Ranked #161

Cardcaptor Sakura Movie 2: The Sealed Card

The first Cardcaptor Sakura movie was, to me, a great disappointment. The story never really gripped me. So when I heard of the second movie, I was rather nervous. I'm happy to say, though, that I was greatly impressed with this movie. The story was will done, the relationships were expanded on, and it had one of the cutest endings.

Story 10/10: The story was a lot more gripping to me than the first movie, mostly because this movie was a direct sequel to the series. I truly enjoy the relationship between Syaoran and Sakura and was rather disappointed in how the series ended, without Sakura being able to say how she felt about him. Another thing I was afraid of with this movie is that it would feel like a giant monster of the week, but I felt that the antagonist and the conflict in the story were rather unique as far as the series is concerned and it was interesting enough to not bore me within the first half hour.

Art 10/10: This may be a little biased, but I've always been a fan of CLAMP's art. The problem with a lot of anime movies is that they get such a bad rep that the funding for the movies are significantly less than the series. As such, many times you'll find that a movie based off an anime series has lowered animation quality than the series itself. I was really glad, then, when I found no quality loss in this movie. It's still as bright and flashy as the series and the characters haven't started to suffer from Anime Movie Deformity Syndrom.

Sound 9/10: Something that's always kind of bugged me about this movie is that every version I've seen of it, the sound quality is drastically lowered. It isn't as bad as the first movie, but it sounded like it was recorded playing out of speakers and then THAT recording is what was played in the series. I mean, it isn't the worst sound I've ever heard, but it was enough to break the perfect 10 record I'm giving this series.

Character 10/10: I've always loved this series's characters. CCS characters have always been really unique and vibrant, catching my attention very easily. They all have their own pros and cons that don't fit easily into anime stereotypes. For this movie in particular, since they were exploring unknown territory, such as the deepening relationship with Syaoran and Sakura, I was afraid a lot of out-of-character experiences would occur, where the characters weren't acting at all in their personality. Thankfully everything was pulled off without changing personalities or giving you a bad taste in your mouth.

Enjoyment 10/10: I think this is just a summary of what I've been saying all along: I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. The characters were wonderful, as was the story they were wrapped in, and the art and music weren't enough to turn me away from it. I love watching this movie again and again, and I hope you will too. read more

Cardcaptor Sakura, or better known as Card Captors in the U.S., is probably one of the anime series that comes to mind when you think about what series you started with. The story of the animated series is about a young girl named Sakura Kinomoto/Avalon who captures these cards known as Clow (and later, Sakura) Cards which possess magical powers. in her adventures she is joined by and followed by her friend Tomoyo/Madison, Syaoran Li, and Li's cousin Meilin Rae/Li.

The movie takes place after the anime TV series, where Sakura is still reflecting on Li's confession from before he moved... Yeah. One day Sakura notices a presence while walking around with Tomoyo at an amusment park which was being built where a character of the series previously lived, and there she meets Li, who is visting from Hong Kong with Meilin. As the movie goes on, Sakura makes several attempts to tell Li how she really feels about him, and during this time she notices that her Sakura Cards are starting to disappear, and that a 53th card is behind it all....


Story -

As I watched the plot of the movie unfold, I had a serious case of deja vu. Why I don't know, it could possibly be that the plot had something of an inkling to the previous movie where the antagonist of the story was taking things away from Sakura, actually, I think that's what it was. Anyway, that aside, the plot was alright, it was good enough to keep my attention, though I was also watching to see if there was any real advances in Sakura's and Li's relationship...

Score: 8


Animation -

Well, this is probably the part of the review that I dislike the most, since I always say the same thing. But anyway, the animation was the same as the TV series, so I didn't feel like I was watching something totally different, though I wasn't sure if I was looking at the same Yue. The coloring of the backgrounds fitted their respective scenes (does that make sense?), though some parts did seem dark and... yeah.

Score: 8


Sound -

Background music was okay, though I don't really remember any of it (despite the fact I just watched it) except for the dramatic parts, which were good. I absolutely loathed the vocal insert songs and I didn't really pay attention to them.

...I watched the dub to this, and I sort of regret doing so, not because I thought they were bad, but because I simply wasn't really used to them, which happened with another series that I watched. I also thought that Sakura's voice could've been a little... lower... But I loved Eriol/Eli's voice, which is some proof of me not being used to the voices since I haven't heard his voice in the series. However, I do have to note that the pronouncations of the names in this movie were accuate, or more so than the series, though I'm not sure what Eriol's name is anymore...

Score: 6

Character -

Erm. The characters do remain true to their TV series and manga counterparts, Sakura being a bit dense, and Tomoyo being... well, Tomoyo. Their interations, especially Li and Sakura's are very cute, since it's young love, and you know that you have to go "Aw...." when you see it, or you're like me and you giggle, especially with the movie's closing line.

The antagonist, the Nothing/Nameless/Whatever Her Name Is Card is probably my favorite character because she does seem rather human, she's not being evil for the sake of being evil, it's because she wants her friends back, and yeah... You can't really help but feel sorry for her.

Score: 8

Enjoyment -

I can't really say that I really really loved this, but I think that it was okay. The sound really brought it down for me, and at times I did want to stop watching, but I kept on watching because I didn't want to drop it...


Score: 7

Overall -

The Good: Ah... Probably characters. They are just cute and lovable!

The Bad: ...But I didn't enjoy their voices all that much, nor any of the background music...

Score: 8 read more