Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card-hen is going to prove a pretty tough blogging decision, I suspect. I feel both affection and nostalgia for it in droves, no doubt. But as we get deeper into it, I’m also starting to remember its limitations – the reasons why I never became a true fan of the franchise (though I wasn’t even an anime fan back then, really). By definition, it repeats itself over and over. The tone is relatively one-note (cute, cuter, cutest is about as much variation as we get). And Syaoran and Sakura get so little real interaction (even less here than what I remember from 20 years ago, to be honest).
In truth, I think CCS is a good mahou shoujo franchise, but I’m not sure it’s much more than that. And there are reasons why I’ve never been a big follower of mahou shoujo series – or of CLAMP series, for that matter. I wonder how my views on CCS would be different if it weren’t a part of my anime DNA as much as it is – but in the end, I suppose it doesn’t matter. One’s feelings about a show are what they are, the the reasons why just aren’t that important. So I’ll have to decide if they’re strong enough to keep me covering it – and if I can come up with enough new things to say about it every week. As for Episode 3:
- I do believe either that homeroom teacher is freakishly tall, or these are some freakishly short middle-school students.
- How did Tomoyo know the next card was going to be “Source of Water”? Was the froggy suit just a coincidence?
- Touya definitely remembers everything – which makes his interaction with Kero-chan a bit puzzling. Is he just being a troll here?
- Mysterious new “enemy” being a child is basically confirmed.
- We’re in middle-school now, but the movement on the Sakura-Syaoran front is agonizingly glacial. But then he went and did the coat thing – it’s like playing a bad round of golf and then hitting one great shot at 18 that makes you say “Well – I really need to come back out here, because I know that can happen again.”
elior1
January 21, 2018 at 12:29 pmsyoran knows something I sure of this more then ever now
sonicsenryaku
January 21, 2018 at 2:47 pm” But then he went and did the coat thing – it’s like playing a bad round of golf and then hitting one great shot at 18 that makes you say “Well – I really need to come back out here, because I know that can happen again.”’
I got a real good laugh out of that one, mostly because it perfectly encapsulated how i felt about that SyaoranxSakura moment. My reaction pretty much boiled down to: “CCS you son of bitch, ill be tuning in next week.” For me, what makes the Mahou Shoujo genre a great one comes down to how it focuses on more simple yet intimate character dynamics with its cast members and worries about over-arching narrative second. Too many times do series’ feel like its characters change and develop by the demand of the plot (they are reactive automatons rather than characters who develop agency). With Mahou shoujo series (by consequence of the genre’s structure itself), character growth feel learned and continuous, with the everyday situations the characters experience being integral to who they become as people and how they interact with others around them. It’s this simulation of real-life social and behavioral learning (and overlooked component when considering what makes good character writing) that mahou shoujo series capture so well that defines some of the best entries in this genre.
The critical sucees of Futari wa precure, one of my favorite mahou shoujo shows of all time(i guess it’s more of a “mahou senshi” series than shoujo), largely came down to how the show crafted its heartwarming and intimate character moments through well-paced slice-of-life sequences. Mahou shoujo shows are repetitive only a superficial level, an aspect of the genre that i can see being a hurdle for some people; but again, that’s just window dressing. The real meat comes from the drama that is being experienced by the core cast. A show like Futari wa had a deft understanding on how to make the characters middle school life contextualize their character growth using the contrast of their everyday experiences and battles against the forces of evil to underscore the themes of the show. The plot always came second, making the well-written slice of life drama the element of the show you were really meant to be invested in. The original cardcaptor Sakura did this to some degree, telling a charming and sometimes gripping coming-of-age story with some striking art direction and production values to boot, which was a surprise for a seemingly vanilla-mahou shoujo series; and therein lies my gripe with with the first 3 eps of CCSCC.
With this new season of CCS, I feel like im being tugged along by nostalgia rather than by the elements that make a really engaging mahou shoujo series. It’s great to see that warm, cutesy feeling that defined the original CCS, as well as seeing Sakura being a competent magician (i had forgotten how badass Sakura could be due to her athleticism); but the issue im having with these first few eps is that the slice-of-life drama itself is not holding up that well. In a mahou shoujo series, this is a key element that separates the elites from the fodder. What we have here this season is a show mostly comprised of cutesy vignettes followed by a clow card capture– And while the original kind of followed this formula, once again, the difference was that the slice-of-life moments had more heft to them; there was more to them beyond just, “heeheeheeheeheeeeee, we’re all just too fucking cute aren’t we guys? We all just love each so much don’t right guys….right…RIGHT?!!!” It’s all just cute stuff just escalating in scale and nothing more. I dig that aspect of CCS (oh god did that froggy-suit give me diabetes), but that doesn’t take away from the fact that this has the danger of making the series feel monotonous. That’s why it sucks that we barely get any significant interactions between Sakura and Syaoran; it would provide the show the necessary drama it needed to be engaging. How nice would it be to see Syaoran and Sakura explore their burgeoning feelings Tsuki ga kirei style? Or us to see Syaoran struggle with his inability to help Sakura out with this new clow crisis? This season isn’t necessarily doing wrong, but that it’s just not doing enough. For now, I’m just gonna chock this up to the clear card arc having a slow start because that’s the vibe im getting, which is different from the storytelling just not being up to snuff. It feels like things could definitely pick up so i don’t mind being a bit more patient.
Guardian Enzo
January 21, 2018 at 3:23 pmI think “not necessarily doing anything wrong but just not doing enough” sums up my feelings at this point perfectly. But I’m going to be patient with this show, at least to a degree.
elior
January 21, 2018 at 3:49 pmenzo based on this epidode alone you also feel sayoran knows something about the clear cards case and he hides it from sakura? i mean it was a bit too covinient that he apeared righr after she captured reflect
Guardian Enzo
January 21, 2018 at 3:53 pmI don’t think there’s any question about it.