Sakura Wars (Franchise)

Information

Characters

Discography

Publications

Figures

Miscellaneous

The 3 main heroines of the first "Sakura Wars" series. Cover art by Hidenori Matsubara

Sakura Wars (サクラ大戦 Sakura Taisen) is a Japanese multimedia franchise created by Oji Hiroi, and is developed by Sega and Red Entertainment. The franchise began as a series of video games, first released on the Sega Saturn video game console in 1996. As the series grew in popularity it was expanded to other markets such as manga, animation, stage shows, drama CDs, food products, and various merchandise.

Overview

Sakura Wars (サクラ大戦 Sakura Taisen) is a Japanese media franchise created by Ouji Hiroi, and is developed by Sega and Red Entertainment. It includes video games and other merchandise. The franchise centers on a series of fantasy and science-fantasy dramatic adventure video games, which consist of a tactical wargame and dating sim, but includes a motion picture, anime, printed media, and other merchandise. The series began in 1996 as an eponymous video game; the game was a success and spawned sequels. The video game series has since branched into other genres and platforms, such as portable games and games for mobile phones.

Video games

Main series

• Sakura Wars (サクラ大戦) (1996)
• Sakura Wars 2 ~Thou Shalt Not Die~ (サクラ大戦２ 〜君、死にたもうことなかれ〜) (1998)
• Sakura Wars 3 ~Is Paris Burning?~ (サクラ大戦3 〜巴里は燃えているか〜 - ミニゲーム〜) (2001)
• Sakura Wars 4 ~Fall in Love, Maidens~ (サクラ大戦4 〜恋せよ乙女〜) (2002)
• Sakura Wars V ~So Long, My Love~ (サクラ大戦V 〜さらば愛しき人よ〜) (2005)
• New Sakura Wars (新サクラ大戦) (2019)

Side-stories and Spin-offs

• Sakura Wars: Hanagumi Taisen Columns (花組対戦コラムス) (1997)
• Sakura Wars Teigeki Graph (サクラ大戦 帝撃グラフ) (1998)
• Sakura Wars: Hanagumi Taisen Columns 2 (花組対戦コラムス2) (2000)
• Pocket Sakura (ポケットサクラ) (2000)
• Ogami Ichiro's Struggles ～Sakura Wars Song Show～ (大神一郎奮闘記～サクラ大戦歌謡ショウ「紅蜥蜴」より～) (2000)
• Sakura Wars GB ~Go Forth—Flower Division Enlist!~ (サクラ大戦GB) (2000)
• Sakura Wars GB2 ~Operation Thunder Bolt~ (サクラ大戦GB2) (2001)
• Sakura Wars Story ~Mysterious Paris~ (サクラ大戦物語 〜ミステリアス巴里〜) (2004)
• Sakura Wars V Episode 0 ~The Samurai Girl from the Wild West~ (サクラ大戦V EPISODE 0) (2004)
• Dramatic Dungeon: Sakura Wars ~Because you are here~ (ドラマチックダンジョン サクラ大戦) (2008)

Remakes

• Sakura Wars ~In Hot Blood~ (サクラ大戦 〜熱き血潮に〜) (2003)

Compilations

• Sakura Wars Complete Box (サクラ大戦 COMPLETE BOX) (2002)
• Sakura Wars 1 & 2 (サクラ大戦1＆2) (2006)
• Sakura Wars Premium Edition (サクラ大戦プレミアムエディション) (2006)

Pachislot

• CR Sakura Wars (CRサクラ大戦) (2007)
• CR Sakura Wars PS2 (実戦パチンコ必勝法! CRサクラ大戦) (2007)
• CR Sakura Wars 2 (ぱちんこCRサクラ大戦2) (2010)
• Pachi-slot Sakura Wars 3 (パチスロサクラ大戦3) (2011)
• Pachislot Sakura Wars 3_(mobile game) (パチスロサクラ大戦3) (2012)
• Pachi-slot Sakura Wars ~In Hot Blood (パチスロサクラ大戦～熱き血潮に～) (2017)
• Pachi-slot Sakura Wars ~In Hot Blood (mobile game)~ (パチスロサクラ大戦～熱き血潮に～) (2017)

Online Games

• Sakura Wars Online (サクラ大戦オンライン) (2001)

Smartphone Games

• Sakura Wars ~All-Star Collection~ (サクラ大戦〜オールスターコレクション〜) (2012)
• Pachislot Sakura Wars 3 (mobile game) (パチスロサクラ大戦3) (2012)
• Sakura Wars ~Dream Story of 100 Flowers Blooming~ (サクラ大戦〜百花繚乱夢物語〜) (2014)
• Sakura Wars: The Legend Begins (사쿠라 대전: 전설 의 시작) (2016)
• Pachi-slot Sakura Wars ~In Hot Blood~ (パチスロサクラ大戦～熱き血潮に～) (2017)
• Sakura Wars: Song of Sakura (사쿠라 대전: 벚꽃 의 노래) (2018)
• Sakura Revolution (サクラ革命) (2020)

Non-game console/PC/Mobile entertainment programs

• Sakura Wars: Hanagumi Communication (サクラ大戦 花組通信) (1997)
• Sakura Wars Denmaku Club (サクラ大戦帝國華撃團 電幕倶楽部) (1997)
• Sakura Wars Digital Data Collection (サクラ大戦 デジタルデータ集太正十二年度 電脳記録年鑑) (1997)
• Sakura Wars Steam Radio Show (サクラ大戦 蒸気ラジヲショウ) (1997)
• Sakura Wars Denmaku Club 2 (サクラ大戦 電幕倶楽部２) (2000)
• Sakura Wars Kinematron Hanagumi Mail (サクラ大戦キネマトロン 花組メール) (2000)
• Sakura Wars 3 Desktop Accessories (サクラ大戦３デスクトップ アクセサリーズ) (2001)
• Sakura Wars @ez (サクラ大戦＠ez) (2002)
• Sakura Wars Mobile Club (サクラ大戦ケイタイクラブ) (2004)
• Sakura Wars V Desktop Theater (サクラ大戦VDesktop Theater) (2006)
• Sakura Wars Steam Communication Club (サクラ大戦 蒸気通信倶楽部) (2013)

Cancelled / Partial scrapped Projects

• Sakura Wars MMO (樱花大战 MMO) (暂定名) was announced on July 28, 2006 at the 4th ChinaJoy expo, but was canceled in June 2007 due to Sega's withdrawal from the online game business in China.
• Hanagumi Taisen Columns (online) (樱花宝石) as announced on July 28, 2006 at the 4th ChinaJoy expo. The game was supposed to be developed for PC and had unique multiplayer features from the previous Hanagumi Taisen Columns games. A hands on demo for the game was held in October of 2007 at the 4th China International Network Culture Expo. The was canceled in June 2007 due to Sega's withdrawal from the online game business in China.
• Sakura War Chronicles (樱花大战-历代记) was an ARPG based of the Sakura Wars franchise and held its Android exclusive beta on May 10th, 2017 at 11:00 a.m. until May 16th at 12:00 a.m. No new news has been released about the game's full release date.

• Sakura Wars: New Promise (樱花大战 新的约定) was a Chinese mobile game based around the Sakura Wars franchise and announced around late 2018. The game was scheduled to be launched before the end of March 2019. It was cancelled due to Sega receiving their China publishing license for the game 2 years after the game was announced and by the time the license was approved the development team had already been disbanded.

• Sakura Wars: Taisho Romance Academy (サクラ大戦 太正浪漫学園譚) (online game) was an online browser game and to be focused on a "school" theme taking place at Grand Imperial Academy. No new information about the game has been released since late 2010

• Sakura Wars World Project (サクラ大戦ワールドプロジェクト) The purpose of the project was to extend the franchise into multiple new genres and to revitalize the series falling sales numbers. 7 Sakura Wars related titles were announced to release in spring of 2003 including Sakura Wars Story Imperial City, KOUMA / Demon (tentative name), and Sakurahime Nishiki Picture Scroll. For several years, these titles were on SEGA's release calendar, but no subsequent updates were made, and was removed from the calendar.
• Tomotoon! Sakura Wars Motion Comic (Tomotoon サクラ大戦漫画版) is a cancelled animated motion comic adaption of the 2003 Sakura Wars Manga. The Series was scheduled to premier later in Fall of 2013, but never did. The series would be quietly cancelled with only 3 episodes being made before production stopped, but were never released to the public.

Anime

• Sakura Wars: The Gorgeous Blooming Cherry Blossoms
• Sakura Wars (TV Series)
• Sakura Wars: The Movie
• Sakura Wars: Sumire Kanzaki Retirement Memorial
• Sakura Wars: École de Paris
• Sakura Wars: The Radiant Gorgeous Blooming Cherry Blossoms
• Sakura Wars: Le Nouveau Paris
• Sakura Wars: New York
• New Sakura Wars the Animation

Critical and Commercial Reception

Review scores and sales (Japan)

Game	Platform	Release year	Famitsu score	Platform sales	Combined sales
Sakura Wars	Saturn	1996	87%	359,485	704,793
	Dreamcast	2000	—	109,686
	PS2	2003	35/40	235,622
Sakura Wars 2	Saturn	1998	88%	509,445	600,115
	Dreamcast	2000	—	90,670
Sakura Wars GB	Game Boy	2000	31/40	132,568	132,568
Sakura Wars 3	Dreamcast	2001	—	308,707	360,270
	PS2	2005	—	51,563
Sakura Wars 4	Dreamcast	2002	36/40	257,386	257,386
Sakura Wars Story: Mysterious Paris	PS2	2004	—	73,091	73,091
Sakura Wars V Episode 0	PS2	2004	—	71,807	216,475
Sakura Wars V	PS2	2005	37/40	144,668
Sakura Wars 1 & 2	PSP	2006	—	57,054	57,054
Dramatic Dungeon: Sakura Wars	DS	2008	30/40	50,940	50,940

The Sakura Wars series sold over 3 million units in Japan by early 2002, and over 4.5 million units by 2010. The original Saturn version of Sakura Wars sold 360,000 copies in Japan in 1996, and sold out within hours of its release, recording the biggest sales as a Sega Saturn original title. Sakura Wars 2 later sold more than 500,000 units in Japan during its first week on sale in 1998, making it the second best selling dating game of all time in Japan. When Sakura Wars 2 was released, it was the current number one most popular game in Japan according to Famicom Tsuushin. The Dreamcast ports of the first two Sakura Wars games additionally sold around 100,000 copies each in 2000, while the third and fourth Sakura Wars games sold around 300,000 copies each for the Dreamcast in 2001 and 2002, respectively. The PlayStation 2 version of the original Sakura Wars also sold an additional 236,000 copies in 2003.

According to Famitsu's 1996 top ten wanted list, Sakura Wars scored second place just below Final Fantasy VII. The game went on to win the Game of the Year prizes at the CESA Awards and Semi-Grand Prix Awards in 1997. Sakura Wars later ranked #13 place in the Famitsu's 100 all-time favorite games list. The first four Sakura Wars games all made Japan’s “Top 100 Games of all time” as voted by fans. Famitsu gave Sakura Wars V a 37/40 (10 / 10 / 9 / 8) score. In Japan, Sakura Wars V was the 91st best selling game in 2005. In 2009, Sakura Wars scored first place in the Famitsu list of most wanted game sequels of all times. In 2010, Sakura Shinguji ranked 17th place in Famitsu's reader poll of top 50 best video game characters. She is one of the highest-ranking female characters on the list, below Amaterasu from Ōkami and Yuna from Final Fantasy X.

Video

Sakura Taisen OVAs 1997 - Opening Geki! Teikoku Kagekidan