Ranked #234

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

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

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

I know people are always skeptical of all-10 reviews, but Cardcaptor Sakura really is that good.

Story
It seems like your typical magical girl story at first - "girl accidentally releases magical forces which will destroy the world unless she stops them with her new-found powers" - but it has a lot of romance and comedy thrown in, and plenty of unexpected twists. It gets you hooked right off the bat.

Art
CLAMP's art has always been amazing, and CCS is no exception. And there's a lot of variation too - Sakura has a different battle outfit for almost every card she captures, and all of them look awesome. The designs of all the Clow Cards, in both their sealed and released forms, are beautiful as well.

Sound
The music is great too, always perfectly fits the mood of the scene, and the openings and endings are made of pure sugary love. <3

Character
All of the characters are funny, unique, and well-defined. They all have their own little quirks that help to make them that much more lovable. Even the "filler" character, Meilin, (who wasn't present in the original manga) is very well developed. Though she is a bit mean and not all that likable at first, she grows on you over the course of the show.

Enjoyment
CCS is primarily 'episodic', consisting mainly of single-episode stories, and normally I don't like shows like that at all, but this one is so different. It's just amazing. It's not at all predictable like other magical girl series and that makes it so much fun to watch.

Overall
Amazing series, a shoujo with plenty of shounen elements, so no matter what sort of series you're normally into, you'll probably like this one too. read more

From the summary, Cardcaptor Sakura may just seem like your typical magical girl manga and that's true. While the plot is that of your "typical magical girl story", the characters are so unique and realistic that you'll find yourself enjoying the anime regardless of the plot.

Story: (7)
While I absolutely ADORE this anime, I have to say the plot is very stereotypical for magical girl anime. Just basically collect something that's disturbing the normal way of life of a place. There are quite a few plot twists that are very interesting in the story, but that doesn't make it too complex. The story is so simple even a 5 year old can watch it and understand, but hat doesn't make it childish or boring. I think the best part about Sakura Cardcaptor is just the fact that anyone of ANY age can enjoy it.

Art: (10)
I was surprised when I discovered the anime was made during the 90s!! For that time, the animation is EXTREMELY well done! Not only that, but every character had a unique appearance and wore some very adorable clothes! (Sakura mostly when it comes to the clothes part) The way the cards would just swerve as water to the card when captured was also very beautiful to stare at, no matter how ridiculous that may sound. Even when comparing this anime with the more recent ones, the art and animation are of great quality and very appealing to the eyes :)

Sound: (9)
The character voices were really well done, especially for the time when the anime was made! The songs also were catchy and fit into the situations very well. Even now, after nearly 10 years since I first watched the series, I listen to its songs quite often. I even have quite a couple in my I-pod!

Character: (10)
This is where the anime shows its true brilliance! The characters all had unique personalities and were very realistic! The way relationships change was done very smoothly and very realistically. You will truly feel sad, angry, happy, or almost any emotion the characters feel as you go along each episode. They truly will lure you in and create a sense of intimacy by the end of the series. Loved most of the characters when I was four, love them still!

Enjoyment: (10)
I rewatched this anime just recently, and more than once. It brought back memories of my childhood and didn't seem childish at all compared to the other anime I would watch at that age. It's something I watched over, over, and over and don't get tired of it! If you enjoyed it the first time and are planning to re-watch it, I encourage you to do so! You won't be disappointed :)

Overall: (9)
While it may lack a bit in originality when it comes to story; the characters, the nice songs, and the wonderful art make-up for it big time and make this one of my favorite anime of all time! It's just a wonderful series that anyone of any age or gender can enjoy, I think. Personally, I am SO showing this to my kids when I become a mom! XD 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 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

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 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

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