Sakura Wars Vol. 1: Opening Night Review

Originally published on otakureview.net

I am constantly adding items to my top anime of all time list. I always love to check out new titles based on recommendations from friends or sometimes I just go on a hunch on what I think will be a good series to watch. In this case, I picked it up on a hunch and from minute one I was hooked. Sakura Wars is a top anime! Released to the US last year, this show already had a huge following in Japan leading to three or more OVA (original video animation which means that it was released straight to DVD or theaters instead of to TV) and a live stage show. The US release was just as popular with Anime fans as they scrambled to pick it up as it was released which was done in an incredibly fast manner of all 6 volumes being released in just under 7 months!

Sakura Wars takes place in the 1920's of the imperial capital of Japan. Following the lives of a special group of young girls, it takes us on a very involving story where these girls defend the capital from the unknown enemy of Darkness. Disguised as a hugely popular theater troupe, these girls possess incredible spiritual powers within them which allow them to run huge robots known as Koubu.

In this first disc, you get five episodes that really get you started with this series. In these first few episodes you only meet a small portion of the crew that make up the Flower Division Combat Troop. First you have Maria, the blonde Russian bombshell. She is the leader of the troop and the oldest. She has a very quiet and serious demeanor to her. Next up would be Sumire who is the daughter of the president of the corporation that makes the Koubu for the troop. She is the diva of the group, she loves the stage and acting more than anything and is never afraid to let everyone know who she thinks is the star of the group. Next would be Iris who while is not yet a fighting member of the group because of her age (she is only 7 years old) she still possesses incredible spiritual power and is a force to be reckoned with both on and off the stage. Lastly we are introduced to the newest member of the team, Sakura. A young girl who is just arriving to the capital for the first time, she is bursting with more spiritual power than she knows what to do with and a past that ,while is not revealed quite yet, will play a big part in her future.

The basic plot of the series is laid out pretty heavily in these first few episodes and more importantly, the underlying themes are laid out just as thick. The overall theme that is always trying to be conveyed in this series is that no matter how small your team is... if you don't trust each other, you'll never succeed. The team always seems to have trouble when they are out in the battle field, trying to take each fight as individuals instead of a working unit and when a new leader, 2nd Lieutenant Ohgami, is brought in to help out it only gets worse.

This series has everything going for it and hardly anything going against it. Everything in the series is top notch from the characters, to the story, to the animation and even to the music. The story is written out in such a wonderful way so that you never pay attention to one character more than any of the others because if one character is going through a tough time, you know that the rest of the team is going through just as tough of a time. It's a wonderful way to combine the inner conflict with the outer conflict without it seeming forced. The story line as I've said has been incredible thus far and I'm completely addicted to what is going on and where the story line is going to take me next. I think that the best part of this series has to be the music though. I don't speak Japanese but the opening theme is so incredibly catchy that I am constantly finding myself humming it as I go about my day. It just has a lot of energy to it and really gets you in the mood to see these girls go through their lives.

The only bad thing that I've seen with this series so far is the American voice casting. Maybe I've just become too accustomed to listening to the Japanese voices while I read the subtitles but every time I try to listen to the American voice tracks, it just doesn't feel right. It doesn't feel the same to me. I don't know though, I think that's really just a matter of my personal preference. You may very well like the American casting. But really if that's all that I can come up with as a bad point for this series, how bad can it really be?

This is a series that belong in every Anime fans collection. It's an incredibly engaging story with characters that you actually care about and want to see them succeed. If you love Anime, you'll adore Sakura Wars!