(L) Shin Sakura Taisen (Sakura Wars the Animation)

[AntonKutovoi]

Is anyone else kinda annoyed that Maria isn't even mentioned once across the whole series?

[Mazryonh]

Originally Posted by zztop

Chibi artwork depicting the current conflict:

Spoiler for Current conflict:

Wow, where'd you get this? Who's the artist? It's a very good encapsulation of what's going on in this plot arc.

Originally Posted by zztop

Likely not, it's tradition for Sakura Wars anime spinoffs to focus on the girls and bench the playable male lead (ie. the games focus on Kamiyama, the anime focus on the girls and others). Except Game 5's OVA, but that was because the developers couldn't fit its story into the game on time (so they kept it for OVA).

That's no good, because it means Kamiyama likely won't swoop in to bring in the cavalry for the final conflict, right? I really hope that we get to see his time in WLOF in a sequel to the Shin Sakura Taisen game.

Originally Posted by zztop

I found the anime's lore expansion on kouma-human relations (esp. peaceful humanoid ones like Naoya and their allies like Murasame) quite interesting, esp. since (iirc) previous games only summed up kouma as feral darkness creatures to be destroyed all the time and never expanded beyond that. Makes you wonder if future game instalment stories will take this into account as well.

Aside from the fact that creating kouma-human hybrids is possible, there's also the possibility that they may have more powers than is currently being let on. What if in the future a powerful enough kouma figure can control the hybrids with a snap of his fingers? That might lead to them being tragically put down.

Originally Posted by AntonKutovoi

Is anyone else kinda annoyed that Maria isn't even mentioned once across the whole series?

None of the other original Imperial Combat Revue members are mentioned in the game (outside of collectible bromides) aside from Sumire and Shinguji Sakura, either. But Maria's archetype lives on, in Anastasia of the New Imperial Combat Revue.

[Mazryonh]

Episode 10: Okay, the fights in this episode are really hurting from the budget cuts here. What took a lot of effort from the Imperial Combat Revue to destroy in the previous episodes now takes a few blows only. It makes the threat formerly posed by their enemies look rather impotent now. Most of the battle sequences would probably be a lot more fun to play through in a game than watch in an anime episode, since every frame in an episode costs money to render and also costs time out of the total time alloted to airing time.

We now see exactly what Kaminsky had in mind for Klara, and it isn't pleasant. Hard to believe that Klara had such a capability all this time, but it doesn't explain exactly what happened in the flashbacks we keep seeing; how could she be the cause back then? And why isn't Leyla capable of doing what Klara is doing now?

We get to see an old Mecha for Sakura, and a new one too. I bet this development was solely to get people interested in the upcoming sequel to the previous game.

[Master_Yoma]

Will it seem that Kaminsky just bumped him self up to super villain

[zztop]

Originally Posted by Mazryonh

Episode 10: Okay, the fights in this episode are really hurting from the budget cuts here. What took a lot of effort from the Imperial Combat Revue to destroy in the previous episodes now takes a few blows only. It makes the threat formerly posed by their enemies look rather impotent now. Most of the battle sequences would probably be a lot more fun to play through in a game than watch in an anime episode, since every frame in an episode costs money to render and also costs time out of the total time alloted to airing time.

We now see exactly what Kaminsky had in mind for Klara, and it isn't pleasant. Hard to believe that Klara had such a capability all this time, but it doesn't explain exactly what happened in the flashbacks we keep seeing; how could she be the cause back then? And why isn't Leyla capable of doing what Klara is doing now?

We get to see an old Mecha for Sakura, and a new one too. I bet this development was solely to get people interested in the upcoming sequel to the previous game.

I heard the anime was made in tandem with the game, esp. since Sanzigen did the game cutscenes too. I recall an interview where the developer said the anime was finished first, and were briefly worried they wouldn't be able to finish the game by the release deadline. Rather than budget cut, it could've been allocation issues where the majority was to be spent on game development.

Re.Kaminsky, I'm just curious what his backstory is that made him want to become some James Bond villian...

As for last week's artwork, someone on a discord channel put it up. I've been asking for a source but they've yet to answer.

[iko_uwais]

Why do I get the feeling the final episode will have some hook for the next game? And honestly, Elise and Lancelot working with Kamiyama only strengthened my gut feeling about both of them being playable in the next game

[Mazryonh]

Episode 11:

Okay, Kaminsky has cemented himself as a supervillain with superpowers and a superweapon. But the budget allocation this time is also apparent; fights are cut short with info dumps that aren't very convincing and twists are put in for the sake of twists that serve to prolong the action for one more episode. We see some of Leyla's past here, but it's not very believable as a basis for her actions. Overall this anime has not gotten itself very much above average in my view.

Originally Posted by zztop

I heard the anime was made in tandem with the game, esp. since Sanzigen did the game cutscenes too. I recall an interview where the developer said the anime was finished first, and were briefly worried they wouldn't be able to finish the game by the release deadline. Rather than budget cut, it could've been allocation issues where the majority was to be spent on game development.

It shows, especially when you consider the length and breadth of the game compared to the anime, that the majority of the budget was devoted to the game. Were funds from the game's sales reinvested into touching up the anime? That might have worked out better.

Originally Posted by zztop

Re.Kaminsky, I'm just curious what his backstory is that made him want to become some James Bond villian...

We see some of that in Episode 11. Did the First World War happen in this timeline? If it did it might make what he said make a little more sense.

[Master_Yoma]

Well seeing Kaminsky back story and how he got to that point to see him surviving a meteor blast was truly impressive

[zztop]

Looks like Kamiyama will be returning for the series finale.

Originally Posted by Mazryonh

Episode 11:


We see some of that in Episode 11. Did the First World War happen in this timeline? If it did it might make what he said make a little more sense.

Previous games mentioned a continental European War occurring some years back. So yes, World War 1 did happen in the timeline.
In addition, Game 1 implies the Russian Revolution occurred too.

Plenty of time for Kaminsky to go crazy over the state of humanity.

Originally Posted by Master_Yoma

Well seeing Kaminsky back story and how he got to that point to see him surviving a meteor blast was truly impressive

I think the meteor blast is their take on 1908's Tunguska event.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunguska_event

[Mazryonh]

Originally Posted by zztop

Looks like Kamiyama will be returning for the series finale.

That's good news. But will the other WLOF members come back with him?

Originally Posted by zztop

Previous games mentioned a continental European War occurring some years back. So yes, World War 1 did happen in the timeline.
In addition, Game 1 implies the Russian Revolution occurred too.

Plenty of time for Kaminsky to go crazy over the state of humanity.

Good, at least that part of his monologue makes more sense now since he didn't refer to specific historical events concerning the series' timeline.

Originally Posted by zztop

I think the meteor blast is their take on 1908's Tunguska event.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunguska_event

The angel that left the crystal meteorite is still a mystery though. And did Klara see the same event too? Is she thus much older than she looks?

Another thing that doesn't match up is when exactly did Leyla meet Kaminsky when she was fully transformed and looked older than she did by the river, which was a flashback we saw earlier in the series.

[Magewolf]

Originally Posted by Mazryonh

That's good news. But will the other WLOF members come back with him?



Good, at least that part of his monologue makes more sense now since he didn't refer to specific historical events concerning the series' timeline.



The angel that left the crystal meteorite is still a mystery though. And did Klara see the same event too? Is she thus much older than she looks?

Another thing that doesn't match up is when exactly did Leyla meet Kandinsky when she was fully transformed and looked older than she did by the river, which was a flashback we saw earlier in the series.

The Angel is teacher what's her name(White Cape). It looks like Leyla met Kandinsky for the first time at the river the rest was just animation errors.

[Mazryonh]

Originally Posted by Magewolf

The Angel is teacher what's her name(White Cape). It looks like Leyla met Kandinsky for the first time at the river the rest was just animation errors.

How do you know that the angel is White Cape? Was it mentioned in the game or something?

Leyla's dream about meeting Kaminsky for the first time wasn't depicted near a river and she was older then, so we've got a bit of a contradiction there.

[Magewolf]

Originally Posted by Mazryonh

How do you know that the angel is White Cape? Was it mentioned in the game or something?

Leyla's dream about meeting Kaminsky for the first time wasn't depicted near a river and she was older then, so we've got a bit of a contradiction there.

Why do you think he keeps calling her False God?

[Mazryonh]

Originally Posted by Magewolf

Why do you think he keeps calling her False God?

Then this is a revelation that should have been in the game first and foremost. All we see in the game from Hakushu is that she loves omurice and is fond of Sakura, her student, but little else.

[zztop]

Originally Posted by Mazryonh

Then this is a revelation that should have been in the game first and foremost. All we see in the game from Hakushu is that she loves omurice and is fond of Sakura, her student, but little else.

I assume the anime is probably putting in lore stuff they couldn't fit into the game because of game schedule/storyboard limits.
Like the new lore about humanoid kouma + kouma-human hybrids.

[Mazryonh]

Episode 12:

Okay, not a bad ending for an otherwise average series. We get to see a good final boss I'd like to fight in the games, and most everyone comes together to put it down (I still wish the non-Japanese combat revue members featured more in the show, though). An old mecha comes to the fore again, and we get a bit of nostalgia from Sumire.

The hook for the next season or game is a good one, given who we see pick up the new MacGuffin and what that person sees overhead.

[Master_Yoma]

A nice satisfying ending and with an over the top fight

7/10 such a shame that only one of the old cast was back

[zztop]

Originally Posted by Master_Yoma

A nice satisfying ending and with an over the top fight

7/10 such a shame that only one of the old cast was back

Perhaps later sequels will try to bring the old cast back. There's a whole hanging plot thread about that in the game.

[iko_uwais]

Well, looks like Klara will be filling Iris' place as the token loli. Really hope we can play her in the next game, I really like Klara and Tenjin.

[zztop]

Originally Posted by iko_uwais

Well, looks like Klara will be filling Iris' place as the token loli. Really hope we can play her in the next game, I really like Klara and Tenjin.

Technically Azami's the new token loli, although I suppose there's always room for more.

The question is if the sequel might try to introduce new permanent members for the current team, like how Game 2 brought in Orihime and Leni.