Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card-hen
Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card

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My First Manga Preview. Manga First Impression No.1

The continuation of the one most beloved magical girl franchise title "Card Captor Sakura", Took place 2 years after the events of the initial series. In these new chapters, Sakura is now attending middle school along with familiar faces from the previous. The story started where the original manga left off and that’s the copacetic reunion of Sakura and Syaoran.

For over the course of time some changes are indeed present that made the sequel consistent towards the prequel. One such thing is the maturity of some characters and the interaction of syaoran and sakura ... but they still retain the personality that made them recognizable so I will say the characters are ok. I am looking forward for further development of sakura and syaoran relationship since even though we already know their feelings from each other which is no doubt strong; it still evident by the fact that they are not a couple and some hint possible romantic bonds might occur in future chapters that the series might possibly bring

Moving along to what the new storyline has to offer from chapter 1 to 4. Here’s my first impression impugn. First of all it look good to see the characters again with their quirky jokes and their friendly interaction with one another, no complaining about that but it seems like card captor sakura goes back again into square one for the third time. I would like to bring out is that sakura is back hunting “new cards” again and this all her previous cards are indeed reset back to powerless card. It’s not really a problem for me if sakura is going to hunt new cards again but the previous cards losing power and started to renewed again is something that is already done before in the prequel so it’s might be better if sakura still have the previous card working and since nothing actually happening in sakura powers and there is no logical reason behind except the fact there is new mysterious being introduced is something I won’t believe to be logical. The conclusion I would say is that there is an interference from unknown force which is the only the thing keep the story moving forward.

For the artistic drawing, I shall honestly say the art style still retain and distinguishable from the later. Considering the fact that it is almost 17 years since the completion of the manga from 1996-2000. So here I give clamp applause, not most manga artist retains their hand drawn style. For the new cards, I like the idea of having glossy transparent cards and the new design introduce cards; it’s interesting, especially the names.

Overall I the new Card Captor Sakura have a good potential start. Even it suffers from recycling the ideas and themes that already been used in the previous story. It didn’t get rid of the fact that the characters are still worth reading for.

For enjoyment, I am reading the chapters solely because of the likable cast since you won’t be reading this without finishing the former which is very solid of its own. I would like to expect more character exploration between the cast and since this is new beginning, introducing new characters to add some flavor might not hurt the story.

I will update my preview after read the following chapters. So I am looking forward for some improvement of characters and the revelation but I am also prepared to the possible outcome that the sequel might not be as good as the former.

In the grand scheme of things when it comes to continuations of popular, old-school even, mangas/animes, at least I can properly say that Clear Card wasn't a complete waste of time and a systematic character assassination (at least everybody seemed pretty consistent with their old selves, imo and there was no crazy behaviors). Because, believe me, there's no shortage of that in other sequels.
That being said, I kinda understand now why it left a lot of people with mixed feelings. I have my couple of complaints as well. Sequels are often hit or miss but, more often than not, they don't have much going on ... that justify their existence. Clear Card had a lot of potential up to some point, I would say around 60~70 is where things start to fall apart bit by bit. Nothing extreme tbh but I wouldn't go as far as to say that I'm completely happy with the decisions. Then again, CLAMP has this little problem sometimes that after complicating a plot too much, their solution is to complicate more and hope for the best. And I feel like the plot would benefit more of having a proper villain. An actual proper villain. Not "oh, I troubled you but it was to help in the long run", because that would make this the actual third time that happens (though with Yue, it's a bit more complicated...). I had this faith within me but the writers had other plans and now it doesn't make a difference to complain too much about it.
But it's a solid sequel. Worth the development style of an already beautiful art style, cool concepts and an opportunity to see Sakura and Syaoran, and the others, just one last time. But if you want to pass, it's okay! You... well, you aren't missing too much, that's the bittersweet part.