Cardcaptor Sakura

Ten-year-old Sakura Kinomoto is an ordinary fourth-grade student living in Tomoeda until, one day, she stumbles upon a mysterious book of cards titled "The Clow." Pondering over her discovery, she unintentionally causes a magical gust of wind to scatter the cards all over town.

The accident awakens the Beast of the Seal—Keroberos, nicknamed "Kero"—who tells Sakura that she has released the mystical "Clow Cards" created by the sorcerer Clow Reed. Due to each Card's ability to act independently and their incredible power, Clow had sealed them away. Now that they have been set free, the Cards pose great danger to the world, and it is up to Sakura to put an end to them.

Appointing Sakura as the "Cardcaptor" and granting her the Sealed Key, Kero tasks her with finding and recapturing all the Clow Cards. Alongside her best friend Tomoyo Daidouji, and with Kero's guidance, Sakura must learn to balance her new secret duty with the everyday troubles as she takes flight on her magical adventures as Cardcaptor Sakura.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Kinomoto, Sakura Main

Tange, Sakura Japanese

Li, Shaoran Main

Kumai, Motoko Japanese

Daidouji, Tomoyo Main

Iwao, Junko Japanese

Keroberos Main

Hisakawa, Aya Japanese

Tsukishiro, Yukito Supporting

Ogata, Megumi Japanese

Yue Supporting

Ogata, Megumi Japanese

Kinomoto, Touya Supporting

Seki, Tomokazu Japanese

Li, Meiling Supporting

Yukana Japanese

Hiiragizawa, Eriol Supporting

Sasaki, Nozomu Japanese

Spinel Sun Supporting

Konishi, Katsuyuki Japanese

Maseba, Yutaka Producer

Kondou, Eizou Producer

Asaka, Morio Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Mima, Masafumi Sound Director

Reviews

Jun 4, 2012

Veronin

Recommended

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.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Jan 18, 2017

Biogundam

Mixed Feelings

Cardcaptor Sakura anime review.

Warring this review may contain spoilers.


First impressions, when looking back as my years as a child.
I realize that I had actually all ready watching anime.
Of course at the time I didn't realize that I was watching anime.
And this show was one of them.
After getting into anime officially I decided to take a trip down memory lane and finish a show from my childhood.
...
Story,5/10

Are story begans with sakura kimomoto a 10 year old girl who is just liveing for life to the fullest.
But one day while cleaning her father study.
She comes across a mysterious book which she opens,
Which contains a set of magic cards called the clow
While trying to figure out what they are she accidentally spreads them across the world which a magic wind.
Awakening the garden kero who tasks Sakura to get the clow cards back before they cause chaos and the worse case scenario the end of the world.

Now to be honest here my experience with the magical girl genre is kind of limited at best because I Only seen 3 show so far this included.
But aside that.
The Main plot is pretty basic and bare bones.
It's essentially Card of the week adventures.
with sakura and co finding the cards and stoping them from causing to much chaos as possible,
While sakura is dressing up In different outfits.


Which is perfectly fine if your a child or a young adult and you just want to watch this as Saturday morning cartoon fluff.

Because it pretty straight forward In plot and story telling.
Because you pretty much guess what going on or what's going to happen.
Like for example sakura older brother who she kind of doesn't get along with all the time,
Who Just happens to have a part time jobs near the area of where Sakura and a clow card are in the near by area.


Of course I am not saying that it's so simple that even an adult can't like this show,
Because even though it is very painfully simple and pretty predictable
there is quite a bit of adult context to it.

Especially when you get into the whole back ground plot that also going On.
Like for example in one episode we find out that this girl in sakura class who has a crush on a teacher who actually also share those feelings as well.
Along with a bunch of other weird things the throw In as well,
which you will probably pick up on very quickly.

Of corse this being the kind of story it is.
It takes these kind of mature situations at face value and kind of cherry picks them to make these situations more innocent than they actually seem.
Which kind of makes the show a bit more interesting.
Than just your run of the mill kids show
And it's quite nice for the story to try and maintain its child like innocence while giving slight winks to adult viewers.
Which should be given credit.

But there are quite a few issues I did have with the story.

Even though it has this over arcing plot going down with a bunch of other things in the back ground and even makes you feel it's going to build up to something good.
But The actual conclusions are pretty week over all and doesn't really manage to build up itself well.
Although at this point I was watching it more for the kinky romances and the actual core story.
Because it actually had progression and I was kind of getting bored with the whole card thing.
It also didn't help that most of the time the where repeating the same thing.
Over and over again in till it loses most of its punch.
I thought there would be a bit more variety is what I am trying to say.


Characters,6/10

Sakura I thought she was a fine character.
Because she actually acted like a kid her actual age.
She was very hopeful and innocent and always wanted to help people.
Of corse she not best main character.
But for what she is in she fine.

The side characters where all fine.
There really isn't that much special or note worthy
Especially when compared to other casts I have seen.
They all have ok personality and I can actually tell the characters apart.
Although the characters are pretty basic.

The only thing that actually note worthy is pretty much how none of them gives a fuck about sexuality and if they feel something for someone they go for it no question asked.
Which I think is actually interesting and a very mature take on that.
Because they don't actually don't draw much attention to it and they just let it play out as is.
Also because of this fact the character interactions can get a little weird at times.

I wasn't bothered by it.
But it can get kind of get a little to touchy at times.
Like you have this one scene with this one women who loved the main character dead mother and kind of hates the main character father for giving her the best years of her life before she died.
And I thought that was pretty intense and something you don't she very often.

Art,6/10

The animation looks quite nice actually even though it quite dated by today standards,
But I think that also a plus because it doesn't look to bright and shiny like you get quite a few magical girl shows,
Because To be honest some of those shows animation can get a bit to bright for my liking.
It has this nice cute look to it,
Which isn't to much in your face and doesn't over step it's welcome,
It just presented as is and I like that more than something trying to be overly cute,
Because I can only handle so much kawaii at a time before my power core burns out from to much kawaii.

I like the character designs,

Because I quite like this kind of old school shoujo designs.

Sound, 5/10

I liked the first op because it was energetic and quite relaxing,
But the rest didn't really stand out to me.
Like it not bad because it fits very well with the show,
But it doesn't really click with me.

The ost was fine nothing really did stick out,

It was done by Takayuki Negishi ,

Who also worked on Tokyo mew mew, Tokyo maijin, card fight vanguard.

I liked both the dub and the sub,
Because there ok.


Enjoyment, 5/10

I actually enjoyed this show more than I thought I would.
Because it was relaxing and very light hearted which was kind of something I haven't watched in a while,
So I enjoyed the change of pace.

I also enjoyed that it. Handled it's self in a mature way.


Overall, 6/10

Now if your looking for a show that you can kick back and relax with the kids then probably check this show out, because it pretty much a standard magical girl show,
But with more of an adult context to it.

If you don't like clamp and shoujo type shows then probably stay clear.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Mar 22, 2019

Tinker_Jet

Not Recommended

As I grew up with Nelvana's English production of Cardcaptor Sakura and eagerly munched my way through other magical girl titles like Princess Tutu and Puella Magi Madoka Magica, I knew I had to come back to this one to watch it through with all of the nuances it had to offer.

What I expected and what I received are two entirely different stories.

Cardcaptor Sakura ends up playing out in a shallow way. It's not that it ends up with some great hidden truths to be discovered near the very end or that multiple stories coalesce in some satisfactory way; it's that there is genuinely very ... little below the surface in terms of story and character.

We, the audience, spend a lot of time with Sakura. Sakura is seen cooking, cleaning, and going to school, but what changes in her character between the beginning and end of the series is honestly very little given how much time we spend with her and how she's sold as the titular character of the show.

Perhaps it's a cultural thing, but there is also a far greater emphasis on physical personal achievement and capability than on anything related to the mind. Go watch the show and keep tabs on how many times it's pointed out that Sakura is a) cute or b) fast/athletic. Virtually no emphasis is placed on her thoughts or mental well-being at any given moment. She's either cheerful or she isn't and instead of letting her talk about it, she's told to cheer up. She isn't entitled to anything below the superficial surface of being gentle and cheerful.

In fact, it often feels as though she's not allowed to have her own feelings. Even young children have doubts. This makes Sakura pretty much impossible to relate to and I would dare say that she ends up being a cute, albeit magical, prop. Even the few times she's asked how she is, she says that she's fine and it's then left alone instead of being used as a moment of character introspection.

Compare the young man characters who all seem to develop every time the writers make time for them, then we return to Sakura and her delicate hive mind friends and nothing has changed. I didn't realize that character development was somehow the antithesis of solid young lady characters.

Even genuine criticisms laid out by characters within the show are dismissed or glossed over in the attempt to flip the negative into a positive, which actively works to the show's detriment. Underaged ladies, incapable of consent, being pursued by grown men aren't okay no matter how you try to spin it. The message of "love knows no bounds" ends up being one of violation from people in trusted roles, thus the show ends up reading like a groomer's fantasy.

Here, we are stuck with writers who only know how to tell love stories, which is great when we are given a love story to invest in, but most of the time, with nothing else to offer the story, they end up shoehorning in more relationships. I suppose that's done more for the benefit of fanfiction writers, but it just ends up making the series drag.

About the only things the show does well is:
- Art style. (I am absolutely in love with the art style. It's sad to see it go to waste on such a mediocre series.)
- Very little if any visual fanservice. (Props to shows that don't rely on panty shots.)
- Foreshadowing. (It takes the show way too many episodes to tap into their foreshadowing's full potential, but it is there and it is done well.)
- The few characters they actually took the time to develop.

What could've been fixed?
- Slim down the number of episodes. Cardcaptor Sakura didn't need 70 episodes to tell the story it was telling. Princess Tutu took 26 and Puella Magi Madoka Magica took 12 to much greater impact.
- Slim down the cast. (They could've basically made Chiharu, Rikka, and Naoko one character with multiple interests and still had the same exact story.)
- Slim down the relationships. (Focus on one or two good relationships instead of several broken ones.)
- More emphasis on character development and lore. Given that foreshadowing was very much their strong suit, especially closer to the end, this should've been employed much sooner to much greater impact.
- Less emphasis on moments that ultimately work out to contribute nothing or very little to the overall series. (This series had A LOT of them.)

Personally, I wouldn't recommend this one.

Reviewer’s Rating: 2

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