Sakura Taisen: Sumire is a short show that revolves around a single member of the Imperial Opera Troupe (aka, Imperial Defense Forces, aka Teikoku Kagekidan), Sumire Kanzaki. After being a member of the force since practically the beginning of the effort, Sumire has worn her body down to the point that she simply can not generate the spiritual energy needed to properly power the steam-powered armor (koubu) used to fight against the demonic forces that threaten Tokyo. She decides to leave her fellow soldiers and return to her home to help run the family business. Before she leaves, however, there will be one final performance to cap her stellar acting career.

The show itself is very low on action, as that isn’t the point. The point is to let Sumire's fans say "good-bye" to their favorite Sakura Taisen character. The OVA revolves around the character's final performance, and how she says goodbye to each of the other characters. While set after the events of the fourth Sakura Taisen video game, the characters from Sakura Taisen 3 are not present.

This OVA provides a look at one of the Teigeki's longest-serving members.	You didn't expect Sumire Kanzaki to just fade away, did you?

Sakura Taisen: Sumire is an interesting release for an American anime distributor. While related to a larger media property, which has seen numerous anime releases from different distributors, the disc consists of a single OVA episode clocking in at less than 25 minutes. In addition to the short length of the show, the context of the show is mostly lost on an audience that doesn't hail from East Asia. Since the Sakura Taisen property first started as a video game on the Sega Saturn almost ten years ago, it has expanded into many different venues, including music and drama CDs, live-action stage plays and musicals, manga, artbooks, anime, and more. ADV Films released translated versions of the first two OVA series as well as the TV show, and TOKYOPOP has started releasing a translation of the most recent manga series, but many Americans and Europeans won't have the grounding to really understand what they are seeing.

Some of us, however, do. The entire show is filled with subtle (and not-so-subtle) references to previous occurrences in the Sakura Taisen universe. Two quick examples should suffice to make my point. First, at one point in the show Sumire refers to the Koubu as the 'colorful pansies,' which is a reference to a comment she made in an episode of the first OVA series. Second, during another moment in the show, Sumire is eating alone in the dining hall in the Imperial Theater. She drops her fork, and Ohgami Ichiro, the Imperial Defense Force captain (and the player's character in the video games) enters the room, picks up the fork, and hands it to Sumire. Sumire then refers to Ohgami as 'ensign,' even though his current rank as a Naval officer is captain. This comment is a reference to the first video game, where Ohgami and Sumire first meet when he picks up a fork she dropped in an identical situation.

If you get those references, then you will thoroughly enjoy this show. If you do not, I fear that you won't really get what the show is about, or why you should care about it. I am not ashamed to admit that the Sakura Taisen property has had its claws in my brain for quite a while, and I have experience with enough aspects of the property to get most of the references. Therefore, I enjoyed the show very much, and was even tearing up at the end, because I got it. I knew what Ohji Hiroi (the writer) was trying to do, and he did it very well. I knew that one of the central characters of the Sakura Taisen universe was going away, and this was the final goodbye. In fact, it felt like a final goodbye, and other than some characterizations that I didn't agree with, predominantly Kanna's reactions to everything, the show was very well done and made its point.

The other members of the Teigeki are there to lend support, but they are minor characters in this OVA.	Sumire, your fans will love you forever.

However, the majority of people who watch this show will probably find it to be rather impenetrable. You will not realize that the images flashed at the end all come from the video games. You will not realize that the song played during the closing credits was Sumire's theme song from the first video game, and it will not stir happy memories in your mind. Ohji Hiroi, for the most part, did an excellent job writing the show, but it was written primarily for hard-core fans. If you are not an experienced Sakura Taisen fan, you likely won't get the references, and their impact will be lost.

I must admit that I don't know why Funimation decided to release this show. I am thankful that they did, but my knowledge of and affection for all things Sakura Taisen is outside of the mainstream American anime fan. I can't imagine that the show will sell that well, and I feel sorry for the person whose first experience with Sakura Taisen is this OVA, as they will have no clue what is going on.

In addition to the single OVA episode on the disc, there is a roughly fifteen-minute documentary that consists of interviews with Ohji Hiroi (the series writer) and a number of the Japanese voice actresses for the Sakura Taisen characters, talking about the voice actor for the character of Sumire Kanzaki, Michie Tomizawa, and how much they will miss her. This is an interesting piece, but once again it will have more interest for those people familiar with her work in previous Sakura Taisen shows and games. At the Tokyo Game Show in 2001, Ms. Tomizawa announced that she would be leaving the series. Rather than finding another voice actress to play the role of Sumire, a decision was made to retire the character. Thus the desire for this OVA was to close the book, so to speak, on the character of Sumire, in a fitting fashion.

In summary, this disc is a good closure point for fans of Sumire Kanzaki, and a decent look into the Japanese voice acting side of things. With only $10 list price, the disc is reasonably priced for what you get. The show has excellent use of elements from previous games and shows to heighten the emotional appeal for the initiated. Working against the show is its short length (less than 30 mintues), and the fact that many elements of the show are impenetrable for those lacking heavy experience with the property. Bottom line, if you are an existing Sakura Taisen fan, you are an apostate if you do not see this show. Everyone else has little to no reason to see it.

Distributor: Funimation
Creator: Ohji Hiroi / RED Company / SEGA Enterprises
Released:  2004