Plot: What’s it about?
Touma is a young man with a promising future, but he wants that future to include college, not his family’s business. Although his parents operate a successful inn, he wishes to stretch out into the world and make a life of his own, not continue that of his parents. While he is in Tokyo trying to get into various colleges, his cousin Urara is back at home and pining for Touma, who she views as a hero and has fallen in love with. Touma finds himself in a romantic situation of his own, as he has become quite taken with a model named Meiko, who has herself just been admitted to a high level college program. The two hit it off and some serious sparks ensue, but after Touma fails to be allowed into a college, he is forced to return home. He will return and enroll in a special college preparation program, which increases his chance to gain access to one of the colleges and by turn, land him closer to his dreams. Touma winds up moving in with his uncle once he is back and of course, his daughter happens to be Urara. She had tried to raise his wiles once before while posing as a callgirl, but now the two would live together, quite a different experience. As Touma studies, plans for college, and thinks about Meiko, Urara does her best to win his affections, but which girl will Touma wind up with?
I happen to like the Sakura Diaries series, but I’ve shown it to some others and the reaction has been mixed. This is mainly due to the series’ jolt from light material to more disturbing moments, which throw off the audience at times, but for the most part, are handled well enough. I do think smoother transitions might have helped the audience, but even as it stands, Sakura Diaries is a terrific series. The move to more serious subject matter seems natural with the storyline, so it might be a little unexpected, but most viewers will know it lurks ahead. It takes a rather simple premise (a romantic triangle) and puts some nice twists in, to avoid most of the cliches and tired conventions of such a premise. You’ll see some turns you’ve seen before, but the material is fresh enough to stand on its own, thanks to some consistently good writing. The writing is helped by some bright and pleasant animation, which brings the likable characters to life in bold form, making the series a pleasure to watch. This two disc Collector’s Edition includes all twelve episodes, including some never before released scenes, so it represents a great chance to nab the entire Sakura Diaries series in one fluid motion. The series was a lot of fun to watch and for fans of this kind of anime, this Collector’s Edition is highly recommended.
Video: How does it look?
The episodes are presented in full frame, as intended. I’ve seen a couple of the original disc releases of this series and without a doubt, this Collector’s Edition improves upon those versions in every respect. The first thing I noticed was an overall sharper picture, as the previous single disc issues were on the soft side, so this new treatment was most welcome. The colors have been juiced too, so the hues come off as richer and more pleasing to the eye, though they never become too rich, which is good news. A nice, clean looking treatment for this terrific series, an improvement that will fans trading in their previous releases.
Audio: How does it sound?
As the episodes have been restored to full uncut status, an English dub track didn’t exist and by turn, there isn’t one found here. That never proves to be a problem however, as we all want the original Japanese soundtrack anyway, I would assume. This series is mostly dialogue driven, so the included soundtrack isn’t allowed to show off much, but given the needs of the material, I have no complaints about this presentation. The vocals are clean and smooth, the music is well handled, and the sound effects sound good too, a solid overall audio experience. This disc also includes optional English subtitles, should you need those.
Supplements: What are the extras?
In addition to the unreleased scenes inside the episodes, you’ll also find clean opening & closing sequences, an alternate version of the closing sequence, and a promotional trailer for the Sakura Diaries series.
