I believe the last time I said that volume two of Card Captor Sakura only had the creditless first ending animation for an extra. When opening the DVD case for the last episode on the disc, however, I discovered a postcard that was packaged inside the case. Basically, it’s this picture (which I posted back during Valentine’s Day), except with a few changes to the background, a large “Happy Valentine’s Day” at the top, and a small CCS logo at the bottom right. So there’s an extra, um, extra. I may scan it in if I ever get my scanner working again.

Episode 8 of CCS, “Sakura’s Rival Appears”, introduces Li Syaoran (also often romanized as “Shaoran”, and it really is the same thing; I’m just used to “Syaoran”), perpetually-scowling kid from Hong Kong who seems to have a better grasp of Japanese than most ten-year old Hong Kong kids. (Not to mention the whole bit about his name being technically in Mandarin instead of Cantonese.) While he does turn up as a rival, I think it’s safely far past the statute of spoiler limitations to say that he doesn’t stay as a rival for very long.

Sakura gets another of her prophetic dreams, again with the Tokyo Tower. This time, she also sees a boy in green, which somehow makes her toss and turn uncomfortably. Kero-chan wanders over to check in on her, which results in the above screenshot when Sakura wakes up.

Yeah, I’d scream too.

A normal day in the Kinomoto household begins, complete with a few recycled scenes. I think this is partly done on purpose, since several of the scenes are almost identical to those in episode 1, except with the green of summer instead of the pink cherry blossoms of spring. It’s not exactly summer yet, since Sakura and co. still have their colder season uniforms, but the feel is certainly there, and I can already feel the oppressive heat waves in the near future.

Yukito, once again, meets Sakura and Touya on the way to school, and does his Bishounen thing of always smiling and saying a few wise words that are carefully designed not to convey anything of actual substance save for a vague feeling of temporary satisfaction.

He also tosses Sakura a sweet again, probably in another symbolic parallel to the first episode. Tomoyo later comments that Yukito always seems to have something edible on him at any moment in time, which makes me wonder just how much he spends on food, and how he gets the money. Eating a lot makes me spend upwards of a hundred dollars a week on groceries alone, and I can only imagine how it would be in Japan.

In class, roll call begins, and we’re treated to Terada-sensei acting decidedly unprofessional (but just a hint of it, to be fair) when Rika smiles at him. I probably don’t need to say anything right now to point out the weirdness of the relationship, since it’s already been done so many times. CLAMP (or Madhouse) has never actually explicitly shown anything improper, so to speak, save for a few scenes which would probably have been very pure and sweet if it had been happening between a more standard couple other than an elementary-school teacher and his student.

New transfer student in the middle of the term, Li Syaoran. For those who’re unsure, yes, the kanji of his name, in Chinese, would be Li Xiao Lang in Mandarin pinyin, and Lee Siu Long in Cantonese. There’s already been a lot of debate around why Syaoran seems to be incredibly fluent in Japanese (the differences between Japanese and Chinese grammar would have made my head explode at ten; I had a hard enough time with English and Chinese) and seems to be better with Mandarin Chinese rather than Cantonese, but all in all, it’s more or less explained (or avoided explanation) with “CLAMP makes a plot hole”.

Syaoran is immediately hostile to Sakura. I’m not really sure if the very long glaring sequences were lengthened for dramatic effect, or if they really were that long and everyone else is too polite to say anything about it.

CHECK!Point: Sakura gets all jittery from Syaoran staring at the back of her head. I can imagine that this is what Kyon feels like every day.

CHECK!Point: Syaoran confronts Sakura behind the school later, insults her slow Card-collecting pace, and Sakura orzes.

In order to confirm that Sakura has the Clow Cards, Syaoran brings out his Clow Card Homing Beacon (or whatever it is), and activates it with obscure chanting in Japanese. Not Mandarin, not Cantonese, but Japanese. No explanation is given for this.

Syaoran then attempts to forcibly extract the Clow Cards from Sakura’s pocket, racking up his counts of Assault and Harrassment by several billion, just because it’s Sakura. Thankfully, before a teacher notices them and starts legal proceedings, Touya interrupts, and prepares to lay some kung fu down on a ten-year old kid.

There’s also a nice little scene with Tomoyo supporting Sakura that I couldn’t get a good screencap of. Ah, Tomoyo, be happy with your little moments like this; now that Syaoran’s here, the yuri-yuri love route is fast fading into the distance.

Before Touya can put “defeated ten-year old brat in Single Combat” down on his martial arts resume, Yukito interrupts (again), and, in a complete and utter lack of any sense of the mood, starts offering meatbuns to everyone on the scene. The expressions on everyone’s faces are priceless.

CHECK!Point: Like so.

Syaoran gets all red-faced, and runs away. Plus one to Creepy Relationships in CCS.

CHECK!Point: Sakura, Tomoyo, and Rika head home together, and Rika breaks off to buy something for “the person she likes”. Tomoyo patiently explains this to Sakura, and Sakura is clueless as usual. For all of Sakura’s battle tactics and mental agility in the heat of combat, she’s not really quick with the uptake in more social situations.

The two girls are shocked (pun unintended) by a sudden change in the weather, with lightning acting in weird ways such as striking the lamp posts next to them and yet not causing a massive thunderclap or even causing substantial danger to bystanders. I can only assume that actual meteorology has been waived in favour of narrative convenience via the power of MAGIC.

The battle costume for fighting the lightning is made of non-conductive rubber (presumably a version that’s still relatively comfortable to wear), with lots of frills and kitty ears. Exactly how she got this rubber, and why she thinks it might be of help against a direct lightning strike, is apparently left as an exercise for the viewer.

So basically, Tomoyo dressed Sakura in a nekomimi maid outfit, made of rubber, that she had prepared beforehand.

Think about it.

CHECK!Point: You may be a really creepy cosplay designer and voyeur, Tomoyo, but you’re still awesome.

Sakura dodges a lightning bolt from the Thunder Clow Card. I’m not entirely sure why it’s called the Thunder when it manipulates lightning. Some mysteries, it appears, will never be solved.

Like how Sakura’s reactions are apparently quick enough to dodge lightning. I mean, timing two hundred consecutive lightning bolts on the Thunder Plains of Final Fantasy X was bad enough for me.

Sakura meets up with Syaoran, who makes no mention about why Sakura thinks that this is a good chance to cosplay when capturing Clow Cards that might well kill them all. At least Syaoran’s robes are ceremonial.

Syaoran then manages to pwn the Thunder card by not actually smacking it with his Big Sword. I often wonder how much that thing weighs, and all about conservation of mass when it’s in its portable mode.

Sakura then, on orders from Syaoran, uses the Shadow card to trap the Thunder in a ball of, um, shadow. Don’t ask me, I didn’t even know this was a feature of the Shadow card. Clearly the Clow Cards could use a documentation expert.

Note that there appears to be no space for Sakura to write her name on these cards. Animation error, I can only presume.

The card goes to Sakura, despite Syaoran doing the majority of the work in actually subduing it. I suppose that last Shadow trapping counts as actual capturing, even though Syaoran was calling the shots while Kero-chan kept grumbling and being unhelpful.

Syaoran finally gets properly introduced to the Guardian of the Seal Kero-chan, who in turn introduces Syaoran to A WORLD OF PAIN a flesh wound. Syaoran leaves in a huff, and Sakura gets all moody about this new rival just as the episode ends.

This episode’s Kero-chan ni Omakase deals, predictably, with the battle costume, and specifically the ribbon and ears. I’d make a comment about how uncomfortable it must be to wear a rubber suit, but it’s not like I have any first-hand experience in such matters.

Series Navigation

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