I remember seeing Cardcaptor Saukra on TV when I was a kid, and at the time no part of it appealed to me. Me, being the tomboy I was, would have much rather watched Pokemon. I was indifferent to Sakura's frilly dresses and pink accessories.
Now, as a 30-year-old, I found myself gravitating toward this story and the magical world that has been held in such high regard by fans for so many years. I wanted to see what all the fuss was about, so I started the manga, not really expecting to get into it as much as I did.
Cardcaptor Sakura captures the innocence and wonder about childhood that we naturally lose as we grow older. Reading it made me feel like a kid again in a lot of ways. Her friendship with Tomoyo hearkens days spent with childhood besties that live on in memories forever. Sakura is a symbol of childhood and innocence that I think we can all relate to and would do well to remember. There's something about being a young girl – full of innocence and ambivalence, feeling unsure of the world around you but still having a sense of optimism, that yes--everything will surely be alright in the end. From having a crush on your older brother's friend, to navigating friendships and crushes and figuring out your place in the world... to me, it's very much a story about a girl growing confident in herself and finding out that she, too, has power, even though she's small, and even though she's young, and even though she's a girl.
There are a couple problematic relationships between some characters, which almost made me want to drop this series. Ultimately I chose to ignore it (they take up, I dunno, thirty or less pages in the entire series), and I'm glad I did because the rest of the story is great. It would be a solid 10/10 otherwise.
Something this series does really well is its representation of LGBT characters. Being gay is totally normal in this series; characters are completely accepting of each other and themselves for having feelings towards the same gender.
In all, I really enjoyed this, and now I know why so many people love this series. In a lot of ways I wish I had gotten into this series as a kid, but I think it's still impactful now, as a grown woman, to kind of reconnect with all these themes of childhood wonder. I was sad when it was over, but glad that I'd gone through the journey with Sakura, growing and learning and making friends and discovering her inner power. I think about how it felt to be a young girl, and I remember how I was so eager to believe that magic is real. Maybe it still is, if we look for it hard enough.
