Sakura Taisen 2 - Thou shall not die

It has been more than 7 years since the last full-fledged article that I dedicate for Sakura Taisen series. Initially I have planned to make full coverage for Sakura Taisen 2 back in 2019 as I attempt to gather the necessary assets which was at 80% completion at the time. But due to my PSP broke down in the assets gathering process, this projects ultimately put into grinding halt as I lose my motivation while have to deal with real life situation at hand.

However, as I have recently completed compiling my journey with Final Gear, I feel that I have nothing much to hold me back any more. Thus I decided to do the right thing with the assets instead of letting it sitting in the dust and proudly present the Sakura Taisen 2 Main article! At some point this article will be gradually updated with the Teikoku Kagekidan Main Heroines storyline in the game just like the previous Sakura Taisen series. I think this is the very least I could do for Sakura Taisen 2 before I finally move with Sakura Taisen 4 and conclude my journey with this Legendary series that has lasted more than a decade.

Heroine Route:

• Sakura
• Sumire
• Maria
• Iris
• Kohran
• Kanna
• Orihime
• Reni
  

Endings:

• Sakura
• Sumire
• Maria
• Iris
• Kohran
• Kanna
• Orihime
• Reni

Taking two years after the Sakura Taisen 1 story, Sakura Taisen 2 - Thou shan't die is yet another storm of romance amidst the Cherry blossom of Taisho Era where you will lead an elite squad of all-female task force that lead a double life as Theatrical troupe with even greater threat to face compared to the first game.

Sakura Taisen 2 is easily the most popular installments of Sakura Taisen series when it is still active marking the peak of this Sega's crown jewel series. Considering this game at the time manage to capitalize the success of the first game and improvise everything that Hybrid Visual Novel genre able to offer showing a glimpse what AAA Visual Novel would look like.

 In Sakura Taisen 2, you will lead Ichiro Ogami as the captain of Teikoku Kagekidan once again who is more experienced now in leading his all-female squad team facing new threats. In the opening sequence of the game, Ogami has just returned from his overseas duty and begin to lead Teikoku Kagekidan as their captain once more after a year has passed since the conclusion of event in the first game. You will get to see Ogami being a gigachad and looking cool yet again in this game and might capture the heart of one of the Teikoku Kagekidan maidens in the process. Certainly, Ogami will have to face even greater threat in ST2 but with his inherent qualities and faith with his Teikoku Kagekidan, no doubt you will get yourself an awesome spectacle throughout this game so sit in for the ride!

Apart from Sakura Taisen 1 original 6 Main Heroines, Sakura Taisen 2 features new heroine which hailed from Italy and German; Orihime Soletta and Reni Milchstrasse who will certainly play a major part in Sakura Taisen 2 main storyline. While the existing Teikoku Kagekidan members has fully trusted Ogami given their shared struggle in previous game, Ogami will certainly need to put some extra efforts to gain. Some of the existing main heroine will do get extra role in the main storyline especially Shinguji Sakura but all of the heroines will still have the equal spotlight whomever you choose as the main heroine.

 Despite being the most effective task force to face the demonic threats that loom over Japan. Even the Elite Teikoku Kagekidan still need the proper support members working behind to bring the best of their ability. Along with many things Sakura Taisen 2 introduce more support team members that will help Teikoku Kagekidan. Apart from Kazegumi and Tsukigumi. Sakura Taisen 2 Introduce Baragumi which are group of Okamas who serve as the comic relief most of the time but will perform their duty when the situation requires for it.Also in Sakura Taisen 2 a new character come as the replacement for Ayame as the Teikoku Kagekidan Vice Commander who is Ayame's younger sister, Kaede Fujieda.

Just like all Sakura Taisen series, Sakura Taisen 2 is a highly Interactive Visual Novel game which brings out a life-like quality for a 2D game. Controlling Ichiro Ogami, you will spend most of your downtime improving the relationship with Teikoku Kagekidan teammates by triggering events all over the Theatre Headquarters. Sakura Taisen 2 have minor improvements all over this aspect of gameplay but one noticeable changes are the continuous event for some characters like Sumire which unlocks special CG if you complete all of them but these events are easily missable if your Japanese is not fluent enough.

As part of Sakura Taisen tradition, Sakura Taisen 2 have its share of Minigames which can be accessed in the Extra mode once you unlock them in the main storyline and each Heroine have their own minigames. Compared to Sakura Taisen 1, the minigames in ST2 do have less language barrier as the gameplay are straightforward enough but some of the minigames like Sakura’s can get difficult if you are not familiar enough with the gameplay.

Sakura Taisen series will never be complete without their unique Steampunk Mechs that runs on Spiritual power known as Koubu. While Sakura Taisen 2 is not my exact favorite when it comes to the mecha design, this game do expand more varieties of the Steampunk Mechs which include introducing the European counterpart of Koubus known as Eisenkrads and each Teikoku Kagekidan still have their niche which you need them to be Ogami’s main heroine to give out the best mileage. Sakura is still the most overall reliable one while Kanna is easily the hardest hitter if you can get enemy within her strike range.

If the VN Adventure game takes the first half of the Sakura Taisen game, then the other half of Sakura Taisen at its core is the Strategy Game. Throughout the Sakura Taisen 2 Ogami will have to lead the Teikoku Kagekidan members to victory against the Kouma threats in their Koubu mechs. Compared to Sakura Taisen 3, Sakura Taisen 2 does not have drastic change when it comes to the combat mechanic but do see some improvements.

 While Ogami is unable to protect the Teikoku Kagekidan as much as in ST1,  Sakura Taisen 2 incorporate Furinkazan formation mechanics in which Ogami can choose to change the overall Teikoku Kagekidan combat stats to suit the situation but Wind and Fire formation will see the most mileage in majority of the battles. Sakura Taisen 2 also introduce the second combination attack between Ogami and the picked main heroine which are accessible nearing the end of the game which can get silly at times but actually not the worst one yet. Lastly Teikoku Kagekidan members can perform additional assist attacks with other teammates at times whenever adjacent to the enemy which is a nice minor addition.

 Sakura Taisen 1 had Teikoku Kagekidan face Aoi Satan one of the member of Black Society who later become the incarnation of Lucifer serving as the final boss which can be rather silly when looking back. Somehow Aoi Satan got resurrected and  made a comeback in the first chapter and didn't put up the resistance like he did in the first game and abruptly killed in rather pathetic manner as grand entrance for the main villain of Sakura Taisen 2.

 Introducing Oni Ou, the mysterious man donning Demon Mask who leads the group of Black Demon Society which are the main adversary using Koumas for their sinister ends that Teikoku Kagekidan will face in Sakura Taisen 2. Throughout ST2, Teikoku Kagekidan will face the Koumas lead by the Black Demon Society 5 Elements General with their own demonic mechs. But in the end only Kongou, Tsuchigumo and Oni Ou who will put up some serious fight while the rest of the villains only last for one chapter.

Sakura Taisen are never particularly good at creating well written villains because they are never meant to be the main focus of the series. Thus most of the villains that Teikoku Kagekidan face will be mostly cartoonishly evil throwaway character but Sakura Taisen 2 did their best to be the exception. The Antagonists that Teikoku Kagekidan face in ST2 are slightly more competent as they try to effectively disable their Combat capability which almost did successfully as Commander Yoneda almost died from assassination attempt along with some other sinister brainwash attempt. Sakura Taisen 2 shown  a glimpse if the series wish to go a darker route. But being a product that is meant to cater main demography, this game do stop halfway in this direction.

 Compared to Sakura Taisen 1&3, Sakura Taisen main villain, Kyogoku is one of the most serious threat that Teikoku Kagekidan faced in grounded manner. Possessing a High Ranking position in Imperial Army, Kyogoku is a powerful sorcerer who had sinister plan that relies on activating ancient weapon in the form of massive Sky Fortress and Teikoku Kagekidan stands in his way. Being the true master of the Black Demon Society, Kyogoku uses any means possible to destroy Teikoku Kagekidan which includes mobilizing Imperial Army to seize all personnels which almost succeeds if not for the Good always prevail Evil rule in Sakura Taisen. Even compared to Sakura Taisen 4, Kyogoku probably remains the most capable villain that Sakura Taisen series ever have.

 Sakura Taisen 2 spans over 13 Chapters in which each Heroines will have their unique story segment around Chapter 7/8 and the Epilogue. By the end of Sakura Taisen 2 Story, Ichiro Ogami got promoted and have to visit Paris as part of his next assignment which the event in Sakura Taisen 3 take place. Each of the main heroine will have the ending scene played out and have their own farewell message given to Ogami. But Orihime's farewell message give out the biggest impression as it foreshadows that Ogami will some maiden falling in love with him yet again in his Paris adventure.

 This article probably not the best one to give proper coverage for Sakura Taisen 2 but hopefully it will be useful enough to serve as the primer for those who are interested to get into Sakura Taisen series in particular the 2nd Game. Apart from the Heroine Endings from Sakura Taisen 2, This main article will be updated with all of the Heroine's route storyline which hopefully can be done on weekly basis as Mechatalk articles. Considering that I never finish my asset gathering process for Sakura Taisen 2 due to technical issues, not all of the ST2 Heroines will be getting the equal treatment unfortunately but I will make do with the ST2 assets that I have and let other fans do the complete in-depth coverage in the future.