Search - Sakura Wars TV - Opening Night (Vol. 1) - With Series Box on DVD

Meh.

Reviewer | 03/30/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I'm not too happy about the Sakura Wars TV series. First off, the first episodes are filled with Sakura torture and that's about it. Ohgami enters and things get a little more lighter, but things don't get good until Kohran and Kanna enter...which is around episode 6 or 7.The good: simple and sometimes beautiful animation with soft colors. There's a lot more character development to be found in this series which is great.The bad: Sometimes the animation goes from good to fair to poor to REALLY poor. All the characters, except for Sakura, Kohran and Kanna, have completely changed. Maria is extremely, extremely cold which ticks me off because in the first OVAs, she was the only one who accepted Sakura before Kohran and Kanna came. Sumire is a mega-you-know-what now but thankfully, she gets better as the series goes on. Iris is extremely quiet and not cheery at all. Her lines constist of those breathy sounds she does and whimpering. But what really urks me is the overall darker tone of the series. Blood, violence and people being chopped in half, I dunno... I miss the lighter mood of the games and OVAs. Plus Orihime and Reni only make a 30 second appearance later on in a film reel. (Boo!) I strongly recommend that if you know the story of Sakura Wars, you skip this DVD and get the others. If you really want it, prepare to be disappointed if you're a mega-fan of Sakura Wars like me. Although, that's my opinion...I gave it four stars because ADV's dvd deserves it! Extras include production sketches, clean opening and closing animation (I love the closing animation!)and a printed booklet with background information ^_^. And once again, listen to the Japanese version...for the love of corn... XP;;;"