Players assume the role of a sage (審神者, saniwa) who travels into the past to defeat evil forces, and has the ability to animate legendary swords, which are depicted as attractive young men.

Touken Ranbu is essentially a gender-swapped clone of Kantai Collection, another game by DMM, which uses moe anthropomorphism to portray historical warships as young girls.

A number of actions in game are controlled by real time countdowns, such as repairs and forging or collecting new swords.

[7] That trend had been started a few years previously with the Sengoku Basara video games, which made katana fans a distinct part of the Japanese subculture of female history aficionados (reki-jo).

[1] The popularity of Touken Ranbu was such that a Japanese women's interest magazine published an article about exercise routines based on sword fighting techniques from the game,[8] and the 2015 Tokyo Wonder Festival's figure exhibition was reportedly "completely dominated by hot male swordsmen".

[9] Based on a December 16, 2023 survey conducted by Nikkei Entertainment with almost 50,000 responses, the fanbase of Touken Ranbu within Japan has an average age of 34 years, and is almost exclusively female-dominated.

[10] Touken Ranbu has inspired various restoration campaigns for swords represented in the game which were destroyed or damaged in real life.

An anime adaptation of the series' 2016 stage play Touken Ranbu Kyoden Moyuru Honnōji, produced by DOMERICA, aired from April to May 2024.

The film was distributed by Toho and Universal Pictures, directed by Saiji Yakumo, and written by Yasuko Kobayashi.