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Sakura Wars (1996 video game)

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Sakura Wars
Cover art for the original Sega Saturn release, featuring protagonist Sakura
Developer(s)
Publisher(s)Sega
Director(s)Shinichi Ito
Producer(s)Oji Hiroi
Artist(s)
Writer(s)
Composer(s)Kohei Tanaka
SeriesSakura Wars
Platform(s)Sega Saturn, Dreamcast, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable
Release
September 27, 1996
    • Sega Saturn
      • JP: September 27, 1996
    • Dreamcast
      • JP: May 25, 2000
    • Microsoft Windows
      • JP: August 18, 2000
      • RUS: January 11, 2006
    • PlayStation 2
      • JP: February 27, 2003
    • PlayStation Portable
      • JP: March 9, 2006
Genre(s)
Mode(s)Single-player


Sakura Wars (Japanese: サクラ大戦, Hepburn: Sakura Taisen) is a video game co-developed by Red Company and Sega CS2 R&D, and published by Sega in 1996. The debut entry in the Sakura Wars series, it was originally released for the Sega Saturn home console. It was subsequently ported to other systems including the Dreamcast, and remade for the PlayStation 2 under the title Sakura Wars: In Hot Blood. Defined by Sega as a "dramatic adventure" game, Sakura Wars combines overlapping tactical role-playing, dating sim and visual novel gameplay elements.

Set in a fictionalized version of the Taishō period, the game follows the exploits of the all-female Flower Division of the Imperial Assault Force, a military unit dedicated to fighting supernatural threats against Tokyo while maintaining their cover as a theater troop. Main protagonist Imperial Army officer Ichiro Ogami is assigned as the Flower Division's leader, and becomes embroiled in both the Flower Division's latest conflict and the personal lives of its members.

The concept work for Sakura Wars began in 1993, with full development beginning the following year upon approval from publisher Sega. Creator and producer Oji Hiroi was inspired by Japanese stage shows, conceiving the game's basic narrative and gameplay elements. Several prominent figures were brought on board the project, including writer Satoru Akahori, composer Kohei Tanaka, and character designer Kōsuke Fujishima. The game was a critical and commercial success, becoming one of the highest-selling titles for the Saturn and launching a franchise which includes multiple sequels, spin-offs, media adaptations and merchandise.

Gameplay

The two main gameplay modes of Sakura Wars are social interaction using the LIPS system, and turn-based strategic battles which is directly influenced by earlier LIPS interaction.

Sakura Wars is set in Tokyo during a fictionalized version of the Taishō period, with players taking the role of Imperial Army officer Ichiro Ogami and the all-female Imperial Assault Force Flower Division. The gameplay segments, which play out across multiple episodes, incorporate tactical role-playing, dating sim and visual novel elements.[1][2] Gameplay is divided between periods where Ogami navigates the Imperial Theater and interacts with various characters, and combat sequences governed by a turn-based battle system upon a tilted grid-based battlefield.[3][4]

During the social sections, Ogami navigates the theater during limited time sequences between battles. During these sequences, when talking with both the main heroines of the Flower Division and supporting characters, conversations rely on the LIPS (Live & Interactive Picture System) system; when faced with critical choices in the course of a conversation, conversation options are displayed with a time limit for the player to select a response. Depending on the type of response, the character may respond positively or negatively, impacting their relationship with Ogami and future interactions. Other actions within LIPS include holding the cursor over parts of a character's portrait to trigger internal monologues and varying responses from the characters.[3][4] Each main heroine has different personality quirks that must be taken into consideration while talking with them.[5]

During combat segments, the Flower Division fight demon monsters using machines called Koubu. Each unit has their own turn, with each turn allowing two actions. These actions include "Attack", "Defend", "Move", "Deathblow" (a critical strike that kills an enemy in one hit), Charge (store energy for a more powerful action during the next turn), and Heal (which restores health points to a chosen unit). Different units specialize in different skills, such as support actions, melee attacks, or distance attacks—along with their range of movement, each unit also has an independent range in which they can perform actions. Actions taken during LIPS sequences with members of the Flower Division directly impact battles; skillful performances during LIPS segments raise a character's Motivation, granting status increases and improving combat ability.[3][4][5]

Synopsis

In 1923, Second Lieutenant Ichiro Ogami is transferred to the Imperial Assault Force Flower Division, a secret combat unit based in Tokyo. Met by Sakura Shinguji, he is led to a theater and meets its main actresses of the Imperial Theater Revue; Sumire Kanzaki, Maria Tachibara, and Iris Chateaubriand. Meeting the theater's manager Ikki Yoneda, Ogami learns that he has been assigned as a ticket taker for the theater. Initially seeing his assignment there as a punishment, it turns out to be a bluff to determine his worth. The "Imperial Theater Revue" is the Flower Division, a group of women with spirit powers which defends Tokyo against demon attacks using steam-powered armor called Koubu. The city is currently being attacked by demons controlled by the Hive of Darkness, a group of black magicians led by the powerful Kuroki Satan and his master Tenkai. Tenkai, who sacrificed himself 300 years earlier to prevent Tokyo falling to demons, begins launching successive attacks on Tokyo and then on the Flower Division itself.

Alongside their efforts against the Hive of Darkness, Ogami sees the Flower Division's efforts as a theater troop as they rehearse and perform a musical version of Cinderella. During these events, Ogami becomes close to each member, and can pursue a romantic relationship. After Tenkai and the Hive of Darkness are defated, Kuroki Satan reveals himself as the true villain; dubbing himself "Aoi Satan", he is in fact the true Satan, responsible for controlling the demons and resurrecting Tenkai as his servant. After turning Yoneda's deputy Ayame Fujieda into a demon using her suppressed feelings for Ogami, Satan summons a great fortress from the sea near Tokyo, intent on releasing the population of Earth to overrun humanity. Using a powerful airship, the Flower Division launch a concentrated assault on Satan's fortress. They successfully unite and use their combined spiritual power to banish Satan back to Hell. Ayame's demon form is destroyed at the cost of her life, and after bidding farewell Ayame ascends to Heaven as an angel. The final scene varies depending whether Ogami romanced a member of the Flower Division and which member he chose.

Production

Concept and development

The concept for what would become Sakura Wars was created in 1990 when Oji Hiroi saw a Japanese stage production of the play Shanghai Rhapsody, and was impressed by the spectacle he saw from the acting troop on stage.[6] Later in 1993, Hiroi and anime composer Kohei Tanaka worked together on an original video animation adaptation of the video game Tengai Makyou: Ziria.[7] Hiroi was highly impressed by Tanaka's music, to the point where he wanted to create a musical set to Tanaka's music. This concept evolved into the wish for Tanaka to score a video game which focused on theater.[6][8] Beginning in 1993, a small team in the Planning Department of Red Company led by Hiroi began promoting his concept and planning the game's basic concepts. At this stage, the project was just titled "Sakura" (桜) due to the wish to connect it with Japan, and was described as an "example plan" rather than a practical project. While distinct from the final Sakura Wars, the proposal shared an alternate historical setting with steampunk technology, a female lead, and mecha combat.[9]: 343–344 [10] In addition to Hiroi, the team was comprised of three young Red Company artists. Two of the artists — Ryoma Kaneko and Naoki Morita — would later work on Sakura Wars proper.[9]: 343–344  While developing the "Sakura" proposal, Hiroi and his team created two tabletop role-playing games dubbed "Sakura 1" and "Sakura 2", which resulted in the strategy elements almost overriding the other aspects.[9]: 343–344 [10][11] Inspired by the combination of tactical combat and story used in the Fire Emblem series, Hiroi steered the project more in that direction. Influences from contemporary anime were also added to bring depths to the story and characters. With the basic elements defined, the team continued to refine the project over between half a year and a year. Having confidence in the project's potential to become a video game, Hiroi presented "Sakura" to multiple game companies, but none of them had confidence in the project. With no-one interested, Hiroi put the project to one side, expecting that it would not enter production despite his continued determination to realize it.[9]: 343–344 [10][12]: 123 

In 1994, following Hiroi's decision to put aside "Sakura", Hiroi was contacted by Shoichiro Irimajiri — then vice president of Sega — about the possibility of developing a game with a popular mascot character for Sega's in-development Sega Saturn home console. Irimajiri wanted a unique video game property for the system, and had heard positive feedback about Hiroi's work. Hiroi was initially reluctant, but eventually accepted Irimajiri's offer, inviting him and other potential contributors to spend a fortnight's holiday in Saipan.[9]: 316 [13]: 88 [14] Hiroi later said that the decision to work on a game for the Saturn was a hard one, as he had previously worked on games for rival home console systems. It was Sega's favorable response to his pitch that persuaded him to develop Sakura Wars on the Saturn.[15] Hiroi pitched his old concept for "Sakura" to Irimajiri during their stay on Saipan, and while Hiroi harbored doubts as to whether such an ambitious and unusual project would be accepted, Irimajiri was convinced. Upon their return to Japan, Sega and Red Company began development on Hiroi's project.[6][9]: 316 [13]: 88 [14][16]: 64, 74  The project was then given the title Sakura Wars: as there were problems trademarking the kanji version of "Sakura" as it was also the name for cherry blossom, the word was instead written in katakana.[11][14]

There was early contention about the inclusion of adventure segments alongside the strategic simulation elements, with some fearing Sakura Wars would turn into a bishōjo game.[9]: 316  The strategic segments were designed to feel like interactive anime battles, with everyone getting a chance to attack as in many anime fight sequences of the time. The wish for an anime style also came through in the adventure segments with the LIPS system, turning conversations into a kind of confrontation to be won.[9]: 316  The LIPS system was born from staff frustration with adventure game traditions of having to select a response to a tense situation, but that time would freeze while the player made the decision. By implementing a time limit, the team made Sakura Wars more interactive and removed the frustration. The "LIPS" title was chosen for its sound rather than any special meaning.[9]: 343–344  The LIPS system really got going after testing was done on a scene where Ogami can choose to look or not look into a shower cubicle.[8] The battle sequences were inspired by similar scenes found in the Kamen Rider and Ultraman television shows, and were actively referenced during the final battle with the combined final attack of the entire Flower Division. Each battle sequence was hand-crafted by one member of staff to simplify production.[17]: 114  The game's "Motivation" system was a means of incorporating simulation elements without utilizing role-playing elements such as experience points. The decision to remove experience points entirely proved controversial within the team.[9]: 341  According to Ito, the process of creating the Reliability system was based around trial and error, mainly due to how best to express it.[9]: 334 

Development on Sakura Wars lasted for approximately three years, double the original estimate.[8][9]: 343–344  Hiroi acted as the general producer, while Ito acted as general director.[18][19] The CGI segments were developed by Buildup Entertainment and Neverland; the anime sequences were handled by Kyokuichi Tokyo Movie.[20] Sega initially outsourced programming to an unnamed external company, and by 1995 it had already developed one or two chapters of the game's combat-based content before Hiroi objected to the direction the game was taking, becoming a generic simulation game that deviated from his vision. Red Company refused to continue development of the prototype, and the external studio was removed from development. Eager to see the game completed, duties were transferred to Sega's internal studio Sega CS2 R&D, which would co-develop the game with Red Company.[8] The conflicting gameplay elements needed to be divided between different teams within Sega CS2 R&D, only bringing the two parts together at the end of development.[17]: 114  Due to this development technique, none of the elements could be effectively tested until the game was close to completion.[9]: 334 [21]: 128  Due to these various development difficulties, the Sega team found production difficult.[22] Sega also commented in an interview that Sakura Wars was their most expensive video game production to date, although no exact budget was given.[23]

Art design

The main cast were designed by manga artist Kōsuke Fujishima, who at the time was working on the long-running manga series Oh My Goddess!.[8] Before Fujishima joined the project, the characters had placeholder designs created by Red Company staff.[21]: 128–131  There was resistance from Fujishima's editors due to his heavy work load, including his commitment to Oh My Goddess!.[8] Sakura Wars was the first time Fujishima had ever worked with Sega or been associated with a Sega property, and he was skeptical due to state the project was in when he was first approached, being in a very early stage of development before story or gameplay mechanics had been finalized. Red Company's placeholder character designs were in place at a time when it was uncertain whether Fujishima would join, but Hiroi was adamant that Fujishima would be character designer. Fujishima eventually joined the project by the end of 1994, with his first design being for Sakura.[13]: 89–90  His initial sketches for Sakura moved Hiroi to tears, and fully convinced both Red Company and Sega that Fujishima was the right person.[9]: 342 [13]: 89–90 [21]: 128  The positive reception of Fujishima's work, together with his understanding for the project's goals, helped raise staff morale for the entire project.[24]

Fujishima was responsible for designing eight characters including Ogami and Sakura, along with formal and casual clothes, and accessories. The supporting cast was designed by Hidenori Matsubara.[21]: 128–131  Matsubara also helped with general animation.[8] As the character concepts had been firmly established before the design stage, Fujishima was able to create the characters with ease, creating them so players could easily understand what was going through their minds. Due to the game's Taishō period setting, Fujishima needed to stop himself from adding anachronistic elements such as fasteners.[25] Hiroi made character sheets for each character, which Fujisaka used to create each character and their various designs, noting Sumire as a character whose personality was communicated through her clothes.[13]: 4 [14] Each character had distinct traits, such as a ponytail and hakama kimono for Sakura, so Kujishima simply combined these elements with his own design ideas.[9]: 319  The Taishō period meant that Fujishima could combine traditional Japanese clothing with Western accessories such as shoes, allowing the female characters an otherwise improbable range of movement.[13]: 4  His design for each main protagonist—from Ogami to the Flower Division members—directly mirrored Hiroi's concepts for them.[13]: 14–25 [21]: 132  The Flower Division's battle dress was modeled after tuxedos, and compared by Kujishima with the costumes of the Takarazuka Revue.[13]: 79 [24]

The Koubu mecha designs, along with the game's CGI sequences, were created by Futoshi Nagata.[17]: 108 [26] His initial design outline from Hiroi was the basic concept of steampunk technology within the Taishō period.[12] When designing the Koubu, Nagata was guided by Morita, who showed him photographs of both steam-powered trains and early deep sea diving suits, specifically those made of spherical segments. When creating the designs, Nagata consciously avoided the trope of anachronistic near-future technology, doing extensive research on the Second Industrial Revolution in the United Kingdom.[17]: 108 [27] The concept of a diving suit fitted in with the concept for the Koubo as being reinforced armor rather than robots. Its front was designed after the steam trains that ran on the Aji Express Line.[26] For the armor of the Flower Division, Nagata designed them to mirror each member's traits and beauties, designing them so they would be a unique set of armor rather. Because the Koubu were meant to be armor rather than robots, they were not given faces.[17]: 108  Because Nagata was brought on early in the game's production, he had considerable freedom when submitting and adjusting his designs.[12]: 123–124  When the designs were finalized, Nagata began working full time on CGI, finishing the first Koubu design in five days.[17]: 108 

Scenario and characters

When Hiroi was creating the original concept for Sakura Wars, he had trouble picking the exact era in which the story would take place. He initially considered using the Shōwa period, with a focus on the post-war black market.[28] He also considered setting it shortly before and during World War II itself.[29] Hiroi eventually abandoned this idea as there was too much documentation about the Shōwa period, making its use as a fantasy setting complicated.[28][30] He next considered using the Meiji period, which was a time of turbulence following the fall of the Tokugawa Shogunate that saw the first introduction of Western culture into Japan following its extended isolation under the Shogunate. Hiroi also abandoned this idea as Meiji-era Japan could not allow for the "modern" feeling he wanted.[30] With these in mind, Hiroi settled on using the Taishō period as the setting for Sakura Wars. He chose this period as it was the next step taken by Japan in embracing Western culture and merging it with its own, allowing for political changes and the emancipation of women after a prolonged feudal period.[31][30] In the original draft, the story of the the Flower Division was much darker, with a key event being the Great Kantō earthquake and the resultant breakdown of the Taishō period. This version was almost entirely discarded.[12]: 28 

Hiroi wanted to create a version of the Taishō period where the social advances and freedoms Japanese people began exploring continued without being brought to an end by the Great Kantō earthquake and the subsequent shift to militarism.[8][22][32] Another reason for using the Taishō period was the lack of concrete documentation about the period and Tokyo's development during that period, as much of it had been destroyed during the Great Kantō earthquake.[17][14] Hiroi originally wanted to distinguish the Sakura Wars Taisho from the historical Taisho by modifying the kanji slightly, but he did not do this due to staff wishes for a world that blended real and fictional events.[33]: 209  To further distinguish it, Hiroi made use of steampunk technology in the game's world.[18] Despite it being a fantastic version of the Taisho period, Hiroi did his best to incorporate realistic elements, creating a blend of fantasy and reality within the game.[30][14] The world's general setting, while conceived by Hiroi, was further developed and fleshed out by Kaneko and Morita.[17]: 112–113 

The main script and branching storylines were written by author and screenwriter Satoru Akahori.[17]: 112–113  Hiroi revealed that the setting of Sakura Wars was based on his family history, so felt that it would lose its entertainment value if he wrote the game's script himself.[25]: 17  Hiroi had previously worked with Akahori on other projects, so Akahori was brought on board. When Akahori first heard the concept before talking with Hiroi, he laughed and said it would be better to try blending the stories of Haikara-san ga Tōru and Teito Monogatari. He was later convinced to join the project after talking with Hiroi.[16]: 68–69  When first pitched the project, all that had been finalized was that the story would involve young girls and mecha.[34] Akahori was unsure how to approach the project as he had never written for a video game, but Hiroi told him to write the story like a television anime.[16]: 68–69  When Akahori first joined the team, the story was still in an unfinished state: the only points finalized were its setting, overall theme of steampunk mecha combat, and a cast of five or six characters. Akahori's early work was focused on expanding the narrative and characters based on Hiroi's draft.[12]: 129 [25]: 20  Due to the deep connection to Hiroi's family history, Akahori could not work on the script by himself, needing frequent consultation with Hiroi. Hiroi also insisted on making frequent changes if Akahori's work did not fall in line with his vision.[16]: 68–69  Akahori wrote a thirteen-episode storyline for the game, with the final battle taking place across three episodes. After talks with staff, the final battle was condensed into a single chapter, bringing the game to its current ten-episode length.[6][17]: 102  Kaneko and Morita created the additional dialogue around Akahori's main scenario, along with other duties such as script editing and debugging.[17]: 112–113 

Creating strong representative characters was part of the request from Sega for a new mascot character for their Saturn system.[9]: 316 [13]: 88 [30] A major element of the cast was taking advantage of the game's setting, which could allow characters from countries outside Japan such as Russia and France to be part of the Flower Division.[11] During early planning, Hiroi made character concepts for the central female cast, imitating character archetypes commonly found in high school manga. Using this inspiration he created a gentle yet strong-willed woman (Sakura), a rival character who initially comes off as "awful" (Sumire), a cold leader figure (Maria), a small cute character who would be jealous of the other members (Iris), a woman who would be good at athletics (Kanna) and an oddball character who wore glasses (Kohran).[17]: 102–103  The role of male protagonist was initially given to a young man named Kusaku Kanuma, a member of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department who inherits a blade forged by the Japanese swordsmith Muramasa and must work with Sakura to pilot a two-person mech. As with most of the draft scenario, the male character underwent major alterations.[12]: 28–31  Most of the protagonist's development into Ichiro Ogami happened after Akahori joined the team, with Akahori creating Ogami's role as an avatar for the player who could be friendly with every member of the Flower Divison. His name was inspired by the Japanese word for "wolf", referring to his energetic personality traits.[17]: 102 [21]: 135 

Audio

Casting

When casting actors to voice the game's characters, Hiroi needed people who could both act and sing the musical numbers.[8] To achieve this, Hiroi set the condition that the voice actors also had experience with live stage performance.[12]: 125  Each of the voice actresses who played members of the Flower Division were approached personally by Hiroi based on their acting and singing ability before being pitched the concept of Sakura Wars. Several actresses were recommended to Hiroi by other members of staff.[8] Bringing together the voice cast at such an early stage was unheard of at the time, and because of this the cast recorded their lines and songs alongside the game's development.[35]: 15 

  • Chisa Yokoyama voiced Sakura. Yokoyama, who had appeared in notable anime series, was chosen by Hiroi based on the wish to create a compelling final deathblow line.[8] Yokoyama was originally cast in the role of Iris, but Yokoyama was recast in the role of Sakura following Iris' final voice actress being cast.[12]: 126  Yokoyama was more used to recording strong characters, so portraying Sakura as a "normal" girl made the role diffucult for her to perform.[17]: 116 
  • Urara Takano voiced Maria. She was offered the role based on her previous positive working experiences with Yokoyama.[33]: 165  Takano was performing in a concern when first approached by Hiroi, and despite the project being in an early state of development, she was intrigued by Maria's character and agreed to take the role.[9]: 352 
  • Michie Tomizawa voiced Sumire. Hiroi first approached her during a Christmas concert in late 1994 after she was recommended by a mutual friend. Hiroi pitched his concept for Sumire, and after seeing Tomizawa's performance offered her the role.[9]: 350 
  • Mayumi Tanaka voiced Kanna. Hiroi selected her for the role based upon her experience performing the comedic "handsome man" archetype in kabuki stage performances.[8][9]: 376  Tanaka's instruction for playing Kanna was to portray her as a tomboyish character who is unconcerned by her true gender.[9]: 359 
  • Yuriko Fuchizaki voiced Kohran. Fuchizaki was recommended by Hiroi by Fujishima. She was approached in mid-1995, when recording was being planned for the opening and ending themes, and questions were still being asked by the cast about how to portray the characters.[8][9]: 356 
  • Kumiko Nishihara voiced Iris. The role of Iris was originally given to Yokoyama, with Nishihara being considered for the role of Sakura. After hearing Nishihara's performance, Yokoyama suggested they switch roles and Nishihara became Iris' voice actress.[12]: 126 
  • Ai Orikasa voiced Ayame. Orikasa was planning a fan club concert when she was approached by Yokoyama about Sakura Wars. Hiroi approached Orisaka on Yokoyama's reccomendation, and after seeing Ayame's performance offered her the role.[33]: 193  When recording her part, Orikasa encountered difficulties portraying the three different versions of Ayame's character.[35]: 40–41 
  • Akio Suyama voiced Ogami. At the time, Suyama had little to no voice acting experience, and was working part time at Red Company while training as a voice actor.[33]: 205  Hiroi was still looking for a voice actor for Ogami, but there was limited budget to hand. Upon hearing of Hiroi's situation, Suyama offered to take on the role despite there only being a few lines of any note. Faced with his budget and time limitations, Hiroi accepted Suyama's offer.[19] Ogami was the last main character to be cast.[8]

Once selected, the cast were gathered together and told by Hiroi and Tanaka of their goals, along with being handed pictures of their respective characters.[35]: 14  The recording sessions were overseen by noted anime and feature film sound director Toshio Sato, who followed Hiroi's request that the characters be portrayed as real people.[8][16]: 65–66  Sato was initially shocked at being given four script books and being told it was just one third of the entire script.[36]: 130  Sato's instruction to the cast was that they would be the characters' main emotive force as their faces would not move much.[33]: 205  Sakura was the last character to be recorded, so Sato could concentrate on how to bring out her heroine status alongside the other characters. One of the elements Sato concentrated on was portraying the fractious relationship between newcomer Sakura and established star Sumire.[35]: 46  The sheer amount of voice acting was the main reason the game was delayed.[35]: 60 

Music

The game's music was composed by Tanaka. Tanaka was among the first people to offer support for Oji's vision, as little to no other people believed Oji's vision would come to fruition.[37] Tanaka was among the first people brought on board the project, and like the others was defined as a teacher figure for the rest of the development team.[10] Sakura Wars was Tanaka's very first video game project, and brought him widespread recognition.[38] Tanaka began working on songs for Sakura Wars in 1995. At that period, Japanese popular music was dominated by rhythm and percussion over melody. Both Tanaka and Hiroi wanted to reintroduce younger Japanese to beautiful melodies again.[39] While looking at how he could construct the music, Tanaka looked at popular music from the game's time period and worked to re-create its melodies and structure using the popular music styles of the 1990s.[40] Due to the setting and Takana's goals, he was able to incorporate multiple music genres including jazz, rumba and samba alongside more traditional Japanese musical styles.[22]

Tanaka initially planned out 50 songs, but this was far too many to record and fit into the game within allotted time and budget estimates, so the number was cut down to 24. The number was further cut down toe seven, but Hiroi was brought close to tears by this. Faced with this issue, Tanaka asked how much music the team could manage, and was told that one CD's worth of content was enough. Tanaka eventually settled on between eleven and twelve songs which made it into the final game.[12]: 133 [23] The lyrics of all the songs were written by Hiroi, despite his repeated protests about not being a professional lyricist.[30] Due to Hiroi's self-professed inexperience, Tanaka ended up being a teacher figure for him.[37] As part of his training, Hiroi went to karaoke sessions, studied the work of famous songwriter Yū Aku, and bought old records of vintage songs. The learning process took between one and two months before Hiroi was competent at writing song lyrics.[30][39] The songs of Sakura Wars all started with Hiroi creating the lyrics and then handing his work to Tanaka for polishing and to be set to music.[16]: 126–127 

The main theme, "Geki! Teikoku Kagekidan", was composed by Tanaka based on Hiroi's instruction of combining the opening stile of a Super Sentai show with the vocal tone of the opening theme of the 1949 Japanese film Aoi sanmyaku.[22] The main theme was composed and approved in a very short time.[21]: 138  The theme was sung by Sakura's voice actress Yokoyama. Due to the structure of the song and the variations in tone and voice strength it required, recording was a strenuous experience for Yokoyama; the song required several retakes.[35]: 29–32  One of Tanaka's favorite pieces to compose was the ending theme "Blooming Maidens". The theme, which represented strong will, was the kind of request he had rarely received in his career as a composer, and so enjoyed the experience of writing it.[39] Yokoyama was again the main vocalist, and the recording process took an hour. The other female cast members were then brought in to provide the chorus. All the main voice actresses game together to sing it, and it proved an emotional experience for all of them.[35]: 20–26  As the songs were completed very early in the game's development, the rest of the development staff were able to work with them and use them as reference when creating other parts of the game and storyline.[17]: 104–105 

Release

Sakura Wars was first announced at a special presentation in 1995. It was originally announced for release in April 1996.[23] The game's unique blend of genres and styles resulted in it being labelled as a new genre dubbed "dramatic adventure" during its marketing.[41] Due to the greatly increased amount of content—particularly the amount of voice acting Hiroi wanted to include—resulted in the release date being pushed forward several months at Hiroi's insistance, along with the game being expanded from a single disc to a two-disc release.[35]: 60  In order to reach the new release date, the developers worked long hours and sometimes all through the night.[41] Several pieces of finished content needed to be cut to make the release date.[8] Sakura Wars released on September 27, 1996. It received a reprint on June 20, 1997, and released as a budget title on February 11, 1998.[42]

A port for the Dreamcast was released on May 25, 2000, and a version for i-mode released on December 18, 2006.[42] It was ported with its sequel to the PlayStation Portable and released on March 9, 2006.[43] The game was also ported to multiple Microsoft Windows operating platforms. It released for Windows 95 and Windows 98 systems on August 18, 2000; and for Windows 98, Windows ME and Windows 2000 on February 20, 2003.[42] Due to the game's size, these versions were released on multiple CD-ROMs.[44] The CD-ROM version was translated into Russian and published in the region by Akella on January 11, 2006.[45] A DVD-ROM version was released for Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Vista on January 25, 2007.[42][44]

PlayStation 2 remake

A remake of Sakura Wars for the PlayStation 2, titled Sakura Wars: In Hot Blood (サクラ大戦～熱き血潮に～, Sakura Taisen: Atsuki Chishio Ni), was announced in 2002 as part of the Sakura Wars World Project.[46] Developed by Sega studio Overworks, the remake was directed by Teruyu Terada, who had been battle planner for later Sakura Wars titles.[46][47] The remake originated as part of Sega's efforts to reintroduce the wider world to the Sakura Wars series. As the versions of Sakura Wars prior to this point seemed old and awkward when compared to its sequels up to that point, it was decided to remake Sakura Wars. New CGI segments were created, and the anime sequences redone by studio Production I.G.[47] The subtitle was taken from a Tanka featured in Midaregami, a collection of tanka by famous Japanese writer and poet Akiko Yosano. Hiroi enjoyed her work, so featured quotes from her poems as subtitles for Sakura Wars titles several times beginning with Sakura Wars 2.[18][48]

The number of graphics and artwork pieces were increased greatly, more recent and new LIPS functions were incorporated, and the ARMS (Active & Realtime Machine System) battle system introduced in later Sakura Wars titles was incorporated with new improvements including special attacks with accompanying short movies. Two additional story episodes were added — one expanded the story of one of the supporting characters while the other connected to the next entry in the Sakura Wars series.[47][48] New voice acting was also recorded, including a replacement voice actress for Sumire due to original actress Tomizawa's retirement from the role in the early 2000s.[47][49] The music was redone by Tanaka, mainly at the insistence of the original voice cast.[50] Sakura Wars: In Hot Blood was released on February 22, 2003.[51] First print editions came with a special DVD which included a documentary detailing the development process of the Sakura Wars series up to that point.[52] Mobile-based tie-in content related to the original mini-games was released later that year.[46] Implementing this content proved problematic, with the team eventually using a password system for players to access content.[53]

Reception

Sales

Several staff members were highly skeptical that the game would be a commercial success, but Hiroi promised Sega that the game would sell at least 200,000 units.[16]: 180  Sakura Wars sold out in multiple stores within hours of its release.[8] According to Famitsu sales data, Sakura Wars's first-week sales reached an estimated 205,270 units, reaching the top of sales charts.[60] It sold through just over 57% of its stocks.[61] It was recorded as having the biggest sales of a Sega original title to that date.[62] As of 2007, Sakura Wars for the Saturn has sold 359,485 units, becoming the 13th best-selling title for the console in Japan.[61] The Dreamcast port debuted with 71,123 units, selling through nearly 65% of its shipment. It eventually reached total sales of 109,686 units, becoming the 33rd best-selling game for the platform.[63] Sakura Wars: In Hot Blood debuted at #3 in Japanese gaming charts with 142,351 units sold. Despite high anticipation, the remake was outsold by Star Ocean: Till the End of Time from Enix (#2) and Dynasty Warriors 4 from Koei (#1).[64][65] During 2003, the remake sold 235,622 units, becoming the 54th best-selling title of the year.[66]

Legacy

Sakura Wars was an unexpected success for both Red Company and Sega, prompting the companies to develop further entries in the series. Sakura Wars spawned three direct sequels; Sakura Wars 2: You Shall Not Die for the Saturn, and Sakura Wars 3: Is Paris Burning and Sakura Wars 4: Fall in Love, Maidens for the Dreamcast.[1][8][42][62] A fourth sequel was developed for the PlayStation 2; known as Sakura Wars V: Farewell My Lovely in Japan, it was published overseas as Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love, becoming the first entry to release outside Japan.[1][42] Numerous spin-off titles covering multiple genres related to each entry have also been developed for multiple platforms.[1][67]

An original video animation (OVA) series dubbed Sakura Wars: The Gorgeous Blooming Cherry Blossoms was produced and released between 1997 and 1998. Created by Animate and Radix Ace Entertainment, it told a series of stories around events mentioned in Sakura Wars or the untold origins of the Flower Division members.[68] An anime series of the same name was broadcast in 2000 over a six month period.[69] Co-produced by Red Company, Madhouse and Studio Matrix, the anime series was directed by Ryutaro Nakamura. While following the basic plot of Sakura Wars and preserving Hiroi's original vision, several elements such as depictions of the main antagonist's past, Sakura's childhood memories and scenes within the Flower Division prior to Ogami's arrival were added. A major issue was being faithful to both the video game and OVAs while keeping within the restrictions of a television format.[70]

Sakura Wars has remained popular in Japan since its release. Sakura Wars was rated as the 13th best game of all time in a 2006 Famitsu pole, with all the main entries then released also appearing in the list.[71] Sakura herself was rated in 2009 by Famitsu as the 17th best Japanese video game character.[72] Sakura Wars and its first sequel were both ranked among the ten most memorable games for the Saturn, while the Dreamcast port of Sakura Wars was also ranked among the most memorable for that platform.[73] Characters from Sakura Wars, Sakura Wars 3 and Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love were included as playable characters in the 2012 Nintendo 3DS crossover title Project X Zone and its 2015 sequel.[74][75]

References

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