You are probably already familiar with gacha games that are often talked about by Indonesian gamers; Genshin Impact, Mobile Legends, Arknights, among others. But what about the gacha games that are popular among Android gamers in Japan?

The ranking of these Android gacha games are taken from data published by the mobile market analytics company Sensor Tower. But before you get confused when seeing the discrepancies between title's revenue and its position: these gacha games are sorted based on the estimated total revenue in Japan, however (publicly) Sensor Tower only shows the estimated global revenue of an application a month before. 

With the technical explanation out of the way, let's take a peek at the best-selling Android gacha titles in the Land of Sakura! 

10. Ensemble Stars Music!!

The list of the best-selling and/or most popular gacha games this month opens with a game full of handsome boys, Ensemble Stars. The title that is often talked about by Japanese female otaku has an estimated revenue of $6 million (Rp86 billion) with 30,000 downloads worldwide by April 2021. 

9. Romancing SaGa Re;univerSe

In ninth place, with revenues of $8 million (Rp114 million) and 6,000 downloads is Square Enix's RPG Romancing SaGa.

8. Fate Grand/Order

Were you expecting this Aniplex released mobile game to be in a higher rank? After snugly perching in the top five (even number one) of the best-selling gacha games since its first release in July 2015, FGO now has to settle for the eighth position - at least in the Japanese market. Globally it is still fairly successful, raising $15 million (Rp.215 billion) and 10,000 downloads.

7. War of the Visions: Final Fantasy Brave Exvius

This gacha strategy game by Square Enix is ranked seventh with $5 million (Rp.71,704 billion) revenues and 20,000 downloads.

6. Houchi Shoujo - Hyakka Ryouran no Moehime Tachi

To be honest, I think it's really hard to judge what kind of game Houchi Shoujo is we just look at the ads like the one above. It doesn't show off any kind of gameplay at all! Fortunately, there is an explanation from the marketing agency website Madcube: “Houchi Shoujo is an idle RPG mobile game based on the Chinese Three Kingdoms era. The gameplay combines card strategy and life simulation. " 

Hmmm, an idle RPG that will play itself plus minimally-dressed anime girls. It's no wonder Houchi Shoujo grossed $ 15 million (Rp.215 billion) and 90,000 downloads last month.

5. Pokemon Go

Yes, even though it’s no longer the talk of the town as it used to be, Pokemon Go is still one of the most popular choices both in Japan and around the world when people are talking about mobile games and gacha. This augmented reality game was still able to generate $29 million (Rp415.8 billion) in revenue and two million downloads worldwide last month.

4. Disney Twisted Wonderland

Apart from Ensemble Stars, there is one other gacha game that’s more popular among Japanese female otaku. As you can guess from the title, yes, Twisted Wonderland takes inspiration from your favorite Disney cartoons (Lion King, The Little Mermaid, Alice in Wonderland, and others) and then creates a variety of handsome boys for you to get intimate with. This game, which was also released by Aniplex, successfully earned $5 million (Rp71,704 billion) with 20,000 downloads in April.

3. Dragon Quest Walk

In the third place is the Dragon Quest-flavored Pokemon Go with revenues of $19 million (Rp272 billion) and 20,000 downloads. The gameplay is roughly the same as Pokemon Go; you go out and fight monsters. In select real-world locations such as near Suntory's vending machines, you can get quests or find places to restore your health to continue fighting. 

2. Monster Strike

This eight-year-old gacha game is still going strong to this day. Last month, the monster-catching game earned $21 million (Rp301 billion) with 50,000 downloads. In 2016, Monster Strike even became the best-selling mobile game in the world, easily beating Pokemon Go and Clash Royale by making a profit of $1.3 billion (Rp18.6 billion).

1. Uma Musume - Pretty Derby

In first place with $31 million (Rp.444.5 billion) revenue and 300,000 downloads in April, is the newcomer Uma Musume. The game has just been published on February 24 (although the anime series has been running since 2018) but the otaku crowd have immediately rushed to play it. Well, not surprising, since the Japanese are very passionate about horse racing. Just add the moe anime girl and it can definitely be a money-making machine. Even so, it seems that many players are complaining about the gacha rates and the characters’ attributes when looking at reviews on the Play Store. 

That's roughly the top 10 best-selling and most popular gacha game titles in Japan for the month of May 2021. Are there any mobile game titles in the list that you often play as well?

Written by Sidharta F. Rasidi: Twitter @StoPlayinGame