Watch Durkoala explore the Magical Girl Genre! Part 1: Card Captor Sakura

[Mewtarthio]

I noticed that earlier, but forgot to mention it. I think it's pretty weird. Did her mother make it or something?

Sakura's mother died when she was three, so that would be remarkably prescient of her. My guess would be that Tomoya made it, seeing as she's both obsessed with Sakura and insanely good at clothing design.

[Durkoala]

Hello again! After a week in Spain, I'm back home and watching CCS. I can't believe that this is only episode 3: I normally binge-watch so I feel like I should be up to episode 20 at least. I decided to do this one early to make up for the hiatus; I don't know if I'll do one on the usual Tuesday/Wednesday time yet.

This episode is going to spawn a lot of spoiler boxes, I can tell. Oh well, That's what I get for starting a Let's Watch thread.

EPISODE 3: Sakura's Heart-Pounding First Date

Spoiler: Wait, what?

Show

Episode 3
We open in an aquarium. Sakura is squeeing over the fish, while Wavey, Bobcut and Tomoya watch and video her. I’m not sure who is the weirdest here. Bobcut gives us some information: They’re on a school trip, and Sakura loves those. The Sakura-dex makes a return, but doesn’t tell us anything new. Chiharu (pigtails) then calls them over to the penguin show. Of course, Sakura is overjoyed and rushes off. This is the first time we’ve seen Tomoya shocked (by Sakura’s enthusiasm), so I thought it was worth mentioning.

Episode title: Sakura’s Heart-pounding First Date! What? Yuki’s probably too old for Sakura to get his attention, whatever is happening with Tomoya is apparently in later episodes, and Kerberossa ... Idk. Thanks to Sakura wanting to see the penguins, I’m picturing her going to a restaurant with Pen-Pen now.

Sakura loves the penguins. Big surprise. The show, however, is interrupted by the next Clow Card: a swirl of water. I see where this is going: the monster will be dealt with early, then we’ll spend the rest of the episode dealing with Sakura’s date. Le sigh.

The penguin trainer is caught by the card. The way it swirls around her ankles and pulls her under is actually scary, but Sakura ruins that by throwing a fit over the fact that a penguin is caught in the vortex when it tries to help, like all trained birds do (Someone tell me if this is something penguins or other birds might actually do, please.). I’m pretty sure that penguin can hold its breath better than the woman, Sakura.

To compensate, the vortex become s a proper whirlpool. God, I would definitely not want to be in that. Anyway, a keeper enters the arena, and after being informed of the situation, jumps in to help the penguin. He’s got the same face as every other human male in this show, but as he has short, spiky hair I suppose he’s meant to be some sort of dreamboat. He pulls the vortex around the penguin apart with his gloved hands. In the face of such MANLINESS, the card flees and the whirlpool ends. If this guy’s not a sorcerer, I... I don’t know. Oh, wait, he’s Sakura’s brother. Derpy me, this is what happens when I take a break for a week.

At home in the kitchen, Sakura is trying to explain what happened to Kerbie. He’s not really listening, being more fixated on the pancakes she’s making. Sakura is unsure if it was a Clow Card she saw. I’m a bit annoyed at how long it’s taking them to work this out, but they imply it’s been a while since the last card, so I’ll let them off this time. Sakura’s brother (and father, I think) arrives home, so she throws Kerberos upstairs.

Toya gives very short answers to Sakura’s questions. I’m thinking that the girl who got caught by the card is his secret girlfriend, but that’s probably just the title making me look for any signs of romance. His grumpy attitude breaks when he spots the pancakes, and Sakura has a small fit over him eating some of them. It wasn’t Fujikata behind Toya, Yuki’s come with Toya, and Sakura is mortified. As a small note, Yuki always looks a bit Uncanny Valley to me. His head’s a bit too small for his shoulders, and his face doesn’t fit the usual mould for men’s faces to make him look ‘nicer’. It makes him seem... not human, really. *He’s really a memory-altering Clow Card. Spoilers.*

Blah blah, Sakura is really shy, kicks Toya for insulting her cooking, offers pancakes to Yuki. The only important thing to say is STOP STARING AT ME WITH THOSE SOULLESS EYES, YUKITO!

Sakura has a small problem with the pancakes: she can’t knock on the door while holding the tray. Fortunately Yukito answers the door, because he ‘had a hunch’. Some of his language is either flirty, or just swamped by the adorableness that is Sakura. I’m feeling like Yuki has something to do with the magic. Maybe he’s Clow’s descendant. We I don’t know how long ago Clow lived, actually, beyond Kerberos being asleep for thirty years.

Speaking of Kerbie, he’s managed to work out (with the serious use of the phrase ‘they were nearly drowned in water, yes?’. Sakura, at least cover the basics of human biology before he tries to get you to walk through chlorine or something) that the WATERY card is at fault. Watery. I suppose it fits with Windy...

Exposition! Watery is hard to catch because it can break into many fragments. It’s also one of the four elements, so it’s a powerful card (The Windy is another one, btw), and it’s an offensive card, so it’s aggressive. As a defensive Card, Windy isn’t strong enough to defeat it, so they’re in trouble.

Back at School, something is very wrong with the perspective. Sakura looks like she’s twice the height of the two boys sitting on a bench while she paces. She eventually tells Tomoya, who’s been stalking following her, her problems. Tomoya doesn’t have an answer, but does have a pair of walkie-talkie (or 90’s phones) for Sakura and Kerbie. We find out that Tomoya’s mother has a company, and is interested in testing these. A toy or phone company, or something else? The time of the Phone Moogle is almost upon us.

Skating back home, Sakura has a flashback to explain that no, she can’t combine the cards to overpower the Watery. We still don’t know if she can combine cards at all. While thinking, she crashes into Yuki. The way that the tulips of a nearby garden are very prominent in the following angle makes me wonder if they signify anything specific.

Yuki asks her out. Yuki asks her out. There’s probably nothing dodgy behind it, but given how he creeps me out, I’m finding this ominous. Naturally, Sakura is over the moon.
... It turns out that Tomoya gave Sakura an actual working phone. She uses it to call Tomoya and tell her about the ‘date’.

1 O’clock the next day. Yuki meets Sakura by the playground... this is sounding worse the more I type. The walk is almost fine: the two of them seem quite innocent, even almost cute, if it weren’t for the fact that Sakura is aware she turned up early and Yuki says that it wasn’t a problem as he turned up early so she wouldn’t have to wait. Something magic is up with this boy. His grey hair makes him look like Kawarou Nagisa and if you saw Evangelion, you know what happened there...

He’s brought her to the aquarium. Definitely something going on here. Tomoya and Kerberos are stalking following them, in dark glasses. Tomoya isn’t the jealous type, so she’s happy to catch this momentous occasion on camera.

At the Aquarium tea-room, we meet Toya again. He’s now the waiter and the ice cream maker. This gets Sakura thinking about ice (read: freezing the Watery). Toya also mentions that all the water is being drained from the tanks for inspection, so I’m sure we’ll be heading where it’s gathered.

For some reason, the Watery smashes the huge water tank and floods the cafe. Toya is franticly searching for Sakura and Yuki. She’s being held under by the Card, while he’s being strangely calm and picking up a fire axe to break open a door and let out the water. Hmmm. Also we can’t see his face during this, which is interesting and slightly ominous.
The water runs away, so Sakura’s fine. She asks why Tomoya and Kerbie are here, but doesn’t get an answer because Yuki walks up. Sakura’s denser than I thought, and just now realises that she can use ice against the Watery. Tomoya is filming her sparkly thanks to Yuki.

At closing time the cardcaptor trio sneak into the aquarium. Sakura, what are you wearing? It looks like a jester’s outfit mixed with a showgirl costume. It’s a good thing you’re animated or you would flash everyone with a shiver or a light breeze. Tomoya’s videoing is looking a bit suspect, especially when she follows Sakura up the stairs (escalator, to be pedantic).

In the holding tanks, Sakura challenges the Watery. When it jumps up, she uses the Fly card and flees with it in pursuit. She’s heading for something mysterious on the first basement level. To be honest , this isn’t the best animation I’ve seen. The water moves too slowly to look like a threat and Sakura’s flight is rigid and straight even though she’s on a winged broomstick.

Tomoya is completely unconcerned by the oncoming water and calmly walks back a safe distance. Sakura stops in front of the mysterious door and faces the water. This is where it gets clever: She activates the Windy to slow down the water and pull the door open. When the Watery fights back against the Windy, the winds change direction and pull the Watery into the Mysterious Room, which surprise, surprise, is the freezer. I like the Watery’s true form by the way, it looks like the evil-ish cousin of the Windy. Now frozen, it’s easy to seal. It actually looks a bit sad and frightened, reaching out an immobile hand towards the door.

Sakura then goes into a trance, attributing their victory to Yukito. I’m only including this because Kerberos says ‘Great, now Sakura is frozen too. Alright, we finally got a punchline!’ and I like meta-humour.

And that is all. Pretty decent story, but the animation was a bit varied: some of Sakura’s skating scenes were decently animated, but the card chase was pretty poor and there were a few other goofs in the episode. I found the monster scary, as I have a fear of drowning, and its design was a good evil counterpart to Sakura’s first spell. I expect the Earthy and the Firey to look similar when we find them.
We found out a bit more about how the Cards work: They aren’t all of equal power, and the four elemental spells are some of the strongest in the pack. Some spells are classed as offensive spells, but we don’t know how many classes there are.

The plan to fight the Watery was great. I love seeing air pressure being used to move things and fight with, and the key part of the plan relied on the nature of the Watery: Sakura took advantage of its aggressive temper to make it chase her into a trap and stopped to fight it so it wouldn’t see the trap. Even better was the fact that this was never said out loud. I’ve heard the long explanations of exactly what is happening in this fight too many times (Naruto, Bleach Dragonball, Digimon, Pokémon), but this was easy to work out and they let you work it out.

I really like the dynamic between Kerberossia and Tomoya. Most of the time we see him he’s arguing with Sakura, but he agrees with almost everything Tomoya thinks. It makes me wonder how the show would go if it was Card Captor Tomoya. The way they act reminds us how weird Tomoya is, and that despite being an unnatural creature with little grasp on humans, Kerberos doesn’t mean any harm.

Lastly, Yukito. I think it’s safe to say that it’s not just my general unease at his design: he’s definitely hiding something. He has some kind of psychic ability that lets him find Sakura, Takes her to the card and maybe influences her on how to fight the Card. Under the water, he is completely calm and unhurried, even though he shouldn’t be able to breathe. He’s also very perfect, when most of the other characters have flaws, and is always saying or doing things to make Sakura’s crush deeper.
I should probably say that I don’t think he has any... adult... intentions, but rather he is looking for someone close to this magical upheaval he can control. As he can possibly predict the future, it’s hard to tell how long he’s been at this, or if he knows that Sakura is the Cardcaptor. I’m watching you, Yukito.

I think I rambled on a bit in this one, which may be down to the fact that I haven’t done this for a week. I ignored a lot of the little funny things Kerberos did, such as threatening to ‘mess up’ a kid trying to cuddle him, and pulling faces at the guard at the aquarium gate. I don’t know how some people are able to cut down a 20 minute episode to a concise summary.
I forgot to say that Sakura's costume isn't as bad as it first looked. It's more like a leotard with skirt and shoulders, but the camera angles made it look very unfortunate at first.

[cobaltstarfire]

You're starting to get closer to certain things with your predictions, not quite right, but you've got a good intuition.


You seem to have an especially critical eye for the art and animation, which is interesting to me, most stuff in CCS doesn't bother me, but then again it may just be that I've seen enough more modern anime where the characters are constantly off model that I just don't notice it for CCS. (other than weird perspective bits, they do have trouble keeping sizes consistent especially in long shots).


I'm glad you're back I was wondering when we'd hear another post from you!

[Durkoala]

You're starting to get closer to certain things with your predictions, not quite right, but you've got a good intuition.


You seem to have an especially critical eye for the art and animation, which is interesting to me, most stuff in CCS doesn't bother me, but then again it may just be that I've seen enough more modern anime where the characters are constantly off model that I just don't notice it for CCS. (other than weird perspective bits, they do have trouble keeping sizes consistent especially in long shots).


I'm glad you're back I was wondering when we'd hear another post from you!

If Yukito is a memory-altering Card or Something, I am going to curl up in a ball in the corner and whimper.

I like the art and style in general because it brings a sense of nostalgia for Pokémon and Digimon. I think I may have even seen bits of this series before, as some of the scene have given me a sense of Deja Vu. Just because I like it doesn't mean I'm going to ignore its flaws, though.

It's nice to know that I'm appreciated.

[Yuki Akuma]

Sakura's friend is named 'Tomoyo'. 'Tomoya' is a boy's name.

Just a heads up.

Cardcaptor Sakura is absolutely not the first magical girl show, or even the first 'warrior' magical girl show. It's actually a light deconstruction/parody of earlier works, if you can believe that. It did popularise some things in the magical girl genre, however, and is definitely in the top five 'most iconic magical girl stories'.

Also you are going to hate the name of the fire-themed card. (I don't think the fact that there's a fire card is a spoiler, considering there's fifty-two cards and fire is a pretty obvious choice. Also you've already seen two classical elements.)

Can you tell CCS is, like, my favourite anime of all time? Because it is.

Edit: Yukito having a tiny head is basically just how CLAMP draws its noodle people.

[Qwertystop]

Also you are going to hate the name of the fire-themed card. (I don't think the fact that there's a fire card is a spoiler, considering there's fifty-two cards and fire is a pretty obvious choice. Also you've already seen two classical elements.)

...Don't tell me it's not "Fiery". "Flame," perhaps? Or do they just misspell it "Firey"?

[Yuki Akuma]

...Don't tell me it's not "Fiery". "Flame," perhaps? Or do they just misspell it "Firey"?

..Actually he spelled it right in his episode 3 synopsis. Huh.

But yeah. It should be 'fiery', if you're following the weird back-asswards rules of English. But CLAMP are Japanese, so they named it 'Firey'.

Edit: Also important to note: the movies are canon. The first movie takes place around a third of the way through the series (during spring break, specifically), while the second takes place after the series is finished. Just thought you might want to know.

[cobaltstarfire]

Edit: Yukito having a tiny head is basically just how CLAMP draws its noodle people.

Yeah, it's funny actually. I was showing my guy CCS because this thread inspired me, and I was talking to him about how I don't like the way CLAMP draws adults in it's more modern works (you know the crazy super skinny noodle aliens people).

But then seeing the adults in CCS again I was like "huh, I totally see the roots of it now".

The small head big shoulders seems to just be a common thing with older anime. Sometimes stylistic although I've seen it happen a lot as just an off model looking sort of issue. (I often wonder if even when it looks off model it's a purposeful choice, since in anime typically the heads are too big for both men and women, so it'd be weird to accidentally reverse it).

[ThePhantom]

Yay, its back. I remember seeing part of this episode, it was fun.

[Durkoala]

Sakura's friend is named 'Tomoyo'. 'Tomoya' is a boy's name.

Right. Thanks. I was sure that the subtitles said 'Tomoya'.

..Actually he spelled it right in his episode 3 synopsis. Huh.

But yeah. It should be 'fiery', if you're following the weird back-asswards rules of English. But CLAMP are Japanese, so they named it 'Firey'.

Edit: Also important to note: the movies are canon. The first movie takes place around a third of the way through the series (during spring break, specifically), while the second takes place after the series is finished. Just thought you might want to know.

I either messed up the spelling or was so unimpressed that I spelt it wrong because I thought they would. I'm not saying which.
So what episode should I wtch the first movie, if I can? Episode 23?

The small head big shoulders seems to just be a common thing with older anime. Sometimes stylistic although I've seen it happen a lot as just an off model looking sort of issue. (I often wonder if even when it looks off model it's a purposeful choice, since in anime typically the heads are too big for both men and women, so it'd be weird to accidentally reverse it).

Yukito's head looks even smaller than the other mens', though. His face is more curved, he's always smiling and he has hair like Kawaru. Even without the implied supernatural powers and emotional manipulation, he's really scary.

I've changed the thread title and added an episode list to the first post, just so you know.

[Yuki Akuma]

Actually it's closer to halfway through (the third arc is shorter than the first two) - the first movie takes place between episodes 35 and 36, specifically.

The second movie, meanwhile, is definitively the finale of the anime continuity. Even if you skip the first movie, you should absolutely watch the second.

I don't think it's a spoiler to say 'CCS has three arcs, and the third is shorter than the other two', is it?

Note: while CCS is my favourite anime of all time, beyond the first couple of episodes the narrative kinda blends together to me. Telling you what episode specific events happen in, and when story arcs and subplots begin or end, isn't really something I can do. :P I say movie 1 happens 'a third of the way through' because it happens after the first of two natural 'stopping points' for the story, even though by episode count is about halfway.

Edit: Guh there are so many things I want to say about this series, but pretty much all of it is massively spoilery! Like, I want to gush about the reason I love the series as a whole - but it's sort of a massive spoiler, so I can't. ;.;

[Durkoala]

Thanks for the info.
No, I don't consider that a spoiler.

[deuterio12]

I had said it previously somewhere, but +1 to watch the movies.

Although the first movie is canon, it doesn't really directly affect anything on the series, so it's ok if you don't watch it at the right exact moment. It helps explain some stuff and adds nice extras on Clow and magic in Sakuraverse overall. Meanwhile The 2nd movie directly ties up the end of the series, that would otherwise be quite the cliffhanger.

Spoiler: 1st movie rants

Show

Sakura captures a bunch of cards that are never seen or heard of again in the series.

Also, turns out that Syaraon has four hawt older sisters and an ice queen for a mother, all of which have magic powers. Which really begs the question why do they sent him alone to Japan. "There's magic creatures running rampart on Tomoeda, let's send the youngest of the family to deal with it!". So either Syaoran is that much of a badass, or they didn't deem the cards that dangerous. Considering that by the middle of the series Tomoeda is on the verge of burning or being destroyed by earthquakes, then I believe "Syaoran is that much of a badass" is the correct supposition.

Plus, Sakura comments at the ending that she feels like that isn't the last time she would have important business in Hong Kong. It's never mentioned again anywhere, however considering that Sakura and Syaoran end together, it's only natural she would return years later in the future to properly meet her boyfriend's family when there's no magic crisis looming around.

If Yukito is a memory-altering Card or Something, I am going to curl up in a ball in the corner and whimper.

Your questions will be answered. I eagerly expect to see your reaction.

Spoiler: Yukito

Show

Yukito's Yue in disguise, the moon guardian of the Clow Cards, only meant to awaken his true powers when all the cards are gathered and test Sakura and Syaoran. And then Sakura wins with shrine maiden ex-machina cheating.

And also Yue was meant to become Sakura's companion. And lover. Clow made him all dreamy and flawless precisely so Sakura would fall for him. This show can really get creepy when you look at the whole thing.

Clow is/was a massive d***, in particular when you take in account all the magic brainwashing he goes making around. Luckily Yukito actually loves Toya(who seemingly was traumatized from loving girls after getting dumped by the hawt older shrine maiden) and Syaoran goes "screw this s***, I'm gonna get dense Sakura to accept my full love with a single declaration and zero dates in which we didn't have other people tagging along."

Still begs the question why Yukito is taking little girls to dates when he's in love with an older boy.

[Yuki Akuma]

Spoiler: Re: deuterio12, Clow Reed spoilers

Show

I always got the impression that Clow Reed, due to his unerring ability to predict the future but inability to control which parts of the future he predicted, suffered a bit from 'I know it all works out in the end, so it doesn't matter what I do in the meantime' syndrome.

He couldn't foresee everything, but he knew that everything would surely be all right, so.

[deuterio12]

Spoiler: Re: deuterio12, Clow Reed spoilers

Show

I always got the impression that Clow Reed, due to his unerring ability to predict the future but inability to control which parts of the future he predicted, suffered a bit from 'I know it all works out in the end, so it doesn't matter what I do in the meantime' syndrome.

He couldn't foresee everything, but he knew that everything would surely be all right, so.

Spoiler

Show

I think that it's more that Clow was a bit on the crazy side.

Spoiler: Exhibit A for Clow being a mad wizard

Show

He created a tarot deck of cards that mostly take girly/woman forms just for the heck of it.

Also, what kind of all predicting sorceror forgets to mention he left the oven turned on a super destructive card on his mansion that is planned to be demolished?

This is, the fact that he left the uber magic bell to the shrine maiden is kinda of a proof that even he knew his plan was full of holes and things would go south. Multiple times. The freaking maze card plain out cheats and can't be beaten in any fair way. On the other hand, it means that CCS is the first magic girl anime where the characters go "screw your intricate maze, let's just smash down the walls!"

It is my pet theory that Sakura isn't the first card captor. She is the first card captor that actually survived to the end without getting a full magic brainwash on the process in either the final judgement or the Nothingness card. As Durkola pointed out, the Clow book did travel quite a bit before ending in Sakura's house basement. Clow simply predicted a magic girl would become their mistress, not what magical girl. I'm actually writing a fanfic partially based on it and everything.

[Math_Mage]

Spoiler

Show

omg that is such an awesome picture

i don't have anything intelligent to say, i just opened the spoiler and my brain melted

[Yuki Akuma]

Oh, also, belated reply regarding the first movie:

Spoiler: First Movie Rant (and a bit of episode 53 spoileryness)

Show

Sakura only captures one card in the movie - The Arrow. Which shows up in episode 53. And can also be glimpsed in a few other episodes, although it's never actually named or used.

But then, there's a bunch of cards that never get used. A few get captured by Sakura off screen and then never mentioned again, as well. We know there's 53, but we never see Sakura using all 53.

The worst is actually The Wave. We have absolutely no idea what it does, and it was captured during the time skip between episodes 35 and 36. At least Arrow gets used during the movie.

[Durkoala]

All these spoiler boxes I can't open...
This is torture.

[Yuki Akuma]

All these spoiler boxes I can't open...
This is torture.

At a rate of one episode a week, it'll only be a year and five-ish months until you can open them!

Also, sorry, I should start trying to add episode numbers to my spoilers. Although so far, everything I've put in a spoiler box has either been end-of-series spoilers or first movie spoilers, so

[Durkoala]

Whimper...

[Yuki Akuma]

Obviously you should simply do more than one a week~

[Durkoala]

Obviously you should simply do more than one a week~

I was feeling like only covering the first arc, but if I might reconsider that. I'm definitely going to finish it in my own time, though.
You might be getting an extra episode by Wednesday, but no promises.

[deuterio12]

Durkoala: I now noticed your previous argument on Card Captor Tomoyo and I agree that it would've probably been quite interesting show to watch. Shame that I don't feel I can share any other details about that at this stage.

I was feeling like only covering the first arc, but if I might reconsider that. I'm definitely going to finish it in my own time, though.
You might be getting an extra episode by Wednesday, but no promises.

I trust you'll be motivated to keep covering the series, since although some of the first episodes may be a bit weak, it then just keeps getting better and better (warning:nostalgia may be messing my memories here). I remember that the "black sheep" of Sakura episodes in overall quality is pretty close, but after that the show starts showing its true colors.

Spoiler: worst Sakura episode

Show

I'm of course talking about The Silent episode, where the namesake card somehow has the nonsensical powers to teleport people and hide in painting form because reasons and Sakura puts up with an annoying little brat for half the episode when she could've solved the whole thing in half a minute. No proper action scenes and even the custome is probably the most uncute of them all, Tomoyo must have been playing pokemon because Sakura looks like a freaking Team Rocket grunt in that attire.

But even if you just cover the first arc here, definitily watch the whole thing!

Oh, also, belated reply regarding the first movie:

Spoiler: First Movie Rant (and a bit of episode 53 spoileryness)

Show

Sakura only captures one card in the movie - The Arrow. Which shows up in episode 53. And can also be glimpsed in a few other episodes, although it's never actually named or used.

But then, there's a bunch of cards that never get used. A few get captured by Sakura off screen and then never mentioned again, as well. We know there's 53, but we never see Sakura using all 53.

The worst is actually The Wave. We have absolutely no idea what it does, and it was captured during the time skip between episodes 35 and 36. At least Arrow gets used during the movie.

Spoiler

Show

Pfft, The Wave has nothing on The Libra. Also caught off-screen, never used, and we get hints that it can force people to tell the truth. And the gang never ever remembers to use it despite all the intrigue and mystery on the 3rd arc.

The Wave is most probably a weaker version of the Watery and thus completely redudant.

Also, I remember The Through getting mentioned somewhere on the 1st movie, and Sakura considers using it in the 2nd movie.

Math_Mage:Thanks!

[Yuki Akuma]

I was feeling like only covering the first arc, but if I might reconsider that. I'm definitely going to finish it in my own time, though.
You might be getting an extra episode by Wednesday, but no promises.

Awww~ I want to see your reactions to... things. And stuff.

[Durkoala]

Durkoala: I now noticed your previous argument on Card Captor Tomoyo and I agree that it would've probably been quite interesting show to watch. Shame that I don't feel I can share any other details about that at this stage.



I trust you'll be motivated to keep covering the series, since although some of the first episodes may be a bit weak, it then just keeps getting better and better (warning:nostalgia may be messing my memories here). I remember that the "black sheep" of Sakura episodes in overall quality is pretty close, but after that the show starts showing its true colors.

I forgot that quoting reveals spoilers! I managed to not see anything important, but that was close.

From where I'm sitting, CCT would be very different because Tomoyo would jump at the chance to be a Magical Girl. Because of Tomoyo's obsession with Sakura, Sakura would probably find herself pulled into this sooner or later. At first, she'd be amazed by the magic, but she would probably change her mind when facing the monsters. I don't really know what she could contribute to the party, though. Tomoyo is smarter and has more resources than Sakura, and is far more willing to be the Cardcaptor. Sakura could be a grounding of sorts, but she's not very good at that in the current circumstances, let alone when Tomoyo's the one with the magic powers.

So far, I've been enjoying it fine. I don't expect it to go too dark, but MLP:FiM and Muddle Earth taught me that's not a bad thing. If it's meant to get better, I look forward to it. In my experience with anime, the main plot usually starts to kick in around the seventh episode.

Also, good news! The way things are going, it looks like there will be an episode this week.

[deuterio12]

I forgot that quoting reveals spoilers! I managed to not see anything important, but that was close.

From where I'm sitting, CCT would be very different because Tomoyo would jump at the chance to be a Magical Girl. Because of Tomoyo's obsession with Sakura, Sakura would probably find herself pulled into this sooner or later. At first, she'd be amazed by the magic, but she would probably change her mind when facing the monsters. I don't really know what she could contribute to the party, though. Tomoyo is smarter and has more resources than Sakura, and is far more willing to be the Cardcaptor. Sakura could be a grounding of sorts, but she's not very good at that in the current circumstances, let alone when Tomoyo's the one with the magic powers.

Sakura? Grounding? No, definitely not good at that, since she's just too much of an airhead.

What Sakura is really good at outside of being a magical girl is being all cheerful and energetic, so I guess she would be the titular mascot character/comedic relief to counteract the composed and always well-behaved Tomoyo.

Half the episodes would probably consist of Sakura getting in trouble due to some card appearing near her and Tomoyo riding out with her magic wand (with her squad of bodyguards driving behind?) to the rescue.

Also, you're starting to notice "Tomoyo's obsession with Sakura". That's quite the... Appropriate choice of words.

So far, I've been enjoying it fine. I don't expect it to go too dark, but MLP:FiM and Muddle Earth taught me that's not a bad thing. If it's meant to get better, I look forward to it. In my experience with anime, the main plot usually starts to kick in around the seventh episode.

Pretty close. I'll just say that not all of the characters in the opening scene have appeared yet.

Also, good news! The way things are going, it looks like there will be an episode this week.

Excellent!

[Durkoala]

Like I said, here's another episode! I thought I should do another on to make up for being away for a week.

EPISODE 4: Sakura's Tiring Sunday.

Spoiler

Show

Episode 4
We open with Sakura waking up on Sunday, after it’s been raining. She tells Kerberossia that today she’ll be going on a picnic with Tomoyo, and he’s welcome to come. She’s also suffering from looped animation.

Episode Title! Sakura’s Tiring Sunday! Well, I wonder why that could be. Coughclowcardcough.

In the kitchen, with her brother and father, Sakura’s so happy she doesn’t care about Toya’s usual insults. I’m surprised to see Toya in a hoodie. Somehow, it looks a bit too modern here. He’s also drinking milk out of the bottle, which is inconsiderate. Dad, I know he’s 16-ish, but you should do something about him doing that.

Disaster! Sakura forget that she agreed to do all the chores today, in exchange for a favour last week. Oh, and she offers to help her dad by doing the laundry so he can go to his presentation on time. There aren’t many eight ten year-olds that selfless. Of course, now that they’re both (Toya’s going to work) out of the house, she’ll probably use some magic. Also, Fujikata looks to same age as his son. He’s probably a sorcerer.

Sakura calls up Tomoyo to tell her she can’t do the picnic. The way they both hang up the phones is actually quite sad: they must have been looking forward to this a lot. The way Tomoyo looks at the hamper makes me think that she’s going to come over with the food. Then a Card will appear.

To my surprise, Sakura doesn’t use any magic to help clean, unless you count getting Kerbie to do the laundry. He doesn’t use his telekinesis either. Best guardian ever.

Sakura found a Card! It was under the carpet, and it’s still sealed! That’s the easiest find we’ve had so far. It’s called the WOOD, and depicts a woman with a shawl/cloak of leaves. The resemblance to the Windy and the Watery makes me think it’s a powerful card, perhaps even the Earth Card. I’m really glad it wasn’t called the WOODY.

Sakura’s celebrations shock Kerbie into the washing machine. After that ordeal, he’s ready to quit, but changes his mind when he hears about ice cream.

The last place to clean is the basement/study. Instead of finding another book, Sakura finds a second card, covered in ink. Then Fujikata calls: he’s forgotten his presentation notes! Sakura picks them up from the dining room, and sets off, leaving two Clow Cards unattended downstairs. I’m sure they’ll be fine there, and the inky one won’t be the big problem of the episode.

Sakura gets her skates on, but doesn’t tell Kerberos that there are two Cards in the basement. Sure enough, the inky card begins to glow, revealing a picture of what looks like another strange woman. She doesn’t look very fiery, so I don’t know what she is meant to be. Maybe the JESTER?

Sakura gets the notes to her dad, but bumps into You-know-who. He says he’s been helping out the basketball team, so he’s in his school uniform. I don’t know what significance that has, but I’m jumping at all sorts of things since I’ve realised he’s probably been manipulating Sakura’s emotions for a while. Not cool. He asks her to lunch, again. Nothing’s going to come of it, but I don’t like it at all.

And Toya is now a waiter. I’m starting to wonder if he’s connected to all this, he keeps showing up wherever Sakura goes. Yuki is eating a lot: maybe he’s part Shonen hero? It looks like his joke about being able to eat the sunfish wasn’t entirely inaccurate. I really hope this doesn’t mean he’s some sort of all-devouring monster. Sakura is so enthralled that she mentions ‘Kero-chan’. Yuki acts like he doesn’t know what she means, but I don’t believe him.

When she gets home, Sakura is pleased that Kerbie has hung out all the clothes to dry. The poor griffin... thing is exhausted, so he hasn’t noticed the presence of two Clow Cards, and Sakura still doesn’t say anything. The scary thing about my natural response of ‘blame Yuki’ is that there’s nothing to prove it wasn’t right. Sakura then hears a sound and wakes Kerbie.

They mysterious noise I can’t hear is coming from the basement. On the way, Kerbie dismisses Sakura’s fears that it’s a ghost by saying they don’t appear in daylight. This is sort of worldbuilding, unless he’s wrong.

The basement is full of tree! (If anyone wants to sig that, go ahead.) Sakura slams the door and panics. Kerberos examines a broken twig; when it dissolves, he identifies it as the Wood card.

Sakura and Kerberos argue a bit, providing exposition. You can tame a Clow Card by writing your name on it in card form. This makes it listen to the owner of the name. Interesting. Wood is also a gentle card, but I don’t know if it is, in fact, the Earth Card. Unfortunately, Kerbie shows us why he’s a terrible guardian by letting go of the door and letting the tree through. Keep in mind that he’s about the size of a rat. The branches start wrapping around Sakura. I really want to make a ‘pervy Wood’ joke, but Sakura’s eight ten, so I won’t.

With both of them snagged by branches, they can’t do anything when the doorbell rings. Please don’t be Yukito, please don’t be Yukito... And Credit break!

Turn down the drills! I can’t hear anything!
Stuck in the branches, Sakura and Kerberos have a panicked conversation: Sakura’s afraid of the attention and that Kerbie will be sold off as a plush toy. There’s absolutely nothing about keeping the fact that they’re involved in magic hidden. Sakura then calls out to the doorbell that she’s coming. The pair do recognise that this was a mistake, but it does make me wonder why Harry Potter is considered to be the stupid wizard series. Anyone from there could have passed this test easily in first year.
Kerbie pretends to be an actual soft toy, which is the usual thing to do in this situation, I suppose. The tree then decides that since they are going to be so rude as to not answer the door, it will take them there itself. What about the Masquerade, Wood? You don’t care because you’re a tree? OK.

The mysterious guest (please not Yuki...) opens the door. Sakura flails about to try and get away, while Kerbie just hangs there. I think it’s pretty funny. And it’s Tomoyo at the door, thank God. She’s come over to help with the chores, what a nice girl. She asks if they’re doing the garden, but I’m not sure if she’s being sarcastic, as there is clearly a tree growing in the house. Also, some of the branches are clearly background, and some may as well be marked ‘Animate here’.

Sakura seals the card right there. The animation for the key’s transformation is good, and a bit jarring after the two-layer forest. She’s confused because the card isn’t in front of her, but remembers that it should be in the basement.

Ominous rumbling. The tree’s back! Running root, breaking stone, rise up! It’s angry and starts to swamp the whole house while the trio flee upstairs.
Feed off the dead! Towering giants fill you with dread.
I realised that Sakura gets chased tentacle-shaped things a lot. Shadows, streams of water and now tree branches. Yuki will probably turn out to be a pile of worms in a human skin. I suppose there’s something easy to animate about these, but it’s starting to look like dragonball, where everything gives way to ki blasts.
Avenge the Axe, avenge the blade. Payment’s coming.
And when it has them cornered at the top of the house, the tree stops and sprouts leaves. OK. It stopped because it liked the sunlight. But it wants more sunlight, so it’s trying to split the house open. There’s only one thing to do! Dress Sakura up in a silly outfit!

Today, Sakura is wearing a really wide pink skirt, with full sleeves and leggings in white. She has white tubing on her shoulders and the skirt rim, and a hairband with angel wings on it. What perfect clothes for the jungle. That’s even why Tomoyo has them: to film Sakura dancing in the jungle at the park. Sakura keeps my respect by being thoroughly weirded out.

When they get to the basement, they’re surprised to find ankle-deep in water. As Wood doesn’t produce water, this is surprising. We’ve already got the Watery, so is this the Rain card? Sakura mentions that, oh yes, she found another card. First class fighters of the supernatural we have here.
Kerberos isn’t happy, but points out that it is the RAIN Card. Yes! I was right! There’s a tiny cloud over the tree, steadily watering it.

Rain isn’t happy with Sakura’s challenge and reveals its true form: A tiny jester sitting on the cloud like a fairy Lakitu. It’s opening drizzle isn’t very effective, but Sakura starts running when it dumps a solid column of water on her. That should have knocked her flat, or even broken her neck, but whatever.
Fleeing like she should from the card, Sakura can’t find an opening until Kerbie reminds her to use the Watery. We get the same ‘using card’ animation sequence from Episode Two, which must be traced because it’s changed to her current outfit, but the animation is pretty good. The Watery looks cool: a sort of eviler Windy floating over Sakura’s head that steals Rain’s water and traps it in a bubble. Sakura quickly seals it. She turns to do the same the tree, but it decides to surrender gracefully. It turns into a pretty nymph-thing and then into a card.

Sakura writes her name on the cards and is talking with Tomoyo when Kerbie calls from upstairs. Surprisingly, it turns out that having a giant tree running through the house will knock over just about everything. With Tomoyo’s help, the house is spotless by the time Toya and Dad return home, But Sakura’s asleep. Toya says that if she didn’t put her name on the cake they brought back, he’ll eat it. Sakura mumbles that she did write her name down, and the camera pans to the cards. She’s written her name in English.

And that’s it. Cheerful and sweet, but there wasn’t any plot involved. The closest we got was the idea that you can control a card by writing your name on it in card form, which could lead to a rival card collector gathering the cards for their own purposes. I wonder if owning a card in this manner protects it from the Key?
It was nice to see some magic use, but the card I really want to see used is Shadow. How do its powers work when used by Sakura?
The Card designs were not that good: I was hoping for something stranger than two small women. We’ve had a giant Fearow, and the Ringwraith could at least be something inhuman under that cloak. I was fine with the idea that the Big Four elemental cards are all nymphs of some sort, but having every other Card being a woman (or a man, in case any future cards try this loophole) with a funny costume and odd accessories is lazy, especially when the first fight is against a giant bird.
That said, they certainly got across their personalities with the designs: Rain (not Rainey?) is a trickster and cheeky nuisance, while Wood is a calm and meek friend dragged into Rain’s antics.

Tomoyo is as strange and slightly creepy as ever. I’ve seen her blushing over Sakura now, so it’s looking very likely that she does have a crush. With this in mind, it’s a bit awkward that she almost definitely had an upskirt angle thanks to Sakura’s dress. Also, why did she think ‘space dress’ was good jungle wear? I still like her better than Yuki, though.

[deuterio12]

Haha, yes, Sakura intelligence isn't one of her strong points. Again, she is quite the ⑨ dense girl.

Spoiler

Show

It is later hinted that Sakura kinda has natural smarts for vide-game logic, like knowing that The Wood beats The Earthy, but said moments of smartness are so rare that it is hard to see Sakura as anything besides a really dense girl.

As for Tomoyo's dress choice, I believe her reasoning was "Sakura the space cadet explores an unknown alien jungle", with the suit being both waterproof and elastic to protect from stray branches. Still, even dense Sakura is "being thoroughly weirded out" by it in your own words. But Tomoyo knows how to play her own cards well to get her way "I just saved you from your family finding your magic secret and/or your house getting crushed, and I'm gonna help you clean up the mess, all I'm asking in return is that you wear this exotic outfit and let me record you on it."


As for tentacle-esquee things, remember the opening theme song: "Catch you, Catch me". Yes, it kinda is a recurring theme, but played relatively light.

And now that I think about it, kinda recurring in magical girl themes. From Sailor Moon to Puella Madoka Magica, the heroines seem to be kinda of magnets for long flexible things wanting to entangle them. Ah, Japan.


On card designs, well, there are still other non-humanoids to catch besides The Fly. But there's also more humanoid forms. That's all I'll say about that now.

Spoiler

Show

By the end of the series Sakura basically has got herself a magic female harem bigger than most actual harem series. Manliest magical girl show evar!

For one, I believe that it is intentional because it helps get the point across that each card has their own personality and emotions, like Watery's suffering at being frozen, or The Wood just surrendering while the Rain being a trickster. It is much harder to do that with non-humanoid forms.

Spoiler: Non-humanoid cards yet to be revealed personalities

Show

The Sword reveals itself to be a psycho by possessing one of Sakura's friends to go in a rampage.

[Mewtarthio]

Actually, tentacles make a lot of sense in a children's show. First off, you can easily adapt all sorts of things into that mold--limbs, hair, amorphous fluid, vaguely-defined "solid energy" (eg Shadow), etc.--so almost any elemental-themed monster could have a tentacle attack. More importantly, tentacles lend themselves to grappling, which is seen as less violent than other forms of attack. This lets you both keep the rating down and imperil your heroes without straining too much when they end up surviving without any crippling injuries. If Sakura had ended up impaled on a tree branch instead of wrapped up in wooden pseudopods, that would have been too violent for a kid's show, and also Sakura would be either dead or Wolverine.

[Yuki Akuma]

I would not be surprised if Sakura ended up being Wolverine,

Spoiler

Show

considering the fact that everyone with magic in this setting appears to be incredibly physically competent, possibly hinting that magic just makes your body better in general.