There’s a sort of anecdote I like to mention when the conversation turns to Card Captor Sakura, and the evangelization thereof. Well, I say “anecdote”, but it’s something which has happened more than once, for some inexplicable reason.
The setting is a discussion about anime, and favourites thereof. I obviously mention mine.
“Oh, Card Captor Sakura?” the answer comes. I’m going to generically assign a male gender to this straw man, since in the four cases this has happened it was always with a guy, although I suspect this is mostly because I don’t meet a lot of girls at all. “I don’t like shows based on card games.”
This generally causes me some pause.
“No, I haven’t seen it before, but I don’t want to. I mean, the main character collects these cards, like Pokemon, right? And there’s also a rival collecting cards, and the cards can be used to fight each other, like Yu Gi Oh. That’s a card game. Too merchandise-driven; I don’t like it.”
Upon which I have to patiently explain that while the summary may technically be true, and the series does have a lot of merchandise released, CCS is in no way a “card game” anime. This generally starts with the phrase “What the hell are you talking about?”, and goes downhill from there.
Card Captor Sakura is, as has been mentioned before, one of the very few fandoms I will defend unto the death. (The other two are The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and Discworld.) As a guy in his twenties, this seems to raise some eyebrows. I’ve come into a few conflicts with other fans, mostly from their disbelief that a guy could ever appreciate a show aimed at preteen girls, or at least appreciate it in a wholesome manner. I’ve been the target of some misandry based on my participation in CCS fanfiction, which is quite distinct from the general contempt shown to fanfic writers. (The cesspool of anonymous flaming here is Fanfiction.net, as might be expected.) To be fair, the vast majority of the fans I’ve encountered are great people, albeit a bit taken aback by the presence of this specimen of a rare male CCS fan.
CCS also has, as mentioned before, the odd position of not actually being criticized by those who have seen it, or at least not criticized with the same sort of intensity as more current shows. Witness the backlash to the popularity of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya or Lucky Star, or indeed any of the recent shows by KyoAni.
And CC Yoshi’s recent post about CCS made me wonder: what was it about the series which makes it my favourite?
Let’s have a look at the genre: magical girl, broadly speaking. I’ve tried watching other magical girl shows, and for the most part, while they’re entertaining enough, there’s just something missing. This is counting only the ones which take themselves at least somewhat seriously as a magical girl show, rather than a parody thereof like Moetan or Dokuro-chan. Off the top of my head, Tokyo Mew Mew, Pretty Cure (three seasons of it, and I’ve dabbled a bit in Yes! PreCure 5), Fushigiboshi no Futagohime, Ojamajo Doremi, Kamichama Karin (which I’ve never been certain was a straight mahou shoujo series rather than a parody), and technically Figure 17. Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha (and sequels) kind of skirts the line between magical girl and shounen action. I’ve not yet watched Shugo Chara, although from what Jeff mentioned, I might check it out.
(Somewhat surprisingly, I’ve not watched more than two episodes of Sailor Moon. I don’t have any good source for it.)
And for the most part, I haven’t quite been able to find that spark which would hold my interest. The closest were Figure 17, which felt like a sort of slow, relaxed view of the setting rather than the characters, as well as Nanatsuiro Drops, which, well, I appreciated a great deal for resembling a lot of things I liked, but wasn’t actually CCS 2.0.
It’s a hard thing to define. I’ve had long, hard looks at myself, to determine whether I liked magical girl shows in general, or was just looking for a worthy successor to CCS, any successor to CCS which would yield the same sort of reaction in me of wanting to see more, to fall in love with the show. The sort of feeling I get when I pop the CCS DVD into the drive, and fire up the episodes, confident and content that I would be watching something that I loved.
I think a part of it is that it’s a happy show. In Sakura’s words, zettai daijoubu!: everything will be all right. Even in its times of angst, CCS never lost sight of the hope which permeates the whole series, that the Clow Cards will be captured, that the Clow Cards will be converted, that everything will work out, somehow. In other shows, such persistent belief in the innate power of believing in oneself and believing in one’s friends would have been cheesy and tiresome: in CCS, it may or may not be cheesy, but it works, in such a way that one never notices the cheese until afterwards.
The humour is cute and light; Sakura’s hoe~ and hanyaa~n are not exactly deep, and I’m sure Tomoyo’s costume creations are meant to be a running gag that does not bear too much thinking. (Now, me, I nitpick because I love.) It never goes into schadenfreude, poking fun at the expense of others, and it never takes a joke too far into the realm of deconstruction, which plenty of shows these days do. It’s a sort of pure humour, the sort of innocent humour one can laugh at and not feel guilty about.
And yet, it’s both for children, and not For Children. It’s really rather clearly aimed at kids, but not in the way which sacrifices storytelling for brief laughs, possibly to keep the attention of said kids from wandering too much. I’m not sure how well CCS does in that regard, but I would definitely recommend this to perhaps the more patient sort of child, who’s willing to wait and think about what he or she just watched. For the kids in us all, perhaps.
The setting is unrealistic, but appropriately so: it’s not to show kids what the world is or isn’t like, but to show them what it should be. The Kinomoto household is one of the most loving I’ve seen, both in Real Life and anime, and the friendships between the characters are untainted with gossip or politics. I wouldn’t mind living in Tomoeda myself, since I don’t think any seedy underbelly even exists in this world; I’m not so cynical as to be able to conceive of such a thing.
The lessons taught and learned are heartfelt and honest: believe in yourself. Don’t worry about being scared about what you have to do. Love is truly blind, and if you love someone, it doesn’t matter who the other person is. There are different kinds of love, and all of them are precious. Don’t hold anyone to their first impressions, but be ready to give them a second chance. Friends will stand by you through everything; never forget your memories of them. And, in what is possibly the most powerful scene I’ve ever watched in anime, repeated in theme several other times throughout the series, learn to let go of those you truly love.
Episode 60, “Sakura and Her Precious Friend”. By any means necessary, I will get my CCS episode summaries there.
CCS is both deep and not deep: the subject matter of love bears a great deal of thinking, but it doesn’t break any new ground or cause any major revelations. Instead, it shows us what was already there, but buried underneath complications and cynicism and world-weariness. It doesn’t just entertain the kid in all of us, but lets us remember that the kid is there.
Speaking of love, it’s obvious that CLAMP and Madhouse put a lot of it into making the series. Every scene had heart, and they managed to do this for seventy episodes and two movies. Very little of it felt like filler, or like the voice actors or animators or scriptwriters were phoning it in. Every piece of music was lovingly crafted, with powerful yet simple rhythms and melodies, ranging from grand and epic to quiet and intimate. I cannot listen to Sakura’s theme on the soundtrack without breaking out into a huge grin, remembering the emotions evoked during the scenes in which it is used.
I don’t think I need to say much about the characters. I’ve waxed lyrical over Tomoyo so many times I’m repeating myself, and other people have their own preferences. I’ve been asked why I blog so much about a show that is, at least comparatively, old. I’ve considered turning the question around: why not? After all, we’re supposed to blog about what we like, and that is exactly what I am doing.
All in all, Card Captor Sakura is a show for everyone, and I mean that in the most respectful way possible. It is, and will remain, my absolute favourite anime series of all time. Without meaning to sound hyperbolic, it changed my life: at the very least, it changed the way I think, into someone who believes in that little, tiny light of hope remaining in the world.
After all, if there’s one thing Card Captor Sakura taught me, it is that everything, in the end, will be all right.
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Yeah, I’d have to agree that one of the best aspects of CCS is that it’s so incredibly, amazingly optimistic and happy and bright that you can’t help but breaking out into a ridiculous smile at times.
For some reason, the first quote that usually comes to mind for me is Kaho’s “There is no coincidence in this world, there is only the inevitable,” but that one isn’t quite as attitude-shaking as yours is.
(Although if you Google that quote you get an interesting research-paper-like thing on Cardcaptor Sakura (search for the highlighted terms, didn’t want to link directly). That’s something cool to write about in college. (But it would be a bit hard to avoid devolving into some sort of moeblob rave, personally.)
Can anyone please explain to me what lolipedofin means?????????
@CCYoshi: Corrected the HTML, at least as best I think it should be. I’ll take a look at the research paper when I’m less sleepy, thanks.
@Aanusha: “Lolipedofin” = Lolicon (itself derived from “Lolita Complex”) Pedophilic Fiend. I first heard it used in Shuffle, where one character accuses another of being such. It kind of emphasizes the lolicon aspect a lot better, so I started using it. Mostly in jest, mind.
How about me, a 46 y/o male CCS fan? Do I need professional help? :)
I loved the series because I loved the characters, also there was just enough mystery to the plot to keep me guessing.
Seen the CCS movies also :p
cyas!
ratter
This is the best, most powerful and most touching post you’ve written till daye.Your words succeeded beautifully in conveying exactly the way you feel about the series.
Have you ever wondered exactly how Tomoyo feels for Sakura . Everyone knows that she loves her deeply, of course. But what about the kind of love???? Clamp tries to drop quite a few a hints as to that. Tomoyo has a few conversations (not always with Sakura) in which she suggests, if not outright states, that she has feelings at least a level deeper than “close friendship” which she does not express. In both the manga and anime, Tomoyo admits that she loves Sakura, but Sakura replies innocently, “I love you, too,” in the platonic sense. The manga takes the scene further where Tomoyo comments that her love is more than what she is thinking it is. Sakura gives a confused look, but Tomoyo drops the topic, adding, “I’ll tell you when you’re older.” There is also an “almost kiss” drawing of Tomoyo and Sakura by Clamp. What in the world is the meaning of all this????? Surely they don’t expect us to draw the conclusion that Tomoyo has a crush on Sakura…………or worse— that she is a lesbian??????
Thank you for your inspiration. Now I want to maintain my own anime blog too….Maybe someday, after I complete my higher studies, I will. You can never tell….
@Aanusha, I really don’t want to jump into the author’s territory here but it seemed like an open question- so I’ll voice my two-cents on it if DK doesn’t mind.
I think even considering whether Tomoyo is a lesbian or not is somewhat crude, and that you’re reading too far into an aspect that should really be taken at face value (as everything else in this series should be). Remember that this entire universe is built off of innocence, and the feelings that Tomoyo has for Sakura is similar to the feelings Sakura had for Yukito, it’s something sweet and pure and at the same time- completely impossible. As Tomoyo herself has suggested in the series- it’s not something she ever thought would go beyond being best friends or that she’d even make Sakura aware of, it’s a feeling that she holds in her heart. I’ve never had any doubt that if the story had continued well into the characters’ adulthood, Tomoyo would marry a sweet (probably clumsy) guy where she could act as a pillar of support like she always has for the relationship. If CLAMP released an image of Tomoyo and Sakura almost kissing, it was definitely just one of those “playing around” type of pieces that girls tend to draw for fun, and not a serious implication that something like that would happen. That’s how I feel about it at least, you’re welcome to read into it what you wish- but I honestly think such thoughts will tarnish what makes the series so amazing.
Anywho, back to the post itself. DK, you overdid yourself on this one and voiced the soul of CCS perfectly. I have no doubt that I’ll be linking people to this weblog post for a long time to come as an explanation of what makes CCS so amazing… I honestly couldn’t have phrased any of it better myself. Keep up the good work (and feel free to delete this comment if I was overstepping myself in that response).
~Lys
@Aanusha: The problem with the label of “lesbian” is that it carries too many connotations which have their own controversies in the Real World. (Same with “love”, I suppose.)
My view of it is that it’s part of the lessons taught in the series: Tomoyo does love Sakura romantically, in a pure sense. She’s also aware that Sakura would never love her in the same sort of way, and so she tries her hardest to make Sakura happy by matchmaking her to those whom Sakura loves: first Yukito, then Syaoran. As I mentioned, love is truly blind, and if you love someone with all your heart, you have to learn how to let them go.
It’s incredibly noble and self-sacrificing, which is a good part of why Tomoyo is my favourite character of all time. She knew, at ten years old, what others sometimes take a lifetime to discover.
@Lysander: Thanks for the comments, and no worries about overstepping bounds; I appreciate civil discourse, since I’ve found that others are far more eloquent than I can be at carrying on a conversation.
Thanks a lot. That’s a burden off my chest. I couldn’t bear to think that all those hoorrible stuff about beloved Tomoyo was for real, but the way the pics and info was given in Wikipedia……. I almost believed them.Also, on a completely different note– I’ve just downloaded a scan of a page from the manga-”Lucky Star” as I haven’t seen it on T.V or elsewhere butI thought it was pretty cute. It’s just a random page from a random volume that depicts Konata confessing to Tsukasa that she wants to have “wild loli yuri-sex with Miyuki”!–Made me fall out of my chair.
Sorry to disturb you once again, but having no knowledge WHATSOEVER of Japanese, I’d like to ask you the meanings of a few more terms that I couldn’t quite figure out.
1)bishounen 2)doujinshi 3)bishoujo 4)moe 5)niko niko 6)chibi. Please try to answer as many of them as you can (if not all).
Since I’ve actually put quite a bit of thought into this, I figure I’ll give it a shot.
Bishounen = “pretty boy”, used to describe boys and young men with feminine features typically (you see a lot of shoujo and yaoi manga that has a heavy bishounen presence).
Bishoujo = “pretty girl”, usually applied to exceptionally cute girls that are under the age of twenty or so, and not really used widely outside of anime/manga/games. You’ll probably hear it most frequently in regard to Bishoujo Games, which feature half a dozen or more “pretty girls” and revolve around the concept of trying to date them.
Doujinshi = “amateur comics”, most commonly erotic in nature and featuring characters from popular anime, manga, or games- although there’s quite a bit out there that are all-ages or have original characters. To put it plainly, if you make comics in Japan and aren’t involved with a professional company, it’s doujinshi.
Moe = Probably the hardest thing in otaku culture to really define. I like to think of it as “cute” elements to a character that are part of three different categories.
“Situational Moe” is caused by outside factors, such as “girl next door”, “childhood friend”, “little sister”, etc. which are all moe on their own.
“Physical moe”, which is where you get the constant references to loli by non-otaku. Physically moe characters can be cute in any number of different ways, such as girls with glasses (maganekko), girls with twintails, girls wearing schoolgirl outfits, girls with freckles, girls in really cute costumes, etc.
“Personality moe” is specific to how characters act. Sakura because of her absolute innocence is a good example, but there’s also clumsy girls, tsundere girls (seemingly violent to everyone but really cute and innocent when you get to know them), yandere girls (exactly the opposite of tsundere, cute and friendly on the outside and really mean or violent when you get to know them), etc.
Niko-Niko = the sound effect you see in manga sometimes for “smile”, there’s really no deeper meaning to this that I can think of- they just use this phrase humorously when someone in a manga is smiling really big.
Chibi = Japanese for “short”- as in a short person. It can also be used to describe an art style like a Japanese version of caricatures, where the characters are drawn really short and cute-looking for fun- “chibi-style” if you will.
I continue to be captivated by your journalistic style. I really have to hand it to you, being the first blog I’ve ever even cared to read. Thank you for your insights and entertainment.
Don’t worry an, I’m with you all the way, all my friends say I’m weird when I tell them what I’m reading ot why I’m reading it, and why are you reading it.. they mostly say the same after that, either that’s cool, or.. you’re kind of a dope.
For example, if I say “I’m reading Gundam Seed”, they say, cool mecha’s. If I say I’m reading Pretty Face or Negima! they just ask what it’s about and than say I’m kind of a girly guy.. or they say I read books for kids.
He, I read manga’s, and even I’m in my 20s
@Aanusha: I’m arriving to the discussion a day or two late, but after reading your comments, a thought occurred to me that I thought might be useful.
I recently wrote an academic paper discussing CLAMP’s Chobits in relation to the Greek myth of Pygmalion, and as part of the research for that paper, I came across a point some essayist or blogger (I wish I could remember who!) made, to the effect that one of the central points in CLAMP’s work overall is the idea that love is love - period, the end. Details like gender (or even species, looking at the human/angel, angel/devil, and human/android pairings in their other work) is unimportant. Love is love, and that’s all that matters.
Tomoyo loves Sakura. That much is beyond debate. Sakura loves Yukito, and there’s nary a whisper of sexuality in their relationship… and the same goes for Syaoran’s love for Yukito. Any question of homosexuality - or of any kind of sexuality - within the context of relationships is missing the point, as Lysander and DKellis have already pointed out.
By the same token, though, Yukito and Touya love each other, too. The fact that their relationship would be classified as homosexual by any “real world” yardstick is equally irrelevant, because sexuality doesn’t really enter into the discussion where CCS is concerned.
Again, for CLAMP, love is love, and the details don’t matter.
Indeed this my favorite post of all of yours. I can remember when I watched CCS in Colombia after coming back from school, and even my mother enjoyed it, (she commented about the color change of the Sakura Cards in a random conversation). Everybody in the class commented about the special traits of CCS and it (temporaly) replaced to the rather boring conversations about the rather boring DBZ. Unfortunately CCS has lost popularity, now replaced by Naruto and Full Metal Alchemist, and to be truth they won´t reach the level and charm that CCS had in its broadcast time. And How could you stand the Futari Wa, Max Heart and Splash Star series? in my opinion they’re the most idiot maho shojo series ever. And please watch Sailor Moon on YouTube and comment about please.
And sorry if my comments don’t seem constructive, it’s because you already said everything that I had to say.