Ranked #281

Cardcaptor Sakura

Cardcaptor Sakura is a classic. It is one of those anime that everyone could enjoy, regardless of age and gender. While being a typical magical girl anime, the plot is actually intertwined with lots of comedy and romance. There's not a lot of drama (yet), except maybe recurring goofs and difficulties that each characters face. However, that is the true magic of Cardcaptor Sakura. It has such a high enjoyment value that you will often forget that you are watching someone capturing cards, but rather, live through the experiences of a not-so-typical elementary girl whose live was changed in many ways by the cards she will make her own.

Story: 9/10

The first and second season, in my opinion, is not most impressive plot-wise. It is pretty much very episodic, with recurring goofs such as Sakura's battle costumes, Tomoyo with her camcorder, Toya always showing up at the right (or wrong) times, Sakura trying to win over Yukito, Kero looking up at the sky saying "Yue" like he's heartbroken, and Syaoran once again tries to compete with Sakura. The impressive part of the first season is its comedy and action, because it was just amazing. For a magical girl anime, the action was just there. Every scene, suspense, effort, luck, desperation, success, it was there. When Sakura is not capturing cards (she approximately captures one per episode), she enters an environment with heartfelt friendship and goes through life very joyfully and often humorously. Even though the only plot is to "capture them all," Cardcaptor Sakura such a variety of enjoyment that you will find yourself staying glued to the screen.

The season offers a change of pace as Sakura embarks on a brand new adventure, meeting a mysterious new rival. This is where the plot starts to change, as the cards are no longer the main emphasis of the plot. It is clear that while the cards changed her destiny (in capturing the cards), it also affected her daily life as well. The third season explores how the cards created a new path for Sakura in friendship and romance. This part of the plot is present in the first two seasons, but it became the main focus of season three. Personally, this is when Cardcaptor Sakura won me over. Until then it was just a very addicting and enjoyable show. Season three gave meaning to the cards and provides a few dramatic moments that fortifies the underlying themes and symbolisms the series tries to convey.

Art: 10/10

If you are new to Cardcaptor Sakura, then you might not realize that it was made in 1998. For its time, the art was amazingly amazing. From the opening sequence, you can point out minor details such as the movement of Sakura's costume in the wind and the animation of her hair was just so realistic. Voice acting was awesome (and cute), and facial expressions were especially awesome. And then, there are the action scenes themselves. When the cards are released/captured, there's a "wow" moment that you don't expect to see in a typical magical girl series. Even though the action isn't very technical with cool names and gadgets, it features everything from flying, sword fighting, evocations of the elements, and last but not least, Sakura. One thing that cannot be expressed enough is how cute Sakura is portrayed. That may sound stupid, but it's one of the main attractions of the show.

Sound: 10/10

Not only are the opening and ending sequences catchy, the background music was incredible, simply incredible. From the opening scene featuring Sakura on top of a tower, the music was engaging in every aspect. Then it smoothly makes a transition to everyday music when Sakura introduces herself, and finally to the suspenseful and catchy battle theme that everyone loves. One of the main complains about the dub (Cardcaptors) was that the music was changed. The original music was excellent, and it fits the situation it is for very well.

Character: 9/10

For an anime like this it's tough to be perfect character-wise, but which anime masters character portrayal, right? The anime focuses the most on Sakura, Kero, Tomoyo, Syaoran, and Meilin, as expected, since they're the main characters. Of course Toya and some other characters I don't want to spoil have their roles also, but mostly it centers on the elementary students (and Kero). While a good deal of the supporting characters were developed, it is done mostly through inferences and vague symbolism. In a way this is good, because it gives Cardcaptor Sakura a deeper meaning if you see it, but if you don't, it's still a very enjoyable anime with minor plot holes. So in short, Cardcaptor Sakura is mainly an anime of character development and emotional maturation, and it mostly succeeded, for the main characters only.

Enjoyment: 10/10

From what I said above, this category would definitely have to be a 10/10. In fact, it has one of the best re-watching values of all the anime I've watched. The first time you go through the anime, it's just plain enjoyable. The second time, you tend to pick up symbolism and motifs from here and there. That "ah hah" moment where everything clicks makes the series even more enjoyable, because it connects its episodic attribute to the main plot more closely. Cardcaptor Sakura just enjoyable no matter how you look at it.

An interesting character in Cardcaptor Sakura is Meilin. She is a filler character, meaning, she is not in the original manga. However, her roles are clearly defined and becomes one of the major plot-driven characters at the end of the anime, as well as being a very consistent character. One example is how I regard an episode that dedicated to her as one of the best, even though it is a filler. The addition of Meilin is not for the detriment of the plot, and I applaud the excellent direction it took to incorporate such a character.

Another factor that might affect some viewers is how everything is in rōmaji or English. At the opening sequence, Sakura's name tag says SAKURA, the cards are in English, even how Sakura says them is in English. There's just a lot of convenient things here for English watchers, something curious but gladly accepted.

Controversies:

If you watch this anime, then watch out for some controversial topics. The first one is homosexuality, which is present plainly in one relationship, and very vaguely implied in a couple of others. It would certainly bring up some questions for younger viewers, but in the end, the anime explains it in a very fitting and safe way. Still, it could be a concern but it shouldn't stop you from watching it. It's safe to say that yuri/yaoi isn't a main component of the plot.

Another controversy is incest, the legal kind (in Japan). While a non-Japanese audience might be a bit uncomfortable of a first cousins relationship, it is best to keep in mind that in Japan, it is completely normal. There's no weird things like brother/sister, mother/son, or stuff like that, so don't worry.

And there's a third kind of relationship explored in the anime, which is an innocent student-teacher crush. The anime never really goes anywhere with it, but it's nice just to mention that it's there. The one important thing to keep in mind is that all these three types of relationships do not affect the enjoyment of the series in any way. Relationships, after all, are part of the main plot, and they should be treated in an adult manner.

Lastly, although it's something that not many cares, there is death. Throughout the series, no one really died, but the motif of death, angels, and the afterlife appears frequently. It's listed as a controversy due to the assumed target audience (young females), but in the end, death is one of the aspects that gives more meaning to the plot.

Cardcaptors:

As much as I don't want to bash Cardcaptors, I feel that it is relevant. If you watch Cardcaptors, then my ratings do not apply. These ratings only apply to the Japanese subbed version, as well as what I think is the best version. Get this one if you can!

Overall: 9/10

I can't bring myself to give this anime a ten just because it carries no major revelations or any of the sort. You can argue that the ending is pretty dramatic, kind of, but the main purpose of the anime is to let the audience sit back, relax, and enjoy. Of course I am being harsh because I want something out of every anime I watch, but for Cardcaptor Sakura, enjoyment alone is enough to get it to a 9. Once in a while, it's good to just watch a series and and enjoy it wholeheartedly. read more

Cardcaptor Sakura is perhaps the best mahou shoujo anime produced. It's more than just a classic or a title that's influential. It's an example of a series that was not afraid to take risks and defy common conventions of the genre in order to maximize quality. And while Cardcaptor Sakura may seem like a standard mahou shoujo anime at first glance, there is a lot more depth here than a cursory glance might reveal.

The premise itself is fairly typical for a mahou shoujo anime. A happy-go-lucky girl suddenly comes across magical power and begins her quest alongside a cute lion-like caricature serving as her guardian and mentor. Sakura's role as the chief protagonist is to capture the fifty-three magical cards of Clow Reed, each inhabiting a unique power that inconveniences Sakura and the people around her in some way. Some of these cards are immensely powerful, including the ability to manipulate time and dreams, while others are fairly weak or trivial in comparison and encompass smaller abilities like creating flowers or making objects float. After Sakura fights against the power behind the card and then seals it away it becomes a part of her possession that she can then use at will.

At least, this is how the story first seems.

The series is largely changed and complicated with the introduction of the deuteragonist in the eighth episode. Syaoran Li, a boy from Hong Kong, suddenly transfers into Sakura's class and disturbs the situation by antagonizing Sakura and competing for the Clow Cards. This relationship serves as the basis for the central theme of the series as their feelings and relationship change and develop immensely, from rivals to friends and finally to lovers. This is a very gradual change and it's paced well enough that it feels completely natural, a change you might not even notice without retrospect. You contempt Li when he's first introduced and by the end you grow to enjoy his presence almost as much as Sakura herself.

Shoujo series are a bit infamous for their overly-idealized and sudden romances but Cardcaptor Sakura is again an exception. There is certainly idealizing, sparkles and bubbles, but the depth is there. The feelings between Sakura and Li naturally grow and evolve over the course of the series, with no contrived events used to advance their relationship. There is not even a confession by the end of the 70-episode run, yet there is no need for one as the anime has already communicated how strongly the two feel for each other. Character interaction and body language are used to express this-- not conveniences followed by dramatic outcomes. The end result is one of the most natural and endearing romances in anime. As a mahou shoujo it is good, but as a romance it is excellent.

Cardcaptor Sakura is mainly a lighthearted and fun series. Most of the entertainment revolves around Sakura and her interaction with the characters, most notably her guardian Keroberos (endearingly shortened by Sakura to Kero-chan) and her closest friend Tomoyo who often goes along with her to the scene of each card to record footage on her camcorder. Other important characters include Sakura's beleaguering older brother Toya and the object of her affections, Yukito, a friend of Toya whom she holds a large crush towards. Still, the series does eventually take a more serious turn in the second half after the initial card collection draws to a close. Some characters reveal hidden sides that will surprise the audience and certain side characters develop and become integral to the story. At no point does the show ever feel too silly or too serious; it's a perfect blend of the two.

Interestingly, there are several elements that deviate from the conventions of most mahou shoujo anime. There isn't a traditional transformation sequence in the anime nor one unique outfit that Sakura wears when using magic. Instead she wears normal clothing like a regular girl, or rather whatever silly costume her friend Tomoyo decides to dress her up in before the event. This adds a lot of variety to the action sequences and gives the audience a small something to look forward to each episode.

Despite its young demographic and reputation as a family-friendly anime, there are also some surprisingly taboo topics that are covered in the anime. There's the forbidden love between teacher and student and homosexual feelings between two important characters. The anime does not use any of these elements as shock value, though, simply presenting them as-is with no moral connotation. 'Love' is the main theme of CCS and the amount of detail put into the relationships of even periphery character is certainly commendable.

On the other hand, the music here is nothing short of stunning. Some of the songs that play in the series, such as the first opening and the track used when capturing a card, are classics that will stick in your head and be remembered fondly for a very long time. More than simply enhance the experience, these tracks are a large part of what makes the anime what it is. The soundtrack is by far one of most defining and important aspects of the series, and perhaps one of the best in anime.

That being said, Cardcaptor Sakura is definitely not without flaws.

One of the largest complaints can be put on the rather long length of the anime. At 70 episodes it can certainly drag on at some parts in the story. While CLAMP carefully tried to make each episode as engaging and interesting as possible, it’s only natural that some episodes are weaker than others and that some events can become a bit predictable at times. Luckily, this mostly changes in the second half of the anime where the story expands and takes a mostly different direction where more emphasis is put on the characters’ relationships. As fun as each episode is, I can’t help but feel like it would have benefited from a shorter episode count in order for the story to flow better. A 50-episode story would have been a perfect fit, neither too long nor too short.

It should also be mentioned that the changes between the original Japanese version and the English localized "Cardcaptors" are very drastic, and certainly not in a good way. Music and names of the characters are changed, episodes are flipped and mixed together in an odd and sometimes incoherent order, and important backgrounds and plot elements are minimized or removed completely. While certainly not unwatchable, it’s a very toned down and poor imitation of a fantastic anime. You would be doing yourself a huge disservice by watching any version except the original Japanese one.

In a genre where conventions and inspiration form the crux of most stories, Cardcaptor Sakura is a brilliant title that breathes new life into the genre and anime as a whole. While not quite flawless, this is a classic that has acceded its spot as one of the most influential and quality anime titles in recent times. It’s a consistently high-quality, entertaining and sometimes thought-provoking anime that has more than earned its widespread acclaim and influence. This is a title that shows that there is indeed a correlation in storytelling between creativity and quality.

Cardcaptor Sakura has certainly earned its place in history. read more

When I first saw Cardcaptor Sakura, I was thinking : "another magic girl series. and this time she has a stuffed animal with her." Every time I finished an anime, I would look for recommendations and almost every time Cardcaptor Sakura was there! Now I really regret not watching it earlier. It was just so amazing, despite the fact that it was SEVENTY episodes with three seasons together. The first and second seasons were mainly about Sakura, the main character, collecting the clow cardst that she had spread throughout the world by accident. To be perfectly honest, it could have ended there, but I am SOOOO glad that it didn't. The third season was my absolute favorite. For three reasons: (1) it had A LOT of character development (2) a hint of romance (the kiddy kind, but it worked) and (3) because it had so many unexpected turn of events. (I won't tell you because I don't want to spoil it.)
But either way, Cardcaptor Sakura is an anime that ANYONE and I mean ANYONE can enjoy, regardless of age or gender.

Story: 10/10

There's just no way to NOT give Cardcaptor Sakura a 10.
In the first few episodes, it starts off like any magic girl series where the heroine is having her normal life until she accidently releases/does something, giving her magical powers, and then she must do certain things to make up for her mistakes/ help the world. That is definitely the case in this anime, however, it has several twists and cliffhangers making it equally addicting and enjoyable.
Like any magical girl series, there is some sort of transformation needed for the heroine to use magic, but I like how in Cardcaptor Sakura that there is no extremely long three-minute transformation of clothing (which I usually skip over in ANY series). all that she needs to change is her key, by making it into a wand, a LOT shorter than your average transformation (you know, the EXTREMELY annoying ones.)
Throughout the series, there are a TON of cliffhangers and completely unpredictable events. Cardcaptor Sakura has the ability to make every character, regardless of whether it was a friend or brother or even a DEAD person, somehow important. (For example, a two certain characters I felt had no essential role in the series, so Ididn't really pay attention to them. BIG MISTAKE. in the end, their roles were SOOO huge.)
For those of you who enjoy romance, you might want to try this one out. Yes, the main character is a FOURTH/FIFTH grader, so it is the rather kiddish kind, but the directors of this anime still somehow manage to make it work. There is one MAIN love triangle. One of those guys is the older, nice, and basically "perfect" guy in any anime (well, if you watch all three seasons, that decription is not ENTIRELY accurate, but on technicalities, it's true) and the other one is the same age as Sakura who is the outside "cool and mean" character and inside "extremely kind and secretly has a crush on the airhead" guy who first competes with Sakura, but eventually comes to like her and even love her. So the romance, isn't that intense, mature, dramatic type that most people like, but either way, I'm sure you will enjoy this one as much as I did.
Throughout the series, Sakura's main goal is to collect all of the clow cards and eventually become their official new master. She catches/changes about one card per episode, and the series goes at a pretty fast pace. The story takes place for about 1-3 years. (never clearly states).
I was slightly disappointed with the ending, for certain reasons, but that's just my PERSONAL opinion. Even with the ending after finishing this anime, I was a little bit depressed because it was OVER!!!! :'(
The story was sometimes slightly confusing, but I really liked how piece by piece everything became clearer and clearer.
I was rather vague in the story because I didn't want to spoil anything (it is WAY more enjoyable when you're clueless about what's going to happen), but I hope I was SOMEHOW helpful.

Art 9/10

Well, the art is a rather old style, but it has its own unique flares, so it's pretty good. This was one of the only series that I've watched where the heroine has pretty short hair. (pretty short meaning barely goes past her ears, except for a few stray hairs.) but I liked how the artists drew Sakura. They had a constant cute and kiddish theme going on that was pretty comfortable to look at with her several outfits, provided by her friend Tomoyo.
The artists also are very detailed in backgrounds, dress wrinkles, hair textures, tree bark, metal dents, etc, etc. (well, I suppose a lot of anime is, but Cardcaptor Sakura did a pretty good job, considering it was made a LONG time ago.)


Sound 10/10
I loved every single song in this anime. ALL THREE seasons. They were really good when putting sound effects and dramatic flares in it. I don't have any complaints about it.

Characters 10/10

This anime had A LOT of character development, especially in the second and third seasons.

Sakura: the main character. Your average heroine who is inhumanly kind, the one who has to save everyone and the one almost everyone absolutely loves. and if they don't like her at first, they grow to love her! Sakura is a fourth grader who has lost her mother and lives with her slightly mean big brother and extremely kind father. She is the one who the story revolves around and needs. She has a crush on Yukito, not knowing that someone else is always watching her from afar, wishing that he could confess. (well in the third season, anyway.) The only thing about her that I didn't like was because of the fact that she was absolutely terrified of ghosts. IT got slightly annoying after a while....

Other characters have roles as well (OBVIOUSLY) and like I said earlier, they ALL have some sort of essential part in the story that is needed.

Shaoran/Syaoran/XiaoLang (different ways of saying/spelling): the mean character who secretly has a crush on Sakura. (in third season) Also gifted with magical powers due to his shared blood with Clow Reed (the creator of the cards). I felt that he was rather strange, but it's later revealed WHY he is so....emotionless/mean/strange.

Yukito: the other half of the love triangle in which Sakura has the school girl crush on. (he's the same age as her older brother, who's in high school). Warning right now: Yukito is not a character to be ignored!!!!!
ANYWAY, he has an extremely kind personality and an apetite as big as an elephant. Strangely enough, he's never fat, despite the fact that he eats a TON and I mean, A TON of food to satisfy his never ending hunger and....something else (SPOILED, if told).

Tomoyo: the slightly stalkerish best friend who always videotapes Sakura, regardless of event or time. She make outfits for Sakura to wear throughout, so Sakura is almost always wearing an outfit made by her when battling.

Toya: big brother, calls Sakura "monster" a lot and has some abilities as well, that no one except two or three people know about.

Keroberos (Kero-chan): the heroine's companion and the beast of the seal trapped in a plush toy form. Helps Sakura throughout the story, playing a crucial role.

Erm....well, there are a ton of other characters, but I feel that the ones above are probably the ones that should be focused on most.

Enjoyment 10/10

I enjoyed every single episode in this series. (well, after the second.)
I have no doubt that anyone can enjoy this truly unique anime.

Overall 10/10

Cardcaptor Sakura is a truly magnificent piece that I'm sure you will enjoy. My review has been rather vague, but I hope it was slightly helpful at least. THanks for reading! (Note: my third review, so not THAT great.)
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Card Captor Sakura is an anime based on CLAMP's manga of the same name. It is a about a girl with magical powers name Sakura, who strives to retrive a set of magic cards that she accidentally sets free.

Story: The anime is "episodic" in nature, usually consisting of single episode stories that most often serve to develop the characters and their relationships with one another, as well as Sakura coming in contact and attempting to "capture" one of the lost cards. Being a long series however, it can begin to feel very repetitive after only a short period of time. Although I think the overall concept of the story is good, I feel as though it could have been executed better, with more emphasis placed on the cards. In some episodes the cards have a very little role, sometimes being captured very quickly. A few times a card doesn't even show up at all.

Animation: The animation is good overall, a few scenes are reused at times, but I have no major qualms.

Sound: Like with the animation, the sound was done well. There are a few songs I liked, and a few that I didn't. The voice acting was done well, with voices that suited the characters nicely.

Character: I really felt that the characters were developed nicely throughtout the story. The Love triangle involving Sakura, Yukito and Li developed and resolved itself in the end, giving a feeling of closure after so long. The develop of characters and their relationships felt very natural to me as well. Their actions rarely, if ever, felt forced or out of character.

Enjoyment: If you are a fan of shojo or "magical girl" anime, and can stand a little bit of repetitivness, I would say that Card Captor Sakura is a must see for you. I personally enjoyed it thoroughly despite a few lulls hear and there. read more

Cardcaptor Sakura is a great show, though you’ll notice that it’s really classic. I don’t watch many magical girl anime so I can’t really say for sure how Cardcaptor Sakura is better or worse than other magical girl anime. The only thing I’m looking forward in this anime is the “romance” part but I guess it exceeded my expectations positively.


Story: 7/10

The story was good but neither great nor outstanding. The anime was more episodic than I thought. You can seriously see the pattern: Sakura lives her life normally, notices a card or meets one, tries to capture it, she gets a card (at least 1 in every episode). Regardless of Sakura, you’d always see Tomoyo with her camcorder, and creator of Sakura’s battle costumes; Toya, who has weird abilities, shows up in a sudden in most bad timings, and Syaoran competing his love against Sakura for Yukito’s love. It can be repetitive but if you have fun with it, I bet you wouldn’t bother its repetitiveness and remain excited (even with the fillers dragging the show) for the main plot, and if you want to really get a grasp on the romance plot, you would as well.

The first two seasons seem to focus a lot on the “capture them all” (that reminds me of Pokemon somehow, lol). Although she does capture them all, there were weird points (or hints) in the show. While hinting that there is a “someone else” in the show that’d appear in the end of Season 2, it sucks to think that Kero would keep on saying “Yue” while looking up on the sky (esp. the dark sky at night) as though he is heartbroken or “I’m going to die without you-“ issue thing.

And in the third season, you can make fillers easier than I thought. The goal is to have Sakura renew his Clow Cards and in the end, it doesn’t conflict with the first and second seasons; it rather harmonizes well. Basically, that’s it but…

… the romance part has been bothering me lately. In the end, I just wanted to know what happened to Sakura “after it happened.” Although the answer may be already obvious, I just want to see how Sakura would say after “they” meet each other again.


Art: 10/10

“Why 10?” I bet you didn’t know this was a 1998-show without looking it up in other websites, right? Well, it is. Madhouse has done outstandingly. At those times, it might be one of those shows with outstanding animation. Compared to the shows around 2003-2005, you can still notice minor details (from the OPs alone). Moreover, the art doesn’t degrade as the show goes on. (Good thing Madhouse doesn’t make half-heartedly done works.)


Sound: 8/10

I love all the OPs but I, unfortunately, like (only) the EDs. (Notice the love and like relationship I used.) The OP does have the catchy feeling and the ED does have the “catchy” feeling as well but the ED was “too” jolly for me. After all, we have different tastes but most of you out there might love it.


Character: 10/10

Apparently, what I like about this show is how “deep” CLAMP showed different relationships like the pedophilic-like relationship, boy-boy relationship, and cousin-cousin relationship, making it really is great to tell the young viewers out there, “Don’t be afraid to love someone you really love.” CLAMP didn’t even mention, even once, some “unusual” words although some were obviously already suspecting other people’s relationship. So this makes their characters unique… VERY unique.

But what excites me most is the filler character, Meilin. Sure, Meilin could “destroy” the plot of the show, make conflicts or so, but fortunately, she didn’t. Instead, she played a really great role in Shaoran x Sakura, making the story deeper and “more promising.”
I’d like to talk about the other characters (one by one, perhaps) but it’ll make this review longer.


Enjoyment: 9/10

I had fun watching the show (including the fillers) but comparing it with the manga, I can say that there were other situations the manga had cases than this series.


Overall: 9/10

There wasn’t anything “big” in the series (or at least the third season). It’d be almost like anticlimactic since the season 2 ending was way better than the season 3 ending. Although the season 3 ending was somehow dramatic and the season 2 was really “revealing” or something like that, it probably is just that Cardcaptor Sakura has a wide variety. read more

This is one of the most notable magical girls series, and for good reason - it wouldn't have been so popular and there wouldn't have been any other anime that were released after it which pay homage to or downright copy stuff from Cardcaptor Sakura - for example, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha starts off as pretty much a CCS clone with more action - if it wouldn't have done (at least some) things right. That being said, the show did age and some of its parts have lost their novelty and appeal while other things weren't that good to begin with. Still, it remains an enjoyable series and anyone who has at least some interest in mahou shoujo series should consider watching it because it provides plenty of examples of how to do things right when it comes to schoolgirls that play with magic. Even though you can't point to CCS and say it redefined the genre, it's one of those shows that you can point to and say "this is what a magical girl anime is".
Not to say that if you don't like them you should stay away as there are other things you might like in CCS as well, especially a lot of romance (of the "everyone likes everyone" variety) and moe. You can actually watch most of it as a slice of life series with a lot of light-hearted comedy and cute characters doing cute things (ignore the negative nuance some people seem to give to that expression), which was what kept me watching this for most of the series.

The animation was pretty good overall, but the animation quality tends to vary between episodes. If you watch many episodes at once, this actually becomes pretty noticeable; some episodes are drawn with a lot more detail and the animation is more fluid.
There are even moments when I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow - for example Kero-chan's true form and Yue look simply... stupid? They look so retarded that not even the animators had any idea of how exactly they should animate them, which makes for some really stiff animation whenever they're on screen. It's not bad when they sit still but when they move... it's like they're made of plastic. So don't buy it when that little flying lion tells Sakura he looks "cool" in his true form, because really, he doesn't. Some settings are used more often than others (read that, "too much Penguin Park") but it's not that big of an issue. A big issue however is the underwhelming choreography of the "fights" (actually there are no "fights" in CCS but I'll just call them that anyway), but there are enough things to compensate for that so I decided to not give them that much of an importance.
As far as character designs go you can expect everyone to look good and pretty and they have an overall big-eyed "cute" CLAMP aesthetic, which I liked.

Speaking of characters, I think they're the best part of the show. They really grew on me as the series progressed and I think anyone would like at least some of them... or at least you'd find it really hard to hate them. I especially liked Tomoyo, Sakura's best friend. She is always quite aware of her surroundings and others, smart, knowledgeable, creative and even somewhat manipulative at times. That and she has a very cute... obsession. Even though there are only a handful of episodes where she doesn't really do her thing, I never got tired of her antics. Then there's Tsundere-kun, Li Shaoran. For the first half or so of the series he's not that interesting but as you get to know more of him he stands out - and he should stand out (I'm not going to explain why, that's a spoiler - even though it's not some unexpected twist or anything... and you probably already guessed what it is). Kero-chan does plenty of funny things and the side characters are not bad themselves... like Yamazaki, the liar. He makes for some hilarious but short interactions with his classmates (especially Chiharu). I'm not sure whether his lies got funnier or I just began to like him more as I watched more episodes.
Also, about characters - there are no villains. And when I say that I mean that really, there is not even half of a bad guy in here. So don't expect that, the anime does pretty well without them anyway.

Then there's the part of CCS that is really, really lacking... the story. It's not that the story is particularly horrible but because it's so poorly shown and told it ends up being really bad. The fact that more than half of the episodes are simply a monster of the week fare doesn't help at all (even though that's to be expected... this is a mahou shoujo anime after all). It's not once that something silly or ridiculous happened and my willing suspension of disbelief got seriously shaken. Plenty of minor moments like these are sprinkled throughout the series during the magical encounters, especially during the first 35 episodes (during the second half the show at least tries to rectify this and make these encounters more plausible... whether it succeeds or not, I'm not so sure really. I wasn't impressed) . Also, the show is devoid of any real twists... sometimes you can see the "turn" the plot is going to take ten episodes before it actually happens. That didn't sit well with me, to say the least.
For the most part, the pacing is pretty bad as well. There are episodes, like the "Dream" card episode, that move the story forward a lot (or at least reveal and confirm where the story is going, which the viewer guessed for quite some time already) and then there are episodes that should be labeled as filler, even though there are no actual filler episodes here.

The voice acting and music were good. Luckily there are no kids with annoying voices in the anime and the seiyuu's did a good job at acting their respective characters, which helps with the like-ability of the characters a lot. For example, Sakura's verbal tics are kinda cute. The bad thing with sound when it comes to voice acting is that (like a lot of anime during that time) it's sometimes pretty badly synchronized with the animation - there are moments when the characters talk but their mouths don't move or when their mouths move but there's no sound.
The soundtrack was pretty good, a particular standout for me is Tomoyo's song from the "Sing" card episode (it's one of the reasons why I like her character so much), the Song of the Night. I really liked the first and third openings and endings, and the second pair of songs was decent. One thing that I didn't like - or rather, that left me somewhat disappointed - about the score is that for a 70 episodes anime, there aren't that many pieces. There are much shorter series than this that have a lot more music...

At the end of it all, I enjoyed it. Yes, CCS has its bad moments, but it also has its good moments... and its really good moments as well. I didn't like those enough to close my eyes to the show's flaws but really, there are more good things than bad things when it comes to Cardcaptor Sakura. Just keep in mind that nostalgia is involved at times when people praise it, and since the anime didn't age perfectly, you're best off if you go into it with an open mind and enjoy it for what it is. read more

cardcaptor sakura...i still remember back in 98 when i saw this anime on my local tv network.i was so suprised to actually watch in tv(in greece where anime arent really popular especially back in the 90s) a brand new production that was OFFICIALY(probably dubbed by the production company and not the local network) dubbed with great voice actors(most anime outside japan are dubbed by horrible voice actors.never understood why).it had a catchy op and even though at the time i was around 15yo i didnt mind its childish theme(at least thats what i thought about anime with elementary kids for main roles) and watched it until the middle of the series.unfortunately it would appear that it didnt have much fans in my country so i never got to see the rest of it cause the network didnt buy the rest of the series.

a week back i was googling around and found a vid in youtube with cardcaptors op!i called an otaku friend i have and he actually had the whole series in dvd so i borrowed it to watch it and see if it was as good as i remembered.now im almost 30yo and i have watched hundreds of anime,so i expected to get bored with it cause its an old anime for kids.but i was pleasantly suprised!

The thing that suprised me the most was the story.all i remembered was a mahou shoujo anime with kids and a simple plot of day to day battles.but when i watched the whole series i was happy to see that they put some thought into this story and there was a reason for everything that happened and there where also some people with shady agendas mixed with some goodnatured conspiracy!its not so much about action/epicness as nanoha or as much as phycological as madoka(the 2 mahou shoujo anime i liked besides cardcaptor) but the story had a nice fairytale-like philosophical approach that i liked,while keeping in touch with a more mainstream western idea of magic.actually i was a little suprised cause i think that elementary kids ,even today, might not really be able to understand the story as good as a teenager or an adult.it also had great comedy and sentimetal moments for all ages without being boring!so i give it an 9 objectively cause personally this is a 10 out of 10 story!

when you watch an anime and try to grade its art you should always remember its airing date.so lets just say that this anime was a major production that it appears that they spared no expences.good fps,great colors and characters designs,beautifull backgrounds and nice visuals in battles.but most importantly the characters never wear the same outfit(+1 point bonus grade!)!except their school uniforms(whitch is logical) and the Lees who only had one pair of ceremonial robes each.i even love the idea of tomoyo being a dress freak being used as an excuse for all those cute dresses sakura fights in!so its 10/10!

sound!amazing score!great,catchy and many ops and closings!not just synth keyboard music but also band and orchestra music that perfectly matched whatever was happening on screen!10/10!even today very few anime manage to have such quantity and quality in music!the sound effects might sound a little childish like kero-chans fly-by sound but i think that that just adds to the comedy element.

Dang sakura-chan is the cutest mahou shoujo of all times!her personality is an all time favorite for many anime fans!i cant say very much other than that she is an elementary school student so you cant really expect ,much or diverse, character development.shes the classic paladin lawfull good personality with tons of clumsyness and sensitivity plus a moderate dose of airheadedness(does this word even exist?i guess u get my point) that will always fight for love justice and the best possible outcome for all.shiaorun or sayorun or whatever on the other hand is a simple guy,but with a lot more impact than he had in tsubasa chronicles.generally the rest of the cast exept sakura and kero-chan are there to complete the set.this anime is primarily focused on sakura(the main hero),but you'll get the oppotunity to learn about other characters pasts,something that will make their roles and personalities a lot stronger and help them standout a lot more.for lack of better judgement i give an 8 cause in the end i came to adore sakura and love all her clumsyness and her weird faces!plus all the other characters mixed in pretty good so there was nothing out of place..

enjoyment...it has action,adventure,innocent romance,comedy,slice of life and many other themes that are mixed in perfectly in every episode!i had a great time watching this anime so its a 10/10!there are some people that will disagree but hey!this a mahou shojou anime ok?if you want something adult stronger and smarter go watch ghost in the shell.

overall this anime is one of those anime that people will remember and rewatch for many decades to come.it deserves the title of being an alltime classic.i also think that it has the same sentimental value many old and successful series have.i know i remembered the image of sakura cardcaptor for more than a decade and had the urge to watch it again after all these years.so 10/10!a great master piece for all ages with many themes that anyone would enjoy watching.plus ,even though i hate it,this anime has the original cast from whitch tsubasa chronicles originated,just think about the mage CLOW and the CLOW world.does it ring any bells?so its a must watch for trubasa fans!it will add more to your tsubasa experience. read more

I am not sure why I like this anime. The reason is that I have a short attention span - so if I were to watch an anime it should be one that constantly changes. The problem with Card Captor Sakura is that the plot per episode doesn't change much. It's always about Sakura and company realizes something's fishy, then they find out it's because of a card, then Sakura captures the card, then everyone's happy. It's pretty much like that per episode, but for some reason, I think I like it.

I did have some problems during the middle part. I started to get bored, until the sleeping beauty episode. That one was cute. Maybe that's why I like it so much - it's cute. Sakura's cute. Tomoyo's cute. Shaoran's cute. Kero - chan is cute. The whole thing is cute. I really like the Sakura and Shaoran love match. Shaoran is just so adorable when he blushes in the presence of Sakura, and Sakura has no clue at all. Kids. They're just so sweet. I did have a problem with the Touya - Yukito match up. Usually I don't mind guy to guy love when it comes to anime, but they're relationship just feels so awkward. Something's not right, I guess. Still, Touya is one good eye candy. As for Yukito, well, I have to say I like Yue better. He's way cooler than Yukito will ever be.

The music was okay - most of it were cutesy, like "Fruits candy" and "catch you, catch me". They weren't too cutesy to make someone barf. It was typical anime cutesy. I did notice that most of the songs were quite similar, that it was almost hard to tell them apart. There were also very nice insert songs. The Tomoyo songs were adorable, and there was this one that was played when Sakura and the gang went somewhere (that time when Sakura saw the Tokyo tower, so I guess they were in Tokyo).

It was a good concept though. I do feel that it should have been as popular as Pokemon, those clow reed/sakura cards would make a lot of good money if only there were good marketing (FYI I love the mirror card the best). read more

Cardcaptor Sakura may be Clamp's best known work and stand alongside Sailor Moon as one of the most influential magical girl anime out there. The manga ran for four years and inspired several spin offs including two movies, some drama CDs, ten video games and a seventy episode anime which is what I'll be talking about today.

Cardcaptor Sakura is a highly episodic anime. The framing device is that young Kinomoto Sakura finds a strange book in her basement. When she opens it a large number of cards escape in a flash of light. Keroberos, who looks like a plush bear with a lion tail and wings, explains that Sakura has just unleashed a set of magic cards and this could have dire consequences if she doesn't catch them. For that end he grants her the power to seal the cards. Things get complicated when a transfer student from Hong Kong shows up with his sights set on gaining the cards himself. The storyline does change halfway through, but I can't give away how it changes without spoiling some major plot points. The story is very simplistic, but it's not bad. The premise is very creative and the cards come in a nice variety which keeps things interesting. It's very light-hearted and even fun. That being said, it does have some issues. The first is the ending, which is incredibly weak. The second is that some of the cards seem really random and have no practical use. Such as the card that makes things taste far too sweet or the card that sings. The biggest issue is the romance subplot. There's a lot of emphasis on romance in Cardcaptor Sakua. The issue with this is that Clamp is either incapable of or unwilling to write healthy romantic relationships. Most of the characters who experience romantic tension are either related or teacher and student. I'm not kidding. I'm not suggesting that no one should ever write romance that's screwed up. The issue is that it's portrayed as being perfectly normal. Syaoran and his cousin being engaged? Perfectly normal. Sakura's parents starting out as teacher and student? Perfectly normal. Clamp, this is not okay. There are many levels on which this is screwed up. Not the least of which are the moral and ethical issues.

There's a nice variety of supporting characters and they all interact well both with each other and with Sakura. Even though the story is for younger audiences the major characters get some nice development. Particularly Sakura, Tomoyo and Toya. The only real issue with the characters is that a lot of the secondary characters are pretty two-dimensional.

The art is decent. The cards have really nice designs and a lot of work clearly went into Sakura's costumes. Unlike a lot of other magical girl anime she actually wears different costumes into battle instead of having one outfit that she wears all the time. The characters do all look thin, but after watching xxxHolic the proportions in this look pretty close to normal.

The voice work is pretty well done. None of the voice actors really stand out but they all do their job capably. The music is very high energy and dynamic. It suits the series very well.

The yuri factor is a 5/10. Sakuraand Tomoyo share some incredibly homoerotic moments and it's very obvious that Tomoyo looks at Sakura as more than a friend. Flashbacks of their mothers reveal the same kind of dynamic from them. Unfortunately, they're cousins so it's pretty screwed up. Sakura also develops an obvious crush on a female teacher.

My final rating for Cardcaptor Sakura is a 7/10. If you like magical girl anime and you can excuse the poorly written romance subplots it's a good series and well worth watching. If you don't like magical girl anime you should skip it. It certainly isn't going to change your mind about them. If you like magical girl anime but the romance sub plots are really going to bother you you should probably try Sailor Moon, Tokyo Mew Mew or Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha instead. read more

yaaaiii~~! I just wanted to write a review of CCS because it is my most favorite anime ever.!! lol.haha

I must say that Clamp has created a wonderful story about a simple girl who suddenly became a magical girl. It has its own uniqueness and children or older people can/would enjoy. [I'm still re-watching ccs, especially my favorite episodes :D]. Its central theme is to show the different relationships of human and love.. It has shown true friendship, care for family, sibling love, crushes, unrequited love and 'true love'.


I liked how the story developed and ended, though I've been wanting more.lol. XD

This is one of the very few animes I have seen that have a changing love triangle and that is hat really catches my heart and makes me want to watch. It changes froma sakura shaoran yukito to a skaura shaoran meilin and i won't go on from there.

Storyline: As I said, twisting love triangles behind the ever changing main story. The main story is wonderful to. Going from capturing clow cards to changing them all into Sakura Cards before they turn into ordinary cards.

Art: I must say this is one of the bestly drawn animes too. It isn't all blood this head popping off that. And drawing the cards themselves (not in card form) was beautiful.

Sound: The music is very suitable for the anime. Though only once did I dislike the sound and that was meilin's annoying voice.

Character: They are very well developed in this anime. They all have great personalties that suit them and their place in the twisting story very well. read more

Ah, Cardcaptor Sakura. My very first anime that I watched in Japanese and subs. For CCS to be my first anime, and given that it is a Magical Girl one, it led me to expect all anime was as cute and heart warming as this one.

Well, it's been awhile, and I've seen a much more variety of anime now, so I think I could write a proper review...

The story had a typical magical girl story, and even back then I noticed the patterns. Problem comes up, Sakura deals with it, and it's another victory. There were also many cute moments between the characters, and, of course it moved me a lot since it was my first time experiencing such cheesiness.

The art was beautiful. Scratch that, it IS beautiful. Probably one of the best works from CLAMP. I can't really add on to this....

As for sound... Well, I was new to the whole Japanese dub thing back then, so naturally my reaction to their voices and the language was complete shock and confusion. But, when I look back on it, I think I have no right to judge the sounds. I haven't read the manga, so I can't say if I thought the voices were fitting.

I fell in love with the characters. The way they treated each other, the way they spoke to each other... It changed me so much. But anime does that to people, no? But, I wish that there was a bit more development in some of the characters. Some of them left me hanging, and I wonder how their lives went on afterward. But I guess that's just whats part of the anime. To keep you wondering... Or to make you read the manga to find out more.

Overall, I really loved this series. I have sentimental value in the show, and I can still catch myself humming "I am a dreamer..." It was outstanding. I'm just writing this review from plain memory, though. It's been more than 3 years since I've last watched this! read more

When I was young, I watched the English dub of Cardcaptors. It became a childhood favourite. I didn't really watch anime in general(especially in the Japanese voices) till I rewatched this series in the original voices, uncensored, and it what lead me to watch other great animes like Clannad, and Code Geass.

I remember the series was very boring in the end as a kid. I never realize that the third season was censored to the point of being broken, completely removing what the third season was primarily about, and fill it with flashbacks to make a full episode. Do not watch the English dub at all. You are missing so much.

The show is very cute, and would seem like a girls show, which it is to a point. But this show is good for both male and female, and all ages. Being a male, I never mind it. Guys, don't avoid the show just because you think it would hurt your manliness.

By todays standards, the art is just above par, but you got to remember that this was made in 1998. That was 11 years ago, and it still holds up. That is saying something. Compare to most anime in the late 90's and early 2000's, it's a stunning show. The characters are based on Clamp's art, they don't take too many shortcuts, the hair blows in the wind, people looks like they have weight them them. They really went full out. Just watch the first roller blade scene, and you would see what to expect.

The main plot isn't much to get excited for. A girl release magical cards, and now she has to capture them again. However, the real magic is the character relationship. This is most predominate in the third season. This is missing in the English dub, which is why I said the third season is broken unless you watch the Japanese version.

I highly enjoyed the series and recommend it to anyone who likes anime. I got to warn you, there is every type of love relationship you could think of other then transsexuals. But this is handled maturely. read more

ANIME NOSTALGIA SERIES
Full lit of the review series can be found on this page, 3rd post from bottom:
http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?uid=251338&show=userpage&do=blog&blogid=29009&page=0

TEASER: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K949ovqkMbo

ART SECTION: 8/10 [You’ll be doing cosplay; I’ll be filming you undressing.]
The visuals are generally very appealing, despite their years. They definitely aren’t super-awesome, yet for a series of this kind they are just fine. Plus, all characters and critters are drawn ultra-kawai, so it is rather hard not to love them on first sight. It is really refreshing to have a mahou shojo, where the heroine wears different cloths in every episode. She doesn’t even need to transform; she does cosplay just to please her friend. The environments are rather simple and repetitive (school grounds and Sakura’s home mostly) but the events that take place there are very different every time, so this is not much of a problem. Still, there are frozen frames and the repetitive release clip that drops the general quality a bit. Thank goodness that all the action scenes while chasing the cards are very different, thus even this can be overlooked.

SOUND SECTION: 8/10 [Hoe!!! I am not good at playing the flute.]
I hardly find anything to write here. Voice acting is simply superb for all the characters, with Sakura’s trademark frustration remarks becoming part of you early on. All the rest of the characters also have distinctive voices and demeanors. The music themes are to die for and the sound effects do their work as they should for a series of this kind. Still, the overall acoustics don’t have much artistic overtones, which I am very fond of. Just think of .hack//SIGN or Princess Tutu to get the picture.

STORY SECTION: 4/10 [I will become the best Card Captor in the world!]
The general story is quite simple. Sakura goes by her daily routine life and occasionally chases magic cards. There is nothing grand-scaled in it. The story keeps promising you with an upcoming world threat, posed by these magic cards. But in reality, there is no such threat and the cards are hardly dangerous. Heck, Sakura’s romantic frustrations are far more important in the plot than stopping the cards from destroying the world. So, this is practically a slice-of-life anime with a few magical girl overtones for flavor. In fact, I came to dislike the whole card chase. It was getting nowhere, just like the story in general. It was just an excuse for Sakura to keep meeting with Shaoran Li. Of course, there is the plus that most cards need to be captured with some sort of strategy and by using other cards. The usual “pull out my magic staff and beat them all in the same manner” golden rule of mahou shojo did not apply here and it was giving a slight feeling of progress. But not much. The real progress in the story was Sakura’s romantic life.
Still, even the above became stale in the second half of the series, when the cards were gathered and Sakura had to simply use them all over again, just to claim them. The progress of the story and even the slight danger it was giving off dropped to zero and only the last episodes in the series had something new to provide in the finale. This fact effectively makes at least half of the episodes to be unnecessary as they provide nothing more. The scriptwriters simply dragged the story instead of going for the next level (the infamous promised world threat that never came). At least, the conclusion leaves us generally satisfied as the characters admit their true feelings for one another. In romance anime, this rarely happens. Still, this is not the solid end to the story, as you are supposed to watch the second movie that really ends the story. Boy, did they fooled us big time, or what?


ENJOYMENT SECTION: 7/10 [Oh, how I love seeing you wearing the costumes I made for you!]
Although a simple story about simple people, it is not a simply boring series. The way Sakura needs to take care of her shores in the house, do her homework and various other activities, are full of vividness that hardly make you feel bored. Sakura’s silliness and determination provide a lot of comedy and entertainment without ever becoming ridiculous or really lame. Her interaction with her teasing brother, her schoolmates and Shaoran Li are more than enough to really enjoy watching her doing practically nothing overall important.
Not to forget to mention all those subtle kinky stuff. Shaoran Li was engaged to his cousin and blushed like hell every time a high school boy was near him; with whom even Sakura was losing her mind over. Tomoyo was going crazy over filming Sakura while doing cosplay. He he, stop denying it you perverted fan-boys and fan-girls; nasty thoughts crossed your minds and made you like the series even more!

IF the story was more solid, IF the episodes were fewer and IF all those kinky innuendos were getting somewhere, the enjoyment would be a 10.

CHARACTER SECTION: 7/10 [Hey Toya, why is Shaoran Li all red like that?]
Heck, I liked Sakura. She is good-hearted, klutz, orphan by her mother (living mothers are an endangered species in anime) and has no way of admitting her feelings, like the majority of mahou shojo leads. Yet, she is dynamic, athletic, and doesn’t need magic transformations in order to fight. Her perky personality and hilarious reactions to almost everything make her lovable… Oh, and her kawai factor is over 9000. I also liked Shaoran Li for steadily turning from an emotionless badass gay, to a sensitive straight guy with Sakura. Even that stuck up bitch, Mei Lin, steadily smoothers and becomes bearable while talking to her. Tomoyo remains an otaku and I wonder how much she now envies Shaoran Li for taking Sakura away from her. Kerberos is funny for a fluffy mascot animal. Eriol can go hang himself. He existed just for pointlessly dragging the story towards nothingness. Still, most of the cast did not evolve or made that much of an impact. There are series that take their time developing even the secondary characters, instead of shoveling us 30 episodes of plotless anime.


VALUE SECTION: 7/10 [How much for that stuffed animal? -Kerberos: I am not stuffed; I just eat a lot.]
Historical Value 3/3: Amongst the most famous mahou shojo.
Rewatchability 1/3: Nah, too storyless to pay much attention again.
Memorability 3/4: Not the best in the field as some think but generally very good.

VERDICT: 7/10
What do you mean you don’t have an alibi for not having a story? Why, I’ll just give you a GUILTY verdict for being so shallow… But since you are so adorable, I will let you go free. Ah, how cute! read more

Cardcaptor Sakura is one of my all time favorite shows. I've seen it time and time again and I never get tired of it. It's the type of show that'll capture your heart regardless of age or gender.

In my opnion this one the best works done by CLAMP, both in anime and manga. The show is an assortment of laughs, tears, confusion, wonder and much more. It is comedy and romance filled. What I find is that CCS' cuteness factor will continue to attract viewers world wide, especially fun-loving fangirls. The story develops in a way that keeps you interested until the very end, and the character relationships are very unforgetable. You just hav to love it*!~ read more

A few notes before this review begins. This is a LONG review, so please read at a very convenient time. Also, this involves every single character I've used in my reviews.

I would suggest you go to my user panel and read about how I rate anime and how I do my reviews before reading this review. Thank you. Now, back to our feature film.

T: It looks like he's watched almost a month's worth of anime.
Av: You serious?
T: Yeah.
Ak: How many series has he completed?
T: 25, plus 14 movies and OVAs. He's rewatched a few of them, though.
Ak: Like what?
T: Azumanga Daioh, Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu, Negima!...
Av: And they were all rated...?
T: 9. He has 11 different things here rated 9.
Ak: How many are tens?
T: One.
Av: Only one?! Which one? Death Note? Lucky Star?
T: Cardcaptor Sakura.
Av: WHAT?!
Ak: How come?
T: Not sure. I'm going to guess Sakura has something to do with it. That is his favorite character, after all.

NK: I hear people talking about Sakura-chan.
Av: Sakura..."chan"?
NK: Yes. Sakura-chan. Did I stutter?
T: Sorry. We were going through your anime list and noticed something.
Ak: Why is Cardcaptor Sakura your favorite?
NK: That is a very long answer.
T: You have a lot rated 9, but this is the only one rated 10.
NK; Yep. Kanon and Azumanga Daioh came fairly close, but there's no 9.5 rating, so I had to give them 9s Consider them the highest 9s.
Av: Wait wait wait. You honestly believe Cardcaptor Sakura is the best anime?
NK: That I've seen, yes.
Av: This is too much. I gotta leave.

T: Let's break this down, then. Simple stuff first. Art, music and voice acting.
NK: We need to hold off on the voice acting for now. Remind me to bring it up later.
T: Okay, then. How is the art in Cardcaptor Sakura?
NK: For its age, I think CCS is very well animated. The final episode aired in Japan over ten years ago. The cards all have fitting art and the action scenes are a lot of fun to watch. The facial expressions are good, too.
Ak: Don't forget the costumes!
NK: Ah, yes. Sakura-chan's costumes. Forgive me if I sound a little creepy, there.
T: Not a problem. I know you have the best of intentions with this anime.
NK: Some of her costumes are a bit...out there. Not quite sure what to think of them. Many of them are well designed, and there are a few that I like.
Ak: Which ones are your favorites?
NK: The one she wears sneaking into the museum was a good costume, and her costume for the school play was really good, too. My favorite is the one she wears at the Tokyo Tower Showdown, the one that constantly appears in her dreams.

T: All right. What about the music?
NK: For the most part, I'd call the music average. Granted, some of the action scenes have great music and the first opening is a really good song, but everything else seems a bit average.

T: How about the story?
NK: Uh...geez. Where do I start?
Ak: Favorite episodes - go!
NK: Let's see... The episode where Syaoran first arrives at the school is a good one, and the episode with the play is good, too. I also liked the episode where Sakura-chan was sick and still went out to capture a card. The best one, though, is near the end, when...gah! I don't want to give too much away!
T: There's got to be something there you can tell us.
NK: Ah! It involves the Balloon Card. Suffice it to say, the Balloon Card is extremely important in that episode.
T: What about the story in general? Is it too long?
NK: Not at all. No episode really feels pointless, though it may seem a couple get close. The ending is fantastic, in my opinion. It ends at just the right point, exactly how it should have.
Ak: Why don't any feel pointless? Isn't it long?
NK: Every episode has at least an accomplishment for Sakura-chan and the others, and usually each episode shows us something new about the characters. Either it's something we haven't seen yet, or it's part of the character's development.

T: Which leads us to your favorite topic, the characters.
NK: The main reason to watch the series.
T: How come?
NK: I'm going to be honest, here. The story, though very well written, can feel a bit repetitive to some and may seem like a standard magical girl story. It won't capture every audience. The true charm to Cardcaptor Sakura is the character design. How the characters act feels very natural despite the magic in the series, and their development throughout the series is amazing.
T: Your favorite character is Sakura, obviously.
NK: Absolutely. She's a very easy character to connect with, and I just attached to her in an instant. She's not the best character, though.
Ak: How come?
T: I think the better question is: who is?
NK: Tomoyo. She makes a drastic change very quickly that still feels very natural.
T: And that change would be?
NK: A bit of a spoiler, in my opinion. It's very obvious that she sees Sakura-chan as more than just a friend. Yet, when Syaoran appears...well, let's just say that her character description as being very selfless in regards to Sakura-chan really shows light here.

T: That's about it, then-
Ak: Not yet. Voice acting!
T: Oh, right! Why did you save it?
NK: I watched the series in Japanese. When I first was exposed to it, I watched the dub.
T: I take it the voice acting was bad.
NK: If that was it, I wouldn't be so upset. I can understand a difficulty in finding good voice actors, especially for children, when it comes to anime. I can also understand that some things may need to be changed due to the vast difference between the Japanese and English languages. Names, though, are not one of them. That's one gripe, but not my biggest issue.

T: They changed something else, I take it?
NK: When you go as far as to change a fundamental characteristic of a character, it changes the entire series. But the dub didn't stop there. They removed all context involving what I guess they considered "bad" relationships to show children. Tomoyo had so much of her dialogue manipulated that her obsession with Sakura-chan is just reduced to friendship. Meilin is also changed so much that her protection of Syaoran is just out of concern instead of her true intentions. These are extremely important to the way these characters develop, yet they're ripped away because of unnecessary censorship.
T: Harsh words.
NK: Harsh reality. The Cardcaptor Sakura dub is one of the worst dubs in my opinion.

T: So, summary time, then. Characters?
NK: Amazing.
T: Story?
NK: Great.
T: Art and Sound?
NK: Great and great.
T: Who should watch it?
NK: Everyone, but that's not going to happen. If you like any of CLAMP's stuff, especially Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, watch Cardcaptor Sakura. If you're even slightly interested, watch Cardcaptor Sakura. It may seem long at 70 episodes, but it's worth it. For your sake, though, WATCH IT IN JAPANESE. I cannot stress how bad the dub is.

Ak: So, do ya think this'll be your only 10 ever?
NK: I hope not. Like I said, Kanon and Azumanga Daioh were close. There's gotta be another series out there worthy of a 10 from me, but I just haven't found it yet. read more

I remember seeing this on TV back when I was in middle school and it was dubbed. I was extremely put off by the horrible dubbness of it all. :) However, just recently I decided to give it another chance. I'm glad I did, because I was feeling like watching a show like this.

This is not a show that is going to make you cry or have any really strong emotions, but you have to remember for which age group it is intended. Ignoring that, this show has a surpising bit of romance that is actually quite developed. I felt that they dealt with this in a really mature way, and did not treat the romance in this story as childish.

However, one of my main problems with this story is the sort of repetitiveness of it. The cards never seem like too much of a trial, and pretty much at the end of each episode most everything is dealt with. This is something that you find in this level of a show. Also, many things needed to be said were put off for ages because everytime someone would go to say it, they would be interrupted. This was humorous for a short time, but just annoying eventually.

Overall, I enjoyed this show. It was funny and cute. It was not something I watched obssesively, like other shows, but I didn't drop it either. I feel like for a anime made for little girls, it was really well done. (Just don't watch the dub version) read more

Card Captor Sakura (CCS) was actually the first anime I ever really got into, though it was not the first anime I ever watched. CLAMP did a great job with the character creation for this series and the animation itself was outstanding.
I have always watched all my anime in the original Japanese with English subtitles and the choices for the Japanese voice actors were absolutely wonderful. My favourites were those who did the voices for Daidouji Tomoyo and Tsukishiro Yukito. With the English dubbed version, however, I wanted to cry. The voice actors chosen to play Sakura-san and Tomoyo-chan sounded so similar it was scary, unless they were the same actor and I just failed to notice. Kero-chan's voice actor was horrid, too. But I digress.
The storyline of Card Captor Sakura has a lot of themes that an audience of varying ages can relate to, especially in the categories of learning about oneself, one's inner strength, and romance on multiple levels. CLAMP has always seemed to play on these same themes in every anime/manga they have subsequently come out with, but I will always consider Card Captor Sakura as a masterpiece and the greatest embodiment of these themes.
There is a lot of cuteness, humour, and random raindrops and feathers (other things CLAMP is well-known for) in this particular series, but the best thing about it all is the way that it looks like an anime made just for a younger audience though it is actually able to be viewed, understood, and loved by anime-watchers of all ages. read more

I agree with everyone who said this is a classic.
The plot of the 1st season is really predictable and kinda repetitive (how could it not be, with the whole capturing-one-card-an-episode), but if you bear with it, great things come in the end of the 2nd season. The entire 3rd season was enough to make me rate the anime a point above what I'd usually intended.
The art is actually pretty good for the time it was created. The cards look awesome, and the characters are all adorable. The music gets kind of repetitive at times, but it's great in the more emotional scenes.
The characters were the best part of the anime, and, to be honest, they were the whole reason why I sticked with it through the entire 70 episodes. I really wanted to know more about their relationships (notably Yukito and Touya's) because they were just so interesting. If that's what you enjoy most, too, don't give up - the 3rd season will make it all worth it. Everything starts developing at that point, and not a moment too late.
Overall, this was a really good series, one I recommend even if you prefer newer anime. read more

Cardcaptor Sakura is made by CLAMP arguabley one of the best known manga authors in the world. Cardcaptor Sakura is one of the gems of their work, the series in anime form is better than the manga in the respect of many cards and new characters being added in making the series a hit. The story is about a girl called Sakura who opens a book and scatters dangerous cards and has to capture them due to a beast falling asleep known as Kero. There's comedy, romance, random scenes and you can't adm it but say the magic scenes are truly magical. The story's first half is based on capturing the cards and the second half is on transforming them into sakuar cards as they need another source of energy. The art is great as expected being made by Madhouse with CLAMP fully involved, the sound may be a bit classical but still great, the characters and costumes are so memorable and have caused many fanclubs on MAL showing just how popular they are. The enjoyment of it is 9 overall. There are also two films of the series worth absolutely watching. If you've seen Tsubasa and loved it, you'll enjoy this. You'll laugh, cry, you'll want to watch it again. Cardcaptor Sakura will always be a recommended classic that anime fans will love and treasure again and again. read more