Sakura Wars, also known as Sakura Taisen, is a popular series of video game and animation products created by Sega. The title can be literally translated as "The Great War among the Cherry Blossoms", Sakura being the Japanese word for the Cherry Blossom.

Originally debuting as a single game on the Sega Saturn Game Console in 1996, Sakura Taisen featured signature gameplay best described as a mix of tactical wargames and love simulators. The license's popularity skyrocketed, leading to the release of several sequels on the Saturn and Sega Dreamcast and recently (following the official demise of the Dreamcast) the Sony PlayStation 2. Many spinoff games were also produced, covering many different gameplay types, including puzzle, action, and pure adventure game types.

Furthermore, many Anime products were also created to tie in to the original games, including many OVAs, TV series, a currently running comic series featured in Japan's Z Magazine, and a full-length motion picture. The series is famous for having excellent voice acting talents, and performance in such has helped make many Japanese seiyuu famous, including Michie Tomizawa, Kikuko Inoue, Chisa Yokoyama, Urara Takano, and others. Its popularity is such that there are literally dozens of musical soundtracks available for purchase in Japan, including radio plays, and video recordings of Live Shows put on by the voice actors (in character) on stage, performing plays and songs from the games and other properties.

There is also an official Sakura Taisen shop on the top floor of the Sega "GIGA" Amusement Center, located in Tokyo's Ikebukuro district. Called "Taisho Romando", the store sells only Sakura Taisen-related merchandise, such as costumes, toy models, art books, copies of the games and videos, posters, wall scrolls, and even snack foods. The store was recently upgraded include the Sakura Cafe, which serves dishes featured and inspired by the setting and characters of Sakura Taisen, such as "Coquelicot Coffee", which is served in Vietnamese style, just like the character (who is Vietnamese).

Featuring original character designs by Kosuke Fujishima, the games and anime are set in a fictional alternate 1920's-era Tokyo (also Paris and soon New York) where all modern technology is powered by steam. Steam-powered automobiles, ships and even computers are common household devices. This futuristic past is not so safe however, and monsters and other forces of darkness constantly menace and seek to bring down these legendary metropoli. In their way stands a secret strike force of psychically-empowered women who drive steam-powered suits of power armor known as "Koubu".

However, despite the license's tremendous popularity in Japan and Greater East Asia, and growing fanbase in America and Europe, Sega has not yet chosen to localize any of games themselves for release in English (though the various anime products are available in the US and Europe through third-party distributors). Perhaps this can be attributed to uncertainty over American gamers' receptiveness to the series' unusual gameplay. Chinese language versions of the first four games are (as of 2004) currently available for the PC platform, and Sakura Taisen 5 Episode 0 ~Kouya no Samurai Musume~ is to be released in both Chinese- and Korean-language versions.

This may soon change, thanks to Sega's Sakura Taisen WORLD project. Announced in 2001/2002, the project details plans to eventually globalize the Sakura Taisen brand, eventually releasing game titles as well as anime products overseas.

Contents

1 The Games 1.1 Sakura Taisen 1.2 Sakura Taisen 2 ~Kimi, Shinitamou koto Nakare~ 1.3 Sakura Taisen 3 ~Pari wa Moeteiru ka?~ 1.4 Sakura Taisen 4 ~Koise yo, Otome~ 1.5 Sakura Taisen ~Atsuki Chishio Ni~ 1.6 Sakura Taisen 5 Episode 0 ~Kouya no Samurai Musume~ 1.7 Sakura Taisen 5 Episode 1 ~Saraba, Itoshiki Hito yo~ 2 The Animation 2.1 Sakura Taisen: Ouka Kenran 2.2 Sakura Taisen: Gouka Kenran 3 See also 4 External link

The Games

Over the years there have been more than ten separate game releases bearing the Sakura Taisen title, among them four core titles (a fifth game is due to be released in mid 2005 -- its prequel is currently available), some of which have been ported and rereleased on Sega Dreamcast or Sony PlayStation 2. Each of the main games are titled as follows:

1. Sakura Taisen (1996) (Sega Saturn, Sega Dreamcast)
2. Sakura Taisen 2 ~Kimi, Shinitamō koto Nakare~ (1998) (Sega Saturn, Sega Dreamcast)
3. Sakura Taisen 3 ~Pari wa Moeteiru ka?~ (2001) (Sega Dreamcast)
4. Sakura Taisen 4 ~Koise yo, Otome~ (2002) (Sega Dreamcast)
5. Sakura Taisen ~Atsuki Chishio Ni~ (2003) (Sony PlayStation 2) (a remake of the original Sakura Taisen)
6. Sakura Taisen 5 Episode 0 ~Kōya no Samurai Musume~ (Released September 22, 2004) (Sony PlayStation 2)
7. Sakura Taisen 5 Episode 1 ~Saraba, Itoshiki Hito yo~ (To be released Summer 2005) (Sony PlayStation 2)

Sakura Taisen

(Note: The title literally translates as "The Great War among the Cherry Blossoms", symbolising the game's beginning in Spring, a time represented in Japan by the blooming of a Cherry Tree.)

The game that started it all, this Sega Saturn game was released in 1996, and established the now-famous Live Interactive Picture System (LIPS) dialog game system, wherein the player is presented with dialog options to choose from during conversations with other characters. Each choice made (or not making one at all) adds or deducts "trust points" from various characters' totals, eventually shaping the player's relationship with the rest of the cast, and ultimately, the ending of the game.

The second portion of gameplay featured turn-based battling between the characters' Koubu and their enemies. Units moved about on a grid-based map of the battlefield performing attacks and spectacular special moves to destroy the villains.

Set in 1923, the twelfth year of the Taisho Emperor's reign, the story details the adventures of the Teikoku Kagekidan - Hanagumi (Lit. "Imperial Floral Assault Force - Flower Division") and its leader Ensign Oogami Ichirou as they defend Teito (Lit. "Imperial Capital" a.k.a. Tokyo) against evil creatures of the Kurono Sukai (Lit. "Hive of Blackness") led by the vile Tenkai. All the while the Hanagumi continues to perform onstage undercover, as the Imperial Opera Troupe*, featuring the plucky Shinguuji Sakura, the "top star" Kanzaki Sumire, the cool and icy Maria Tachibana, the fiery Kirishima Kanna, the playful Iris Chateaubriand, and machine genius Ri Kohran.

• (Note: The Japanese words for "Imperial Floral Assault Force" and "Imperial Opera Troupe" are pronounced in the same way, and only the characters used in writing are different, resulting in a clever pun. Thus the Hanagumi performs as one during the day, and "changes characters" come time for battle.)

(Note: The names of the Hanagumi are all derived from flowers, such as the Cherry Blossom ("Sakura"), Violet ("Sumire"), Orange Blossom ("Tachibana"), Iris ("Iris"), Orchid ("Ri"), and Kirishima Azalea ("Kirishima"))

Sakura Taisen 2 ~Kimi, Shinitamou koto Nakare~

(Note: The subtitle "Kimi, Shinitamou koto Nakare" (Lit. "You shall not die") refers to the title of a poem by Yosano Akiko, a famous early-twentieth-century Japanese poet. The poem itself is known for its particularly passionate description of love.)

The second game in the series was released in 1998 and sported not only a subtitle but minor changes to the battle system, adding the ability to choose a "battle plan" that increased the team's effectiveness in using certain tactics. Many variations on the Adventure Mode's LIPS system were also added.

The story this time takes place in the fourteenth year of Taisho (1925), roughly a year after the cataclysmic conclusion of the original in 1924. Ensign Oogami has returned from a tour of duty in the Imperial Navy and has been permanently assigned as squad leader of the Imperial Floral Assault Force - Flower Division (and errand boy for the Great Imperial Theater). Two new members, the quiet Reni Milchstrasse and outspoken Orihime Soletta, have joined the squad from the now-disbanded Hoshigumi (Lit. "Star Division"), and many new enemies are arising to threaten Teito, both from without and within. How will the newly expanded Hanagumi deal with the approaching darkness?

(Note: The names of the new members (from the Hoshigumi) are derived from celestial terms, such as Orihime (the Japanese name for the star Vega) and Milchstrasse (German for "Milky Way").)

Sakura Taisen 3 ~Pari wa Moeteiru ka?~

(Note: The subtitle "Pari wa moeteiru ka?" (Lit. "Is Paris burning?") refers to a famous quote from German dictator Adolf Hitler as he asked about his subordinate's progress in destroying the city of lights. Paris was not burning, however, as the subordinate had disobeyed Hitler's orders and not leveled the city.)

Released in 2001, Sakura Taisen 3 represented the most dramatic change in the series to date. It was the first major Sakura Taisen title to be released on the next-generation Dreamcast console (a puzzle-based spinoff game had been released earlier), and featured all-new 3D graphics and a totally new battle system known as the Active and Real-time Machine System (ARMS), which used a gridless action-point-based combat scheme. Furthermore, the game featured an all-new cast of girls in an all-new setting.

It's the middle of 1926, barely weeks after the Teito was saved a second time, and Oogami has been promoted to Lieutenant and reassigned to "study" in the French capital of Paris, the City of Lights. Just as he arrives, however, Oogami is informed that he is there to train a new "Paris Assault Squad" (Japanese: "Pari Kagekidan"), and battle marauding Beast-Men (Japanese: "Kaijin") with the "Fleur de Paris" (Japanese: "Pari Hanagumi"), a team of young women working undercover as performers in Chattes Noire, a famous Parisian nightclub. Can Oogami help Erica Fontaine, Glycine Bleumer, Lobelia Carlini, Hanabi Kitaoji, and Coquelicot stem the tide and ensure that the Eternal City stays that way? Can he even get them to work together?!

(Note: The names of the Fleur de Paris, like the Hanagumi, are derived from flower and botanical names, such as Erica (Yellow Heath), Glycine (Wistaria), Coquelicot (Corn Poppy), Lobelia (sci. name Lobelia erinus), and Hanabi (Japanese for "Fireworks" and also the name of a flower).)

Sakura Taisen 4 ~Koise yo, Otome~

(Note: "Koise yo, Otome-tachi" translates as "Fall in Love, Maidens", a line from the 'Uta no Gondola', or 'Song of the Gondola', written in 1915 by Shinpei Nakiyama and Izamu Yoshi, and featured in Akira Kurosawa's 'Ikiru'.)

2002 saw the end of the Sakura Taisen series in its current story form. Revealing a newly restructured story format, concentrating on "wide, rather than long" gameplay (2 large multipathed 'Acts' versus many short 'Episodes'), the last of the Tokyo and Paris storylines featured the entire combined casts of Sakura Taisens 1 through 3, a total of fourteen girls to curry favor with, as well as the ability to create an "Oogami Kagekidan" (Lit. "Oogami's Assault Force") to use in the fight against evil.

Spring, 1927. Oogami has returned to Tokyo from Paris in triumph, and finds the Teikoku Kagekidan in battle with a new foe, this time one that looks impossible to defeat with the resources at hand. Where can the beleaguered Hanagumi turn to for assistance? Perhaps to across the sea, to the City of Lights?

Sakura Taisen ~Atsuki Chishio Ni~

(Note: "Atsuki Chishio Ni", literally "In Hot Blood" refers to passage #26 from the 'Midaregami', a poem/story written by Yosano Akiko)

In a return to the roots for the new generation, Sega almost completely remade the original Sakura Taisen game, releasing it on 2003 on Sony's PlayStation 2 game console.

Adding new content and remade artwork by series art director Matsubara Hidenori, the game featured remastered Full Motion Video sequences, as well as converting the battle system to ARMS, the 3D graphics and tactical combat engine used in Sakura Taisens 3 and 4. LIPS interaction sequences were also updated to include the LIPS types introduced in previous releases, and adding Action LIPS, where the player enters a series of commands on the controller, in a fashion similar to "Simon Says".

Reprising the original story of the first Sakura Taisen game, there are no changes to the plot other than re-recorded speech dialogue by the original voice actors, and several new scenes and "extra content".

Sakura Taisen 5 Episode 0 ~Kouya no Samurai Musume~

'This game was released in Japan on September 22nd, 2004.'

(Note: A zero inserted into a francise series' title usually indicates a prequel feature, detailing that the product takes place before the events of the "real" product, as with the Nintendo GameCube game Resident Evil 0.)

(Note: The subtitle "Kouya no Samurai Musume" can be interpreted to mean "The Samurai Girl from the Wild West", though the literal Japanese translation is actually "The Samurai Girl from the Wild/Wilderness")

In what is by far the most radical departure from traditional Sakura Taisen gameplay yet, Sega will release a new completely action-based game which will act as a prequel to the Sakura Taisen 5 main game. This new game will feature "Action Rodeo Combat", with the protagonist fighting off her foes while on horseback, and interacting with characters via the revised LIPS system used in Sakura Taisen ~Atsuki Chishio Ni~.

The story is now set in America, and focuses on one of the new cast members of Sakura Taisen 5, a young Japanese-American girl named Gemini Sunrise. Gemini's lived all her life out in the Wild West of Texas, but now she's got to move on. At the request of her master, Mifune, she's got a new assignment waiting for her in New York City! The Big Apple! So this young Samurai Cowgirl boards her best pal Rally the Horse, and rides off, away from the sunset, for after all, New York's out East. But something's afoot, and it involves a young girl named Juanita Casshing and a magician named Patrick Hamilton. The ride ahead looks long, indeed.

(Note: This game is the only title currently under active consideration by Sega for release in the West. If the plans announced in the Sakura Taisen WORLD project pull through, this could be the first title to be localized and released in the US.)

Sakura Taisen 5 Episode 1 ~Saraba, Itoshiki Hito yo~

(Note: The subtitle "Saraba, Itoshiki Yo" literally means "Goodbye, My Love", and is the Japanese title for 'Heartbreak Yakuza', a film directed and released in 1987 by Harada Masato. The film is about a Japanese Yakuza who stumbles upon a girl he once knew in his childhood.)

'This game is still under development and is due for release in the summer of 2005. Any information presented is subject to change.'

The next main release in the seminal Sakura Taisen series of games, Sakura Taisen 5 adds a new set of features, including new LIPS interactions that use some of the unique characteristics of the PlayStation 2 platform, like the Dual Shock 2 Controller's Analog Joysticks, and an entirely new three-dimensional navigation system that opens up the streets of New York for the player to explore, including areas of New Jersey, Queens, and Manhattan Island.

Set in New York City in America, it will feature an all-new cast of characters, working in Broadway's famous "Little Lip Theater". Led by a new protagonist and player character, Taiga Shinjiro, the "New York Assault Squad" (Lit. "New York Kagekidan") will ride to battle in their "Star" combat armors, which can transform into flying aircraft, able to engage evil on the ground and in the clouds. What does the future hold for the Shinjiro his teammates, Harlem lawyer Sagiitta Weinberg, Samurai Cowgirl Gemini Sunrise, Boston nurse Diana Caprice, Mexican livewire Rikaritta Aries, and the enigmatic Kujou Subaru, and what evils must they face to protect the Big Apple?

(Note: Gemini Sunrise, who stars in her own prequel game Sakura Taisen 5 Episode 0. The game will also feature Ratchet Altair, a character first introduced during the Sakura Taisen Motion Picture.)

(Note: The squad derives its names from celestial terms, as with the Hoshigumi of Sakura Taisen 2, like Gemini (a constellation), Diana (Roman goddess, and recently an asteroid), Aries (constellation), Sagiitta (a constellation, whether Sagitta itself or a truncation of Sagittarius), Altair (a star, which also happens to be a part of the Japanese Tanabata legend, from which Sakura Taisen 2 cast member Orihime draws her name), and Subaru (the Pleiades).)

The Animation

One of the consistent draws to the Sakura Taisen license has always been its strong presentation, most publicly shown in the lavishly produced Animated FMV ("Full Motion Video") sequences sprinkled throughout the games. In 1997, it was decided that the rich fiction and characterization of the world of Sakura Taisen should be brought also to those without access to a game console, in the form of an animated OAV (Original Animated Video, a.k.a OVA) feature. The decision was a resounding success. Geneon Entertainment and Pioneer have since released the Sakura Taisen Motion Picture on video in the United States, along with ADV Films and FUNimation releasing the various OVAs and TV series material under the name Sakura Wars.

Since then there have been multiple releases of Sakura Taisen animated works, currently totalling about seven major releases, including a full-season TV series and a theater-released motion picture feature. Each major releases to date is listed as follows:*

1. Sakura Taisen: Ouka Kenran (1997) (Direct-to-Video Release)
2. Sakura Taisen: Gouka Kenran (1999) (Direct-to-Video Release)
3. Sakura Taisen: Katsudou Shashin (2001) (Movie Release, Direct-to-Video outside Japan)
4. Sakura Taisen: Kanzaki Sumire Intai Kinen "Su~Mi~Re" (2002) (Direct-to-Video)
5. Sakura Taisen (April to September 2000) (TV series, Direct-to-Video outside Japan)
6. Sakura Taisen: Ecole de Paris (2003) (Direct-to-Video Release)
7. Sakura Taisen: Le Nouveau Paris (2004) (Direct-to-Video Release)

• (Note: The dates, names, and release figures given in the above list are for Japanese releases. Information on names and release dates for outside Japan, if available, are included in the individual releases' sections.)

Sakura Taisen: Ouka Kenran

(Note: The title literally translates as "The Gorgeous Blooming Cherry Blossoms", and may be taken as a symbolism of the OVA's functioning as an "origin story" of sorts for the Flower Division.)

This title was released on DVD in October of 1999 by ADVision (now known as ADV Films), though it had been available at the time on VHS and LaserDisc as well. It was then known as "Sakura Wars".

Released in Japan in 1997, following the original game's skyrocketing popularity, the Sakura Taisen: Ouka Kenran OVAs came out to sate the Japanese public's thirst for more of the game's setting, characters, and art.

Appealing primarily to fans rather than the inexperienced, Ouka Kenran served to expand the story of the Flower Division, with two of the four released episodes focusing on the beginnings of the Flower Divisions parent organization, the Imperial Floral Assault Troop*, and how the various members of the Flower Division were scouted out and recruited. The episodes focus on Flower Division member Sakura Shinguuji, and her own trials leading up to her joining the Flower Division. The later episodes jump far forward, placing themselves within the actual timeline of the original game, and switch perspectives to that of the game's protagonist and Player Character, Squad Captain Ichirou Oogami.

This perspective switch is jarring to newcomers and does little to introduce them to the world of Sakura Taisen, thus cementing the purpose of the Ouka Kenran OVA as a for-fans-by-fans product.

Despite this, Ouka Kenran was released on VHS Video by ADV Films in English, and met with surprising success among Americans, eventually meriting further releases of Sakura Taisen animation material regardless of the presence of the license's core products (the games) in that country.

• (Note: The current DVD release refers to the Imperial Floral Assault Troop (Lit. Teikoku Kagekidan) as "The Imperial Capital Defense Group". This is erroneous, most likely a product of the "localization" trend in Anime translation of the time.)

Sakura Taisen: Gouka Kenran

(Note: The title literally translates as "The Radiant Gorgeous Blooming Flowers", and may be taken as a symbolism of this OVA's concentrating more closely on all of the characters of the Flower Division, rather than just Sakura.)

Following the success of 1997's Ouka Kenran OVA, Sakura Taisen: Gouka Kenran continued the trend of showing side stories happening alongside and between the events of the original video games. Each episode of the six-episode OVA shows a separate adventure from somewhere in the timelines of Sakura Taisen and Sakura Taisen 2. The episodes were written to concentrate on different members of the eight-member Flower Division (the original six plus two from Sakura Taisen 2): Maria and Sakura in the first, Iris and Reni in the second, Kanna and Sumire in the third, Orihime and Kohran in the fourth, and all of them together in a two-part episode.

Again, little was done to aid newcomers to Sakura Taisen in finding out the basics of the background and story provided in the original games. Gouka Kenran remained a fan-concentrated work.

See also

• Sakura Wars Gouka-Kenran

External link

• Sakura Taisen: Sumire English website http://www.sakurataisen.tv/
• Sakura Wars movie website http://www.sakurawarsmovie.com/
• Sakura Taisen Japanese website http://www.sakura-taisen.com