This mini article was first published Dec. 27, 2020 on Wayfarer Daves Facebook. These will not be replacing regular full-length articles but may supplement from time to time on off weeks.

Very few fictional stories or franchises are set in Japan’s Taisho era (1912-26) so it’s great to see a popular Taisho story pay homage to another popular Taisho story. The meeting between Amamiya Sakura and Kamiyama Seijuro in Shin Sakura Taisen / Sakura Wars (2019) where she “draws” her broom on him like a sword is a reference to Hanamura Benio’s first interaction with Ijuin Shinobu in the1987 live-action version of Haikara-san ga Tooru (Here Comes Miss Modern). In both Sakura Wars and Haikara-san the sword-wielding haikara girl and the military boy (both male leads are military officers) become romantically involved, though in Sakura Wars this is optional.

Haikara-san was originally a manga but has been retold many times in anime and live action movies and series. It’s even been made into a stage musical by the Takarazuka Revue’s Flower Troupe which was the real life inspiration for the Imperial Combat Revue Flower Division in Sakura Wars. I’ve seen the latest anime movie version and this one, only the live action version had her doing this with a broom and not a wooden sword.

It was the year of Taisho and Meiji at Wayfarer Daves, so long-time followers will probably recall both these franchises have come up in the not too distant past. We did a Sakura Wars review and an article on its Imperial Capital and how it compares to the real Taisho-era Tokyo.

Previously I also shared a scene from this version of Haikara-san because we’d inadvertently come across one of the shooting locations a few years ago while visiting Kyoto. Kyoto was used to stand in for pre-Great Kanto Earthquake Tokyo in the film. Benio was played by Minamino Yoko, a popular idol at the time.