The Spring anime season has brought plenty of new shows for fans to get into, one of which being the action mecha series Sakura Wars. An anime adaptation of one of the longer running franchises in video games, this isn’t the first time Sakura Wars has gotten an anime series. In fact, the series not only got a full television series, but a film and multiple OVAs based on future games over the years.

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Sakura Wars has made a comeback for the new generation, thanks to SEGA and the fans being incredibly supportive of a new title. The new video game was fairly popular in Japan, and it’s gotten a television series featuring the new cast. Here’s everything people need to know about the series before getting into it.

10 WHAT IT'S ABOUT

Sakura Wars 2000 cast.

The Sakura Wars anime series is about the Imperial Combat Revue. They’re a collection of young women (led by a man in the field) who have especially powerful spiritual energy. With that ability, they use their powers to protect Japan from the dangers of an invasion by demons. This particular series sees us introduced to the Moscow Combat Revue as well.

9 DO I NEED TO PLAY THE GAME?

Strictly speaking, no. It’s theoretically possible to watch this series without having played the video game. It does introduce the viewer to all the characters in the second episode so it’s impossible to get lost. But having said that, the anime does take place after the video game’s storyline. So it’s potentially possible for them to introduce elements later that it presumes the viewer is aware of.

8 HOPEFULLY YOU LIKE STEAMPUNK

The Sakura Wars series has always been set in the early part of the 1900s, and this series falls in line with that. As a result, even though the combat is done using giant robots, they’re all steam-powered robots that use a bunch of old school weaponry. So you’ve got mecha with giant katana, or giant axes, or even crossbows.

7 THEY ALSO DO PLAYS

Another thing that makes these characters stand out is that they work for the Imperial Combat Revue. This connects to the Japanese cultural tradition known as Takarazuka.

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Takarazuka were all-female musical theater troupes that put on plays that were either versions of Western plays or adaptations of classic, popular Japanese stories. In this universe, the women perform as a means of sharpening their spiritual energy.

6 IS THIS A HAREM

If people are turned off by the idea of a harem, then they should be aware of this going in. Sakura Wars is meant to be a dating simulator, where the main character chooses between all the girls of the Imperial Combat Revue. This means that there are some harem elements present, but it doesn’t stop the series from being enjoyable. Most of the time the women are too busy working on fighting monsters and practicing for plays to bother with the general male lead.

5 HOW LONG IS IT

One of the bigger problems with anime these days is they never run long enough for people to get a real feel for them. Too many series run all of thirteen episodes before coming to an end, often times leaving the viewer wanting. In this instance, there doesn’t seem to be a scheduled length for the series. Presumably it will run for the usual two seasons, which is 24 episodes, but there’s no confirmation.

4 THERE'S A PHANTOM THIEF

In the series, early on we’re introduced to a character known as White Cape. She’s basically what Tuxedo Mask would look like if he were a woman and wore all white, and also had a sword. She’s known for doing gentleman thief behavior, and often is known to rescue children from dangerous situations. She’s secretly the main character’s trainer, which isn’t really a spoiler because it’s made obvious in the character’s first real appearance.

3 THE MALE LEAD

The lead male character in the series is Seijurou Kamiyama, a young man who happens to lead the Imperial Combat Revue.

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While the girls are often focused on putting on plays and being the frontline defense force for invasions, Seijurou is more of a military man, focusing on taking orders for missions. That having been said, we don’t see very much of him, as he’s often busy learning about the next threat, instead of directly interacting with the girls of the show.

2 MAIN CHARACTER'S KIND OF IMMATURE

The lead character of the series is Sakura Amamiya, meant to be reminiscent of the original Sakura for the first series and game. Like the original Sakura, she’s a swordswoman that happens to be new to the organization. Unlike that Sakura though, she’s much more immature, showing jealousy each time the commander shows any sort of affection to someone that isn’t her.

1 CONNECTED TO THE OLDER SHOWS

This series is connected to the original anime series in that it’s using the same Imperial Combat Revue group as before. While we have no idea what’s happening to the other women there, as it turns out the actual leader of the Imperial Combat Revue is Sumire Kanzaki. She was one of the top stars of the Revue in the original anime, and her talent has gotten her promoted to run the organization, even commanding Seijurou.

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