Sakura Wars

Sakura Wars
Cover art of the first game depicting the character Sakura Shinguji
Genres	Tactical role-playing game, Dating sim, Visual novel
Developers	Red Entertainment, Sega
Publishers	Sega NANIS America RUAkella
Creators	Kōsuke Fujishima Satoru Akahori Oji Hiroi

Sakura Wars (Japanese: サクラ大戦, Hepburn: Sakura Taisen^?) is a Japanese media franchise created by Ouji Hiroi, and is developed and licensed by Red Entertainment and Sega (who also owns the franchise). The franchise centers on a series of dramatic fantasy and science-fantasy tactical role-playing adventure video games, which consist of tactical wargame and dating sim elements, 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.

The original storyline, said to be inspired by the Shochiku Revue and Takarazuka Revue, takes place in an alternate 1920s Tokyo. It follows the adventures of an all-female secret task force known as the Imperial Assault Force—Flower Division as they defend the Imperial Capital Tokyo against evil. They are led by Ichiro Ogami, a newly graduated male Imperial Navy Ensign who had been assigned to the squad partly due to his unique ability to use a special type of armor, which was previously believed to be usable only by women possessing high levels of spiritual powers. The setting eventually moved on to other locations such as Paris and New York.