Favorite Mobage Cards (Ensemble Stars edition)

Welcome to another entry of me ranting and speaking about mobage card illustrations! We'll be talking about Ensemble Stars today, since uh... I rolled it on the wheel I had planned for this. 

 Ensemble Stars sometimes gets complaints about its simplicity (when the illustrations aren't even that simple, but I digress), and I'm here to put in my two cents about it as someone who has played mobages for ages (NOT A FLEX AT ALL!!), someone who has played Enstars (on and off) for 6 years, and as someone who is pursuing illustration as a career. 

 There is an actual reason why Enstars cards have such simple composition, with the subject in the middle and the mid and background guiding your eyes back to the subject, and it is actually a technical one! Take a look at this: 

 This is what the Enstars home screen looks like. The buttons around the middle makes for a slightly cluttered look, so if the cards were composited in a non-center format, the important parts of the card would be covered up. Now that the explanation as to why the cards are built like that are out of the way, let's actually dive into the cards. 

 There are two things that I like when it comes to Ensemble Stars' cards, and it is their use of colors and their understanding of appeal. Their color schemes are very well done and pleasing to the eyes while also drawing your attention to the card. Appeal is a bit more subjective, but in a game where it's about idol characters who are literally trying to appeal to their fans (and in turn, you, the consumer), it's nice to know that they got it down pat. Here some cards that I believe fit the general things I'm describing: 

 I also included untrained versions of some cards since they also have their own appeal to it, other than "idol looks so cool and pretty wow!" Each cards has its own vibe that I enjoy, and the emotions they wish for the consumers to feel over the cards are applied well. (This is me subtly saying that I'm sobbing over how cute the Hiyori card is and how much self-restraint I have to endure while staring at that HiMERU card.) Now onto some cards I want to mention especially, with a subgenre I call "matchies"! It's cards of characters that match, usually on a stage together. It's a cute thing that Ensemble Stars does (some games do it too) that I love. 

 Once again, it's just the appeal thing, but it's... Really cute. It feels like they are actual characters that know and interact with others, instead of just being in this elaborate pretty space of aesthetics. I don't have much more to comment on other than the fact that I personally very much enjoy cards where characters interact with one another. Time for a really bad segway where I talk about the art improvement of Ensemble Stars!

 Yes, I picked some of my favorite cards from Natsume because I AM BIASED <33 Anyways, I picked two cards with similar-ish color schemes so you can see the improvement a little bit. The older card above does have appeal, but isn't as dynamically interesting as the one below. Thank you for trying to be creative while also following the character in the middle composition... This is beautiful. You can see Happy Elements' artists improvement of more dynamic posing, lighting, and effects here. Both are visually interesting, but the one on the bottom really just sucks you in. 

 Once again, slightly similar color schemes for a Leo card from the base game and the new game. I think the artists are more comfortable with more vibrant colors as the series continued, which is why the cards have gotten more mesmerizing to look at. Both cards have appeal, but you can see which one just serves better visually here. 

 Thank you for once again reading me just rambling and babbling about card illustrations again. If you have any series you wish me to analyze card illustrations-wise, please comment below and let me know! Even though I have a queue of series I wish to look at, I'd love to explore and discover even more mobages! ⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝♡