Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card Hen / First Impressions / Series Introduction

OP Sequence

OP: 「CLEAR」 by 坂本真綾 (Sakamoto Maaya)

「さくらと透明なカード」 (Sakura to Toumeina Kaado)
“Sakura and The Clear Cards”

Oh boy. I can feel the nostalgia train hitting me hard right in the chest.

General Impressions

For a lot of us, I’m sure this first episode of Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card Hen was a trip back to an earlier time in life. A time where you (probably) watched a show with a similar name on your lousy tube television set while listening to a cast of English (or your regional equivalent) speaking actors as they went out on a journey to collect a bunch of magical cards that a kid named Sakura accidentally released. Fast forward a few decades to 2018 and lo and behold we have a brand spanking new continuation to a show from a lot of our childhood’s.

So, how did Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card Hen fair? Personally, I think this first episode was a great first step for both new and old fans alike. For newer fans who may have never caught the original Cardcaptor Sakura, I think Kero-chan’s quick explanation right at the beginning served as a decent enough explanation of what happened. Sakura accidentally released the magical Clow Cards and ended up becoming a “Cardcaptor” to capture the finicky things. Along the way she got to wear fancy outfits designed by the camera wielding Tomoyo and even developed a crush on the handsome Syaoran. But seeing how it’s nearly impossible to explain roughly seventy episodes and a movie or two in just a few minutes, it was nice to see the actual story integrate some explanation into the exposition.

For veteran fans though, boy are you in for a treat. Starting at the surface level, it was absolutely amazing how this first episode managed to retain that “fuwa-fuwa” feel from the original. Sure some might say that deviating from what came before is what you need in a sequel, but for a show that’s waited so long for something new, I think we can all appreciate that we got more of what worked so well in the past. Diving a little bit deeper though (and mind you I don’t remember too much from the original since it’s been so darn long), I love how the story is focusing on Sakura and what looks to be a journey of her becoming a stronger person. If you look at her dreams (or rather the blank Clow Cards) as a symbolization of how she is right now (blank, shattered) and compare it to what we saw right before the episode came to a close (the shattered cards turning into a new and I’m assuming powerful staff), I don’t think it’s too much of a stress to say that we’re about to embark on another journey with her as she figures out just what the heck is going on. Which when you think about it, is kind of how the original series started when she accidentally released all the Clow Cards!

So, as thing stand, we have Sakura facing an unknown power that’s messing with the Clow Cards. With the cards themselves completely powerless and new cards appearing, it remains to be seen just what the heck is going on and who or what is causing all of this to happen. Luckily, we have a ton of time and episodes to figure out just what’s going on and hopefully see some new cards/powers along the way!

Anyways, I’ll catch you guys next week where it looks like we’ll get to see Sakura in one of Tomoyo’s new outfits. I can’t wait!

 

ED Sequence

ED: 「Jewelry」by 早見沙織 (Hayami Saori)

Preview

41 Comments

  1. Yes! I has finally started after SO long!

    https://randomc.net/image/Cardcaptor%20Sakura%20Clear%20Card%20Hen/Cardcaptor%20Sakura%20Clear%20Card%20Hen%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2010.jpg

    Amazing how romance between children is done so much better than a lot of romance done between teens and adults today, lol.

    https://randomc.net/image/Cardcaptor%20Sakura%20Clear%20Card%20Hen/Cardcaptor%20Sakura%20Clear%20Card%20Hen%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2014.jpg

    Still love Kaho <3.

    https://randomc.net/image/Cardcaptor%20Sakura%20Clear%20Card%20Hen/Cardcaptor%20Sakura%20Clear%20Card%20Hen%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2035.jpg

    And they're still so adorable!

    Anyway, it feels like these new cards are like "variants" of the Clow Cards or something given how "Gale" is so similar to Windy, only a lot more volatile and offensive in nature as opposed to gentle and defensive like Windy usually is.

    HalfDemonInuyasha
    Reply

    3. Obviously, it was mainly because both teens & adults are driven by their hormones that triggers their sex drives to point of going bananas on anything sexual or prevy that could lead into an awkward moments. Whereas children romance is usually tame & innocent. Mind you, though, the main casts here are in their early teens now. Expect our cherished OTP to go out on a date, but don’t deny the possibilties of awkward moments.

      Seriously, though. That’s like questioning human nature. It’s hard to deny that inevitable fact.

      Real Xero8420
      Reply

  2. After watching the original the digital animation and quick pacing stand out. It’s good but I like how slow the original was with things going on visually. It’s not bad but will take a little getting use to. It is nice to see everyone in middle school and the pacing will probably slow down as the filler starts.

    memi
    Reply

  6. Have you ever been in a situation where you’ve lost touch with someone who was once a close friend (or even more than that), and then out of the blue you cross paths again and meet up. It’s a bit awkward at first, but you talk about old times and soon it’s almost as if the years have just melted away. Afterwards, you part knowing that things can never be the same as they were because you’ve both moved on in your lives, but there’s still a lingering warmth – yes, nostalgia is a large part of it, but also there’s a new feeling, not quite a rekindling maybe, but you can both go on from there to make a new, different type of friendship.

    Well, that’s exactly how I feel about Clear Card. But it runs deeper than that, though. The original series hung in part on Sakura’s “childish crushes”, but now she’s older and this time it’s real romantic love she is having to deal with. And with this coming of age, there is also a new crisis, the loss of her Sakura Cards. Now we are in classic fairy tale territory, with its deep-seated fears about the transition to adulthood and the changes it brings.

    So a fantastic start to the new series. I’ve only two concerns at this stage, one is that Tomoyo’s videoing has become downright voyeuristic as she invades Sakura’s most intimate moments, and the other is that whole thing is going end up as a lightspeed rehash of the original series without any of its depth and subtlety. At this stage, though, for sure it’s a must watch.

    Angelus
    Reply

    1. ” and the other is that whole thing is going end up as a lightspeed rehash of the original series without any of its depth and subtlety.”

      Are you saying this is what you fear or that this is what you predict will happen?

      sonicsenryaku
      Reply

      1. I saw the problem with my post, but of course you can’t edit comments here. What I meant was that I was concerned with Tomoyo’s voyeurism as a problem right now, but just afraid that the whole thing was going to turn into a rehash given that, at least so far, the basic mechanism of each episode looks as though it’s going to be the same as the original series. I think part of that was me assuming it was just going to be a single cour, but apparently that’s not the case as it will have 22 episodes.

        Angelus
        Reply

  7. So I have never watched the original. Am I really okay to jump in here? I’ve always been a little curious, but could never push myself to start and here seems to be a decent opportunity.

    Avalon
    Reply

    2. It’s fine to start here in general. Though you might need to google some characters if the anime did not provide enough information about them, because this is after all, a direct sequel. Plotwise though, you should be fine generally.

      danes256
      Reply

      1. CLAMPs target demographic with the series is teenage girls(And often younger). It’s not like say with Tsubasa Chronicles that had a Shonen demographic, or xxxHolic Seinen. Visually/tonally you’re going to get things that will fit the Shojo demographic.

        With it being CLAMP of course everyone will follow, but you just have to know what to expect from their work.

        Lyfe
        Reply

    3. It’s fine and easy to understand but the original is too good to skip. I’ve only read a few chapters of the Clear card manga version and I wouldn’t tell anyone to start from there tbh. Plus the main couple’s development is precious and really well developed, it’s a waste to watch it starting from this sequel imo.

      South
      Reply

  11. This first episode brought everything I love about CLAMP. I hope they dont mess up things along the way, as they did with TSUBASA and xxxHolic.
    Its the first time I’m watching in japanese, so I found a little strange their father using “kun” and “san” to talk with Sakura and Touya.
    By the way, my fujoshi heart screamed when Sakura said “Yukito spends the night”. They are so married now!
    I almost cry when the 3rd old op started to play as instrumental.
    I have hopes that, Sakura being a success, they would think about bringing back other CLAMP work, I would love to see Rayearth again and with such beautiful animation.

    neko_in_blue
    Reply

    1. CLAMP had their priorities wrong with Tsubasa I thought. The OVAs were largely pointless to those who don’t read the manga. You can’t just skip over a ton of material and expect your anime only viewers to have a clue what’s going on. And then they didn’t bother to at least produce the final arc in anime form to give it closure.

      Lyfe
      Reply

  12. Sakura bickering with her baka Onii-Chan, Tomoyo “stalking” Sakura, Sakura and Syaoran’s puppy love, lots of costumes and miles and miles of Clamp-standard style. So far it’s more of the same, BUT WHO CARES?

    Exukvera
    Reply

  13. its funny how male characters in anime are being treated today as opposed to 20 years ago where they were shown as having flaws but were good at heart and did the right thing when the chips were down (vash the stampede, wolfwood, kenshin, sanosuke, yahiko, jet, spike, gene starwing, jim hawking, hige, toboe, tsume, kiba, hero, duo, trowe, qautre, wui fe, inuyasha, miroku, and shippo). nowadays most of these characters would be turned into crazy jerks, dimwitted morons, man children or be completely omitted from the storyline for no reason then to let hermits project their perverse fantasies onto the girl characters just because. but then again most of the “stories” if you can call them that now are being made by amateurs who just take snippets from their favorite shows put them in a blender and just animates whatever comes out without proofreading anything first.

    minxy
    Reply

  14. I find the loss of the original cards to be disturbing, because at least some of those cards had very clear identities as sapient people. Mirror in particular comes to mind. I would be very upset if they’ve somehow been killed.

    Also, if this adaptation is based on the manga as people tell me it is, there are going to be a number of things different from what many of us are familiar with. Most significantly (to my eyes) is that the character of Meiling won’t even exist in this series. I am very saddened by that, because while I’m aware there are mixed opinions about her, I happened to really like her.

    Wanderer
    Reply

    1. Yeah, this totally bothers me and I feel like it should bother Sakura more. Also, it’s getting kinda repetitive at this stage. She has latent magic, it would be nice if she would broaden her horizons and we saw some of the magic more in the vein that Clow Reed uses. Or really any magic that can’t be “turned off” at the push of a button. Whoops, sorry, no more cards for you. Try again next season.

      Alice
      Reply

  20. Talk about getting hit by a train of nostalgia. I definitely remember watching the Kids WB version on US TV during my high school days. That version made Syaoran more of the main character (hence the title was changed from “Cardcaptor Sakura” to “Card Captors”) because apparently girls weren’t allowed to be main characters back then? I also recall a bunch of episodes were cut into short “eye catch” clips just to speed up the story. I still watched it regularly though as my only access to Anime back then was whatever aired on TV. Internet was too slow for digital fansubs (accursed 56k modems!!) and all I could do was cry over articles describing how butchered CCS was for the sake of English “localization”. Yes, those were the dark days of Anime. I’m really dating myself there aren’t I?

    Fortunately, I went to a college with high speed internet and I marathoned the CCS Anime fansubs, so it ended well for me.

    Perhaps the only thing that feels weird to me (aside from HD quality) is the lack of a time skip. IRL it’s been 18 years since the last movie ended, so I expected a few years to have passed instead of basically no time skip at all. I mean, look at the Nanoha series, they’re all grown up now 😛

    Aoihoshikage
    Reply

  22. My goodness. Childhood memories and nostalgia is hitting me hard right now. Made me think how awesome my childhood was with this show and many others.

    How I wish CLAMP revive Magic Knight Rayearth as well.

    Great first episode. OP and ED were topnotch.

    Vaans
    Reply

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