Sakura Tsuushin

Sakura Diaries really pulls at the love strings the entire way through.
It really is an amazing story touching on taboos, reality and the difficulties of life in general.

The art style is your typical 80's and 90's look.
What grabbed my attention was how the artists paid so much attention to detail. The backgrounds were fully drawn, the frequently visited environments did not change at all detail-wise. It's as if they had a fully drawn out environment for every scene.
There is frequent nudity in this show, although you don't ever get to see anything "too" revealing or inappropriate.
This show is a very impressive work of art.

The sounds ... were great. The English dub is surprisingly good for this show. The music was great and sometimes I felt that the voice-actors understood the emotions the characters were feeling. There isn't a lot of extra unnecessary dialogue and there isn't paragraphs and paragraphs of explanations, it makes things feel realistic.

The story is outstanding. Tonma goes to Tokyo trying to get into any college or university that he can. But the night before his important entrance exam, he is interrupted by his cousin Urara. She acts like a call girl (because he didn't remember her), getting Tonma both excited and upset, making him get sick with a cold. He fails his exam and runs into a beautiful woman named Meiko who is also taking the entrance exam. But he doesn't want her to know that he failed, so he lies and tries to go out with her anyway.
Along his journey's he will fail in virtually everything from obvious everyday things to big romance and important events. Disappointment after disappointment, it makes me wonder if he'll ever find love or find what he needs the most.

The main character Urara seemed to get the most character depth in the show. Although she is a high school girl, she is apparently very deep and her love for Tonma is also just as deep. Meiko has a surprising background to her and she turns to not be as bad as I thought she was. The other supporting characters get very little depth. But surprisingly enough, Tonma the main character this show is about, doesn't get as much depth to him as I wanted. Even until the very end, he seemed like a shallow-shell of a person.

I really enjoyed this show. The love strings were constantly being pulled and making me want to watch the entire show in one sitting.
I literally lost sleep over this.

Overall, a great show, something I wish was longer than just 12 episodes. But what I didn't enjoy was the ending. It left me confused and wanting more. The show ended with me having so many questions and so many things unresolved. I want more! More! More! More! More!

Sakura Diaries, created by the prolific adult-manga artist, U-Jin, surpassed every one of my expectations and delivered one of the most heartfelt themes about independence, pride, and responsibility.

Sakura Diaries focuses on our protagonist, Touma Inaba, a slacker whose ambitions are those of a selfish nature and whose desires are those of a lustful encounter. Touma isn't interested in going to one of the top colleges in Japan, Keio University, and merely wants to take the entrance exam as a souvenir token. His intentions is suddenly turned on its head when he bumps into Meiko Yotsuba, a remarkably attractive woman that Touma quickly develops feelings for ... soon after their brief confrontation. Along the way, Touma meets up with his cousin, Urara Kasuga, who is deeply in love with Touma and tries to reconcile with him after years of separation. Touma, however, wants to steal Meiko's heart and enrolls in a cram school, hoping that he will make it to Keio University. This love triangle between Touma, Urara, and Meiko is the main focus that drives the plot throughout the show.

Touma is the worst romantic protagonist, but for all the right reasons. Throughout the show, he is always making mistakes and finds himself constantly lying. Whether it's to get closer to Meiko, or to protect Urara's feelings, it becomes apparent that he is the only character in this show that is emotionally hurting other characters. Touma is, by definition, his own antagonist and it is his selfish endeavors that keep him from making any progress in the relationships between his friends and lovers. Adding in the fact that he wants to lose his virginity and his disinterest in his studies are also vices that plague Touma's life. What makes Touma stand out is his countless efforts of self-reflection. He is aware of the dire consequences of his actions and tries to remedy it, only to find out that he doesn't the skills or courage enough to set everything straight. When Touma learns that he is being deceived, he doesn't curse at the deception but instead promises himself to improve himself by becoming a better person. This level of introspection and self-improvement is what Touma brings to the show, that he's able to grow and mature even if it hurts him the most.

Urara, Touma's cousin, wants nothing more than to be by Touma's side and desperately wants to get his attention, despite how much he dislikes the idea. Urara's character might sound simple, and the fact that she never changes as much as Touma perhaps proves that point. Perhaps it isn't too silly for me to say that she represents the rom-com character as the ditzy but supportive (and sexually promiscuous) female lead. It wouldn't come off as a big surprise when I also think that Urara is a product of society. Her only friend wants to have sex, and her naughty and crude discussion only fuels her loose behavior around Touma. She is also surrounded by popular culture (television, magazines, etc.) that promotes sex positivity and beautification. Urara doesn't change, but she allows others like Touma and Meiko to change themselves for the better.

Speaking of Meiko, Meiko is a unique character that will only describe her as the most mature individual in the show. When we are first introduced to Meiko, she is remarkably beautiful and her friendly nature compels Touma to follow her in hopes of making her his wife. Her true intentions are never clear until she herself breaks the news to Touma. I can't give out much away about her character, but her revelations and her overall character arc does keep me interested without making me feel disgust or enraged.

So with all of that said, Sakura Diaries is a character-driven show, and with such realistic characters on its roster helps it to stand out from its predecessors of the genre and show that it can move on from its tropes and cliches without feeling compelled to satisfy those traditions of the past. Sakura Dairies, on the surface, seems to be just your average rom-com where everything done and said is insignificant, but within it lies the heart and spirit of what makes characters fill with passion and vigor.

So, Sakura Diaries. It's about a guy, who likes this girl. And another girl, who likes the guy who likes the other girl who is also his cousin. Typical Rom-Com stuff, right? WROOOOONG.

This is one those series where everything shouldn't work, but does. The main character, Tounma is stupid and often comes off as a jerk. His cousin, Urarara, is ditsy and doesn't make very good decisions. His love interest, Mieko, is self-involved and distant. And in the end, no body gets what they wanted. But even though the characters make bad life decisions, they are still endearing in their own way.

Actually, in a ... way, they remind me a little bit of Flannery O'Connor's protagonists; flawed human beings but very *human* ones. In many series, protagonists come off as either perfect or complete losers. While Tounma is a complete loser at essentially the center of a harem, he's different. Why? Because unlike so many other harem protagonists, he has brought the situation upon himself and has to deal with the consequences. And that's what this anime is about : responsibility

The story is character driven. So in the end, these realistic characters come to a bittersweet but realistic conclusion.

Be forewarned, this has a lot of fanservice. It comes off a lot more sensual than most of it's ilk too, since the nudity isn't shoved in your face but comes in when not expected.

The production values are okay. Nineties aesthetics, think GTO. The OP is nice, but the rest of the music comes off as bland.


Try it out. It's a lot better than you think it is.

No complex thing you can find in Sakura Diaries. Story is well developed, you want to watch the next episode quickly. Soundtrack is great, also ending and opening themes are so nostalgic and makes your feelings top while watching. I could not believe it ended when i watched 12. episode and said 'What kind of great people are creating those animes!' It is a perfect love - slice of life story including some hot scenes, please dont think about those scenes too much (people generally vote low when it is hentai-like anime) and dont think it is a kind of hentai, no, it is the ... beautiful and funny side of the author's emotions. Just like, im the main boy, i cant help myself to dream of sleeping with the hot main character it is so challenging but also she has emotions which i cannot see while im trying only randy. But when i notice her emotions this makes the point which im not looking for but which I find as a precious treasure. Could i tell? I hope i could tell. Not the best English is talking here :D