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? If not; to quote Yoda: "you will be, you will be…"

The back cover this time said the following: "Touma's a cram-school student which is bad enough, but too add to his problems, he's told the sexy Meiko he's a student at the most prestigious university in Tokyo. Between classes at the cram-school and taking tests to get him into college and classes at the university to keep Meiko believing he's already there, Touma's life is a mess. To complicate matters even more, he lives with Urara who would gladly do anything he asks, except he hasn't been interested in asking. But when Touma finds out Meiko has a secret of her own, he just might rethink his priorities. Will true love triumph? Will lust conquer all? Or will everyone just call it a day and go home? Find out in the dramatic conclusion of Sakura Diaries!"

Fans of this kind of show, a love triangle full of fan service (glimpses of animated bras, panties and crotch shots for those not familiar with the term), will undoubtedly already be familiar with the series as it was one of the most popular in Japan as well as the USA when it was first released. Touma is much like most students carried to the extreme; he wants to win the prize without the hard work of preparing for the contest, having his cake and eating it too. While this works well in a person's fantasies, it rarely causes someone to succeed unless the person is willing to further their goal with good old fashioned hard work.

The six episodes this time were 7) The Love Triangle, 8) Mieko's Confession, 9) First Kiss in the Rain, 10) Bath Time For Two, 11) Testing Student Syndrome, and 12) A Testing Student's Decision. In them, each of the three leads finally let their secrets out with the secondary characters acting as expected. The general theme was the same as last time with the biggest surprise being Urara's since Touma's had been the focal point of the majority of episodes. I hate to call the second release as "more of the same" since the truth of that was obvious from about the second episode yet the way the threads were tied up was something definitely different than most series since this one (keeping in mind so many series "borrow" heavily from this one, it's almost funny that they don't borrow that aspect too). There were the usual moral lessons about life, telling the truth, and the consequences of one's actions but they were handled in a cute enough manner with lots of fan service for you perverts out there. As such, I'm going to reiterate my sentiments from the previous volume and rate this one as a Rent It but a high level rent it if this is the type of show you enjoy watching.

Picture: Sakura Diaries 2: Love & Kisses 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.

Extras: The extras were not as minimal here due in large part to the inclusion of a couple of audio commentaries added in with the six full episodes, a great plan in my book. They had Chris Ayres, Robert Martinez, Monica Rial, and Mariela Ortiz on hand to offer up some comments although it seemed that they were partying (and perhaps a bit inebriated) during them. They were included on the last two episodes and kind of rambled on endlessly with little focus. Still, they shared a sense of fun missing in most audio commentaries and I found them worth listening to (when they weren't digressing). There were also 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 2: Love & Kisses was a cute way to conclude the series with another six episodes of fun and frolic as Touma and Urara came to grips with their situation as a love sick young man and his equally love sick first cousin trying to fulfill their desires while putting on facades that ultimately proved to prevent their wishes from coming true. As one of the mothers of this type of anime, it had some substantial historic value on top of the usual cuteness it offered up absent of any knowledge in the field but it wasn't the best example of the genre due in large part to the age of the original material. Keeping in mind that it was still worth a look, and even a purchase if you've never bought the show in the past, the remastered audio track, particularly the new English language dub, shows ADV Films having made tremendous strides in the field over the years.

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