Shikizakura

Shikizakura: where cherry blossoms are in full bloom while trees are colored with autumn leaves. In this special place, where the transient world meets the spirit world, a ritual to save humanity is about to begin...

High school student Kakeru Miwa, by a strange turn of events, winds up being an irregular member of a power suit team tasked with battling Oni. These Oni possess humans and try to cling to the transient world. Only the power suit, Yoroi, which combines ancient secrets with the latest technology, can protect people from Oni. Kakeru decides to become a hero who will battle Oni and protect Ouka Myoujin, the shrine maiden fated with saving the world.

Shikizakura season. Ouka dances as a shrine maiden in autumn leaves and cherry blossoms. Heroic action—where the past and the future, the transient world and the spirit world, thoughts and wishes, all intersect—begins here!

(Source: MAL News)

Ibara Main

Yoneyama, Shingo Japanese

Naruse, Kaede Main

Sakazaki, Eri Japanese

Miwa, Kakeru Main

Noda, Yuudai Japanese

Yamada, Haruko Main

Ochiai, Natsuki Japanese

Nagatsu, Kippei Main

Nakamoto, Daisuke Japanese

Myoujin, Ooka Main

Mashiro, Miho Japanese

Hattori, Ryou Main

Mizukami, Shouto Japanese

Myoujin, Benio Supporting

Yakata, Miki Japanese

Colonel Inuzuka Supporting

Iwori Japanese

Kijima, Ukon Supporting

Arai, Yuuto Japanese

Murakami, Fuuma Producer

Nishimura, Tomoyasu Producer

Kurosaki, Gou Director

Sugai, Shinya Director

Reviews

Dec 26, 2021

TevishSzat

Recommended

Shikizakura is, at heart, a kind of cheesy and overall optimistic heroic action show. It wears its genre openly and proudly, and goes ahead and takes the cliches it thinks it can use.

All the same, this show is weirdly charming. Sometimes, when something is very much in its genre comfort zone, you get the feeling like it's lazy, or on autopilot. At least after the first couple episodes when you don't necessarily know what to expect from it, Shikizakura isn't like that. It's an extremely earnest show, in a sense, and there's a passion in it to capture the great feeling ... of heroic media, which ultimately means playing many of the conventions quite straight.

I do, in particular, have to give praise to the small moments. A lot of the broader strokes of the show are things you've seen before, so that once you identify which set of conventions you're looking at, you kind of know what to expect. But, in defiance of that, the characters are at least a bit nuanced. The leads (Kakeru and Oka) have good chemistry that's built up over time and through grace notes in a lot of scenes. The supporting cast have their own issues, and while they do talk about them as well, they also show what they're feeling through smaller cues, which is something that it takes skill above and beyond the call of schlock duty to accomplish.

That, in particular, makes Shikizakura more memorable and fills it with more personality than might be anticipated. It plays things safer and more standard than perhaps it could have, but the characters at least do have their own identities and... there's nothing wrong with being straightforward sometimes. It's, in a sense, something I think would make a good comfort food show, the kind of thing you watch when you've had it up to your ears with dark, depressing, and grim fare and just want a story where you can lose yourself in something that's brighter and more approachable without going so far as to be cloying or pandering. There's enough conflict and darkness in here that the show does have meat to it, even if the tone and feel tell you fairly clearly that you're not watching a tragedy this time.

It's not a masterpiece but it's got some good action, some good characters, and enough story and technical competence to hold it all together. If you can accept it for what it is, you'll probably have a good time with this show, and I find myself having rather warm thoughts for the whole thing despite its flaws.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Jan 1, 2022

AkaneYakumo

Recommended

You guys ever seen Kamen Rider recently? Felt like you want to catch up on the past 3 seasons but are unable to cram more than 3 years worth of content within a 6 hour view time? Well give Shikizakura a try! It has all three of the Kamen Rider seasons from the Reiwa era on a convenient 12 episode package.

It has the art direction of Zero-One, the story of Saber, and the premise of Revice. Though despite that, Shikizakura is an enjoyable show in and of itself. It's an homage to the transforming hero genre, and it's a title I can full heartedly recommend ... to any fan of tokusatsu media.

I give this my big ups.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Nov 10, 2022

jus7aguy

Mixed Feelings

Animation was up and down. Jumping between CGI rendering and regular. The regular was fine, not outstanding but adequate, however I'm not sure if they were using the rendered for time purposes or what, but it was not great most of the places it was used and pulled you out of paying attention to what was happening, just by how wrong what was happening looked.

Story wise again hit and miss, there is the potential for something great, but it feels like it missed whatever it was aiming for. Character development was actually done okay, but lots of threads left hanging. I ... feel like they had a lot more to tell and not the time to flesh it out right to tell it. There was a lot that you had to infer, from some very half-baked factors.

I didn't hate this series, but I wouldn't recommend it either. Might work better in another format.

I'm only rating this a 5/10, average. It's probably more a 5.5 but I feel more comfortable dropping this one down than bumping it up.
Honestly the only character that made the show was the best friend. I feel he was done just perfectly, Maybe a bit to mature for a highschool student, but his interactions, his relationships, and his tone were spot on.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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	Poll: Shikizakura Episode 1 Discussion KANLen09 - Oct 9, 2021	25 replies	by Sailormoonwins »» Aug 15, 2023 2:29 AM
	Worth Watching ? Natsusama98 - Nov 7, 2021	4 replies	by nick_el_son »» Oct 13, 2022 6:40 AM
	Poll: Shikizakura Episode 12 Discussion KANLen09 - Dec 25, 2021	13 replies	by CrazyButNot4U »» Jun 22, 2022 10:26 PM
	Poll: Shikizakura Episode 2 Discussion KANLen09 - Oct 16, 2021	10 replies	by CrazyButNot4U »» Jun 22, 2022 1:35 AM
	It’s not as bad as you think DawnLively - Dec 21, 2021	8 replies	by cueynuts »» Jan 9, 2022 8:50 PM