Cardcaptor Sakura — The Clear Card Arc: A Review
by Himali Thakur, Class of 2019
The successful magical girl anime returns to our screens after nearly two decades. While the first episode is a great start, it raises questions whether the anime is ready to explore new domains.
Cardcaptor Sakura (abbr. CCS) was a wildly successful magical girl anime in the late 1990s, created by the manga studio CLAMP. After nearly eighteen years off air, Cardcaptor Sakura is back for a new series Cardcaptor Sakura — The Clear Card Arc.
The original series followed the adventures of Kinomoto Sakura, an elementary schoolgirl who accidentally breaks the seal of a book containing magical cards. The guardian of the Book of Clow, Kerberos, tells Sakura that she must now capture the cards lest they wreak havoc in her town, Tomoeda. I watched this original series as a child, so the anime was drenched with the nostalgia of ‘the good old days’. Cardcaptor Sakura was a good show even otherwise; the anime had beautiful visuals, good characters, and a fun plot driven by the development of those characters. Naturally, I had high expectations for The Clear Card Arc.
For the existing fans, the cardcaptor world feels like familiar territory from the very beginning; before the opening, Kero-chan gives a hurried rundown of the series in the segment “Leave it to Kero-chan!” — a throwback to an aftershow segment that ran with the first season of the show. The new series picks up a year after the events of the original anime. Sakura is now a middle school student; the cards are all secure, and we are assured in flashbacks and conversations that the supporting cast from the previous seasons are enjoying happy lives. Things have changed, but CLAMP drops us into a Tomoeda that is in sync with the Tomoeda of Cardcaptor Sakura Movie 2: The Sealed Card. But when Li Syaoran — Sakura’s elementary school crush — comes back from Hong Kong, things do begin to change.
The moment where Sakura and Syaoran reunite is beautiful. It has heartfelt dialogues, delivered with a truckload of nostalgia: the opening song from season three, Platinum, plays in the background of this reunion. But the visuals take the cake. Animation has changed a lot since CCS last aired; it has become softer, abandoning the heavy, dark, almost sketch-quality of the 1990s. This lean towards the softer style really works for Sakura and Syaoran’s reunion. Lighter shades of pink give the scene an adorable dream-like appeal.
Another scene that boasts fantastic visuals is the dream in which Sakura meets the antagonist of the series. Dream sequences are a favourite with CLAMP, and they have used dreams multiple times in CCS. These sequences would take place against the backdrop of the brightly lit Tokyo Tower. They imparted a feeling of hope and power, where Sakura would be reaching out for her new magical abilities. However, the dream in Clear Card is set in a dark void. Sakura hovers, defenceless, while the hooded figure is clearly in command. It’s a clever use of visuals to impart fear and awe.
With this scene, the first episode also neatly sets up the conflict for the entire season. A mysterious hooded figure turns all the Sakura cards clear, rendering them useless. Tomoeda is under threat from this entity. We are told that the coming together of all cards was just the beginning of the end, while new ‘clear’ cards start to appear.
Despite this constant stream of new information, the episode does not feel overwhelming. In fact, the episode is cleverly written so that it functions as a jump-on point for new viewers. Short interactions between the characters reveal telling details about the story and characters. Touya and Sakura’s banter shows Touya’s caring side for his younger sister; Syaoran and Tomoyo’s interaction paints them as mature characters who care deeply about Sakura.
All said, the episode is not perfect. Despite the stunning visuals, the new sequence for sealing a card is awkward; the 3D animated crystal is ugly and makes me cringe every time. Further, we have no explanation as to why everyone in the show suddenly has touchscreen gadgets, even though it should ideally be the early 2000s. A landmine I see for The Clear Card Arc is a gimmicky and cutesy overemphasis on Sakura and Syaoran’s relationship, rather than the troubles it should naturally face. There is also a worry that the new series may refuse to do anything adventurous with the plot. Sakura capturing cards isn’t something new; it is a repetition of the first season.
I listed the similarity of the episode to the original series as a positive point, but it obviously has a negative side. It feels like the characters were caught in a time warp — they haven’t changed at all. This could be a problem for the future. To keep the show’s existing fans overdosed with nostalgia, CLAMP might choose to ignore the elephant in the room: Sakura is growing up. The series will have to face its characters’ growing pains at some point if it wants to remain honest.
However, these are either fixable or minor flaws in what remains a promising start for an already strong anime. Perhaps the avoidance of these issues is just throat-clearing that Madhouse (the production house) and CLAMP need before taking a beloved series into new directions. CLAMP has the ability to address these problems. They have already displayed, in works such as xxxHolic and Legal Drug, that they can work with mature themes. Hopefully, they will bring their experience to The Clear Card Arc, and keep the Cardcaptor Sakura series riveting and fresh.
Verdict: 3/5
