August 8th, 2019 
Charles Solomon 
Cardcaptor Sakura (1996) probably ranks as the best and best-loved work by the four-woman artists’ collective, Clamp. A textbook magical girl adventure, the animated series debuted in 1998 and ran for 70 episodes, followed by two features and an OVA. A rather timid 4th grader who lived with her older brother Toya and their widowed father, Sakura Kinomoto inadvertently let loose a set of magical cards created by the wizard Clow Reed. She had to become a Cardcaptor and retrieve them before they worked mischief in the world.
As she pursued the elusive Cards, she worked with Toya and his friend Yuki; her best friend Tomoyo; Kero-chan, a leonine character linked to the Cards who looks like a living plushie; and young Chinese sorcerer Syaoran Li, who began as Sakura’s rival for the Cards, but later became her sweetheart. Over the course of her adventures, Sakura lost her uncertainty and became a brave and adept heroine. But she never lost her self-effacing charm.
Clear Card begins with Sakura, Tomoyo and Syaoran in junior high. They’re joined by a rich, well-traveled new girl, Akiho, who quickly befriends Sakura. Shortly after Akiho enters Tomoeda Junior High, the Clow Cards go blank and new cards start causing problems. Sakura catches them one by one, but their presence often puts Akiho to sleep. Her eerie, mannered butler Yuna D. Kaito keeps watch over her.
Like the “Hobbit” movies, Clear Card began well, in part because viewers were happy to back in the familiar world with characters they liked. But, like the “Hobbit” movies, Clear Card soon faltered. Rejoining Sakura, Syaoran and their friends was enjoyable, but it quickly became apparent the filmmakers were mishandling the characters. Toya, Yuki and Tomoyo took a back seat to Akiho, who simply isn’t a very interesting character. Kero continues to chatter, but his endless nattering gets tiresome. Viewers looked in vain for the emotional complexity that set Cardcaptor apart from American series. Tomoyo’s quiet adoration of Sakura fell by the wayside. So did Sakura’s crush on Yuki—and her warm acceptance of him as Toya’s lover.
In other areas, Clear Card copied the original series too closely. Near the end of the first season of Cardcaptor, Sakura began to have repeated, disturbingly vivid dreams about confronting a mysterious woman atop Tokyo Tower. In Clear Card, she has repeated, disturbingly vivid dreams about confronting a mysterious figure shrouded in a hood and cloak atop a gigantic clockwork mechanism. Similarly, Kaito recalls several powerful and seemingly sinister characters in the initial series, from Sakura’s math teacher Ms. Mizuki to English sorcerer Erriol. Once again, there are references to “Alice in Wonderland,” but they lack the cleverness of the earlier episode “Sakura, and Sakura from Wonderland,” which affectionately parodied Carroll’s world while preserving the personalities of the Sakura characters.
Clear Card has far a more lavish look than the original Cardcaptor, with plenty of CG effects. When Sakura captures a supernatural entity, it’s trapped in a burst of faceted crystals before transforming into a new Card. The fire and water beings she captures and employs are strikingly handsome. The outsized clock parts that occupy the night sky are far more elaborate than the simple background of Tokyo Tower.
But the biggest flaw in Clear Card is that it just stops rather than ends. The audience never discovers what Kaito has been planning or how the sentient bunny toy Momo is linked to him and Akiho. Toya announced to Yuki that his supernatural powers were slowly returning, but he refused to disclose how he was planning on using them. Would his returning strength factor into the unresolved conflict between Sakura and Kaito? Would Syaoran use his increasingly formidable magic to aid Sakura? Does Akiho have powers of her own, or is she just Kaito’s pawn?
An additional season of the program might tie up all the loose ends, but the artists at the Madhouse studio haven’t announced plans to renew the series. Fans of Sakura will have more fun revisiting the original Cardcaptor.
Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card Part 2
Funimation: $64.98, two discs, Blu-ray
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