College student Touma is trying to get into one of the most prestigious universities in Japan, but fails the entrance exam. On the fateful results day he meets the beautiful Meiko and in an act of desperation pretends he’s already passed. As if his friendship with Meiko starting badly didn’t complicate things enough, the girl who has been following Toumo round and trying to seduce him is none other than his cousin(!) Urara, who is head over heels in love and determined to win him over. In the subsequent episodes Toumo tries to admit his dishonesty to Meiko, while Urara is coming to terms with her feelings for him.

Sakura Diaries is a pretty straightforward teen romance series that sells itself on character relations and generous helpings of fan service. In fact there is a heck of a lot of fan service, with numerous gratuitous cleavage and panty shots. It has to be said that the blurb on the back of the DVD case makes it sound racier than it really is although the whole series still has ‘ecchi’ running through it like a stick of rock. It does have a more realistic approach to storytelling than many similarly themed shows though, with the characters being very true-to-life in terms of animation style and the way they interact with one another, with almost no cartoonish slapstick comedy.

Of course, when a series is making use of a decidedly unoriginal college love triangle theme it is the cast that gives it its identity. Touma for instance is likeable enough and his behaviour is understandable; that said, there one incident halfway through the series where his actions are pretty inexcusable and out-of-character and the viewer is likely to momentarily lose sympathy for his situation. Urara comes across as being a serious flirt but it becomes clear that her feelings for Touma (however strange they are considering the fact that they are related) are genuine. She goes out of her way to make him happy no matter how often he inadvertently upsets her, which may be partly due to the fact that she gave him the cold that caused him to flunk the exam in the first place.

The only disappointing aspect to this release is the complete lack of the Japanese language track. The English language dub isn’t bad, but the fact that there is no option of hearing the dialogue in its original language might put some viewers off. This is something of a shame considering that it is a good value for money purchase, featuring all twelve episodes on two discs.

In Summary

Sakura Diaries is enjoyable if slightly saccharine romantic drama with a few plot twists and turns to make up for the rather derivative premise. For those of us who don’t care much for the frequent moments of fan service there is a fairly engaging and likeable cast to keep our interest, although the fact that this release is dub-only might make some think twice about buying it. The inclusion of all twelve episodes is something ADV should be commended for though.