A confession before I begin: I was begging for some kind of extension for this series years back when I finished watching it. Now that it exists, I haven’t quite had a chance to actually watch the new Clear Card Arc. This, however, won’t stop me from talking about the original content that has kept “Cardcaptor Sakura” as my favorite magical girl anime through the years.
My first experience with it was due to a trip to the library with my grandparents several years back. I was browsing the DVDs and came across one with a girl around my age on the cover in a strange costume with a staff. My interest was piqued almost immediately; I already loved two other series that fell under this genre, so it’s only natural I would find a third.
Checking that DVD out began my stint with the series, one full of love and many hours at the local library trying to find the episodes on YouTube. Seeing as the anime came out in 1998 and went only to 2000, it’s only natural I wouldn’t have seen it airing.
“Cardcaptor Sakura” features a young girl, Sakura Kinomoto, who lives a normal life until she discovers a strange book in the basement of her home. Inside are magical cards which, upon reading the proper term for them, will fly away. Once they vanish, a mysterious creature emerges and tells Sakura she now has the duty as a Cardcaptor to reclaim what was lost.
During the journey a young boy named Syaoran Li, tries to intervene with her mission. This is due to him being a descendant of the card’s creator, Clow Reed.
The relationship dynamic between Sakura and Syaoran is a favorite of mine, with how smoothly it transitions as the series continues and holds a special place in my heart.
The series actually is the reason I began cosplaying in the first place: my family helped me replicate one of Sakura’s wands and I went out to a convention and I had a blast! Since then I’ve managed to buy the entire anime on DVD, as well as my own personal set of Clow Cards.
To be honest, this is one of the only series that I prefer the anime to the manga. The original anime has 70 episodes and two movies, while there are only 12 volumes of the manga. Neither movie is covered in the manga, and the first six manga only cover about 35 episodes.
The anime expands to situations where Sakura is shown reclaiming every card, instead of only a select few, allowing it to show off more events and character interaction than the manga.
Overall, my love for this series is immense and hearing about the Clear Card Arc almost made me cry on the spot. Despite how much I adore a few other magical girl series (“Madoka Magica” and “Tokyo Mew Mew” come to mind), “Cardcaptor Sakura” has remained at the top for the past decade and I’m sure it will solidify that position once I watch the new series.
Erika Brandenburg
Staff Writer