Big Bang Age:Character Comparisons

For a complete representation of character dependencies, see Character Chart.

Erika and her gang vs Kendo & Kyudo
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 Shorko and arguably Erika as well. Kendo is more useful in the National Chapter after recruiting Murakumo. With the passive bonuses factored in, especially when you only need to obtain the star for Erika to power up both Erika and the other two 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 benefit from their passives. However, take into consideration that not many characters actually need buffs to HIT or counter when considering the overall usefulness of Erika's gang. Since there are so few that have trouble with these stats, you can often simply compensate using items for the few that do.

Erika
Pro: Con:
 * Recommended for beginning players.
 * Her anti-normal type is very useful, especially 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.
 * Only one anti-alignment type.
 * Very average stats. The game is overflowing with good mid range characters and Erika will not seem impressive later in the game.
 * Not many characters need more Counter (and Kendo is ironically one of the few that do); skill can be replaced with items. She could be useful in helping Sanae use her skill on long range characters, at least.

Saki
Pro: Con:
 * Long range and nice ATK.
 * Low PAY.
 * Passive EVA buff that affects 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. Basically everyone needs more evasion, always.
 * Powers up automatically when you clear Erika's stars.
 * High INC.
 * No Anti Types.
 * No stars to clear means no new game status bonus.

Shoko
Pro: Con:
 * Long range.
 * Low PAY.
 * Passive HIT buff that affects every character stationed with her.
 * Powers up automatically when you clear Erika's stars.
 * High LAW and nice INC.
 * Very low ATK.
 * No Anti Types.
 * No stars to clear means no new game status bonus.
 * Very few characters need more HIT to be useful, and most of the ones that do need more than an extra 15 to be consistently accurate. On top of that, characters with bad HIT (like Tamari and Kinako) also tend to have bad STA, making them more trouble in combat than they're worth.

Kendo
Pro: Con:
 * 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.
 * Bond can be upgraded to Trust
 * Will leave if Kyudou is defeated.
 * Low Ctr makes her useless against long ranged characters.

Kyuudo
Pro: Con:
 * Long Range and nice ATK.
 * Special skill that reduce enemy's counter rate to zero.
 * High INC.
 * Will power up if Kendo is defeated
 * 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 unless using Counter Seal

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 EVA 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 EVA, 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 and Shorko, at least.

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

Comet-san
Pro: Con:
 * Good ATK
 * Her special skill denies the enemy of a counter-attack.
 * 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 guarantees the enemy will counter. Best use is taking her when you plan to go for NPI early. With star events, the reverse happens, with Nanana coming out on top, though Mizuki is still decently 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, definitely. 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, although if you rely on Scout, even going for the Nightmare Eyes first, Mizuki will get Scout too late to be of much use. One thing to note with Scout (which holds true with Tamari as well for the below comparison) is that if you can pick up on the enemy AI patterns of the game, Scout ends up being somewhat redundant. The enemy AI tends to be very predictable and almost always simply sends the enemy with the highest HP at you first and then keeps cycling through the enemy units in order from highest to lowest HP. However, this only holds true in fights against generic units; the AI is somewhat more unpredictable when you are fighting enemies with unique sprites. Still, the game lets you see half of the enemy's moves already, so not having Scout generally isn't a big deal even in those cases. On the other hand, Ally Attack is almost always useful. Since a lot of the relative usefulness of this pair comes in whether you attack the NPI or Nightmare Eyes first, you may want to keep a number of considerations in mind. For example, the final fight for the Nightmare Eyes is harder on Kunagi's route and the final fight for the NPI is harder on Senna's route. On the other hand, the characters exclusive to Senna's route are recruited when fighting the NPI and those exclusive to Kunagi's route are recruited when fighting the Nightmare Eyes. So in general, we can say the Nanana is probably more suited to Senna's route while Mizuki is more suited to Kunagi's. There are other considerations as well, though. If you have Kendo, for example, going to fight the NPI first might be a good idea so you can get Shizuri, while those who have Daigo may want to attack the Nightmare Eyes early for Devil Daigo. Those with issues managing loyalty may want to attack the Nightmare Eyes first for the Pink Moss and Shion, although the NPI's regions generate a lot more income, potentially allowing you to take more Hawaiian vacations. Keep these things in mind while planning.

Nanana
Pro: Con: VS
 * 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 Burai, but with less HP
 * Obtain her second special skill that will increase the damage done by allies in the same station with her
 * 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.
 * You have to avoid getting her character stars too early so that you're not locked out of Ally Attack powering up. This can make managing her loyalty difficult, as you can't talk to her much
 * 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.

Mizuki
Pro: Con:
 * Good growth on EVA
 * Has low level up requirements
 * Her special skill to predict enemy's move
 * LAW and INC are fairly good
 * Bond can be upgraded to Trust
 * 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, however, is also useful in capturing enemies, since it can prevent accidental defeats. Obtaining the Sonosheet from the shop in the district chapter will greatly improve Ijuin's ability to hit, turning him into a decent mid range fighter (though he still lacks enough STA to make extended use of him). 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: Con: VS
 * He can be useful when fighting Ren's bikers
 * Very strong but needs to have an accuracy boost from something like the Sonosheet
 * Med range vs Francine's short range
 * Low stats except Attack
 * High PAY
 * Can't use his good attack because of low Accuracy
 * Very low STA
 * Hostile bond

Francine
Pro: Cons:
 * 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
 * Low attack
 * Low INC, HP, and LAW
 * High PAY
 * Hostile bond

Burai vs Kinako.
Burai is the better fighter, but Kinako isn't too bad. Her stats other than her ATK are terrible to start with, but she does get some serious powerups in the national chapter to help fix this. However, Burai's skill is more useful, and helps him remain useful throughout the game. He also has an advantage against most of the early enemies.

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

Kinako
Pro: Con:
 * 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.
 * 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: Con: VS
 * one of the two healers in the game. First reason to choose her.
 * low combat stats.
 * stars are hard to clear making her healing ability hard to power up.

Hariyama Shimiko
Pro: Con:
 * 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.
 * 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. Note: If you lose the deathmatch you just fail to recruit her, you do not get a game over.
 * 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). Kyouko is not mutually exclusive with anyone on Senna's route, and the same is true for Daigo on Kunagi's route. Kyouko is a decent long range unit with good attack and EVA that will be helpful early on, but she may fall behind if you don't use her too often. Daigo is a decent close range unit, and may becomes a good mid range unit later. 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 EVA. 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: Con:
 * Best EVA
 * Her special skill increase EVA greatly
 * She can dodge very easily without Anti-Alignment types
 * Very high ATK
 * High PAY
 * Low LAW and INC
 * Low SP

Idagawa Ren
Pro: Con:
 * His special skill obtains one item randomly, plus it costs only one SP
 * High Attack
 * High HP
 * High Accuracy
 * 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
 * Hostile Bond

Hotta Daigo
Pro: Con: VS
 * Great EVA
 * High SP
 * Changes to mid range as Devil Daigo
 * Will keep the type advantage he gains as Devil Daigo when he returns to normal
 * Decent Stats
 * Stats increase when he transforms
 * High growth rate
 * 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. He goes back to being short range when this happens.
 * Both of his skills are useless. One requires him to be near death to use and the other drains all his stamina and halves his accuracy for an attack that can't even defeat an enemy.
 * Will get killed by Kaguya for having Kaguya or confronts her.
 * Average LAW and INC initially

Senna
Pro: Con:
 * High ATK
 * Mid range
 * She can heal herself after every battle with her special skill anytime
 * Lacked all Anti-Alignment types
 * Lacked EVA
 * High PAY
 * Her skill does not allow her to tank. If you take too much damage during a fight, even if you succeed, you will not gain as many Capture points against an enemy territory if invading or may lose some when defending.

Sanzou
Pro: Con:
 * 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
 * Bond can be upgraded to Trust
 * Good ATK
 * Low INC
 * Lacked EVA
 * High PAY

Kyouko
Pro: Con:
 * 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
 * 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 EVA. 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. Doing so is probably not worth it though, especially in hard mode (Flashy is the best skill in the game), as Mario's stats are balanced for him to be recruited when you get him early in the District Chapter, and if you wait all the way until you get to the Nightmare Eyes to recruit him, he will be very underleveled and weak. Save Masakiri for Sanzou runs or otherwise just don't recruit Daigo, as between having a a skill that's actually useful and his Trust bond, the only thing that keeps Masakiri from being flat out better than Daigo is the lack of a character stars/new game plus bonus. Either way, you don't want Mario to be in jail any longer than the very start of the National Chapter.

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

Masakari
Pro: Con:
 * All around high stats
 * High Stamina
 * Good skill
 * Trust Bond
 * No advantages
 * No stars
 * Have to choose between him and two good characters, or capturing lots of guys to keep Mario in prision until you recruit him.

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: Con: VS
 * High Attack, Evasion, and HIT.
 * Good supporting skill
 * Skill increases her own stats as well.
 * HP starts somewhat low.
 * Stamina is also somewhat low/average
 * Can be stolen from you by igarashi if you don't clear her stars

Aikuchi
Pro: Con:
 * High Attack and Stamina
 * Her skill increases her damage.
 * Decent Evasion and HP
 * Good Income
 * Low Pay
 * Trust Bond
 * 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, he is a pain to deal with, as both his star events and his skill are actively detrimental towards you. On the other hand, you have Sonnet, who is on paper the better of the game's two healers, and Yuu, a decent ranged attacker. The issue with them is that they both have to be stationed together, and you can't really take them out of Shinjuku or Forestland either because of Sonnet, so they aren't really of much use in your general campaigning. However, stamina is generally more of an issue than HP in campaigning anyway, and there's nothing stopping you from taking them into dungeons, which is where Sonnet will really shine. Plus, since Shinjuku spawns zombies every turn anyway, you have to have someone take care of them. In addition, both Forestland and Shinjuku have pretty low income caps, so having Yuu around to increase these caps will help you make more money from them over the course of the game.

Sonnet
Pro: Con:
 * 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.
 * Decent ATK
 * Long Range
 * Her loyalty decreases considerably whenever she is stationed outside of Forestland or Shinjuku.

Todoroki Yuu
Pro: Con: VS
 * Prosperity will help increase the relatively small amount of money you can initially earn from Forestland or Shinjuku
 * Ranged attack make him useful in Shin Juku station.
 * 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.

Sparn
Pro: Con:
 * Nice ATK, high SP.
 * Needed to clear Kuga Kyouichirou (very good character).
 * 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 EVA, 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 EVA. Unamura is almost his direct opposite. Low HP and decent attack, but a lot of EVA. Igarashi is a lot like Kagao, but with slightly less HP in exchange for higher EVA 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 EVA 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: Con:
 * Like Senna, her special skill restores her HP after every battle
 * Unlike Senna, she does have few Anti-Alignment types
 * High PAY
 * No EVA
 * Same problem as Senna in that her skill is worthless for trying to tank with, although by the time you get her, most of your territory capturing will be done anyway

Hanzou
Pro: Con:
 * Amazing EVA
 * His special skill can disable the enemy's attack plus drains its 3 SPs
 * High ATK
 * Long range
 * Star events that clear before you even recruit him
 * High PAY

Kagao
Pro: Con:
 * Strong ATK for being Long Range type character
 * High HP
 * High SP
 * Low EVA
 * Low INC
 * High PAY
 * No star events or new game plus bonus
 * Obtained almost too late to matter

Unamuru
Pro: Con: VS
 * Great EVA
 * High HIT
 * Low LAW
 * No star events or new game plus bonus
 * Obtained almost too late to matter

Igarashi
Pro: Con:
 * Good HP and ATK
 * LAW and INC are fairly good
 * Long range
 * High PAY
 * Low SP
 * Hostile bond
 * Obtained almost too late to matter, though may find some use in Chaos mode

Camilla
Pro: Con:
 * Used to clear Saito, upgrading his extremely useful evasion buff
 * LAW and INC are fairly good
 * Good anti-types
 * Long range
 * Average Stats
 * Skill isn't anything special

Neko Banchou
Pro: Con:
 * His special attack can reduce the enemy's STA by 4 points
 * Every 33 levels he gets +1 to his Stamina
 * His special attack is too dangerous to perform since it costs 3 STA
 * Low STA
 * 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. Devil Daigo's stats are all around higher, but Kaguya doesn't lag far behind him. He also has the same type advantage as Kaguya, plus an extra one. Both are mid range, though unlike Daigo, Kaguya runs no risk of going back down to short range, whereas if you fight with Devil Daigo too much, he'll change back and become short range again. Kaguya's EVA 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, making her extremely useful in the final dungeon. Devil Daigo's skill is completely worthless by contrast; the 50% HIT debuff makes it too risky and 99% of the time you can deal more overall damage by attacking normally. 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: Cons:
 * High stats all-around.
 * Gains an extra type advantage
 * Keeps his type advantage and stats when he transforms back.
 * His skill is useless
 * Goes back to being short range when he reverts to normal form

Kaguya
Pros: Cons:
 * High Attack.
 * Decent Evasion as she levels.
 * Good against demons.
 * Range won't downgrade
 * Lower Income than Pay.

Sanada Namu Vs some Character's Hscene and Harami's star
Sanada Namu's process of hiring is involved 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. Her recruitment will deny CGs of 4 other girls (Shimiko, Marine, Mio, and Harami) if they have not been seen yet, with Harami's being a star event. Namu's joining event is also low priority, so you have to intentionally clear a start-of-turn slot to have her join at all. Thus, it is generally best to only aim for one goal in a single run: either recruit and clear Namu or collect all of the Yarashidou CGs and clear Harami.