Opening Movie of Sakura Taisen 2! (9M MPEG)
Opening Song of Sakura Taisen 2! (1.6M MP2)

The long-awaited, eagerly anticipated sequel to Sakura Taisen is now available! The full title of the game is "Sakura Taisen 2 ~ kimi, shinitamou koto nakare ~" (Sakura Wars 2 ~ You Must Not Die ~) The 12-episode story happens two years after the story of Sakura Taisen (i.e. in the 14th year of the Taishou era). A new group of villains known as the "Black Demon Society" (黒鬼会 , kokki-kai) will be the chief enemy of the Hanagumi, which will be joined by two new members (see below). It is on a 3-CD box set with a special first edition (featuring a box sleeve illustrated by Fujishima Kosuke). Price is 6800 yen. [The picture on the left is a promotional poster for Sakura Wars 2. Creepy isn't it? ^_^]

The title of the game, "kimi, shinitamou koto nakare", is inspired by the title "kimi shinitamou koto nakare" of an anti-war poem (circa 1900, time of the Russo-Japanese War) by the famous Japanese poetess Yosano Akiko (与謝野晶子 , 1878-1942), whose works include Tangled Hair (みだれ髪 , originally published in 1901), which is noted for its passionate depiction of love.

There is a host of new characters in Sakura Taisen 2, and most of them very interesting ^_^ Many of the original cast of Sakura Taisen also acquire more detailed and colorful personalities: e.g. Yoneda is now more melancholic; The "Three Daughters of the Imperial Theater" (Tsubaki, Yuri and Kasumi) are becoming more like the "Three Daughters of Gossip" ^_^ In order not to spoil the fun, only the two new Hanagumi members are introduced below.

Many thanks to Enkai-kun ZERO (えんかいくん零式) for the following info (which was posted in Next Game Square's Sakura Message Board) and for the excellent pictures!

Name Soletta Orihime (ソレッタ・織姫) Age 17 Birthday July 7, 1907 Height 158cm (5'2") Weight 47kg (103lb) Blood Type B Birth Place Italy Seiyuu Okamoto Maya(岡本 麻弥) Description Soletta is of noble birth, with a Japanese father and Italian mother. She is a world-class actress of grace and dignity. She's proud yet have a bright and cheerful personality, though underneath she also has a more private side... Oh and Soletta dislikes Japanese men for some reason... Poor Oogami ^_^ Name Leni Milchstrasse (M) Age 15 Birthday Dec 24, 1909 Height 147cm (4'10") Weight 38kg (84lb) Blood Type O Birth Place Germany Seiyuu Ikura Kazue(伊倉 一恵) Description Leni is a Wunderkind with an analytic mind like that of a computer. This is partly the result of his machine-like education, which also made him into a loner who doesn't show his true feelings easily and who has difficulty trusting other people, despite his young age. Soletta and Leni used to be members of the Hoshigumi (星組 , Star Team, described as an elite group that recruited young gifted boys and girls around the world) of the Imperial Floral Assault Group, but the Hoshigumi was dissolved for some reason before the formation of the Hanagumi, so Yoneda asked them to join the Hanagumi after the events in Sakura Taisen. Note that both last names of Leni and Soletta are related to the stars: "Orihime" (which is usually a given name and not a family name in Japan) is the name of the heroine in the story of the Tanabata (the July 7 Festival), which is a legend originating from China and says that on July 7 of each year, Orihime (the Weaver, represented by the star "Vega") will cross the Milky Way and meet with her lover "Kengyuu" (the Cattleman, represented by the star "Altair"). (It may or may not be a coincidence that Sendai, the home town of Sakura, is famous for its colorful Sendai Tanabata Festival) Leni's last name "Milchstrasse" means "Milky Way" in German.

Sega and Red have spared no effort to make Sakura Taisen 2 much more than just a sequel of the original. There are so many new features here that you can almost say Sakura Taisen 2 is a brand-new game on its own! New Character Graphics The graphics for all chracters have been redrawn, and they're generally larger in size, and capture the emotional states of the characters better. More Spacious and More 3-D Look of the Environment New background graphics gives everything a more 3-D and more spacious look, especially for indoor scenes. New Floor Plans for the Imperial Theater While the overall floorplans of the Imperial Theater remain basically the same as in Sakura Taisen 1, several additions/modifications are added, and just like everything else in Sakura Taisen 2, the new floorplans themselves look more realistic and 3-D-like. Notable additions are Leni's and Soletta's rooms (14), the game room (11), the music room (6), the public bath (17) and the attic. Oh and you can now go into the garden (7). New "Click LIPS" Instead of a menu-based choice of actions like in ordinary LIPS, the new "Click LIPS" responds to the timed point-and-click action of the player. It's used when the player is asked to locate some crucial object on the screen. The use of a Saturn mouse would definitely help here... New "Timing LIPS" Here as time passes within a LIPS choice, the choice menu may change, with new choices appearing or disappearing. Thus picking the correct choice requires the player to choose an action not too early/late but at the right moment. New "Double LIPS" This is literally LIPS within LIPS, with additonal LIPS choices appearing within the present LIPS depending on the previous choice. Click on the image on the right to look at one amusing example concerning a choice between pajama and trousers ^_^ The Item Menu There's an additional "Item" menu available during the game, which gives the player better control over the handling of items he/she possesses. New Mecha with New Attacks Of course Sakura Taisen 2 also features completely new and re-designed mecha's: Leni and Soletta pilot brand-new mecha units called "Eisenkleid" ("Iron Garment" in German), while the original Hanagumi members pilot the modified and improved Koubu units. All the Koubu attacks have been upgraded, with slightly different names and a bit more powerful than the original (especially if Oogami chooses the "FIRE" strategic battle mode). The sure-kill attacks are all preceded with very nice new animation sequences, complete with polygon-rendered mecha's. New Enemies The Hanagumi faces new enemies in Sakura Taisen 2: kokki-kai (黒鬼会 , Black Demon Society), major players of which include the "Multitude of Five", led by the mystrious masked Demon Lord. New Initial Battle Deployment Modes Depending on the distribution of enemy units, the player can order two initial deployment patterns for the Hanagumi mecha units: "Central Breakthrough" or "Enemy-Surround" mode. In the former mode, all koubu's will be deployment next to each other in the middle of enemy formation so that they can concentrate firepower to break the enemy formation. In "Enemy-Surround" mode, the koubu units will be deployment around the outskirts of enemy formation so as to surround and annihilate the enemy formation. (Click on the image on the right to see the effects of different deployment modes) New Battle Stat Adjustments Oogami can now choose one of four stat adjustments for the koubu units of the Hanagumi during battle: Mode Movement Attack Defence Kaze (Wind) + - - Hayashi (Forest) @ @ @ Hi (Fire) @ + - Yama (Mountain) @ - + New Costumes, New Songs etc. As can be seen from the title picture of this page, Hanagumi members will be wearing brand-new combat uniforms, complete with kawaii red-ribbons ^_^ Of course Sakura also gets a whole new wardrobe of kawaii casual wears like the one below ^_^ Besides the original opening theme song (modified), there will be 14 new songs for Sakura Taisen 2, including new ending song "yume no tsudzuki" (Continuation of Dreams). ["Sakura Taisen 2 Song Collection" CD (MJCA-00021) has been released on 4/29/98. Check here for more info. There's also a CD singles for the opening and ending songs. The game BGM's can be found in the 2-CD set "Sakura Taisen 2 Steam Gramophone" (MJCA-00027), released 7/17/98. All of these should be available from UCI Bookstore] Misc. New Features Here's a random list of other new features in Sakura Taisen 2: There is a new "Personality" meter for Oogami (located at the lower right portion of the dialog box): It changes towards more red (softer) or more blue (tougher) depending on Ooagmi's choices. So unlike in Sakura Taisen 1, interaction with non-Hanagumi personel (like Yoneda, Tsubaki, Yuri, Kasumi etc.) in Sakura Taisen 2 does have visible effects, though the ultimate effect on the flow of the main story should be subtle (e.g. certain LIPS choices may be present/absent depending on Oogami's personality at the time). Added save slots! Instead of the 3 save slots (6 if you have the RAM cartridge) of the original, Sakura Taisen 2 now has 8 save slots! (16 if you have the RAM cartridge) The number of save-points during the game remains only about 3 per episode though... The save menu is also cooler-looking and more informative, even with a nice stamp of the portrait of the Hanagumi member whose love index is at top position ^_^ "Take-Back" command during battle movements! A much-wanted feature in the battle mode of Sakura Taisen 2 is the "take-back" command in the movement menu: You can now check out a new location (e.g. to check for attack range, for possibilty of combine attacks etc.) and move back, as long as you're within the same turn, and as long as you haven't committed yourself to the next action. As if to curtail my suggested cheat for Oogami to increase the love index of a particular Hanagumi member ^_^, Oogami can now have only 3 "protect" moves per battle, instead of 8 in Sakura Taisen 1. The compensation is that most episodes now have two or more battle segments ^_^ The love/confidence index can now increase/decrease by more than one unit depending on Oogami's choice of action: If you hear a long-sounding rising chime, that means Oogami has just scored big love index points ^_^ A long-sounding falling chime signals the opposite. The free-roam mode within the Imperial Theater is now timed (or at least mostly timed): A clock appears in the free-roam mode, each place visited (excluding going up/down stairs) takes 5 minutes, and free-roam mode will end at the assigned time (usually indicated in the adventure part of the story). Kohran has invented a new gadget called "Kinematron" which works like a video phone and allows Oogami to communicate with Hanagumi members while they're away. A "Report Card" is now issued for each battle you fought. Three grades are given: Excellent, Good, and OK. You can get the "Excellent" grade only if you completed the objectives of the battle without losing any team members. When an enemy is within the attack ranges of two nearby Hanagumi members, the attack initiated by one of them will sometimes (it's random) be "assisted" by the other to make the resulting attack more powerful. During free-roam mode inside the Imperial Theater, if Oogami is accompanied by other characters, their SD (super-deformed) icons will appear with Oogami's. A nice kawaii touch ^_^ Overall Impression LOVE IT, LOVE IT, LOVE IT!! ^_^ I haven't played through the game yet (I'm taking it slow to enjoy it more ^_^), but the first few episodes are really impressive: The story is more dramatic and emotional (who can forget Sumire's dramatic entrance!), the characters have more depth and personality, the battles are more intelligent and involved, there are more and longer episodes (each episode in ST2 plays like 2 episodes in ST1)... In almost every aspect, Sakura Taisen 2 has surpassed Sakura Taisen, not an easy accomplishment considering how perfect the original already is. My heartfelt congratulations and thanks to the Red/Sega team for yet another superb achievement!

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