I love Iris Chateaubriand – Loli Appreciation

“That ribbon really suits you, and the way you make your hair in little curls is cute. Your blue eyes are very beautiful.”

“Heheh. I was praised by Oniichan. Hey, Iris will become Oniichan’s girlfriend?”

“Eh?!

Just some lines from the Sakura Taisen 1 remake on the Playstation 2 that I feel would shed some light onto Iris’s character. Oh where do kids learn these things? I first encountered Iris in the Sakura Taisen OVA released by ADV in 98. It was the English version, and at the time I had no idea what Sakura Taisen was about or anything. Then over the years I gradually got the entire game series on the Dreamcast and what not. She was the first character I finished Sakura Taisen 1 and 2 with. It’s been years since I played these games and at the time I knew zero Japanese so I can’t really comment on her back story sadly.

Regardless, I really like Iris and a classic loli character worth mentioning along side those of say Ruri Hoshino, and Sakura Kinomoto. She is most certainly the token loli of the first 2 Sakura Taisen games, but I personally think she is the best of the 3 in the franchise. Coquelicot & Rika just can’t match Iris’s natural loli appeal which is cute, but she is extremely (read: dangerously) precocious for her age of 9. Short blonde hair, blues eyes, and very childish clothes. Not to mention, Iris is just going to grow up to be drop dead gorgeous as seen in her dream sequences in Sakura Taisen 1.

I really prefer Sakura Taisen 1 Iris not because she is the youngest version :3 but because I think the green dress and pink ribbon is better than the outfit she switches to in 2 and for the rest of the series (wtf?). The new outfit is a little cuter, but I mean it’s kinda all the same color. It’s like orange, yellow and white on a character who already has blonde hair. Are you trying to make me go blind?

Sometimes I wonder if Ohgami is just humoring Iris half the time, but it does seem kinda strange when you can choose to say rather grown up things to Iris. It usually gets some very humorous results from the peanut gallery though. It is so LOL to see Sakura get all jealous over Iris, who is just a child, getting praised by Ohgami. I swear the first time I saw Iris’s (blushing?) face on the PS2 version, I kinda had a raised eyebrow because she looks like she’s ready for some. Eh, I dunno. It just looks more like a kind of face you wouldn’t see on a kid, I guess. Haha.

I’m really looking too deep into these things. It’s predominately a comedy game, and not meant to be anything on the pron side. Maybe a little suggestive though…

I tell you guys. I’m happy Sakura Taisen 5 is getting brought over in English for many who have wanted it to be over for years. Many who don’t know any Japanese at all. I can’t help but feel a bit of sadness that 5 is going to be their first experience. 5 is going to bring them into the franchise, and that is why I weep a little bit on the inside. The Sakura Taisen franchise is classic, and one of my favorites, but 5 is crappy. The first 4 is what makes Sakura Taisen what it is. If you ever get the chance try the other ones out too. They’re all practically fan translated anyway.

Although, at least NIS is releasing 5 with English AND Japanese audio on two separate discs for a relative cheap price. So props to them for that, and a great thing actually.

My Iris and Hanabi, two favorite characters in the series, drawn by that lady I think has no talent since all her faces look the same.