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

[deuterio12]

Spoiler: Meiling is the only character in the series that manages to make Tomoyo look dumbfounded

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That scene still cracks me up every time I see it.

Spoiler: Sakura and Meiling, the most kickass girls in the show

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Trivia: CCS was the first magical girl anime where the female characters resort to plain physical violence (even if enhanced by magic) to solve the problem of the day. A tradition followed by many following magical girl animes.

Spoiler: More Meiling uniform!

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Also, first rule of the Fight Card. You don't talk about the Fight Card. Aka it will never be mentioned again.

Spoiler: Artist's Impression of Sakura using the Fight Card

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Title Card! Transfer Student versus Sakura. Because everybody goes to the same school when the plot inspector is in town.

Well, the card captor studies there, so it's only natural everybody else interested in the cards also goes there to keep an eye on her.

OK, She is a Li Clan after all. Great, more cousin romance. She gets very worked up when Sakura talks to Shaoran and runs up the classroom to tell her to keep away from her Fiance. OK, I think the Director of Plagiarism Control was out today. Either she’s delusional, or they’re actually fairly distant cousins if they’ve been paired up with each other by their Clan Elders.

That's what my mother said when she saw this episode! But alas, Clan Elders didn't do it. The reason why Meiling calls Syaoran her current Fiance will eventually be explained.

I’m also getting a distinct Anti-Tomoyo vibe: Cousin with romantic intentions and apparent longtime acquaintance, but Meilin’s very emotional and brash instead of being perpetually calm. They’ve even got opposing eye colours: deep blue for Tomoyo and fiery orange for Meilin.

You know, that's basically how I planned to describe Meiling. She indeed starts as a dark Tomoyo. Obsessed with her cousin, no magic powers, yet indeed highly emotional and foul-humored in contrast to the almost-ever-smiling Tomoyo. Also while Tomoyo's high point are her brains, Meiling's high point are her brawns.

Fight gets up again and lets Meilin attack. It blocks her punches and catches her kick to thrown her to the ground. Then it jumps in the air to crush her. Dammit Shaoran, you’re still the Spoiler of all Good Things for saving her. Still, a midair interception kick that sends your target into a pond deserves some brownie points.


It looks like Shaoran’s found his spine again. Did he lose it down the sofa or something?

He had to spend the night with Meiling bickering him about why there were two girls dressed with his clothes. I imagine it was pretty draining even for Syaoran.

Also a funny animation detail you seem to have missed: Syaoran kicks The Fight into a side of the pond... And she then emerges from the other side of the pond! So either a mistake, or The Fight has some lewt swimming skillz.

As Fight is about to deal the fishing blow Sakura issues a challenge. However, she’s cast Power on her staff instead of herself, so she has to run at it and swing. It dodges easily and charges in from behind Sakura. She makes a desperate swing and clobbers it on the head. There’s a long pause before the Card falls over. ‘The greatest swordsman should fear the least, because he has no idea what that idiot will do.’

Actually, Sakura used the Power on herself. It's just that fighting with a hard stick is superior to trying to use your fists and feet, doubly so when you have zero martial art training (and also happen to have a fair bit of stick handling experience). If nothing else, it gave Sakura the extra reach she needed to land that lucky Aoo.

Tomoyo says that the fight was splendid, which is a lie.

What did you expect? In Tomoyo's eyes, everything Sakura does is splendid. Such is the power of obsessed voyeur love friendship!

The Card was a pretty good design for a humanoid. It looked like a bizarre martial artist, which it was, and its fight scenes were fun to watch. It does act a lot like the Power, but I suppose that it represents skill instead of strength, even if they both have a bit of each. I was hoping for a better fight with Sakura, such as an intense sword duel or even just Sakura pulling a Dragonball and outpowering it effortlessly. Still, a creature created to be an incredible fighter being beaten by swinging a stick wildly is pretty funny.

"Miss! Miss! Miss! Miss! Miss! Miss! Miss! Natural 20 for auto-hit with +9001 damage from Power Attack!"

One of the most painful to catch. Painful for the card that is.

This episode was mostly about Meilin. She showed her aggressiveness and clinginess last episode, but it also looks like she has inferiority issues.

She was born in an ancient magic-blooded family and doesn't have any magic to her name. Inferiority Complex is basically her middle name.
Meiling's gonna get better however. One of the central themes of magic girl animes is the young characters growing up and maturing after all.

We also got a bit of backstory for Shaoran: he isn’t destined to collect the Cards, but for some reason he tried to anyway. I look forward to when that knot is untangled

Let's just say that, like last episode, Syaoran has a tendency to try to go against destiny.

Syaoran: "Stay away from women? Ah, screw that, I'll invite two of them to my home. C'mon fate, do your worst!"
(Meiling appears)
Syaoran: "...I regret nothing!!!"

Actually, that's a trait of his that gets more developed over time between different works.
CCS manga: Syaoran never catches a card and then (spoiler)
CCS Anime: Syaoran catches several cards and then (spoiler)
TRC: Syaoran goes jumping across time-space to catch all the cards shards of Sakura's magic and then (spoiler)

Syaoran's still gonna get to tell destiny "F*** you, I'm making my own fate!" when all is said and done. Except he's too cool to use such vulgar words.

Spoiler: As a final note, a What If scenario where an older Sakura tries to use The Fight

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[Zolem]

I warned you about the stereotypes man. It's like Shampoo v 0.75 or Reika v 0.25, lesser with fewer details, less nuance, and more stereotype.

[cobaltstarfire]

Yeah, Meilin is grating, but I think she probably has the best character arc of the characters. And her crazyness can be entertaining in its own right.

I've always thought of her and Shyaoran as very distant cousins, and you'll see why much much later.

[deuterio12]

Oh, something I forgot, Meiling's name in Chinese characters translates, to "plum jade" or "beautiful jade".

[Durkoala]

Yeah, Meilin is grating, but I think she probably has the best character arc of the characters. And her crazyness can be entertaining in its own right.

I've always thought of her and Shyaoran as very distant cousins, and you'll see why much much later.

I was wondering how related Meilin and Shaoran were. I did recently read a book (Garth Nix's Clariel, if you're interested) where there are two or three families with powerful magic, and the families are so sprawling that a boy uses the fact that he's related to a girl as a chatup line, because they aren't actually closely related. It falls flat because the girl is asexual, not because she finds this weird, so this could be the case with Shaoran/Meilin. Meilin would be a very wearing (self-proclaimed?) fianceé, so I can see why Shaoran is less than thrilled with her presence.

Spoiler: Meiling is the only character in the series that manages to make Tomoyo look dumbfounded

Show

That scene still cracks me up every time I see it.

Spoiler: Sakura and Meiling, the most kickass girls in the show

Show

I'm sure there was another time earlier where Tomoyo was shocked speechless by something, but I can't remember what.

Trivia: CCS was the first magical girl anime where the female characters resort to plain physical violence (even if enhanced by magic) to solve the problem of the day. A tradition followed by many following magical girl animes.

Spoiler: More Meiling uniform!

Show

I meant to comment on Meilin's battle uniform, but forgot. It's got the same cultral style as Shaoran's, but is missing the deep green. That may or may not have something to do with her lack of magic, but I'm just guessing. Until I saw these pictures, I thought she had the same trousers as Shaoran, but apparently not. There's no limits to female sexulisation these days.

Also, first rule of the Fight Card. You don't talk about the Fight Card. Aka it will never be mentioned again.

Spoiler: Artist's Impression of Sakura using the Fight Card

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Stop eating the Cards! They should have given this one to Shaoran: it would have made no difference to him whatsoever because he knows kung fu already.

Also a funny animation detail you seem to have missed: Syaoran kicks The Fight into a side of the pond... And she then emerges from the other side of the pond! So either a mistake, or The Fight has some lewt swimming skillz.

I completely missed that. Well, it was implied that the Fight was sneaking around to get the drop on them, so I'll put it down to that.

I'm now picturing a cloud of dust and violence skulking around behind benches and bushes as it closes in on the arguing cousins.

Actually, Sakura used the Power on herself. It's just that fighting with a hard stick is superior to trying to use your fists and feet, doubly so when you have zero martial art training (and also happen to have a fair bit of stick handling experience). If nothing else, it gave Sakura the extra reach she needed to land that lucky Aoo.

The translation I had featured Sakura empowering her staff. I'm still disappointed that we didn't see Sakura shrug off a punch and hug the Fight into submission.

She was born in an ancient magic-blooded family and doesn't have any magic to her name. Inferiority Complex is basically her middle name.
Meiling's gonna get better however. One of the central themes of magic girl animes is the young characters growing up and maturing after all.

Meilin Inferiority Complex Li. Or, more correctly, Li Complex Inferiority Meilin.

Syaoran: "Stay away from women? Ah, screw that, I'll invite two of them to my home. C'mon fate, do your worst!"
(Meiling appears)
Syaoran: "...I regret nothing!!!"

I thought that was because he believed his fortune had already happened. Looks like he's a fate Tsundere.

Spoiler: As a final note, a What If scenario where an older Sakura tries to use The Fight

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Oohhkaayy.... That's nearly a BANOI moment, I think...

According to Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw, BANOI 'is the sound made when both confused and aroused.' This is like Alice in Wonderland porn: I've heard it exists, but I can't work out why...

[deuterio12]

I'm sure there was another time earlier where Tomoyo was shocked speechless by something, but I can't remember what.

But she's not just shocked speechless by Meiling, it's also Tomoyo's "What did just happen?"/"Not as planned!" face.

I meant to comment on Meilin's battle uniform, but forgot. It's got the same cultral style as Shaoran's, but is missing the deep green. That may or may not have something to do with her lack of magic, but I'm just guessing. Until I saw these pictures, I thought she had the same trousers as Shaoran, but apparently not. There's no limits to female sexulisation these days.

Syaoran just seems to love green. As far as we know Meiling's battle custom doesn't have anything to do with her (lack of) magic abilities. The other members in the Li family with magic all dress up in different colors after all. Yes, we get to eventually see them.

Also CLAMP sure loves to show off their female character's legs in case you hadn't noticed.

Stop eating the Cards! They should have given this one to Shaoran: it would have made no difference to him whatsoever because he knows kung fu already.

I disagree, if anime teaches us anything, it's that you can always become better at martial arts!

Also reminds me that I would love to see what would've happened if Syaoran got The Sword. My bet would be oversized blade when combined with his current "wand".

The translation I had featured Sakura empowering her staff. I'm still disappointed that we didn't see Sakura shrug off a punch and hug the Fight into submission.

It's the Power card, not the invulnerability card.

I can however promise you that Sakura will eventually hug a couple cards into submission (or at least try).

I thought that was because he believed his fortune had already happened. Looks like he's a fate Tsundere.

I believe you mean masochist. Being Tsundere for somebody else means you pretend to don't care about them, but actually do want their well-being and act to help/support them when the opportunity shows up. The opposite is Yandere, pretending to care about someone, when you actually want to screw them over, and will sabotage/betray them when the opportunity shows up. And masochist is somebody who simply enjoys to suffer.

And being Syaoran is suffering. The odds are all stacked against him (not fated to capture the cards, butt joke of the series, and now he has to watch out for Meiling in all senses of the word). Yet he still keeps going forward without a single complain. It's almost like he enjoys it.

However Syaoran right now is a bit of Tsundere for Sakura. He frowns and glares at her, but at the end of the day saves her ass, helps capture the card, and even invited her home to clean up.

Oohhkaayy.... That's nearly a BANOI moment, I think...

Sorry if it offended you.

A tiny CCS pleasure of mine is collecting "older character" art. I enjoy seeing what kind of people they could become in the future. There's a fair bit of it of that kind of art out there, some less fanservicey than others. Alas a good chunk of them are based on (spoiler) and (spoiler) (spoiler).

Spoiler: Here's a couple more tame and spoiler-free as apology

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EDIT:

According to Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw, BANOI 'is the sound made when both confused and aroused. This is like Alice in Wonderland porn: I've heard it exists, but I can't work out why...

Ah, that explains the word, thanks!

[Durkoala]

I'll respond to this tomorrow because it's 11.40 here. Thanks for the reply, though.

TOMORROW:

Syaoran just seems to love green. As far as we know Meiling's battle custom doesn't have anything to do with her (lack of) magic abilities. The other members in the Li family with magic all dress up in different colors after all. Yes, we get to eventually see them.

Also CLAMP sure loves to show off their female character's legs in case you hadn't noticed.

Shaoran's hat has always made me think of Cell for some reason. I know it's not your intended arguement, but it does sound like Meilin wears white because she's a squib and the rest of the Li get colours because they're magic.

Yes, I did notice that. I bet they'll keep doing it in the coming winter, too.

I disagree, if anime teaches us anything, it's that you can always become better at martial arts!

Also reminds me that I would love to see what would've happened if Syaoran got The Sword. My bet would be oversized blade when combined with his current "wand".

No, he has to have it transform into the pink sword!

It's the Power card, not the invulnerability card.

I can however promise you that Sakura will eventually hug a couple cards into submission (or at least try).

Dragonball has taught me that Power= complete invulnerabilty.

I was hoping for a 'Hug her, and pet her, and call her George(tte)' type of hug...

I believe you mean masochist. Being Tsundere for somebody else means you pretend to don't care about them, but actually do want their well-being and act to help/support them when the opportunity shows up. The opposite is Yandere, pretending to care about someone, when you actually want to screw them over, and will sabotage/betray them when the opportunity shows up. And masochist is somebody who simply enjoys to suffer.

And being Syaoran is suffering. The odds are all stacked against him (not fated to capture the cards, butt joke of the series, and now he has to watch out for Meiling in all senses of the word). Yet he still keeps going forward without a single complain. It's almost like he enjoys it.

However Syaoran right now is a bit of Tsundere for Sakura. He frowns and glares at her, but at the end of the day saves her ass, helps capture the card, and even invited her home to clean up.

He doesn't have the impossible determination that a true battler of fate needs. He just gets angry about something predestined, takes a lot of punishment trying to defy it, then rolls over and goes with the fate flow until something else sets him off. That's my current reading, anyway. Stupid destiny! I'm not going along with you because I like you or anything!

As to his relationship with Sakura, I think that Defrosting Ice QueenKing fits better. He's very aggressive towards her at first, but is slowly warmed up. He does have a bit of a Tsundere phase during the ERASE episode, but that's pretty much gone by now.

Also, I thought Yandere was being crazily in love with somebody, like, well, just about all of Ranma, now I think about it. There isn't any care for the love object's feelings, just a want to have their affection by any means neccessary. Well, that's what I got from Tvtropes.

Sorry if it offended you.

A tiny CCS pleasure of mine is collecting "older character" art. I enjoy seeing what kind of people they could become in the future. There's a fair bit of it of that kind of art out there, some less fanservicey than others. Alas a good chunk of them are based on (spoiler) and (spoiler) (spoiler).

Spoiler: Here's a couple more tame and spoiler-free as apology

Show

EDIT:

Ah, that explains the word, thanks!

Oh, I'm not offended (there's nothing really wrong with it), just confused. It's like getting lost in the woods for a few days and coming back to find that many years have passed out in the world and the attractive single lady currently providing a roof over your head was your niece's 7 year old friend when you last saw her. There's a feeling that this shouldn't be allowed but you can't really work out why not.

Anyway, I like seeing alternate versions of characters too: Older, younger, cyberpunk, genderbent*, classic fantasy, pony, Hogwarts student, robot... It's great to see what they could look like in other genres/eras.

And, really, we still have characters left? This is starting to get ridiculous.

*especially sensibly dressed GB'd characters. Too many (especially the newly female) have half their skin become allergic to clothes.

[Zolem]

Well, the smarter cards are kind of characters in their own right. And Spoilers Spoilers Spoiler Spoilers,which causes Spoiler Spoilers Spoilers Spoilers, so then Spilers Spilers Spoilers Spoilers, meaning that Spoilers has to Spoilers Spoilers before the Spilers Spoilers. In the end Spoilers reveals that Spoilers Spoilers all along.

[deuterio12]

Shaoran's hat has always made me think of Cell for some reason. I know it's not your intended arguement, but it does sound like Meilin wears white because she's a squib and the rest of the Li get colours because they're magic.

Spoiler: What exactly makes you think that the color white means lack of magic?

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Dragonball has taught me that Power= complete invulnerabilty.

It's somewhat ironic of you to say that when in the same post you mentioned Cell, who defeated body builder Trunks that had more power, just because Cell was faster.

I was hoping for a 'Hug her, and pet her, and call her George(tte)' type of hug...

It will still happen. Except the George(tte) bit. Sakura's not much for nicknames.

He doesn't have the impossible determination that a true battler of fate needs. He just gets angry about something predestined, takes a lot of punishment trying to defy it, then rolls over and goes with the fate flow until something else sets him off. That's my current reading, anyway. Stupid destiny! I'm not going along with you because I like you or anything!

Sometimes Syaoran loses and rolls over to fate yes. Then he gets back up and jumps in the middle of a tornado and subdues it, or applies shock therapy to time itself.

Then in spoiler he spoiler spoiler and in TRC he spoiler spoiler spoiler SPOILER.

As to his relationship with Sakura, I think that Defrosting Ice QueenKing fits better. He's very aggressive towards her at first, but is slowly warmed up. He does have a bit of a Tsundere phase during the ERASE episode, but that's pretty much gone by now.

Ah, but see, for Syaoran to be a Defrosting Ice King, he would've needed to act that way towards everybody. But we've seen Syaoran been friendly towards others basically since his second appearance. Syaoran seems to get relatively well along the rest of the class, even playing around with Yamazaki's pranks (or at least not holding grudges against him). He's clearly not frosty towards the king of worms Yukito. Syaoran is not cold for Meiling either. Or in the case of Toya, simple burning hatred.

Syaoran's warming up towards Sakura, yes, but that does come with the tsundere package.

Also, I thought Yandere was being crazily in love with somebody, like, well, just about all of Ranma, now I think about it. There isn't any care for the love object's feelings, just a want to have their affection by any means neccessary. Well, that's what I got from Tvtropes.

Depends, would you say it still counts as love when the other guy/girl just doesn't want to be with you, and you keep insisting?

Oh, I'm not offended (there's nothing really wrong with it), just confused. It's like getting lost in the woods for a few days and coming back to find that many years have passed out in the world and the attractive single lady currently providing a roof over your head was your niece's 7 year old friend when you last saw her. There's a feeling that this shouldn't be allowed but you can't really work out why not.

Anyway, I like seeing alternate versions of characters too: Older, younger, cyberpunk, genderbent*, classic fantasy, pony, Hogwarts student, robot... It's great to see what they could look like in other genres/eras.

Excellent!

Since the theme of the last episode was close and personal fighting:

Spoiler: You are already captured!

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What if Sakura hard learned martial arts instead of cheerleading and the Clow Cards were darker?

Spoiler: warning, long sequence of images

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Got some more images of the above sequence, but no time to upload them now, gotta go. If somebody would like to see the rest let me know.

And, really, we still have characters left? This is starting to get ridiculous.

Says the Ranma/Dragonball fan.

However the spoilers I was mentioning were actually related to certain character developments.

[Durkoala]

Spoiler: What exactly makes you think that the color white means lack of magic?

Show

Actually, pretty much that. Saruman's little talk about white paper waiting to recive ink or dye takes on a new meaning when wizards aren't angels in disguise and magic is an inheritable talent. There was also, guess what, a book series I read where the magicless servants wear white in contrast to the wizards' rainbow social orders. (The Seventh Tower, Garth Nix, for those interested)

It's somewhat ironic of you to say that when in the same post you mentioned Cell, who defeated body builder Trunks that had more power, just because Cell was faster.

Was it actually a defeat? The way I remember it they struggled for a bit, then Cell basically said 'Look, mate, you can't really hit me, so go back and grind for the final battle' and Trunks agreed.

Ah, but see, for Syaoran to be a Defrosting Ice King, he would've needed to act that way towards everybody. But we've seen Syaoran been friendly towards others basically since his second appearance. Syaoran seems to get relatively well along the rest of the class, even playing around with Yamazaki's pranks (or at least not holding grudges against him). He's clearly not frosty towards the king of worms Yukito. Syaoran is not cold for Meiling either. Or in the case of Toya, simple burning hatred.

Syaoran's warming up towards Sakura, yes, but that does come with the tsundere package.

I'm still unconvinced. I'm pretty sure that you can be an Ice king to one person, especially when she's the only one really involved in your work: Meilin's a longstanding friend, Tomoyo is a powerless fangirl, and nobody else knows about magic so he doesn't have to judge them by their terrible skills. Yuki doesn't count as whatever he is, he's dangerous enough for Shaoran to flee on first sight. I can't recall a time apart from on the beach when he was being nice and pretending not to be: he's been on Sakura's case since he met her, and once the cave ordeal was over, his antagonism has been that of a romantic rival, and even that only comes up infrequently.

Since the theme of the last episode was close and personal fighting:

Spoiler: You are already captured!

Show

Pfffhahahaha!
Fist of the North star, right? I haven't actually read it, but muscled men in lacy skirts are hilarious.

What if Sakura hard learned martial arts instead of cheerleading and the Clow Cards were darker?

Spoiler: warning, long sequence of images

Show

Got some more images of the above sequence, but no time to upload them now, gotta go. If somebody would like to see the rest let me know.

Nobody move in case you tread on my jaw. The art style brings out action really well: the usual manga style just wouldn't have worked as well.

Are those supposed to be any Cards in particular, or did the author invent them for this? The hooded one looks familar, but because they aren't slightly uncanny girls I can't place them.

While that is undoubtably awesome, I like the way the normal CCS has solutions that aren't 'beat it until victory'. Ok, it's usually 'get in position (which may include hitting it), cast sealing spell, and then victory, but a lot of the Cards have non-combat uses; I can't see many other supernatural fighting series having a non-filler episode about befriending an old man with a timely rain shower.

Says the Ranma/Dragonball fan.

However the spoilers I was mentioning were actually related to certain character developments.

OK, but one of those had the plot established fairly quickly (your alien brother's friends are coming to kill your friends. Everybody start grinding!) and the other never had an overarching plot beyond 'This rude, antisocial, thieving martial arts prodigy with severe issues is your new fiance(e) and you're living in the same house. Wacky hijinks!' I'm not really sure where this is going to go; I'd say romcom with occasional action elements, but Yuki's actions hint that something is going on and that it will get quite nasty when that comes to light.

[MLai]

Got some more images of the above sequence, but no time to upload them now, gotta go. If somebody would like to see the rest let me know.

I'd like to see more of this. I'll bet that magic circle panel took the longest for this guy to draw, out of all of them.

[Zolem]

I'd like to see more of this. I'll bet that magic circle panel took the longest for this guy to draw, out of all of them.

Loops amazing, want more.

[deuterio12]

Here's the remainder of that sequence, plus some drafts of the same artist.

Spoiler

Show

I particularly like the artist's "street girl" design for Meiling.

I'm still unconvinced. I'm pretty sure that you can be an Ice king to one person, especially when she's the only one really involved in your work: Meilin's a longstanding friend, Tomoyo is a powerless fangirl, and nobody else knows about magic so he doesn't have to judge them by their terrible skills. Yuki doesn't count as whatever he is, he's dangerous enough for Shaoran to flee on first sight. I can't recall a time apart from on the beach when he was being nice and pretending not to be: he's been on Sakura's case since he met her, and once the cave ordeal was over, his antagonism has been that of a romantic rival, and even that only comes up infrequently.

Saving Sakura's ass against the Power card and not showing off about it? Syaoran staged everything so it would look like Sakura had won by her own merits. An Ice King would never let the peasant just take the glory like that.

Pfffhahahaha!
Fist of the North star, right? I haven't actually read it, but muscled men in lacy skirts are hilarious.

Correct!

Nobody move in case you tread on my jaw. The art style brings out action really well: the usual manga style just wouldn't have worked as well.

Are those supposed to be any Cards in particular, or did the author invent them for this? The hooded one looks familar, but because they aren't slightly uncanny girls I can't place them.

The Flack isn't an actual CCS card, you could make a case for the muscle demon that belligerent Sakura summons to be a manly version of The Power, and as you can see he also makes a different design for The Fly.

While that is undoubtably awesome, I like the way the normal CCS has solutions that aren't 'beat it until victory'. Ok, it's usually 'get in position (which may include hitting it), cast sealing spell, and then victory, but a lot of the Cards have non-combat uses; I can't see many other supernatural fighting series having a non-filler episode about befriending an old man with a timely rain shower.

I'll have to agree with you 120% in that, many of the "battles" end up being puzzles where Sakura and Syaoran have to get creative with their magic, and not just try to overpower the opposition. It's sadly something that seems to have been forgotten by many magic girls shows nowdays (and even Sailor Moon is awfully lacking in "utility" magic).

OK, but one of those had the plot established fairly quickly (your alien brother's friends are coming to kill your friends. Everybody start grinding!) and the other never had an overarching plot beyond 'This rude, antisocial, thieving martial arts prodigy with severe issues is your new fiance(e) and you're living in the same house. Wacky hijinks!' I'm not really sure where this is going to go; I'd say romcom with occasional action elements, but Yuki's actions hint that something is going on and that it will get quite nasty when that comes to light.

That's a quite correct assessment. This series takes their sweet time to develop the plot. And there's indeed something going on behind all of this, hehehe.

[Durkoala]

The Flack isn't an actual CCS card, you could make a case for the muscle demon that belligerent Sakura summons to be a manly version of The Power, and as you can see he also makes a different design for The Fly.

So, is the Flack the personification of criticism or anti-air artillery?
I finally worked out why the art style looks familiar: it looks a lot like the late Soul Eater art, especially with the new Fly design.

I'll have to agree with you 120% in that, many of the "battles" end up being puzzles where Sakura and Syaoran have to get creative with their magic, and not just try to overpower the opposition. It's sadly something that seems to have been forgotten by many magic girls shows nowdays (and even Sailor Moon is awfully lacking in "utility" magic).

It's a sad case for a lot of things that all powers are for combat only. I really liked the high-end Harry Potter duels where the fighters would drag in just about everything around them, including their opponent's spells, to use as a weapon, and magic was used in all kinds of mundane ways. Even Dragonball powers could be used to build things.

That's a quite correct assessment. This series takes their sweet time to develop the plot. And there's indeed something going on behind all of this, hehehe.

Spoilers, mate. Or not, since I've been saying that since day 2.

----
I would have liked to have got this one up yesterday, so then I could have posted episode 21 on the day I turned 21, but I was much too busy.

EPISODE 21:Sakura's Long Marathon Race

Spoiler

Show

Today, we open in P.E. Tomoyo’s sprained her ankle and is having to sit it out, and she can’t take part in the coming marathon either. The camera then looks at Sakura running on the track.

Title card! Sakura’s Long Marathon race. That was a short pretitle scene.

Sakura’s friends are going through their usual routine of praising Sakura’s running, but Meilin interrupts. She says that Shaoran and herself are going to take the top two spots, because that’s how it has always gone before. Out on the track, Shaoran and Sakura are struggling for first place. I think this is the first time we’ve seen Sakura be competitive when Yukito isn’t involved. She must really like running.

Taneda the teacher announces that they tied, but it looked like Shaoran was slightly in front to me. It’s also really strange not seeing them fighting, but Meilin’s here to help with that. Her boasts (with pointing finger) fall a bit flat, though, as Sakura can’t really grasp the idea that Meilin doesn’t like her and is just confused. Shaoran tries to take the wind from her sails by questioning if she’s done any distance running.

As expected, Meilin takes a huge lead, but I’m too busy laughing at the contrast between her smug determination and Yamazaki serenely bobbing about behind her. Oh, and Naoko is at the back. You’ll want to be a faster runner than that if you go ghost hunting.

Meilin tires herself out and doesn’t even get to cross the finish line before she collapses, with swirly eyes. I think that’s the first time we’ve seen those, too. Also, she was dead last: Naoko overtook her before she fell.

As everybody recovers, Shaoran exercises his mentor muscles by telling Meilin that you don’t run long-distance the same way you run 100m. A scene cut later, we see that she hasn’t been listening and is still thinking that she has to run faster instead of pacing herself. Luckily, she hears Yamazaki saying that high-altitude training is helpful for this, which sounds plausible (I think that it may be a real thing, but I’m not sure), but then he veers off by saying that Kadath Everest ‘the world’s highest mountain’ was first climbed by somebody training for a marathon. When Chiharu tells everybody that it’s a lie, Meilin is devastated, but Yamazaki just switches back to saying that training IS very important. I can see where this is going. Brace for wacky training antics! Also, “training” is said in English, which is very strange given how common a theme it is in various anime; you would think there would be a specific phrase for “training to contest my rival”, let alone just “training”.

That evening, Sakura goes over the exposition (because Toya’s asking so he can watch while pretending not to be interested ): the marathon is run on Friday, it goes once around the track, through Penguin Park, turn around at the street with cherry trees, go past the library, back through the park and back into the school.

In Shaoran/Wei’s flat, Meilin proves to be advice-proof and ignores both Shaoran and Wei telling her not to exercise after a meal. Good god, girl, didn’t they teach you this in kung-fu school?
She has to stop by the penguin slide, but Wei is being a responsible person and finds her. He’s brought a blanket and some more advice. Oh, Shaoran asked him to teach her. You tsundere, you. As Meilin runs laps around the pond she has a little daydream about finishing the marathon with Shaoran. It’s surprisingly lacking in a humiliated Sakura, which is nice.

Yuki is there to give his creepy encouragement before the race. He really does have a gift for phrases that sound innocent. There’s something both funny and tragic in how Toya is using Yuki as an excuse to watch Sakura’s race, while unknowing of his friend’s designs for his sister. Also, Shaoran’s got a lot bolder, as he’s approaching Yuki on his own with barely a blush. When Meilin arrives, he quickly ignores her questions about Yuki and confirms her idea of a joint finish. If Yuki foils this, he’s getting Shaoran’s title back.

...I wasn’t expecting that. Tomoyo has roped Kerbie in to watch the race and given him a matching pink headset and mike so they can talk to each other. He’s also got a telescope and something electronic-y that is mostly out of the camera.

That’s the opening theme playing! The race has just begun and it’s Shaoran, then Meilin, then Sakura, then a huge gap. Oh, that’s Twin Bells and Maki! Kerbie’s carrying a tape recorder; I hope he remembered to start it going.

Anyway, it’s a really nice sequence, with lots of panning shots. Some of the running animation is obviously looped to the point where shots of their feet makes it look like they’re marching with an invisible regiment.

Tomoyo, Toya and Yuki are waiting at the turning point, and this makes S&S speed up to what Yuki notes is an unwise pace. Meilin is unhappy with being third, but she seems to be keeping the pace. I’m also reminded that we haven’t seen any Cards yet, and this is a good place to introduce one: the pro-, ant- and whatever-tagonists are giving it everything they have.

As Naoko clears the turn, Yuki and Toya decide to follow the pack and cycle off. Tomoyo stays, and is looking around while a noise plays. Sakura, Shaoran and Meilin run past her again.

Sakura comments that they should have reached the end of the street by now, or at least seen the rest of the runners. Meilin thinks that they’ve just outrun them.

Meilin falls and hurts her ankle. Now that they’ve all stopped, Tomoyo catches up to them and starts to unravel things: Somehow they’re not in last place, but they’re behind Naoko and the supervising teacher, who have all made it to the end of the road. Shaoran realises that they’re under the power of a Clow Card, and Sakura comes to the same conclusion without help.

With the help of the Cardcaptor phones, Kerbie tells them that this is the LOOP Card, which has connected the ends of the road to make a looped track. It can’t be found from within the loop, so they’re going to have to break it somehow. Shaoran pulls out his compass to find the Card, but Sakura falls onto a glowing pink line with an obvious disconnect in the street and buildings to each side so I’m not sure what the point of that was. It does look pretty good in the long shot, though.

At Kerbie’s urging, Sakura summons the key and invokes the Sword, as Shaoran does whatever he does to produce his sword. They slice the divide open, and Sakura immediately seals the Loop, which isn’t a girl but instead more of a rubber band/ring of red ribbon. The Card is a bit confused as to who won it, but decides on Sakura. Meilin isn’t happy with this choice, but Loop isn’t listening. Poor Meilin, she’s had to watch the boy she has a crush on and her rival work in perfect sync, which can’t be good for her. I wonder how it will go when she finds out that he’s gay? Ouch.

Shaoran gives Meilin a piggyback back to the finish, and manage a three way joint last with Sakura. Melin starts telling Sakura that next time she’ll beat her easily, and Sakura still has no idea what to do with this uncalled-for aggression.

And that’s it. This was mostly a Meilin-centric episode, and it didn’t really give us anything new: she’s still obsessed with Shaoran, hateful (and maybe jealous?) to Sakura, arrogant to cover up her insecurities and very impulsive. Despite that it was a fun episode, although it would have been nice to have seen more of the Card.

Really, this felt more like establishing Meilin as a character than anything else, and it was mostly establishing her role: Local antagonist with a side of comic relief, like a one-girl Team Rocket. There was some development about knowing when to hold back, but I don’t know if it will be applied to anything outside of running races for a while.

As I said above, I would have liked to have seen the Card do more as it had some interesting powers. It was also a non-humanoid, and you know I like those. It was a fairly bland loop, though, and not making it a moebius strip is criminal. I wonder (and hope) if it will get any use in the future?

Also, I said that Kerberos was carrying a tape recorder, but I later realised it was Sakura’s phone. I was a bit thrown by the fact the he and Tomoyo already had communication devices.

Also also, I only realised the signifcance of the title when I put this up.

[Zolem]

As I said above, I would have liked to have seen the Card do more as it had some interesting powers. It was also a non-humanoid, and you know I like those. It was a fairly bland loop, though, and not making it a moebius strip is criminal. I wonder (and hope) if it will get any use in the future?

Loops amazing, want more.

[cobaltstarfire]

It was a fairly bland loop, though, and not making it a moebius strip is criminal. I wonder (and hope) if it will get any use in the future?

The loop is a Moebius strip.

[deuterio12]

Spoiler: Meiling+Syaoran, the counterpart to Sakura+Tomoyo

Show

Not much to say about this episode. The card's an interesting one, and we'll see it again, but I would've indeed expected Meiling to know more about endurance physical training.

At Kerbie’s urging, Sakura summons the key and invokes the Sword, as Shaoran does whatever he does to produce his sword. They slice the divide open, and Sakura immediately seals the Loop, which isn’t a girl but instead more of a rubber band/ring of red ribbon. The Card is a bit confused as to who won it, but decides on Sakura. Meilin isn’t happy with this choice, but Loop isn’t listening. Poor Meilin, she’s had to watch the boy she has a crush on and her rival work in perfect sync, which can’t be good for her. I wonder how it will go when she finds out that he’s gay? Ouch.

Meiling has a lot of suffering waiting for her. However, that's one thing she'll never have to worry about.

Meiling's actually a crossdresser boy, that gets revealed in the end of the 2nd arc, Syaoran is just "What, you didn't noticed?"

Shaoran gives Meilin a piggyback back to the finish, and manage a three way joint last with Sakura. Melin starts telling Sakura that next time she’ll beat her easily, and Sakura still has no idea what to do with this uncalled-for aggression.

And that’s it. This was mostly a Meilin-centric episode, and it didn’t really give us anything new: she’s still obsessed with Shaoran, hateful (and maybe jealous?) to Sakura, arrogant to cover up her insecurities and very impulsive. Despite that it was a fun episode, although it would have been nice to have seen more of the Card.

Really, this felt more like establishing Meilin as a character than anything else, and it was mostly establishing her role: Local antagonist with a side of comic relief, like a one-girl Team Rocket. There was some development about knowing when to hold back, but I don’t know if it will be applied to anything outside of running races for a while.

I would add that we get shown more of Syaoran being nice for other people. He honestly cares for Meiling.

Which is one of the reasons why I much prefer the anime to the manga. Syaoran's side of the story gets a lot more developed.

[Durkoala]

The loop is a Moebius strip.

If you look closely, you can see that the Loop is a two-sided strip, not twisted over to create a one-side mobius strip.

Spoiler: Comparison

Show

Loops amazing, want more.

Agree.

Spoiler: Meiling+Syaoran, the counterpart to Sakura+Tomoyo

Show

Not much to say about this episode. The card's an interesting one, and we'll see it again, but I would've indeed expected Meiling to know more about endurance physical training.

More space-looping? Hooray!

I've not really been getting much of a Meilin/Shaoran feeling, I admit. They're obviously close, but I haven't seen any real signs that he returns her feelings.

Meiling has a lot of suffering waiting for her. However, that's one thing she'll never have to worry about.

Meiling's actually a crossdresser boy, that gets revealed in the end of the 2nd arc, Syaoran is just "What, you didn't noticed?"

Interesting...

I kind of want to say that would be because she's too dumb to notice. (Disclaimer: I don't think that she's that stupid.)

[cobaltstarfire]

I guess I'm going more off the actual loop (rather than the card) but it's more my eyes just visualizing the back (the area in dark) as doing that mobius thing because of how it gets thinner towards the center. But I also invalidated a rorschach test with my "artistic training" because of how I visualize things *shrug*

Spoiler

Show

I guess it's true though, the card itself doesn't look very mobiusey, although it's still got an infinity motif and things so it's not too bad.

[deuterio12]

I've not really been getting much of a Meilin/Shaoran feeling, I admit. They're obviously close, but I haven't seen any real signs that he returns her feelings.

It's more that both Sakura and Syaoran have clingy cousins that are a bit too obsessed with them, with Tomoyo knowing how to be more discrete, but on the other hand Meiling doesn't stalk Syaoran with a camera to rewatch everything alone in a dark room. However S&S keep them in the friendzone.

Interesting...

I kind of want to say that would be because she's too dumb to notice. (Disclaimer: I don't think that she's that stupid.)

Oh, Meiling may look like a Team Rocket grunt right now, but like Syaoran, she's hiding some tricks up her sleeves. And her sleeves are pretty damn big. Anyway you'll see why in some episodes from now. And you'll also get another answer to a previous question of yours.

[Zolem]

*sight* Nobody commented on my trick. *points at my two previous posts*

[Durkoala]

I guess I'm going more off the actual loop (rather than the card) but it's more my eyes just visualizing the back (the area in dark) as doing that mobius thing because of how it gets thinner towards the center. But I also invalidated a rorschach test with my "artistic training" because of how I visualize things *shrug*

Spoiler

Show

I guess it's true though, the card itself doesn't look very mobiusey, although it's still got an infinity motif and things so it's not too bad.

Psst! You have to use the URL of the image itself, not the address of the page it's on, to show it.
I sort of see what you mean about the Mobiusness, now. I didn't notice the resemblance to the infinity sign, so kudos there.

...Are there any more details about that roschach test?

It's more that both Sakura and Syaoran have clingy cousins that are a bit too obsessed with them, with Tomoyo knowing how to be more discrete, but on the other hand Meiling doesn't stalk Syaoran with a camera to rewatch everything alone in a dark room. However S&S keep them in the friendzone.


Oh, Meiling may look like a Team Rocket grunt right now, but like Syaoran, she's hiding some tricks up her sleeves. And her sleeves are pretty damn big. Anyway you'll see why in some episodes from now. And you'll also get another answer to a previous question of yours.

Tomoyo's sneaky attitude (and the fact that they're first cousins) is the big reason why I'm not on board with Sakura/Tomoyo: She's acting like Sakura's friend but subtly forcing her into costumes and recording footage for later use, which is both a sort of betrayal of trust and pretty creepy. I will say that, unpleasantness aside, Their relationship (whatever it actually is) is very sweet and supportive. If only we could see that Sakura was OK with it instead of Tomoyo resorting to blackmail, the neccessity of Sakura dressing up for the moment, exploiting the ignorance and agenda of a mutual friend and exploiting Sakura's trust.

...Looking at that list actually makes Tomoyo look worse than Yuki! Let's change the subject.

I've been wondering if Meilin (or any non-sorcerer) could use the Cards, even if she has no other magic. They seem to be able to understand verbal commands, and give their allegiance to whoever is responsible for their defeat, so there's no obvious reason she shouldn't be able to command one and since they can self-seal she way even be able to force one into her service if she can defeat it enough. A lot of fantasy fiction brings in 'only the magic can do magic things', though, so it remains to be seen if muggles can have any power over the cards.

I forgot to mention earlier that I really liked seeing Maki (?) again, even if her episode is my personal worst. And that, on rewatching the episode, I saw that Shaoran really was slightly faster than Sakura. The Card must have given her extra points for summoning two weapons in the time it took him to summon one and for being the one to actually seal it.

[cobaltstarfire]

...Are there any more details about that roschach test?

I am pretty bad at forumings, sorry if that picture/link was all botched, it's working for me so I didn't realize it'd be broken for other people. I thought I had copied the url of the image and not the page it's on anyway...

But as far as that particular test, it's really more based on how you describe what you see than what you are actually seeing I think. If I remember correctly the "artistic training" invalidating it boiled down to the kind of language I used which under normal circumstances would have suggested some sort of disconnect or dishonesty on my part or something like that.


The same thing apparently happens with auditory tests, I didn't take any of those but musicians will often "invalidate" those sorts of tests...probably because they can more easily hear phantom tones and other neat things you can do and listen for in sound if you know about it.

[Durkoala]

Episode 22: Sakura and Her Kind Father

Spoiler

Show

Episode 22

Today it’s Fujikata running downstairs in a hurry. He’s greeted at the kitchen/dining room by his children, who have made breakfast today. He says that it was his turn to do breakfast, but since I can’t read the Japanese on the chores board, I can’t verify that. Toya tells him that since Dad hasn’t been getting enough sleep lately and has a conference coming up, he and Sakura are taking over his chores for a bit. This is clearly preplanned: Sakura and Toya are presenting a united front even though he’s doing the talking.

Title Card: Sakura and her kind father. It looks like we’ll be having a family episode again. Can we have Sonomi turn up as well?

After seeing off Fujikata, Toya goes to see Yuki and Sakura, of course, tags along. We cut to Fujikata stuck in traffic. With nothing else to do, he reads the note Sakura attached to his lunch: Dad – do your best. Awww.

And we immediately cut the end of the school day. OK, then. Sakura and Tomoyo are in the library, talking about the current situation at home. Fujikata’s presentation at the conference is next Monday, but I don’t know what day it is now. If only I could read that board...

Exposition over, Tomoyo picks up a massive stack of flower books, which are meant to help her get past a creative block she’s suffering. By the Checkout, they meet Yuki. He’s borrowing a book in the name of Kinomoto. While it’s perfectly reasonable to for him to be doing it for Toya (or as a surprise for Sakura), I’m suspicious. I don’t think anything major will come from it, though.

...Oh, he got it for Toya, who was supposed to get it for Fujikata but he’s caught up with practice for something.

While Fujikata’s working, Sakura brings him a snack. He starts to tell her that he’s going to start sleeping at the university so as not to bother her and Toya. He then starts talking about why he does his archaeology: so he can find out about things hidden and forgotten and bring them to light. This reminds me that he once had a book of great and little-known power, but he hasn’t commented on its disappearance.

Saturday finds Sakura and Tomoyo wandering around the university, trying to find Fujikata’s office. A friendly group of students guide them to his current lecture. It turns out that they’re his lab assistants, and they praise his lectures. Look, I know it’s nice that Sakura has a great dad, but is there anything he isn’t perfect at?

As they and the girls leave for the office, there’s some blue sparkles where they were standing. I suppose we needed some conflict, but isn’t Sakura able to sense Cards by now?

There’s a slight hitch when Sakura tries to give Fujikata the snack hamper in the form of Kerbie still being in the hamper, but Fujikata isn’t hungry right now. As he talks about how everybody is helping him with his research, some sparkly blue stuff blows through the room and he falls asleep. After a second, he wakes up again, saying that he’s just tired. So has the Card been causing his recent sleepiness?

Sakura is apparently blind, because she didn’t see the obvious magic back there. Kerbie was asleep, no matter how much he denies it, so he has an excuse for not seeing it in front of his nose. Being thoughtful, Sakura goes and gets coffee for her father and his student assistants. When she gets back, she’s told that Fujikata’s been called out to help another professor.

We see the Card! It’s probably the smallest yet: a Tinkerbell-sized fairy with a blue dress, magic staff and a sparkling blue trail. It scatters its blue dust on the students and they fall asleep. The girl talking to Sakura is upset but then receives a pinch of fairy dust and collapses. Sakura and Kerbie finally realise that there’s a Card at work: the SLEEP Card, which sends people to sleep. Well, it’s succincint.

By now, even Kerbie is getting tired of Tomoyo complaining about not having her camera or her costumes. The Card quickly shuts her up, though. It looks a lot like Elsa: blue dress, spiky white hair, blue eyes. It’s also got a star mark on its head, pointy ears, wings and a wand/staff, so Disney doesn’t have to worry about any lawsuits.

After a chase through the corridors, Sakura finally corners Sleep in her father’s office. It’s filled the room with its dust, but she manages to call the Windy to blow it away and snare the Sleep. However, her jump to seal it leaves on top of a pile of books and she quickly overbalances and brings down the lot onto her dad’s laptop. Oh, dear.

Kerbie wakes up and notices that Sakura’s not acting like a victorious Cardcaptor. She tried every Card she has to fix the computer, but none of them work. Kerberos says that there’s some things that even the Cards can’t fix. At least it’s a broken computer instead of a broken person, but being that young and having destroyed something that important is very hard. Oh, Sakura.

Fujikata arrives on the scene as Sakura starts crying. He says that there’s no use in worrying about what’s already broken, and that he’s coming home tonight.

Sakura is having trouble sleeping, even though Fujikata isn’t angry at her.

The next day finds Fujikata falling over trying to clean his desk. As Sakura tries to help him clean up, she starts crying again and begging to help fix it.
Fortunately, Fujikata can remember most of his final presentation, he just needs an assistant to get it into shape again. While this is good for Sakura, why didn’t you have it backed up? You had floppy disks scattered all over your office.

Blah Blah, montage of doing the work. Sakura wakes up in time to see her father out. He left a note for her telling her to study hard with her lunch. We close on him stuck in traffic, smiling fondly at his lunch.

And that’s it. I had a bit of trouble writing this one down, I’ll admit. Let’s Watches are surprisingly hard work. In general, this was yet another good episode.
This episode took a different angle to many of the others, and the main tension came from the consequences of fighting the Card, which has rarely had an effect beyond Shaoran getting a few Cards that we don’t want him to get. It wasn’t the usual kind of drama about people dying or being overshadowed or not being able to complete their ambitious goal, it was the more domestic drama of a child upsetting their parent’s work, and I think that it was better for that.

Today’s Card was an odd blend of the new and the familiar. It was another humanoid, but its size and the fact its magic was transmitted as an object made it a bit more unusual. It seemed to have a rather cocky attitude, if its smirk when it got Tomoyo is any indication.

[Zolem]

Don't forget, Sleep also set a trap via a room full of sleep dust. If Sakura hadn't noticed it in time, or hadn't been able to clear it with Wind, Sleep old have won. Or at least been uncatchable.

[A.Shinohara]

Hi! just come here to say that I do really enjoy reading the discussion in this thread. CCS is still one of my most favourite anime ever. So it's quite nice to see that the show can still find some new fans. Durkoala's blogging is also very fun to read. If you have enough time and interest I hope you keep doing this until the end of the series (including the Movies too). All I can say right now without spoiling anything is, for me this show is not really about fighting monster with the magic card. It's more about a girl coming of age who try to learn how to have relationship with people around her. I wish you'll enjoy it as much as I did 15 years ago.

Ps. sorry for my broken (and crappy) English. I"m not English speaker. Hope you guys don't mind.

[Durkoala]

Don't forget, Sleep also set a trap via a room full of sleep dust. If Sakura hadn't noticed it in time, or hadn't been able to clear it with Wind, Sleep old have won. Or at least been uncatchable.

I may have glossed over it a bit, but I did see that. It probably wouldn't have been an actual win as Sakura would have eventually woken up and gone back to chasing it again, though.

Hi! just come here to say that I do really enjoy reading the discussion in this thread. CCS is still one of my most favourite anime ever. So it's quite nice to see that the show can still find some new fans. Durkoala's blogging is also very fun to read. If you have enough time and interest I hope you keep doing this until the end of the series (including the Movies too). All I can say right now without spoiling anything is, for me this show is not really about fighting monster with the magic card. It's more about a girl coming of age who try to learn how to have relationship with people around her. I wish you'll enjoy it as much as I did 15 years ago.

Ps. sorry for my broken (and crappy) English. I"m not English speaker. Hope you guys don't mind.

I'm glad you're enjoying this. I'm having a great time watching through it, but I think I'll take a small break when I finish the first season. I do intend to come back to it, but running a constant stream of LW's can get a bit wearing.

CCS has given me a feeling that it is focused more on Sakura's life both with and without the influence of the Clow Cards than an actual confrontation or heroic task. It reminds me of the really good pre-Potter childrens' literature more than anything else, really.

[A.Shinohara]

I'm glad you're enjoying this. I'm having a great time watching through it, but I think I'll take a small break when I finish the first season. I do intend to come back to it, but running a constant stream of LW's can get a bit wearing.

Honestly, I initially worried that after 20 or so episodes, you might get bored a little bit due to the episodic nature of the show plus the fact that the story itself is not really much about a magic fighting/action. Therefore If you manage to reach 35 episodes (the end of season 1) while still enjoy it as much as you do right now. I think that watching wise, you should not have any problem to finishing it. The plot itself will be more driven and complex at the start of 2nd season (36-46) and characters will be already well established by then. (Did I use 'to establish' correctly?). To make it short by not spoiling anything, the second part of the story is a lot more enjoyable than the first. There will be some development later that'll become both an important theme and my favorite part of the show. That's all I can say right now

Oh I forgot to mention about the kids. They're so adorable, aren't they? Even you're not a big fan of some of them by now. There're literally no Yamucha or Tenchinhan in the story, everyone will have a chance to shine or have a part to play. some might even surprise you unexpectedly with character development or his/her own back story.

Blogging/LW wise, I'm fully understand how hard good writing is. It takes a lot of effort, time and energy. So take your time and do what you feel comfortable to do. I also think that if 'LW' recap scene by scene as you did takes too much time, just write an impression and/or commentary of key moments or whatever you'd like to do for each episode would be fine. I'd just like you to know that you have a follower.

CCS has given me a feeling that it is focused more on Sakura's life both with and without the influence of the Clow Cards than an actual confrontation or heroic task. It reminds me of the really good pre-Potter childrens' literature more than anything else, really.

I think it is a fair assessment. But no worry, at the end of the day this is one of the most famous mahou shojou anime (and manga) of all time. Magic still has a huge part to play in the story. You'll see how Sakura becomes the most powerful magician on earth in Clamp universe at the end.

[Yuki Akuma]

Sakura's father is named Fujitaka. It's a type of flower. Wisteria, specifically.

Fujikata sounds like some sort of mountain-based martial arts display

[A.Shinohara]

Episode 22: Sakura and Her Kind Father

Spoiler

Show

Episode 22

Today it’s Fujikata running downstairs in a hurry. He’s greeted at the kitchen/dining room by his children, who have made breakfast today. He says that it was his turn to do breakfast, but since I can’t read the Japanese on the chores board, I can’t verify that. Toya tells him that since Dad hasn’t been getting enough sleep lately and has a conference coming up, he and Sakura are taking over his chores for a bit. This is clearly preplanned: Sakura and Toya are presenting a united front even though he’s doing the talking.

Title Card: Sakura and her kind father. It looks like we’ll be having a family episode again. Can we have Sonomi turn up as well?

After seeing off Fujikata, Toya goes to see Yuki and Sakura, of course, tags along. We cut to Fujikata stuck in traffic. With nothing else to do, he reads the note Sakura attached to his lunch: Dad – do your best. Awww.

And we immediately cut the end of the school day. OK, then. Sakura and Tomoyo are in the library, talking about the current situation at home. Fujikata’s presentation at the conference is next Monday, but I don’t know what day it is now. If only I could read that board...

Exposition over, Tomoyo picks up a massive stack of flower books, which are meant to help her get past a creative block she’s suffering. By the Checkout, they meet Yuki. He’s borrowing a book in the name of Kinomoto. While it’s perfectly reasonable to for him to be doing it for Toya (or as a surprise for Sakura), I’m suspicious. I don’t think anything major will come from it, though.

...Oh, he got it for Toya, who was supposed to get it for Fujikata but he’s caught up with practice for something.

While Fujikata’s working, Sakura brings him a snack. He starts to tell her that he’s going to start sleeping at the university so as not to bother her and Toya. He then starts talking about why he does his archaeology: so he can find out about things hidden and forgotten and bring them to light. This reminds me that he once had a book of great and little-known power, but he hasn’t commented on its disappearance.

Saturday finds Sakura and Tomoyo wandering around the university, trying to find Fujikata’s office. A friendly group of students guide them to his current lecture. It turns out that they’re his lab assistants, and they praise his lectures. Look, I know it’s nice that Sakura has a great dad, but is there anything he isn’t perfect at?

As they and the girls leave for the office, there’s some blue sparkles where they were standing. I suppose we needed some conflict, but isn’t Sakura able to sense Cards by now?

There’s a slight hitch when Sakura tries to give Fujikata the snack hamper in the form of Kerbie still being in the hamper, but Fujikata isn’t hungry right now. As he talks about how everybody is helping him with his research, some sparkly blue stuff blows through the room and he falls asleep. After a second, he wakes up again, saying that he’s just tired. So has the Card been causing his recent sleepiness?

Sakura is apparently blind, because she didn’t see the obvious magic back there. Kerbie was asleep, no matter how much he denies it, so he has an excuse for not seeing it in front of his nose. Being thoughtful, Sakura goes and gets coffee for her father and his student assistants. When she gets back, she’s told that Fujikata’s been called out to help another professor.

We see the Card! It’s probably the smallest yet: a Tinkerbell-sized fairy with a blue dress, magic staff and a sparkling blue trail. It scatters its blue dust on the students and they fall asleep. The girl talking to Sakura is upset but then receives a pinch of fairy dust and collapses. Sakura and Kerbie finally realise that there’s a Card at work: the SLEEP Card, which sends people to sleep. Well, it’s succincint.

By now, even Kerbie is getting tired of Tomoyo complaining about not having her camera or her costumes. The Card quickly shuts her up, though. It looks a lot like Elsa: blue dress, spiky white hair, blue eyes. It’s also got a star mark on its head, pointy ears, wings and a wand/staff, so Disney doesn’t have to worry about any lawsuits.

After a chase through the corridors, Sakura finally corners Sleep in her father’s office. It’s filled the room with its dust, but she manages to call the Windy to blow it away and snare the Sleep. However, her jump to seal it leaves on top of a pile of books and she quickly overbalances and brings down the lot onto her dad’s laptop. Oh, dear.

Kerbie wakes up and notices that Sakura’s not acting like a victorious Cardcaptor. She tried every Card she has to fix the computer, but none of them work. Kerberos says that there’s some things that even the Cards can’t fix. At least it’s a broken computer instead of a broken person, but being that young and having destroyed something that important is very hard. Oh, Sakura.

Fujikata arrives on the scene as Sakura starts crying. He says that there’s no use in worrying about what’s already broken, and that he’s coming home tonight.

Sakura is having trouble sleeping, even though Fujikata isn’t angry at her.

The next day finds Fujikata falling over trying to clean his desk. As Sakura tries to help him clean up, she starts crying again and begging to help fix it.
Fortunately, Fujikata can remember most of his final presentation, he just needs an assistant to get it into shape again. While this is good for Sakura, why didn’t you have it backed up? You had floppy disks scattered all over your office.

Blah Blah, montage of doing the work. Sakura wakes up in time to see her father out. He left a note for her telling her to study hard with her lunch. We close on him stuck in traffic, smiling fondly at his lunch.

And that’s it. I had a bit of trouble writing this one down, I’ll admit. Let’s Watches are surprisingly hard work. In general, this was yet another good episode.
This episode took a different angle to many of the others, and the main tension came from the consequences of fighting the Card, which has rarely had an effect beyond Shaoran getting a few Cards that we don’t want him to get. It wasn’t the usual kind of drama about people dying or being overshadowed or not being able to complete their ambitious goal, it was the more domestic drama of a child upsetting their parent’s work, and I think that it was better for that.

Today’s Card was an odd blend of the new and the familiar. It was another humanoid, but its size and the fact its magic was transmitted as an object made it a bit more unusual. It seemed to have a rather cocky attitude, if its smirk when it got Tomoyo is any indication.

Fujitaka wins at life, doesn't he? Nailed a smoking hot model teen wife from a rich family at the age of 16 while he himself was only a school teacher back then, now being a full university professor that means dude have to got Ph.D or at least M.A. Great at house work, can cook everything, baking a delicious cake (you'll see in later episodes) in the manga this bloke can even sew yutaka or leather bag. Oh dude is also mild mannered, well beloved and respected by both his kids and students, not to mention being so devoted to the dead wife that he feel he must fap to the dead wife change the wife's picture to commemorate her every morning. Is this guy definitely Nietzsche's superman or something?

However, all personal things aside, I think it's safe to say that the biggest accomplishment is his kids. They're such lovely kids really. A caring, protective to his younger sister, good mannered, self-reliance, handsome gay son and Sakura ... the daughter. You couldn't ask for more better kids than these two. Fujitaka is also an ideal dad. He loves them deeply, caring, understanding and in this case forgiving his kids without any condition. With a good family like this no wonder that how Sakura becomes such a good and lovely girl.

I also think that the main message of of this episode is 'magic can't fix everything'. No matter how powerful or special you are. When you make a mistake, you must take responsibility, accept and learn from it. It's a very simple but subtle and powerful message. I love this episode.

Oh dear. My English is in such a terrible shape at the moment. I can read English quite well but writing is another story. I feel so embarrassed. I should stop posting now.