On the surface, Cardcaptor Sakura might seem like a standard magical girl show, because in some ways, it is. The premise of a main character finding a magical artifact that grants them power and have adventures with an animal sidekick is far from groundbreaking. A majority of the episodes have a familiar, almost villain-of-the-week format as Sakura tries to capture all the Clow Cards. The series even has the standard pool/beach/class trip episodes. What sets this anime apart is that it does everything so well, and instead of falling into a repetitive cycle of catch card, present a moral lesson, and repeat until the "Big Bad" at the end is defeated, it chooses to focus on its characters, emotional impact, and introduces many varied and well-developed subplots, all without undermining the show's narrative.
I'm going to start with characters, because I believe they are the strongest aspect of this show. Cardcaptor Sakura has some of the most likeable characters and richest relationships in anime. All the major characters of the show receive some amount of development without ever bogging down the plot, and even many background characters are fleshed out despite having less screen time. The characters have depth - even those that evidently modeled after anime character archetypes will break the mold at some point. Even Nadeshiko, Sakura's mother, who shows up only in flashbacks and briefly as a ghost, is never entirely a one-dimensional character despite her extremely limited role in the show.
The relationship development in this show is exceptional. Over the course of its seventy episodes, all of the relationships develop or are revealed so naturally that it's difficult to find fault in them. Sakura and Syaoran's romantic relationship, which becomes one of the pillars of the show, is "slow burn" done right. By the time the blushing and stuttering starts, I'm never compelled to question it. The change in their relationship from enemies, to friends and rivals, to having romantic feelings towards each other is a joy to experience. The same goes for Meilin's friendship with everyone, Yukito and Touya's relationship, Tomoyo's selfless love for Sakura, and even Sakura's dad and his relationship with Nadeshiko's family. Even the "bad guys" of the second half of the show are well-written, and some of the Clow Cards become characters in their own right, as well.
The overall plot and story are also very good. Though it does get a bit convoluted towards the end with time travel and reincarnations and such, it never gets to the point where things get too illogical or stupidly hard to follow. The show doesn't sacrifice a good narrative structure in favour of its "gimmicks," if that makes sense, so even when bewildering moments do pop up they have no lasting consequences on the overall enjoyment of the story. As I've seen how CLAMP can be at it's weirdest, Cardcaptor Sakura, I think, was handled very well in that department. The ideas presented can be simplistic at times, and I do think that sometimes there's too much of a focus on the importance of romance and such, it never gets preachy or tries to beat moral lessons over the audience's head.
The show also does an excellent job of making a majority of the seventy episodes feel relevant and not filler-y. While there are some episodes that slow the pace down and some that have less of an impact plot-wise, this, again, never seriously bogs down the rest of the more relevant episodes.
Both art and sound are simply excellent. For a show of its time, Cardcaptor Sakura is beautifully drawn and animated. It is mind-boggling to think that almost every one of Sakura's magic-using scenes was unique to accommodate Sakura's many outfits, instead of using a stock sequence like most other shows would. The art style itself has aged very well, as well. The soundtrack is cute and memorable, and I never felt that the background music was inappropriate, even in the rare moments where it sounded very nineties.
Cardcaptor Sakura is truly one of the best out there. While it could have so easily fallen into a stale, repetitive cycle as many magical girl series often do, it instead presents great humour, incredible characters, and touching stories that make watching this show an incredibly fun journey. I believe Cardcaptor Sakura is a true classic, one of those shows that will retain its appeal for years to come.
