about rui

kamishiro rui is a character from the rhythm / gacha game “project sekai colorful stage feat. hatsune miku” (“project sekai” or “proseka” for short). he’s a member of the unit “wonderlands x showtime”, a theater troupe, where he functions as both an actor and director. due to his love for inventing, he’s also in charge of building the props for the troupe’s performances. his dream is to create shows that will make everyone smile, regardless of who they are or where they’re from. shows that “transcend borders”, as he puts it.

appearance

standing at 182cm / 6ft, rui is the tallest character in the game. he has purple hair with two cyan highlights. his hair is cut unevenly, as it is longer on the left side of his face. he has thin, yellow eyes and usually smiles in a cat-like grin. his right ear is pierced, where he always wears a cyan earring, matching his highlights. something i like about his design is his red eyeliner !! it’s a subtle detail, but once you notice it, it makes him look even prettier.

both his school uniform and casual outfits make it clear that rui prefers baggy clothing, such as loose sweaters and cardigans. he often appears as if he got dressed in a hurry (in the nicest way possible lol).

past

with his mother being a biologist and his father working as a robotics engineer, rui got introduced to science at an early age. he quickly fell in love with inventing, a passion that follows him throughout the game. he spent a lot of time building things in his family’s garage, which he later turned into his main work space and bedroom.

he was seen as a prodigy - when he was in elementary school, one of his robots secured him first place in a contest. apparently, it was so outstanding that the judges were surprised an elementary schooler had built it. however, this difference in intellect put an invisible wall between him and his classmates.

rui started questioning himself. why did people say he was different? he asked his mother: “mom… am i different from everyone?” to which she replied that he was indeed different from others, but that it wasn’t a bad thing. “people are people, and you are you !” later on, he used those words to comfort himself whenever he couldn’t get along with others. it would give him the strength to embrace his true self, instead of forcing himself to fit in - for better or for worse.

shortly after, a girl his age moved in next door, her name was kusanagi nene. a future member of wonderlands x showtime and an important character in rui’s development. due to her shy nature and their different hobbies, the two didn’t get along at first. however, after they watched a play of “the little mermaid” together, they bonded over their shared interest in shows. while nene preferred acting and singing especially, rui was more intrigued by stage directions and effects. they came up with their own shows to reenact for fun. nene would be rui’s first friend, the first person who understood him and had fun with his ideas.

he thought to himself, if shows can connect people, maybe he could reach his classmates too? so, he came up with a play and presented it to his peers after school. at first, everyone seemed enthusiastic, however, the show featured a stunt: jumping from a tree branch to the classroom’s veranda on the second floor. rui had made some safety precautions, to make sure nobody would get hurt, but they weren’t willing to go along with it. the stunt was important to rui, as it would make the show more exciting, which in turn meant that it would bring everyone together. but they thought he was just trying to get them injured for fun and called him weird. it hurt his feelings, but at that point he hadn't given up on the idea of finding likeminded people.

this changed when rui entered middle school, the darkest period of his life. he was increasingly ostracized and seen as a “weirdo” by his classmates. rui started isolating himself and lost all hope of ever fitting in. during that time, he looked almost disheveled - his hair was long and unkempt, his school uniform lousy. he wholeheartedly believed that he couldn’t connect with others. nene of course noticed this change in rui, but she felt helpless, as she didn’t know how to approach him. this caused them to drift apart, making him lose his only companion.

during that time, he met akiyama mizuki - a younger student at his middle school. they ran into each other on the rooftop during the school festival. mizuki seemed a bit hostile at first, but after rui talked about how he would like to join the others at the festival, but can’t, she realized that the two were alike. mizuki was similar to rui in the regard that people picked on her and called her weird for the way she dressed and her love of cute things. she had given up trying to be herself and isolated herself. from then on, rui and mizuki skipped classes and spent time on the rooftop instead. mizuki called them “two peas in a pod”, while rui referred to her as “a lonesome friend”.

he romanticised his loneliness, trying to find benefits such as having the time to see plays and come up for show ideas. mizuki wished for him to someday find friends who “have more in common with him than just being lonely”.

main story

forward to the start of the game and the main story of wonderlands x showtime !! (i'm leaving out the whole part about the wonderland sekai, because i want to keep this as short as possible and only focus on rui here. if you're interested, feel free to read the actual wxs main story !!) we see rui during his second year of high school, he fully accepted his solitude and performed shows on the streets by himself. instead of acting with friends, he built robots to fill the roles. he recently transferred from an elite high school to kamiyama high, for unknown reasons.

otori emu and tenma tsukasa, the last two members of what would later be wonderlands x showtime, saw one of rui’s guerilla performances. he frequently snuck into phoenix wonderland, a popular theme park in the area, to do his shows. but since he had no permission to do so, he was often chased by security guards.

tsukasa was so impressed by rui’s solo show that he wanted him to become the director of his new unit. after seeking him out at school, tsukasa invited him to do shows together. rui initially declined, saying he “likes to work alone, with absolute freedom to stage any show he wants”. but after tsukasa claimed to perform any role to 12.000% satisfaction, rui agreed to join: on the condition that he’d let nene join as well. however, due to her shyness and stage fright, she would only communicate and do shows through a robot that rui had built for her, called "nene-robo".

after some trouble and an error during their first performance, tsukasa pinned it on nene. she had practised and forgot to charge nene-robo, causing it to shut off during the show. tsukasa was furious and lashed out at nene, who blamed herself and ran away. this made rui condemn tsukasa, saying he should value his troupe members and that theater was just a way for him to achieve a selfish goal. he left the group with the words “you don’t have what it takes to become a star” (a phrase that’s very well known in the fandom lol). he apologized to nene for “forcing” her to join the troupe and said that he would never make her perform again.

but nene still wanted to do shows, and after tsukasa remembered why he wanted to become a star in the first place, he apologized for lashing out and they made up. the three tried to get a hold of rui, so he could be a part of the troupe again, but he refused. he was glad that nene didn’t give up on theater, yet according to him, tsukasa’s values didn’t fit him. tsukasa’s motivation was become a star, while rui wanted to create shows for the audience's sake. tsukasa said that it used to be like that, however, he remembered his roots and didn’t want to perform for egocentric reasons anymore. rui didn’t believe him.

emu, nene and tsukasa tried to come up with a way to make rui join the group again. they created a show that mirrored their current situation, as a way to show rui their true feelings. and after a heartfelt monologue from tsukasa about how much theater means to him, rui finally agreed to rejoin the troupe.

personality

rui is a person who appreciates the people around him and has no trouble standing up for them (such as when tsukasa blamed nene in the main story or when he defended emu from her older brothers during her first focus story). he goes to great lengths to help them, like when he built nene-robo or helped shinonome akito overcome his fear of dogs. he is also very perceptive and has an easy time understanding how others feel. early in the main story, rui could smoothly communicate with emu, despite her usage of words like “fwoosh” and “flutter-putter”.

rui never blames his former classmates for the way they treated him, as they simply had “a different way of thinking”. but despite understanding the emotions of others, he often has trouble figuring out how or why he feels a certain way (as seen in rui’s first focus story when he subconsciously held back his ideas after tsukasa’s injury, or in his third focus story when asahi had to tell him that his smile looks pained.)

he stays true to himself and doesn’t change his core values for anyone. becoming a part of wonderlands x showtime did allow his personality to transform, in a positive way. he starts opening up to his classmates again and even makes some friends at school. he turned into a more optimistic and, dare i say, romantic person? i’m specifically thinking about the scene in “an unmissable spirited affair” where he proposed to take a group picture with everyone and tsukasa commented on how much he changed.

he is very hardworking and tends to get absorbed in his projects, to the point where he forgets to eat or sleep. he likes to ramble about things that excite him, to the point where it’s hard to make him stop talking (the other characters, especially nene and tsukasa, treat it like it’s bothersome, but i’d love to have him ramble in my ear 24/7 UGH).

mirai and rui

rui has been my favorite character ever since i started playing project sekai in 2022. to be honest, i wasn’t a big fan of his design at first… but when i read the main story, i was enchanted by his way of articulating himself and the way he stood up for nene - as i relate to her in many ways.

i also fell in love with his voice, his voice actor toki shunichi does an amazing job at portraying him through serious and silly moments. it’s also interesting to see how his singing directions changed. in “the world hasn't even started yet”, wonderlands x showtime’s “untitled” song, he sung in a relatively deep voice. and yet, in “cyberpunk dead boy” we finally heard him hit some high notes !! (you know… the famous “imi wakannee”)

to me, rui embodies the fact that things can get better. no matter how alone you feel, there will always be people out there who understand you, who will support you !! you just have to find them. he gives me the courage i need whenever things seem hopeless for me. just knowing his story, knowing how far he’s come, inspires me to keep going.

he chases after his dreams without thinking about it and that’s something i admire - as someone who’s too scared to follow their own dreams. i often feel stuck with fear and anxiety, but rui keeps moving forward and that’s something i have to do as well.

especially his quote “because i know what it’s like to suffer, i can be kind to others and because i know sadness, i realise how precious a smile can be” gives me a lot of strength.

i’m so thankful for rui’s existence and i will always carry him in my heart, no matter where i go. he means the world to me and seeing his growth over the years makes me want to cry. he did that !! and that means i can do it too.