Sakura Wars

It sat on my shelf collecting dust for well over a year. I don't even remember even purchasing it (a sale item perhaps?). Two nights ago, just on a whim, I decided to open up Sakura Wars OVA Collection, and I am decidedly hooked. I want more.

Now I understand that I am trekking into a series with quite the fandom, so how should I go about this? I know it originated as a game and there are massive amounts of merchandise and whatnot. What I want to know more about is the anime. TV series, various OVAs, movies…

How is the order that they should be watched? What of the continuity? Are there any major differences between each (be mindful of spoilers!)? How’s the dub/sub? And which one of you are Sakura Taisen nuts? I’d like to delve into the games too but that might prove a tad expensive. Help a fellow AoDer out.

[Magic_Knight]

The TV series (http://www.asian-stuff.com/anime/review.php?id=72) is suppossed to be standalone, but I think it's a great watch for those who have seen the OVA (and even seems to fit in with the OVA - just seeing some scenes from a different view so to speak).

Anyways, now that you saw the first two OVA's in the Sakura Wars collection, you need to watch the Sakura Wars movie (http://www.asian-stuff.com/anime/review.php?id=58) that was released by Geneon. Next up is he Sakura Taisen: Sumire (http://www.asian-stuff.com/anime/review.php?id=62), which is Sumire's fairwell episode. You can get it for like $6 online. The last part of the Sakura Wars series released in the states is Sakura Taisen OVA 3 (http://www.asian-stuff.com/anime/review.php?id=61). It introduces a new cast, I don't think it's as good as the others, but it's not all bad. There is a 4th OVA, but it isn't licensed as far as I know.

To sum everything up, this is the order:


Sakura Wars OVA 1 (http://www.asian-stuff.com/anime/review.php?id=38)
Sakura Wars OVA 2 (http://www.asian-stuff.com/anime/review.php?id=37) (both in the collection you have)
Sakura Wars: The Movie
Sakura Taisen: Sumire
Sakura Taisen: OVA 3

Alternate universe:
Sakura Wars TV

Again, like I said above, even though you've seen the OVA, I still recommend the TV series. It helps to fill in all the gaps and more time with the characters you love.

Edit - I stuck with the sub the whole way through because I didn't care for the acting in the first OVA and all the cast changes that take place because three different sutdios licensed parts of the series.

[Nork22]

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Narob said:How is the order that they should be watched? What of the continuity? Are there any major differences between each (be mindful of spoilers!)? How’s the dub/sub? And which one of you are Sakura Taisen nuts? I’d like to delve into the games too but that might prove a tad expensive. Help a fellow AoDer out.

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Speaking from someone who has played all the games (including 5 and getting Rachet's ending /images/graemlins/sdsmiley.gif ), I only recommend the TV series if you never plan on touching the games. It's not my idea of a recommendation either since the TV storyline screws around some of the important plot points between OAV1, game 1 & 2 and OAV2 (this involves mainly with Ayame).

As for dub/sub, honestly, sub all the way for this series. You get almost every single role played by different VAs every time in English (I think the dub has around 4 different voices for Sakura alone going from OAV to movie).

[AbeChinchilla]

Make sure to get the movie.

The character booklet that comes with it should be enough to get you to enjoy the movie (I haven't even see SW OVA2). It's an awesome movie.

And Sub-version all the way!

Nice. I'll be picking up the movie next and get started on that. Oh, and out of curiosity, how are the games?

[DiGiKerot]

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Narob said:
Nice. I'll be picking up the movie next and get started on that. Oh, and out of curiosity, how are the games?

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Chock-full of Japanese text? /images/graemlins/sweat200.gif

They're fantastic if you can cope that though (there are text translations for 1-3 at least floating around). If you've got a PSP they've just released a port of Sakura Taisen 1&2 on one UMD in Japan - the loading times aren't the best (the loading before every LIPs event is kind of annoying), but at least you don't have to worry about region coding and its easy to get ahold of. Then again, its not exactly hard to get around the encoding on the DC versions, and the DC has Sakura Taisen 3 (best in the series IMHO, though it is on PS2 as well).

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DiGiKerot said:
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Narob said:
Nice. I'll be picking up the movie next and get started on that. Oh, and out of curiosity, how are the games?

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Chock-full of Japanese text? /images/graemlins/sweat200.gif

They're fantastic if you can cope that though (there are text translations for 1-3 at least floating around). If you've got a PSP they've just released a port of Sakura Taisen 1&2 on one UMD in Japan - the loading times aren't the best (the loading before every LIPs event is kind of annoying), but at least you don't have to worry about region coding and its easy to get ahold of. Then again, its not exactly hard to get around the encoding on the DC versions, and the DC has Sakura Taisen 3 (best in the series IMHO, though it is on PS2 as well).

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Man, I'm gonna have to go through a lot of trouble just to get my Sakura Taisen fix...it's like my new drug. I can't believe I didn't discover this sooner. Perhaps figurines are next...

Oh and thanks for the info guys.

[littleharlock]

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DiGiKerot said:
the DC has Sakura Taisen 3 (best in the series IMHO, though it is on PS2 as well).

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May I just second that? Admitted I haven't followed the Sakura Taisen games after the third one (but hearing the theme music from ST5 in the various trailers/promos for it I'm not very motivated to get those game(s)) but Sakura Taisen 3 ~ Paris wa Moeteiru ka? holds a special spot in my heart *as stupid as that may sound*
Despite the Teikoku Kagekidan from the previous two games featuring an IMO way more interesting selection of girls (and bigger selection in case of ST2) than the Paris Kagekidan introduced in ST3 (heck I only found Erica Fontaine, Lobelia Carlini and well maybe Hanabi Kitaoji interesting in the team...would have wished Mel/r and Ci to join the team *gotta love classical maids ^_^*) I think the atmosphere and story was what makes ST3 that great. It features a whole lot of wonderful scenes (ie. <span style='color:#dddddd;background:#dddddd'>Ohayo Bonjour anyone /images/graemlins/sdsmiley.gif</span>) and the twist the story takes near the end just got me totally hooked back when I played it the first time. Furthermore as beautiful as the first two games have been in terms of graphics the Dreamcast debut the series had with Sakura Taisen 3 got me really fascinated/hooked back then (heck those attacks were breathtaking "back then").
That of course doesnn't mean that the first two games aren't recommended! They're great featuring decent characters and story...but if you're thinking of getting some of the games make sure to get ST3 for sure!

so far
yours
littleharlock

[DiGiKerot]

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littleharlock said:
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DiGiKerot said:
the DC has Sakura Taisen 3 (best in the series IMHO, though it is on PS2 as well).

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May I just second that? Admitted I haven't followed the Sakura Taisen games after the third one (but hearing the theme music from ST5 in the various trailers/promos for it I'm not very motivated to get those game(s))


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In the case of STV it really depends what you are looking for in an ST game - the production values do seem very noticably down in places (the OP is really unimpressive, for example), and Gemini and Ratchet are the only characters I particularly like (the rest are a little bland), it is generally a decent game, and it really ups the quality of the battle stages - the map design is really awful, and the transforming mecha is less of a gimmik than it first seemed. There are some amusing twists to the gameplay in some chapters as well.

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littleharlock said:
It features a whole lot of wonderful scenes (ie. <span style='color:#dddddd;background:#dddddd'>Ohayo Bonjour anyone /images/graemlins/sdsmiley.gif</span>) and the twist the story takes near the end just got me totally hooked back when I played it the first time.


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Such a wonderful scene that, IIRC, they pretty much reused the whole thing in Mysterious Paris, though that title recycles a lot from ST3. At least it has a Ci Caprice ending - Hyu-hyu! /images/graemlins/catgirl0.gif

[DiGiKerot]

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Narob said:
Perhaps figurines are next...


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Be very, very careful - ST Gashapon are what got me started on the slippery road to figure collecting...