My previous blog about this anime was all messed up. For some reason, whereever there were commas or apostrophes question marks would be there instead. I went back and edited them out so now it's a lot easier to read. I also changed the blog a little since I just finished watching it again and I have a better understanding of it.

For anyone who knows anime and is wondering why I watched it please hear me out. As a kid I wasn't allowed to watch anime aside from Pokemon. My parents were always worried about the violence and sexual content to be found in animes. The only two I was allowed to watch as a kid was Pokemon and Cardcaptors. I wasn't a huge fan of Cardcaptors but I liked it. My parents let me watch it since it was on an approved kid's channel. Now that I'm older, I can reminisce over certain things. Since April was such a dead month for games I figured I would do something different. While I was searching over classic video game and cartoon themes from my childhood I remembered Cardcaptors. I've spent a good part of April watching the anime and I'm going to say what I feel about it.

For those of you who don't know, CardCaptor Sakura or Cardcaptors outside of Japan is targeted mostly for girls. Again, since I grew up sheltered away from anime, I figured I would watch the one I do know about. I did some research before watching and what I found out was weird. Apparently the North American version of the anime was edited into 39 episodes, completely cutting out certain episodes. The editors focused more on action-oriented episodes in order to attract male audiences. I suppose it did work since I'm watching it now. The story follows Sakura Kinomoto, a young energetic and cheerful girl who has a caring family. Her mother died when she was 3. She's in the fourth grade and has many friends. One day she finds an old book in her father's library. The book is full of cards. These cards aren't ordinary though. These cards were created by a half-Chinese, half-English sorcerer named Clow Reed many years ago. Each card has their own unique power. When she reads the first card Windy, the cards are blown all over town. She wakes the guardian of the book Keroberos who tasks her to become a CardCaptor and retrieve the cards. That's the basic part of the story. Now of course, it wouldn't be focused on girls if there was no romance in it. The romance in the anime however is actually fairly complex and not straight-forward like other love stories. There's actually a big focus on different sexual orientations which is a good lesson to teach viewers about. For example, Sakura's best friend, who's a girl, loves her a lot and it's clear from the beginning. What's funny is that Sakura thinks she's just really enthusiastic and caring.

*SPOLIERS PAST THIS POINT* If you don't care then read on! I?'ll be summarizing the anime here:

The beginning reminds me a little bit of the beginning of Sailor Moon. Both are tasked out of the blue to save the city by doing their ancient duty. (I own the first three episodes of Sailor Moon on VHS so that's how I know.) Both believe they are not up to the task placed before them but they do it to protect those they care about. As the series goes on however, it's clear to the viewer that something big is about to happen. Sakura often has the same dream and each time she meets a significant person, they appear in her dreams. An air of mystery surrounds these episodes and Kero (Keroberos) is often worried about these upcoming events but is unwilling to tell Sakura for fear of worrying her. One person she meets is Shaoran Li, a distant descendent of Clow Reed who hails from Hong Kong. He comes to Japan to collect the Clow Cards for himself. After learning that Kero chose Sakura for the sole role of CardCaptor he reluctantly agrees to help her. The other is Kaho Mizuki who was her brother's ex-girlfriend. She had left Sakura's brother Toya a few years before the start of the anime to study abroad. Mizuki's role is unclear and she never explains why she has returned to Japan. But she has an ability to tell the future and has powerful magical abilities. She also knows about the Clow Cards. The first season focuses on character development and slight plot advancement. The second season focuses on advancing the plot forward. Sakura now has her dream more often as she collects more and more cards. One card in particular shows her the future and she learns her invincible spell "Zettai daijoubu dayo" (I will definetely be ok.) Near the end of this short season she finds out there is one other person in her dream she doesn't know about. This culminates in her learning that there were in fact two guardians of the book. One was Kero, the other is Yue. Yue is the alternate form of Sakura's crush Yukito and he is the judge on who should become master of the Clow Cards. This is called the Last Judgement and should the CardCaptor fail, an unknown disaster will befall the world. Since there are two people in possession of Clow Cards Li is tested first and falls to Yue's power. Yue has the ability to control any Clow Cards that fall under his jurisdiction which is the power of the moon. Sakura refuses to fight Yue because she doesn't want to hurt Yukito. Yue easily wins as a result and the disaster of the world is that everyone will lose the feeling of love towards the person they have the most feelings for. After experiencing a day where everyone forgets about the people they love, she is saved by Mizuki who reveals her role at last. Her role was given to her by Clow Reed himself; should the CardCaptor fail, she can give the CardCaptor one more chance. After her experience, Sakura uses her invincible spell and her wand transforms. The wand's new powers allow her to overpower Yue despite the fact that she used a card under Yue's jurisdiction. Even though Yue basically just tried to ruin her life she still wants to be friends with him which I think is a true display of character. Yue declares her the new master of the Clow Cards. Shortly after, she meets the spirit of Clow Reed who explains her new power.

Now at this point, if you're a male, you can stop watching at this point. The main part of the story is done but there are a few loose ends. That's ok. But if you're a female or just like a good love story, get ready. The third and final season is focused on the growing relationship between Sakura and Shaoran Li. At first, Li has a crush on Yukito just like Sakura. However, Yue later tells Li that he is only attracted to Yukito because of Yue's magical power and because Clow Reed and Yue were intimate with each other. Yue tells him to find someone else he has feelings for. After Yue tells him this, Li realizes his feelings for Sakura are true. Meanwhile a new student arrives from England named Eriol Hiiragizawa. As soon as he arrives, strange things begin happening around town. When Sakura tries to stop these events she discovers she cannot use the Clow Cards Just when she is about to die after being trapped in a vortex of water she remembers what the spirit of Clow Reed had told her in her dreams after she had collected all the cards. She discovers her new-found powers and learns that the cards don't work anymore because she is the new master. So for the third season, Sakura's next step is transform all of the 52 Clow Cards into Sakura Cards. Doing this requires a lot of magical power, something that Sakura does not possess because of her age. As a result, she gets tired after changing each card. As the season progresses her power grows giving her the ability to transform more cards at the same time. During each event, Sakura, Kero and Yue realize that Clow Reed's presence is often felt even though he is thought to have died years ago. Usually after each event, Eriol is shown to have been involved in some way. It's then shown that Eriol possesses astounding magical powers and is the cause of each event. At first, anyone would think he is evil. But after a while it appears like he is helping out Sakura. Each time an event happens Sakura converts different Clow Cards into Sakura Cards in order to escape or stop the event. While all this is happening, Li tries to figure out how and when to tell Sakura he loves her. This is the part that killed me throughout this season. It reminded me of me, trying to reveal my feelings toward a girl. Even when alone with her, he cannot say anything. Sakura is naive by nature so she cannot tell that Li has a crush on her even when his face goes so red it's like a tomato. So much like me when it comes to girls I like...

At the series finale, Eriol reveals himself to everyone as the reincarnation of Clow Reed which is why Clow Reed's presence is felt during each event. (Eriol revealed it earlier to the viewers.) Eriol places a final test before Sakura. He puts everyone in the city to sleep, shrounds the city in darkness and says if she does not solve the problem in a couple of hours everyone will die. She transforms the remaining Clow Cards into Sakura Cards but discovers the last two left to be transformed are the Light and Dark cards. Both of them need to converted at the same time and Light is the solution to the darkness. Even though she has the ability to transform multiple cards at the same time the two do not convert. Realizing what the problem is, Kero and Yue absorb themselves into Sakura's wand to help convert the cards. Li also lends his assistance as a descendent of Clow Reed. After everyone pools their energy together and Sakura uses her invincible spell, the two convert and everyone is saved. Eriol praises Sakura and then disappears. Li manages to finally tell Sakura he loves her. Eriol plans to move back to England but before he does, Sakura and her group go to Eriol's mansion for an explanation.As the reincarnation of Clow Reed, he decided when he died, he would want someone new to become the master of the Clow Cards and their guardiians. So in order to ensure Sakura did her duty and converted all of the cards, he placed challenges before her so she would be forced to convert all the cards. If she did not change the cards, they would have lost their magical power and become ordinary cards. Eriol would head back to England now that his task was complete. With the complete conversion of the Clow Cards to Sakura Cards, Li is also called back home to Hong Kong. However he doesn't tell Sakura he is leaving. While Sakura tries to figure out her feelings for Li, Sakura's best friend Tomoyo calls her and tells her about Li leaving. She cries over knowing that he is leaving and inadvertently creates a card on her own. She finally figures out her feelings and rushes to the airport in order to catch him. The series stopped there with Sakura holding a teddy bear that Li made for her. Li had been thinking about giving it to her for most of the season but her never got the courage to give it to her. The card is then shown to have a heart on it which helped Sakura figure out her feelings.

While the series stopped there, they made a movie which serves as the true conclusion. During summer break, Sakura and Li meet up again. Li and his cousin Meilin are in Japan to visit but its actually a set-up by Tomoyo and Meilin to allow Sakura to respond to Li's feelings. Throughout the movie, Sakura tries to tell Li she loves him but she can't. The two have basically swapped positions; now Sakura cannot tell Li she loves him. During this, a 53rd Clow Card is revealed. This card has the power of the 52 Clow Cards combined and it can steal the other cards at will. The card can also make things disappear around it, including people. Eriol calls from England and tells Sakura about the card from his memories of Clow Reed. She has to seal the card and then convert it but to do that, someone has to give up their feeling of love. The card will decide who's but it will be the one with the most magical power. At the movie's conclusion, everyone has disappeared except for Sakura. She manages to convince the card to join her and she seals it. Li is shown to have survived the card's previous attack but since Sakura used so many cards in one day, Li is now the target for the card. After the card attacks Li Sakura, thinking it's too late, confeeses her love for Li. Li to her surprise and relief, has not lost his memories thanks to the card that Sakura had made in the final episode. The card had taken the attack for Li. He replies he loves her too. Before everything reappears again, Sakura wants to be with him despite the fact there is a 10 foot gap seperating them. She jumps anyway and says "I love you!" and that's how the movie ends. There was a poster released with the special edition DVD which shows she did make the jump into Li's arms.

*SPOILER END*

I actually really liked this anime. I could definitely see this was made for girls what with the whole focus on romance and love throughout the whole series but I don't mind that kind of stuff. It's a good mix of magical girl and romance. There's enough action scenes for guys and more than enough romance for girls. The story is just well told in general. There are a quite a few touchy moments in there and I will admit, I cried for some of them. If not, then a tear came to my eye. Sakura is an easy to love character with her personality. It makes you feel bad whenever she faces something she isn't prepared for especially for someone of her age. She's a cute and adorable character (not trying to sound like a pedophile or anything!) Even as a kid when I first saw this anime I thought these things and it hasn't changed. The vast majority of the characters are great and well developed. You can easily attach yourself to any of the characters since most of them embody a distinct personality. Whatever my friends or anybody who reads this may think, I think this is a great anime and if you have a thing for love stories you should definitely check it out. It?s more than just that though. It casts people of different sexual orientations in a good light, teaches us the importance of perseverance and courage, friendship and trust. I think this would be a great anime to show to young children so they understand these things. I love forms of entertainment that have meaning or a moral to their stories. This is one that does. Now I really wish the North American version wasn't so screwed up! Why did we get the only messed up version? It actually makes me want to re-release it to everyone here and show them this is how it was supposed to be. Still I'm glad I had the chance to watch this series in its entirety. Hooray for things like this on the Internet!

Overall, I think I would give this anime a 9 out of 10. My biggest complaint is that it's too short. I actually would like to watch more of it. There is actually a pseudo-sequel to CardCaptor Sakura called Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle. It once again stars Sakura and Li but their roles are reversed. Li is the main character while Sakura plays the supporting main. I'm thinking about starting on that one but with school so close I don't think starting another anime is a good idea.

School is less than a week away. Hard to believe I'm going back. I've been out of school for 7 months now. I used that time to work. I'm looking forward to my first year of university. I think learning Japanese will be my favourite class. I think watching this helped me with the decision to take a Japanese course but it's a language I've always wanted to learn. In any case, I still plan to keep playing video games. I WILL find time to play in between work and school. I'll stay up to 3 in the morning if I have to! Anyway until next time, keep gaming!