Big Bang Age:Character Comparisons

Erika and her gang vs the sisters.
For your first playthrough, Erika will be very helpful. Her advantage against most of the early enemies plus her high attack will make things much easier early on. Kendo has a lot of attack, and her sister Kyudou is better than Erika's goons. Kendo is more usefull in the National Chapter after recruiting Murakumo. I recomend Erika for beginners, but be sure to try the sisters on other playthrough as well.

With the passive bonuses factored in, especially when you only need to obtain the star for Erika to improve her and her gangs it makes her gangs useful though they will not get the new game bonuses from having 3 or 5 stars like Kendo and Kyudou.

Individually Kyudou is better then the gangs but in a group it probably reverses that because of the total improvement to the group. Of course it has to be a group that will benifit from their passives. Using Shorko with her 10 or 20% hit with Yuuki or Rouga who already have insane hit values just will not be much improvement. While giving that same improvement to any of the Low hit characters can make them viable fighters.

Erika
Pro:
 * Recommanded for beginning players.
 * Her anti-normal type is very useful, specially in the beginning.
 * Good ATK and EVA.
 * Her and her gang used to recruit Comet-san.
 * Passive Ctr buff that affect every character stationed with her.
 * High LAW.

Con:
 * Only one anti-alignment type.

Saki
Pro:
 * Long range and nice ATK.
 * Low PAY.
 * Passive EVA buff that affect every character stationed with her.
 * The only way to get maxed EVA buff in Senna's route, unless of course you want to get Late Penguin (and you don't).
 * Useful even latter in the game because of her buff.
 * Powers up automatically when you clear Erika's stars.
 * High INC.

Con:
 * No Anti Types.
 * No stars to clear means no new game status bonus.

Shoko
Pro:
 * Long range.
 * Low PAY.
 * Passive HIT buff that affect every character stationed with her.
 * Useful even latter in the game because of her buff.
 * Powers up automatically when you clear Erika's stars.
 * High LAW and nice INC.

Con:
 * Very low ATK.
 * No Anti Types.
 * No stars to clear means no new game status bonus.

VS

Kendo
Pro:
 * Very high ATK.
 * her special skill increase her ATK even farther.
 * Sta is very high.
 * Used to recruit Shizuki.
 * Kendo powers up after you recruit Shizuki.
 * High LAW.

Con:
 * Will leave if Kyudou is defeated.
 * Low Ctr makes her useless against long ranged characters.

Kyuudo
Pro:


 * Long Range and nice ATK.
 * Special skill that reduce enemy's counter rate to zero.
 * High INC.
 * Will power up if Kendo is defeated

Con:
 * Outshined by other characters farther in the game.
 * Low HP and EVA making her very fragile and a bad pick against enemies with high Ctr or high damaging long ranged characters.

Murakumo vs Comet-san.
These two were mentioned above (recruited in the national chapter but you have to choose who you want while at school). Murakumo can only be recruited by Kendo, and Comet-san can only be recruited by Erika and her gang. Murakumo is a mid-range character, and a pretty good one at that. She has high attack, decent speed and an advantage, and a very good skill. It is a counter-attack that does increased damage to her opponent and leaves Murakumo completely unharmed. It has two flaws however; It costs a lot of Stamina and it does not work against long-range attacks. She also can power-up Kendo. Comet-san is a lot like Kyudou, but with more attack and a different advantage. However, that's about it. She has decent stats, but nothing that really stands out. Her attack is good, and she has some speed, but there are better long-range characters out there. She's not bad, but she isn't that great. She's better than Erika's gang members, at least.

Murakumo Shizuri
Pro:


 * Great ATK
 * Her special skill can deals the damage done by 1.5x plus HIT and EVA
 * High SP
 * Can power-up Kendo

Con:


 * LAW and INC are too low
 * Very high PAY
 * Her special skill will be useless against Long Range attacks plus too cost to 3 SPs

VS

Comet-san
Pro:


 * Good ATK
 * Her special skill denies the enemy of a counter-attack.

Con:


 * LAW and INC are too low
 * Very high PAY

Nanana vs Mizuki.
An interesting pair. Mizuki is faster, an Nanana has decent attack. However, if you don't intend to do their star events, Mizuki wins easily. Nanana's starting skill is actually a burden, as it pretty much guarentees the enemy will counter. Best use is taking her when you plan to go for NPI early. With star events, Mizuki is still a bit better thanks to her speed plus her usefull skill when you go for Nightmare Eyes early, but Nanana becomes much more usable. Another reason to pick Nanana is to recruit Akuu, who is a very good (and very goofy) character. He is worth taking Nanana for, definetely. Since Abao Akuu is needed for Comet-san's clear, the Nanana/Erika combination should be taken at least once. This combination gives a lineup full of passive bonuses.

The idea is to compare Scout with Ally Attack +5. If you dont have Tamari, and choose Nanana, you can feel the lack of Scout quite keenly. Go for Nightmare Eyes early to get Mizuki's scout early, and leave NPI later you can get Transforming Hero's Ally Attack +15. Go for NPI early to get Nanana's Ally Attack +5, with some fiddling around you can have her ability upgraded to +15. And Abao Aku, of course.

As you can see Nanana most fit for Kunagi route as NPI in that route is weaker than in Senna's route. And since Nightmare Eyes in Senna route is weaker than in Kunagi's, Mizuki is more approriate for the route of Miko.

Nanana
Pro:


 * Good ATK
 * Good SP
 * Getting the "Spirit Bag" of clearing her 4th Star
 * Getting Abao Akuu of clearing her 5th star, who is basically a mid-ranged version of Mizuki, but with less HP
 * Obtain her second special skill that will increase the damage done by allies in the same station with her

Con:
 * Terrible EVA and COUNTER, meaning she will take hits regardless of type advantage. One hit and then she shouldnt attack anymore.
 * Her first special skill will help enemies for doubling their enemy counter rate.
 * Low LAW and INC. This is bad at early stage when we dont want her for frontline region but not so when she can participate.

VS

Mizuki
Pro:


 * Great EVA, up there with Abao Akuu and Daigo. Useful from start to finish.
 * Has low level up requirements
 * Her special skill to predict enemy's move. Useful from start to finish
 * LAW and INC are fairly good
 * One of the best short range fighter's in the game

Con:


 * Her type advantage is only useful later on in the game (Holy Flame)
 * Starts weak, but gets stronger

Ijuin vs Francine.
Neither one is a good fighter. Ijuin has high attack when you get him, but his Accuracy and Stamina are too low to make use of it. Francine has low attack, and it stays that way. Her Evasion is good for the time, though. They both have low LAW, INC, HP, and high PAY. Their skills are what makes them worth getting. Ijuin can always see what enemy is attacking, and Francine increases the enemy capture rate. Ijuin's skill howeveer, is also usefull in capturing enemies, since it can prevent accidental defeats. Francine's skill can be usefull, but there are other ways to make capturing easier. *Obtaining the sound board from the shop in the district will greatly improve Ijuin's ability to hit turning him into a decent mid range fighter. Unless you want female Yuuki then Ijuin probably is the better combat character, just do not use him against long range enemies. Giving Francine the gun can make her strong enough to be useful but her low hp is much too low for a close range fighter.

Ijuin
Pro:


 * Very useful skill to predict the enemy's next attack
 * He can be useful when fighting Ren's bikers
 * Very strong but needs to have an accuracy boost from something like the sounding board
 * Med range vs short range

Con:


 * Low stats except Attack
 * High PAY
 * Can't use his good attack because of low Accuracy
 * Very low stamina
 * His Loyality gauge rating drop fast

VS

Francine
Pro:


 * Useful skill to capture enemies
 * Decent evasion, especially at the point that she joins
 * She can actually hit things, unlike Ijuin
 * 5 stamina is 2 more then Ijuin and with 58 ctr she can actually push through to hit the enemies at times

Cons:


 * Low attack
 * Low INC, HP, and LAW
 * Skill is replaceable
 * High PAY
 * Her Loyality gauge rating drop fast

Burai vs Kinako.
Burai is the better fighter, but Kinako isn't too bad. her attack and accuracy are high, but her HP and speed are low. Burai's skill is also more usefull, and helps him remain useful throught the game. He also has an advantage against most of the early enemies.

Burai
Pro:
 * Great stats
 * His special skill maxed EVA to 999 to dodge anything
 * His Anti-Alignment type against enemies with Normal type
 * Tange Dog

Con:


 * Only one type advantage.

VS

Kinako
Pro:


 * Her Anti-Alignment type against both Black and White B type
 * Her special skill maxed HIT to 999
 * To get "Golden Turtle" item in station her in Toukyou (闘京) and trigger the event "きなこの買い物"
 * Gloomy Mask
 * Every 25 levels her Stamina goes up by 1.

Con:


 * Low stats except for ATK
 * 3 starting stamina makes her much less useful

Shirayuri Sayuri vs Hariyama Shimiko.
you get to choose who you want to take in the school chapter but they will be recruited only in national. if you borrowed the book from the library you'll get Shimiko. if you never got it or returned it you'll get Sayuri.

They both join when Rouga is below 19HP, and their start-of-turn events are of middling to high importance.

Shirayuri Sayuri
Pro:
 * one of the two healers in the game. First reason to choose her.

Con:
 * low combat stats.
 * stars are hard to clear making her healing ability hard to power up.

VS

Hariyama Shimiko
Pro:


 * have the Honor Student ability, which randomly increases the law enforcement value of the region she's stationed in.
 * high INC and LAW.
 * low PAY.

Con:


 * low combat stats.
 * her bond is hostile.
 * her joining event (attack when your HP is low) may kill you if you don't expect it.
 * No star event mean no improvement of bond, no star-improved bonus and no New Game cleared bonus. Second reason why choose Sayuri.

Ren, Daigo, and Kunagi vs Sanzou, Senna, and Kyouko.
Ren cannot be recruited with Sanzou or Kyouko, and Daigo cannot be recruited with Sanzou. Ren vs Sanzou is your most important choice, since it decides the story path (Sanzou-Senna, Ren-Kunagi). For the most characters, go with Kyouko on Senna's route and Daigo on Kunagi's. Kyouko is a decent long range unit with good attack and speed that will be helpful early on, but she may fall behind if you don't use her too often. Daigo is one of the best close range units, and becomes one of the best mid range units later. He is also very helpfull in the chapter he joins in and through the rest of the game. Sanzou is a powerful tank, with a very interesting skill. He can withstand strong attacks and even turn them against his opponent. Ren has good HP, attack and accuracy and decent speed. His skill can be useful if used early on. Senna is a very strong character, but will almost never dodge. Her skill balances this out a little though. Kunagi has good attack, and is the fastest character in the game (Daigo may catch up). NOTE: The other option is between Ren and Kyouko using a combination of Daigo, Kyouko, and Kunagi.Kyoko's first star event being to kill Ren makes the choice a choice between Ren and Kyouko. A good long range attacker in Kyouko vs. a good medium ranged attacker in Ren.

Kunagi
Pro:


 * Best EVA
 * Her special skill increase EVA greatly
 * She can dodge very easily without Anti-Alignment types

Con:


 * High PAY
 * Low LAW and INC
 * Low SP

Idagawa Ren
Pro:


 * His special skill obtains one item randomly, plus it costs only one SP
 * High Attack
 * High HP
 * High Accuracy

Con:


 * Will get killed by Kyouko if you recruited her
 * His special skill lowers the chance rating of obtaining random item (Unconfirmable)
 * Low LAW and INC
 * High PAY
 * His Loyalty gauge drops pretty fast

Hotta Daigo
Pro:


 * Great EVA
 * High SP
 * To become Devil Daigo for changing Short Range type to Middle Range type
 * His special skill will activate if his HP is below 10, both ATK and HIT increased by 1.5x
 * Will keep the type advantage he gains as Devil Daigo when he returns to normal
 * High Stats
 * Stats increase when he transforms
 * High growth rate

Con:
 * Devil Daigo will turn back into the normal Daigo after about 20~ fights, regardless of victory or defeat. Special event battles and dungeon battles do not count.
 * Will get killed by Kaguya for having Kaguya or confronts her.
 * Average LAW and INC initially

VS

Senna
Pro:


 * She can heal herself after every battle with her special skill anytime
 * To get Iori who have same special skill as her

Con:


 * Lacked all Anti-Alignment types
 * Lacked EVA
 * High PAY

Sanzou
Pro:


 * High HP
 * His special skill can withstand strong attacks, fast for its type so you can use it many times for dangerous battles such as obscene dreams or strong boss fights.
 * High SP

Con:


 * Low INC
 * Lacked EVA
 * High PAY

Kyouko
Pro:


 * Good long range ATK
 * Will get Senpuuji Yuuna for clearing 5th star
 * Good LAW and INC
 * Her special skill lowers the enemy counter rate in same region she in

Con:


 * She will kill Ren
 * No type advantages

Daigo and Mario vs Mumei Masakari.
Well, in this particular comparison, Masakari has two things against him. 1) He's up against two characters. 2) He's up against two good characters. Daigo was described above. Mario is also a good character. He has good attack and HP, and decent speed. His advantage makes his quite usefull when he joins and when you fight the PGG. His skill in Hard Mode makes him extremely usefull. Masakari is not a bad character though. He has good Attack, Stamina, HP, and Evasion. His skill let's him do even more damage. However, he does not have any type advantages. The big issue with him is not his flaws, but the characters that he would replace. You can get him and Daigo at the same time, but it's a little tricky. When Daigo goes missing for his transformation event, you can recruit Masakari if the time is right. You still can't have Mario though.

There is one way around this: if you leave Mario in prison after catching him, wait for Daigo to go missing, and then recruit Mumei, you can have all three after recruiting Mario. You'll just need to keep your prison full of other captives to choose on prison turns instead.

Hitani Mario
Pro:
 * Good Attack, HP
 * Usefull type advantage when he joins and right after
 * Not many enemies have an advantage agains his type
 * Good Stamina
 * Has a usefull skill in Hard Mode

Con:
 * Type advantage isn't as usefull after a certain point
 * No skill in Normal and Extra Modes

Masakari
Pro:
 * Good stats
 * High Stamina
 * Good skill

Con:
 * No advantages
 * No stars
 * Have to choose between him and two good characters.

Ginjou Tomoka vs Aikuchi.
Our second Mumei has to also go against a really good character. Ginjou can be recruited fairly early, and will stay usefull for the rest of the game. Her attack is high, and will continue to rise at a pretty good rate. Her Evasion is also good, among the best of the long range units, if not the best. Her skill helps her with this, as well as those fighting along side her. Plus 10 Evasion can make more of a difference than it sounds. The extra HIT and Counter helps too. Because of her skill, she makes an excellent character to bring to battle for both fighting and support. Her only reals flaws are her somewhat low HP and Stamina, and the fact that you must do her first three stars by a certain point or she will leave. Aikuchi isn't too bad either though. Offense is her forte, and with her Attack and her skill to increase it, she can do a lot of damage. She has decent Evasion as well, and her Stamina is quite high. If you missed Ginjou or if she left you, Aikuchi makes a fairly good replacement.

Ginjou Tomoka
Pro:
 * High Attack, Evasion, and HIT.
 * Good supporting skill
 * Skill increases her own stats as well.

Con:
 * HP starts somewhat low.
 * Stamina is also somewhat low/average

VS

Aikuchi
Pro:
 * High Attack and Stamina
 * Her skill increases her damage.
 * Decent Evasion and HP
 * Good Income
 * Low Pay

Con:
 * No advantages
 * Many enemies have an advantage against her type.
 * No stars

Sonnet and Todoroki Yuu vs Sparn.
Sonnet is a healer making her instantly useful in dungeons. Sparn on the other hand is used to clear one of the best characters in the game.

Sparn is a good fighter: agile, powerful, and needed for CC of an essential and powerful Kuga. However the combo Sonnet and Yuu is a good support pair, suited for station in Shin Juku due to ranged attack, or just stationed in Forestland. The other healer, Sayuri, is hard to clear therefore slow to gain star while Sonnet's events are high priority start of turn ones, so you could gain Ally recovery +30 as soon as 5 turns after getting them. Plainly speak, Sonnet is better and more useful than Sayuri any time.

Sonnet
Pro:
 * one of the two healers in the game.
 * her stars are very easy to clear which means that getting her healing to 30% is a piece of cake.
 * A pretty good range attacker and not so useless as Sayuri.

Con:
 * Her loyalty decreases considerably whenever she is stationed outside of Forestland or Shinjuku.

Todoroki Yuu
Pro:
 * his ability Prosperity, Randomly increases the income of the region he's stationed in.
 * Ranged attack make him useful in Shin Juku station.

Con:
 * low ATK, EVA and CTR making him not suited for combat out of Shin Juku.
 * PAY higher then INC. This however is not too bad as Prosperity can compensate it somewhat.
 * His star events can destroy building.

VS

Sparn
Pro:
 * Nice ATK, high SP.
 * Needed to clear Kuga Kyouichirou (very good character).

Con:
 * Very high PAY.
 * His ability Troublemaker decreases the Loyalty of units stationed in the same region as him. This actually is enough to tip the scale onto other side, as you don't have enough turns to speak to your companions and/or pay for Hawaii vacations as it is.
 * His star events cause a decline in public order.

Hanzou, Iori, Kagao, Unamura Vs Igarashi, Camilla, Neko Banchou.
The first group can only be recruited on Senna's path, and the second group only on Kunagi's. Hanzou is a fairly good long range unit, and can end up pretty useful if you take the time to use him. He has good speed, decent attack, and a useful skill in certain situations. Iori is a lot like Senna, but with a type advantage and a toned down skill. Her attack will climb up much like Senna's does. Kagao is basically a long-range tank. He can take a lot of hits, and he is one of the strongest long range characters. His high attack and high HP balance out his low speed. Unamura is almost his direct opposite. Low HP and decent attack, but a lot of speed. Igarashi is a lot like Kagao, but with slightly less HP in exchange for higher speed and a type advantage. Camilla is also a long range unit, and is quite usefull at the time she joins. Her attack and HP aren't as high as some of the others, but her type advantage makes her a good character against the Holy Flame, as not many characters have that advantage. She can be good otherwise as well if you take the time with her. Neko Banchou...has some pretty low stats. His speed is decent, but his other stats make him a bit difficult to use. His skill can be helpfull in some situations, but only if you are either willling to sacrifice him or equip him with an item to increase his HP.

Iori
Pro:


 * Like Senna, her special skill restores her HP after every battle
 * Unlike Senna, she does have few Anti-Alignment types

Con:


 * High PAY
 * Lacked EVA

Hanzou
Pro:


 * Amazing EVA
 * His special skill can disable the enemy's attack plus drains its 3 SPs

Con:


 * High PAY

Kagao
Pro:


 * Strong ATK for being Long Range type character
 * High HP
 * High SP

Con:


 * Low EVA
 * Low INC
 * High PAY

Unamuru
Pro:


 * Great EVA
 * High HIT

Con:


 * Low LAW

VS

Igarashi
Pro:


 * Good HP and ATK
 * LAW and INC are fairly good

Con:


 * High PAY
 * Low SP

Camilla
Pro:


 * LAW and INC are fairly good

Con:


 * Average Stats

Neko Banchou
Pro:


 * His special attack can reduce the enemy's SP by 4 points
 * Every 33 levels he gets +1 to his Stamina

Con:


 * His special attack is too dangerous to perform it to cost 3 SP which he have low SP
 * Low SP
 * Low LAW and INC

Devil Daigo vs Kaguya.
This comparison is a bit different than the rest, since Devil Daigo is a temporary character. After powering up Daigo to Devil Daigo, he returns to normal after 20 normal battles. That is actually more time than it sounds, so if you powered him up late, you may not see him change back. Between the two, Devil Daigo is the stronger character, at least to start. Kaguya has high attack, and it grows at a fair rate, but Devil Daigo has not only a high rate of attack growth, but a high rate of growth for all his other stats as well. He also has the same type advantage as Kaguya, plus an extra one. Kaguya's speed is low in comparison, so while she can do some damage first, she likely have to sit a few battles out. Kaguya shines when fighting demons, since she has a type advantage and can do double damage to them with her skill if you do her 5th star event. Devil Daigo's skill is also a situational skill. It's great against many enemies with high HP, but isn't worth the Stamina cost otherwise. It's absolutely necessary for the extra battles in Hard Mode though. If you get Devil Daigo and use him enough for him to return to normal, go ahead and get Kaguya as well. You have no reason not to.

Devil Daigo
Pros:
 * High stats all-around.
 * Gains an extra type advantage.
 * High growth rate.
 * Upgraded range.
 * Keeps his type advantage and stats when he transforms back.

Cons:
 * He's a temporary character, technically.
 * His skill costs a lot of Stamina.

Kaguya
Pros:
 * High Attack.
 * Decent Evasion as she levels.
 * Good against demons.

Cons:
 * Lower Income than Pay.
 * You have to sacrifice Daigo if you want all her stars.
 * She'll kill Devil Daigo if you try to recruit her while you have him.

Sanada Namu Vs some Character's Hscene and Marine's star
Sanada Namu's process of hiring is very complicated and limiting. She must be hired while Kaen is still in command of Okayama, with several events in Yokohama, Iga, Nara and Aomori, plus one in District chapter. What it mean is that we must hold a reasonably large area and while fighting a two-front war we must stop every other events to concentrate on do this. The whole process may drag over two months, since her joining event is low priority.

On the other hand, 3 Hscene related to Shimiko, Marine, Harami, is depended on the criminal still at large. More pointed is Marine's star event. She must be hired by conquer Abashiri, two events to get her join NE, one battle to capture her, then stash her in Nara to get event running. Quite complicated when you compound the matter with Namu's events, along with everything else.

Of necessity, obviously Namu will be left until very much later runs to be even considered to be hired, so that her joining wont ruin anyone else. Most convenient is a Kunagi route, quick attack NPI and hold Narra against their counterattack, then open up on NE, hold Aomori, capture Abashiri, hire Marine, then do events of both girls.