Episode 10: The Kanna That Summons A Storm:
This episode provided a bit of background as the demons worked on a bigger plan and a pending storm headed towards the Troupe's headquarters. As they prepare for the storm, we learn more about Kanna's past and her respect for the forces of nature.

Episode 11: The Flower Division Training Camp:
The Troupe goes to a small island to train in a series of war games. Due to a series of misfortunes, a couple of one team, Sakura and Kouran are separated and injured. Sakura goes for help and the two learn more about one another's personal driving forces.

Episode 12: Lonely Birthday:
The team discovers it's Iris's birthday and she is depressed. Apparently, the culture of celebrating birthdays is quite different in Japan and that alienated Iris even more than she already was. Coming from France, where a western style of celebration takes place on such days, she gets depressed when she learns no one planned to celebrate it with her. Iris's childhood was shown as taking place in isolation because of her huge amount of spiritual power caused her to be feared, even by her parents.

Episode 13: Bloom Like A Flower On A Maiden's Pride:
The team is called in to investigate a building (that looked like the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa) that appears to have been built overnight by supernatural forces. Their old foe, Crimson Miroku, shows them that the building is literally full of surprises for the team, surprises that might end the life of two of the team members.

I haven't seen the first two dvds in this series but based on the movie and the OVA's, I figured I could work out the details enough to appreciate this one. Sadly, this dvd seems to be an example of midseason slump. Only one of the episodes had the kind of action fans will be looking for with a bit of it in another episode and most of the rest of the shows seemed focused on divulging the past of the characters. This is the type of thing I think should be phased in a little bit at a time, rather than all at once. If you're a die-hard fan, you may be okay with it but that limited the stand alone value of this one so I'm rating this one as a Skip It unless you've already seen the previous volumes and even then it would only be worth a rating of Rent It.

Picture: The picture was presented in 1.33:1 ratio full frame as originally released in Japan. The colors were bright and accurate but there was some grain and motion artifacts to be seen. Other minor issues were distractive but in frequent and the transfer wasn't bad.

Sound: The sound was presented with a choice of the original 2.0 Dolby Digital stereo Japanese track with English subtitles or a remastered 5.1 Dolby Digital English track. The English track made better use of the capabilities of stereo, particularly on the sound effects and music score, but both tracks were solid (I listened to a couple episodes of each, finding no major issues with either).

Extras: The best extra was the paper insert that detailed the costumes the characters wore. It was in blue and white ink (as opposed to black and white) and also outlined some of the characters of these episodes. The other extras were the clean opening and closing, trailers and a second paper insert that lists a few of the related products in the Sakura Wars franchise by ADV.

Final Thoughts: The characters weren't engaging to me and I didn't care enough about them (from watching this) to want to learn more. I know the later episodes will be more action-packed but that doesn't make this volume any more fun. If you're interested in this one, do yourself a favor and watch the first two volumes before getting this one.