{"id":12260,"date":"2018-01-15T21:13:12","date_gmt":"2018-01-16T02:13:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/?p=12260"},"modified":"2018-01-16T22:17:35","modified_gmt":"2018-01-17T03:17:35","slug":"cardcaptor-sakura-clear-card-anime-early-impressions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/2018\/01\/15\/cardcaptor-sakura-clear-card-anime-early-impressions\/","title":{"rendered":"Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card&#8211;Anime Early Impressions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Clear-Card-poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Clear-Card-poster-245x367.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"245\" height=\"367\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-12261\" srcset=\"https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Clear-Card-poster-245x367.jpg 245w, https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Clear-Card-poster-100x150.jpg 100w, https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Clear-Card-poster-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Clear-Card-poster.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 245px) 100vw, 245px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nIt&#8217;s too early to judge how the new season of <em><strong>Cardcaptor Sakura<\/strong><\/em> (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.crunchyroll.com\/cardcaptor-sakura-clear-card\">Crunchyroll<\/a>) will turn out but so far it has neither confirmed my <a href=\"\/fun\/2017\/04\/09\/heads-up-cardcaptor-sakura-sequel\/\">worst fears<\/a> nor fulfilled my highest hopes.<\/p>\n<p>The worst case would be if they turned this into something like <a href=\"\/fun\/2008\/05\/11\/tsubasa-reservoir-chronicle-anime-review\/\"><em>Tsubasa Chronicle<\/em><\/a>. There&#8217;s no sign of that so far, but it would be almost as bad if they diminished the brilliant <a href=\"\/fun\/2006\/12\/08\/cardcaptor-sakura-anime-review\/\">original series<\/a> by giving us an uninspired sequel that was unworthy of it. The jury is still out here.<\/p>\n<p>In order to discuss this further I need to give some spoilers for the original series. So if you haven&#8217;t seen the original series, go watch it right now (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.crunchyroll.com\/cardcaptor-sakura\">Crunchyroll<\/a>.) It&#8217;s long but well worth your time. Anyway I don&#8217;t think there&#8217;s much point in watching the sequel if you haven&#8217;t seen the original.<br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Kero-bites-Shaoran-Original-Series-489x367.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"489\" height=\"367\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-12271\" srcset=\"https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Kero-bites-Shaoran-Original-Series-489x367.jpg 489w, https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Kero-bites-Shaoran-Original-Series-150x113.jpg 150w, https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Kero-bites-Shaoran-Original-Series-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Kero-bites-Shaoran-Original-Series-400x300.jpg 400w, https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Kero-bites-Shaoran-Original-Series.jpg 1440w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 489px) 100vw, 489px\" \/><br \/>\nThe brilliance of the original <em>Cardcaptor Sakura<\/em> lay not so much in the originality of the material but in the perfection of the execution&#8211;so perfect that (as far as I know) no one has tried since to do another show of this type. There have been parodies and <a href=\"\/fun\/tag\/madoka-magica\/?order=asc\">deconstructions<\/a> and there have been lots of action-adventure shows in which magical girls fight the forces of evil. But <em>CCS<\/em> was the last of an earlier and more innocent type of <a href=\"\/fun\/terms-used-in-anime-reviews#mahou_shoujo\">magical girl<\/a> show which was not about fighting evil but a comedy about growing up.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Keros-recap-New-Series-550x309.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"550\" height=\"309\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-12274\" srcset=\"https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Keros-recap-New-Series-550x309.jpg 550w, https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Keros-recap-New-Series-150x84.jpg 150w, https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Keros-recap-New-Series-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Keros-recap-New-Series-500x281.jpg 500w, https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Keros-recap-New-Series.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><br \/>\nSakura did fight monsters but there was nothing evil about them. In fact it ultimately turned out that the whole thing was a training program (devised by Clow Reed and ultimately carried out by Eriol) to develop her magical powers. This actually gave the series some dark undertones for a thoughtful viewer considering it in retrospect.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Sakura neither asked nor wanted to be trained.<\/li>\n<li>Kerobos got her to participate by deceiving her. He didn&#8217;t tell any literal lies but his statements were misleading and he routinely withheld important information.<\/li>\n<li>The training repeatedly placed Sakura at risk of physical or emotional harm.<\/li>\n<li>It also endangered innocent bystanders in order to motivate Sakura to level up and save them.<\/li>\n<li>The backstory about the estrangement between Sakura and Tomoyo&#8217;s sides of the family seems pretty grim, with lifelong relationships destroyed over petty jealousy and backstabbing. (The reconciliation that began with Sakura and Tomoyo&#8217;s friendship was incomplete and notably did not include Touya.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Yue-and-Sakura-Original-Series-489x367.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"489\" height=\"367\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-12272\" srcset=\"https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Yue-and-Sakura-Original-Series-489x367.jpg 489w, https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Yue-and-Sakura-Original-Series-150x113.jpg 150w, https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Yue-and-Sakura-Original-Series-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Yue-and-Sakura-Original-Series-400x300.jpg 400w, https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Yue-and-Sakura-Original-Series.jpg 1440w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 489px) 100vw, 489px\" \/><br \/>\nOf course in the end everything mostly worked out and Sakura was happy with the outcome. And I suppose if you take the whole story as a metaphor for growing up then maybe it&#8217;s OK since nobody really gives informed consent to that.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Tomoyo-and-Sakura-in-middle-school-New-Series-550x309.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"550\" height=\"309\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-12273\" srcset=\"https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Tomoyo-and-Sakura-in-middle-school-New-Series-550x309.jpg 550w, https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Tomoyo-and-Sakura-in-middle-school-New-Series-150x84.jpg 150w, https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Tomoyo-and-Sakura-in-middle-school-New-Series-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Tomoyo-and-Sakura-in-middle-school-New-Series-500x281.jpg 500w, https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Tomoyo-and-Sakura-in-middle-school-New-Series.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><br \/>\nThe new series begins almost a year after the original series ended. Sakura hasn&#8217;t been using her powers much. (Which confirms that she never really wanted to be a magical girl. She hasn&#8217;t, for example, been going out looking for people to save.) But now her cards turn transparent, her key once again changes shape, and she is attacked by a new set of dangerous cards. (Or else the existing transparent cards are transformed and she has to resubjugate them. It&#8217;s not entirely clear.)<\/p>\n<p>In other words, so far it looks like a remake of the second arc of the original series. Maybe there&#8217;s nothing more to this than a desire to go back to the well and milk some more money from a story that doesn&#8217;t need a sequel. If so it will be a big disappointment.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Sakuras-new-wand-New-Series-550x309.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"550\" height=\"309\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-12275\" srcset=\"https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Sakuras-new-wand-New-Series-550x309.jpg 550w, https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Sakuras-new-wand-New-Series-150x84.jpg 150w, https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Sakuras-new-wand-New-Series-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Sakuras-new-wand-New-Series-500x281.jpg 500w, https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Sakuras-new-wand-New-Series.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><br \/>\nOn the other hand, this is a story from CLAMP. Whatever you may think of them, they aren&#8217;t known for being conventional or unimaginative. So I&#8217;m still hopeful.<\/p>\n<p>Sakura is now a teenager in middle school. If they want to extend the &#8220;growing up&#8221; aspect of the story they have plenty of room to do so. This also puts her in the usual age range for a modern action-adventure magical girl story if they want to go in that direction.<\/p>\n<p>Come to think of it, they never really explained <em>why<\/em> Sakura was being trained. (Unless it was just that that Clow Reed wanted a suitable guardian for his cards, which would be a rather selfish reason to upend her life.) Maybe she really is some sort of Chosen One. Who knows?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s too early to judge how the new season of Cardcaptor Sakura (Crunchyroll) will turn out but so far it has neither confirmed my worst fears nor fulfilled my highest&#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/2018\/01\/15\/cardcaptor-sakura-clear-card-anime-early-impressions\/\">Read more &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12275,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[186],"class_list":["post-12260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-anime","tag-cardcaptor-sakura"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12260"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12260\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12277,"href":"https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12260\/revisions\/12277"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugfox.net\/fun\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}