A year has passed since the end of Cardcaptor Sakura, and Sakura Kinomoto and her friends are entering middle school. Her beau Syaoran has returned from Hong Kong and Sakura’s biggest challenge lies in choosing a club (cheerleading)—until a robed stranger appears in strange dreams. Her captured Clow magic cards are now safely blank, but new threats appear in the form of Clear cards and a magic that is detectable only by Sakura. Luckily, best pal Tomoyo is still on hand to provide new costumes, as Sakura resumes her Cardcaptor activities. Also still around are the Japanese voice actors from the original series (20 years ago!). Still guided by the creative collective CLAMP, Clear Card provides plenty of nostalgia, with the same clean character designs, episode formula—a new card appears every week—and even some of the same music. The emphasis on relationships between the characters also remains, although some—like Eriol—have moved across the sea and play a smaller role, and a new exchange student joins Sakura’s class. The color palette is a little lighter, the animation is sharper, and the characters enjoy some modern technology. And despite the continuity, new viewers will have no difficulty entering the kind, sweet world of Sakura. Presenting the first 11 episodes from 2018 in a dual-language Blu-ray/DVD Combo set, rated TV-PG, extras include a prologue OVA bridging the two series. Highly recommended. [Note: Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card, Part 2 is also newly available.] (L. Martincik)
Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card, Part 1
(2018) 2 discs. 275 min. Blu-ray: $64.99. Funimation (avail. from most distributors). Volume 34, Issue 4
Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card, Part 1
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