The Essentials

Name: Cardcaptor Sakura
Genre:: Fantasy, Adventure
Episodes: 35
Released: April 7, 1998 – December 29, 1998
Based On: Cardcaptor Sakura manga by CLAMP
Director: Various
Produced By: NHK Enterprise 21
US Distribution By: Pioneer/Geneon

Major Japanese Cast

Sakura Kinomoto: Sakura Tange
Kerberos: Aya Hisakawa
Tomoyo Daidouji: Junko Iwao
Syaoran Li: Motoko Kumai
Meiling Li: Yukana Nogami
Yukito Tsukishiro: Megumi Ogata
Toya Kinomoto: Tomokazu Seki
Fujitaka Kinomoto: Hideyuki Tanaka
Kaho Mizuki: Emi Shinohara
Naoko Yanagisawa: Emi Motoi
Rika Sasaki: Tomoko Kawakami
Chiharu Mihara: Miwa Matsumoto
Takashi Yamazaki: Issei Miyazaki
Sonomi Daidouji: Miki Itou

Major English Cast

N/A

Scores

Animation: 9/10 (x 4 = 36 pts)
Story: 8/10 (x 4 = 32 pts)
Music: 9/10 (x 4 = 36 pts)
Coherency/Story Arc: 9/10 (x 2 = 18 pts)
English Dubs: N/A
Gut Score: 9/10 (x 5 = 45 pts)

Total: 167/190 (87.9%)

Review

This review is only for season 1 of Cardcaptor Sakura, which was the first half of the series (episodes 1 – 35). This review also doesn’t review the Cardcaptors re-edit done for US release.

After my previous positive experiences watching CLAMP anime (see Chobits and Angelic Layer), this was added on my list to watch. I hesitated at first since I feared that it may be targeted for too young of an audience for me to enjoy, but I found that this wasn’t the case (either it wasn’t targeted for that young an audience, or I can still enjoy it if it is).

This series is also a lot like Angelic Layer in the sense that, if you tried giving a brief explanation of the series to someone, it may not sound as interesting as it really is. I mean, if you just say “this series is about a girl who has to collect magical cards in every episode,” it may sound really boring to some.

There are some repetitive elements that sometimes get annoying after a while – such as watching nearly the same animation for Sakura releasing her magical staff in every episode and the like – but for a series this long, I suppose that is to be expected.

I think the animation is well done for a 1998 series. I also enjoy both the credit and the episodic music in this series. Also, the internal story in each episode are diverse and interesting enough to make the series enjoyable, despite the fact that, as I stated above, from the long view most episodes are essentially “Clow Card does something bad. Sakura freaks out. Kero/Syaoran tells Sakura it’s a Clow Card. Sakura does her thing. The town is saved.”

One of the things I have to rather giggle about, though, are the strong same-sex attractions that are obviously going on (Tomoyo towards Sakura and Syaoran towards Yukito) as well the age difference in some of these attractions (Sakura and Syaoran towards Yukito and Rika towards Mr. Terada). In a sense I can see why Nelvana tried to cut these things out, because if there was a children’s show on TV which even hinted at those relationships at even a quarter of the strength that Cardcaptor Sakura does, the religious right would be practically rioting if the show wasn’t pulled off the air.

I’m really looking forward to watching the second half of the series to see where it goes. I have a general idea, but nothing beats actually watching it. My wallet is not looking forward to the $180 to $200 i’d need to fork out to buy the entire series, however.

First Watched: April – June 2006
Do I Own: No
Do I Recommend: Yes