The recent release of Gao Road Volume 3 included good news printed on the usual card backer: Gao Road will continue with another installment in 2022, releasing this April.
As of this writing, you can also still order Gao Road Volume 3, as well as a Gao Road Card File for storage. That card binder also includes an exclusive promotional card.
But in addition to that, December saw an update to the app which can be accessed now: Gao Coliseum.
This is a new game mode where you can select one Beaster Knight and three Beasters, and fight asynchronously against other player teams. There’s a monthly ranking which doles out in-game tickets, which are traded in for support items used in the coliseum.
It was anyone’s guess as to whether this series would continue, but between this continuation and the new app features, the future is looking bright. I hope to be able to serve up more good news as Shinra Bansho World nears its ten year anniversary!
Volume 2 of Gao Road has been out for about a month, which I was too busy to update on before. This volume introduces another protagonist, Mugen, and a Chtulu-like villain, Octur. Also, there’s a blue demon looking girl, of the new “Devil” race, named Dilmonica who may be of interest to some readers, pictured here.
You can still order Gao Road Volume 1 and Volume 2 as of this writing. Check with the import store of your choice, or otherwise try these AmiAmi links:
This will be the last volume of the year, and seemingly the last of this installment. Will Gao Road continue? That remains to be seen, likely dependent on sales.
Choujuu Giga Gao Road Volume 2 was announced not long ago, following a pattern not unlike Shinra Bansho. New Beasters and Beaster Knights are on the way, and a larger threat is teased. A preview video and image are up on the official website although not much is being shown yet.
After Shinra Bansho ended in July 2019, fans assumed that was pretty much it. All things considered, a 14 year run was pretty good, especially for an original chocolate wafer + card series with few outside tie-ins like ongoing anime to support it.
Then, at the start of 2021, to everyone’s surprise, Choujuu Giga Gao Road Choco was announced. Although not a continuation of Shinra Bansho, it was directly billed as a successor, featuring the same main character artist. Now, I’ll go over the recent release of Volume 1, as well as a bit on the pre-release Volume 0 campaign.
As of this writing, Gao Road Volume 1 is available for order at places like AmiAmi, as well as Hobby Search and possibly other import retailers of your preference. Volume 2 is coming this August.
(And if you’re wondering, that’s wafer dust on the cards! Easy enough to clear, but I was lazy…)
Like Shinra Bansho before it, Gao Road is sold in packs containing one wafer and one random card. These can be bought online in boxes of 20.Unlike its predecessor, these boxes are printed in black and white, which is kind of a bummer, but that’s been the trend for other Bandai Candy Toy products as of late anyway.
There are 22 card types
The notable attributes:
Divided into Beaster Knights (the main human characters) and Beasters (wild animals and monsters). There’s only a few Knights, but a lot of Beasters.
Beaster Knights are “Scope Cards”, which have a little square decoder that can show different symbols when used to inspect a square on the back of Beaster cards. The symbol is different depending on if the front or back of the Scope Card is used.
There’s still story information on the back of all cards.
A simple battle card game can also be played, using stats shown on cards along with the Scope gimmick.
An app is available, used to track your collection and play mini games.
In other words, they’ve packed this series with extra features.
Story
So far, the story is relatively simple: In a land where Beasters (or Star Beasts) are far stronger than humans, there are those who seek to make contracts with Beasters and acquire more power. They can hear true thoughts of the Beasters – these individuals are the Beaster Knights.
Beasters have Star Spirits. There are Special Star Spirits representing the Seven Gods, which have a number 1 to 7 somewhere in their symbol. Word is if all seven are collected, a legendary Beaster can be summoned…
As with Shinra Bansho, there is still story information printed on the back of every card. Beaster cards in particular also have Star Spirit square, which you can place a character Scope Card over to reveal their hidden Star Spirit symbol.
This, along with the special stats used for the Gao Battle game, are explained a bit further down.
Variants and Prisms
Offered above is a comparison to Shinra Bansho cards (Mad Boy City Gekitotsu Hen, one of the last sets). The rarity path is largely similar:
Normal cards
Uncommon (“Silver Rares”, textured cards with somewhere reflective surface)
Rare (“Crystal Rare”, prism cards)
Special Rare (typically prisms combined with another special effect – gold printing, in this case)
There were also sometimes variants in Shinra Bansho, and here for Gao Road they’ve added particular categories for that:
Group cards: Normal variants of normal Beasters, it’s a large mob of a specific monster type with different stats.
Power up cards: Along with a rarity boost and prism addition, these have artwork changes and stats adjustments based around a specific element type.
Here are our Beaster Knight (Scope Card) characters for Volume 1: Gray, Lance, Roselia, and Magia.
As for the big gimmick, it has two purposes: To be part of the “Star Spirit Search” story function, and also to be used with the battle game. How does it work for both? You see two different symbols from one card!
The result when the Scope Card’s back is forward is the Star Spirit search result. From the front, it’s the element used with the battle game.
On a side note, although the Knight character cards don’t have full card prisms, the way they’re applied to the detail lines looks VERY nice in person.
To Unwrap or Not to Unwrap
Veteran Shinra Bansho fans may recall it is often considered taboo to remove the cards from the extra plastic wrap they come in (typical of cards packaged with food like wafers). Cards are visible through the plastic anyway, and you’re removing that extra protection – loose cards are often considered less valuable.
So, that begs the question: Does the Gao Road Scope work through the plastic wrap? Well…kind of!
If both cards are wrapped, half of the symbol is harder to see, and it’s overall more difficult to view in low light. But if the Scope Card is unwrapped, it can see the entire pattern even on a sealed card just fine.
Official demonstrations makes it clear they intend for you to take cards out of the plastic wrap, so I imagine unwrapped cards will be much more common. But, if you’re looking for a middle ground, unwrapping only a duplicate Scope card or two means you’ll still get to enjoy the most of the extra features without breaking the seal on your whole collection. As ever, the choice is yours.
Gao Battle
I should emphasize now that the battle game you can play with these cards seems intended as more of a fun extra feature than a super serious in-depth TCG, so keep that in mind.
Each player needs at least 1 Scope Card and 1 Beaster
Step 2
Players face their Beaster cards towards each other.
Then, with the opponent’s Beaster card flipped over, you place your Scope Card over theirs to check for their weakness, an element.
(Your opponent does the same with your Beaster)
Step 3
Now that you have noted the weakness from your opponent, compare the symbol with the abilities on the back of YOUR Beaster card.
(Beasters have a specific AP per element)
Make note of the AP number you get – that’s now your current AP total.
Step 4
Take a look at your Scope Card’s ability, also tied to an element symbol, on the front of the card. If applicable, add it to your AP total.
Step 5
After resolving the previous steps, compare the AP total you got against that of your opponents.
Whoever’s AP total is higher wins the battle.
(It’s suggested you can add more Beasters, in groups of 3 or 5 for example, for extended duels)
Gao Road World, An App For This
Through Japan’s Apple App Store or Google Play, one can access Gao Road World, an app which interacts with cards and gives you some extra things to do. Characters within the app are rendered with Live2D-like animation. A theme song performed by TORIENA, also featured in the animated commercial, is played as well.
To use this, you need access to Japan’s Apple App Store or Google Play. There are many guides out there on the subject so I’ll defer to your own research, but in general, it typically involves making a Japanese account to download the app and then switching back after. It does not have any in-app purchases to be concerned with.
This app features:
Short story sequences (which play out like a visual novel), made available regularly with updates
Simple mini games can be played, where characters can be leveled up
You can scan in your cards, adding them to a collection and making them usable in the mini games
It’s also worth noting this app is entirely usable even if you do not have any cards.
Story
These visual novel-esque segments are short, but there’s plenty of them, updated with time.
Naturally, they’re entirely in Japanese.
Card Scanning
Using the second option, you can scan cards to add them to your collection. You only need one of each (it does not track doubles).
There is no specific QR code or anything needed for these to work, so hypothetically, images or anything “close enough” could count. This is all just for funsies, after all.
Characters you’ve scanned in will also appear on the app’s main page, which allows you to browse the various regions and view everyone in their natural habitats (or at least, where they’ve chosen to hang out).
Mini Games
Two fairly simple mini games are available, one involving navigating your way through breakable crystals while managing HP, the other being a “tap to destroy this boulder” deal.
You can use any of the characters you’ve scanned in from cards, which have their own starting stats and can also be leveled up through repeatedly play. Daily log ins give you expendable wafers which power you up briefly.
It also detects Volume 0 cards, which brings me back around to that subject…
The Volume 0 Gambit
Before Volume 1’s April 5th release, an additional small Volume 0 set was released in Japanese stores from March 22nd. It was boxes of 20 as usual, but with only 5 types to collect (1 Scope, 4 Beasters). But here’s the kicker: Packs were sold for a mere 20 yen. For the record, that’s around 0.20 cents in US dollars.
This was a pretty aggressive promotional move, and made all the more sense considering the timing: the COVID-19 pandemic shut down events where Gao Road might have been advertised, blunting the avenues available for getting the word out. If you look at this as a replacement for that kind of thing, it makes some sense.
Unfortunately for overseas importers, this set was not made available to online stores, so you’ll have to resort to the likes of Yahoo Auctions to get a hold of these. On the upside, there were only five cards and the price means they were widely available, so it’s not as painful as it could be. On Twitter, I wrote a set of tips on what to look for if you’re interested in obtaining Volume 0.
The Gao Road Ahead
Whereas Shinra Bansho was pretty much just story information, there was a lot to cover for Gao Road! It’s all indictive of Bandai’s apparent “throw absolutely everything at the wall and hope it sticks” strategy for this release.
Bandai’s Candy Toy division seems to deal in almost entirely pre-existing licensed properties these days, with past attempts at another original line like Guardess in Eden and Tsukumo Kitan having not caught on. The few they do still have seem to be dinosaur or animal themed, which may explain the particular shift in attention Gao Road took…
With Volume 2 scheduled to come out this August, it seems like we’re going to probably get at least three volumes – but will this one work this time? If it sells, one imagines.
Choujuu Giga Gao Road Choco (Super Beast Fang Gao Road Chocolate), the apparent successor to Shinra Bansho, is seeing its initial release soon. Consisting of packs of chocolate wafers with a random card like Shinra Bansho before it, this series has more of an emphasis on some new interactive elements.
Volume 0, a promotional set consisting of a small handful of cards going for 20 yen a pack, will be available in Japan on March 22nd. There does not appear to be a straightforward way of buying these online or importing, sadly.
Sets consist of Scope Cards, which feature the main humanoid Beaster Knight characters, and Beaster Cards
Scope Cards have a square portion that can overlay on the back of Beaster Cards to show a symbol, relevant to the story mystery of finding the Seven Gods symbols to unlock the ulimate Beaster
A different symbol is shown if overlaying on the Scope over the Beaster Card from the front, used as part of a battle game called Gao Battle
As before, the back of every card features story and character information, but this time the stats listed are used as part of the Gao Battle game.
For Gao Battle, you and a friend each use a Beaster Knight and a Beaster Card. The Scope Card scan on the front of the opposite player’s Beaster reveals elemental symbols which come into play, and from there the stats printed on the cards confer bonuses boost or reduce an AP amount. Whoever has the higher AP at the end wins.
A free app by Kayac called Gao Road World will also be available, where cards can be scanned in to track your collection. The story will also be conveyed in further detail here, along with mini-games. The app is also usable regardless of if you have any cards.
And those are the details available to date. As mentioned, given its connection to Shinra Bansho, this site will continue to cover this series as it is released. There does not seem to be a planned length for the series, so it’s unknown if this is supposed to run for 4 volumes as most Shinra Bansho installments traditionally did.
Recently, Bandai Candy unveiled a new teaser website mentioning Shinra Bansho and featuring new characters clearly from its main illustrator, Mitsuhiro Harakawa. More details are promised a month from now, on February 18th.
This new project is called Gaoroad.
Ahead of this, a flyer has leaked which shows some additional details. This is a new chocolate wafer/card series just like Shinra Bansho. This time, all cards are oriented horizontally, and seem to be divided into two types: Scope cards and Beast cards. The Scope cards appear to be character cards featuring a block seemingly for interacting with the other cards in some way, suggesting a game element this time around.
There will be a Set 0 this time, which features five cards from the main line, retailing in Japan this March for a mere 20 yen a pack. This is likely a replacement for in-person events where preview cards might’ve been distributed, which have been delayed or cancelled due to COVID (the world has changed quite a bit since we last met, huh?) Meanwhile, the main Set 1, at a normal 120 yen a pack, is out shortly after in April.
Since it is being billed as a direct successor to Shinra Bansho, I intend to cover Gaoroad on this site as it comes out.
It has gone in and out of stock, but won’t be available forever – this is the last chance to get a full box with wafers and all, so if it’s ever crossed your mind, it may be good to act now. This set features an all-star line up of series protagonists and fan favorite characters, and every single card has special prism effects.
As for my humble little fan site, it will still be around, and will of course update if any new products or re-releases come around. There are chapters yet to be summarized or translated in any way, and if opportunities arise to amend that, expect to see that too.
Although there are related things I could post about – main Shinra Bansho artist Mitsuhirou Harakawa continues to work on character designs for the AQUA SHOOTERS! gachapon figure line, for instance – it is not my intention to clog up the front page with news about unrelated things, so updates will likely be rare.
It’s been a real treat to let more people know about the intriguing worlds of Shinra Bansho, and I would like to thank all of you for reading over the years. In particular, thank you to Eis, Smash Spirit, and Brolen for their translations, and Kurenaiseiba for the info that helped get everything started.
The official artbook companion to Shinra Bansho Kaikoroku, the last installment, is now up for pre-orders at Premium Bandai, from now to July 31st, with an October release date. Due to limited quantities, orders will be up either until that date or if the limit is reached.
Here is the order page, which also contains more information. (You may be redirected to an international page at first – simply follow the link a second time) It should be noted that as is typical of Premium Bandai, they only ship within Japan, and so you will need the help of a forwarding service to place an order. (As an example, From Japan is one I’ve personally used, but there are many others)
The book features concept art, large print art of the upcoming final installment, card art of the previous chapters, and a product guide, among other things. It includes a slip cover and an exclusive card featuring previous heroines Noin, Mujina, and Meryl.
Shinra Bansho Kaikoroku (Memoirs), the final chapter, is set to come out July 22nd. Pre-orders are live.
This installment will be new illustrations of previous protagonists and popular characters, with Fugaku, Astaroth, and Alma shown in particular. All cards will be prism holo cards, resulting in a slightly higher price point than usual (similar to previous best-of collections).
Mad Boy City Gekitotsu Hen is still set for release this month, January 21st, and can be ordered now.
I’d like to take a moment here to thank everyone who has visited and contributed to my humble little fansite here, Shinra Bansho World, which also has its anniversary in March – it started in 2012, 7 years ago. I still plan on continuing the maintain the site moving forward, as there are plenty of cards untranslated and chapters yet to be summarized, which I hope to cover in the future. Although the main series is ending, it’s entirely possible Shinra Bansho will continue in other forms of media and merchandise, and you can be sure you’ll find any updates about that here.
Shinra Bansho World 
