| Type: | OVA |
| Length: | 4 episodes |
| Genre: | Adventure |
Sakura Wars OVA
Summary
Set in the 1920's, Sakura Wars follows the story of a group of young women with strong spirit energy. Piloting steam powered robots with their spirit energy, the Flower Division must protect the city from demons.
Review
Based off a game of the same name, this OVA shows some of the major events that take place in the first game that Sega released. The Imperial Army has survived the first Demon War, but it appears things aren't over yet as another one is about to begin. To fight against these demons, a new group of fighters with strong spirit energy is being formed. Sakura, a traditional Japanese girl from the country side, is obviously the main character in this series but the events in this OVA don't completely revolve around her.
These four episodes tell a somewhat complete show, in that it introduces and brings all the key players of the Flower Division together, but it is also just the beginning of a much larger story. Overall, it does a good job of laying the foundation for the series and showing some of the more important events, but it also leaves out a lot of the little details. The OVA does make some jumps in time, making it seem like we are just getting bits and pieces of a show that could use a few more episodes to fill in some of the gaps.
There isn't a real enemy here, just some random demons which look like they came right out of the Aliens movie. There are also some mechanical monsters that show up a couple times and, while there isn't too much action, it allows the girls to show off their different powers while piloting the Spirit Armor and it's easy to see how these attacks could be used in the games. When the girls aren't defending the capital, they can be found practicing and performing plays in the Imperial Theater.
After the Flower Division is assembled, they begin to fight battles in their Spirit Armor to defend the city, but Maria has a tough time commanding the group. This is a good example of when one of the leaps in time takes place. Maria is the commander in episode 3, but at the beginning of episode 4, Ohgami is already their commander. It is mentioned in the third episode that the Imperial Army was looking for a male leader, but there isn't much of a transition, it just kind of happens. Ohgami aids them in their theater productions, fights with them on the battlefield in his own Spirit Armor and is someone all the girls look up to.
I do like the characters, but after watching these episodes, I still don't feel that I know them very well. It does cover a little of each girls' background and who they are. Their personalities, although stereotypical, make for some fun scenes, especially when Sumire gets involved with her very prideful attitude. There isn't much character development, but what there is is mostly given to Sakura.
One thing that really amazed me was the stunning presentation. With beautiful OVA quality animation and excellent background music, every scene is executed almost perfectly and it just comes across as a very high quality production. I have to say that these four episodes are quite good, but I'm not sure I would recommend this OVA by itself unless you are planning on getting more of the anime or playing the games, as it left me wanting more.
These four episodes tell a somewhat complete show, in that it introduces and brings all the key players of the Flower Division together, but it is also just the beginning of a much larger story. Overall, it does a good job of laying the foundation for the series and showing some of the more important events, but it also leaves out a lot of the little details. The OVA does make some jumps in time, making it seem like we are just getting bits and pieces of a show that could use a few more episodes to fill in some of the gaps.
There isn't a real enemy here, just some random demons which look like they came right out of the Aliens movie. There are also some mechanical monsters that show up a couple times and, while there isn't too much action, it allows the girls to show off their different powers while piloting the Spirit Armor and it's easy to see how these attacks could be used in the games. When the girls aren't defending the capital, they can be found practicing and performing plays in the Imperial Theater.
After the Flower Division is assembled, they begin to fight battles in their Spirit Armor to defend the city, but Maria has a tough time commanding the group. This is a good example of when one of the leaps in time takes place. Maria is the commander in episode 3, but at the beginning of episode 4, Ohgami is already their commander. It is mentioned in the third episode that the Imperial Army was looking for a male leader, but there isn't much of a transition, it just kind of happens. Ohgami aids them in their theater productions, fights with them on the battlefield in his own Spirit Armor and is someone all the girls look up to.
I do like the characters, but after watching these episodes, I still don't feel that I know them very well. It does cover a little of each girls' background and who they are. Their personalities, although stereotypical, make for some fun scenes, especially when Sumire gets involved with her very prideful attitude. There isn't much character development, but what there is is mostly given to Sakura.
One thing that really amazed me was the stunning presentation. With beautiful OVA quality animation and excellent background music, every scene is executed almost perfectly and it just comes across as a very high quality production. I have to say that these four episodes are quite good, but I'm not sure I would recommend this OVA by itself unless you are planning on getting more of the anime or playing the games, as it left me wanting more.
Score:
Written by Marc Frost on
Content 
A little bit of profanity.
Violence
A few demons get sliced up and some robot fighting.
Sex
Some cleavage.