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The story
A pocket watch commemorating the 30th anniversary of the “Sakura Wars” series has been announced, with preorders opening September 29, 2026 on Fulton Japan’s official online store. Priced at 11,000 yen (tax included), the watch’s standout feature is a three-dimensional relief carving of Koubu (Ogami’s mecha), the protagonist’s signature unit, on the case exterior.
On 5ch’s Entertainment & Sports News+ thread, many praised the design of the inner watch face, but the exterior finish drew sharper criticism, with comments like “the dial’s great, but the outside looks tacky.” Some noted that compared to the prices of past 20th and 25th anniversary goods, “this one’s actually cheap,” sparking a debate over the balance between price and quality.
Famitsu.com 2026.09.27 18:05
Updated
To commemorate the 30th anniversary of the “Sakura Wars” series, a special-edition pocket watch has been announced. It will retail for 11,000 yen (tax included). Preorders open September 29 (Tuesday), 2026, on Fulton Japan’s official online store.
Source: famitsu.com / Original article here
What people said
Nice one! (lol)
The outside's a bit rough…
The Imperial Floral Assault Troupe logo would've been better
The hand color's a problem — hands close in tone to the dial are hard to read.
Yeah, hard to read.
Meh.
is getting on in years by now.
If they're trying to make something that'll satisfy people like that,
isn't this off by a whole digit on the price?
Give it some in-universe backstory — sold at the Imperial Theater Troupe gift shop, or standard-issue Imperial Theater gear (a pun on the show's "Imperial Floral Assault Troupe")
Is the outside some kind of joke!?
Cherry blossom petals would've been fine!
Yeah, that's true.
I even enjoyed 4, but I gave up on 5 partway through.
Honestly I only ever cleared the routes for Sakura and Sumire, lol
Well, it's technically a gal-game genre,
and not really the kind of thing elementary or middle schoolers played,
so if the core audience was high schoolers and up back then, the main demographic now is probably around 45 to 60.
When it came out on PS, they tweaked the system, slapped on a subtitle, and put it out as a "new" release.
For fans, a cheap-feeling build at this price point probably falls flat.
Longtime Sakura Wars fans have money, so a pricier, more substantial build tends to land better than something cheap and flimsy.
I was enjoying this purely for the art,
but now I catch a whiff of real-life scandal and I just can't.
Re: #80
Did something happen?
I think 10x the price would be fine
The old ones are way better.
20th anniversary (10 years ago?) watch + backpack set — watch ¥24,200, backpack ¥20,000-30,000
https://sakura-taisen.com/assets/images/info/2022/20221213_01_01.jpg
Photo is the Ogami + Sakura model watch
//www.super-groupies.com/title/55/
25th anniversary watch ¥49,800
https://iei.jp/premico/lp/50967/sp_keyvisual.jpg
Comes with a case
//iei.jp/50967/
Background and Key Points of This Discussion
“Sakura Wars” is a Sega game series whose first installment came out in 1996, making 2026 its 30th anniversary. In the past, the 20th anniversary (2016) saw a pocket watch and backpack set released (the watch alone cost 24,200 yen), and the 25th anniversary (2021) saw a standalone pocket watch priced at 49,800 yen — making this year’s 11,000 yen price notably lower than previous anniversary merchandise. In the thread, the dial design was well received, but the three-dimensional relief of Koubu on the case exterior frequently drew criticism as “cheap-looking” and “mismatched with the dial,” with some noting that longtime fans tend to prefer a pricier, more substantial build over something cheap and flimsy. Note that while this franchise has previously seen personal topics involving its voice actors and staff discussed online, this article omits any disparaging content whose factual basis is unconfirmed.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Entertainment & Sports News+) thread “‘Sakura Wars’ 30th Anniversary Pocket Watch Preorders Open September 29 — Case Exterior Features 3D Relief of Koubu (Ogami’s Mecha).”
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