It’s the start of season 3, and Sakura and Kero have been bored since Sakura captured the last of the Clow Cards, Mrs. Mizuki is away in England for an overseas trip, and Shaoran is planning on heading home to Hong Kong now that the Clow Cards have a new master.  However, there is a new transfer student from England in Sakura’s class, Eriol Hiiragizawa, who takes an unusual interest in Sakura.

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

It’s Cardcaptor Sakura episode 46, and Sakura is forced to fight Yue, who defeats her by rebounding her attack using the Wood card against him. He then tells her that the catastrophe Yue to befall the world is that the Clow Cards and anyone they have affected will lose their memories of the person they love the most. Sakura then has a dream of such a world, but is helped out by Ms. Mizuki’s bell. Sakura then is able to transform her wand into the Star Wand, and uses it to capture Yue, making her Master of the Clow Cards.

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!

It’s Cardcaptor Sakura episode 45, and Sakura fights to defeat the final Clow Card: the Earthy Card. She’s finally able to do so by using Wood after noticing that Earthy isn’t attacking any place with trees. However, upon sealing Earthy, Yui appears to administer the Final Judgment upon Shaoran and Sakura.

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

It’s Cardcaptor Sakura episode 44, and Sakura watches Yukito compete in a archery tournament. However, Kero fears that the catastrophe that will befall the world may be soon at hand.

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

It’s Cardcaptor Sakura episode 43, and Meilin gets a call telling her that it’s time to go home. However, Meilin feels like Shaoran doesn’t care for her and they get into a big fight. Sakura invites Meilin over for the night to try to help situation when the Twin card shows up. However, only Meilin and Shaoran working together are able to defeat it.

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

It’s Cardcaptor Sakura episode 42, it’s time for Sakura and Shaoran’s play, with Sakura playing the Prince, Meilin playing an excellent evil Witch and, of course, Shaoran playing the Princess.  The play progresses without real incident, with Shaoran acting nervously and Sakura being all athletic until suddenly an absolute darkness covers everything, leaving Sakura lone.  She identifies the card as The Dark card, but that isn’t enough to capture it.  She soon realizes that she’s glowing and assures herself that she’ll be alright, and this allows The Light card to appear.  Sakura is able to seal the two cards together, but as they return to card form, they tell Sakura that they hope Sakura will be their new master, but Yue will be the one who must make that final decision.

This episode marks the first time that Sakura has heard of Yue, and we get one small, but potentially important piece of information about Yue: he/she is close to Sakura already. That would seem to suggest that it is somebody we already know.  The question is who?  The most obvious suspect would be Ms. Mizuki, considering how she keeps showing up in Sakura’s dreams, and also seems to always know when a Clow Card is about to show up. But perhaps that’s too obvious a choice? The only other people around who seem to show any disposition toward magic are Shaoran, Kero, and Toya, and clearly none of them seem like very likely suspects.

Meanwhile, I love how Meilin played the villain in the play. She makes the perfect evil witch (amazing how the parts just randomly fell into place there…).  I love how she got all jealous  during the scene where Sakura was supposed to wake Shaoran up.  I also had to laugh at how Shaoran was such a bad Princess, with him getting nervous with Yukito in the audience, and then falling onto the spinner when he trips over his dress.

Finally, we’re now over the 50 mark for the number of Clow Cards collected. How many more to go? There can’t be too many left.

Cards Captured: Dark, Light
Card Count: 50

It’s Cardcaptor Sakura episode 41, and it’s time for the school festival, and Sakura’s class is doing the play “Sleeping Beauty.”  However, Sakura lands the role of the Prince while Shaoran ends up as the Princess.  The pair sees Yukito, who says he’s looking forward to the play, so the pair decide to practice together before school the next day.  However, when they arrive, The Sand card attacks, and the pair has to work together to capture it, with Sakura using Watery on it and Shaoran freezing it with Freeze.  The card can’t decide who to go to, but Sakura ends up giving it to Shaoran in return for him giving her the Cloudy card from before.

This episode made Ms. Mizuki seem increasingly suspicious, as the Sand card appears to have left the shrine. If she is in fact controlling when and where the remaining Cards strike, that would obviously explain how she appears to be aware that one is about to appear, even before they do. It would also support Shaoran’s feeling that she is someone of great power, since it would presumably take someone like that to control unsealed Clow Cards like that. This is further supported by the fact that Shaoran is noticing that cards seem to keep attacking when no one else is around, which is pretty convenient for them.

Ms. Mizuki, on two occasions in this episode, also remarked that something will happen very soon. Presumably this is whatever is going to happen at Tokyo Tower, but it still doesn’t tell us what, exactly.

It looks like the play itself will be in the next episode. That should be fun, especially since Shaoran looks like he’s about to freak out during the kiss-and-wake-up scene.

Cards Captured: Sand
Card Count: 48

It’s Cardcaptor Sakura episode 40, and Sakura and company shop and do a lot of stuff around Tokyo.  However, things start getting weird when a blue butterfly pops up next to Tomoyo, sending her into a dreamy state about Sakura, and later, the same butterfly appears sending Shaoran into a dreamy state where he sees himself handing over his Clow Card to Sakura (in a copy of a scene of a romantic movie the group had been watching).  Next, the group visits Tokyo Tower where everyone starts acting a tad strange until Kero tells her that she’s in a dream (not the real Kero).  Sakura then sees herself from her recurring dream, and also sees that the woman on Tokyo Tower is indeed, Ms. Mizuki.  The Sakura in her dream appears and tells the real Sakura that “it will definitely be all right.”  Sakura is then pulled out of her dream when Shaoran uses time Time, allowing Sakura to seal the card – The Dream card, a card that shows fortelling dreams.

And this catches us up to where CCS HD has aired on TV.  The show typically airs on Mondays, but it takes frequent weeks off for whatever reason, so even though they’re 13 months into it, they’ve only aired 40 episodes.  So if there is a CCS-less Monday on here, that may be the reason.

The series continues to ramp up towards some event at Tokyo Tower, though we still don’t really know what it is. About the only thing for sure is that it will involve Sakura, Ms. Mizuki, and perhaps someone else who we haven’t fully seen yet. We’re seeing references to Sakura’s dream at Tokyo Tower more often than not in episodes now.

Also, while Ms. Mizuki didn’t make it known to Sakura that she was aware that Dream was there, she clearly knew, as it is shown that she watched the events from afar this time.  Other than that, this was mainly just a fun episode with the group going around. I had to laugh at Tomoyo’s dream of being surrounded by Sakuras and then getting doinked on the head by Meilin while she and Sakura were playing wack-a-mole.

Cards Captured: Dream
Card Count: 47

It’s Cardcaptor Sakura episode 39, and Sakura comes down with a bad fever, but tries to go to school anyway.  This results in her fainting and Toya having to bring her back home.  However, there is no rest for the wary as Sakura feels the presence of The Cloudy card and, against Kero’s advice to stay in bed, Sakura uses Mirror to leave a copy of herself behind while she heads out to capture the Clow Card.  However, she’s so weak that she can barely even seal it, and Shaoran wins the card, though he ends up giving it to Sakura.  This adventure only makes her fever worse, however, and Sakura’s mother’s spirit arrives to help lower her fever in the end.

A couple of interesting things happened in this episode: first, we pretty much confirm that Toya has figured out, at least roughly, what Sakura is up to.  Though this also shows a side of his personality too since, while he likes teasing her for being a “monster” and such all the time, he’s quite content to keep his knowledge of what he’s doing a secret.  Second, it’s interesting that Shaoran ended up giving The Cloudy card to Sakura in the end.  We’ve can already see that Shaoran likes Sakura (even if he may not realize it himself yet), and this event really shows Shaoran’s progression from a rival to more of a partner.

We also end the rather long absence of Sakura’s mother in this episode, though this is the first time I can remember that Sakura can actually sense her mother being around.  We’ve long known that Toya has been able to see his mother, but Sakura hasn’t really been able to.  Perhaps this shows that Sakura’s power has now gotten even stronger.

We also get to see how useful the Mirror card really is in this episode, though, unbeknown to Sakura, it isn’t really all that useful against Toya since he can tell immediately that it’s not Sakura.

Cards Captured: Cloudy
Card Count: 46

It’s Cardcaptor Sakura episode 38, and Sakura’s class goes out strawberry picking for the day (leaving Kero behind, unfortunately for him).  However, the materials building, where they were going to cook up some yummy treats, has mysteriously locked and no one can get it open.  When Sakura, Shaoran, Tomoyo, and Meilin investigate, they find that the door opens, but once they enter, they’re locked inside.  The group can’t figure out how to get out until Sakura spots Ms. Mizuki outside pointing at her neck, and Sakura realizes that she has to “unlock” the Lock card by using her magic key.

This was the first kind of boring episode of the second season, I thought. Lock wasn’t a particularly exciting Card to capture once Ms. Mizuki told Sakura how to do it (and the only reason she had to was because Kero was at home dreaming about strawberries).  Perhaps the only real other thing in this episode is that Toya wanted to say something to Yukito about something, but I’m not really sure we know what he wants to say yet.

However, this episode marks yet another a time when Ms. Mizuki appears to be fully aware that a Clow Card is in effect, which has happened in pretty much every episode in the 2nd season so far I believe. I think this is the first time Ms. Mizuki has actively helped Sakura in capturing the card since Maze, though.

And poor Kero, how many times has he lost out on eating sweets because Sakura either gives them all away to Yukito or can’t come up with a reason to save some?

Cards Captured: Lock
Card Count: 45

It’s Cardcaptor Sakura episode 37, and Tomoyo is practicing for a big choir competition where she’ll be the key solo.  However, a Clow Card suddenly arrives and steals her voice.  Kero realize that it’s the Voice card, but despite even knowing what card it is, Sakura and Shaoran can’t think of a way to find it in order to seal it.  While visiting Tomoyo, Sakura remarks that this is the second time Tomoyo’s been a victim, which allows Shaoran to realize that they can use Song to trick Voice that Tomoyo got her voice back.  The plan works, allowing Sakura to seal Voice and returning Tomoyo’s voice to her.

Any episode in which we get a song from Tomoyo is a good episode, and I’m sure Voice suffered the wrath of many a viewer for taking Tomoyo’s voice. Luckily, as Tomoyo pointed out at one point in the episode, Shaoran’s relationship with Sakura has moved from being her rival to one of watching over her, so he was happy to help Sakura come up with a solution on how to get Tomoyo’s voice back.

Of course, Tomoyo had it figured out from the Firey episode that Shaoran had something for Sakura, but now it seems like she’s starting to prod him a bit about it, which should be fun in the future.  I especially like how Shaoran got all flushed when Tomoyo wrote down a remark mentioning that he is watching over Sakura now.

As for the card…there are some card that I just don’t get.  The Song card I can understand: you have a card that can sing really well.  That can be nice or come in handy at times.  What what is the point of Voice? I’m sure Clow probably didn’t create it to steal voices.  That’s not what he created the cards for – it was just a mischievous card.  But what can Voice do that Song can’t (other than actually take someone’s voice away from someone rather than merely copy it).

Oh, and if you didn’t notice, I’m experimenting with new review layouts again.  I always think my recap section is too long (and I usually have to cut it down by about half from even the first draft) but I thought I’d at least try to condense it down to a paragraph or so of the most vital events of the episode.  We’ll see how long this format lasts.

Cards Captured: Voice
Card Count: 44

It’s Cardcaptor Sakura episode 36, and the second season starts with a new school year, and some new suspicions about Sakura’s new homeroom teacher.

For the third time in a row, the episode begins with Sakura’s dream about Tokyo Tower. However, she wakes up from the dream to find that it’s the first day of her 5th grade year. Kero then shows off the cards Sakura caught over break: The Arrow, Bubbles, Wave, Libra, and Through cards.

Meanwhile, Sakura gets to walk to school with Yukito since his bike is busted and Toya has morning duty, where he gives Sakura a gift for her birthday and moving to the 5th grade. Once at school, they find that Ms. Mizuki is their new homeroom teacher. This makes Sakura all dreamy until she remembers her dream again. Sakura notices that it’s starting to snow outside, and Ms. Mizuki remarks that they should have fun outside before it piles up too much.

At home, Sakura opens up her gift from Yukito, which is a watch. Later in the evening, the snow really starts to pile up outside, with Toya remarking that there is already a meter. This makes Sakura wonder if a Clow Card is behind all the snow, so she, Tomoyo, and Kero head out, where they meet Shaoran and Meilin, who says that it’s the doing of the Snow card.

Sakura and Shaoran find it odd that they didn’t sense it until it piled up this much, but Sakura remarks how Ms. Mizuki seemed to know it would pile up. Soon, Snow attacks the group with a blizzard, so Sakura and Shaoran try to get away with Fly. Shaoran tries to use his fire magic, but it does little good, and Snow attacks again, causing Sakura to lose her watch.

This churns up the woman’s wrath within Sakura, and she completely obliterates Snow with Firey, allowing her to easily seal it. Sakura is sad that she lost the watch, and Shaoran offers to help her look for it, but Ms. Mizuki arrives with it instead.

So the start of the second season starts with some cards that we didn’t get to see Sakura capture (boo!), and the rather disruptive Snow card. However, as Sakura noted, it surely seems like Ms. Mizuki knew that the snow was the work of a Clow Card, and one also has to wonder why Sakura and Shaoran couldn’t feel the card’s presence. Could that be Ms. Mizuki’s doing as well? She certainly seems to be around a lot whenever Clow Cards show up, after all.

Otherwise, I have to laugh at Shaoran getting all embarassed about riding with Sakura when she uses Fly now, when he had no problem with it earlier in the series. It seems that he’s becoming more aware that Sakure is, indeed, a girl. Oh, and I also like pissed off Sakura. As Kero said, it’s scary when girls get mad.

The total card haul in this episode, including cards captured over the break is 6, putting the total now at 43.

Cards Captured: Arrow (from the movie), Bubbles, Wave, Libra, Through (otherwise over break), and Snow.
Card Count: 43

This is a review for Cardcaptor Sakura: The Movie, the first movie in the Cardcaptor Sakura franchise. This movie was created after the second season of the series, but takes place between the first and second season, so that’s where I’ll add it during my blogging.

It’s not technically part of the Cardcaptor Sakura HD project that I’m aware, but I thought I’d throw it in, since it’s part of the story.

In this movie, Sakura is lured to Shaoran and Meilin’s home of Hong Kong by a sorceress who wants to take revenge on Clow Reed.

Sakura battles the Arrow card, which is a pretty nasty card that is able to shoot multiple arrows at someone at a time. To start with, Sakura is only able to run away, but Shaoran is able to give her enough cover with this Thunder magic to allow Sakura to seal Arrow. That night, Sakura has a dream about a pair of ribbons binding her and pulling her under water. She also hears someone say “water is a thing that flows.”

Meanwhile, its the end of the winter term at school. After class, Sakura visits Twin Bells where she enters a draw Tomoeda town is holding. One of the balls seem to jump into her hands – and it ends up being the winning golden ball, which is a 5 day trip to Hong Kong over the winter break. Fujitaka is going on a business trip, so Sakura ends up going with Toya, Fujitaka, and Tomoyo.

The group goes out and sees the town, which Kero finds nostalgically magical. He also has suspicions about how Sakura won the draw, remarking that Clow’s favorite theory is that “there are no coincidences in this world.” That evening, Sakura once again has a dream about water, but this time she sees two birds and a woman in the dream.

The next day, the group visits Bird Street (or more correctly, the Bird Garden on Yuen Po Street), where Sakura feels an odd presence of someone watching her. Sakura then sees the two birds that she saw in her dream and chases after them, and uses Jump to follow them to an old well in between some buildings. A pair of ribbons come out of the well and entrance Sakura into nearly jumping in when Shaoran appears and stops her.

After Li stops her and the presence disappears, Sakura ends up falling into the well anyway. Back on Bird Street, Tomoyo runs into Meilin, who is looking for Shaoran. Shaoran and Sakura finally return, and Shaoran brings the group to his house so Sakura can change clothes. There, the group are introduced to Shaoran’s four older sisters…as well as Shaoran’s very proper and elegant mother.

Shaoran’s mother immediately can tell that Sakura has the Clow Cards, and tells Sakura that great power can also serve as an opportunity for hardship. She then invites them all to stay the night. That night, Sakura has yet another dream about the woman in the watery place. This time, the woman grabs Sakura with her ribbons, with the woman saying that she’s waited for her for forever. The woman approaches Sakura, and Sakura screams, waking her from her dream. However, this time she still has marks on her arm from where the ribbons grabbed her in her dream.

Mrs. Li then brings Sakura outside and conjures up a large version of Clow’s compass. Mrs. Li determines that Sakura has been beckoned to Hong Kong by the woman in her dream, but she also tells Sakura that only she knows the path she must take. When they leave the next morning, Ms. Li gives Sakura one last word of warning: beware of water.

Meilin and Shaoran then give the group a tour of Hong Kong. While out, Sakura spots the white birds again and chases after them again. Kero senses that the birds have very strong magic as Sakura follows them into an old shop.

In the shop, Sakura finds a book, which is making the sound of water. On the cover of the book is the well that Sakura was at before, with the lady in her dreams on it. Sakura then becomes possessed again and opens the book just as everyone else arrives. Water then rushes out of the book and transports everyone to the watery place from Sakura’s dream, where the woman appears.

The woman demands why Sakura is there and not “him.” Sakura flies away from the woman’s watery attacks until Shaoran is able to cover for her by using Freeze on one of them. The woman then reveals that the four others are traps in balls of water. Once again, the woman asks why they are there and not Clow Reed. Meanwhile, Kero swears she’s met the woman before.

Shaoran then uses Storm to enclose the woman while Sakura uses Sword to free Tomoyo and escape. Shaoran tries to free Meilin, but is unable to break the bubble. However, the woman soon breaks free of Storm, and encases Shaoran in a bubble. Sakura has to escape from a weakness in the woman’s magic above her, and out the book. However, the book is now gone.

Kero then suddenly remembers the woman. She was a fortune teller by using water. Howeer, Clow Reed showed up, and, being a superior fortune teller, the woman’s business took a dive. The tried to challenge Clow on several occasions but always lost. Having never gotten revenge of Clow, she encased her soul in the book when she died. However, since the book disappeared, they don’t have a way to get back. However, Sakura remembers the well on the cover of the book as the one she was at before.

That night, Sakura tries to enter the well, but a barrier appears around it. Kero doesn’t think Sakura can break through it with her current power, but then Mrs. Li shows up and is able to create a hole in the barrier long enough for Sakura to get through and enter the well. The well ends up being a dimensional tunnel which has entrances to several different dimensions. Sakura uses her power to find the correct entrance and enters. She then makes her way back to the woman’s lair by following the white birds.

Once again, the woman demands to know where Clow Reed is. Kero tries to tell her that Clow has died, but she doesn’t believe him. She then uses the life-force of Toya, Yukito, Meilin, and Shaoran to escape her dimension into real Hong Kong out of the well, and Sakura follows suit. The woman, confused by her now modern surroundings, attacks Sakura with her water magic until she captures Sakura with her ribbons and takes her to an unfinished skyscraper.

There, Sakura tries to tell her again the Clow is dead, but the woman won’t accept it, and floods the area with water. Sakura realizes that, far from hating Clow, the woman actually loves him. Sakura then hears the voice again saying that ‘water is a thing that flows.” Sakura then uses the Arrow card to fire arrows to bust up the place, allowing the water to flow out.

Sakura then tells the woman that it must hurt losing someone she loves. Finally, the woman seems to accept that Clow Reed is dead, and vanishes, leaving behind a gift Clow had given the woman, and Sakura realizes that the voice she heard was Clow Reed’s. Toya, Yukito, Meilin, and Shaoran then appear.

It’s soon time to return to Japan, and the woman’s strong desire to tell Clow Reed that she loved him gives Sakura renewed motivation to tell the person she loves the same.

While I think that Cardcaptor Sakura: The Movie is a decent movie, and has some several interesting good points, it also has some serious flaws in it as well.

I think on the good side, it’s interesting to see a world outside of Clow’s magic for a change, and the realization that, while Clow’s magic is powerful, it’s not the only magic that has been or is used out in the world. It was also interesting to finally meet Shaoran’s family, and see the level of level of magic he has to live up to.

On the more negative size, I’m not sure how I liked having a movie about Cardcaptor Sakura being so little about, well, capturing and using Clow Cards. Sakura captured the Arrow card at the top of the movie, seemingly for the sole purpose of using it at the end, even when there were other, possibly better, cards to use (just using Watery to clear out the area would seem to be a first obvious choice).

Then, the cards that Sakura used seemed limited to, besides Arrow, Fly and Jump, with Shaoran using Storm as well. If we’re going to have a battle between Clow’s magic and someone else’s magic, it would at least be interesting to see a wider variety of cards used.

I think, having gotten that all out of the way, I think the story was reasonable. I guess the woman-wronged-but-who-actually-in-love story isn’t exactly a new one, but it worked OK here, and opened a small window into Clow Reed’s past.

It’s Cardcaptor Sakura episode 35, and Season 1 concludes with a fiery date between Sakura and Yukito at the amusement park.

Sakura has her dream of Tokyo Tower for the second episode in a row, and for the first time, Sakura appears to recognize the long haired woman in the dream as Ms. Mizuki. Meanwhile, it’s approaching Christmas, and Sakura remembers that Yukito’s birthday is on Christmas Day. Sakura is uncertain what to get him, so Tomoyo has the idea to ask Meilin what she would give someone she likes for Christmas. However, Meilin says that as long as it’s something she puts her heart into, it can be anything.

That evening, Sakura nervously calls up Yukito and asks him if he wants to go to the amusement park with her, since Chiharu gave her tickets for it that she won from the quiz tournament. That Sunday, Sakura and Yukito head out to the amusement park, and Tomoyo and Kero trail them to spy on their date. Meanwhile, a nearby wreath catches fire without notice.

While in the park, Sakura spots Meilin and Shaoran there as well, and the four go around the park together. They decide to stop to get a bite to eat, where Toya is there working. In the meantime, both Toya and Tomoyo appear to have picked up on Shaoran’s behavior towards Sakura.

However, suddenly Kero, Shaoran, and Sakura feel a presence of a Clow Card, as various other things in the park start to catch on fire. Sakura and Shaoran run into some bushes where Shaoran uses Time to freeze everyone, allowing Sakura to use Sleep to put them all to sleep. Sakura, rather foolishly, tries to put the fires out with Windy, but it just makes them worse.

Kero then shows up and says that if Windy can’t handle it, this must be the Firey card, which is an offensive card with the same power as Watery, so using Watery alone won’t be enough to capture it either. Sakura has no choice by try to use both Watery and Windy simultaneously to capture Firey, which, to Shaoran’s amazement, she is able to do. This gives Sakura the chance to seal Firey, giving Kero a bit more power, as Firey is under the Sun, which is where Kero draws his power.

Kero decides to use his improved powers to sprinkle some lights over the amusement park as Sakura, Yukito, Shaoran, and Meilin ride the Ferris Wheel, where Sakura gives Yukito his Christmas/Birthday present.

They ended up pulling most of the stops in this episode, once again showing Sakura’s dream, and having her realize that it was Ms. Mizuki in it; piling on the already obvious hints that Shaoran is developing a thing for Sakura; as well as showing how well Sakura and Shaoran can act as a team together when fighting cards.

I also noticed that, despite how she acts sometimes, Meilin has gotten comfortable around Sakura now as well.

With this, Sakura has now captured 3 of the 4 elemental cards, and the first since she captured Watery way back in episode 3. That leaves only the Earth card left for the elemental cards, and I’d think the last elemental card would be a good candidate for the last card Sakura has to capture.

This episode also demonstrated just how much Sakura’s power has grown so far, being able to use both Watery and Windy at the same time, which is, I believe, the first time she’s used two Clow Cards at once, much less two elemental cards at once.

So, let’s recap what we’ve learned after the first season:

Apparently with the release of the Clow Cards, a “catastrophe” will befall the world, though we don’t know when or how or in what form this catastrophe will be, other than it won’t necessarily be something violent or that effects everyone.

Second, Sakura has repeatedly had her dream, which has included, at various times, Kero, Shaoran, and Ms. Mizuki, but always takes place on a full moon at the Tokyo Tower.

We know that Kero gets his power from the Sun, which he reaffirms in this episode, and considering how much Kero keeps connecting the Yue he keeps mentioning with the Moon, it’s probably a safe assumption to believe that Yue will be his Moon-powered counterpart. However, where he is, what shape he is in, and what role he plays is still a mystery.

The cards themselves, on top of being “under” one of the four elemental cards, are also under the Sun and Moon, such as the Firey card which is under the Sun, and Return, which Kero remarked was under the Moon in that episode. Since Kero didn’t seem to get a power boost from either Windy or Watery, it may be safe to assume that they are under the Moon, which would mean that Earthy is under the Sun.

This would probably also be supported by the idea that, if Sakura needs the two elemental cards under the Sun for Kero to return to his true form, and the only elemental she doesn’t have is the Earth card, then that card is probably under the Sun as well.

Which elemental some cards are under is probably pretty easy to guess. Cards like Rain and Freeze seem to pretty easily fall under the Watery card, while cards like Jump and Fly would fall under Windy, Wood would probably fall under Earth, and cards like Shot would probably fall under Firey. However, other cards aren’t so clear. What elemental do cards like Big, Sword, and Song fall under? And do those cards get more powerful after Sakura captures their parent elemental?

Cards Captured: Firey (yes, it’s spelled that way)
Card Count: 37

It’s Cardcaptor Sakura episode 34, and Tomoeda is holding a quiz tournament, and Sakura gets to enter it with Yukito.

Tomoeda is holding a quiz tournament in town, but people have to enter it in pairs. Tomoyo would rather film Sakura’s exploits, so Sakura ends up entering with Yukito. At the tournament, Chiharu also enters with Yamazaki while Meilin has dragged along Shaoran. Interestingly, while Shaoran gets flustered from looking at Yukito, he gets more flustered after looking at Sakura.

The first question is to take 10 matchsticks that form a star shape, and to make a different star with the same matchsticks. Yukito knows the answer right away, which is to create the Kanji for “star,” which uses 10 strokes. The second stop is at Twin Bells, where the question is how one turns ice into water in an instant. Again, Yukito has the answer, which is to remove a stroke from the Kanji for Ice, which turns it into the Kanji for Water.

Yukito and Sakura fly through the rest of the quiz course until they get to the final stop (behind only Chiharu and Yamazaki), which is manned by Ms. Mizuki. Ms. Mizuki makes Sakura answer this question, however, which is to get a ball out of a bottle without breaking it or turning it over. Sakura finally answers it by filling the bottle with water to get the ball out. As Sakura leaves, Ms. Mizuki tells Sakura to be careful, since it’s a full moon out.

Sakura and Yukito are finally sent to Penguin Park to fetch one of the plaques that they have to find to win. However, while in the woods looking for it, Sakura looks at the moon and falls into her dream again, and falls off a cliff, but Yukito is able to grab her and protect her on the way down. At the bottom, Yukito’s leg is slightly hurt, but he found the plaque.

Back at the finish, people start to get worried since Sakura and Yukito aren’t back yet, but when Toya and Shaoran are about to look for them, Yukito is limping back with Sakura’s help.

Well, this episode was really used to start building things up towards…something. Sakura sees her dream (twice!), Kero is still thinking about the person called Yue, and Ms. Mizuki warns Sakura to be careful since it’s a full moon. The series has really been focusing on full moons a lot recently, with there being a full moon in Sakura’s dream, and there being a full moon out when Kero first mentioned Yue back in the Return episode.

We also get our biggest hint yet that Shaoran might have a thing for Sakura, when we see that, while he still gets flustered by Yukito, he now gets more flustered by Sakura. Interesting…very interesting.

Speaking of Yukito, there is now increasing evidence that something may be up with him. In an earlier episode, Ms. Mizuki was about to tell Sakura something about Yukito, but stopped herself. In this episode, she’s about to ask Yukito himself something, but ends up getting interrupted.

No cards were captured in this episode, so the count stays at 36 cards for now. The next episode is the end of the first season, so we should expect something big.

Cards Captured: none
Card Count: 36