Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card Hen / First Impressions

「さくらと鏡と思い出の鍵」 (Sakura to Kagami to Omoide no Kagi)
“Sakura, The Mirror, and The Key of Memories”

I think I get what the story’s going for, but it feels like it came way too late.

General Impressions

Before diving into all that angst, can we talk about just how great it was to see Touya and Fujitaka have a simple father-son conversation with each other? It’s been sometime since we’ve seen the two together and I loved just how real the two are when talking to each other. As the two oldest people in the house, it’s adorable how they’re so aware of what Sakura’s up to but allow her to figure things out on her own. Especially when you consider that Fujitaka has literally zero magical powers and is rarely home.

With that little burst of happiness out of my system, let’s dive into this week’s big reveal. First off, I wish you guys could have seen my face when Eriol started dropping all those juicy tidbits about Sakura and Kaito. It was a fun mix between ecstatic and straight up pissed off with the latter definitely showing more of itself. Because if we’re being honest here, did the story really have to wait twenty one episodes before revealing key information like this? Sure, you can keep it hidden from the characters, but would letting us listen in on a conversation between Eriol and Syaoran been too much to ask for?

Honestly, the story waiting until this point to reveal things left a real sour taste in my mouth that I’m not sure I appreciated. Like, when we were listening to Syaoran’s inner thoughts as he explained that all these things that were happening around Sakura were being caused by Sakura just rubbed me the wrong way. I guess there was a cute enough scene after Sakura captured The Mirror card to help try and bring things back up, but the story has a lot of explaining to do if it wants to make it by the end.

All that said, it looks like things are going to finally come to a climax next week where all our of key players are about to be on the move. The mysterious figure in Sakura’s dreams seems to be ready to unleash whatever it is they’ve been preparing for her and I’m sure Kaito will also be there when the time calls for it. Hopefully, whatever happens, will be worth all the build up since I’d be so disappointed if we didn’t get something to tie things all together.

Anyways, I’ll catch you guys next week. See you then!

 

Preview

16 Comments

  1. https://randomc.net/image/Cardcaptor%20Sakura%20Clear%20Card%20Hen/Cardcaptor%20Sakura%20Clear%20Card%20Hen%20-%2021%20-%2034.jpg
    Touching moment for two 10-year olds but they’re still too young.

    Syaoran has 4 older sisters and a very powerful, if not domineering, mother. So his attitude towards Sakura could be understood. He’s used to watching competent women do their own agenda.

    https://randomc.net/image/Cardcaptor%20Sakura%20Clear%20Card%20Hen/Cardcaptor%20Sakura%20Clear%20Card%20Hen%20-%2021%20-%2007.jpg
    As for the brother and the father, there’s really no excuse. This is the problem with “strong female” anime: they have to weaken the men to make the women stronger. The Japanese do a good job of showing Sakura “girly” with her desire to cook, and do cheerleading, and when Americanized, Sakura is ruined as they try to make her more of an American girl, as well as more assertive towards Touya-kun.

    It’s rare when the women are strong but so are the men in anime, and the two can still fulfill traditional roles!

    jhpace1

    1. They are 13-years old. They were only 10 at the beginning of CCS.

      On another subject, Eriol’s house really was torn down. That makes it clear that the Sealed Card is completely canon, pardon the pun. Considering Yuna’s time magic, it’s not implausible that he could restore the house to an earlier point in time. What I wonder is how Sakura and Syaoran don’t remember it.

      ruicarlov

      1. Yuna is established as a powerful magus with expertise on time manipulation, but his powers might extend to perception as well – when he turned time back to erase his mistake in conversation with Akiho, she wasn’t just “rewound” to the previous point in time, she could tell something was wrong after the spell took effect. We also don’t know how much of her dreams he’s manipulating, too.

        TheYepMan

  2. For me this was an amazing episode although now I’m concerned this was the penultimate one. I’m curious in how they’re going to close the story so far without it feeling rushed.

    I loved how almost everyone knows what Sakura has been up to, even her dad and I want to see her face once she realizes this (if it happens). And lastly, seeing that there IS a mage society I wouldn’t be surprised that someone in Sakura’s family had been a renowned powerful mage before her…

    FSLightbringer

    1. I’m not sure about this but was Nadeshiko raised by her Grandpa? It’s pretty shocking for sure, but he felt closer to Nadeshiko like a daughter so giving Sakura the house she loved and was raised in makes sense to him.

      Ani_BEE

    1. Yeah, this feels more like a split cour thing considering the anime quickly caught up with the manga now, even with fillers. The story can’t go much further than where we are, though, considering what’s happening and how everything is quickly unraveling now, I’d say CLAMP could finish this off in a single cour by Winter 2019’s season.

      TheYepMan

    2. I doubt it, at least not from Madhouse anyway. The first volume was at something like 3.3k on Blu Ray which isn’t exactly huge and makes me question if Madhouse would see it as worth bothering with again.

      Lyfe

  5. Wow, Mage Society! In London. I’m half-expecting Sakura to become a Master in the next Holy Grail War. *queue Into the Night*

    In all seriousness, the conversation between Touya and his Dad was really enlightening. I really can’t think of a better father figure in all of animedom.

    Aaaaand there’s no way there won’t be a season 2. We’re getting yet another layer of mystery in the form of Nadeshiko’s key in the penultimate episode, so there’s no way we can wrap it all up without it being incredibly unsatisfying. There would be blood on Madhouse’s hands.

    Sui-kun

    2. In the manga is a necklace
      clock. Kaito wants the cards so he intends to steal the staff of Sakura I believe. But now we have a possible new staff with time-centered magic.

      Charkan

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