It opens with a curtain going up, and that is the whole thesis: this thing wants to be a show before it wants to be a war movie. The Imperial Theater cover story is played straight, so the Flower Division rehearses blocking in the afternoon and drops into steam-powered Koubu at night, and the animation is lavish enough that Taisho-era Tokyo actually feels lived in rather than painted on. Ogami being off in Paris is the sneaky masterstroke, because it hands the film to Ratchet Altair, the outsider nobody in the troupe wants, and forces Sakura and the others to earn her instead of the reverse. That is also exactly why it splits rooms. Walk in cold and you get a gorgeous, baffling 90 minutes with a cast that assumes you already know why Sumire's attitude matters. Walk in having played and watched the rest, and Ratchet finally taking her place on that stage lands like a debut you personally waited for.

Following in her father's footsteps, Sakura was born to defend her people against the Black Sanctum Council. Her dream of heroism takes an odd turn when she learns that, besides piloting a powerful mecha, she must also pose as a stage actor. Meanwhile, the Imperial Fighting Troupe is summoned again to defend Tokyo against demons. This time the Douglas-Stewart Company is selling a superior fighting machine meant to transform Japan's defenses and leave the Flower Division obsolete. When members of the team start disappearing, the girls suspect something is wrong, but their unit has been put on indefinite stand-by. Adventure, drama, romance and science fiction mix with giant robot action in this feature film.