Sakura Wars is out for the PS4 is out right now. If you haven’t read our review yet, we found it to be an interesting take on the storied franchise. While Sega claims you don’t need to have played previous Sakura Wars games to understand the story here, there are a lot of terms used that you may not understand at first. Here’s what you need to know about terminology and lore in Sakura Wars for the PS4.
There will be spoilers for some terms if you have not experienced Sakura Wars in any form.
Great Demon War
Taking place 12 years before the events of Sakura Wars, it was a large scale conflict between demons and combat revues that ended with Operation Twin Capitals.
Operation Twin Capitals
A suicide mission undertaken by three combat revues (Paris, Tokyo, and New York) to seal away the Archdemon in Shadow Tokyo.
Shadow Tokyo
A twisted, demonic version of Tokyo created to trap the Archdemon.
Archdemon
A powerful demon that’s locked away in Shadow Tokyo thanks to the combined efforts of Paris, New York, and Tokyo Combat Revues.
Imperial Key
A powerful sword that can release Shadow Tokyo (and the Archdemon) onto the world. Creating one requires the sacrifice of a woman from the Amamiya lineage. The current Imperial Key is Sakura Amamiya’s sword forged from the spirit of her mother, Hinata.
Imperial Combat Revue
A top secret special forces unit operating in Tokyo masquerading as an all-woman revue in Ginza’s Grand Imperial Theatre.
108 Village Rules
A set of rules followed by ninjas of the Mochizuki clan of which Imperial Combat Revue’s Azami Mochizuki is a part of.
Libromancy
The ability to cast powerful magic from books. Clarissa Snowflake of the Imperial Combat Revue is a known libromancer in Sakura Wars.
Kobu
The term given to the mecha of Sakura Wars. They’re fuelled by steam and spirit power.
Spirit power
A necessary element to keep Kobu operational. Humans with a high level of spirit power can pilot Kobu and certain characters with abundant spirit power such as Sumire Kanzaki can lose it entirely with no plausible explanation.
Spirit crystal
Large crystallised deposits of spirit power, used to power battleships like the Mikasa.
Spiricle Armor
Humanoid weaponry that is operated by steam which has strong spirit power.
Spiricle Fighter
An advanced version of Spiricle Armor that requires less spirit power from its pilot.
Mugen
The first mass-produced Spiricle Fighter from Japan, developed by Kanzaki Heavy Industries and equipped with a Spiricle Supercharger to amplify the pilot’s spirit power output.
Type-3 Kobu
The predecessor to the Mugen based on Spiricle Armor framework.
Prototype Obu
The successor to the Mugen, currently in development at Kanzaki Heavy Industries. Unlike the Mugen it requires a pilot with tremendous spirit power.
Kanzaki Heavy Industries
A Japanese manufacturer of Kobu and battleships. Commander of the Tokyo Imperial Revue Sumire Kanzaki is its heir.
WLOF
Short for World Luxury Operatic Federation, it’s an organisation responsible for running the World Combat Revue Games.
World Combat Revue Games
A biennial tournament that sees combat revues from around the world compete for glory.
