Mechatalk Final Gear: Sakura Taisen Special

  After 17 Mechatalk articles featuring Final Gear original units, now it is time to do something more special! For the next 2 Final Gear Mechatalk articles, I will be will be covering Final Gear Crossover units starting with Sakura Taisen! The series might have been neglected for good amount of years but it doesn't mean that my fond memories with Sakura Wars will fade away and the collab event of this series is pretty much my main reason why I stick with Final Gear even if their own Devs doesn't care anymore long time ago. I might have made some Sakura Taisen x Final Gear crossover articles before, but this one will provide more in depth informations compared to the previous ones and I will also add some materials from the original Sakura Taisen 2 game as well. Something that I feel Sakura Taisen and Final Gear deserves before Final Gear server inevitably concluded their service in near future. 

 Sakura Taisen might be forgotten these days sunk in the abyss of Japanese Pop Culture. But back in its heyday it was one of the biggest Sega's blockbuster IP carrying Sega Saturn and Dreamcast's popularity in Japanese Market amidst the fierce console wars of late 90s. To put it simply Sakura Taisen is a tales of romance amidst Taisho's Cherry blossom telling the story of the heroic group of young maidens fighting against evil threats lead by their charismatic captain. This series resonates well among Japanese fans because it try to convey Ideals and Hope for Japan's better future with its impressive production value of Visual and Musical Score. Truly setting the top ceiling for a Visual Novel series could aspire to achieve.

Sakura Taisen kickstarts the whole Hybrid Visual Novel subgenre and It was one of the few Visual Novel series that can stand proudly among other AAA Games of its time. But unfortunately the series eventually fade away just as Sega give up the console race by the end of Dreamcast Lifetime. Despite several attempts that ended in failure to resurrect Sakura Taisen with Sakura Taisen V and Shin Sakura Taisen. At very least the original Tetralogy still stood the passage of time as a Top Tier game series.

The main heroines of Sakura Taisen series belong to a group called Teikoku Kagekidan or Imperial Floral Assault Group, an elite combat squad consisting of maidens possessing Spiritual power required to fight Demonic threats known as Kouma wielding Koubus, Steampunk Mecha Armor powered by the wielder's spiritual energy. The Original Teikoku Kagekidan have 8 members by Sakura Taisen 2 lead by Captain Ichiro Ogami though Final Gear used the Sakura Taisen 1 roster.  In this particular Final Gear Mechatalk article I will still only cover the Sakura Taisen units I have which are still Sakura, Sumire, Maria, Iris and Kohran which unfortunately made Kanna left out.

 The first one representing Teikoku Kagekidan is no other than Shinguji Sakura the main heroine of Sakura Taisen 1&2. While she is not exactly the first member to join Teikoku Kagekidan, Sakura probably possess the strongest spiritual power among her teammates on top being a skilled sword fighter wielding her family heirloom katana left by her father who died in the 1st Demon War. Sakura is the first Heroine whom Ichiro Ogami met and she happened to be the first one to develop a crush toward the Teikoku Kagekidan Captain. Sakura is probably one of the most caring member of her team always considering the wellbeing of her other teammate, however when it comes to her Captain she can really show her Yandere streak which never look good for Ogami whenever he is with another beautiful girls.

 In Final Gear, Sakura served as SSR Light striker unit who is capable of gaining extra power after unleashing her special attack. Sakura's kit allows her to increases her DPS and make her slightly more tankier for survivability. While Sakura's DPS is really outdated by this time and most likely she will lose in Duel against another top striker units like UR Taysia or Rin. Sakura was given a very preferential treatment in Final Gear which allows her to be one of the highest BP unit out there which prove handy if you ever consider to climb the leaderboard.

 The multi-talented Top Star of Teikoku Kagekidan's Theatre Troupe, Kanzaki Sumire is the heiress of Kanzaki Zaibatsu, a powerful conglomerate which had influence in military industry and happen to be one of the major backer for Teikoku Kagekidan. Sumire is one of the three Yamato Nadeshiko waifus of Sakura Taisen apart from Sakura and Hanabi despite having Nouveau Rich background. In the battlefield Sumire wields her Naginata with a flair of fire elements from her spiritual power having her Special ability named after Dances. Having privileged upbringing, Sumire behaves pompously as expected from Ojou-sama stereotypes and at times might be harsh on people due to being a perfectionist. However Sumire sometimes will show her caring side on her teammates and prove herself a reliable ally. Interestingly she had some heated rivalry with her fellow teammate Kanna which over the time develop into deep friendship between the two.

 In Final Gear, Sumire serve as SSR Heavy Striker unit who gets bonus DPS Multiplier whenever she lands Critical hits and surprisingly her DPS is not far from Sakura despite not getting her max upgrade. Not as flashy but Sumire still capable serving roles expected from her role. In the original Sakura Taisen, Sumire Specialize in wide area AOE attack finishers which was handy against mob units.

As part of the collab event, Sakura and Sumire had purchasable skin as extra outfit being some of the most popular heroines from Sakura Taisen after all. Evelyn and Dango Kobayashi also gets some special edition skin from this event as part of the collab based on Iris and Kanna's costume respectively.

 Born Half Russian-Japanese, Maria Tachibana is one of the most reliable member of Teikoku Kagekidan who acts as the group's second-in-command. Prior to joining Teikoku Kagekidan, Maria had rather turbulent past joining revolutionary force in Russian civil war in which she lost her first lover and decided to quit the whole conflict altogether before getting scouted by Ayame Fujieda. Maria is a skilled marksman who earned nickname Cassowary due to her past exploits. Due to her more gallant appearance befitting a Takarazuka revue main character, Maria often played the Masculine role in Teikoku Kagekidan theatrical play from time to time.  In the first Sakura Taisen, Ogami had a hard time with Maria at first but soon got her trust once he prove his worth after rescuing her from one of the enemy's general. Surviving through some rough times in her life, Maria deeply care her teammates as they provide a place she belongs to.

In Final Gear Maria is a reliable Light shooter class who had Crit and Accuracy boost in her kit. She is capable to stun the enemies with her Freezing finisher which theoritically could be useful in PVP. Just like Sumire, Maria is able to contribute some good DPS rivalling Sakura should she gets fully upgraded.

 Hailing from a French aristocratic family, Iris is the youngest member of Teikoku Kagekidan and had one of the strongest latent Spiritual power. Iris is not as strong as Sakura as she is unable to fully control her power yet which can get very dangerous if she goes berserk. Iris had rather sad past as her parents fear her misunderstood spiritual power which create a Poltergeist like manifestation but by the time of Sakura Taisen 2, Iris relationship with her parents have mended already. Being a young teen, Iris is very honest with her feeling toward Ogami which the latter doesn't really take too seriously unless the player decide to make Ogami feel that way which can lead to some hilarious awkward situation.

 In Final Gear, Iris served as the SSR Demolisher Support class who is available as welfare unit in the Sakura Taisen collab event back then if you spent enough crystals for the banner. Surprisingly to this day, Iris is one of the best Healer unit to this day giving the teammate HP Boost and reliable healing with Extra Shield supports which are handy for Final Gear harder contents. Seriously there are no other Original units who can surpass Iris in this department.

 Last of the featured Teikoku Kagekidan member is Li Kohran, an eccentric yet capable Scientist whose contributions actually serve as the backbone of Teikoku Kagekidan's strength. Orphaned from a conflict in China in her youth, Kohran was rescued to Japan where she learns mechanical engineering from an eccentric Scientist and eventually unlock her talent as genius inventor. Kohran is probably the most indispensable asset for Teikoku Kagekidan, pretty much responsible for Koubu's maintenance and upgrades and perhaps played a contribution to Koubu's creation too. Kohran's weakness is that she often went too far with her inventions which often makes her creations literally blow up on her face leaving her bewildered. When it comes to the race gaining Ogami's affection, Kohran might have some inferiority complex compared to other Teikoku Kagekidan girls but she had proven herself to be worthy just as shown in her Sakura Taisen 2 ending.

Kohran is the welfare SSR Bomber class unit in Final Gear which actually could be quite useful in PVP with her Spammable High Gear that may stun the enemy if only the Sakura Taisen units got Kit Upgrade. I think among the Sakura Taisen Casts, Kohran probably would have the least trouble adapting in Final Gear setting due to her innate curiosity as inventors and probably will get along with fellow mad Scentist pilots like Rinbell or Aita.

In this Final Gear Mechatalk, I would like to actually use the opportunity to cover the missing characters of the Teikoku Kagekidan in the Final Gear collab along with Kanna.

Kanna Kirishima is one of the physically strongest member of Teikoku Kagekidan being an accomplished Okinawan Karate master. She got a Red Koubu armed with claws in the collab Banner and I would have rolled for her if not for saving crystals for Noctris last year which came a month after this collab ended. On a Side Note, Kanna's VA is probably ended up to be the most successful among Sakura Taisen casts as she will be the seiyuu of Luffy from the popular One Piece series.

For the remaining Teikoku Kagekidan; Orihime and Reni are the Italian and German guest member joining Teikoku Kagekidan. Each have their own story in Sakura Taisen 2 which plays significant part in the game's main storyline. Theoritically If Final Gear and the Sakura Taisen Collab event had done really well, These two Teikoku Kagekidan Member would join with their Koubus as well. I would imagine Orihime served well as summoner type Sniper and Reni would be a good defender. Truly what a waste of opportunity that Final Gear had due to this game's mismanagement.

 In Final Gear's current iteration, meta-wise Sakura Taisen's units lose their relevance already just like the rest of the Collab units as they will be wrecked down in no time when facing Ruby. However these Koubu units are still more than enough for regular PVE contents whether it is Arita, Hexel or Kegha region. But when it comes to Conflict Zone, I would expect they can only solo up to Hard Difficulty just to show how outdated their kits are. Before Final Gear's server closes down, I might as well record some videos clearing the stages with Sakura Taisen units.

 A massive effort to put up materials and make articles for a Game that will closes off soon due to incompetence and once popular IP that now sit in its twillight years. But to me it is still worth it as I did enjoy the better parts that Final Gear and Sakura Taisen could offer. My only hope if Final Gear ever managed to resurrect themselves, I do wish Sakura Taisen IP will make a resurgence in that iteration too. Lastly at very least Final Gear was able to survive longer than that particular Sakura Taisen Korean Gacha game.