This is the official Casting Call page for my first fandub project: an English fandub for the first Sakura Wars OVA, known as Sakura Taisen: Ōka Kenran in Japan and Sakura Wars: The Gorgeous Blooming Cherry Blossoms in America.
Before embarking on this journey, you may (or in fact, will) have a few questions. Trust me, context for this is absolutely necessary.
What is Sakura Wars?When you think of the most popular SEGA franchises, what comes to mind? Probably Sonic the Hedgehog, Persona, the Hatsune Miku games, maybe even Yakuza. But there was a time back in the 90s to the 2000s where one franchise took Japan by storm, a video game series so ambitious (for the time) in its genre-blending escapades that it had no choice to be dubbed a "dramatic adventure" by its publishing company. This video game series is known as Sakura Wars/Sakura Taisen in Japan, created by Ohji Hiroi, developed by Red Company and published by SEGA. The game was a longtime passion project of Hiroi's, yet the game never got off the ground due to its lofty ambitions and its lack of faith from anyone the idea was pitched towards, especially considering how costly a game like this would be at the time. In the 90s Japanese gaming scene, how were you supposed to create one singular game combining elements of turn-based strategy RPGs, visual novels, dating simulators and throw in full-on high quality animations, music, voice acting, and a serialized, semi-complex narrative without the entire thing feeling like a giant dead-on-arrival mess? Nowadays we see this done effortlessly in many RPGs, but that couldn't have been possible without a game paving a way for those. Most of the RPGs and visual novels you know and love today are likely in some way, shape or form inspired by this game series.
Released for the SEGA Saturn in 1996, despite all odds against it, Sakura Wars became an immediate smash success, selling over 352,000 copies on the Saturn, a game console that only sold 5 million copies in Japan. Based on this metric, that meant people were buying Saturns just to play this game. A sequel for the same console was released, which proved to be an even bigger success, selling over 500,000 copies. Most highly successful game series in Japan at the time came and went, but not Sakura Wars. Not only was it a highly successful game series for SEGA, but it was also a borderline cultural phenomenon, highly successful in every other media avenue it took, from spinoff game titles to anime all the way to entire sold-out live stage productions with the same voice cast from the games. For well over a decade, continuous new games and various other adaptations were created for this franchise as its popularity kept growing, and although it may not be as prevalent as it once was in Japan, there was once a point where the sheer popularity of the franchise was practically unavoidable.
So you may be wondering, if this franchise was so prevalent in popular culture at the time of its release, why haven't you heard of it before? Well, remember when I said it took Japan by storm? Well...
Sakura Wars' popularity was solely designated to Japan. None of the original games were initially released in any other countries, with the exception of a few port releases in China and Russia. SEGA wasn't exactly dominating the console market and couldn't compete against juggernauts like Nintendo's various consoles and Sony's PlayStation, and this sentiment carried all the way over towards the Western world. In the West at the time, SEGA was known primarily for fighting games, platformers, and arcade ports, and the best selling titles on each console reflected that. Games like Sonic, Mortal Kombat, and NBA Jam were among the Genesis' top selling titles. In a pre Final Fantasy VII world, RPGs just weren't that popular in the States, and the different blend of genres Sakura Wars partakes in wouldn't exactly sell well with the Western gaming market at the time. Because of this, many RPGs and visual novels released on the Saturn and Dreamcast never actually got officially released in the West, regardless of how well they sold. There was an attempt to get the ball rolling for a potential market for RPGs in the West by SEGA with the release of the highly-acclaimed Panzer Dragon for the Saturn, but it only sold 20,000 copies in the United States, thus rendering this endeavor as an unsuccessful one. As of August 2025, only two entries in the franchise were released in the United States: the fifth game, So Long, My Love for the Wii and PlayStation 2, which was a commercial failure, and a soft reboot Sakura Wars (2019) for the PS4, which didn't exactly rock the boat in the same vein as other RPG revival titles like Yakuza: Like a Dragon or Fire Emblem Awakening. The original game is coming up on its 30th anniversary and has still yet to see an official English localization, though an English fan-translation is available (though difficult to emulate). If SEGA doesn't release one by then, who knows if it will ever receive one?
That doesn't mean America was completely oblivious of this franchise's existence, however. Several characters from Sakura Wars appear in the Project X Zone game series, but moreso relevant to this project, in the late 90s, anime dubbing company ADV Films (now known as Sentai Filmworks), the folks responsible for the original English dubs of several iconic anime like Neon Genesis Evangelion, Macross/Robotech, Saint Seiya, Full Metal Panic, Azumanga Daioh, and of course the infamous (yet hilarious) Ghost Stories English dub, acquired the licensing rights to the Sakura Wars OVA in 1998, as well as the second OVA Gouka Kenran and the divisive TV series adaptation directed by the late but great Ryutaro Nakamura, the legendary creator of Serial Experiments Lain and Kino's Journey. Other English dubs for Sakura Wars anime adaptations, including the feature film Sakura Wars: The Movie, were handled by various other companies like Pioneer and Funimation, but not every adaptation was released in the States. The adaptation we will be focusing on for this project is the first OVA.
So... what is Sakura Wars about?Sakura Wars takes place during the end of the Taisho period of Japan, albeit a heavily revisionist depiction of that era. Taking place during an ongoing demon war against the Imperial Capital of Japan (Tokyo) known as the Kouma War, only an elite group of warriors are able to defeat these demons and restore protection and safety to the capital, those belonging to a mainly-female defense force enlisted by the Japanese government known as the Imperial Flower Division. The catch? Its members live a double life as performers in a theater troupe run in their exact same vicinity of operations, the Imperial Theater, as a covert operation to not give their secrets away to the public. Under the guidance of Commander Ikki Yoneda and Ayame Fujieda and the leadership of newly-appointed captain Ichiro Ogami, the Division must navigate their responsibilities both as protectors of the Imperial Capital and their performances on stage, though they may not always work consistently as a collective unit, often in disagreement with one another or dealing with their own set of issues.
Despite their occasional dysfunction towards one another, the members were chosen due to their capabilities to possess powerful spiritual abilities, making them perfect in regards to piloting giant steam-powered machines known as Koubu, which are capable of repelling against demon attacks successfully. The team consists of Sakura Shinguji, a kindhearted country girl from Sendai skilled in swordplay but not so much self-confidence, Sumire Kanzaki, a self-entitled diva born from the industrial clan that created the Koubu machines and embellished into a prestigious actress and capable fighter, Maria Tachibana, a leader by intuition, reserved and cold in her demeanor yet deeply burdened by her own emotional scars from the Russian Revolution, Iris Chateaubriand, an energetic little girl with powers beyond her own understanding, Kanna Kirishima, a natural-born fighter from Okinawa who loves a good fight as much as a good meal, and Kohran Li, a quirky inventor from China who has a bright sense of humor and a fascination for the development of the Koubu machinery.
The OVA we will be fandubbing in particular revolves around the formation of the Imperial Flower Division, giving an insight to every single character and their journey to get there, and ends at a point in the middle of the first game.
Rules and RequirementsBecause I do not own Sakura Wars nor am I claiming ownership of it, this is an entirely nonprofit project with the intentions of showcasing appreciation for the franchise, building experience, and most of all, having fun.
Familiarity with the Sakura Wars franchise is not a requirement necessarily, but it definitely helps your odds. I can jog anyone unfamiliar up to speed even if you still don't know what to expect after the description I gave, and once everyone on the server is assembled I will screen the entire OVA for everyone to see, as well as creating a copy for everyone to download and view at their own convenience.
Keep the voice taglines in mind during auditions. I am all for authentic casting and will heavily gravitate towards auditions that meet those criteria rather than imitations of said criteria.
At the very least a half-decent microphone is required. There's no need for super fancy equipment as long as the audio sounds clean and confined, but if you wish to use them I more than encourage it to ensure the best audio quality possible.
Since the main characters are part of a covert theater troupe, if you know how to sing, it's not a requirement per se, but it puts you at an advantage.
The deadline for this casting page is October 31st, 2025 at 11:30 PM, but will undoubtedly be extended. I am very flexible with deadlines and can accommodate for a lot of things, but it's important to still stick by project deadlines regardless. At the very least, there should be an evident sense of progression to this project.
We will all be communicating via a Discord server, which I will post in the project's direct messages once the deadline is met and I find everyone I need for the project.
Most important: communication with one another is key. Not only does it help towards the chemistry in regards to the dub itself, but by building a relaxed, confident and friendly atmosphere amongst each other, this project will be an actively enjoyable experience to be part of. I very much encourage friendly conversation and camaraderie with one another and wish to make this the most fun it could possibly be.
Other NotesThe roles listed here are for all the recurring characters who make their first appearance in Episode 1. From all the extra voices garnered up, we can use them for other characters that appear throughout the OVA.
This is my first fandub project, and while I do have somewhat of an idea of what to expect, I'd very much still like some help and guidance from people who are familiar with the fandub process and experience, rather than embarking on this whole journey alone. I've learned from previous experiences going into a massive project alone isn't the best course of action, so if anyone interested in this project is willing to help who knows their way around the fandub scene, I encourage you to apply for the Co-director position. It'll really ease a lot of the initial stress, especially since I plan on writing and editing this project by myself.
A little bit about me... I'm Noah Biondi, and I'm an aspiring filmmaker and a huge film buff and anime fan, I can talk about movies and anime all day. I'm also a huge fan of the Sakura Wars franchise (if you can't tell by my aspiration to make a fandub for it) and always found it to be such a captivating and interesting franchise, especially considering how much of its influence is unsung these days, and I've always wanted to put my own spin into something in the franchise. I've never really done a fandub before though, so this is a new experience for me, and if this goes well I'd love to continue to make more fandubs for the Sakura Wars anime adaptations, including the second OVA, the Paris and New York OVAs (the latter in which has never officially been dubbed into English), maybe even the TV series and the movie. Hopefully by the end of this project you'll understand what makes this franchise as worthwhile as it is, and if you already are a Sakura Wars fan, then hopefully it heightens your appreciation even more!
