Artistic Forces/Josei Guntai

"私たちは前線の姉妹ですよ！"

- The voice when the Josei Guntai is selected in the Campaign mode. The Josei Guntai, also known as the Shimai Kankei or Shimai Gundan, is one of the factions in Artistic Forces.

Name
The name of this all-female faction comes from two Japanese terms: Josei (or Joshi) and Guntai. Josei Guntai (hiragana: じょせいぐんたい, kanji: 女性軍隊) or Joshi Guntai (hiragana: じょしぐんたい, kanji: 女子軍隊), literally means "the woman/girl army", "woman/girl military" or "woman/girl armed forces" in an etymological sense.

In Japanese etymology, Josei literally refers to "woman", but it may also define the word "female", while Joshi means "girl" as it differentiates from onna no ko (女の子), another Japanese term for girl. After that, Guntai is literally translated as "army", but its definition also fits to the word "military" as this faction only has its three branches: ground force (army), naval force (navy), and air force, modeled after those of Japan Self-Defense Forces, the real-life inspirations for both the Rising Sun Self-Defense Force and this faction, with the next one being Kyoudai Gundan. Both of these Japanese terms generally fit the influences for this, most especially the Sisters of Battle from Warhammer 40k, the works of the Mahou Shoujo (Magical Girl) genre, and even Japanese youth culture as well as Japanese idols.

Description
Headquartered in Edokyo, the capital city of their keiretsu-ruling home country known as the Kingdom of Sakurakoku (located in Eastern Animatopia or Orientashia), and formed by the female personnel who are anime-esque teenage girls and young adult women, including the former J-pop idols, the Josei Guntai, consisting of Josei Rikugun (army), Josei Kaigun (navy) and Josei Kuugun (air force), is a derivative of the Rising Sun Self-Defense Force and the eastern hemisphere of Animatopia that went their feminine ways from the mostly dominated men. Unlike the Rising Sun Self-Defense Force, which originally and exclusively recruited for the nursing services, and minorly populated as female personnel who are permitted and admitted to join the armed forces, they have recruitments in many different roles of its military personnel than the exclusivity for medications in favor of militarization of girls and women to dominate this faction, leading to their gender independence. The symbolic concept of their sisterhood centralizes around four symbolic sisters, collectively known as the Sakura Shimai or the Cherry Blossom Sisters, who tended the aspects of the cherry blossom tree they represent.

To add these factional perspectives, they honorably scorn the traits of Yandere, referring to a person who is sweetly kind at first, only to go unstable, obsessive, and violent when it comes to their beloved, and their military usually specializes such of these tactics: otaku stuff, anime-influenced ties, moe anthropomorphic militarization, modern and advanced Japanese technologies, raw tried-and-tested firepower, improvised weaponry and the most important of all is providing Mecha Musume and the old, modern arsenal of military equipment, including weapons, vehicles, aircraft and vessels that are either no longer operational as the relics of the past, replaced with something new, or currently in use by the JSDF. For those who want to perform special force operations within Josei Rikugun, they wear Hitaikakushi on their heads, and their program is the Yuurei ops, specializing sneaky and special tactics. Also, the armored divisions of their army specialize and perform the vehicular martial art of Sensha-dō, which is usually exclusive for girls or women who start practicing it as early as from elementary school up to high school, university and adulthood, and involves the use of tanks as their vehicular weapons.

The society of the sisterhood has built its foundations on a symbolism that revolves around a cherry blossom tree by the Four Sisters: Hanami Sakurai, Neko Haruki, Mikiko Kimura, and Emi Kusakabe. In order to represent themselves, each Sister has tended to a different aspect of the cherry blossom tree: Hanami tended to the flowers that bloom and fall with dual submachine guns, Emi tended to the branches with a gun and a sword, Mikiko tended to the trunk with a blade and a flamethrower, and Neko tended to the roots of a tree with dual blades. Four of these sisters are honorably dedicated to the units of the sisterhood they trained: Sephyr-chan (dedicated to Hanami), Zephyr-chan (dedicated to Emi), the Shihyou Warsuits (dedicated to Mikiko), and Tensenshi (dedicated to Neko), respectively.

With the pink cherry blossom and the magenta star at their respective sides as their symbols, the first one represents spring, a time of renewal, and the fleeting nature of life that make people merry, and the second one represents something beautiful, good and positive as well as its military strength. For their colors, pink is the color of universal love of oneself and others, and the sweet side of red that represents friendship, affection, harmony, inner peace, and approachability, while magenta represents universal love at the highest level, promotes compassion, kindness and cooperation, and encourages a sense of self respect and contentment in those who actually use it. Besides, both pink and magenta are the favorite colors for women and girls alike. This emblem is named the Sakuraboshi or Ousei, which translates to the Cherry Blossom Star.

History
TBA

Strategy
The Josei Guntai is an adorable, defensive, and all-female faction with a blend of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces and youth culture.

Tactics
As the main war tactics of the Josei Guntai, it utilizes the modern warfare, otaku ties, advanced technology, raw-and-proved firepower, military reserve, urban warfare, and even the reliance of old and modern military assets, most prominently Japanese and American (including British) military arsenals and equipment, both domestically produced and borrowed from the U.S. military, that their vehicular, naval, and aerial units are based on for their arsenal. They were also trained the vehicular art of Sensha-dō, which is very useful for tanks as their vehicular weapons to fight against their enemies. The Josei Guntai heavily employs promotional otaku morale on the battlefield to inspire their infantrywomen, and their numerous troops have defended themselves with a sisterhood zeal. Similar to other factions with Horde Bonus feature, most Josei Guntai units quickly gain bonuses to increase their attacking rate via Horde Bonus when either fighting and overwhelming opponents in amassed groups, or placed together with other Josei Guntai units. Even with the Horde Inspiration upgrade, they will be further improved and stronger to do much damage through a faster attacking rate.

The Josei Guntai has dominantly recruited and militarized only teenage girls and young women, mainly from elementary schools, high schools, universities, idol groups, private military contractors, Eastern hemisphere of Animatopia, and even cosplayers, mainly from Sakurakoku, as well as other forms of the Japanese youth culture. However, unlike the other factions, they independently do not admit men because of their factional policy regarding to their gender independence, preventing the misleading of their faction, similar to the dating ban of the Japanese idol groups, which is a form of criticism for bringing minors at risk in Japanese youth culture. So it means to say that this is considerably became one of the few factions that exclusively allow only females as recruits, the other ones are Yami Musume, their darker counterpart with yanderes in it, and Kemonomimi, their anthropomorphic counterpart with animal ears.

Like most factions, some buildings of the Josei Guntai require more power to provide and operate via Solar Generators, Wind Reactors, Power Plants, JT-60 Reactors or QUEST Reactors.

In general, most units of the Josei Guntai are either cheap or expensive to train and produce, but technologically superior due to the Japanese one. For example, their Mecha Musume and shipgirls, based on the Japanese and American military assets, are productively assembled with mechanical parts, and getting prepared upon leaving the Mecha Musume production buildings (Mecha Musume Depots, Rotor Stations, and Airbases) and Kantai Docks respectively. This means that these types of female units have firepower and armor, compared to other technologically advanced and improved factions. In order to provide extra firepower, armor, and abilities for each unit, some units need to be improved by purchasing important upgrades from Cosplay Arsenals, Research Centers, Internet Popularity Centers, and Otaku Facilities, making them quite better, stronger and powerful. Also, the Zettai Ryouiki defense systems are made by a combination of modern and futuristic Japanese technologies as their factional defense method, making them defendable, counteroffensive, and protected from harm, especially enemy assaults.

With the completion of the Tatakai no Shimai protocol, this allows most Josei Guntai infantry units to effectively fight stronger if they garrisoned inside structures, where they can fend off the groups of lighter vehicles. And once the Zettai Ryouiki Defense Field is activated and researched at the Research Center, most Josei Guntai units are defensively protected with their secondary hit points, even if it works while in combat. However, both of these important upgrades need the third and maximum alert status known as Toppa to accessibly become unlocked. So they will possibly make Josei Guntai a technologically and defensively advantaged faction, and help defend themselves from dealing a lot of damage via enemy attacks along with their Zettai Ryouiki defense barriers or forcefields.

Technological level
With a strong Japanese technology, the Josei Guntai has highly improved its technological advantages and capabilities to be advanced, as well as Mecha Musume and shipgirls, and comparable to other hi-tech and more modern factions like the ADA, ESU, RSSDF and TDF.

Some technologies used by the Josei Guntai:


 * 1) Advanced Japanese technology
 * 2) Advanced Mecha Musume
 * 3) Advanced technologies of the shipgirls
 * 4) Advanced naval technology
 * 5) Advanced aerial technology
 * 6) Sensha-dō
 * 7) Advanced internet technology
 * 8) Advanced satellite technology
 * 9) Listening outposts
 * 10) Technological messaging
 * 11) Internet popularity
 * 12) Advanced chemical substances
 * 13) Extra destructive firepower
 * 14) Zettai Ryouiki defense systems

Veterancy ranks
The veterancy ranks are usually identical to those of the Rising Sun Self-Defense Force, but they are female-exclusives and the possible Japanese translations of those of the U.S. military.

Sub-factions
The Josei Guntai has only one sub-faction, which is a magical branch of the Mahou Shoujo task force.

Mahou Shoujo
The Mahou Shoujo utilizes the power of magic, idols, and their inherent cuteness to confuse and manipulate their enemies.

Commanders

 * Princess Momoko Ohka (桜花桃子): Princess of the Sakurakoku and the commander-in-chief of the Josei Guntai
 * Field General Himeko Sakuragi (桜木姫子): Supreme Commander of the Josei Guntai
 * General Kaede Wakamatsu (若松楓): Josei Guntai Female Legion Commander
 * General Ayumi Rinzaki (凛崎歩美): Josei Rikugun Mecha Musume and Army Commander
 * Brigadier Takami Yuzuki (高見柚木): Josei Rikugun Mahou Commander
 * Admiral Chinami Kai (会千波): Josei Kaigun Shipgirl and Naval Commander
 * Air Marshal Ume Sakurai (桜井梅): Josei Kuugun Air Commander
 * Lieutenant General Naoko Matsumoto (松本直子): Josei Guntai Expeditionary Force Commander
 * Colonel Hanako Otashi (音足花子)/Hanako-sama (花子様)/Hanako-chan (花子ちゃん): Josei Rikugun Yuurei Ops Commander

Agents

 * Hanami Sakurai (桜井花実): Sister of the Cherry Blossom Flowers
 * Neko Haruki (春樹根子): Sister of the Roots
 * Mikiko Kimura (木村幹子): Sister of the Cherry Blossom Tree Trunk
 * Emi Kusakabe (草下部枝実): Sister of the Cherry Blossom Branches
 * Yurika Shiryou (しりょうゆりか): Yuurei Ops Squad Leader (hero unit)
 * Asumi Yamato (大和あすみ): Josei Guntai Expeditionary Force Land Agent (hero unit)
 * Kimiko Adachi (足立君子): Josei Guntai Marine Agent (hero unit)
 * Momoka Hanamura (花村桃香): Josei Guntai Magical Agent (hero unit)
 * Sakurako Hanamizuki (花見月桜子): Josei Guntai Terrain Agent (hero unit)
 * Ayami Maekawa (前川あやみ): Tatakai no Shimai Agent (hero unit)
 * Maoko Ichimonji (一文字真央子): Communications Officer (announcer)

List of schools, universities, idol groups, and female organizations
Here is a list of schools, universities, idol groups, and female organizations directly responsible for organizing the Josei Guntai's arsenal below.

Schools and universities

 * Shiritsu Joshi Rikugun Koukou
 * Shimai Guntai Sentou Koutou Gakkou

Idol groups

 * Momoiro Mahou
 * Bosou Idol Butai
 * Sakuraboshi X
 * Tetsuhana
 * Kinzokuhanabira

Other organizations

 * Sakura Shimai
 * Joshi Barracks
 * Yuurei Ops

Factional theme
The following tracks for the Josei Guntai are dedicated to be oriental, orchestral, drama, and pop, but some of them have vocals and lyrics in Japanese like most J-pop and J-drama songs. Clearly, the singers of the Josei Guntai Choir are Americans (including one Dutch emigrant and one Chinese-Indonesian) instead of the Japanese ones and AI-based singing voice synthesizers, such as those from Vocaloid (e.g. Miku Hatsune, Kagamine Rin, and Una Otomachi), CeVIO Creative Studio (e.g. Sato Sasara and Suzuki Tsudumi), CeVIO AI (e.g. Yuzuki Yukari, KAFU, and RIME), and Utau (e.g. Teto Kasane).

Singers of the Josei Guntai Choir

 * Michelle Marie
 * Kayli Mills
 * Brianna Knickerbocker
 * Cristina Valenzuela
 * Stephanie Sheh
 * Lizzie Freeman
 * Lisa Reimold
 * Natalie Hoover
 * Jackie Lastra
 * Risa Mei
 * Amanda Lee
 * Sarah Wiedenheft
 * Chrissy Costanza

Trivia

 * Josei Guntai is basically inspired by the Sisters of Battle (also known as the "Sisterhood" or Adepta Sororitas) from Warhammer 40k as an all-female faction, Mahou Shoujo (Magical Girl) genre in popular culture, the Japan Self-Defense Forces, Kanmusu from Kantai Collection, and Japanese youth culture that began in the mid-1980s with the style Visual Kei, such as Japanese idol, Akishibu-kei and cosplay.
 * As an example of being influenced by the Sisters of Battle, the Seraph-chan. Zephyr-chan, Heroine, the Shihyou Warsuit, and Ayami Maekawa are all based on the Seraphim, Zephyrim, Celestian (particularly Celestian Sacresant), the Paragon Warsuit, and the Canoness, respectively.
 * Josei Guntai is one of the only two factions with flowers in their factional emblems, the other is the Yami Musume.
 * The factional emblem of the Josei Guntai represents a pink cherry blossom with a magenta star at the front, preferring to as the Sakuraboshi or Ousei.
 * As mentioned in the description above, the cherry blossom has culturally inspirational but thematic significance to the Josei Guntai:
 * As the national flower and one of the symbols of Japan, it is a flower that symbolizes beauty and a time of renewal and optimism. However, its life is very short. After its bloomy beauty peaks around a couple of weeks, it starts to fall even if the Josei Guntai units die or ran out of Zettai Ryouiki Defense Field before recharging its forcefield.
 * In Buddhism, it is a major religious theme that symbolizes the transience of life due to their quick blooming season.
 * The cherry blossom itself is also the favorite flower of women and girls alike as it symbolizes beauty instead of renewal. So this faction is all-female.
 * Additionally, the petals of this flower are naturally colored pink despite the fact that its varieties mostly range from light pink to white. As its beautiful floral colors, both of these are very usefully to fit the visual theme of the Josei Guntai: many units and personnel of the Josei Guntai are anime-faced Caucasians, the school blouses, shirts, and socks they wear are white, designed with Japanese Type 2 Flecktarn camouflage pattern in their sailor and blazer styled school uniforms, and pink is considered the official team color of the Josei Guntai by default.
 * Just as the cherry blossom falls after a full bloom in a couple of weeks, the Japan Self-Defense Force, one of this faction's inspirations, has either phased out and abandoned most of their equipment, especially the hand-me-downs from the American military and older JSDF equipment that are domestically made, from military service or replaced them with something new due to the expirations of their service lives ever since its foundation from the National Police Reserved in 1954, and have kept them as the relics of the past. When the cherry blossom renews and begins to fully bloom, the Josei Guntai has recycled most of the JSDF equipment that are no longer operational in service, replaced with new ones, or currently in use.
 * The Four Sisters: Hanami Sakurai, Emi Kusakabe, Neko Haruki, and Mikiko Kimura are those who tended the cherry blossom tree. Each of the Sisters represents a different aspect of the cherry blossom tree: one represents the flowers, one with a gun and a sword that tend the branches, one who describes herself the trunk, and one who has dual blades that tend the roots of a tree.
 * Fun fact: the Four Sisters are a direct reference to the three Lotus brothers, and their faction the Lotus Clan, from Battle Realms, who similarly tended to a tree. Tausil tended to the trunk (like Mikiko), Sehk tended to the leaves (closest are Hanami and Emi), and Lythis tended to the roots of a tree (like Neko). The main difference is that the Lotus brothers tended to a "Tree of Corruption" and the Lotus Clan was evil and ugly (in the literal sense as their soldiers literally corrupt themselves, for reference, one of their units, the Infested One, literally has maggots eating the open wound on his stomach).
 * Josei Guntai is one of the 3 factions whose factional personnel are all-female only. However, these factions are all monolingual, with Japanese as their officially factional language, as well as some factions, like the all-American U.S.S.D.A. or A.D.A, with English as their dominantly official and de facto language.
 * Also, the Japanese language itself is especially used for the aesthetics of their cuteness and their tsundere behavior as the one and only official language of the Josei Guntai.
 * Like the RSSDF, Josei Guntai is based on the Japanese and East Asian popular culture and Self-Defense Forces, but with Moe, Shojo and female military personnel, especially the moe anthropomorphic qualities. Most units and buildings of this faction are the inspirations of anime, manga, video games, toys and novels.
 * In addition, these anime, novel, video game, toy and manga titles include:
 * Dragon Pilot: Hisone and Masotan
 * Girls und Panzer
 * Puella Magi Madoka Magica
 * Ground Defense Force! Mao-chan
 * Marine Corps Yumi
 * Girls' Frontline
 * Strike Witches
 * Azure Lane
 * Kantai Collection
 * Outbreak Company
 * Armed Girl's Machiavellism
 * Goddess of Victory: Nikke
 * Little Armory
 * Lycoris Recoil
 * With kawaii voices, many American and a few Canadian voice actresses for this faction, including units, buildings, and the announcer herself, are soundly reminiscent and more akin to the Japanese voice actresses or seiyuus like Aoi Yuki, Miyuki Sawashiro, Misaki Kuno, Rie Takahashi, Yuka Iguchi, Aki Toyosaki, Nao Toyama, Yukari Tamura, Eri Kitamura, Asami Imai, Sumire Uesaka, Hisako Kanemoto, Manaka Iwami, Inori Minase, Yui Horie, etc.
 * Along with them, Gawr Gura will be the guest star of the voice cast since she started out as an English-language virtual YouTuber in 2020 like what Cyber Girl Shiro provided the voice of Moze in the Japanese dub of Borderlands 3 and Obake PAM played the role as Lola in the English dub of Azure Striker Gunvolt 3.
 * Most Josei Guntai units' secondary health, upgraded via the Zettai Ryouiki Defense Field, is influenced by the Protoss plasma shield (also called phase shield) from the StarCraft series. While its name (Absolute Territory when translated) is a reference to the Absolute Terror (AT) field from Neon Genesis Evangelion and an otaku term referring to a strip of exposed thigh when a woman wears thigh-highs with a short skirt/short shorts.
 * Instead of wearing the customized JGSDF uniforms with Type I "Kunai" camouflage pattern, some infantry units of the Josei Guntai often wear Japanese school uniforms, usually the sailor and blazer outfits but with Type II "Jieitai" camouflage pattern. Even with military weapons and equioment, these will make the schoolgirls armed and popular among the "Bosou JK" ("Armed Highschool Girl") trend in Japan.
 * The Josei Guntai is one of the few factions that only has some factional theme songs with lyrics in their respective languages, the other ones are the CCS and Yami Musume. Since this faction became an inspiration of the Japanese youth and popular culture like most J-pop songs and Japanese idols, many of these songs have lyrics in Japanese instead.