let us know in the comments!