37 thoughts on “Card Captor Sakura – Clear Card arc – Chapter 21”

1. Speaking of Nekoi “unlearning” how to draw Kero, I can’t believe Mokona got Naoko’s hair color wrong. I love the splash page, anyway, it’s great seeing the girls in color after all these years!

   You can probably guess what stuck with me the most this chapter, ahaha. Did you notice how Clow’s circle is missing the compass directions in the little spheres on the outer border? It could just be an art error, but…this wouldn’t be the first time I called something an “art error” and got it thrown back in my face. :’D

   The scene where Sakura looks into her mother’s past is very moving. I’m glad Masaki got to come back with such a relevant contribution to the story (both in the dramatic and emotional sense).

   It really does seem like Akiho’s the “Watanuki” to Sakura’s “Tsubasa,” though how or why that could come about is a mystery to me. If Akiho is beginning to see visions through Sakura’s eyes, then is she still the figure in the robe? Is this kind of a Schrodinger’s Cat situation, where the identity of the robed figure–if there’s anybody in there at all–varies depending on events that may or may not happen? This would be a similar situation to TRC, where we had multiple powerful figures competing to make their own visions of the future come true.

   Some folks on the Discord server were wondering if Sakura’s outfit for Vol. 4 would be her new OP costume, but now that we have it, I’m not getting that vibe here, are you? The stripes combined with the star hanging off of the ribbon around her neck remind me of the cover for Vol. 6 in the original series.

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   • I can’t believe Mokona got Naoko’s hair color wrong
     I noticed that. She looks like an old lady xD But I guess she wanted to try a different color for art direction purposes? Like this illustration of Akiho: https://chibiyuuto.files.wordpress.com/2017/10/00.png It’s a bit too clear.

     You can probably guess what stuck with me the most this chapter, ahaha. Did you notice how Clow’s circle is missing the compass directions in the little spheres on the outer border? It could just be an art error, but…this wouldn’t be the first time I called something an “art error” and got it thrown back in my face. :’D
     No way I did not notice that! I didn’t expect less from a Clow pro like yourself. In fact, I don’t think this is an error at all and it could be crucial. The fact that Eriol sent this image could mean something. As if the circle is slowing fading away?

     This would be a similar situation to TRC
     Yes and I’m not liking this, LOL

     And I am also not getting OP vibes out of that cover. But who knows?

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2. Wow, such a big reveal this chapter! Though not all are revealed, I’m thinking CLAMP-sensei are starting to show us the mystery starting this chapter.

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3. Hum
   Yes sure does the plot starting to get somewhere. If Yuna and Momo are indeed guardians like Yue and Kerberos that means they do have a true form.
   I’m still curious about the black dragon’s identity.
   My current guess about everything is happening to Sakura, maybe, she is losing her connection to Clow.
   I mean, the way she cannot use his cards anymore, how that power is somehow transferred to Syaoran everytime she captures a clear card, why Eriol refuses to talk to her and Touya recovering his abilities.
   If she might be losing that, maybe that means eventually she will have to be apart from Yue and Kerberos, the last remains from Clow. Although seems to be way more than that as this chapter implies whatever is happening, is putting Sakura in danger of life.

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4. Omg! Epic! Chapter was epic!! This major development is so wonderfully planned too I’m blown away. The slow gentle build up has lead to this major reveal. Feels like a half way reveal.
   Nadeshiko was adorable as a child. A perfect mix of tomoyo and sakura right there. Her ghost appearing was stunning! She looked like she was apart of the bed curtain. But her appearance has gone from wow Sakura can see her to oh this is actually really bad for her she isn’t only in danger it seems her life is.
   Oh my those cogs appearing in sakuras eye freaked me out! I can’t believe I’m saying this about ccs but I should not read this chapter late at night…
   With akiho and Sakura, not only is it resembling tsubasa/watanuki connection, but it also appears to be a race to save their life for yue, Keri, momo and kaito…
   If and a very big reluctant if there is an upcoming link to at least trc, I’d say it’s been very sensitively and carefully planned and followed through. There has been a subtle trc/ holic vibe in the background so if it happens it’s not so random.

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5. Lovely title page, once again, glad to see them in color. Very fitting dress style for each of the girls, they kind of looks like spin around the iconic Disney Alice in Wonderland’s bleu dress with white apron and black hair ribbon. A shame them left out Yamazaki though, he’ll be hard to place somewhere else. Talking of title pages, if they are to annonce a movie for this summer, it will probably be on next month’s tobira.

   Tankoubon 4’s jester dress is lovely.

   What is that staff with cards… Takara Tomy… OK, anime spoilers at the end of my post.

   As for being left alone with Xiaolang, I believe Masaki did it on purpose. Why such a little tea pot? Why didn’t he have some device to order more tea? Isn’t he rich enough for these kind of things? This is highly suspicous. xD
   Plus he didn’t try do it instead of his great-grand-daughter, and he knew exactly what to ask next…
   So suspicious…

   Masaki is remembering Nadeshiko in the dress he gave Sakura in the Clow Card series. Nice speech from Masaki,also I didn’t expected to show up so long for this chapter, plus he has yet to give his present, he’ll probably have more frame in the Clear Card series than in the entire 90s series.

   Change of scene to Yue and Cerberos. Kero is calling touya “touya-nii-chan”, even though he is his mistress’s older brother. We’ll see if it stick to the tankoubon version. Is it the first time or is it just me who never spot these things? They don’t do much more than exposing the clues gathered so far. Eriol wrote back, probably to prevent his former incarnation’s creature to interfere too soon. Is the magic circle image all there is to it? I just notice there is a D among the 12 magic symbols line, which include Selece, Windam and Rayearth letters. Is it linked to Yuna and Fai’s D?

   Back to Sakura and the house, Edwardian style both inside and outside. Playing the memories of the room, Tomoyo will be delighted to hear she can do it, she’ll just have to film the replay of the card capture she missed. And much more nasty tricks…
   Oh oh oh oh oh oh

   That’s when the real Nadeshiko comes over. Or is she the real one? Sakura confirm she’s not a RECORD image, but she still wearing the same clothing as in the picture Sakura was holding before she saw her. Although, what she says sounds like the real one. Her meaning could be very cryptic or very simple, either seeing her will cause Sakura troubles or there’s just no point to look at her room’s memories with RECORD any further, that won’t bring her back, Sakura will just lost herself in the Erised miroir instead of living up to the future challenge coming her way.

   And that’s when Sakura snap into the dream world. Connecting with Akiho. At that very moment, Akiho is holding the Alice book while Sakura is holding the staff and touching her mother’s hands while using RECORD. Maybe using both the book and the card together triggered the dream meeting. That the monster comes out of a gear could mean it will come out of the Alice book. Sakura said she knows the cloaked one. Maybe she recognize a familiar presence without nailing who it is exactly…

   Masaki says the house staff didn’t hear Sakura call, while we know she did. Was there a card hiding her? She flash her magic key to her boyfriend so he would know it’s really all right. Did she feel a card? Or is it just meant as magic business in general? I expected this side story to be over with this chapter, but she didn’t get the present yet and there’s no resolution with Nadeshiko’s ghost/impostor. Masaki again for the next chapter I guess. Will Xiaolang see her?

   Akiho, the way she’s grabbing the book, it’s like Xiaolang with the titleless book in the Recort world of Tsubasa. Only letting go when Kurogane take it out. Akiho only wakes up when Yuna take to book out of her hands. Coincidence? Both titleless book by the way…

   So her family has these weird robes? And she has no magic? Are you sure you read that right, Eriol? Or maybe she is the Meiling of her family, no power among her powerful relatives. Plus, Akiho says it’s her robes… maybe her soul is drifting from her body and doesn’t control a thing, explaining the third person point of view. Then Yuna put her to sleep. I hope you know Seishirou has a trade mark on this technique and will use you to feed his cherry tree if you don’t pay the rights. xD

   Momo says they are starting to resonate, kyoumei, literally to sign together. Like you said, same word as from Tsubasa’s Chiis which were said to do kyoumeisuru by Yuuko. Either my Kodansha compact kanji guide or Jim Breen’s online dictionary, all I have is resonance, agreement, sympathy. So they must be attuning to one another. As for could Akiho be Sakura’s Watanuki, the way Yuuko turn up her sentence, it sounds more like the feathers were resonating, sealed likewise in made up being, the Chiis. In CCS Clear Card, does it mean the girls are resonating? Or the cards and staff with the book dragging along the girls?

   Yuna go on with achira no mamorite, guardians over there, implying there are also kochira no mamorite, guardians over here, him and Momo.

   “Kero looks soooo weird, by the way. Nekoi has unlearned how to draw him.”
   Or she finally draw him the way she wanted all along…

   “A big yay for another 30 pages this time! 60 pages for volume 5 so far.”
   It’s closer to the chapter length were get at the beginning of the series. Or maybe they needed to push the end of the clear card to make it up to a movie in August. Talking of which, it’s about time we get announcement if there really is a movie. Let’s see… The first movie was announced on the chapter 32 title page, in the January 1999’s Nakayoshi issue, publish in December 1998. They announced the second movie on chapter 45, in the february 2000’s Nakayoshi issue, published in January 2000. It would be about time they give us clue, although some naruto movies were announce on the first week of April for showing in August, they’re not late by the industry standards. But next chapter would be about time they do something if they want to.

   Anime spoiler ahead!!!
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   http://takaratomy.co.jp/products/ccsakura/ look to the third section, フォーチュンカード手帳
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   On this kit, they have 14 cards. There’s GRAVITATION, so we are definitely working with the anime cards. There’s the eleven manga cards from GALE to LABYRINTH. There’s two new cards, HAIL and … REVERSAL I guess. They say it’s a fortune card desk and it will be available in April 2018, so I would guess we will meet these cards next in the coming weeks. SPIRAL, SNOOZE, LABYRINTH, HAIL and REVERSAL, in whatever order. And that they will show up before APPEAR and BLAZE.

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   • As for being left alone with Xiaolang, I believe Masaki did it on purpose. Why such a little tea pot? Why didn’t he have some device to order more tea? Isn’t he rich enough for these kind of things? This is highly suspicous. xD
     Oh yeah, he absolutely did it on purpose 😉

     Masaki is remembering Nadeshiko in the dress he gave Sakura in the Clow Card series.
     That’s true! Nice catch!

     Is the magic circle image all there is to it?
     Did you notice how the 4 small circles at the edge are empty? Could be a mistake, or could mean something.

     I expected this side story to be over with this chapter, but she didn’t get the present yet and there’s no resolution with Nadeshiko’s ghost/impostor. Masaki again for the next chapter I guess.
     Maybe. But they could also deal with it via a quick flashback.

     So her family has these weird robes? And she has no magic? Are you sure you read that right, Eriol? Or maybe she is the Meiling of her family, no power among her powerful relatives.
     Maybe. But I don’t know, I never truly believed that she is powerless.

     Yuna go on with achira no mamorite, guardians over there, implying there are also kochira no mamorite, guardians over here, him and Momo.
     Yes.

     Or she finally draw him the way she wanted all along…
     Haha c’moooon.

     Re movie announcement: next issue would be indeed ideal. It’s about time we get a spread, plus it will be April (Sakura’s birthday and all), the new anime phase starting with the new OP and ED. It’s all aligned.

     There’s two new cards, HAIL and … REVERSAL I guess.
     I saw that. Quite spoilery haha. I think they are showing the first batch of cards from the first 13 episodes. Which would explain why APPEAR and BLAZE are left out (and also the rest not even shown in manga yet)

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     • “Did you notice how the 4 small circles at the edge are empty? Could be a mistake, or could mean something.”

       If the absence of cardinal direction is the message, I would guess it means “don’t move”. Or maybe Eriol knows Yue and Cerberos will be to confuse to do anything with that kind of meaning less message.

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     • “Re movie announcement: next issue would be indeed ideal. It’s about time we get a spread, plus it will be April (Sakura’s birthday and all), the new anime phase starting with the new OP and ED. It’s all aligned.”

       It sure has been a long time without a spread. Back in the 90s with Magic Knight Rayearth and Card Captor Sakura, three one page in a row was the max. We are currently in the longest strike with 7 one page tobira in a row.

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6. So, right after this chapter events, I’ve come up with a theory… it’s long, but I think it’s worth a read!
   CLAMP likes the sort of things that are under your nose, yet unthinkable.
   Remember the surprise when Eriol revealed that Fujitaka was a memoryless, powerless reincarnation of half of Clow’s soul?
   Yeah, Sakura’s father and Sakura’s new friend were both new personas of Clow…
   Clear Card Hen plays the same card, but using her maternal side of the family now! And using some events we have learnt from Tsubasa and Holic, of course.
   Clow’s brief wish has frozen Yuuko’s soul between life and death, and nobody knows how, but Yuuko’s soul was “living” inside a store to meet Watanuki and to have her time there to serve as a price for her wish and so on…
   That doesn’t mean that she was totally prevented from reincarnating (which is completely different from resurrecting, a forbidden thing by Clamp):
   -Half of Yuuko’s soul passed away and reincarnated as Nadeshiko, a memoryless, powerless beautiful person (like Fujitaka).
   -Nadeshiko met Fujitaka (also memoryless and powerless by then) and Sakura was born.
   -Nadeshiko dies by an unknown illness when Sakura was 3 (I think) and made it to heaven (angel wings), but she often comes back to salute her family.

   The other half of Yuuko’s soul is tricky. So, now let’s face it that Akiho may not be as young as she physically appears to be, just like Eriol. Also, she’s travelled a lot and knows many languages, both eastern and western, and that’s not easy at all! That’s quite a stretch for a pre-teen, even by Clamp’s standards… So yeah, she may be quite older and somehow completely unaware of it.

   Unlikely Eriol, Akiho is powerless and memoryless. That’s because Yuuko’s soul is still “trapped” in the store, but as soon as Yuuko pays her price and dissolves into darkness, Akiho’s gears (clocks, time) start to move, which means her memories and powers are finally starting to awake.
   So, up to this point, Akiho’s surroundings have been manipulated by Yuuko to prepare her for the upcoming events, more or less like Clow did with Sakura, Kero and Yukito:
   -Name, hight and physical traits are very close to Sakura’s.
   -Two guardians were placed by her side, but both are conscious/aware of their fates, as they talk to each other.
   -Relatives that conveniently are always traveling and have to let the girl on the care of a butler…
   -Freedom to move from country to country to cover the fact that she doesn’t age normally…
   Also, Yuuna studies magic to get a D. degree so that he can:
   -Make Akiho forget her aging.
   -Create a SPECIAL CLOAK/HOOD to redirect, channel or soften Akiho’s emerging powers/memories out of her body into the dream realm (but he tells her that it’s her family’s cloak).
   -To write down stories in the blank book left by Yuuko, using D. DEGREE LANGUAGE (the same used by powerful magicians such as Fay D. Flourite). That’s important to guide Akiho into her unconscious creation of the Clear Cards.

   Now the consequences of the awakening of Ahiho’s powers:
   -Just like Sakura, she must learn how to deal with her powers.
   -Obviously, her powers are heavily based on DREAMS and TIME/DIMENSIONS, because of YUUKO, the dimensional witch!
   -Her unconscious self wears her “family cloak” (but it was actually made by Yuuna) to soften Akiho’s abrupt flush of magic and to let her reach out for Sakura’s guidance in dreams or even in the real world.

   So yeah! Sakura is actually guiding/helping Akiho! The Sakura Cards are aware of that mission beforehand, so they themselves became clear/powerless, so that Sakura wouldn’t rely on them for a while.
   -The Dream Staff is Akiho’s from the beginning, and the cloaked figure shows that eventually it will take the key/staff back from Sakura.
   -Sakura can use the DREAM STAFF because it’s half based on her star power, but it’s actually a SHIP’S WHEEL, used to NAVIGATE DREAMS. Yuuko did that on purpose!!
   -Akiho’s unconscious self creates CLEAR cards from her DREAMS, inspired on her ALICE BOOK, using the spells written by Yuuna in D. LANGUAGE!
   -Sakura SECURES fragile things such as DREAMS with CRYSTALLIZATION POWERS! Crystals are a metaphor for turning dreams into reality!!
   -So, as the cards are created and secured, Akiho’s powers are getting stronger and eventually she and Sakura will face off over the cards and staff.
   -I think the face off will occur in the DREAM realm, between Sakura and the Cloaked figure.
   -Once Sakura beats the Cloaked figure, she will come across the dream and learn that it’s actually Akiho and cutely hand her all of the Clear Cards and the Dream Staff.
   -Sakura knows very well that those cards and the staff aren’t hers: she calls the key as a “masterless key” and she never writes down her name on any of the Clear Cards, so that won’t be too painful for her to let go of them (except maybe for FLIGHT lol).

   Now, this is how I think the plot for the second arc of the Clear Cards will go:
   -Akiho’s uncontrolled NIGHTMAREs are causing troubles around.
   -NIGHTMAREs are related with the dragon-like creature we’ve seen in Sakura’s dreams. They can cross between dream and reality realms.
   -Sakura and Akiho have to work together to defeat the NIGHTMAREs.
   -Once Akiho triggers a Clear Card and Sakura triggers a blank Sakura Card, the two cards fuse as a RAINBOW card (as opposed to CLEAR). Once the nightmare is defeated, the cards defuse and the Sakura Card goes back to normal (not blank anymore). So, Sakura will eventually restore all of her own cards to normal.
   -Akiho fully recovers her memories and powers from Yuuko and tells Sakura that she (Akiho) must share her powers and memories with the spirit of Nadeshiko, because she (Akiho) is far too strong and cannot control her dream powers.
   -Akiho cannot operate that powerful magic spell without being wished for it by Sakura, because that’s the nature of Yuuko’s powerful magic…
   -Sakura has to make the wish to split Akiho’s memories and powers with Nadeshiko’s spirit.
   -In the process, the girls enter the dream realm, but Sakura misses her mother so much that she unwillingly attempts to resurrect her, just like Clow did with Yuuko.
   -That’s why Nadeshiko is so worried in chapter 21, because she knows that Sakura is in great danger of wanting to pursue that forbidden path.
   -Sakura unwillingly wishes for her mom back and Akiho cannot stop the granting and starts to take the price, which may be Sakura’s own life!
   -Here comes Touya’s new power, he brings Eriol and Syoran to the DREAM realm!
   -Eriol and Syoran stop the process of resurrection of Nadeshiko with their magic.
   -Touya saves Sakura and makes the split wish in her place, using all of his powers as payment for good this time, after all, he loves his mom just like Sakura!
   -Yaay! Everybody’s happy! Akiho’s power is balanced now, cards are back to normal and Sakura can give away her Star Staff for the plot of Tsubasa/Holic.

   I know that’s not what’s going to happen in the anime, because it has never developed Eriol and Fujitaka’s story in the first place… Reincarnation and resurrection can be difficult and dark for children and the anime may never go along that plot.
   But it would be awesome to see the manga using some of these ideas!
   What do you guys think of my theory?

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   • The one problem I have, Yuuko, Nadeshiko and Akiho’s personalities aren’t alike.

     Compared to the four boys, Clow, Fujitaka, Yukito and Eriol, they all have the same kind of personality. They are kind, they can do anything, they have glasses. Even Sakura said so herself at one point.

     Nadeshiko and Yuuko, on the other hand, their personalities don’t fit at all. Nadeshiko is very clumsy, while Yuuko is as good balance, climb over to the second floor in one case, is handy as she could with the Zantetsuken red bat or air-playing ping pong . As for Akiho, she’s neither clumsy nor agile, probably just average like Tomoyo.

     Also, in the manga, Fujitaka wasn’t asleep for the final fight when everyone else in town was, because he is Clow reincarnation. Akiho on the other hand fell twice for SNOOZE. On top of it all, Yuuko already has a reincarnation in the OAD xxxHolic Rou. And that reincarnation wasn’t clumsy at all. It would make more sense to have Nadeshiko and Kobato as the common reincarnation of someone.

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     • “The one problem I have, Yuuko, Nadeshiko and Akiho’s personalities aren’t alike. Compared to the four boys, Clow, Fujitaka, Yukito and Eriol, they all have the same kind of personality. They are kind, they can do anything, they have glasses. Even Sakura said so herself at one point.”

       fujitaka and eriol were born from clow reed himself as like 10 year old boys. they were never even babies in the first place. and yukito is one of clows created beings so there is bound to be familial similarities there with those three. now going with the theory of nadeshiko is yuuko reborn, she wouldnt be similar in looks or personality because she has been reborn to a different family. so she would look and act as a different person. but like yuuko herself says in holic- a reborn persons goals can still be the same. along with the soul mate theory too.
       were yuuko and clow reed ever confirmed as soul mates btw? i really love to think of them as that. ❤

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       • “fujitaka and eriol were born from clow reed himself as like 10 year old boys. they were never even babies in the first place. and yukito is one of clows created beings so there is bound to be familial similarities there with those three. now going with the theory of nadeshiko is yuuko reborn, she wouldnt be similar in looks or personality because she has been reborn to a different family.”

         The only reason Clow’s soul was split into two new souls was because he actively worked to split it. There’s no reason for Yuuko’s soul to be split if not by the same procedure. Her soul would have stay whole if she was reincarnated the normal way. So it’s either Nadeshiko or Akiho, it can’t be both.

         Also, how can there be a soul-less reincarnation? In Tsubasa, Sakura’s body without her soul was dying, twice. They had to put a feather of her soul back in to stabilize her body.

         That being said, the part with Akiho being much older than she looked because her time is stopped could be right. Although she doesn’t need to be Yuuko, she could be much older than Eriol. Maybe her family is long gone by now, but Yuna was created to look after her when she would awaken.

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     • You’re right, Yuuko, Nadeshiko and Akiho really don’t seem to share any physical nor personality traits at all…
       Funny thing about magic is that its rules and patterns sometimes can be changed to fit the plot, just like in this chapter, when THE ROCORD suddenly became able to show events that it arguably had never recorded in the first place.
       THE RETURN (anime-exclusive card) could’ve done that, but THE RECORD??
       Very speculative of me here, but let’s bear in mind that Clow intended Fujitaka, Yukito and Eriol to look like him just to make Sakura feel comfortable and friendly around them.
       Likewise, CLAMP could simply say that Yuuko wanted to increase chances of Akiho getting along with Sakura by mimicking some of her traits. And Nadeshiko to look like an angel to please Fujitaka.

       “Akiho on the other hand fell twice for SNOOZE.”
       Hmmmmm… Smells like Yuuna’s plan to keep things unsuspicious… The guy’s got an D. degree after all ^^;

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       • Maybe the record was picking up on the memories recorded in nadeshikos bedroom…? That’s what I figured was happening anyway.

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         • Yes, that’s what it did, but it was done in a rather incautious way.
           THE RETURN in the anime could show past events that had happened anywhere, but it would demand lots and lots of magic power. Sakura had to ask a sacred tree to help her out, and she was quite worn out after using the card.
           Now with THE RECORD card, Sakura can achieve the same thing apparently without any restrictions. We know that our girl is becoming stronger and skilled, but even so THE RECORD makes it too easy, too powerful and too convenient to solve mysteries. I think CLAMP did that ability look far too easy only because of their limited amount of pages in the chapter, and they’ll probably retcon that in the future.
           Anyways, it’s very nice to see Okawa adapting the powers of an anime-exclusive card to the manga, just like she did with THE SLEEP and THE SNOOZE.

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       • Back to SNOOZE, who knows, maybe Akiho fell asleep for another reason, like resonating with Sakura. Or her magic was sealed when her time was stopped.

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         • “Or her magic was sealed when her time was stopped.”
           yes i was thinking the same thing- it would explain why she has “no magical aura”

           “Shinomoto Akiho could be a false name and the girl be from the Read family.”
           wah! great theory! i didnt even think of that!

           adding to this fabulous theory discussion; on the subject of yuuko, there is an as yet unanswered plot thread that was in an early chapter of holic. watanuki was clearing out yuukos verrrry messy store room and he came across sakuras first sealing wand. but yuuko said she wanted the true one but this one wasn’t the real one as it had flashing lights and made noises or music. i remember fan girling thinking omg sakura must have been in real trouble to find the shop and actually make a wish. … now that clear card is happening AND sakuras wand has changed, i wonder if tomoyo had a hand in getting her mums company to make a toy version of sakuras pink duck wand to use as a price to hand over to yuuko. i just wondered if yuuko gets involved with giving sakura help since eriol is waiting until that moment. perhaps yuuko steps in to guide sakura in the meantime. of course it could be- and most probably is something completely different… im not that good at theory making.

           (my pet hate is when there are plot threads left unanswered or forgotten. but CLAMP are really good at following things through, even the minor things.)

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           • There’s indeed quite a few treasure in Yuuko’s warehouse that need to be answered for. She has all three Magic Knight Rayearth swords. Replicas or real things? Who knows, but I would like to know more about it. xD

             I would guess Ohkawa expected to answer these sooner, but since they don’t get any younger, they can’t work as much as they used to. They now produce an average of 3 tankoubon a year instead of 7 for the 90s and 2000s. Plus, with X left on hiatus for so long, some crossover plotlines may have been delayed. Subaru needs to find a new place in a third series. xD
             New series’s plan which may be waiting in Ohkawa’s plot boxes.

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           • “pink duck wand”
             Lol, I can’t unsee that now!!
             I’ve never realized that resemblance before haha

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         • I only came up with the possibility of Yuuna using his D. powers to make Akiho fall asleep because you’ve pointed out that Fujitaka wasn’t affected by THE SLEEP, even when he didn’t have magical powers.
           So, if Akiho is powerless because of her halted time (which is very likely to be true), one could argue that even so she would be immune to THE SLEEP, right?
           That’s why we can speculate that Yuuna may have done something there to make Sakura keep thinking that Akiho is just an ordinary girl that falls asleep to THE SNOOZE.
           You have a good point there with the resonating, but wouldn’t that make Sakura feel odd as well? I don’t really know how resonating should work, but it looks like two people would feel the same experience at the same time, which didn’t happen with the girls while THE SNOOZE was activated… But resonating is really interesting and we may get to see more of it soon!!

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           • It could have been an imperfect synchronisation, but when she came back home that day, as they were eating the roll cake and she showed the 3D Alice book Sakura lent her that day, she retell the dream of Sakura’s APPEAR capture. The only time she could have dreamed it, is while asleep under SNOOZE while Sakura was actually capturing the card. Like “magic live broadcast”. And since we know she has no power, she is can’t be a yumemi who see future even before hand.

             Did Akiho felt asleep when Sakura captured action? Only Chiharu knows. As for when Sakura captured SNOOZE, maybe Akiho produced the phenomenon which Sakura turned into a card. But the process drained her, so Akiho felt asleep, regardless of SNOOSE action…

             So many possibilities…

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           • “You have a good point there with the resonating, but wouldn’t that make Sakura feel odd as well? I don’t really know how resonating should work, but it looks like two people would feel the same experience at the same time, which didn’t happen with the girls while THE SNOOZE was activated”

             yeah it should do i imagine- kind of like tsubasa li and watanuki. when one gets hurt physically or mentally the other feels it. they have collapsed on occasion if one of them is badly injured.
             it seems like the resonating thing has only just started in this chapter to happen since they both went into dream mode at exactly the same time. whereas before the girls were certainly drawn to each other and neither could deny their similarities in looks and personality. also we discovered akiho would dream up a situation involving sakura- or alice in her dreams. and then whatever she dreamt would happen to sakura in the following days. so that connection was a few days out of sync i suppose. this chapter was definitely a turning point and nadeshiko was involved in that…

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       • The only person Akiho is compared to in the series is Sakura, they both say the are alike a lot (meaning “hey readers, it’s not just Mokona drawing style, we really make them look alike on purpose”). It could be another hint that they are cousins on the Read side of their families.

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         • Yeah, I’m really digging that theory now.
           By the way, sometimes I feel like CLAMP is trying too hard to make readers fall in love with Akiho, they’re like “here, we are making you a brand new version of Sakura, please adore her!”
           Yet I’m still quite indifferent towards her…

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   • yeah i had the same thought on nadeshiko being yuukos reincarnation a while ago too. only instead of akiho being the other half, i rather thought that kaho was since she’s with eriol while nadeshiko is with fujitaka.
     it’d be great if CLAMP covered nadeshikos family. i do think nashiko is from a magical family like the li family.

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     • Oh, I loved your parallel with Kaho!!
       She’s such a badass, I wish we could see more of her soon.
       I was thinking about the fact that we know nothing about Nadeshiko’s parents… All she’s got is a grandfather and Sonomi as a cousin… Adoptive kid vibes? Her adopter was too old to be called dad, so that he’d rather be called grandfather?

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     • “it’d be great if CLAMP covered nadeshikos family. i do think nashiko is from a magical family like the li family.”

       Words!

       They said Nadeshiko could see ghost like Touya, so she definitely has power herself. Masaki doesn’t seems to be the source, and since neither Sonomi nor Tomoyo have magic powers, it probably comes from Nadeshiko’s other side of the family.

       Although, since Masaki is so over the top for his grand-daughter, it feels like he reared her up himself. Maybe her parents died early? At least I hope so, or else I really feel bad for Sonomi, like very distant second in her grand-father’s eyes. Also, it seems like Nadeshiko was Masaki’s only ever girl, it would hint Sonomi and Nadeshiko were cousin through their respective fathers.

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   • Thinking on it more, another problem would be we weren’t introduced to Yuuko in Card Captor Sakura yet. Clow Read and Fujitaka were introduced from chapter 1 and Eriol, from the very first page of part two. The entire part two is about “how comes we feel Clow Read presence, he should be dead”.

     There’s no such a thing in Clear Cards, no “how comes it feels like Nadeshiko’s presence every time something weird happen?” The only small hint to anything at all is “D” magicians are powerful and there’s a secret community of ill reputation in England. Everything feels like no magic or Sakura’s magic. The twist of this series will probably be much different than the first.

     That being said, don’t go believe I’m just trying to kill other people’s theory. I have that crack theory since over ten years ago, that Watanuki is in fact Eriol who lost his memories and grow just a few years more. So Yuuko got back her Clow’s reincarnation who then wait for her reincarnation, in the very same wish shop. But it can’t work, Tsubasa!Xiaolang and Watanuki are too young, Watanuki can’t be as old as Fujitaka.

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     • Yeah, I see your point…
       Demographics are just too different so that introducing Yuuko in CCS could be a double-edged sword, and CLAMP would never let anything too risky happen to their golden goose.
       Also, given its own very special and charming pace, CCS works better as a “standalone” story, or perhaps as a “source” for spin-offs.
       My theory is just too far-fetched, CLAMP must already have bigger plans for Yuuko, probably to be tied to the fate of the creator of the version of Fei Wang Reed that Kurogane shattered…. See how my mind is already theorizing upon something else? Lol
       Theorizing is very funny and kind of unavoidable… We like some characters so much that we keep wishing for them to be involved everywhere!

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       • “Source” is definitely the key concept. Old timers like us read Card Captor Sakura, but young readers of the Nakayoshi magazine do too. Clamp want to make it enjoyable to 10 years old who haven’t read the 150+ tankoubon of the group. Just Tsubasa and Holic is over 50 tankoubon.

         I was thinking over it too, since the only hint we have, are stuff from England, those D magicians. Shinomoto Akiho could be a false name and the girl be from the Read family. We would have a Lee family kid in the 1990s series and a Lead family kid in the 2010s series. Which could lead to other twist in a new Tsubasa arc.

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         • Oh my, that’s such a good idea! But I have a doubt.
           If Akiho is a descendant of Clow from his British side of family, she must be very powerful, but maybe not enough as to go creating guardians…
           I think so because Shaoran doesn’t have any magical guardians… Could he create his own guardians if he wanted to? Who knows, but maybe he can, but doesn’t see any use for guardians… And Akiho needs guidance for ungiven reasons, so yeah, that’s a great theory indeed!!

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           • I don’t think Akiho is the one who created the guardians, it’s probably the one who created the Alice book. Same as Kero and Yue coming along with the Clow book.

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   • Mulling over this more, maybe Shinomoto is a real name, but Kinomoto certainly isn’t. Fujitaka is the instant reincarnation of Clow, he should be a Fujitaka Read and his daughter, Sakura Read. I wonder why Kinomoto was chosen and by whom. Was it a spin over Shinomoto? As for Hiiragizawa Eriol, he told us upfront it was a made up name.

     Also, since they can’t feel but Sakura’s magic with the cards, what if Akiho is so alike to Sakura that they have the same presence signature? Maybe on top of being both linked to the Read family, Nadeshiko’s mother could a Shinomoto..

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     • “Nadeshiko’s mother could a Shinomoto..”

       yes that has crossed my thoughts more than once. plus i always thought akiho looks very similar to nadeshiko. more so now that clamp settled on her hair being the same colour as nadeshiko , instead of the initial blonde they went for. it’s been said countless times how much sakura looks like nadeshiko, and now she resembles akiho. not that i think that akiho is nadeshikos mum ^^; more like close or distant relative.

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     • ” I wonder why Kinomoto was chosen and by whom”

       probably similar to the name choosing of kimihiro watanuki. that name worked as a protective charm or something right?
       what is the name meaning of kinomoto btw?

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       • Kinomoto meant something like “from the tree” or “which grow on the tree”. Shinomoto mean “from a/the poem”

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