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As just about everyone knows at this point Sakura Wars is based on the popular video game series, which was designed by Sega of Japan. While they’ve never seen the light of day outside their native Japan, except for imports that is, the series has managed to progress from the Saturn to the Dreamcast, and has even been redesigned and reissued for the Playstation 2. And, just like with many successful game franchises, an anime to support the series was a logical progression. Although most game related anime titles generally tend to not be very good, Sakura Wars is a little different as it tries to give the fans a little something different, but it’s also not the proverbial fan service series either. If you’ve never seen any of the three OVA’s that were released for Sakura Wars, there’s no need to worry about having missed something along the way, but it’s certainly not an excuse to ignore them either, especially with ADV having just released all three in a collector’s set. The Sakura Wars television series starts by giving us a retelling of the story. Since this was a television series, it’s obvious that there are those viewers that may not have been into the OVA, or may not even have a clue that this was in fact a video game turned anime, so why not give them the information that they need right up front. The series is based in an alternate Japan where the country has just come out of a bitter period known as The Demon Wars. The Japanese government however isn’t keen on just sitting around and waiting for the forces of darkness to show their ugly faces once again, and they set out to make a defense force capable of protecting their country. That’s where the Teikoku Kagekidan, or the Imperial Floral Assault Group, come into play. The government has assembled a team of women that possess some rather impressive spiritual powers to take the controls of mecha’s known as Koubu, and it is their hope that with proper training, they will prove to be more than capable of defending Japan. But, the Teikoku Kagekidan has a cover, and that’s the Imperial Performing Troupe, an organization that thrills audiences with their plays and has managed to gain quite a following. It acts not only as a cover though, but also a way to further train the girls and provide a form of escape for the citizens of Japan. The first question I’m sure for anyone who hasn’t already seen any part of the series is probably why this is an alternate Japan when mecha’s don’t exist anyway. Sakura Wars takes place in the 1920’s, and steam power is used to operate just about everything form cars right down to the Koubu themselves. It’s an interesting blend of old world with technology, but not done in a high tech fashion to compromise the feel of the show. But what the series has always had going for it is the storytelling. As a television series, Sakura Wars doesn’t try and recap each and every even from the OVA, but instead we pick up with Sakura Shinguji herself coming to Japan to join the Teikoku Kagekidan. Sakura has a tremendous amount of spiritual energy inside her that still remains, for the most part, untapped, and even she hasn’t quite learned how to control it. But what really bothers her is that the Teikoku Kagekidan doesn’t look like a fighting unit, but instead she sees the guise of the performing troupe, making her wonder why she even came to defend the capital in the first place. Also, Sakura’s father was part of the original Demon Wars and, before being killed, fought alongside General Yoneda, the man who now is responsible fro the activities of the Imperial Floral Unit and also acts as the manager for the performing troupe. Yoneda knows what Sakura could be capable of, if trained properly. However, Sakura doesn’t quite fit in as well as she, or Yoneda, had hoped. Really, she’s a bit of a klutz, and manages to gain all the wrong attention right from the start, starting with almost ruining one of the Teikoku Kagekidan’s latest plays. This is where we are introduced to most of the other cast members that make up the Imperial Floral Unit’s combat portion. If you’ve already seen the OVA, then most should be familiar with Sumire Kanzaki, the spoiled rich girl whose family designed the Koubu’s and suffice it to say, she’s just as much of a bitch here as she was in the OVA series, and then some. Maria Tachibana is present as well, the teams leader, at least until later in the volume when Yondea decides to turn the reigns over to one Ichiro Ohgami. And lat but not least is young Iris, and young French girl who is a bit shy, but shows just a taste of what she is capable of with her spiritual power. If you’re wondering where the other members’ o the team are, like Kanna or Ri, relax. They are a part of the series, but they haven’t been introduced in the show as of yet. Instead of throwing every character at the audience all at once, the series aims to give you the characters little by little, allowing you to familiarize yourself a little more with them as things progress. The mina focus of the first five episodes is to establish the fact that regardless of the girls being hand selected because of their potential and spiritual energy, they are still quite green, and while we see them succeed in combat, we also are shown that the emotional, and real estate, prices they end up paying are quite high. In the original OVA series, the demons looked like something that was taken right from one of the Alien films, and they certainly weren’t something that was frightening in the least. Now though, they have been replaced with the Wakiji, unmanned mecha’s under control of the demon forces. However, now there are more than just these battle suits to contend with. The team is introduced to Crimson Miroku, one of the demons female members who proceeds to put the Imperial Floral Unit in line and show them that they need quite a bit more training. It looks like now our girls are going to have some greater things to deal with instead of just rejects from the set of Aliens, and Sakura Wars is already showing signs that it’s going to be more than what the OVA ever was. But, this isn’t a series juts about mecha’s, and the character development is a great part of the grand scheme of things. While we could be shown combat situation after combat situation, that is never the case here, and that’s one of the reasons I’ve always felt the Imperial Performing Troupe was always a great addition to the series. It gives the girls something else to do, and the fighting doesn’t have to be the whole purpose of the series. In fact, even some of the minor characters from the OVA series are becoming a little more important as the episodes progress, and it looks like Sakura Wars has everything in place to show it’s full potential on a grand scale. The disc doesn’t have a lot of extras on it, but there’s a good reason for it. Contained in the extras are a clean open and close, and that’s it. It may not seem like much, especially with what ADV has given us in the past, but hang on just a second. The DVD comes with an enclosed booklet that is filled with production notes and sketches. Honestly, I like this idea a lot more than just having the images viewable on the disc, as there is a lot more information given on the pages. Seeing as how both this series as well as RahXephon have booklets like this, I’m hoping that this is a direction that ADV intends on sticking with. It’s a proven fact that Sakura Wars already has a fairly large core audience. The games themselves have paved the way for those fans to venture into checking out what the anime is all about. And while we still hear rumors of Sega of America planning on finally releasing the games in the United States, it seems like this is nothing more than a fleeting dream. However, we all finally have the Sakura Wars TV series to fill in the void, and this is one series that you need not have played the games or even have seen the OVA’s in order to fully enjoy. It’s a series that already had my vote even before it was released, and it’s one that will certainly entertain many a few, as well as draw in new ones. Episode 1 – Sakura Arrives at the Capital When Sakura Shinguji arrives to fight with the Imperial Floral Division, she’s in for quite a shock. What’s a performing group doing here, and why are they putting on a play? Bewildered by the whole things, she accidentally stumbles into a room containing the groups Koubu, their spirit powered mecha’s, and they react unexpectedly to Sakura’s enormous untapped power. Episode 2 – The City to be Defended Still in shcok by what has occurred at the Imperial Performing Theatre, Sakura runs away, hoping to find some sort of salvation. It is on the streets that she runs into Torabo, a young boy she met upon her arrival in the capital, and he invites her to stay with him and his mother. However, Sakura’s stay will be interrupted when the Wakiji, the demons mecha’s, attack the row houses, and Sakura decides that she will defend the city, no matter how small and insignificant some people may seem. Episode 3 – Sakura’s Stage Debut Having returned back to the Imperial Floral Division, Maria is put in charge of training Sakura in the ways of the performing arts. Sakura learns that this is more than just training for performance, but a way to help the girls harness and perfect their spiritual energies as well, and it’s not quite as easy as she had thought. And, another Wakiji arrives, bringing out the Imperial Floral Unit in full force, although they certainly don’t put on their best performance. Episode 4 – The Flower Combat Troops New Commander With a little time off offered to them, the girls do what they need to in order to relax. Maria continues her rigorous training; Sumire goes on an over the top shopping trip, and Sakura manages to convince Iris, as well as Jean-Paul, to take a trip to the local amusement park. However, makes a comment about how Iris should return to visit the park with her family, she hits a nerve, and Iris’ psychic abilities are unleashed. Meanwhile, Yoneda has decided that it’s time to bring in some new blood to the group, and has arranged for a new commander to come in. Episode 5 – Evil Shadow The Flower Units new commander, Ichiro Ohgami, has finally arrived, much to Maria’s dislike. Now that the group has a Wakiji in their possession, they decide to do a little dissection to further understand their enemy, but from the twisted remains emerges a woman calling herself the Crimson Miroku, and she’s not alone. It’s going to be a test of the Flower Units abilities, and the results don’t look to be very promising. - mike -
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