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

[MLai]

Not really. There's more CCS verse magic users, but they're pretty few and usually minding their own business or keep it in the family.(quite probably less than a hundred in the whole world from what we see from various CLAMP works). Syaoran's clan being one of the biggest, and they live in the middle of Hong Kong of all places. The other magic users also usually live in urban areas in normal buildings, enjoying modern conforts. No secret magic underground society in this reality.

Umm... not according to X1999. But maybe that was just all the magi societies coming out of the woodwork because the world was about to end? But in any case there's lots of magi societies, and many of them control the world (or at least Japan) from the shadows.

I think CCS is just us watching two little magi-in-training splashing around in the kiddie pool, while the adults fly around the rest of the world and shoot lasers at each other.

[Zolem]

X1999 is not the same continuity. It is the only CLAMP work that stands alone. As shown in XXHolic, CCS, and Tsubasa Chronicals, magic users are capital R Rare, to the point where even they have trouble finding out about each other even existing.

There are probably less than 200 magical people on the planet, including the lightweights that can just see stuff.

[deuterio12]

Yeah, X1999 is a completely different reality. And as already said the more psycho cards have yet to show up.

Anyway, moar spoiler-free fanservice!

Spoiler: CCS pre-historic version

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That's Yuki's shrinked skull Sakura's wearing on her necklace.

Spoiler: Alternate start for the series

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It's dangerous to go alone. Take this!

Spoiler: Sakura just being cute

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"Let's take a walk in broad daylight with my magic wand out and my familiar flying around me!" is quite in-character for the card captor.

Spoiler: And to finish something more elegant

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Red nails fit Sakura quite well.

[Durkoala]

Once again, the episode is going to be delayed for a day or two. My apologies.

X1999 is not the same continuity. It is the only CLAMP work that stands alone. As shown in XXHolic, CCS, and Tsubasa Chronicals, magic users are capital R Rare, to the point where even they have trouble finding out about each other even existing.

There are probably less than 200 magical people on the planet, including the lightweights that can just see stuff.

Is it ever explained how they find out that they're magic and how to use it if they're that rare? Clow and Shaoran have their families and Sakura has Kerbie, but what happens to the CLAMP version of Hermione if she can't find how to use her powers? Toya and Yuki (if he isn't Clow) may fall under this category now I think about it.

Yeah, X1999 is a completely different reality. And as already said the more psycho cards have yet to show up.

Anyway, moar spoiler-free fanservice!

Spoiler: CCS pre-historic version

Show

That's Yuki's shrinked skull Sakura's wearing on her necklace.

Spoiler: Alternate start for the series

Show

It's dangerous to go alone. Take this!

Spoiler: Sakura just being cute

Show

"Let's take a walk in broad daylight with my magic wand out and my familiar flying around me!" is quite in-character for the card captor.

Spoiler: And to finish something more elegant

Show

Red nails fit Sakura quite well.

You don't do things by halves, do you?
I like Monkey-Shaoran in the first picture and the way the key is half-transformed into its flight form in the last, but all of these are very nice. It does bring me back to wondering what Kerberos would look like in a realistic style, though. His body is that of a cat, but what's his head? Cat? Bear? Tennis ball with a smiley face?

[cobaltstarfire]

Well you've seen his true form before, it was on the front of the Book of Clow.

Although I can't remember if his image disappears from the front once Sakura opens it, so you may have to go back to the first episode to get an idea of how he looks.

[deuterio12]

Once again, the episode is going to be delayed for a day or two. My apologies.

Again, you don't really need to apologize for that kind of stuff, we're all doing this for fun.

Is it ever explained how they find out that they're magic and how to use it if they're that rare? Clow and Shaoran have their families and Sakura has Kerbie, but what happens to the CLAMP version of Hermione if she can't find how to use her powers? Toya and Yuki (if he isn't Clow) may fall under this category now I think about it.

Well, you're already kinda seeing it. Magic powers will manifest naturally, like Toya discovered he could see dead people, and Sakura was starting to have prophetic dreams before releasing the cards. One can assume that from there they can learn by doing. In an alternate dimension where she never finds the book, Sakura may've led an easy life by predicting lottery numbers or something like that. Some generations later her descendants would've probably refined it to more advanced divination.

You don't do things by halves, do you?

Not when it's my favorite anime series ever, no.

[Zolem]

Is it ever explained how they find out that they're magic and how to use it if they're that rare? Clow and Shaoran have their families and Sakura has Kerbie, but what happens to the CLAMP version of Hermione if she can't find how to use her powers? Toya and Yuki (if he isn't Clow) may fall under this category now I think about it.

Actually, XXHolic shows that the Hermionie's of the world are kind of screwed. They have to luckily stumble across somebody who can teach them magic (super rare) who will probably use them for their own ends, or they have to figure out how to use their powers without getting killed. That last part is also a bit of why magic is so rare despite being literally blood inherited, the people that posess it have a high mortality rate. One chapter of XXHolic actually has the main character, a low powered seer (I see spirits and ghosts) that was "lucky" enough to become the first category, save a small child who has the same type of power from falling prey to a predatory spirit that was luring the kid in via childish curiosity. Main character scolds the kid, and tells him to never go near anything only he can see, it's dangerous.

Basically if you manage to live into your teens without getting killed as a Mage, you are a survivor.

[deuterio12]

Trivia, there was a CCS-based online mobile phone game running in Japan a few years ago, and for it CLAMP exceptionally made a bunch of extra art as possible prizes. Including some Hallowen specials, which I believe make sense posting now, all spoilers free at this point:

Spoiler

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I can almost hear Tomoyo squealing behind the camera taking this picture.

Spoiler

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More trivia: Syaoran/Shaoran can be translated as little wolf from chinese.

Spoiler: Technically not Hallowen special, but there's a ghost in there

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Nadeshiko had blue hair on the manga yes.

[Durkoala]

I keep noticing that the Manga style is very different from the anime style: the manga's a lot more elegant, but I think that the anime catches the feeling of childish whimsy better. Are the figures in the background spoiler characters, or just Yuki/Toya/Fujikata/other adult males in the series?

@Zolem: where do Sakura and Shaoran fall in the power scale? Sakura didn't have the powers of a seer, but since becoming the Cardcaptor she's been able to generate barriers strong enough to worry Kerbie.


I'm sorry for the long delay, there's been some Life stuff happening. Because of this, I might have to drop back to doing one episode a week for a bit.


EPISODE 16: Sakura and the Rainbow of Memories.

Spoiler

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We open with the Kinomoto family in a car, driving through the countryside. Oh, no, Yukito’s here as well, as is a small suitcase which obviously contains Kerbie. As Toya and Dad try to follow the map, Sakura says that this will be the first time she’s been in a country house. Well, we know what we’re here for, but why did we have to bring Yuki?

Title Card. Sakura and the Rainbow of memories. That’s an odd one.

Yuki’s apparently here because Toya asked him to come. Sakura complains about her homework, and for some reason is rather upset about Toya saying that she’s going to go running around when she’s finished. Is this something to do with Japanese culture, or Sakura being weird?
Fujikata mentions that he hasn’t met Yukito’s family yet. I wonder why; it’s like the don’t exist or something.

The Country House is a lot smaller than I thought it would be. It’s a two-storey wooden building with a porch, balcony and a peaked roof. It’s pretty. Also, Fujikata’s hairstyle looks a lot like Jonathan Joestar’s. I need to start watching Jojo again.

Sakura starts the moving in by setting up a picture of her mother. Aww. She tells her that they’re going to be staying for two days, too.

Sakura jumps on her bed with the suitcase and accidently squashes Kerbie. He’s not happy but forgives her when he sees how beautiful the house is, if she gets him some dessert. Sakura asks rhetorically if he doesn’t need to eat, then ‘but you still like sweets?’ and then accuses him of being a glutton. Whose brain did you steal, Sakura? I hope it wasn’t Yamazaki’s; he uses it a lot.

The men leave to go hunting shopping for food, and Sakura decides to go for a walk while they’re out. I really like the shots of the doorway and the silhouettes of people, reflected on Nadeshiko’s picture.

Kerbie and Sakura have a walk through many idyllic country scenes until the reach the next house down. It’s much bigger, and painted white. Sakura says it reminds her of Alice’s garden, but I’m not sure what she means. Alice visited a few gardens in Wonderland, and found a huge garden/countryside through the mirror, but I can’t think of any gardens that were specifically hers, unless you count the real world in Wonderland where Alice is sleeping.

A man calls to Sakura from the house. He has a huge beard, but he also has the usual face so he looks a bit odd. After asking if she’s lost, he invites her in for tea.

And we cut to night, with the fireflies out. Toya is on the barbeque, because he’s been working at a Korean restaurant. While they eat, Sakura tells her father about the man she met today. He’s here because he is taking a break from his work, and she wants to visit him tomorrow. Just imagine the reaction that would get today. Anyway, I bet that when she goes back, he’ll have mysteriously disappeared.

Tomoyo is in her cinema, watching the Jump fight (Noooo! Kill it! Killit!) when she gets a call from Sakura telling her about how things have been in the country. She goes quiet when she hears about the man, which is a bit strange, especially as she brushes it off immediately. Is there a story about the old man, or is it just wishing that she could be there as well? Come to think of it, the man was in rather old-fashioned clothes.

Next morning, when Sakura heads out Fujikata gives her a bag of cookies to give to the old man.

When Sakura arrives at the big house, the man calls her up to the house instead of eating outside. She follows his voice through a number of huge rooms until she finds him on one of the landings. The room they enter is a bedroom filled with soft toys. Sakura puts her borrowed brain to good use and decuces that it’s a child’s room. The “old” man confirms this, and says that the girl died a while ago. He says ‘gone to Heaven’, specifically, which is an odd choce of words/translation for ‘died’. I didn’t think that Japan was very Christian, and I don’t know enough about Shinto views on death to know if there is a heaven-equivelent there.

After Sakura tells him she’s sorry, he tells her to cheer up as she has nothing to apologise for. They then go and play tennis and squash in a fun little sequence. When they stop for tea, Sakura wonders who is making the tea if the man is alone here. Also, she still doesn’t know his name.

Sakura tries on a dress of the old man’s deceased granddaughter. He insists that she takes it, as she looks a lot like the granddaughter. I’m beginning to have suspicions about his identity, but I can’t remember what colour Nadeshiko’s eyes were.

The man and Sakura look at a picture of a rainbow drawn from the window in the room. This is actually pretty sad. Oh, there’s a brief shot of a woman’s feet next to a door. It looks like the man isn’t alone after all. Maybe it’s a maid? Right?

Sakura talks with Kerbie in the evening. She wants to give the man something in return for his kindness, but is having trouble deciding. Eventually, she gets the idea that he would like a rainbow, or rainbow drawing I suppose.

Sakura goes to the man the next day. She tells him that she’s leaving tomorrow, but she would like him to go to his grandaughter’s room (the one with the painting) and look out over the verandah. As she leaves, she tells him that she is sure that his granddaughter is in a beautiful piece of sky, just like her mother. The old man starts tearing up, and I’m not far off it myself to be honest.

Hidden in the trees, Sakura calls the Rain. I really like how the casting sequence changes for all of Sakura’s clothes, by the way. As the old man looks out at the rainbow, he flashes back to his Grandaughter calling him about a rainbow. Of course, the granddaughter is Nadeshiko. While he rests on the railing, overcome with emotion, the unseen woman enters. It’s Sonomi! It turns out that this was set up by them so the old man who still has no name could see his great-grandaughter, instead of just asking Fujikata. I guess that being unable to get to the point and being manipulative runs in the family? Also, the family name is Amaniya. I wonder what that means?

Sakura catches up to her family and creepy, manipulative crush as they are packing up. While she rushes to get her things put away, Toya wonders who the old man’s house belongs to. Fujikata replies ‘a place where a man and his granddaughter were very happy’ and turns the picture of Nadeshiko towards the camera. Smart man.

And that’s it. This was a good, moving episode. It’s also the first one without any wild Cards to capture, and I think that subtly changes things enough to feel fresh. I was expecting the old man to be the ghost of Sakura’s (great) grandfather, but it turns out that he’s alive and wears old clothes. I will admit that some of his early scenes felt a little suspect, like leading a young girl into a back room in his house, but I warmed up to him by the tennis match. The other characters made a good supporting cast, and I enjoyed their scenes.

Instead of the Card of the day, I suppose I’ll have to talk about Sakura’s nameless great-grandfather. He seems to be an old man with no magic (well, no proof for or against it; it wouldn’t be impossible if he did turn out to be a sorcerer) who likes his family and is very lonely. It’s also clear where Sonomi and Tomoyo get their manipulative streak from: would it have been so inconvenient to have contacted Fujikata and met Sakura and Toya at home? He seems to a decent, if unexplored, character and I could bear a few return visits.

To be honest, It’s starting to feel like that this is not really going to have an overarching plot, just many one-off episodes and 2-3 episode arcs. This isn’t a bad thing, but it doesn’t mesh with the foreshadowing in the early episodes (or the hints I’ve been getting that something is coming), so I’m a little confused.

[cobaltstarfire]

The two adults in the bottom page are Sakuras mother and Father.

And yeah, CLAMP really loves to draw highly detailed things (elegant is a perfect description). I don't think the show had the budget to be animated to match the mangas style.

I was actually unsure if you'd like this one or not, you've glommed onto being bothered by cousin things and such, that it seemed likely you would expect the worst from the old man inviting a young girl into his house. I'm glad you enjoyed it though. I also cried towards the end...

CCS takes its time especially since they added more cards to the anime, it's telling you several stories, one about herself and her family, and one about the cards/magic/Clow but the pieces are spread out across the whole series rather than all packed together.

[MLai]

It's not really manipulativeness as much as lack of reconciliation between Nadeshiko's clan and Prof. Fujikata. It's already established that the clan was strongly opposed to Nadeshiko marrying Fujikata. As the patriarch of the rich/influential clan, the grandfather is most likely the one most vehemently opposed. Otherwise if he had liked or supported Fujikata, who else was gonna badmouth the guy?

Ofc, with Nadeshiko dead, there is no way the old man would eventually reconcile with Fujikata. Ever. It's not just an old man's stubbornness it's also a matter of pride and honour. But he still wants to see his granddaughter as his love for his favorite daughter is projected onto Sakura.

[deuterio12]

One of the most "feelings" episode. I almost cried when I saw this one too. And Sakura indeed looks like she's smarter stole somebody else's brain indeed.

Also reminds me how Syaoran's relationship with his own family is, although I can't say much more about that. For now.

Spoiler

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While Sakura has super loving father that she loves, Syaoran has a cold sorceror queen mother that he's kinda terrified of. And that is more worried about his school grades than about the card capturing she theoretically sent him to do.

While Sakura gets an overprotective tsundere older brother, Syaoran has four older sisters that care more about the new exotic strangers than about their little brother they haven't seen in a year or so. I'm not sure they even look at him while they're on the same room.

While Sakura gets a gentle and caring cousin that's in love with her but takes some care to be discrete about it and doesn't get in her way (much), Syaoran gets a crazy and clingy cousin that's in love with him and wants to make sure everybody around knows about it... You know, I only realized now that Syaoran and Sakura both get female cousins after their hearts. Somehow I never had made that connection earlier. Guess it's because Meiling and Tomoyo are pretty different otherwise.

No wonder Syaoran frowns so much for the first half of the series. The rest of his family is pretty dysfunctional.

I keep noticing that the Manga style is very different from the anime style: the manga's a lot more elegant, but I think that the anime catches the feeling of childish whimsy better. Are the figures in the background spoiler characters, or just Yuki/Toya/Fujikata/other adult males in the series?

Ah, you have good eyes. Spoiler character behind Sakura and Syaoran yes. I'll post the rest of the picture when he shows up in the series.

And yes, it would be kinda impossible for the anime to be as elegant as the manga.

I'm sorry for the long delay, there's been some Life stuff happening. Because of this, I might have to drop back to doing one episode a week for a bit.

Sure, just don't burn yourself out.

Instead of the Card of the day, I suppose I’ll have to talk about Sakura’s nameless great-grandfather. He seems to be an old man with no magic (well, no proof for or against it; it wouldn’t be impossible if he did turn out to be a sorcerer) who likes his family and is very lonely. It’s also clear where Sonomi and Tomoyo get their manipulative streak from: would it have been so inconvenient to have contacted Fujikata and met Sakura and Toya at home? He seems to a decent, if unexplored, character and I could bear a few return visits.

He'll be seen again.

To be honest, It’s starting to feel like that this is not really going to have an overarching plot, just many one-off episodes and 2-3 episode arcs. This isn’t a bad thing, but it doesn’t mesh with the foreshadowing in the early episodes (or the hints I’ve been getting that something is coming), so I’m a little confused.

There is an overarching plot eventually in CCS, it's just that CLAMP loves this kind of story telling where they spend a lot of episodes setting up a world and mechanics.

It's not really manipulativeness as much as lack of reconciliation between Nadeshiko's clan and Prof. Fujikata. It's already established that the clan was strongly opposed to Nadeshiko marrying Fujikata. As the patriarch of the rich/influential clan, the grandfather is most likely the one most vehemently opposed. Otherwise if he had liked or supported Fujikata, who else was gonna badmouth the guy?

Ofc, with Nadeshiko dead, there is no way the old man would eventually reconcile with Fujikata. Ever. It's not just an old man's stubbornness it's also a matter of pride and honour. But he still wants to see his granddaughter as his love for his favorite daughter is projected onto Sakura.

Honestly, the shows happening in the 20th century. What kind of "pride and honor" is in telling your granddaughter that she can't marry the man she loves? And then when she follows her heart, cutting all relationships with her and her new family for the next decade?

[MLai]

Honestly, the shows happening in the 20th century. What kind of "pride and honor" is in telling your granddaughter that she can't marry the man she loves? And then when she follows her heart, cutting all relationships with her and her new family for the next decade?

The kind that belongs to a Japanese man who lives in the 19th century? He's old and he wears old clothes, he lives in a Victorian mansion (IIRC). Everything about him says "lives in the past."

[cobaltstarfire]

That, and even now there's people on both sides of the ocean who still are like that who aren't old enough to have seen the 20's and earlier.

Pride really can pull a family apart in the way we're seeing with Nadeshiko's, even in the modern era.

[Zolem]

@Zolem: where do Sakura and Shaoran fall in the power scale? Sakura didn't have the powers of a seer, but since becoming the Cardcaptor she's been able to generate barriers strong enough to worry Kerbie.

The answer is that they are High on the power scale. And I mean like "Hogwarts Year Five" level where they could participate in battle with fully trained Death Eaters, but aren't powerful enough to be considered masters of the craft. prophetic dreams, like the ones Sakura had, are a sign of major power. Meanwhile, Sayoran can blast and manipulate the elements of nature.

Finally, both of them are powerful enough to survive hunting for Clow Cards. Next episode demonstrates how impressive that actually is. Also next episode is the one I warned you to keep brown pants around for.

[MLai]

Finally, both of them are powerful enough to survive hunting for Clow Cards. Next episode demonstrates how impressive that actually is. Also next episode is the one I warned you to keep brown pants around for.

I don't remember what episode that is.....
Quickly! We must have the next Let's Watch!

[deuterio12]

The answer is that they are High on the power scale. And I mean like "Hogwarts Year Five" level where they could participate in battle with fully trained Death Eaters, but aren't powerful enough to be considered masters of the craft. prophetic dreams, like the ones Sakura had, are a sign of major power. Meanwhile, Sayoran can blast and manipulate the elements of nature.

Finally, both of them are powerful enough to survive hunting for Clow Cards. Next episode demonstrates how impressive that actually is. Also next episode is the one I warned you to keep brown pants around for.

And they'll get even stronger as the series progresses, since the more they use their magic, the better they get at it.

Spoiler

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By the 2nd movie, Sakura is creating her own eldritch abominations. For fun. That's well above anything seen in HP.

Syaoran technically loses his cards, but it's implied his magic energy reserves are just as big it not even bigger than Sakura's since he still has more power left when the chips are all down. He's also the only character who tackles The Nothing's uber disintegrating blasts head on and walks out of it in his own feet. His jufus also manage to hurt that Ex boss when all the other character's attacks were useless.

[Durkoala]

The answer is that they are High on the power scale. And I mean like "Hogwarts Year Five" level where they could participate in battle with fully trained Death Eaters, but aren't powerful enough to be considered masters of the craft. prophetic dreams, like the ones Sakura had, are a sign of major power. Meanwhile, Sayoran can blast and manipulate the elements of nature.

Finally, both of them are powerful enough to survive hunting for Clow Cards. Next episode demonstrates how impressive that actually is. Also next episode is the one I warned you to keep brown pants around for.

While I like Harry Potter, trying to relate its power scale to that of other series is often a confusing affair. Are you saying that S&S have a lot of talent and power for their age, but still have a way to go before they can compete with the professional sorcerers?

It's not really manipulativeness as much as lack of reconciliation between Nadeshiko's clan and Prof. Fujikata. It's already established that the clan was strongly opposed to Nadeshiko marrying Fujikata. As the patriarch of the rich/influential clan, the grandfather is most likely the one most vehemently opposed. Otherwise if he had liked or supported Fujikata, who else was gonna badmouth the guy?

Ofc, with Nadeshiko dead, there is no way the old man would eventually reconcile with Fujikata. Ever. It's not just an old man's stubbornness it's also a matter of pride and honour. But he still wants to see his granddaughter as his love for his favorite daughter is projected onto Sakura.

As he praised Fujikata (to Sonomi!), he's either mellowed over the years or he wasn't that opposed to him to begin with. I still don't know why Tomoyo couldn't have invited Sakura over when great-grandad Aminya 'just happened' to be visiting.
Instead, we have both families travelling to two houses away from the city, a 'chance meeting' with Sakura and her being left none the wiser. It's so much effort, I'm wondering if Fujikata was part of the plan.

The two adults in the bottom page are Sakuras mother and Father.

And yeah, CLAMP really loves to draw highly detailed things (elegant is a perfect description). I don't think the show had the budget to be animated to match the mangas style.

I was actually unsure if you'd like this one or not, you've glommed onto being bothered by cousin things and such, that it seemed likely you would expect the worst from the old man inviting a young girl into his house. I'm glad you enjoyed it though. I also cried towards the end...

CCS takes its time especially since they added more cards to the anime, it's telling you several stories, one about herself and her family, and one about the cards/magic/Clow but the pieces are spread out across the whole series rather than all packed together.

Oh, I recognised them. I was talking about the figure in the background of the Witch and werewolf pictures. Fujikata looks a lot like Aizen's captain disguise.

I admit that the bearded bishie (that's his name from now on) was looking a bit suspect at first, but after all the effort it took to make me like him the ending was all the more moving.

[Zolem]

Yes, they have a lot of power and talent, but the big name major powers (ala Dumbledor and Voldermort) would still kick their butts via experience if not raw power. At this point in the series. And yes, I am talking about their power level only at THIS point in the series. They are already by this universe's standards powerhouses you do not casually mess with.

[Durkoala]

Nitpick: Clow seems more like Dumbledore/Voldemort: a once-in-generation prodigy whose powers aren't bound by the normal magic system. Unless Sakura/Shaoran create a new system of magic, they're probably aiming for Mcgonagall.
/harrypotternerdiness

EPISDODE 17:Sakura's Scary Test of Courage!

Spoiler: Brown Trousers equipped

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I’ve got a bit of a cold at the moment. Here’s hoping that it doesn’t make this too hard.

Kerbie is waiting in Sakura’s room. It’s too hot for him and he can’t turn on the air con because Sakura’s out. His shouting can be faintly heard in Toya’s room, where Toya and Yuki dismiss it as something falling off of Sakura’s desk. Right, so at least one of them doesn’t know about Kerbie. Also, Sakura’s on a school trip to the beach.

Title Card! Sakura’s scary test of courage! Well, that’s rather direct. Show me your moves!

Sakura is swimming under the sea, really weirdly. Her legs are kicking normally, but her arms seem to be doing the breaststroke and she’s not wavering up or down at all. She floats and looks at Shaoran standing on the shore staring into a cave. When he notices her, he gives his usual glare before diving in. Sakura’s friends call her over for volleyball, and Sakura does a proper front crawl to join them.

Volleyball goes well until Sakura misses the ball and it flies into the sea. As she runs to pick it up, it is seized by... Yamazaki, which is unexpected. He starts telling her that Volleyball was started in Hawaii with coconuts, and consequently a lot of people have been injured playing. Sakura turns out to be as gullible as Shaoran, but Chiharu cuts it short by telling Sakura that he’s making it up. I was enjoying that, Pigtails!

There’s a weird bit where Yamazki splits the ball into two, then three and starts juggling them, before a cut to him buried in sand and Chiharu bouncing the ball off his head. Tomoyo distracts sakura by pointing out that Shaoran is a good swimmer. Is she developing a crush on him as well, now? *joke*

Chiharu restrains Yamazaki as he tries to start another story. Rika explains that they’ve known each other since kindergarten, so they do this sort of thing a lot. It’s the first I’ve seen of it, but it’s a nice piece of background history. The teacher blows his whistle and calls the class over. Yamazaki is dragged off, still talking about rival samurai inventing long-distance swimming.

The class has to do a tug-of-war thing to pull in some fishing nets. As usual, Tomoyo is disappointed that she couldn’t bring her camcorder for this. Also the teacher looks so much like Toya.

The actual pulling in of the fish uses a lot of recycled sequences.

I swear Chiharu just called Sakura ‘Sakura-chan Jones’ in a Scottish accent. Anyway, the fish are being grilled and the class are preparing the veggies. Sakura’s potato peeling has her friends in awe, but Shaoran’s 1337 chopping skills steal the show. Sakura’s friends urge her to up the pace, but she replies that she doesn’t feel that it’s about winning. That’s a nice parallel to the Card situation.

That night, the girls lie awake in their cabins and talk about the next day. There’s a test of courage that Sakura is dreading, which has something to do with the rocks and the cave we saw earlier. Naoko starts to tell a ghost story about the rocks. Long ago, there were a group of schoolchildren at this very campsite, who had fun doing the same things that our class did. Tomoyo points out the resemblance, but I can’t tell if she’s being sarcastic or not. The next day, the old class had their test of courage: in the cave in the rocks there is a spring, with a small shrine and a bridge leading to it. The students had to go in in pairs and leave a candle at the spring. I like the way we fade from Sakura’s terrified face to the wind rustling the trees outside and back again. The only drawback is that there aren’t any sound effects for the wind or the trees.

One pair didn’t come back, so the rest of the class and the teacher went in to the cave... and their teacher opens the door of the cabin and Sakura screams. Once that is sorted out, he tells them that it’s time the lights went out, even though they already are, and leaves.

Sadly, we don’t get to hear the rest of the story. The other girls fall asleep, but Sakura is too scared, so she goes for a walk outside in the dark. I know you’re a bit odd sometimes, Sakura, but this takes the cake. Also, isn’t autumn now? That little nightdress is going to be really cold.

As Sakura considers moving in with one of the teachers for the night and is weighing up embarrassment and terror, a hand touches her shoulder. She screams out and realises that it’s just the Spoiler of all Good Things. He’s in an unusually friendly mood, and they walk out to the beach.

Shaoran tells Sakura that there’s something in the cave. It’s not a Clow Card, but he doesn’t know what it is. When Sakura asks if it’s a ghost, he has no idea. There’s a look at the cave, and we see a flicker of blue stuff that looks like animated old TV static. Shaoran also sees this, but Sakura screams when he tells her this and begs him to talk about something else.

Alright! Sakura’s asking Shaoran out to Tomoyo’s theatre about his life in Hong Kong. He mentions that he’s here alone except for somebody called Wei. Sakura notes that he likes Wei’s company, and he leaves. There’s a shot of the Cave as blue lights light up in its mouth.

In the morning, Sakura has been bringing Tomoyo up to date at the taps. She says that Shaoran walked her back. Is he coming down with something? Tomoyo’s a little sad that she didn’t get to come.

That night, the entire class are gathered around the cave. There’s a different teacher, or maybe a camp official, telling them about the test of courage. She looks like an adult version of Rika, with wavy brown hair, dressed in a T-shirt and shorts. The test is the same as Naoko described, but you can be in a party of three if you want. Sakura grabs Tomoyo’s hand.

The path goes straight to the shrine, so there’s no chance of getting lost. They’re going to get lost. It should be noted that Shaoran and Yamazaki are behind Sakura and Tomoyo, so it’s likely that he’s going to rescue them when things go balls-up.

Rika, Chiharu and Naoko go in as a three and Sakura starts to panic because it’s herself and Tomoyo next. As she is practically dragged in, there’s a shot of Shaoran (and Yamazaki) staring after her. He’s frowning, but it looks worried instead of resentful. Sakura used TALK ON THE BEACH! IT’S SOMEWHAT EFFECTIVE.

Oh, I like the way we look at things from Tomoyo’s POV, so that there’s only a semicircle of light from the candle and the rest of the screen is in darkness. It occurs to me that they’re going to have to walk back in the dark if the leave the candle behind at the shrine.

And the teacher jumps out wearing the silliest ghost costume. Tomoyo unmasks him, but he’s happy that he got Sakura to scream, cling to Tomoyo and start crying. He’s right, because it was hilarious. He’s called (Mr) Terada, btw.

The bridge to the shrine is very long. It just leads into the dark of the cave, and the cave mouth is long behind them. It would be a lot spookier in a darker series: I just can’t believe anything too bad is going to happen here despite the hints and the illusion episode. It feels more like a Halloween path than a mystic road of death and things.

Tomoyo is looking a bit nervous. Because they’ve only seen the one teacher, she’s wondering why the others haven’t been trying to pull any tricks on them. Also, they haven’t seen anybody on the way back. Oh dear. Just then, Chiharu starts screaming Naoko’s name in the distance.

Across the long, dark bridge there is a little island with Chiharu and Rika on it. Chiharu desperately explain that Naoko disappeared, not ‘turned and she wasn’t there’ disappeared, but vanished in front of their eyes. She asked Rika to back her up... but Rika fades out while we watch! Well, it looks like we’re at the scary part now. That’s actually a bit unnerving.

When Chiharu disappears, Tomoyo decide that they have to get back and tell the teachers. Have the teachers been eaten as well?
Halfway across the bridge, Sakura turns and sees that Tomoyo is gone. Her candle hovers in the air for a few seconds, then drops to the floor and the spilled wax starts to set the bridge on fire.

Shaoran catches up when the bridge is a raging bonfire. This should take at least half an hour, but it’s implied that it’s only been seconds. Yamazaki disappeared as well, which conveniently lets Shaoran know what’s happening. As Sakura panics about ghosts, he tells her to be quiet and focus on the presence here.

...Look, I know that the Cards are a key part of this anime, but you can’t say that something isn’t a Clow Card earlier in the episode, and then go OH WAIT GUYS IT IS ACTUALLY A CLOW CARD AFTER ALL. Even if it turns out like the Painted Lady from Avatar where there is an actually (super)supernatural force as well as something a little more mundane, it’s not cool.

Shaoran’s Dragon Radar says that the Card is in the shrine. As the bridge is wrecked and Shaoran wants a stealthy approach, Sakura calls the Float Card to drift them across.

As soon as they land, Shaoran starts fading away. As Sakura panics, he tells her to get a grip or everybody she knows will be gone forever. She starts focussing, her POV swaying around the island and settling on the really obvious shrine. I mean, really? You didn’t look there immediately?
She yanks the doors open and out tumbles a green fog, which is promptly sealed. As Sakura looks at it, Shaoran walks up to her. He’s solid again, which is a little disappointing. I was hoping he’d have to walk around all see-through for a while. The Card is the ERASE Card, which sounds really nasty because it implies that it just deletes things, gone, no way back. This clearly isn’t going to be the case, but it’s a nasty concept.

Sakura tries to give the Card to Shaoran on the grounds that she would have been useless if he wasn’t advising her. He refuses for... some reason, but at least he isn’t any more OP.

Next morning, the girls and Yamazaki are sitting on the beach. They can’t remember what happened last night. (That’s what she said! I’m sorry) According to Shaoran, the Card erased their memories. That’s going to be a handy power. He tells Sakura that he hasn’t approved of her yet, which is an intriguing choice of words, or the translation implying things that aren’t there.

Chiharu calls them over for some volleyball. Sakura runs back to the group as Yamazaki starts telling them how volleyball got started in ancient Egypt, and if you didn’t drop the ball, you would get the person of your desires. There’s an anime cutaway to Sakura and Shaoran thinking of Yuki, then they run past and start playing as hard as they can while a rock version of one of the songs plays in the background.

And that’s it. I thought that this was a really good episode. We got a lot of character moments, a good buildup to the monster, and a pretty good card even if it didn’t show up in person much.

The big stuff is to do with Shaoran. He’s warming up to Sakura, it’s confirmed that he does have a crush on Yuki and we know that somebody’s come with him from Hong Kong. This episode felt like he was doing the military motivation thing for real, getting Sakura to stop crying and get crap done. I still don’t believe he was trying to mentor Sakura earlier, but here he was definitely trying to do so.
I’m sure that this Wei person will turn up sooner or later and be pretty cool when he does so.
There’s also the way he said that he hadn’t approved of Sakura yet, which sounds like he’s judging her for a specific task. What that could be, I don’t know, as Yuki/Clow would be the ultimate authority on Card-related matters and Shaoran was pretty thrown when he turned up, so they aren’t part of the same group. Unless Yuki isn’t Clow or Shaoran was just saying that he wasn’t sure if he liked her or not.

The Card was pretty good. The way it vanished people on screen was a good way to show non-gory picking off by the monster, but left enough to the imagination about what was happening. In a way, though, it’s a bit disappointing. I was hoping for something with an actual display of viciousness, but it could have just been the Time or the Flower with more lethal powers, an entity that deletes things because it can. While that is a nasty thing, it’s not as bad as something actively hunting you down. There’s also the fact its powers sound like they should be irreversible, but no effort is put into finding a way to undo it. It should be called the CTRL+X Card.
I’m not saying that it was a bad Card; it’s just that, like a lot of monsters, it gets less threatening when you think about it.

I really liked the way things went from idyllic to really tense. At first, we’re all messing about, learning that some of the supporting characters have bit of a history. Shaoran is acting like there’s something going on, which means that something will happen. Then Shaoran gets wound up in the wackiness, so we can relax. The tension is notched up with the ghost stories, deflated by talking on the beach with shaoran, then given a bump with the mystery thing in the cave. We then are in the the cave, which is tense in a funny way, then Tomoyo starts to get worried, then people are disappearing and there’s fire and a Card deleting Shaoran. It was a bit different from the other episodes in that it started off completely calmly instead of establishing the Card from the beginning.

Overall, I think that this episode was unlucky. It had been advertised as a scary episode, but it happened to use images that resembled several of the sources of my childhood nightmares. There’s nothing to undercut a scary scene than thoughts like ‘they aren’t disappearing because they’re being eaten by a God? Lame.’, ‘well, Naoko hasn’t gained superpowers and tried to kill everybody, so things are fine.’ and ‘I bet that underground lake isn’t filled with zombies.’ It was still a good episode, and the second darkest to date, but it felt a little overhyped. I am interested to see what the next step in Sharon’s journey to becoming a member of Cardcaptors Co is, even if it is a little sad that he is looking at lot less like the arc villain.

[deuterio12]

Spoiler: Late CLAMP illustration for the previous episode

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Spoiler: And another for cuteness sake

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Spoiler: Sakura looks really happy for being on the beach on the manga

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Spoiler: Beach episode demands fan picture!

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No anime beach episode is complete without watermelon blind splitting.

Spoiler: One more since poor Tomoyo didn't spend enough time with Sakura in this episode

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There’s a weird bit where Yamazki splits the ball into two, then three and starts juggling them, before a cut to him buried in sand and Chiharu bouncing the ball off his head. Tomoyo distracts sakura by pointing out that Shaoran is a good swimmer. Is she developing a crush on him as well, now? *joke*

Hehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe .

I actually had forgot this scene, thanks for pointing it out, it... Well, won't spoiler it for you.

I swear Chiharu just called Sakura ‘Sakura-chan Jones’ in a Scottish accent. Anyway, the fish are being grilled and the class are preparing the veggies. Sakura’s potato peeling has her friends in awe, but Shaoran’s 1337 chopping skills steal the show. Sakura’s friends urge her to up the pace, but she replies that she doesn’t feel that it’s about winning. That’s a nice parallel to the Card situation.

Also a moment when Sakura acts much more mature than her friends. Not everything has to be a direct competition.

Alright! Sakura’s asking Shaoran out to Tomoyo’s theatre about his life in Hong Kong. He mentions that he’s here alone except for somebody called Wei. Sakura notes that he likes Wei’s company, and he leaves. There’s a shot of the Cave as blue lights light up in its mouth.

Note: On the original manga Syaoran came completely alone to Tomoeda. Meaning the 10 year old boy went to school, card hunting, saving Sakura's ass and still found time to taking care of all his domestic chores alone, including cooking his own meals, and a bunch of extra stuff.

In the anime they probably decided "Wait, that's a bit too much for a 10 year old kid, let's make him live with another person from Hong Kong".

In the morning, Sakura has been bringing Tomoyo up to date at the taps. She says that Shaoran walked her back. Is he coming down with something? Tomoyo’s a little sad that she didn’t get to come.

She's obviously lying. It's clear Tomoyo's extremely sad she didn't get to stalk Sakura in her night date with her rival.

Rika, Chiharu and Naoko go in as a three and Sakura starts to panic because it’s herself and Tomoyo next. As she is practically dragged in, there’s a shot of Shaoran (and Yamazaki) staring after her. He’s frowning, but it looks worried instead of resentful. Sakura used TALK ON THE BEACH! IT’S SOMEWHAT EFFECTIVE.

Syaoran's villainess sharply fell!

Oh, I like the way we look at things from Tomoyo’s POV, so that there’s only a semicircle of light from the candle and the rest of the screen is in darkness. It occurs to me that they’re going to have to walk back in the dark if the leave the candle behind at the shrine.

Spoiler: In the manga they had a return trip candle

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Spoiler: In the manga Syaoran also tries to teach Sakura some extra magic tricks!

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And the teacher jumps out wearing the silliest ghost costume. Tomoyo unmasks him, but he’s happy that he got Sakura to scream, cling to Tomoyo and start crying. He’s right, because it was hilarious. He’s called (Mr) Terada, btw.

Damnit Sakura, you're already a magician of considerable power, you faced a lighting wolf, shadow tentacles, creepy illusions, what are you doing being scared of some dude with a lousy disguise?

...Look, I know that the Cards are a key part of this anime, but you can’t say that something isn’t a Clow Card earlier in the episode, and then go OH WAIT GUYS IT IS ACTUALLY A CLOW CARD AFTER ALL. Even if it turns out like the Painted Lady from Avatar where there is an actually (super)supernatural force as well as something a little more mundane, it’s not cool.

I believe something was lost in translation in the anime version you saw. In the manga, this happens in the previous scene:

Spoiler

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So they just weren't sure if it was a Clow Card or not.

As soon as they land, Shaoran starts fading away. As Sakura panics, he tells her to get a grip or everybody she knows will be gone forever. She starts focussing, her POV swaying around the island and settling on the really obvious shrine. I mean, really? You didn’t look there immediately?

Sakura's done more stupid things.

Sakura tries to give the Card to Shaoran on the grounds that she would have been useless if he wasn’t advising her. He refuses for... some reason, but at least he isn’t any more OP.

Sakura overcame her hesitation and managed to capture the card, even if she needed some support. Just like the Thunder. Just like the Power. Syaoran is still the same on that regard. He doesn't actually mind Sakura capturing the cards as long as she's doing her best.

What changed is that Sakura is now realizing that Syaoran is indeed helping her a great deal, and tried to give him the erase as a token of gratitude, but Syaoran has his honor. He'll only claim the cards Sakura completely fails to catch.

Next morning, the girls and Yamazaki are sitting on the beach. They can’t remember what happened last night. (That’s what she said! I’m sorry) According to Shaoran, the Card erased their memories. That’s going to be a handy power. He tells Sakura that he hasn’t approved of her yet, which is an intriguing choice of words, or the translation implying things that aren’t there.

I believe it's another translation matter. In the version I saw Syaoran said something along the lines of "I won't admit to doing anything for you". Basically boy's gotta keep his tough side, so Sakura doesn't start to slack off if because of believing she can now rely on Syaoran all the time.

Also Sakura never uses the mind-erasing property of this card, but she'll eventually catch another card to take care of annoying eyewitnesses as things escalate.

The big stuff is to do with Shaoran. He’s warming up to Sakura, it’s confirmed that he does have a crush on Yuki and we know that somebody’s come with him from Hong Kong. This episode felt like he was doing the military motivation thing for real, getting Sakura to stop crying and get crap done. I still don’t believe he was trying to mentor Sakura earlier, but here he was definitely trying to do so.

He's getting better at it. Sakura's now the only one learning and maturing in this series.

I’m sure that this Wei person will turn up sooner or later and be pretty cool when he does so.

Correct on both accounts. Wei doesn't won't get that much screen time compared to some other characters that have yet to show up, but he's indeed a pretty cool dude when he does.

The Card was pretty good. The way it vanished people on screen was a good way to show non-gory picking off by the monster, but left enough to the imagination about what was happening. In a way, though, it’s a bit disappointing. I was hoping for something with an actual display of viciousness, but it could have just been the Time or the Flower with more lethal powers, an entity that deletes things because it can. While that is a nasty thing, it’s not as bad as something actively hunting you down. There’s also the fact its powers sound like they should be irreversible, but no effort is put into finding a way to undo it. It should be called the CTRL+X Card.
I’m not saying that it was a bad Card; it’s just that, like a lot of monsters, it gets less threatening when you think about it.

Actually, in some extra material it's explained that the longer it takes to reverse The Erase's deleting, the less of the person will come back. After 24 hours, they're gone forever. The card co was pretty lucky for solving this one pretty fast after realizing what was happenning.

But you know what this implies, right? The card was probably already in that shine for quite some time. So it probably claimed multiple victims before Sakura and Syaoran ever arrived at the scene. They'll just remain forever missing.

I am interested to see what the next step in Sharon’s journey to becoming a member of Cardcaptors Co is, even if it is a little sad that he is looking at lot less like the arc villain.

Hehehe, next "step" on Syaoran's journey coming up soon... Not next episode yet, but soon enough...

[MLai]

But you know what this implies, right? The card was probably already in that shine for quite some time. So it probably claimed multiple victims before Sakura and Syaoran ever arrived at the scene. They'll just remain forever missing.

Until even other people's memories of them completely fade away.

[Zolem]

Until even other people's memories of them completely fade away.

No. It just physically erases them, memories are fine. It's just that you can't find any physical evidence they ever existed. All that remains is your memories of a person you can never find any evidence they ever existed at all.

[Durkoala]

New episode.

EPISODE 18: Sakura, Yukito and the summer festival.

Spoiler

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We open with a green ball of light floating over water. It speeds off to a single tree, then is somehow hovering over Sakura’s sleeping eye. As she wakes, it splits into many smaller blobs and Sakura happily watches them fly around her. This must be a dream, as she’s in her uniform instead of a silly outfit and Tomoyo isn’t hanging around with a camera. As one blob stabilises into a ball and hovers over her hand, she says ‘these are probably...’ but before she finishes it spins into a disc and expands to cover the screen.

Title card! Sakura, Yukito and the summer festival. Didn’t we already have a summer festival with Yuki? It got interrupted by a cloud of acid mist.

Sakura mumbles ‘probably...’ again, but then wakes up to the sight of Kerbie’s teeth. You tease. Kerbie’s upset because for some reason Sakura can’t remember what her dream was about, and because she’s a powerful sorceress it’s likely a vision of the future.

Sakura’s on cooking duty tonight, so she’s decided to make okonomoyaki, which afaik are a bit like pasties, with ingredients cooked inside a pancake instead of a pastry crust. Definitely something to try if I ever go to Japan. Kerbie wants his with noodles on (modern-yaki, with modern apparently being an English loanword). She has to go shopping for ingredients, though. I wonder who she’ll meet, cough cough.

On the way, she sees a flyer advertising a summer festival; the last day is today. Resolving to take Tomoyo there, she takes a detour to Yuki’s house and finds it empty. After letting her be disappointed, he calls out to her from the roof and invites her in for tea. I still don’t trust you, by the way, Worm King.

After the tea, Yuki offers to walk her home. He says that her backpack looks heavy and that he has something to return to Toya.

As they walk and skate home, Sakura is telling Yuki about the time she ate Toya’s jelly. Speak of the devil and you will crash into him, Sakura. Even better, he’s heard her “confession.” It’s a nice change to see Sakura on the losing end of their squabbles.

And Sakura’s step has ‘FOR MONSTERS ONLY’ written on it and crossed out. This is why you watch subs. Toya and Sakura are preparing things for okonomoyaki. Yuki asks to help by cutting up the leek. Do the leekspin!

When Sakura says that she’s going to the festival, Toya immediately asks to come. Yuki also asks then, when Sakura leaves to tell Tomoyo, starts needling Toya about being worried about his sisters safety. It’s a nice gesture, Toya, but if you really want to make Sakura safer, keep her away from your boyfriend best mate.

When Sakura mentions that it’s at the Tsukomine Shrine, Toya hits the chopping board and tries to pass it off as his hand slipping. That’s what happens when you use a meat cleaver to cut cabbage.

In the evening, the four gather at the shrine in their kimonos. Tomoyo is taken with Sakura’s pink Sakura-patterned design, but they all look pretty good. Tomoyo’s in Yellow, with some sort of flowers, Yuki’s in green with dragonflies (good dress sense, but I’m sure that dragonflies are associated with something.) and Toya has boring stripes.

The crowded stalls look exactly like some anime I’ve seen before (probably Ranma ½), so I suppose they must be a fairly accurate representation of actual festivals. It’s like how Ranma and Bleach have the same streets, despite the art style differences and a decade or two between them, which is the amazing part. Toya’s a bit distracted by something in the distance. Sakura suggest that they move to the ring toss.

Yamazki and Chiharu are here too! The world is brilliant! Yama’s in blue with green crocodiles and Chiharu in pink with white circles and Koi fish. Yakazaki immediate starts a story about the water yoyo (a water balloon on a piece of elastic, it seems) being invented by the peasants in the Edo period.

The Spoiler of all Good Things lives up to his name by interrupting. He’s at a shooting gallery and his shots make the group move over to watch him. He’s a little surprised to find himself surrounded by four people when he looks up. Also, he isn’t wearing a Kimono. Come on, Shaoran, get with the programme!

While Shaoran is distracted by Yuki, Chiharu tries to get Yamazaki to win her something with the promise of homemade sweets. He responds that he’ll need to pray ‘so he’s still well after eating them’. There’s always got to be one who can’t cook, hasn’t there. She then tries to strangle him. It looks like she’s the missing link in the cycle of reincarnation from Akane Tendo to Homer Simpson. Actually, that should be a thing. Get to it, fanfic writers!

Tomoyo’s comment that Yuki won a water Yoyo for Sakura prompts Shaoran’s jealousy. Toya upstages Yuki’s attempt to do something manipulative by getting in a staring contest with Sharon. There’s a brief cut to Chiharu and Yamazaki celebrating over a teddy bear, which prompts Tomoyo to point out a rabbit on the top shelf. This back-and-forth is hard to type up. Of course it’s a rabbit.

Toya and Shaoran start a contest to win the rabbit. Toya’s doing this to be nice to his sister, and Shaoran’s trying to... take it away from Sakura? Win a present for Yuki? It’s delightfully overdone: they’re both glaring at each other and have a red aura. Their anger seems to have spoiled their aim and they keep missing. Yuki asks if the others want to leave, and very weirdly, Tomoyo refuses. Since when has Shaoran been this fascinating? She also tells Sakura to go with Yuki. Look, I know you ship them, Tomoyo, but there is a reason why most shippers are laughed at or avoided. I don’t trust this mysterious boy at all.

... I love it when people think back side is one word. According to Yuki, they are now at the shrine’s bum. There are those green things from the start of the episode there. Sakura and Yuki wonder if they are fireflies, but there isn’t a river nearby. As they stand in the drifting fall of green, Sakura begins to confess her feelings to Yuki. It would be a touching scene, if he wasn’t in the supernatural up to his eyeballs and probably manipulating her.

Shaoran and Toya burst out of the bushes with a toy rabbit each. Tomoyo explains that eventually the stall owner gave up and gave them one each. Shaoran gives his to Yuki, and Toya gives his to Sakura, trying to look as aloof as possible. Yuki leads the way back to the fairground, but Sakura waits behind with Tomoyo.

When the green emerges again, Sakura shows it to Tomoyo, then calls her key and seals it because it’s a Clow Card: The GLOW to be exact. It’s a shame it couldn’t be left there, but even one as harmless as this could be dangerous in the wrong hands... Ok, I can’t believe that as it can only make light and not be detected. Sakura actually says that this is the case, which goes some way to explaining why it wasn’t immediately the focus of the four sorcerers present.

And that’s it. This was a nice, relaxing episode after last week. It was almost entirely about watching the characters interact with each other. There wasn’t anything new, but I had a lot of fun watching them.

The Card was just an afterthought. It had no impact on the episode, no personality, and powers that would need a vicious and cunning mind to use them for harm. It’s probably going to be used in dark caves and so forth. It’s another humanoid that we don’t see in its true form; it looked a bit like a fairy lamplighter, but I didn’t get a good look at it.

Overall, this felt a lot like filler: we see the characters doing their usual things (except Toya showing his softer side), things happened that are unlikely to have an impact on any later events, Toya's nervousness isn't brought up again and the Card had almost no screen time. On the other hand, it felt too competently plotted to be filler: the prophetic dream was a particularly strong image.

Whichever it was, I liked it. It was a nice, calming episode with a lot of funny moments. I’m little unsure if they were hinting at Yamazaki/Chiharu or not.

[deuterio12]

Spoiler: Finally can post this fan art!

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One of the very few scenes in the net of Sakura with a rifle.

The Glow is actually one of the original cards.

The reason this episode looks like filler is because in the manga it only happens a lot later in the story line, after another certain character has appeared, and that chapter works to further develop said character (plus for Sakura to complete a minor sidequest of hers that she doesn't start on the anime until much later). However on the anime it is kinda stripped down to just festival fun and the easiest card capture.

The Spoiler of all Good Things lives up to his name by interrupting. He’s at a shooting gallery and his shots make the group move over to watch him. He’s a little surprised to find himself surrounded by four people when he looks up. Also, he isn’t wearing a Kimono. Come on, Shaoran, get with the programme!

Trivia: a proper kimono is custom-made to the wearer, and then it's pretty hard to dress the right way. Shaoran is a foreigner, of course he doesn't bring one yet.

Spoiler: Actually in the manga none of the named characters actually dress kimonos for this festival since it was a spur of the moment

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Seems like the Li clan teaches their kids to be top marskmen on top of kung fu, sorcery and fencing.

Anyway not much to say about this episode. Nice and fun, but the Glow is indeed probably the most harmless Clow Card ever, and otherwise no magic used.

However all your references to Ranma 1/2 make me wonder how you'll react to something that happens right next episode, hehehe.

I'm of course talking about The Gender Bender card.

[Zolem]

Dragonflies do have symbolic meanings; several in fact. Dragonflies represent wisdom and maturity, as well as surety of self and the overcoming of illusions in reference to their metomorphosis. They represent mystical awareness, as well as being symbolic of watchers or guardians due to ther very obvious spherical compound eyes that "see all". Finally, they represent power and grace, the mighty and agile hunter of the insect world. They have occasionally been linked with reincarnation, but that meaning more properly belongs to the butterfly.

Not saying that any of this applies to Yuki, just answering your symbolism question.

Edit: As to the Glow's "power", I always had the headcanon that The Glow was Reed's test to see if the card idea would work. If things went bad, he wanted it to go wrong on the most harmless one possible.

[Qwertystop]

To be fair, there's plenty of use for a light source that doesn't need hands, won't fill an enclosed space with smoke, won't set anything on fire, and is just generally guaranteed safe. Not everything needs to be easily combat-usable.

[Durkoala]

[spoiler=Finally can post this fan art!]
One of the very few scenes in the net of Sakura with a rifle.
[/spoiler

As there aren't any real spoilers involved beyond all the characters being at a festival, You could probably have got away with posting it earlier and watching my reaction when I realised that it was a scene in an actual episode.

I'm a bit surprised that it's hard to find Sakura with a gun: fans upping the darkness/"maturity" of things is fairly common in my experience.

The Glow is actually one of the original cards.

The reason this episode looks like filler is because in the manga it only happens a lot later in the story line, after another certain character has appeared, and that chapter works to further develop said character (plus for Sakura to complete a minor sidequest of hers that she doesn't start on the anime until much later). However on the anime it is kinda stripped down to just festival fun and the easiest card capture.

Curse you, lazy adaptions!
Out of interest, how many of the Cards so far are originals and how many have had their stories modified?

Trivia: a proper kimono is custom-made to the wearer, and then it's pretty hard to dress the right way. Shaoran is a foreigner, of course he doesn't bring one yet.

Spoiler: Actually in the manga none of the named characters actually dress kimonos for this festival since it was a spur of the moment

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Seems like the Li clan teaches their kids to be top marskmen on top of kung fu, sorcery and fencing.

When I saw that Shaoran was kimono-less, I immediately thought it was because he was a foreigner. The Kimono trivia is appreciated. Sakura does mention that hers is left over from last year, so that's presumably the case with the others, too.

However all your references to Ranma 1/2 make me wonder how you'll react to something that happens right next episode, hehehe.

I'm of course talking about The Gender Bender card.

To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if there was a Gender Bender (or perhaps a generic 'Change') card. If it does appear, at least I can stop having to correct it when I call Shaoran 'Sharon'.

Ranma is referenced so much because most of the anime I've watched quickly leaves the normal world behind, if it was there at all. Ranma is basically my main source of Japanese culture.

Dragonflies do have symbolic meanings; several in fact. Dragonflies represent wisdom and maturity, as well as surety of self and the overcoming of illusions in reference to their metomorphosis. They represent mystical awareness, as well as being symbolic of watchers or guardians due to ther very obvious spherical compound eyes that "see all". Finally, they represent power and grace, the mighty and agile hunter of the insect world. They have occasionally been linked with reincarnation, but that meaning more properly belongs to the butterfly.

Not saying that any of this applies to Yuki, just answering your symbolism question.

Edit: As to the Glow's "power", I always had the headcanon that The Glow was Reed's test to see if the card idea would work. If things went bad, he wanted it to go wrong on the most harmless one possible.

Spoiler: Yukito=Clow guessing

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That lines up fairly well, actually. There's a lot of apparent difference between Clow and Yuki, so there's been some maturity and wisdom gained. He's also a watchful presence over Sakura, although being a guardian is up for debate. And of course, he's the greatest mage in thirty plus years and is really athletic.
This is just a look at how this fits the theory (pretty well), and it's still possible that I'm entirely wrong.

Thanks for the information, I like symbolism.

The Glow theory would make a lot of sense if it wasn't the opposite of everything we've seen Clow do.

To be fair, there's plenty of use for a light source that doesn't need hands, won't fill an enclosed space with smoke, won't set anything on fire, and is just generally guaranteed safe. Not everything needs to be easily combat-usable.

Yeah, it just seems a bit odd as all the other Cards have at least been annoying. I see it having a lot of use by Sakura in the future.

[deuterio12]

As there aren't any real spoilers involved beyond all the characters being at a festival, You could probably have got away with posting it earlier and watching my reaction when I realised that it was a scene in an actual episode.

Hmmmmm, I'll take that in mind when selecting fan art in the future, thanks!

I'm a bit surprised that it's hard to find Sakura with a gun: fans upping the darkness/"maturity" of things is fairly common in my experience.

There's a bunch of reasons for that I believe:
-The show has yet to reach its darkness/maturity peak.
-By the end of this series Sakura will have collected more than enough dangerous cards that a gun isn't really needed if she felt like killing something.

Spoiler: Also CLAMP did the following on the pseudo-sequel, very minor spoiler inside

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Yes, that's an older Sakura with a gun that shoots actual bullets that kill stuff. Ok, technically a scene from the OVA (the anime adaptation kinda sucked).

Spoiler: CLAMP also gave Sakura some heavier firepower on an illustration book, no spoilers inside

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A Gundam is a weapon, isn't it?
Disregard the white fluffy creature, it's from another CLAMP series.

Spoiler: At least one fan artist thinks Tomoyo should have gifted Sakura some proper combat gear as well

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Of course we all know the real Tomoyo would never give Sakura clothing that would hide her face.

Spoiler: Anyway here's some fan art of darker Sakura using more conventional weapons

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I also happen to don't like Kero very much.

Curse you, lazy adaptions!
Out of interest, how many of the Cards so far are originals and how many have had their stories modified?

Originals so far:
-Jump, Flower, Sword, Erase and Illusion already talked about.
-Fly was about the same.
-Windy technically escaped in the manga, but then joined right away.
-Thunder and Shadow were swapped around. Sakura first captures the Thunder simply by dodging its attacks and closing in to hit it with her staff. Later on she fights along Syaoran and uses The Thunder to capture The Shadow by using is lighting to illuminate the surroundings along Syaoran's lighting talismans (and she fries the near public lights in the process because she still has lousy aim, while on the anime it's the card that does that).
-Watery first attacked Sakura at the school pool (and Tomoyo somehow saves her, we don't see how although Tomoyo confesses she was pushed to her physical limits), but then is also captured with the power of refrigeration.
-Shield was basically the same.

Time, Power, Storm, Float are the "new" cards so far. Think I didn't forget any one.

To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if there was a Gender Bender (or perhaps a generic 'Change') card. If it does appear, at least I can stop having to correct it when I call Shaoran 'Sharon'.

There'll be something similar later on. Already gave you an hint on that earlier on this thread and everything.

Ranma is referenced so much because most of the anime I've watched quickly leaves the normal world behind, if it was there at all. Ranma is basically my main source of Japanese culture.

Hmm, true enough. One of the main characteristics of magical girl anime is that the action happens in the real world after all.

[Clistenes]

Again, you don't really need to apologize for that kind of stuff, we're all doing this for fun.


Well, you're already kinda seeing it. Magic powers will manifest naturally, like Toya discovered he could see dead people, and Sakura was starting to have prophetic dreams before releasing the cards. One can assume that from there they can learn by doing. In an alternate dimension where she never finds the book, Sakura may've led an easy life by predicting lottery numbers or something like that. Some generations later her descendants would've probably refined it to more advanced divination.




Not when it's my favorite anime series ever, no.

It seems that, at least in Asia, many magical traditions (Buddhist ones, Taoist ones, Shinto, Shamanism...etc) have roots in reality in the Clampverse and they can teach you some techniques and protocols if you go to a respectable temple or master. Nothing fancy, but enough to not kill yourself with your own uncontrolled powers.