Welcome to the Anime Walk of Fame, a series of retrospectives on the many characters of the anime world. You'll see all your favorites along with a few that deserve more than their reputations give.

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Sumire's Retirement Helped Revive the Franchise

Sometimes real world decisions can make a change for the better.

Sumire Kanzaki even before her retirement played one of the biggest roles in Sakura Wars, she was an established top star in the theatre group, her company designed the Koubu armour mech used for killing the demons and played important roles in story building and character development.
Things were going strong until 2002 when actress Michie Tomisawa announced her retirement from voice acting to focus on her marriage, unable to replace her for all the extended media, an OVA was setup to give Sumire an official retirement, the actual OVA details Sumire losing her powers.
Sakura Wars as a franchise faded out after the lacklustre performance of the American Sakura Wars and went dormamt for over a decade until the series got revived in 2019 with Sumire leading the new Imperial Floral Assault Unit as General with the original actress playing her.
With none of the other original cast members or characters returning, Sumire's OVA actually gave her the most important role in the franchise.
Whether Sakura Wars keeps going is debatable but Sumire has managed to save a formerly dead franchise by keeping the canon alive.