Sakura Wars

Sakura Wars TV: Complete Collection

It is the 1920s and Japan is under attack by demonic invaders. The government has designed sturdy albeit steam-owered robot armor suits for the impending battle but only young ladies with the proper combination of virtue and spirit can pilot the robots successfully.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: ANIMATION/ADULT SWIM Rating: PG UPC: 702727138829 Manufacturer No: DSw/BX3

Sakura Wars: The Movie

The feature adaptation of this long-running continuity has been pumped up with redesigned characters, computer-generated mecha, jazzy special effects, and flashy tracking shots. Unfortunately, all this visual razzle-dazzle doesn't add up to much. Director Mitsurou Hongo doesn't bother to introduce the characters or the set-up, and Ojhi Hiroi's story has a jingoistic edge. Brent Furlong, the head of the American Douglas-Stewart company, plots to replace the Operetta Troupe Flower Division with his unmanned mecha Japhkiels. His real objective is the conquest of Japan, but he underestimates the young women of the Flower Division, who defeat his mecha and demons. The flat, drawn characters and the 3-D CG mechanical devices look like they're taken from two different films, and the leaden pacing makes the film feel much longer than 85 minutes. The TV series is less flashy but more entertaining. (Unrated: suitable for ages 12 and older: considerable violence) --Charles Solomon

The Imperial Fighting Troupe is called again to defend Tokyo against the demons. However, this time, the Douglas-Stewart Company is selling a new type of Fighting mecha that will revolutionize Japan's defense. A superior fighting machine that will make the Flower Division obsolete. However, the girls suspect something when members of their team begin to vanish. But what can they do when their division has been placed on indefinite stand-by status? Comes with Reversible DVD Cover. Features English 5.1 Dolby Digital & Dolby Surround, Japanese 5.1 Dolby Digital & Dolby Surround, and Anamorphic Video

Sakura Wars TV - Opening Night (Vol. 1)

Sakura Wars TV is a more satisfying treatment of this popular continuity than the feature or OVAs. The longer format gives the filmmakers time to delineate characters more fully, to explore the nature of the threat the Imperial Flower Combat Troupe faces, and to explain how putting on plays prepares the Troupers for specialized warfare. When klutzy swordswoman Sakura Shinguji arrives in Tokyo in the mid-1920s, she inadvertently alienates the other members of the Troupe. As she works to make amends, she learns that these young women fight in Koubus, special mecha that run on spiritual energy. They battle the Wakiji, mecha that wreak destruction whenever they appear. The first episodes introduce the principle cast members: arrogant Sumire Kanzaki, sharpshooter Maria Tachibana, and petite psychic Iris Chateaubriand. Handsome Second Lieutenant Ohgami assumes command of the Troop, but receives a less than warm welcome. (Rated 12 and older: violence) --Charles Solomon

It is the 1920s, and Japan is under attack by demonic invaders. The government has designed sturdy, albeit steam-powered, robot armor suits for the impending battle, but only young ladies with the proper combination of virtue and spirit can pilot the robots successfully.

Enter young Sakura, arriving in the Imperial Capital from the countryside to join the Imperial Flower Combat Troop. She has the qualifications to be a fine robot pilot, but she's surprised to learn that this secret Defense Force has a cover story as a musical theatre troupe-and they take their cover jobs very seriously indeed. It's costumes, line readings and robot combat galore, as Sakura struggles to learn the ropes, learn her lines, and do her part to save the nation!

Sakura Wars TV - Overture (Vol. 2)

As the Sakura Wars TV series continues, two absent members rejoin The Imperial Flower Combat Troupe: karate champion Kanna Kirishima and klutzy engineer Kohran Ri. Kohran teaches Sakura to synchronize her heart with the heart of the mecha in which she fights; Lt. Ohgami builds team spirit among his fractious charges by insisting they cook and eat their meals together. These unorthodox methods pay off as women of the Troupe learn to put aside personal differences and work as a unit, which they must do to fight the rapidly multiplying villains. In addition to Crimson Miroku, Setsuna, a sadistic little mind-reader appears, accompanied by the gigantic Rasetsu. Even more threatening is a sinister swordsman who cleaves a stone in two. How these heavies relate to the destructive Wakiji mecha will undoubtedly be revealed as the plot thickens. (Rated 12 and older: violence, grotesque imagery) --Charles Solomon

Sakura Wars TV - Intermission (Vol. 4)

Sakura Wars

The time is the early 1920s, and Tokyo is menaced by an invasions of demons. To combat them, Kanzaki Heavy Industry has developed robotic battle armor powered by spiritual energy. Sumire Kanzaki, the arrogant granddaughter of the owner, is the first candidate to control the armor successfully. She's joined by karate champion Kanna Kirishima, sharpshooter Maria Tachibana, diminutive blond psychic Iris Chateaubriand, Chinese gadgeteer Ri Kohran, and sword fighter Sakura Shinguji to form the Imperial Floral Assault Unit. The threat of the demon invasion falls by the wayside as the girls get involved in theatrical productions that somehow increase their spiritual energy. The arrival of their first male commander, Ichiro Ohgami, a comic cute guy in the Tenchi mold, adds a little sexual tension. Based on a popular Sega game, the OAV of Sakura Wars suffers from a surfeit of characters and an underdeveloped plot. At two hours, it feels either half an hour too long or an hour too short. --Charles Solomon

Sakura Wars TV - Stage Fright (Vol. 5)

Sakura Wars Broadcast Series - Wedding Bells (Vol. 2)

The young women of the Imperial Theatrical Troupe, Flower Division, continue their adventures in this second volume of the 25-episode broadcast series. In the fourth and fifth episodes, Sakura attends the wedding of a cousin, a family event that provides an opportunity for flashbacks of her heroic father's sacrifice of his life in the ongoing Demon Wars. Sakura has inherited the "blood of the destroyers of evil" and may someday face a similar challenge. Drama turns to farce as the other members of the troupe arrive, convinced that Sakura is being forced into an arranged marriage. In "Dramatic Picture-Card Show," the girls somehow take on the identity (and supernatural powers) of a gang of comic book superheroes. Sakura Wars is based on a Sega game, but the characters remain underdeveloped and the stories don't form a particularly coherent narrative. (Rated 7 and older, but appropriate for 12 and older: violence, minor profanity, alcohol use) --Charles Solomon

Sakura Wars Broadcast Series - Return of the Spirit Warriors (Vol. 1)

The 25-episode broadcast series based on the Sega game is set in 1926. Under the leadership of handsome Second Lieutenant Ohgami, the seven women of the Imperial Theatrical Troupe, Flower Division stage plays, appear in films, and quarrel. Sharpshooter Maria and swordswoman Sakura defeat a Russian murderer and his steam-powered mecha in episode 1. In episode 2, psychic Iris has a tantrum, runs away, and steals a gangster's boat (which becomes a bonding experience with another actress); the group defeats the ghost of a silent screen star in episode 3. But these adventures don't add up to anything. The characters are so underdeveloped, they're little more than ciphers, and the mélange of fake accents the voice actors affect doesn't help. It may make sense to fans of the game. (Rated 7 and older, but appropriate for 12 and older: violence, minor profanity, alcohol and tobacco use) --Charles Solomon

Sakura Wars TV - Curtain Call (Vol. 6)