Sakura Diaries #3

ADV

65 minutes
English/Japanese
English Subtitles
01/23/2001

Why is it that when you find a great 'something' it's immediately unavailable? A good, recent example of this are the recent and very hilarious Bacardi ads. I don't know, maybe it's just my prediliction for all things 80s, or maybe I'm just reminded of a pre-transvestite hooker Eddie Murphy, but there's something absolutely irreplacable about those things and they're not for purchase (or download for that matter) anywhere. I know that in a year this is going to turn into one of those things you just reminesce about, much like your parents and the commercial with the little dog chasing the covered wagon around the kitchen. Do not forget, though, that the covered wagon commercial is STUPID, so it doesn't count. But I'll be damned, Bacardi's commercials actually make me want to drink 151, if only so that I can feel justified in walking around with the sleeves rolled up on my suit jacket.

Sakura Dairies puts me in much the same position. Every time I watch this show I find myself yearning for the soundtrack. When I you read this, I can imagine you thinking "Yeah, like everyone likes the G.I. Joe themesong". No, you don't understand. I would quite literally MURDER someone at Matt Greenfield's request for a CD with -just- the violin song (which is remixed to orgasmic proportions here) on it. And I'd pay retail for it too!

Which of those is worse, I'll leave up to you to decide, but it's a sad fact that the best things about Sakura Diaries are what's unavailable to us. Instead we're provided with "collectors editions" that, as far as I know, don't have the dub (not a huge loss, tell me why they felt the desire to give a character dyslexia in the dub? A character that gets THREE lines no less!) and include something in the area of thirteen more seconds of nudity spread across 12 episodes. Now, I know I'm in the minority when I say this, but I'm not watching this show for the nudity.

Much like how I exploded at Bare when he dissed the robots in Key for being so ungainly and useless. I was so angry I couldn't even manage to get out "The show is about robots as much as Lain is about the internet!" But c'est la vie, I did not. I find myself in a similar position with Sakura Diaries. Look, I like pointless shows about as much as the next guy (as long as you ignore the 'next guy's' obsessive love for animated undergarments) but I'm of the opinion that when a show is trying to convey a deeper message you don't lambast it because of semantics. Here's a hint : Not all robots have to be badass killing machines and not all romance shows have to flash tail to be good (in fact, they more they don't, the better they are).

I'd imagine that all of you are ignoring me at this point. I don't like romance shows anyway so why should my opinion, not crowded by the glory of painted nipples, make any difference to you? Because the show is better when it's not about sex, that's why you moron! So if it turns out that I'm wrong and U-Jin did expect this to be a show about porn and stuff like that (Hardly a surprise, since the guy's a hentai artist) then whatever, I'll say I never liked the show anyway.
But it'd be a lie, and these three episodes are only more than enough to reaffirm to me that this show deserves the much lofted '4' ranking, because it IS really good despite its many flaws. Certainly I could stand it better if Urara wasn't Touma's cousin (or if Japan had ever heard of the "moral quandary" device) and definitely if she would go about wearing shirts that aren't three sizes too big for her so that her nipples are flopping all over the place (I mean, seriously, what kind of girl does that?). Though, I must say I wouldn't complain if a girl cooked naked for me...

(This picture is absolutely hilarious, and brings back fond memories of when I thought "love triangle" meant "three way" ... that was like five years ago. I'm a sad person.)

But that's a different matter entirely. The covers for Sakura Diaries might be used to adequately sum it up, and this is a very appropriate one (because it's one of the two good covers in the series). Cute, but sexual. Now, I don't really dig on either but I've still managed to carve myself out a niche in the category with this rather out of place show. As I've said with so many shows in the past Sakura Diaries is a show that is more than the sum of all its parts (that is, if you consider panty shots and nudity as "0" instead of the HUGE detractor that it is), it may be that I'm attracted to the normal-esque character designs and their general characterization but holy crap, if all romance anime was this good I might actually understand what Kyle was talking about.