is a 2001 Japanese animated action-adventure film produced by Production I.G and distributed by Toei Company based on the video game franchise published by Sega. Directed by Mitsuru Hongo, and written by Hongo, Hiroyuki Nishimura, Nobuhisa Terado and Oji Hiroi, Sakura Wars: The Movie stars the voices of Chisa Yokoyama, Michie Tomizawa, Urara Takano, Kumiko Nishihara, Yuriko Fuchizaki, Mayumi Tanaka, Maya Okamoto, Kazue Ikura, and Ai Orikasa. A sequel to Sakura Wars 3: Is Paris Burning?, it follows the Imperial Combat Revue's Flower Division as they team up with new recruit Ratchet Altair to defend the division's existence from the schemes of the American Douglas-Stewart company. Production I.G had previously collaborated with the Sakura Wars developers on cutscenes for the video game series since Sakura Wars 2: Thou Shalt Not Die. The aim was to create an experience impossible to achieve with either the video games or other released media. Production lasted three years, with a budget of . Announced in 1999 alongside Is Paris Burning? and other Sakura Wars anime projects, the film was heavily promoted in Japan. The film was released in Japan on December 22, 2001, and it was a financial success. It was licensed for a North American home media release in 2002 by Pioneer Entertainment, with later releases handled by Funimation. It was praised by critics for its animation and music, but the plot and characters were negatively received. Plot In 1926 Tokyo, steam power has become the city's primary energy source. At the Grand Imperial Theater in Ginza, the Imperial Combat Revue's Flower Division–a group of women consisting of swordswoman Sakura Shinguji, lead actress Sumire Kanzaki, Russian ex-soldier Maria Tachibana, French telekinetic Iris Chateaubriand, Ryukyu karate expert Kanna Kirishima, Chinese inventor Kohran Ri, Japanese-Italian aristocrat Orihime Soletta, and German dancer Leni Milchstraße–defends Tokyo against demonic attacks born from negative human elements using the Koubu-Kais, a group of steam-powered mechs, while also maintaining a cover as a theater troupe called the Imperial Revue. Meanwhile, Douglas-Stewart, an American corporation led by Brent Furlong, is determined to make the Flower Division obsolete through the use of Japhkiels, a type of unmanned mecha that are actually demons in disguise. During the Christmas season, Ratchet Altair, the former leader of Orihime and Leni's failed Europe-based Star Division, arrives from New York City and joins the Flower Division as a new recruit in her efforts to set up a similar