| Sakura Amamiya 天宮 さくら | |
| |
| Series | Shin Sakura Taisen |
| Profile | |
|---|---|
| Age | 17 |
| Birthdate | March 19th, 1923 |
| Relations | Hinata Amamiya (mother) Tekkan Amamiya (father) |
| Birthplace | Japan |
| Weapon | Imperial Sword "Amamiya Kunisada" |
| Spiricles | Type-3 Koubu Mugen Prototype Obu |
| Spiricle Color | Pink |
| Characteristics | |
| Gender | Female |
| Hair | Brown |
| Eyes | Blue |
| Appearances | |
| First Appearance (Game) |
Shin Sakura Taisen: Episode 1 |
| First Appearance (Manga) |
New Sakura Wars the Comic: Chapter 1 |
| First Appearance (Anime) |
Shin Sakura Wars the Animation: Episode 1 |
| Media Portrayal | |
| Japanese Voice | Ayane Sakura |
- NOTE: "Sakura" redirects here.
- For other terms, see Sakura (disambiguation).
Sakura Amamiya (天宮 さくら Amamiya Sakura) is the center heroine and one of the main female protagonists in New Sakura Wars. She is a new member of the Imperial Combat Revue's Flower Division and the daughter of Tekkan Amamiya and Hinata Amamiya.
Appearance
Sakura is a young girl with brown hair that has bangs hanging on the left side and blue eyes.
She wears a kimono of turquoise color with a flower on the left side, a pink hakama and a pair of brown boots.
Personality
Much like Sakura Shinguji (Amamiya's predecessor and idol) of the Flower Division, Amamiya is shown to be positive and cheerful among the group and has displayed clumsiness with her performances at the beginning of the game. She also shares the same views of justice as Shinguji and has a tendency to feel jealous whenever Seijuro Kamiyama gets close to other members of the division.
What sets her apart from her idol is her strong will to never give up her dreams to follow in Shinguji's footsteps and revive the Imperial Combat Revue against all the adversity thrown at her. Signs of this are shown when she was getting beaten by Yang Xiaolong in her damaged Koubu armor for refusing to yield or getting refused by Anastasia Palma multiple times into accepting her as an acting student.
Sakura is also shown to be close to all members of the division already as she has gotten to know everyone's habits, such as Clarissa Snowflake's concentration with her books and Azami Mochizuki's long absence from the theatre. She is also described to have an impetuous side to herself as her master Hakushuu Murasame described how Sakura intended to dive into a river during the dead of Winter to steel her mind and body in her youth.
Sakura looks towards Seijuro with romantic feelings and can get easily flustered whenever Seijuro gets close to her intimately or catches her in a state of undressing or bathing (albeit not without punishing the captain herself).
Background
In her childhood, Sakura lives in a small village on the outskirts of Tokyo with Tekkan Amamiya and Hinata Amamiya. She also became close friends with the young Seijuro Kamiyama and Hatsuho Shinonome (in the 2020 animation series) during her life there. During the time spent with Seijuro, they would have fun with swordplay using 'legendary' wooden swords made by her father.
One day, she was attacked by a demon near her home but was saved by Sakura Shinguji in the nick of time. This moment inspired her to pursue her dream of being a Flower Division member of the Imperial Combat Revue. She would later share this dream with Sejuro while they played at a riverbed, which prompted the boy to promise that he will become the captain of the Flower Division. Sakura then made another promise with Seijiro that they would get married after she gets older.
In the 2020 Sakura Wars animation, she was shown struggling to learn a ceremonial dance with the young Hatsuho. As a result, the two kids ended up getting into a fight where Sakura ran away crying. Afterward, she was unable to return and apologize to Hatsuho when her father stopped delivering swords to the shrine.
After her mother passed away and Seijuro moved out to study and become a navy captain, she would receive formal sword training from her master Hakushuu Murasame. One time, Sakura would tell her master that she needed to steel her mind and body by diving into a river in the dead of winter, which she never does again after doing it the first time.
By the time Sakura moved to Tokyo and joined with Hatsuho to become members of the Imperial Combat Revue. Unfortunately, the Revue is in a state of decline due to the absence of its core members after the end of the Great Kouma War. This left Sakura with a desire to have both the combat and theater sides of the Combat Revue revived to its former glory and keep Shinguji's legacy alive.
Playstyle
With the hack-and-slash mechanics introduced to the 2019 game, Sakura is the only character out of the cast with three different mechas for players to use (Two based on story progress, and one is a patch-exclusive armor used only for the Battle Bot map replays).
Kobu Type-3 Spiricle Armor
- HP: 6
- Attack: 7
- Defense: 8
As the first character to play after Chapter 1's intermission, Sakura's Kobu Type-3 fights with a single katana in close-combat. While her quick attack animations are a bit underwhelming against tougher enemies in comparison to Seijuro's ferocious dual-wielding style and Azami's multi-strike combos, she makes up for it with a single strong attack that allows her to close the distance on an enemy automatically. This gives her the option to move to another group of enemies close by as soon as she clears away her side of opponents.
When using strong attacks in combination with her fast attacks, she offers a strong horizontal slash after the first fast strike and a piercing attack by the second. Her strong attack after the third quick-strike should launch her enemy in the air, and she can perform a strong jump attack at the end of her fast combos.
Since her basic strong attack can knock down most if not all non-gigantic enemies, the best tactic to utilize her is to dash in with an opening strong attack, then chip away the enemies' health while they are down with fast strikes before circling around to repeat the attack. Alternatively, spamming strong attacks is great for keeping the enemies knocked down but it is best to do so when singling out enemies with higher health bars while avoiding to get surrounded. Her aerial attacks offer only basic sword animations with both quick and strong attacks, but it is just enough for her to attack and bring down flying enemies and those she launches in the air mid-combo so long as they are in her reach.
While she is a close-quarter fighter, players should try to be careful with her positioning and how long she can stay in one spot as her attack animations are slightly sluggish compared to Seijuro and Azami, and can easily be countered mid-combo.
Her special attack Divine Sword: Cherry Blossom Blizzard releases a horizontal projectile shockwave that slashes through and knocks away all enemies within its range, even from a distance. It is most devasting up close for swarms in front of her.
Mugen-Class Spiricle Striker
- HP: 6
- Attack: 7
- Defense: 8
This armor is an exclusive Day 1 patch that Sakura can play in only for the Battle Bot map replays, which is accessible within Chapter 3 of the game. While her stats and both her basic and combo attacks remain unchanged in this armor, the only difference is the smoother and faster attack animations that reflect the Mugen units as the state-of-the-art mechas in the game's storyline.
Even dashing in with a quick strike provides a slightly better knockback compared to the Kobu Type-3, allowing players to opt between using a quick or strong attack as the opening move. With the Mugen's attack animations, it is more viable for players to have Sakura fight more efficiently with her quick attacks and allowing her to continue fighting within a close range for a longer duration before needing to evade or move out of crowds.
Her special attack remains the same as her Koubu version, but offers a more different cutscene when she recites her move.
Prototype Obu Spiricle Striker
- HP: 8
- Attack: 9
- Defense: 8
The Prototype Obu is unlocked at the battle phase of Chapter 5 and is easily Sakura's best mecha armor in the game. While the Obu boasts higher stats than the Kobu and has better attack animations like the Mugen, its real asset is being able to release energy projectile slashes at her opponent with her strong attacks (This feature is unlocked after a certain point during the Chapter 5 battle).
As Sakura fights best in the Obu, she can now mix between fighting close-quarters or attacking enemies from afar with projectile energy slashes. Even her strong attack combos carried over from her Kobu Type-3 are further enhanced with this feature.
While her basic strong attack can fire a horizontal slash, Sakura can fire two simultaneously to cover a wider range after making a dash. The projectiles can also increase to four by inputting a strong attack after a regular strike, and Sakura can even fire the energy off from her other three strong attack combo animations to extend the sword's reach.
If players plan to fire their projectile attacks at a distance, keep in mind that her basic strong attack still retains its auto-function to approach enemies. It is best to have a fair distance away from enemies to avoid moving towards them, or to be wary of where Sakura will land as she closes in on her target.
While attacking in mid-air, she can also use her strong attack to release a projectile wave slash to snipe down enemies high up. This, however, requires proper positioning, height, and timing to be able to hit an enemy in the air so it will take a bit of practice to get used to this mid-air strategy.
Sakura's new special attack, Divine Sword: Eternal Cherry Blossoms, unleashes a vertical slash area attack in front of her, with the currents created by its force making it just as wide as her previous special move. It offers a higher damage output that can take out even a giant enemy in the close range center of the attack. Just barely getting hit at the edge of the currents is enough to wipe out the smaller enemies caught by it.
Etymology
- The name Sakura means "cherry blossom" (さくら).
- Sakura's surname Amamiya means "heaven, sky" (天) (ama) and "temple, shrine, palace" (宮) (miya).
Trivia
- Sakura Amamiya is shown to have a tendency to make spelling mistakes throughout the 2019 game. This is made apparent when Seijuro Kamiyama has difficulty reading two Teletron messages from her on the raids in Ginza, and having found her childhood wooden sword with its intended name written incorrectly on it.
References
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