FUNimation has announced that they have acquired the rights for Sakura Wars: The Movie. The film was originally released in Japan in 2001, following the 25 episode anime adaption of the first game. The Sakura Wars games follows Ichiro Ogami as he heads up the Teikoku Kagekidan, an all-female group of actresses in Tokyo who are secretly warriors who fight evil with the aid of giant mecha-robots known as Koubu.
Set during the third game, Sakura Wars: The Movie follows the Teikoku Kagekidan as a new member, Ratchet Altair, is dispatched to the group during the absence of Ogami, who was sent to head up the Paris Kagekidan at the end of Sakura Wars 2. After a sinister American corporation unveils a plan to make the Koubu (and thus the entire Teikoku Kagekidan) obsolete, the squad is put on indefinite standby, and the Commander, Ikki Yoneda, is captured, putting the fate of the Teikoku Kagekidan at stake.
While the movie did see a North American DVD release in 2003, FUNimation expects to put out a new release of the movie by the end of this year with some new additions. This release will feature the original English dub of the movie and some DVD extras including interviews with the Japanese staff who worked on the film.
