Japanese Title: 一夜限りのサーカス (Ichiya Kagiri no Saakasu)
French Title: Cirque d'une seule nuit
English Translation: One-night-only Circus
Release Date: 20 October 2004
Brief Episode Summary
At the prelude, a group of mafia-like gangsters under the control of someone named Don Giovanni broke Tournelle-hakushaku (Count Tournelle) out of prison. Their motives are still unknown, but it was stated by one of the thugs that Don Giovanni had requested a meeting.
After a Christmas performance at Chattes Noires, the scene started off with Glycine and Lobelia arguing (as usual =p) about who would be the new captain of the Paris Kagekidan while Erica oblivious to the whole commotion, stuffed herself full of éclairs ^^;;;. Ever since the day their previous captain, Ogami Ichirou returned to Teito, the girls were left without a leader, and thus were debating among themselves on who had the right to lead the squad. However, their disputes were interrupted when their commander, Grand Mére, informed them that grave robbers had been raiding the city cemetery, and the girls were assigned to investigate the affected area. While patrolling the cemetery, Coquelicot suggested to Hanabi that they should pay Hanabi’s deceased fiancé, Phillipe a visit. It was there that they unexpectedly met Kitaoji Masamichi-danshaku (Baron Kitaoji), Hanabi’s father, who was paying his respects to Phillipe. Afraid that the secrets of the Paris Kagekidan and Chattes Noires would be revealed to Kitaoiji-danshaku, Hanabi with the help of Coquelicot managed to make up a fib and persuade her father that they are part of a circus troupe (note that the word “Kagekidan” can either mean “Assault Squad” or “Entertainment Troupe”).
The girls decided to put on a performance at the circus the next day, hoping to convince Kitaoji-danshaku and also prevent him from discovering the truth about his daughter’s affiliation with the organization responsible for the defense of Paris. Unfortunately halfway through Hanabi’s archery feat, a demon (raised to life by Tournelle-hakushaku) invaded the circus and captured Hanabi’s father. However, with the assistance of her comrades, Hanabi succeeded in rescuing him and defeating the demon. In the end, it was found out that Kitaoji-danshaku’s initial purpose of visiting Paris was to bring his daughter back to Japan, but after witnessing that Hanabi is happy with her friends (and her duties to Paris), he decided to let her stay. The episode finished with Hanabi performing her theme song from Sakura Taisen 3, “Kokoro no Kasa wa” (The Umbrella of My Heart), at Chattes Noires (PS. I looooooove Takamori Yoshino’s singing voice! ~^^~).
Review
A great filler arc in between Sakura Taisen 3 and 4! I’m surprised this series kinda followed well from where Sakura Taisen 3 left off. And the first episode is definitely one of the funniest out of all the OVAs I’ve watched so far. It’s unusual to see Hanabi so fidgety when she’s usually very calm and collected. She actually stuttered and sighed in an overly embarrassed way many, many times. Hehehe..... Nice to see her like this. It’s quite a rare treat really =p! Apart from Hanabi, the others were crazy as well. Erica..... Well..... That’s normal for her anyway =p. But for Glycine and Lobelia, it’s slightly different. Sure, they antagonize each other a lot of times in the games, but it is in the OVAs (especially this episode) that their spats truly amuse me to no end. This is one of the more hilarious scenes where Erica, Glycine and Lobelia met up with Hanabi, Coquelicot and coincidentally Kitaoji-danshaku in the cemetery.
Erica: Ja jan! Paris Kagekidan has arrived once again!
Lobelia: Give it up, you grave robber!
Kitaoji-danshaku: Paris..... Kagekidan?
Glycine: Wait..... This gentleman looks very familiar.
Erica: Glycine-san, you know this grave robber? Erica is shocked!
Lobelia: I'm reconsidering my opinions of you, Glycine.
Glycine: That’s not it! This gentleman..... That’s right, he’s Kitaoji Masamichi-danshaku. Hanabi’s father!
Erica: EEEEH?! Hanabi-san’s father is a grave robber?! Erica is very shocked!!
Lobelia: Is that so? I'm reconsidering my opinions of you, Hanabi.
Glycine: WILL YOU TWO QUIT IT!!
Voice-acting is amazing as expected since the main characters’ seiyuus are all veterans. I have to commend especially Inoue Kikuko’s role as Lobelia Carlini in the Sakura Taisen series. Many of us may be familiar with Inoue’s kind motherly voice as Belldandy (Aa! Megami-sama), Tendou Kasumi (Ranma ½), Suzuhara Shuuko (Kidou Tenshi Angelic Layer) and Hibiya Chitose (Chobits). Here in Sakura Taisen, she manipulated her voice in such a way that it perfectly fits the menacing role of the devil of Paris, Lobelia. If you listened to her for the first time, it’s highly likely that you would never have guessed that it was Inoue who’s acting, because her voice in Sakura Taisen sounds the polar opposite from that of say..... Goddess Belldandy ^^. Credit goes to Shimazu Saeko too whose voice perfectly complements Glycine Bleumer’s personality. It seems Shimazu’s deep voice favorably suits arrogant characters. She has voiced the likes of Kuno Kodachi (Ranma ½) and Miz Mistral (El Hazard), so it’s no surprise that she’s able to handle Glycine so well.
Music is excellent considering that Tanaka Kouhei is the one responsible for composing the songs and background music. He’s one of the few composers whose works always manage to astonish me in a way that I keep on listening to them over and over again without getting bored ^^;. Animation by Radix is brilliant as well, although we have yet to see the 3D mecha battles. Really looking forward to those ^^! Well, I’ve always been a huge fan of Sakura Taisen, so there’s no way I would skip out on watching any of their series.
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