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Sakura Wars

Sakura Wars

List Price: $29.98
Your Price: $26.98
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Sakura Taisen saga begins...!
Review: These four episodes (about 120 minutes) are very nicely done, and they serve as the perfect prequel to the very popular Sakura Taisen import game series. The story is interesting with well designed main characters, and it incorporates many elements of the Japanese culture on war and romance with a touch of Western influence... well maybe more than just a touch... ^_^; The soundtrack is really beautiful, and the animation style is very smooth and vivid, resembling in part the Wings of Honneamise with a bit of GunBuster. Note: If you like the music you may want to hunt down the official Sakura Taisen 2 Soundtrack CD: (Japanese import, MJCA-00021, released on 1998/4/29 by Marvelous Entertainment, Inc.) It has 14 beautiful tracks sung by the different voice actors (seiyuu) Also, hopefully Sega will release Sakura Taisen 3 for the Dreamcast in the U.S. as well, so more of us can experience this excellent strategy/sim. Write to them asking for it if you want this so they don't make the same mistake as they did with Grandia. One final note: If you can, buy the DVD version but barring that, get the subtitled VHS version because the Japanese voice actors are much better. The English voice actors are also decent, but the original voices seem to suit the characters much better and the subtitling translation is also more accurate. All-in-all Sakura Wars (Sakura Taisen) looks like a well balanced series, worth watching, and I for one look forward to seeing the next four episodes on DVD. I would highly recommend both this DVD and the original game series. Enjoy!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Masterpiece of animation
Review: This 4-part OAV/OVA is spiritual swordfighting steam mecha action/comedy set in the early 20th century. What I love the most are the lovely characters designed by Kousuke Fujishima (Oh My Goddess!, You're Under Arrest). The story, which revolves around Sakura, progresses slowly from one episode to the next, and teaches about group unity and the "can do" attitude. I haven't played the game, but I think I understand the plot quite well. While the Flower Division is not fighting demons (that look like Aliens), it performs a theatrical show. The 3rd and 4rth episodes don't have Aliens as enemies but other steam robots from the "Black Roots of Evil", and I don't get what their motives are at all. Oh well. What appeals more to me are the character interactions. The humor is among the most tasteful I've seen in any anime - very innocent, not overdone. The music is tops, especially the orchestral accompaniment. The animation? Flawless. Almost Disney-like in brightness and smoothness, but better because of the shading. The DVD is done very well, but sometimes disobeys when I set the language and subtitles (Preferred: subtitled; a lot of humor loses its effect when dubbed).

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: I actually liked this title....
Review: This is a pretty cute show. It has excellent animation, a good story, and good music. My beef with it is that the show ends after a couple of episodes--it just stops.

This is an OVA, and the Sakura Wars TV series comes after it. And both come after the game.

I think I should have had a little knowledge of the games before I watched this, since it just picked up with the Demons. It didn't give ANY background on the Demons at all, which had me lost for the first episode or two. But as it went along I stopped worrying about how and why the Demons existed/were there and focused on the show itself.

The dubbing in both versions is top notch. I personally prefer the English version. Since the girls are from various countries, not just Japan, they cannot be expected to speak Japanese all that well, and without an accent.But in the English, we get to hear the girls in their "native" tongues and with "native" accents. What I mean is this: The French girl *sounds* French (and she even speaks in French when we first meet her). The Russian Maria has a definitive Russian accent, which comes across very well even though we never get to hear her speak in Russian. And the Chinese teenager talks with a Chinese accent, and also speaks in Chinese.

So, watch this. You won't regret doing so, but you might want to watch the TV series just to get a little better idea of what is going on. Or get (or at least see) the games.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: You have seen nothing yet...
Review: This is juz a bit of sidetrack of the original game. Go get the dreamcast version(note: you will need to understand japanese to play it).

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Sakura Battle?
Review: well what can i say? as anima goes this one one is just not that great.the characters are very generic(tuff girl,cute girl,girl with problems... blah blah)the animation is not bad and the voice acting isnt either the main problem with this peice of work is the story.

What story? all these characters get together form a team to defeat the evil demons and...well thats it.they have ONE battle and its over.after 120 mins we get to see them form up to fight against the evil once?if this was the first part in a several part series i might have ranked it higher, but it seems to be a stand alone. think of it like watching the first 5 episodes of robotech and stoping there.no conclusion ,hardley any character development, very little action...hardly any story.

stay away from this

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Sakura Wars is taking over the world!!
Review: With the Sakura Wars video game coming next year, the Sakura Wars 2 OVAs coming out in October, this Sakura Wars DVD was released awhile ago in the USA. Actually, this charm is the Sakura Wars 1 OVA. This will make more sense when the game comes out next year. ^____^ (Get the game!!!)

This DVD is a real treat for us Sakura Wars fans with rich animation (unlike the Sakura Wars TV episodes) and loveable characters. The first 2 or 3 episodes take place before the game and the last two episodes take place somewhere in the game's course. This is why people are like "what the heck happened?!" between each episode. This DVD dragged me into the Sakura Wars fandom...which I do not regret! ^_^v Get the second OVAs in October, you won't regret buying this DVD or anything else Sakura Wars, believe me.


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