Eriol Arrives, but for what reason?

Once again, this series pull out an excellent episode to start the third season off, and they aren’t exactly hiding what, generally, Eriol is.  He’s clearly a magician there for Sakura in what way.  However, for what reason he’s there and what powers he has, is still a mystery.  Also, the fact that Toya had a new transfer student in this class likely isn’t a coincidence either.

This will really be Sakura’s first test as master of the Clow Cards, especially since, for whatever reason, she can’t seem to activate them anymore.  This could also have something to do with the fact that the Clow book changed as well.

This episode also had several funny points in it, such as Tomoyo teasing Shaoran about liking Sakura, and the fact that he has a new “rival” in Eriol.

Full HD gallery is below the fold

A hell of a lot went on in this episode. Naturally, Sakura didn’t want to fight Yue, since he’s also Yukito, but was forced to by Yue. I guess Sakura shouldn’t take my advice anymore, because I suggested using the Wood card after the last episode, and that was obviously a bad idea. I’d think it would have been under Earth, but it must be under Windy or (more probably) Watery if it’s under the Moon.

Of course, after being Yue, we find out that the whole thing had been orchestrated in advance by Clow Reed, who noted that she ultimately noticed all the necessities disguised as coincidences that he had planted around her in preparation of her becoming the new Master of the Clow Cards. Of course, there are some philosophical questions that opens up, such as can Sakura really have had free will in capturing the cards if it was always her “fate” to become their new master, but these aren’t issues discussed in the show. I suppose that one could argue that Clow Reed only saw a possible future where Sakura become the new master, and she happened to fulfill it, but it was by no means guaranteed.

Of course, now that Sakura is the new Master of the Clow Cards, Shaoran isn’t really needed any more, is he? And wouldn’t it kind of be awkward that the person you’re crushing on is also one of your magical partners? (I don’t really want to call Yue Sakura’s servant since she didn’t want to refer to him as such.) I guess it gives Sakura an excuse to be around Yukito all the time now, though.

Of course, for those of you who might think this is the end: never fear! We have yet another season of Cardcaptor Sakura to get though!

Oooh boy, here we go.

While Earthy was quite a destructive card, and it was impervious to many of the other elemental cards (the Watery Card did nothing, and while Sakura didn’t use Firey, Kero’s fire attack didn’t do anything either), it seemed to be pretty easy to capture once Sakura figured out that it wasn’t attacking any place to trees.  All in all, this was probably the easiest of the three elemental cards that Sakura actually had to capture.

We also (finally) get to see Kero’s true form after Earthy’s capture.  I can understand now why Kero said that it would be even more impossible for him to hang out with Sakura’s friends in his true form in a previous episode.  He is rather conspicuous being all lion-y and all.  I assume that, since it’s his true form, Kero would have much greater magical powers (and I think he said as much in an earlier episode).  Unfortunately for Sakura, he finally returned to his true form after it would have been of any real help.

Next, we have Yukito, aka Yue’s alter-ego. As Keroberos notes, he seems to have a pretty nasty attitude, and was pretty ruthless towards Shaoran during his Final Judgment. Since it appears that Yue can hijack any card under the Moon, that would appear to put using Windy or Watery or any of the cards under them out of the question.

That would probably leave in play several attack cards such as Arrow, Fight, Firey, Power, Shot, and Sword, though one has to wonder how aggressively Sakura will go after Yue, knowing that Yukito is his alter-ego. The list of cards that might presumably be under Firey or Earthy which could be used for attack, but not be too harmful while being potentially effective doesn’t seem very long. Wood might possibly be under Earthy, and Sakura just used it against Earthy, so that may be the best candidate to use.

Also remember, Dash, Dream, Freeze, Return, Sand, Storm, Sweet, Time, and Twin are unavailable to Sakura, since Shaoran captured them. However, Freeze and Storm would seem to logically be under Windy or Watery, making them unavailable, and it would be hard to see how Dash, Dream, Return, Sweet, or Twin would be useful. About the only card that could conceivably be of any use that Shaoran had would have been Sand, since I’m assuming it’s under Earthy (no wonder Shaoran lost so badly).

Finally, we have Ms. Mizuki, who still apparently has a role to play.  Obviously she isn’t Yui, so that isn’t it, which begs the question, what is it?

Cards Captured: Earthy
Card Count: 52

Oh boy, here we go. The last of the Clow Cards and the last, and arguably most powerful and dangerous of the elemental cards: The Earthy Card. Except this episode ends in a cliffhanger (the first of the series, I think) as we have to wait until next week to see how Sakura and Shaoran actually deal with Earthy. I’m sure Sakura wishes Glow was the last Clow Card, or something, though.

The reason Kero came along with Sakura, other than the fact that there was only one Clow Card left, is the fact that Sakura had her dream with, presumably, Yue in it. The only time Sakura has had a dream where someone new appeared is when she finally meets that person. If she’s now having a dream about Yue, Kero probably suspects that she will be meeting him very soon, and it doesn’t look like it’s a prospect he’s looking forward to.

Kero seemed to possibly suspect that Ms. Mizuki was Yue, but the fact that Yue appeared to be separate from Ms. Mizuki in Sakura’s dream, and she said she had “other duties,” seems to indicate that this probably isn’t the case.

It’s also curious about how Toya said that there are no coincidences, only necessity, especially after Yukito remarked that it was a coincidence that he was there working. That strongly suggests (if it wasn’t already somewhat clear) that Toya working wherever Sakura happens to be hanging out isn’t merely a wild set of coincidences.

Cards Captured: none
Card Count: 51

Whaaa! Meilin left! It was so much fun having her around too. But I guess this means we’re nearing the end if we’re starting to get rid of major characters. At least Meilin was able to have a few nice moments with Shaoran before she left, though I think that the day that Shaoran finds someone he likes more than her is going to end up coming far sooner than Meilin would like.

I also like that we got to see a tad into Shaoran and Meilin’s past, since we haven’t really heard very much about it up to this point. It’s nice to see a story have someone fall in love with someone that wasn’t love a first sight, since that seems to often be the case.

Twin was a pretty nasty card to try to capture, since there were two parts, and you had to immobilize both parts at once. I guess Sakura could have done it with two cards, such as maybe Firey and Watery, if she used two attack cards, or maybe Wood and Windy if she used two binding cards, but it still would have been tricky to pull off.  Having Shaoran and Meilin there who can predict each other’s moves without needing to communicate was a pretty handy.

Cards Captured: Twin
Card Count: 51