The Winter 2018 Anime Preview Guide

Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card

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Sakura Kinomoto, an accomplished mage, is finally entering middle school after saving the world, collecting all the Sakura Cards, and finally confessing to her love, Syaoran. The world is at peace, and even though Sakura could call up her magical cards at any time, they're kept safely tucked away in her room. By all accounts she's looking forward to a peaceful life, and when Syaoran returns from Hong Kong, the two pick up right where they left off. This idyllic school life must be too good to be true, because Sakura finds herself having another premonitory dream and when she awakens, all the Sakura Cards are blank. Before she can find out what all this means, aggressive magical forces begin to seek her out. It looks like Cardcaptor Sakura is back in business. Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card is based on the sequel manga and streams on Crunchyroll, Saturdays at 8:00 PM EST.

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Rebecca Silverman

Rating: 4

I was never a huge fan of the original Card Captor Sakura anime, and then Tsubasa truly soured me on it. That's why this new show is such a nice surprise – it brings back the feel of CLAMP's magic-using girl (she doesn't transform, so she's technically not a magical girl) while getting rid of some of the more unpleasant aspects and the taint of Tsubasa. Largely it pulls this off by immediately bringing back Syaoran, whose tortured romance with Sakura became part of the issues of the previous series to use the characters. With Sakura and Syaoran quickly brought together and very firmly a couple, the story can leave out any will-they-won't-they romance aspects and get down to the business of focusing on the new and troubling cards that have emerged.

As the title suggests, those cards are clear, which at first also means blank. This works very nicely with the idea of the main cast being in middle school now, as it can serve as a metaphor for the growing up they'll have to do. While a blank card could simply be something waiting to be drawn on, a clear card implies that there's a transparency to the future ahead of the cast, and also that the powers the cards hold may be more straight-forward than their predecessors. Sakura's new key and phrase add to the notion that these new cards are something more than the ones she captured previously, as is the fact that neither Kero nor Yue seem at all informed about what's going on. It really is a brand new start for the characters and for viewers who are likely returning to old friends.

That said, you do need to have read the entirety of the original Cardcaptor Sakura manga to be fully ready for this series. It picks up pretty much right where the final volume leaves off, and this episode follows the new Clear Card manga very closely. That's a good sign that this is going to be a truer adaptation than the original show was. It also looks really good – the character designs capture more of CLAMP's aesthetic than almost any other adaptation of their work does, the animation is fluid, and the color scheme shifts with the mood seamlessly. This is a gorgeous episode, and one that helps to renew my enthusiasm for the characters and their story, a cool breath mint to take the taste of Tsubasa out of your mouth.

As might be expected, the dub for this show is very smooth. Monica Rial does a great job as Sakura, managing to hit a good note between “perky” and “starting to grow up” that really suits newly-minted middle school student Sakura. She also gives the episode the feel of a kiddy show without over doing it, which is always a concern with a series that has a high nostalgia factor for adult viewers. I'm a little less thrilled with Jason Liebrecht's Syaoran and Natalie Hoover's Tomoyo, both of which sound just a little too high and breathy to me, but they're still well within the realm of listenable. By far my favorite voice, however, is Michaela Krantz as Kero – the unbounded energy that she brings to the role is infectious. On the whole, this is a very solid effort, especially if you liked the Tsubasa dub.

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Lynzee Loveridge

Rating: 4

A few months ago, I gave the Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card manga a test run for our Fall Manga Preview Guide. You can head over there to get my full thoughts, but I wasn't particularly impressed with the first volume. It felt very much like a rehash of the original Cardcaptor Sakura plot beats: a dream of a dangerous enemy, new wand, and new cards to collect, which is about what the original did at its midway point when it switched from Clow Cards to Sakura Cards. A slightly more mature Sakura was a bonus even if the story didn't feel very fresh.

The anime's first episode is almost a frame-by-frame adaptation of the first volume, so logic says the two medium's scores should mirror one another. But they don't, and that's because there's something about the translation of CLAMP's gorgeous still frames into movement that makes it immediately more captivating. Everything is more lush, more gorgeous, softer, and reminiscent of the original anime's charm. I really could have cried during the opening sequence. The costume design is friggin' gorgeous, and I hope I see it cosplayed everywhere. Sakura's in-series costumes, supplied by her doting best friend Tomoyo, were one of the big appeals of the main series and early CLAMP works in general.

I'm not entirely convinced that the episode's somewhat hurried pacing is quite right. I think the directorial choice to get right to the action instead of leaving off on a cliffhanger isn't giving the individual moments enough room to breathe. The episode also isn't as accessible to newcomers as it could be, even with the short recap at the beginning. If it's been awhile since you watched the show, you might want a quick wiki refresh on Eriol and Yue, but their roles in the episode are minor so it's easy to glaze over that. The main thread of the story is otherwise easy to follow.

Madhouse proves once again that even after 20 years, they're still comfortable filling these magical shoes and bringing this story to life. The plot is still lacking in some originality, and I'm hoping there'll be more surprises up this show's sleeves than we see initially. Strap in folks, because this is a nostalgia ride you don't want to miss.

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