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Boss Battle Video!
Video goes where?
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(00:15)
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In the style of true masterminds everywhere, Aoi Satan makes his presence known in a truly dramatic fashion (instead of, say, popping up while Ogami and his crew were still busy with the Wakiji and gutting them all like fish. I guess he wants to give us a sporting chance?).
As you can well imagine....
[Satan]
I shall personally to be your opponent.
Good ol' Satan ain't letting this go without a fight. I'm not sure HOW terrorizing Ueno Park figures into the Hive of Darkness's malicious plans, especially when they could've just tossed the Wakiji at a densely populated part of Tokyo (thus forcing the Imperial Assault Force to worry about avoiding collateral damage and civilian casualties).
... it's times like these that I want to go up to the guy masterminding these evil schemes and hammer the Evil Overlord Lists into his face.
Sword goes left,
Sword goes up,
Sword goes 'mmmrreeeaaooooorrrmmmm.'
There are certain unwritten laws that every steampunk-based villian has to adhere to. The most important is knowing how to make a good entrance. It's cool, your typical hero will always wait around as the villain takes his time to suit up.
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Problem is, Maria isn't your typical hero...
... and lets fly the bullets of hot death. 
Fuck, THAT'D end this stage right quick.
Sadly, not even Maria's badass gunslinging skills are enough to attack the darkness penetrate the hardness of his pulsing sword shoot through the demonic barrier.
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Demon-Driven Mechanical Soldier: KAMUI
(I love how the antagonists in this game just summon their evil, demonic, industrially-made steampunk mecha. Hell, I just love how the antagonists have mecha of their very own.)
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Four against one, eh?
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I like these odds. Let's roll.
(01:33)
This particular boss battle is... very straightforward. It's using the same map as the last battle, except that the Imperial Assault Force starts on the bridge. Satan and two Wakiji are in the corner in front of the temple- and there's a third Wakiji off-screen, standing just a bit behind Maria.
I've translated the menu for this particular screenshot. Most of them are self-explanatory. 'Info' basically means 'Look at pilot/unit stats', while 'Comm.' means 'Radio HQ to hear your Mission Objectives again'. None of them are particularly cruical at the moment.
However, Ogami's menu has two unique options, both of which I'll be using more frequently from here on out.
The currently highlighted one, 'Protect', is ridiculously useful:
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When an enemy attacks whoever Ogami's Protecting, he will automatically jump in and nullify all damage taken. It's kind of like a godly version of SRW's Support Guard, except Ogami doesn't actually need to be next to whoever he's Protecting- though the flip side is that he can only Protect his pilots three times per battle. It's also a great way to up your trust level with someone. More masochistic chauvinism, yay!
I Protect Sumire because she's the slowest of us all- she might get attacked before her turn even comes around.
... on second thought, I change my mind immediately afterwards and leave Sumire for the wolves to chew on. Maria's closer to the Wakiji behind us, so she's more likely to get attacked before she has a chance to defend herself.
Next is Ogami's 'Captain' command, which is what makes these battles a bit more interesting.
You can choose between four different strategies. This not only tweaks everyone's stats, but it also alters the layout of your team's Action Gauge. Each strategy changes how much of the Action Gauge is required to Defend (Square button), Charge ('X' button), and Heal (Triangle button).
For instance, under the default Wood strategy, it takes 2 blocks of your Action Gauge to Defend. Under the Mountain strategy, it only takes 1 block to Defend. If you're up against a hard-hitting boss, you'd want to switch to Mountain to cut the damage you're taking AND to make it easier to Defend. A nice way to adapt to a given situation, even though you can only change strategies during Ogami's turn.
The four strategies are as follows:
WIND: Increases movement speed at the cost of defense. Makes it easier to Charge and Heal, but you can't Defend.
WOOD: The default all-rounder strategy. You can Defend, Charge, AND Heal, but at higher prices.
FIRE: Increases attack power at the cost of defense. Makes it a LOT easier to Charge up your spirit gauge, but you can't Heal.
MOUNTAIN: Increases defense power at the cost of movement. Makes it a LOT easier to Defend AND Heal, but you can't Charge up your spirit gauge.
Anyway, I don't change strategies quite yet.
(Given the way Ogami's hair sticks up and his ears stick out, it's got to be really, really hard to draw him without making him look like a complete dork.)
As cool as Satan's mech looks, this IS just the first boss battle. Pretty boy doesn't take damage very well- a few more final attacks and he's cooked.
Anyways...
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(Japanese lesson of the day: this means 'fire'.)
Swapped to the 'Fire' strategy to let Ogami charge up his spirit gauge really cheaply.
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And then back to the 'Mountain' strategy for a cheap Defend. Man, it's great being the one who's calling the shots.
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[Ogami]
Initiate the Mountain strategy!!
[Sakura]
Yessir-
[Ogami]
Fire strategy!!
[Sakura]
Eh?! Er, ye-
[Ogami]
Wind! Mountain! Wood! Fire! Mountain!
[Sakura]
.... we'll be fighting over THERE. Just... join us when you're done.
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(02:58)
Ogami ends his turn after smackin' Satan around a few more times. Sakura's up to bat!
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As you can see, a happy pilot is a godly pilot.
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... cripes, Sakura's normal attack did about as much as Ogami's FINAL.
(03:37)
Wakiji's turn! It DOES go after Maria.
Ogami's cockblock is a success. No damage taken!
... much to Maria's chagrin. See, he's reckless as fuck a good captain after all!!
(03:54)
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Annoyingly enough, everyone else immediately dogpiles Ogami. Since they tend to go after the weakest unit in range, I guess that means that Ogami looks a helluva lot less threatening than Sakura and her stalker aura.
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... while the boss doesn't have a final attack, he still hits pretty damn hard, chunking off about half of Ogami's life bar.
(04:26)
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One Wakiji down and 173 damage on Satan (and another 137 with her normal attack).
Ave Maria. 
(05:09)
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FINALLY, a chance to use Sumire's death flower again.
(05:46)
By the second round of turns, Satan's got about 10 hp left. Sic 'im, Ogami!
... and Sakura too, I guess! As far as I can tell, combination attacks randomly trigger if two of your guys are within attacking range of the same enemy.
And that's the end of THAT. Congrats, you've just read through the game's shortest, easiest boss battle.
(06:12)
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... like all good pretty-boy villains, Satan doesn't even have the good grace to just roll over and DIE. 
(06:27)
[Maria]
The enemy's demonic energy signal has completely disappeared. Chasing after him would be useless, Ensign.
[Ogami]
.... it can't be helped. Let's return to the Grand Imperial Theater and plan out our countermeasures from here on out.
[Ogami]
Curtain call? Wh, what in the world?
[Sakura]
Come on, here we go!
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Say "FUZZY PICKLES!"
[Ogami]
Wh, what?!
... and now that the battle's over, we're back to the eternally baffled Ogami that we all know and love.
[Sumire]
You can't even decide on a single pose? You've still got a ways to go.
[Maria]
On the battlefield, the ability to make a split-second decision can be the difference between life and death. .... please be more careful next time.
Maybe if you guys had TOLD him that some mystical hidden camera was going to take an after-battle photo of them?!
[Ogami]
Y, you've got to be kidding me....
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Optional Video Alert?!
The above scene as a video.
Get used to this. They do it after EVERY SINGLE BATTLE, after all!
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Some Time Later...
They DO go on that cherry blossom viewing. Regretfully, we leave the robots behind first.
[Ogami]
... however... Manager Yoneda. Why hasn't there been a public announcement regarding the Hive of Darkness?
[Yoneda]
That'd be just what those demons wanted. To the very end, we must battle them in the utmost secrecy!
[Ogami]
That makes sense. So that's what truly makes us a secret brigade, huh.
It only took him the entire chapter, but by Jove, he's got it! 
[Ogami]
Aah. You too, Sakura-kun; good work.
[Sakura]
Having you with us was a really big help.
Whatever you say, Sakura.
[Ogami]
Leave it to me!
Gawd, woman, give him a break. It's probably a miracle that nobody's freakin' DIED under his direction.
... maybe I should rephrase that.
[Ogami]
G-got it.
(Now that the battle's over, we're going to have to deal with Iris again.)
Am I the only one who's worried about the "make you my lover" part? 'Cause it sounds suspiciously like "I'm going to crush your mind and turn you into my love slave," and that's not exactly high up on my list of priorities.
[Ogami]
Hahaha, thank you.
He's totally forcing that smile out and sweating out buckets of raw fear. Man, how could this night get any weirder-
.....
H-her voice. Why does she sound so much hotter like this?
[Ogami]
(Why is she drunk on sweet sake?)
(Which has negligible alcohol content. It'd be something like managing to get drunk on apple cider.)
... I think I like this version of Sumire better. Can we just, you know.... keep her drunk ALL the time? 
[Yoneda]
A'right, drink up, keep drinkin' up! Ogamii! Your ticket-takin' work'sh gonna be waitin' fer you tomorrow~!
[Ogami]
Hah?!
And the scene pans up as everyone points and laughs at Ogami for being forced to clip tickets for life.
... we'll see how much they laugh when customers start walking out of the theater with only half their fingers left. 
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Epilogue Video.
Flower-viewing action!
At the very least, I think you'll want to watch it for Sumire's voice.
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~ Episode 1: FIN
"Being stuck with both ticket-taking and fighting, Ogami-san becomes a very busy man."
"Without warning, mysterious beautiful women start appearing before him!"
"Next time on Sakura Wars..."
"'The Enemy's Name is the Hive of Darkness'! A storm of romance amongst the Taisho cherry blossoms!"
"How nice... it looks like YOU'RE having fun."
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