Sakura Wars: The Movie

***Sakura Wars: The Movie*** (サクラ大戦 活動写真 *Sakura Taisen: Katsudō Shashin*?) is a

   2001 Japanese animated film adaptation of the *Sakura Wars* series directed and co-written by Mitsuru Hongō. It was first released in Japan on December 22, 2001, along with*Slayers Premium*, *Di Gi Charat - A Trip to the Planet* and *Azumanga Daioh: The Animation*.

The film takes place a few months after *Sakura Wars 3*. Lachette Altair is dispatched to the Imperial Capital Tokyo from New York to work for the Imperial Assault Force's Flower division while division captain Ichirō Ōgami is in Paris. Under the leadership of mafia member Brent Furlong, the American Douglas-Stewart company unveils a plan to make the division obsolete by using Japhkiels. Soon, the Flower Division and Lachette are drawn into the heart of Douglas-Stewart's plans.

The film was licensed in the United States by Pioneer Animation (later Geneon Entertainment). As of 2013, the film has been licensed by Funimation Entertainment.

## Plot

The film begins with the Imperial Revue celebrating Leni Milchstrasse's 17h birthday following a performance at the Great Imperial Theater. With division captain Ichirō Ōgami in Paris, Moon Division Captain Yūichi Kayama joins in the celebration. The next morning, on Christmas Day, Sumire Kanzaki and Maria Tachibana visit a theater, where Maria finds out that Brent was one of the mafia members in New York when Maria visited the United States years earlier. At the Great Imperial Theater, Ratchet Altair arrives from New York City to be assigned into the Imperial Assault Force Flower Division. Douglas-Stewart president Brent Furlong and his subordinate, Patrick Hamilton, summon the Kouma to obliterate a city. The Flower Division is summoned to the battlefield where the Kouma are at. However, during the battle, Ratchet appears in an Eisenkleid and briefly battles the Kouma. They retreat and the Flower Division is introduced to Ratchet. Meanwhile, Brent and another one of his subordinates, Haruyoshi Tanuma, arrive at the facility where the Japhkiels, robots made by Douglas-Stewart, are made. One of them attacks Tanuma, scaring him. Patrick uses a soundwave technique to stop the attacking Japhkiel.

After the division suffers injuries sustained in battles, division commander Ikki Yoneda and count Yoritsune Hakakōji are suddenly captured by Patrick, the army assumes command the theater, and the Flower Division is ordered on indefinite standby. Orihime is ordered to go in her Eisenkleid, but she is ambushed, brainwashed and manipulated by Patrick. Meanwhile, Maria investigates the Douglas-Stewart facility and is injured following an ambush by Patrick. At the Flower Mansion, the seven remaining members of the Flower Division and Yokihiko Ōta of the Rose Division, who reveals that the army was being manipulated by Douglas-Stewart, work together to take back the theater. Usng Kohran's Katsuryu-maru, the seven are able to regain control of the theater from the army. Following another battle with the Kouma, the Division confronts the brainwashed Orihime. During the struggle, Ratchet inadvertently damages Leni's Eisenkleid in the process in an attempt to kill her. Orihime releases power blasts at the division, but they destroy her Eisenkleid, but also returning her to normal. Kayama rescues Yoneda and Hanakōji while the facility is destroyed, but Brent flees. Using the remaining Japhkiels, Brent confronts the Flower Division and overpowers them, destroying Ratchet's Eisenklied in the process. Following an ambush on Brent by division captain Ichirō Ōgami, the division successfully kills Brent. Meanwhile, Maria confronts Patrick once again and defeats him with a spirit powered bullet. Later, the Flower Division puts on a play based on Kyōka Izumi's *The Sea God's Villa* and turns out to be a success. The film ends with Sakura walking down a street filled with cherry blossoms.