Sakura Taisen: Ecole de Paris 5/10

The phenomena that is Sakura Taisen has spawned 5 games. Here's the OAV created about the characters from the 3rd game. Have you played the games? You have? LIAR!

This OAV is REALLY geared to the people who've played the 3rd game. These 3 episodes act as a kind of prelude to the game, introducing how the girls met and joined the Paris version of the demon-fighting team familiar from the rest of the Sakura Taisen (Wars) universe. Of course we do get the guy from the regular Sakura Taisen cast who arrives as the trainer for the new team so we're not entirely in new territory here.

Art-wise this show looks amazing, I mean just awesome. I love the character designs and the girls look quite original compared to the ones in the other series. The music was OK and the end themes are sung by the voice-actresses which is always a nice touch. This OAV also has the best CG mech fight in the whole Sakura Taisen series as far as I'm concerned. (I've seen all but the second Ecole the Paris series).

As far as the plot is concerned that's where this show really falls apart. Some of the characters are well introduced but others are not. The girl with the black hair is barely in the show. There also seem to be big gaps in time between the episodes that aren't explained. Since this show is more for fans of the games this could be forgiven but the original series was the same and it was MUCH better organized when introducing the characters and such. One thing I really liked was the ditzy main character Erica Fontaine, but I usually like the ditzy characters.

I can recommend this show to fans of the other Sakura Taisen shows and the games and anyone who can forgive a crappy plot for great animation, otherwise keep clear of this one.