Sakura Diaries
Sakura Diaries Vol 1: DVD Review Love Can Be Complicated by Andromeda Urara likes Touma. Touma likes Mieko. Mieko might light Touma, but will only date a Keio college man. Touma decides that the college life is for him and so goes to Tokyo to take entrance exams. Before an exam at a very prestigious college, he meets a beautiful young woman by the name of Mieko. For Touma, it's love at first sight. You know how they say, people do stupid things when they're in love? Well, Touma lies about passing the college entrance exam. So now, he has to fake going to college while taking courses at a cram school so that he can try the exam again. If he passes it next time, then he really won't be lying, will he? Wanting to cheer her cousin Touma along on his quest, Urara goes all out to make him feel accepted, loved, and happy. There's only one thing that Touma doesn't realize about her being so nice. Urara is in love with him. It happened after her mother died when she was in the sixth grade. Another who fell in love at first sight and he's the only one she's thought of since then. Wanting to be closer to him, Urara enrolls in the cram school as well. After all, she only has one more year of high school left and can use the excuse of studying harder to get into a good college. After going out with Mieko on a date, Touma realizes that because he's a virgin, he's really not ready to go all the way, that Mieko needs a man who knows what to do. How will he learn what to do? Sitting in class, nursing a hang over, he plots different courses of action, coming up unsuccessful each time. It's not until he talks to Urara after class that he realizes that she is the one to practice with. Misjudging her friendliness with that of a girl who fools around, he won't realize that this is a mistake until it's too late. By the time he does, will it turn out for the worst between him and his cousin? For a romantic story, Sakura Diaries has all the key elements. Heartbreak, love, unreturned love, lies. It's a story anyone can relate to, and for those who get weepy easily during sad moments, you may want to have a few tissues around. There were a few scenes that had me saying, "Oh! That's so sad!". You can't but feel a bit sad for Urara as she tries to draw the attention of Touma away from Mieko and to her. Don't worry though, her best friend is always there when she needs support. The story revolves much around Urara and Touma, with Touma's voice narrating things here and there as if he's telling you the story of how things happened from his perspective. Other than the storyline being a great romance, I have to point out that Sakura Diaries is borderline hentai. There is quite a bit of nudity but never any sex. As a matter of fact, in Japan there were two releases. One that is more true to the manga and another that had been censored somewhat so that it could be shown on TV. It was first released here in the states as TV17+. It's now being re-released in two volumes, the first having been release in September of this year, with the viewing rating of TV14. I guess it's one of those that's hard to judge, not quite one, yet not quite the other. Though, personally, as a mother, I wouldn't want my teenager watching. Yeah yeah, just call me a soccer mom. But it's also a bridge I haven't crossed yet since my child is far from that age. For those of you out there who love romantic stories and don't mind nudity, pick up a copy. You won't be disappointed with the story at all and a few of you may even relate to poor Urara. I'm not one for romantic stories, but I did sit through all the episodes on the DVD. A DVD-only release including episodes one through six, presented in both English 5.1 and Japanese 2.0 with English subtitles. Extras include cultural liner notes, an unused closing them, plus clean opening animation, clean closing animation, and previews of upcoming ADV Films releases.
Sakura Diaries Vol 1: DVD Review Love Can Be Complicated by Andromeda Urara likes Touma. Touma likes Mieko. Mieko might light Touma, but will only date a Keio college man. Touma decides that the college life is for him and so goes to Tokyo to take entrance exams. Before an exam at a very prestigious college, he meets a beautiful young woman by the name of Mieko. For Touma, it's love at first sight. You know how they say, people do stupid things when they're in love? Well, Touma lies about passing the college entrance exam. So now, he has to fake going to college while taking courses at a cram school so that he can try the exam again. If he passes it next time, then he really won't be lying, will he? Wanting to cheer her cousin Touma along on his quest, Urara goes all out to make him feel accepted, loved, and happy. There's only one thing that Touma doesn't realize about her being so nice. Urara is in love with him. It happened after her mother died when she was in the sixth grade. Another who fell in love at first sight and he's the only one she's thought of since then. Wanting to be closer to him, Urara enrolls in the cram school as well. After all, she only has one more year of high school left and can use the excuse of studying harder to get into a good college. After going out with Mieko on a date, Touma realizes that because he's a virgin, he's really not ready to go all the way, that Mieko needs a man who knows what to do. How will he learn what to do? Sitting in class, nursing a hang over, he plots different courses of action, coming up unsuccessful each time. It's not until he talks to Urara after class that he realizes that she is the one to practice with. Misjudging her friendliness with that of a girl who fools around, he won't realize that this is a mistake until it's too late. By the time he does, will it turn out for the worst between him and his cousin? For a romantic story, Sakura Diaries has all the key elements. Heartbreak, love, unreturned love, lies. It's a story anyone can relate to, and for those who get weepy easily during sad moments, you may want to have a few tissues around. There were a few scenes that had me saying, "Oh! That's so sad!". You can't but feel a bit sad for Urara as she tries to draw the attention of Touma away from Mieko and to her. Don't worry though, her best friend is always there when she needs support. The story revolves much around Urara and Touma, with Touma's voice narrating things here and there as if he's telling you the story of how things happened from his perspective. Other than the storyline being a great romance, I have to point out that Sakura Diaries is borderline hentai. There is quite a bit of nudity but never any sex. As a matter of fact, in Japan there were two releases. One that is more true to the manga and another that had been censored somewhat so that it could be shown on TV. It was first released here in the states as TV17+. It's now being re-released in two volumes, the first having been release in September of this year, with the viewing rating of TV14. I guess it's one of those that's hard to judge, not quite one, yet not quite the other. Though, personally, as a mother, I wouldn't want my teenager watching. Yeah yeah, just call me a soccer mom. But it's also a bridge I haven't crossed yet since my child is far from that age. For those of you out there who love romantic stories and don't mind nudity, pick up a copy. You won't be disappointed with the story at all and a few of you may even relate to poor Urara. I'm not one for romantic stories, but I did sit through all the episodes on the DVD. A DVD-only release including episodes one through six, presented in both English 5.1 and Japanese 2.0 with English subtitles. Extras include cultural liner notes, an unused closing them, plus clean opening animation, clean closing animation, and previews of upcoming ADV Films releases.