CCS Episode 06 - I See Dead People
Posted by: DKellis in card captor sakura, tags: ccs summary project, fear is the mind killer
Am I the only one curious about the nekomimi ghost? Oh, really? Never mind, then.
Volume two of Card Captor Sakura, as mentioned in my previous post on episode 5, is called “Everlasting Memories”, probably based on the events in this episode, and contains episodes five to eight. Since I deferred talking about the DVD itself last time, I’ll get around to it now.
The blurb for this volume is as follows:
As if capturing 40-foot tall plush dolls (the Jump) wasn’t hard enough, now Sakura has competition! Li, her new classmate, has come from China to capture the Clow Cards for himself, so their relationship isn’t entirely friendly… Still for ten-year old Sakura, everything else pales in comparison with meeting her mother’s ghost! Can her heart take it?
This makes it sound as though Sakura has a cardiovascular problem or something.
Extras in this DVD are scarce: there’s only really the creditless first ending animation. With this many DVD volumes to fill (eighteen in total), there’s not a lot Geneon (then Pioneer) can do to make up for it, I would think. We have the various creditless openings and endings, and, um, that’s probably about it, really. Especially considering the gap between show production and DVD release.
Episode 6, “Sakura and Memories of her Mother”, has the appearance of not one, but two battle costumes. Also, there’s a lot of flashy lights, although not really up to epileptic levels.
Naoko enters a dark and probably enchanted forest. It’s almost a rule of many roleplaying games and fantasy stories that forests are enchanted, haunted, or otherwise magical. CCS is, and I don’t think this is much of a spoiler (not even considering the statute of spoiler limitations), no different, and I suspect that despite all the usual warnings about not walking home alone after dark, Naoko is planning to meet with a ghost or some such.
Considering some of the more serious stories that turn up in the news, ghosts don’t seem that bad.
In any case, Naoko gets her wish granted (or so she thinks), and promptly ran away. When danger reared its ugly head, she bravely turned her tail and fled, bravely Naoko turned about, and gallantly she chickened out… oh, sorry.
This was all, however, a recounting of the incident told the next day at cheerleading practice. I’ve not really ever managed to reconcile Naoko with being a cheerleader, especially since (later in the series) we see that she’s not really that good in sports. Then again, I suppose it might be helpful for precisely that reason.
Sakura gives a particularly rousing “HOE~” which nevertheless does not prevent Chiharu and Naoko from planning another trip into the forest, this time as a group. This is considered, somehow, to be marginally safer. I suppose I can understand that reasoning: more people means more targets.
CHECK!Point: Sakura encounters Tomoyo while worrying about the trip into the forest, and falls into her arms, begging Tomoyo to follow as well. Awww.
CHECK!Point: Sakura hides behind Tomoyo. Even more subtext for those inclined to look for such.
Interesting note: in episode 4, Sakura steps between Tomoyo and the Wood card, trying to protect her. It’s like CLAMP loves throwing things like this at us, at least pre-Syaoran.
The group of five (Sakura, Tomoyo, and the trio of Chiharu, Naoko, and Rika) finally encounter the “ghost”, which looks like a ball of light. Too much time spent in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion notes that Will o’ the Wisps require a magical, silver, or Daedric weapon to harm. I suppose the Sealing Wand counts.
The ball of light flashes, and everyone flees, with Tomoyo having a hilariously deadpan expression while being dragged along by Sakura. Everyone takes turns stating what they saw, all different things…
CHECK!Point: … and Tomoyo mentions that she saw a giant meat bun.
Have I mentioned how much I love that girl?
Sakura taking a bath. If I CHECK!Point this, I will probably be under heavy suspicion. Well, heavier suspicion, anyway. Any more and it may well collapse upon itself into a singularity from which light and lolis may not escape.
What really strikes me as somehow significant is that Sakura is happily taking a bath, and Kero-chan is also in there with her. Now, it’s hard to decide what gender, if any, a magical creation for use as a Guardian Beast would have, but based on Kero-chan’s fairly male mannerisms (apart from the enthusiasm for cosplay that Sakura does not share; this, however, may be explained via metrosexuality or something), I have to wonder if Sakura just doesn’t think about it that much. Maybe it’s like going into the bath with a pet. A talking, intelligent pet with enough presence of mind for occasional snide comments.
Well, Kero-chan does have to take a bath sometime, and he’s probably not keen on repeating a couple of spin cycles in the washing machine.
Needless to say, Sakura goes out (with Kero and Tomoyo) to check out whether this alleged ghost is really a Clow Card. (Viewers probably already know the answer.) I think this is probably the closest CCS will ever get to Sakura in a bunnysuit.
I’d wait for someone to make a “SAKURA BIIIMU~” fanart, but knowing the Internet, it’s already out there somewhere.
The ball of light flashes, and forms into an image of Sakura’s mother, Nadeshiko. Dramatically orchestral music plays as a magical barrier forms around Sakura, and Sakura steps closer to the light, which is probably an unintentionally ominous bit of dramatic irony.
Sakura seems to forget that there’s a drop of several meters to the road down below (and an inexplicably broken fence that never seems to get fixed), and steps off in a daze. As she’s falling, however, a Mysterious Person catches her and slows her fall. All we see of this Mysterious person is a hand and an arm, as well as a significantly glinting ring.
And meanwhile, Yukito is walking down the road (eating), when he sees Sakura floating down. Dropping all his food, he rushes over to catch her in his arms. Tomoyo has, by this time, rushed over to the edge of the forest and is relieved that Sakura’s sheer unbelievable luck has come into play once again. Yukito, for his part, is relatively incurious about all this suspicious activity.
Since he’s saved the cheerleader, does that mean he’s saved the world? Yeah, probably. Although that’s about forty episodes away.
Sakura awakes in Yukito’s house, dressed in a large T-shirt. Yukito states that his grandmother changed Sakura’s clothes.
Those who know how this story turns out never do get a real explanation for this.
Touya turns up to pick up Sakura, and he and Yukito have a conversation about being able to see ghosts: Touya can see them, while Sakura can’t, but she can sense them vaguely. Touya also mentions calmly that he saw his mother’s ghost a few times, although the last time was in middle school. I suppose a lifetime of seeing the supernatural would explain Touya’s rather nonchalant attitude towards things like seeing your dead mother’s ghost.
Also, Yukito teases Touya about being a siscon. Touya fails to deny this.
Sakura takes the next day off from school, and Tomoyo and Kero-chan (who had been staying over at Tomoyo’s place) visit her. Tomoyo brings a picnic basket, although it’s uncertain whether she only brought it for Kero-chan storage. Kero-chan apologizes for not being able to protect Sakura, and Sakura gives him a noogie for being “too cool”.
Maybe that’s why she’s willing to take baths with him.
Sakura vs. glowie, round 2. The umbrella motif of the costume made more sense in the manga, when Sakura encountered the glow-ball deep in the river during a festival. Maybe it’s meant to evoke Mary Poppins or something here, although with much fewer frills. (Tomoyo? Fewer frills? What am I saying.)
The presence of Tomoyo and her video camera during the visits to the forest make me wonder what showed up on the camera, if everyone saw different things.
CHECK!Point: More cool than cute, but Sakura just looks great in this scene. Do not taunt happy fun Cardcaptor, apparently.
So the glow ball is, unsurprisingly, actually a Clow Card: the Illusion, to be precise. Exactly how it works is not fully explained, but probably has to do with mental suggestions, rather than light and image manipulation. (Or MAGIC. As usual.) Everyone sees what they expect to see or what they’re thinking about, and this happens the first time. The third encounter, Sakura, Tomoyo, and Kero-chan all see Sakura’s mother, since Sakura showed them the picture after the aborted second attempt.
We’re never told what Tomoyo and Kero-chan saw in that second attempt.
The next day, Sakura places a present for her mother’s birthday. Touya then sees Nadeshiko plus angel wings (and a Significantly Glinting Ring) watching over Sakura.
This may be insensitive of me, but if one has a ghost (however benevolent) hovering around oneself, doesn’t that count as being haunted?
Today’s Kero-chan ni Omakase deals with the second battle costume, and how it’s “high-tech”. The earpiece makes sense in the manga, really: Sakura and Tomoyo use it to communicate, since Sakura’s underwater (with an air bubble around her, courtesy of Watery). Here, it’s just ornamentation.
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