This page contains unmarked spoilers. You Have Been Warned!
Thought everything ended well when the Imperial, Paris and New York Combat Revues vanquished the demons for good? Nope, there's proof that this game still has tears to be shed.
- The Happy Ending Override for the three Combat Revues, leaving Sumire as the Sole Survivor. Those who are familiar with the franchise will know that Shinjiro Taiga's mother Futaba, Sakura Shinguji's mother and grandmother Wakana and Katsura, Iris Châteaubriand's parents Robert and Marguerite, Orihime Soletta's parents Seiya and Carino, and Hanabi Kitaoji's father Masamichi have all lost their children to war. It was inevitable, given the nature of the sequel. Add all that and we can also feel the sorrow of the only one left behind: Sumire. Even to the present day and maturing as a person, she's still haunted with the fact that all of her friends are leaving her behind.
- What has become of the Grand Imperial Theater after the Battle of Tokyo. By the beginning of the game, the theater has fallen on hard times and the costumes and sets have been worn out. What makes it even worse is that the IJA is threatening to shut down the Imperial Combat Revue due to the members' lack of motivation and spiritual power.
- Claris's monologue about the Imperial Combat Revue during her introduction. She laments that the troupe has no funds, no direction and no cohesiveness and considers it a liability.
- As we saw at the end of the 1996 game, Ayame Fujieda was killed by Aoi Satan/Shinnosuke Yamazaki. In her final moments, she transformed into Michael, revived everyone who perished during the Final Battle and ascended into the heavens not long after. So, it likely means Ayame/Michael has bore witness to the Battle of Tokyo and its aftermath. Even in death, the demons still continue to haunt Ayame's loved ones and friends.
- Before becoming the captain of the Flower Division, Seijuro Kamiyama was a captain of a warship called the Marishi-ten tasked with suppressing demons. However when a civilian ship got caught in a demon attack, he set sail to save it. However, the ship couldn't handle the attack. It lasted long enough so the civilian ship could escape and the Shanghai Combat Revue arrived in time to take the demons out. Once the engines stopped working, he issued the order to abandon ship. He was able to save both the civilians and his crew and told himself he did all he could. But during the Chapter 1 mission, when Sakura was getting attacked by Xiaolong, he starts breaking down, blaming himself for not trying harder and running away just like what he did in the Marishi-ten. The thing about the incident is, it was the correct call to make and everyone got away safely. Kamiyama probably has PTSD of the incident since he was the captain.
- Claris's backstory regarding her family's power in chapter 2, especially for those who have read the Hizakura no Koro light novel and grown to know her and her family. After using her magic to rescue Kamiyama and a girl from falling to their deaths, she immediately suffers a Heroic BSoD and locks herself up in her room. Then, she laments that her family's magic caused serious destruction over the years. Though her brother Édouard's not in the game, readers know that Claris herself inadvertently caused the destruction of the tunnel where he was mortally wounded.
- After Yaksha's attack at the Combat Revue World Games, President G makes the decision to change the games from a celebration of peace to a strictly combat tournament where the losers are disbanded and will be assimilated into the World Combat Revue. While the team wanted to use the games to advertise their comeback, they now have to take away other team's livelihood and they're not happy about it. This turns out to be a farce when President G is revealed to be the greater demon Sotetsu Genan but of course we didn't know this to be the case.
- After defeating Shanghai, Yui just breaks down crying knowing she's losing her Combat Revue. Defeat her early on in the battle and she has an enormous breakdown as she begs her Wanglong to get back up while desperately trying to get it functioning again.
- Chapter 5 sees Sakura absolutely crushed when at the end of Chapter 4, Yaksha bests her in combat and destroys her Kobu-3 and her recently completed Mugen leaving her without any means to fight. Add in the fact that she believes that Yaksha is her idol Sakura Shinguji and she's left in an absolute mess and won't talk to anyone. Made even worse when she believes that Kamiyama only wants her to fight on his behalf and Hatsuho literally trying to beat the sense out of her.
- While most of the scenes you get if you miss one of the girls' dates in chapter 6 are meant to be funny, Azami's is outright heartbreaking. After Kamiyama steps on some caltrops set by her, Azami jumps in and threatens to kill him. After he manages to calm her down, she says that she was looking forward to spending time with him and declares that the two of them are now strangers before she takes her leave, all while tears are brimming up in her eyes. Kamiyama is then left to stamp his leg in frustration over making her cry. Damn.
- Anastasia's betrayal in Chapter 6, which is shocking due to several factors. One, there was very little foreshadowing, and the hints she dropped were waived off. Two, this comes right after the heartwarming moment of the Christmas performance, in which Anastasia mentors each member with care throughout the week. Three, she also took the Amamiya Kunisada and tries to kill Reiji, which sets off the rest of the game as an avalanche of wham episodes.
- Yaksha slashes Anastasia with the Amamiya Kunisada at the end of chapter 6. While Anastasia has served as The Mole to President G and Yaksha, she is ultimately disposable to them, and Yaksha wounds her as soon as she has what she wants.
- When attempting to recover, Anastasia reveals that she was orphaned at a young age when she was adopted by President G. She served him faithfully even when she discovered his true identity as the greater demon Sotetsu Genan, but she didn't care. But when infiltrating the Imperial Combat Revue, she grew to care and love them. She didn't want to betray them and had a hard time even leaving them, but she had to do what she could just to fulfill her goal. And for her loyalty, they turn on her.
- During the approach to Shadow Tokyo, Sotetsu Genan appears before the Imperial Combat Revue, asking for Sumire's aid to complete the Archdemon's revival in exchange for reuniting her with her old friends in the original Revue. It appears at first that she is tempted, and that her heartrending desire to see her friends again would lead her astray. Thankfully, it was just an act before telling Genan to shove it. Even still, her Survivor's Guilt is very much real, as the game shows a flashback (pictured above) to Sumire watching helplessly as her friends performed their Heroic Sacrifice.
- A Call-Back to the first two Sakura Wars games where the government wanted to exchange Sakura's (Shinguuji) life to defeat the demons. In order to stop the Phantom Capital from appearing, the Imperial government ordered Sakura (Amamiya) to give up her life to create another Imperial Key, thereby rendering the original one useless, just like her mother did. What's more heart breaking is that Tekkan Amamiya, of all people, agrees with the government and keeps persuading her daughter to do so, without even a change in his tone. Seriously, the devastated look on Sakura's face just told us she cannot believe what she is hearing and that her own father calls her to sacrifice her own life for the greater good. Even Kamiyama, who has been childhood friends with the Amamiyas, is completely rattled by the situation.
- The deaths of Kamiyama and Sakura's comrades at the end of chapter 7. Anastasia is killed off without any pretense; Claris dies in a similar manner to Kazuma Shinguji in Thou Shalt Not Die after she shields Azami when Yaksha targets the youngest member of the Flower Division; Azami, in her rage, charges towards Yaksha and gets killed; Hatsuho snaps Kamiyama and Sakura out of their rattled state while also de-powering Yaksha... at the cost of her own life. Fortunately, they are revived, but seeing such beloved friends sacrificing themselves was devastating to think about.
- The fact that before this battle, some of the girls had a hard time coping with the possibility that any one of them could lose their lives on this mission, but most telling of all, Kamiyama was mortified at the thought. Sakura noticed that his hand was trembling and he straight up tells Azami that the thought of losing them is killing him. Considering the incident on the Marishi-ten, what almost happened to his old crew, and to see it actually happen at that moment, he probably would have just broke down on the spot had Hatusho not give him and Sakura the motivation to finish the mission.
- Hinata Amamiya's Heroic Sacrifice. She used her sword, the Amamiya Kunisada, to seal the demons at the end of the Battle of Tokyo but at the cost of her own life and the disappearance of the Combat Revues. Tekkan and Sakura had to live with the regret of losing Hinata. Anyone who has lost a close relative will know their sorrow.
