Ishin Beginner Guide: How to Get Through Your First Session

Your first session in Ishin has three jobs to do: create a character you'll enjoy, learn the few keys that get you around campus, and finish one real activity. The most concrete paying activity for a brand-new student is a shift at the pet cafe — complete all of its designated tasks and an 800 yen wage pays out immediately.

Step 1: Create your character

The opening flow is quick. You'll see a press-any-key prompt, then choose a graphics quality. After that comes character creation: a name, gender, ethnicity, and a starting fighting style. A short cutscene plays where you pick a pose for a photo, and then free play begins.

Two creation choices are worth a little extra thought:

Ethnicity sets your height, and height changes combat. Taller characters have more reach and hit harder, but their attacks come out more slowly. Shorter characters attack faster but have less range. Pick the tradeoff that matches how you want to fight.

Roll for a fighting style. You start with 20 rerolls at character creation, and there are 12 fighting styles to roll for. Spend them until you land a style you actually want to play.

If your 20 rerolls run dry, codes can grant additional rerolls. For the roll system itself, see Ishin rerolls; what each style does is covered in Ishin fighting styles.

Step 2: Find your way around campus

You only need a handful of keys to orient yourself:

Press P and the school map shows locations including class areas, the science room and the racing area. Pick a room, walk to it. That's the whole navigation loop for a first session. If you'd rather scout first, Shift+P puts you in free camera so you can look over the map before committing to a walk. Our locations guide covers the campus in more detail.

Two things worth checking in Settings while you're new: Settings > Keybinds lists every control (and lets you change them), and Settings also holds the PvP toggle if you'd rather not fight other players yet. The full key list is on the controls page.

Step 3: Start one real activity — work a pet cafe shift

The shift involves cleaning and customer service.

Checklist

• Find the pet cafe

  Ground floor of the town complex, alongside the pet shop.

• Clock in with the store manager

  Speak to the manager behind the front counter and pick the clock-in dialogue option.

• Work the register

  Ring up customer purchases when orders appear on screen.

• Clean the pet messes

  Search the cafe floor and tables for dirty spots.

• Finish every designated task

  Completing all of the shift's tasks awards an immediate 800 yen.

Jobs like this refresh every so often, so the same shift can be repeated in later sessions; our jobs page collects the other earning routes.

More first-session options

• Work the salon. Styling customer hair earns Yen. Ask the salon NPC for a job and clock in through the dialogue.
• Spray graffiti. A city thug NPC pays for street graffiti work.
• Try the science lab or rooftop garden. Potion experiments and gardening both provide income.
• Find class areas. Press P to locate them on the school map, then visit one.
• Play basketball in the gym hall. Great with friends, but it needs multiple people who want to play — not a solo activity. See Ishin basketball.

If you'd rather watch the whole route first, this full walkthrough covers character creation, rerolls, money and controls in one video:

Whatever you earn, your in-game phone gives it a social use: it lets you message other players and send money through its Bank application. The phone page covers it in full.

Once your first shift is banked and the map makes sense, the natural next step is sharpening your build — start with Ishin best fighting styles to see how your rolled style stacks up.