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「さくらのドキドキ水族館」 (Sakura no Dokidoki Suizokukan)
“Sakura’s Thrilling Aquarium Visit”
Even though I may complain about the pacing, I thoroughly enjoyed this week’s episode.
General Impressions
Unlike most weeks where I’ll dive straight into a little mini-rant about the pacing of the series, I must say that the writers managed to pack a lot of content into this week’s episode. Between seeing Tomoyo bust out her secret agents to Syaoran showing off his mastery of magic, you could really feel things ramping up as the story started to inch toward some sort of expositional payout.
Backtracking just a little bit to this week’s card capture, boy was I surprised to see such a fleshed out capture. With Sakura on the ropes at certain points and Syaoran even hopping into the fray, this week’s “battle” felt pretty darn cool. Sure, Sakura may have unleashed various cards in previous captures, but I think this week may have marked the first time she went into full out badass Cardcaptor Mode. Honestly, it felt pretty good to see her bust out card after card as she tried to deal with the tricky Spiral card.
That said, what might have felt even better than seeing a fully costumed Sakura (and Syaoran) fight together might have been the huge bout of nostalgia that this week’s episode his us with. While it’s been quite some time since I’ve watched the original Cardcaptor Sakura, there was no denying that I could definitely remember some key moments that this week’s episode drew inspiration from. And while I’ll leave the surprise of what actually happened during the original series a secret (you should go rewatch the original series, it’ll be fun), I can’t help but feel you’ll enjoy this new series a wee bit more once you’ve refreshed your Cardcaptor knowledge.
Overall, a pretty fun episode that I think delivered on all fronts. With the story quickly moving along and the number of total possible cards steadily decreasing, I can’t wait to see what’ll happen once the person in Sakura’s dreams steps into the limelight. That said, I would be blown away (in a good way) if it ends up having absolutely nothing to do with Akiho. In any case, I’ll catch you guys next week where it looks like we’ll hopefully get a glimpse at who’s pulling the strings. See you then!
Preview
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I can’t for the life of me remember anything “significant” that would parallel this episode from the original series!? All I can remember… is Touya third-wheeling as usual… sneak in…. um um….
https://randomc.net/image/Cardcaptor%20Sakura%20Clear%20Card%20Hen/Cardcaptor%20Sakura%20Clear%20Card%20Hen%20-%2009%20-%20Large%2008.jpg
Man, they’re not even trying to hide that they plan to release either a filler episode or OVA with Meiling, are they? lol
https://randomc.net/image/Cardcaptor%20Sakura%20Clear%20Card%20Hen/Cardcaptor%20Sakura%20Clear%20Card%20Hen%20-%2009%20-%20Large%2026.jpg
Everyone loves a Slinky~
The déjà vu is strong in this one. I mean, isn’t the aquarium management going to get suspicious about a certain casual worker being on duty both times the glass (well, probably acrylic) of a tank has broken? He’s looking real shifty here, too:
https://randomc.net/image/Cardcaptor%20Sakura%20Clear%20Card%20Hen/Cardcaptor%20Sakura%20Clear%20Card%20Hen%20-%2009%20-%20Large%2016.jpg
So that’s it:
https://randomc.net/image/Cardcaptor%20Sakura%20Clear%20Card%20Hen/Cardcaptor%20Sakura%20Clear%20Card%20Hen%20-%2009%20-%20Large%2026.jpg
Sakura confirmed as Anti-Spiral.
There was a small insight into the production schedule too as the articles in the newspaper Sakura’s father was reading appeared in the Japan Times on February 1st.
https://randomc.net/image/Cardcaptor%20Sakura%20Clear%20Card%20Hen/Cardcaptor%20Sakura%20Clear%20Card%20Hen%20-%2009%20-%20Large%2004.jpg
Never have I seen a face like this before
This was a really enjoyable episode. Lots of cards used, the offending card causing a remarkable incident, Syaoran joining in and using magic… it felt more like an old episode of CCS than ever
don’t give up on this series clamp’s not stupid they wouldn’t be treading the same water as before unless they was a specific reason besides I respect them for having class and trying their kids characters like human beings and not perverse wishfullfillment fetish fuel like some other “creators” do. remember vampire princess miyu, or escaflowne, or crest of the stars or, blue seed. the creators of all of these individual shows didn’t need to add gimmicks to their stories to make them good they were confident enough in their own writing to make the stories the best they can be. that’s why I’m convinced clamp will make the clear card arc the best it can be because they are comfortable enough with their writing skills and thoroughly researched what they wanted in the story.
does sakura ever wear pants? I know that not as cute as a skirt but it would be interesting just to throw one in there. Even if its not a costume but just casual wear. lol
Notable moments in this episode:
1. Syaoran spoke English to two tourists in this episode.
2. Meiling sent a message to Syaoran in Cantonese.