Sakura Wars was actually first a Sega Saturn game and comic franchise under the name of Sakura Taisen. It is actually set (IIRC) around the time of the Second World War or thereabouts, pointers to this being the various plot devices and enemies (barring supernatural ones) employed. The good guys are called the Imperial Special Team, and have a covert base in a theatre. The game was notable for its unprecedented wealth of "between mission" options and subgames. It was quite possible to spend longer playing the game between missions than actually carrying them out. The neat character design and steampunk mechs were also cool. There were two Saturn games in the series, developed by Sega and Red.