Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card-hen Prologue - Sakura to Futatsu no Kuma

I can't make a review out of this OVA, this special episode is just the actual end of Cardcaptor Sakura first arcs.
For those who haven't read the manga, the anime (and second movie) had a different ending, so this is how Cardcaptor Sakura manga ended.
I'm really glad that they made an OVA for this: the art, the eyecatch, the soundtrack, the VAs are all the same as in the old series, it really took me back in time.
If you enjoyed Cardcaptor Sakura you have to watch this OVA, forget episodes 69-70 and watch this. It wraps up everything nicely and it's the perfect prologue ... for Clear Card arc.
I absolutely loved it and I can't wait for 2018 to watch the next arc! (even though I'm reading the manga)

Regarding the new Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card Arc Prologue OVA... I honestly didn't enjoy it. From what I gather, it animates the ending of the manga and retells the scene of Sakura coming to terms with the fact that Li loves her and that he's leaving for Hong Kong. I didn't know this going in (and I think many others don't either) and boy was I in for a surprise (not in a good sense). To preface this review, I am first and foremost a fan of the original anime. I grew up with it, it was a major part of my childhood, blah, blah, ... blah... and I am going to give you guys my opinion of it as a fan of the original anime.

Firstly, I could not understand what was up with the art, the animation and the character designs. The blank chibi characters, the overuse of cut-away flowery overlays/backgrounds and random inserts like faces and text were so jarring. I think this is one of the cases where they were trying to be WAY too accurate with the adaptation for it to flow well in animated format because the pacing felt off for me as well. I don't remember any of these techniques being used in the anime version at all (at least not to this extent). It was more cognizant of the medium it was in and adjusted its storytelling to fit. What with the greater emphasis on melancholy, silence and overall uneasiness while ending on an uplifting note with Sakura realizing and accepting her feelings, symbolized by the creation of her first original Sakura Card. But I digress. Essentially, I felt that the entire OVA lacked subtlety. It felt like they needed to make crystal clear what the emotions of all the characters were with in-your-face visual metaphors.

Also, I really did not see a point to this OVA. Like, at all. If you are a fan of the manga, I guess it'll be a really great experience? I guess they were they trying to get anime-only fans acquainted with the manga canon? For me, it was just a rehash with less emotional weight. Does this mean that the Clear Card Arc will invalidate everything about the second movie? The one where everything concluded perfectly with Sakura confessing her love to Li? I really don't know how to feel about that.

This goes beyond a simple unnecessary continuation of an old franchise. What does this mean for the Clear Card Arc anime? If they're going to disregard the anime canon and the second movie and continue with the manga canon, I don't think I'll be able to get invested in it at all. Only 19 Cards? No Meiling? Oh dear... In fact, they might as well have gone the whole Sailor Moon Crystal route and completely rebooted it as this is pretty much tantamount to that. Maybe worse, as anime-only fans like myself will feel this disconnect as elements don't add up. If you ask me, if they had wanted to make it a continuation, they should have adapted it to fit with the anime canon. As-is, it's like they didn't even attempt to make it similar in feel to the original anime.

Honestly, as a fan of the anime, I feel betrayed. They took part of what I loved and said... NOPE. It didn't happen. But I guess this must how manga fans must have felt when the original anime came out. What comes around goes around, huh? (^.^') At least I can just renounce this like I did with Digimon tri. and save all that cash on merchandise. (Or maybe I'll fall in love with it regardless. We'll see.)

Cardcaptor Sakura Prologue: Sakura and the Two Bears is a necessary prequel to the Clear Card arc, but how does it do as a standalone episode? Not so great. The visuals have unfortunately taken somewhat of a fall and the characters became more difficult to watch in my opinion, as there were noticable characteristic changes that distracted from the experience. In my opinion, it also seemed somewhat "flashy" and relied on a sort of CGI that didn't exactly work out, creating blindingly bright contrasts in colors that were somewhat painful to look at in comparison to the visually relaxing original. There were also irritating distractions ... in the form of graphic text and simplified "anime-style" artwork (all of Sakura's classmates were shown as white blobs, something that was NEVER in the original). Aside from this, the episode has inconsistencies in when exactly it takes place regarding the timeline of The Sealed Card (the second movie), and seems to merge details from it and the original series. It also somewhat sets back Syaoran and Sakura's romantic progress to that point. Unfortunately, it gets a 4/10.