Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card-hen

With all of the Clow Cards recaptured and changed into her own Sakura Cards, Sakura Kinomoto now enters her first year at Tomoeda Middle School. After her initial day of classes, Sakura reunites with her love Shaoran Li, who informs her that he is permanently moving back to Tomoeda. Much to her surprise, it even turns out that Shaoran will attend the same school and it seems as if Sakura's life is heading in all the right directions.

However, when Sakura goes to sleep, she encounters in her dream a mysterious cloaked figure and finds herself surrounded by transparent cards. Waking up in fear, Sakura is shocked to see her dream has come true, with the Sakura Cards having turned clear. Continued dreamlike encounters with the unknown enemy and her gaining a new magical key sets the stage for Cardcaptor Sakura's latest adventure!

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Kinomoto, Sakura Main

Tange, Sakura Japanese

Li, Shaoran Main

Kumai, Motoko Japanese

Daidouji, Tomoyo Main

Iwao, Junko Japanese

Keroberos Main

Hisakawa, Aya Japanese

Tsukishiro, Yukito Supporting

Ogata, Megumi Japanese

Yue Supporting

Ogata, Megumi Japanese

Kinomoto, Touya Supporting

Seki, Tomokazu Japanese

Li, Meiling Supporting

Yukana Japanese

Hiiragizawa, Eriol Supporting

Sasaki, Nozomu Japanese

Spinel Sun Supporting

Touma, Yumi Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Hashimoto, Kentarou Producer

Herek, Samantha Assistant Producer

Asaka, Morio Director, Storyboard

Reviews

Jun 21, 2018

earl_of_sandvich

Recommended

Possible spoilers ahead.

I've both watched the first series and movies, and read the manga (the final volume). Like other anime I've been watching at the time, this show helped keep my spirits up during some dark times in my life.

Madhouse and CLAMP have come a long way since the original CCS 20 years ago. Madhouse re-entered my radar with Hanayamata a few years ago, which I thoroughly enjoyed, and the animation and production quality there belied their struggles in the early 2010s. Likewise I haven't really kept up with CLAMP since the early episodes of Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, a series I just couldn't keep up ... with like I could with CCS.

Then the preview episode, "Sakura and the Two Bears" came out. Sure, there were a handful of shortcuts ("stick figure" like kids), but overall this was a "reboot" from the final episode of the series, modeled rather faithfully after the final chapter of the original manga, but with a more understated coloring compared to the first series' saturated coloring. "Oh... could this be?" I wondered. Yup, new anime confirmed with Madhouse as the production house. This is a welcome reunion in my book.

Possible spoiler: At first I thought this was manga canon, but... well, yes and no. The preview is straight from the final chapter of the (edit) manga, but in the series proper there are shots from the anime series finale, as well as references to the 2nd film in dialogue. It's entirely possible we're looking at parallel universes here (which appears to have been a fascination of CLAMP's since Tsubasa Chronicle, and it's a tempting pitfall for any fantasy or sci-fi writer). I think if they're careful, CLAMP could have a badass show/manga that not only delivers a great story in its own right, but resolves the differences between manga and anime, or, even better, preserves both and brings them together somehow. It really seems to me that they enjoyed what Madhouse did by expanding the manga into a 70-episode hit kids' anime series and 2 films, and they wanted to bring that expanded world into the manga as well (not sure if they actually talk about content exclusively from the anime in the manga, this is more intuition than anything).

The first cour (12 episodes or so) feels like a tribute to the fans of the first series. From the opening animation, to Maaya Sakamoto singing, to the continued use of the first series' soundtrack and voice cast, to familiar scenes here and there, the callbacks to series 1 are legion. Having watched the first series, it was fun looking at all the ways the production staff drew from series 1, and I think this was absolutely the right thing to do. We are picking up right where the first manga left off, so it makes sense to start with the familiar and have fun with it.

Clear Card repeats the tried and true episodic formula from before, but with new dangers, new cards, a new key, and a new twist. The slow pace might be a turn-off for those who demand faster-paced storytelling, but remember, this is a sequel to a 70-episode production where the first arc was almost an entire year's worth of anime. Not only this, it's a kid's show that's heavily character-driven-- if you move the plot too quickly, you will leave the younger viewers in the dust, characters won't develop organically, and it simply will be too jarring a difference in a world where fans pick apart everything in a sequel with an electron microscope.

Visually, the more understated coloring lends itself to brighter, more dramatic action, and a less "cartoony" look. The coloring reminds me of Honey and Clover in a good way, and their experience with particle systems/effects from Hanayamata (and probably other works) serve them well here.

As I mentioned, the soundtrack is largely the same, but there are some new additions, like the battle theme, transformation/release theme, and the capture theme. Honestly, this is a good (if economical) choice to me. Even though the older synth tracks might sound dated now, they've held up well. Rocket Beat is a fantastic OP, even if it's not something I'll put in my car playlist; Clear by Sakamoto is all right, but I think Platina is much better (because Yoko Kanno). The ED in the second cour features Akiho's voice actress, and she's a good voice to listen to while the mascots play out a funny scene; while she doesn't play a voice role, Saori Hayami sings the first ED. She's pleasant to the ears, and yet, again, I wouldn't put Jewelry in my playlist.

I suppose if there's one gripe I would throw at this, it's that the gang seem like elementary school kids but with different uniforms and a different school. This is partly due to the character design and the voice acting/direction. I know it's a kid's show and you don't really want to be discussing the birds and bees here, but it kinda makes it seem as though people go from dwarves to giants as they reach high school age. Not a deal-breaker for me, and the suspense element does help convey the passage of time.

SPOILER: I'd thought they would wrap up the entire arc in this series, but that didn't happen. I actually think they're fixing for a film, if not season 2. I think the kind of showdown that's brewing is too small for 22 or even 44 minutes of television. There's a possible contradiction between manga and the finale, so I desperately hope that (a) Madhouse does NOT fall into the same trap that sank Rozen Maiden and a few other series (i.e. rushing ahead of the manga), and that (b) CLAMP does NOT rage quit or completely wreck the world with their fascination of alternate universes.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Jun 20, 2018

Kam_Animeverse

Mixed Feelings

'The Greek word for "return" is nostos. Algos means "suffering." So nostalgia is the suffering caused by an unappeased yearning to return.'
~Milan Kundera


Nostalgia, while is a strong tool to make a sequel successful with high ratings, is not enough if you are banking only… and only on it.

The act of watching the sequel of a beloved show itself brings on enough nostalgia. The older audiences feel happy inside, thinking of good old days when the original show used to air and how they enjoyed it and talked about it with their friends; or enjoyed the show alone while cuddling up with their house pet, ... and parents moved around doing daily chores, smiling secretly at their kids’ lit-up faces.

Your etc. is part of that older generation audience, and is a huge admirer of CCS. And precisely that is the reason Clear Card-hen has disappointed me. Big time.


Regarding Story and Character, I am going to be in rant-mode now, please bear with me.


Story 3/10

Yes, of course I shall compare this to the original saga. The original saga was not simply about a girl who can do magic and plays around with cards. It had decently paced narrative with immense character development, surprisingly good exploration of love, gender identity, sacrifice, family and most importantly, efficient magical world-building without expanding it in an out-of-control manner, in only 70 episodes.

On the contrary, Clear Card-hen has a pace that certainly reminds you of all the bad fillers of shounen animes, the SOL way! Even after 16 episodes, the story reaches nowhere, taking quite a test of patience. When a season is only 22 episodes long, this is certainly not the ideal way to advance a narrative. The new narrative has such limited amount of new elements - only introducing new characters does not imply the story will immediately feel new. While there were SOL-ish elements in CCS, this sequel has stretched that into “I-will-read-a-WHOLE-story-to-kids-and-use-up-an-episode” level.

Why are the episodes consuming so much time by revisiting the same locations to catch similar cards? Was a new location so hard to design? No. The answer is, “remember, we had <done this and this> here? Now we are here, doing <placeholder for similar this and this>, so lovely memory… etc etc”.

In a dynamic medium like Anime, if one does not follow the audio-visual rule “show, don’t tell”, then it quickly becomes a boring tale. The lunchtime banter among friends or “remember that?” between Sakura and Kero / Tomoyo/ ANYONE added surprisingly little to the actual story.


Characters 5/10

This show does not give detailed attention to an important factor like character development, given the fact that it takes place some years later. What happened to the MC? Mind that, Sakura is fourteen now. But her behaviour still does not feel like older than that of CCS. Her “Oyeeeehhhhh”, the frequency of which is much more than her younger years (how??) and endlessly thanking and praising Akiho-chan, while are very cute for the first couple of times, quickly become repetitive aspects of her behaviour. Sakura can do better.

The only possible answer to this is that Madhouse is trying to grab the attention of the new younger audiences of Japan and around the world, for whom this sweetness of Sakura is new. But while nostalgia is the trump card, it is surprising to see Sakura herself not maturing with time. Even Anime-only Meilin has come a long way, she does not behave as she used to. Syaoran, while having frustratingly less dialogs except in the last three episodes, has grown up from that brat-y type of CCS.

As for the other characters, well, we come to know very little about the old characters and even less about the new characters, rather than seeing them saying endless thank you to each other and praising each other. Meanwhile, Syaoran boy keeps saying just “yeah” to everyone.

Romance of Syaoran and Sakura certainly took a backseat, which it shouldn’t have, after all those build-ups in CCS series and the movies. Interaction of Touya and Yue, while remained interesting, was SO short that I am sure many viewers were left feeling unfulfilled. A tease? Okay. But Touya’s secret power, which he will unleash whenever he feels right, serves no purpose in this season except being all words.

Akiho is a puppet and is painfully and repetitively so. Had the season been longer, we could have dived deeper into her and Kaito’s backstory, but the conscious decision of the director and animators to keep everything as the material for the next season is hardly the right way to keep the audience interested throughout.

Sound 8/10

The OP1 “CLEAR” and the ED2 are my favourites. Background sound is not as adorably cheesy as CCS, but not exceptional either.


Art/Animation 9/10

The art is beautiful and the animation feels refreshing. It’s 2018, and it’s Madhouse, so of course! This is a good update.

Enjoyment: 6/10

I was elated as the show started, and was quite forgiving in the beginning. It was great to see Sakura and others again! But then, I grew tired of waiting for the big reveals, new magic by new characters, new power of old characters and so on. Nope. It never really took off.

Overall: 6/10

To me, Clear Card-hen has clearly gone overboard with nostalgia and the SOL trend. Only the last two episodes are comparatively decent ones. The season leaves everything so open-ended that one is bound to feel cheated by the brains behind this show; ‘okay, so you simply want me to watch another season, you never had any intention to make it a concise, self-sufficient narrative’.


Will I watch the next seasons? Yes, I will. But this “hen” needs to step up the game. Else it is nothing more than an okay-kind nostalgia-fest than being the true successor of arguably the most interesting magical girl show.

I'll wait, Sakura and friends.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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May 8, 2020

haydenluvsanime

Not Recommended

If there’s anything worse than a bad sequel, it’s a disappointing one. Nothing about Clear Card is overtly offensive or insulting. It just sort of… exists in a weird space of its own. It has all the characters you love and remember doing their usual shenanigans. In a lot of ways, Clear Card just feels like an extension of the classic original, and after all, isn’t that what a second season is supposed to do? Well, yeah, but… let me try and explain.

The series starts with a beautiful opening performed by Maaya Sakamoto, who did the third and final opening for the original, which was ... why personal favorite from that series. First impressions are looking pretty good! Then the actual show begins. The first thing I noticed was that the overall color design felt significantly more washed out than the original. The hand painted backgrounds, fluid animation, consistently great storyboarding, amongst many other things, made Cardcaptor Sakura feel warm and alive. Clear Card’s digital backgrounds doesn’t even hold a candle. Nothing about this show pops quite the same way. Even the animation feels a lot less lively. Characters rarely go into chibi mode, which is something that is often very typical and commonplace for Clamp series, which wouldn’t really be a problem if the facial expressions weren’t also so consistently dull.. Again, the original does a way better job at portraying emotions across the board, giving those funny scenes more comedic value and those sad scenes more weight.

But visuals aren’t the only element that factors into a show’s overall quality. What about the plot itself? Well… it sure is Cardcaptor Sakura. The overall story structure is pretty much the same, characters act exactly the same, even some of the music and most of the cards are lifted straight from the original. Gale is just Windy, Labyrinth is just The Maze, Mirror is just… The Mirror. You get the idea. It’s honestly pretty frustrating that I have to talk about the original in comparison so much, but Clear Card seriously feels like it has a bit of an identity crisis, and that’s my biggest problem with this show in general.

The manga and the anime came out about 20 years after the original. With such a huge time gap, I would’ve wanted them to either do some changes, such as make the characters older to better reflect the audience that would’ve been excited for this show in the first place, or start over from scratch and remake the original or introduce a new cast to sell the show to a new generation of anime fans. Instead it’s in this awkward in-between spot where it doesn’t quite offer enough new for older fans, and isn’t accessible enough to new fans because they would have to watch 70 episodes of a show that’s over 20 years old now beforehand.

With all that being said, I wouldn’t be honest if I said I didn’t like anything about Clear Card. I really liked the first ED. The song and animation is very lively and playful, and I also found it cool how they reference cel animation in the first shot of the ED with the name plates. The characters are only colored within that small frame, with the full character sketch taking up the rest of the picture, just like how cel animation is done. The original was obviously made before the era where digital animation was the standard for anime, so I thought that was a cute nod. There are also certain moments that do capture the spirit of the original show, with my favorite episode being episode 19. That was a great episode.

So how do I feel about Clear Card as a whole? As a huge fan of the original Cardcaptor Sakura, I was very disappointed that the sequel didn’t feel like much of an evolution of the series, but instead more like the exact same thing we already watched 20 years ago, just not quite as good due to its lackluster presentation in comparison to the original, as well as reused plot points and ideas, making it an overall exhausting watch.

Would I recommend Clear Card to you? Eh, probably not. You might get more out of this than I did, but I wouldn’t raise my expectations too high. Just be aware that it ends on a massively unsatisfying cliffhanger. I won’t spoil what happens, and we may still get a second season someday to resolve the plot. I’m just throwing that out there for anyone who hates cliffhangers as much as I do. Actually, maybe watch Saint Tail if you’re clamoring for more anime like Cardcaptor Sakura. That show doesn’t get nearly as much love as it deserves.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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