I'm reviewing these two together for convenience as it takes place in the same timeline.

Sakura Wars is a steampunk RPG dating simulator made by Sega, the OVA here acts to fill in the gaps for the game's prologue and gaps within the game to give characters a chance to shine outside of combat.
Ova 1 is the prequel which showcases the development of the mechs, the discovery that only certain people can use them, the build up to Ohgami and Sakura's recruitment, the team's first mission and a one off just to prove that Ohgami is the ideal commander. OVA 2 pairs two of the girls together per episode with the last two focussing on Sakura going to help a wedding ceremony for a family member with the rest thinking she's getting married but it showcases a real dilemma when it hits the girls that if one of them did marry they may decide to retire, of course Sakura doesn't marry and it's all one big misunderstanding.
Mixed bag here, the 1st OVA may as well have been game DLC, which would've helped clean up the narrative alot so lets focus on the character driven episodes of OVA 2.
Sakura and Maria: Maria's past catches up to her as a mafia hitman comes after her but working with Sakura she manages to overcome it, even perfecting the trick she failed at the start, both work well together and gives both a healthy boost in character strength.
Iris and Reni: Iris has a sulk after an argument about her being too young to lead a play, leading her into the city causing trouble only for Reni to bail her out, they don't gain much from the experience and feel weaker because of it.
Sumire and Kanna: The team encounter a film set haunted by a former silent film actress driven to suicide when the introduction of sound drove her out the industry, this is my favourite episode as it shows a softer, stronger side to the normally stuck up Sumire, while Kanna doesn't do much, I still enjoy an early rendition of what would later become the voice of Monkey D Luffy.
Orihime and Kohran: The team help out a village overrun with Yakuza by using one of their plays of a comicbook hero as inspiration to drive out the bad guys, nothing really achieved here either as their characters are pretty much the same as normal.
Episode 5 and 6 is a giant misunderstanding but the use of silence and music really captures the mood set at the beginning of episode 6, this is sadder in context when you realize it also reflects the actresses who play the girls as it was only a few years later that saw Sumire get an Ova just to showcase her actress' retirement, what makes Sakura Wars unique among other franchises is the stage shows as OVA 2 in particular has plays that are done in the stage shows and all the main actresses play their characters, so when it came to end it hit everyone pretty hard.
Dub is a mixed bag as some voices were recast between OVAs but not too bad.
Final Verdict: They definitely hit the right tone and notes throughout the OVAs and while some characters don't improve, others do but it's frustrating to watch this and not be able to play the games due to the Japanese only stamp.