The original story was a running feature in a Manga (Ujin in Shogakukan Young Sunday Series) released in Japan back in the last decade. Touma Inaba, Urara Kasuga, Komi Natsuki, Mieko Yotsuba, and Mashu Tatsuhiko were the characters who alternately chase one another in a very basic story about relationships. This was the newly remastered version of the series that ADV Films released back in the early 2000's with a new English language dub. Touma is a slacker from a small town who isn't really cut out for college but he chases it as a means to be with a gal he falls in love with, Mieko. She flirts with him a little bit and that encourages him to lie to her about his admission into a prestigious college in Tokyo with the ensuing hijinks that follow as he leads a virtual double life to convince her he's truly enrolled. Complicating matters is a guy who also has the hots for the lovely maiden and Touma's cousin Urara that is still in high school but appears by all accounts to want Touma as badly as he wants the gal of his dreams. Confused yet?

The episodes of Sakura Diaries: Volume 1: Secrets & Lies were 1) Tokyo Success, 2) My Cousin is a High School Call Girl, 3) Is the Fake Student a Slave of Love?, 4) The Love Hotel of Temptation, 5) First Time in Bed? and 6) First Time in Kamakura, each originally released on DVD previously. The original DVD set had twelve episodes on four discs so the value factor of this set was far more in line with what fans expect these days (myself included) and I hope ADV Films keeps this trend up with newer material too. The best part of the series is that the characters developed over time and the situations seemed realistically handled. While most of us prefer more action packed anime, this kind of thing is popular for a reason, typically with females, because it addresses a basic market niche. If you like soap opera styled anime; the show so far played out as such and the cast were in situations that weren't all that far removed from every day life. The humor & drama of misunderstandings, the troubles of the world and life's disappointments, and all the other aspects of reality played well here although the look of the show did come off as a bit dated. There were substantial amounts of sexual innuendo and fan service on hand too although I have no way of knowing if anything was edited out as previous versions were said to be (there were nipples and ass shots present from time to time if that helps any).

I'm going to rate the show as a Rent It unless you are into the melodrama styled relationship show that this was but I will be the first to admit that it had some solid value compared to most anime on the market. It kept my interest most of the time but watch it long enough and the whiny characters might get to you as they did to me. Ration it out and you might like it more though since this might prove to be a show you could use to introduce a girlfriend into the world of anime with.

Picture: Sakura Diaries: Volume 1: Secrets & Lies was presented in the usual 1.33:1 ratio full frame color as originally directed by Kunitoshi Okajima for release in Japan. The show was colorful but the anime style looked dated compared to more recently made releases with limited movement and static backgrounds. With most of the show dedicated to talking, the need for a better style to keep the interest of the eye might've worked better but I've seen far worse in this sub-genre too. I saw no compression artifacts and aside from minor glitches on occasion, it looked okay.

Sound: The audio was presented with a choice of the original Japanese soundtrack in 2.0 Dolby Digital or a newly remade 5.1 English language dub starring Robert Martinez, Mariela Ortiz, Kira Vincent Davis, Chris Patton, and Monica Rial. Vocally, the dub seemed better by a wide margin this time (and I'm a xenophile when it comes to languages) and the music appeared to be enhanced too. There weren't a lot of special effects to content with so the separation between the channels wasn't as big an issue but ADV Films did a nice job of improving the dynamic range and other aspects of the dub to give this one some added merit. I wouldn't replace my copies of the originals over it if I had them but I'd be more willing to pick this one up (with the concluding volume next month) than the first releases.

Extras: The extras were minimal here due in large part to the inclusion of six full episodes, a great plan in my book. There were the usual clean opening and closings, some language liner notes, trailers, and a bonus "unused" closing theme included on the DVD. The cover was single sided and it had no liner notes but again, six episodes at a decent price is an "extra" all by itself (and a great one at that!).

Final Thoughts: Sakura Diaries: Volume 1: Secrets & Lies won't appeal to everyone and those who appreciate fan service will find it tedious to wait for those rare moments of animated nudity (you'd do better elsewhere) but for those of you wanting something a bit more on the human drama/soap opera side of anime, you could do far worse than a show that popularized this type of anime. With a newly remastered audio track and a lot of episode for the buck, give it a look if any of this interests you.

If you enjoy anime, take a look at some of the recommendations by DVDTalk's twisted cast of reviewers in their Best Of Anime 2003 and Best Of Anime 2004 article or regular column Anime Talk