Sakura Wars / Sakura Taisen

AN Shows
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Sakura Wars / Sakura Taisen

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Genres: action, drama, science fiction
Themes: mecha, real robot
Objectionable content: Mild
Plot Summary: Sakura travels to the capital with aspirations of defending the city from the demonic forces of the Black Sanctum Council like her father before her. However, things are not as she imagined as in addition to using her great spiritual energy to pilot a mech called a Kobu, she must also perform on stage as an actor, as The Imperial Flower Division’s cover is an art theater. Making a fool of herself and ruining a production gets her on everyone’s bad side, and somehow she must learn to work with them as well as prevent the enemy from destroying several shrines which protect the city.
Number of episodes: 25
Vintage: 2000-04-08 to 2000-09-23

ANN Info Page

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Shin Sakura Taisen the Animation

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Number of Episodes: 12
Vintage: 2020-04-03

ANN Info Page

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Sakura Wars (OAV) Vintage: 1997-12-18
Sakura Wars 2 (OAV) Vintage: 1999-12-18
Sakura Wars: The Movie Vintage: 2001-12-22

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I am happy to see that Sakura Wars being shown again in the United States. The series that is appearing here on AN, is the primary version; of which there were FOUR OVA’s, a Full Length Motion Picture, and two additional OVA series which take place in Paris, France and New York. The OVA’s were dubbed, but the Paris, France settings and the New York settings currently remain in their original form and of course the music performed in them.

The series for those seeing it for the first time, actually was inspired by a game on the Sega Game Console. (Same thing for Personna 4, it is too has computer game origins.) Ironiclly you might be still able to find a Sakura Game under the PS2 format. It would be under the Sakura Taisen title.

The series also inspired a nearly 5 year run of a live stage show and its associated music numbering over 150 musical tracks and of those there are THREE versions of the opening theme. The opening theme was played as the opening and closing themes during the stage show.

To see the excerpts from that show including the final performance of the show, it can be found on Youtube under Sakura Taisen.

The original music performed and recorded live during the numerous performances in Tokyo, are available on iTunes and also can be obtained at times through Amazon.com.

Though some think having female heroes a bit corny, it is not the only series that have strong female leads.

One thing that attracted me to the series was and is the music itself. The Movie version on DVD also contained the original Japanese version music performed and is I think a must find. The series (the one here on AN) and the OVA’s (also available on DVD in some stores) do bear watching.

Take care and have a great day.

Stephen

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Thank you Stephen for the background information on Sakura Wars. This glistening animation is one of my favorites in the current rather excellent TAN VOD stable of programs (which I did not receive this week, BTW!).

Do you know when this currently airing series was originally broadcast in Japan? This series, along with everything else involved with it, has been repackaged and re-released numerous times over the years so the original airing date seems to be hard to come by.

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The show series the orginal of which is now being aired on AN was shown in 1996 on Tokyo Television. It was released on DVD in 2003 by the now dissolved A.D.V. Films. The other parts of the series the OVA’s were shown and aired in 1997.

The full length movie aired in 1997 and released on DVD by the late A.D.V. Films in 2003. The Paris and New York OVA’s never were released at least here in the United States except for a short 30 minute intro for a group of new characters for the Paris series. The releases coincided with the release of the SEGA game console editions for each “new” adventure.

I have the Paris DVD but do not have the New York segment.

If I have the stage show information correctly, it ran from 2000 to 2005 and was performed in several venues that the fictional Flower Combat Troop performed at during their adventures in the series. (Apparently taking a cue from the series itself the shows were actual sellouts.)

Another bit of fun in this series, is that the numerous characters of which several did not appear in this AN airing, do appear in the stage show and the actors/performers do resemble the fictional characters.

I think that one thing that might be percived as a turn off to some is the fact that the series hand NO Fan Service. Both the series and the movie itself carried PG ratings and could be safely viewed by a broadrange of audiences.

Stephen

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Actually, ADV released the OVAs, while Pioneer/Geneon released the movie. Sentai Filmworks currently has the license to the series and re-released it in 2010. The movie and OVAs are currently out of print.

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Actually, the Sakura Wars: Ecole de Paris and Sumeri ova’s were released by Funi back in the early 2k’s.

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I completely forgot about those ones, perhaps because they were about the only titles that Funi didn’t re-release six or seven times…lol. I do remember that they were said to have not sold well. I have the OVAs that ADV released, as well as their thin pack of the series.

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I was going on memory about the ova dvd’s and films. I can say there was not much advertising done on the OVA’s. The film I got from Amazon so; but the ova’s I think I got those also from Amazon.

The OVA’s cover the back story of how Sakura was “trained” and the actual power she posses’s. The “manager” or general was the one who was able to maker her focus her actual powers. The OVA’s also cover how the others were recruited.

Iris’s back story was rather detailed too. If she had existed for real, you would have wanted to smack the parents.

Stephen.

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Thank you all for your background information on this enjoyable series. I purchased the TV series from http://www.rightstuf.com/ a couple of days ago. I bought the older ADV version because I preferred the older style cover artwork. It is nice to see that Sentai is keeping this series available. The one movie is available in two different versions but both are in the mid $20 range and seem expensive to me. Interestingly, a PlayStation UMD disk of the movie is available for $3.

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Complete Collection Cover/Disc Art

DVD

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another oldie worthy of a remake, ala Ushio & Tora

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Complete Collection Cover/Disc Art

Blu-ray

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So I watched two episodes of the SDBD . They fixed the frame rate issues they were having ,but Sakura Wars looks like a washed out blurry mess of a why even bother . That is me being nice .

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That equals get the Sentai Selects DVD if I can find it then?

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Unfortunately yes or one of the ADV releases . From what I just saw someone else that got it early say the original ADV singles even look better .

Edit : I’m curious if anyone is checking these before they send them to replication . Those Who Hunt Elves to me look good for it’s age ,but so far other then that it’s been frame rate issues or really like VHS to DVD back to VHS quality . Wish they would either pick up some of Discoteks SDBD’s to see the difference or hire Justin Sevakis to come in and show them how to do a SDBD . Discotek had 2 or 3 SDBD that were bad from what remember ,but after that it looks the same or better then DVD .

I am keeping my pre-order for Orphen ,but after that if it’s bad or not waiting to I see someone else risk it .

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New Sakura Wars Game Gets TV Anime in 2020

posted on 2019-09-13 02:30 EDT by Rafael Antonio Pineda
SAO: Alicization’s Manabu Ono directs anime at Sanzigen

1 Like
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New Sakura Wars Project Reveals Anime’s April Premiere

posted on 2019-12-11 10:00 EST by Jennifer Sherman
Video previews Moscow Assault Force in adaptation of upcoming game

1 Like
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New Sakura Wars Anime’s Video Previews Moscow Assault Force Members

posted on 2020-01-29 09:28 EST by Jennifer Sherman
Series also reveals additional cast, staff

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New Sakura Wars Anime Premieres on April 3

posted on 2020-02-26 17:30 EST by Alex Mateo
Videos preview anime’s theme songs

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New Sakura Wars Anime’s 2nd Promo Video Previews Opening, Ending Themes

posted on 2020-03-19 05:00 EDT by Crystalyn Hodgkins
Series premieres on April 3

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