Sakura Diaries

Original Title: 桜通信
Romanized: Sakura Tsuushin
Literal: Sakura Correspondence

Plot Synopsis

It's a classic love triangle: After meeting the beautiful Mieko and deciding that she's the only one for him, Touma's desperate to get into a prestigious college... but can't cut the exam. And of course, she's only interested in college guys, so before he can either get up the guts to explain the situation or finish enough cram school to weasel his way in, he's going to have to do his darndest to pretend he's not as dumb as he is. Enter Urara: She's as interested in Touma as he is in the other woman, but to keep him happy her only choice is to back up his ruse. And making things just a little more exciting, she's also willing to do just about anything to get his attention in the mean time...

Quick Review

Rating: 3.5 / 5
Reviewer: Marc
Review Date: 2006-07-17

A nosebleed comedy meets Melrose place, Sakura Diaries is sexually charged but tempers the titillation with honest emotion and real substance. The result is an emotionally messy, romantically involving romp that is more than it first appears. Among its most impressive features are how much erotic mileage it gets out of a minimum of action--it's hardly modest, but for all the overt come ons, there's little nudity and almost nothing explicit shown. Other strengths are how involved the characters are--particularly a number of more realistic minor players--and how the situation comedy set-ups frequently play out in ways both less funny and more emotionally messy than you'd expect. It does well visually on a limited budget, and features a number of impressive performances in both English and Japanese, though the dub makes drastic changes to the story and characters (the changes feel quite natural, but it is nothing like a literal translation).

In all, Sakura Diaries manages to be funny, racy, and erotic, all without marginalizing itself by being too silly or dirty. More surprisingly, it also develops into an emotionally affecting romance. If you can handle the frank, adult, and occasionally fairly extreme material and enjoy slightly quirky, mature laughs along with romance and honest emotion, Sakura Diaries is definitely worth a look.

US DVD Review

Talking about the original "TV Edit" set of four discs, this was another solid ADV DVD release for the era. Basics include very crisp Japanese and English soundtracks, a proper subtitle track (important since the English dialogue is entirely different than the Japanese), a bright video transfer that suffers a bit from compression artifacts, and menus backed up by clips of the soundtrack. Also nice for the time was that ADV finally started included both the English and Japanese casts in the credits, without having to deal with any alternate angles. As for complaints, in those credits the song subtitles are hard-coded (a minor annoyance probably left over from the VHS version), and you've got to be careful, since there is no chapter stop after the opening credits--if you hit skip, you'll end up at the halfway point of the episode. On an amusing note, they spelled Mieko's name wrong (as "Meiko") in the alliteration-filled text on the backs of the boxes.

There have since been two additional releases by ADV: First a "special edition" 2-disc set that includes the entire, original, uncut version of the series originally released on LaserDisc in Japan (the main difference is slightly more nudity). This set is subtitled only, since it wasn't considered worth updating the dub for what was considered a limited-interest product.

Much later, in 2005, ADV closed the loop with a third release, this time on two separate volumes ("Secrets and Lies" and "Love and Kisses") of the uncut version with both Japanese and English dialogue.

Content Guide

Little actual nudity or sexual content, but a lot of innuendo and some more explicit material make this deserving of the 17+ rating that ADV gave it. The "uncut" version includes somewhat more nudity.

Violence: 2 - Mostly limited to a slap or two, but one episode features sexual tension taken too far.

Nudity: 2 (3) - A lot of underwear gets screen time, but only brief flashes of actual skin. The uncut Collector's Edition has more nudity, particularly early on.

Sex/Mature Themes: 4 - Plenty of direct mature themes, and some non-graphic sexual content.

Language: 2 - Not severe, but some profanity.

Notes and Trivia

Interestingly, while produced like a standard TV series, Sakura Diaries was originally sold as an OAV series (on VHS and LaserDisc) in 1997. Later (late 1998) a slightly cleaner version was shown on Japanese TV--the main changes are a bit less nudity.

As far as the ADV releases go, the first version they released (on 4 individual DVD volumes) is the TV version, and the "collector's edition" 2-disc DVD set is based on the "uncut" OAV version. If you've already seen the TV version and aren't wild about seeing a bit of extra nudity, then it's probably not worth hunting down the special edition--the changes are not substantive.

Sakura Diaries is based on a lengthy (1995-2000) manga series by U-jin (also written Yujin), not available in English as of this writing. There's also a 1998 video game adaptation for the Sega Saturn. U-jin is a writer/artist responsible for some of the more tasteful anime and manga erotica around. One of US Manga Corp's earliest releases, U-jin Brand, and Visionary (Anime 18) are the only other animated U-jin works released in the US as of this writing.

Finally, since ADV didn't go into much detail about the Japanese educational system, here's some info to clarify. In Japan, there is (though things are changing slightly in the 21st century) a very fixed progression: You go through high school (and even before) preparing for the incredibly difficult and comprehensive college entrance exams. You study like crazy right before the exams, and if you do well, you get into a good college. One you're in a good college, you're more or less assured a comfortable, well-paying job at a good company, so college students tend to spend their "education" relaxing before hitting the grindstone of business life.

People who don't manage to get into any college become "ronin" (an old word for a masterless samurai, used frequently in Sakura Diaries), with the prospect of doing something unglamorous like running a family inn (in the case of Touma) unless they can retake the exams and get into college. There are, therefore, a variety of cram schools--places where students do nothing but study for the entrance exams. Many cram schools cater to high school students getting ready for exams, but in the case of Sakura Diaries, Touma's school focuses on people who already graduated but failed the exams--the dregs of youth, so to speak, widely considered to be losers or dropouts.

Availability

Available in the US in a confusing range of editions from ADV. Most current (and complete) is the entire uncut version of the series on two hybrid DVD volumes. Earlier, the series was available on a 2-disc, subtitled-only, "Collector's Edition" set of the uncut version, and before that on four individual hybrid DVD volumes containing the cleaner TV version. Finally, along with the original 4-volume DVD release there were four matching dubbed VHS volumes produced. There was also a subtitled VHS version, but only of the first tape.

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