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Episode 14 – Sakura, the Shrine and the Zoo
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So, jumping straight to the scene in Syaoran’s house, we get to see a lot more of his summoning than ever depicted in the manga. It is interesting how it’s sort of implied which magic power he would need later on. Also, unlike the manga, they don’t look like cards here…
About Sakura’s curly hair, to me it’s a no-no xD I am starting to think Meiling is not the best hairstylist. I’m joking, but seriously I wasn’t very keen about neither of the hairstyles she did for Sakura. Still, I suppose it’s nice and welcome to see Sakura in different hairstyles, and I appreciate Meiling doing that to impress Syaoran, so I’ll give her that.
I just have to add that I LOVE the interaction between Kero and Meiling. I love Meiling, period. I laughed when she realized that Akiho is just as naïve as Sakura.
The whole thing with the kids turning into animals was beyond weird and it felt like a badly written episode. But we’ve seen weird things happening in CCS before so I’ll take that for granted. If this episode weren’t written by Ohkawa I would have criticized the hell out of it xD
Then we have Syaoran using what clearly feels like The Time card, or something similar. Is the source of that power Sakura’s card? It feels that way. I wonder if Sakura sensed anything (it felt as if she did). Some people had guessed that Syaoran would be using a time-based magic judging only by the screencap that was released in advance to promote the episode. Kudos to them!
Cute SyaoSaku moment with Syaoran calming Sakura down and helping her back on her axis. Ohkawa surely gave what the fans have been yearning for.
I didn’t like the music choice when Sakura is strongly wishing to bring back everyone. The music doesn’t have the “whoa” element that the scene asked for.
So we have another anime original card: MIRAGE. I love its design. I think this one makes more sense as the counterpart for The Illusion than LUCID. But then again, which would be the counterpart of LUCID? xD I am starting to think that this “counterpart” theory only applies to some cases.
The animation on this episode was so-so. The character faces looked looked really bad in some scenes, but in general it was decent animation.
Next episode we should have everyone watching the play from The Sealed Card movie. And it seems like another card will appear. They announced the title of Episode 18 and it will be the one with BLAZE. Only 4 episodes left after that. Can they make it? The anime is slowly but surely catching up with the manga.
31 thoughts on “Review: Card Captor Sakura Clear Card arc TV Anime – Episode 14”
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Chibi Yuuto's CHRoNiCLEs 
LUCID could be the counterpart of The Erase. They don’t have identical functions but they are close enough. LUCID makes things transparent. The Erase makes things disappear for a short period.
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Good guess!
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Wow! Animes are great for showing extra scenes or added details that weren’t shown in the manga. And we sure got our fill with this episode! I’ve said it before and I will say it again, I love how they have animated syaorans magic! Now my first thought when he was transforming that ball was omg those are the Sakura cards and he’s having to transform them into moon based powers. I still stand by my theory of syaoran having the Sakura cards and he’s having to use them to defeat whatever is happening. But at what cost???
Meiling! I just freaking love this girl! She’s such a powerful character to balance out all that sugar! I love that she’s into hair and beauty. Her telling Sakura don’t rub your eyes! Lol my mum always tells me this! I prefered this hairstyle to last weeks one, but it sure ain’t perfect! ^^
Mmm the animal thing was…. Well it was odd! But so is Alice in wonderland! So it goes!
My favourite scene which had me scream yessss! Was syaoran ripping into the sky! Wow! That was very cool! Surely that was the time card he used?? And ohhhhh myyyy gooooooddddd!!! He hugged Sakura so sweetly! And she just melted into calmness! Clamp we need more of this! Like way more like a kiss??? I can dream! Feels like only syaoran can handle Sakura at times like that. So more of a hint that sakuras will is creating these cards. I yo- yo between thinking its yuna creating them to Sakura.
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“My favourite scene which had me scream yessss! Was syaoran ripping into the sky! Wow! That was very cool! Surely that was the time card he used?? And ohhhhh myyyy gooooooddddd!!! He hugged Sakura so sweetly! And she just melted into calmness! Clamp we need more of this!”
SAME! I felt like CLAMP kinda shot themselves in the foot with pushing Syaoran into working in the shadows and behind the scenes. Of course it’s for his dear Sakura’s sake but because of that, we don’t get too much of the SakuraxSyaoran moments that fans are dying to see! I hope they reveal more of what he’s been doing so we can experience that love and dedication he has to Sakura. And I’ll take all the anime filler and padding in the world if it means they’ll show moments like this episode!
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Now my first thought when he was transforming that ball was omg those are the Sakura cards and he’s having to transform them into moon based powers.
I hadn’t thought about that… It makes sense.
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I hope beyond hope meiling is a more regular appearances compared to last series. I just think she gives that added something. And she’s so sweet and funny! But most of all she is sharp as he’ll! She rivals tomoyo and syaoran put together in senses! In a single moment she realises just how alike sakura and akiho are!! They really are birds of a feather! XD. And that was from her first official meeting with akiho too!
I also hope that clamp do another series or a movie. I’m not sure 1 series is enough. It all feels like this could lead onto a 4th arc or 3rd movie. Or maybe both 😁👍 👌
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*sharp as hell
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“I also hope that clamp do another series or a movie. I’m not sure 1 series is enough.”
Same, given how the original anime series was SO much longer than the first manga series, I was expecting they would later announce a second season. The big theory everyone is talking about is that these new Clear Cards are counterparts to the original Clow Cards, and it took at least two seasons to acquire all those! Some cards might be combined cards (Hail from Freeze, Snow, Rain?) though, and there have been some two-card episodes, so hopefully it won’t be too rushed if they end up not going longer.
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“Same, given how the original anime series was SO much longer than the first manga series”
yeah this is why i fear a rushed all action ending with messy or unexplained explanations. it really does feel like it should be leading onto another arc/movie. so i hope the ending or this arc (if this is the last arc) doesn’t feel cut off. leaving things up in the air. of course i have faith in the CLAMP ladies but cause i love this series so so much it does give me a niggling fear. and it also feels like all the characters need just that bit more or a continued character development after this arc.
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Oh forgot to say how nice to see more of the shrine gardens! 💕✨
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It looks bigger than I remembered!
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Yes it really does! And that wisteria tree was just gorgeous! Made me nostalgic for wish! Wisteria was the flower theme for wish right? And wisteria are my second favorite tree blossom, sakura blossom aka my birthday blossom first! 🌸
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I really like the dynamic between Kero-chan and Meiling. To have her in Sakura’s house brings their relationship to a new level. He’ll compliment her on her food but the time she’ll leave.
Next, the scene with Xiaolang, the rashinban and the bear. I always said these bears were suspicious, especially since Ohkawa bend her anime plot backwards to make them in. xD
So he is turning these light balls into solid balls which works like cards. That’s how he got HAIL in the anime and probably how he got SPIRAL in the manga as well. There was a golden ball next to the bear a few episodes ago, I guess it’s one of these as well. Maybe the card he used against BLAZE in the manga is the next step to this magic. Concentrate enough you get a ball, concentrate even more, you get a card.
lol at Yamazaki who feels a higher force is preventing him to complete his stories. Yes, Ohkawa is working against my poor freind. xD
Maybe that’s why Touya is not telling anything to Yukito or Sakura, he knows he’ll get interrupt anyway. Quite the met-character.
About Sakura, I’m not too fan of her hairdo, nor her clothes from this episode…
For the hair, I guess Meiling did the best she could with the little material she had. No curler or hairspray, it’s really a men house. ^^;
Like last chapter, I liked the slice of life parts.
Then, Sakura end in a weird world… the Earth and the moon in the sky and a baobab in the middle of a grass field… Do they keep baobab in the Japanese zoo? The animal part aren’t too well animated. And why is Sakura just running after them when she can fly?
And Xiaolang use an equivalent to THE TIME, for the old time sake. Still as drainig as it used to. He even manage to freeze Kero-chan, did he ever do that much? Then, even though he’s totally wasted, he still manage to calm Sakura down and have save the day. She really needs to learn some basics about magic. Cerberus, you’re the one who didn’t do his job properly. xP
Anyway, she gets MIRAGE this time.
I agree with you, the scenario is a bit shaky at times and drawing isn’t always top notch, although the scene with Xiaolang and Sakura in each other’s arms will among my favorites in the series. ^_^
As for what is to come, Meiling is mentioned in the NHK summary of the next episode and in the title of episode 16, she should keep her at least that long. The 17th episode titled Sakura and the sweet sweets could be the one with APPEAR. Then episode 18 would be the one with BLAZE. With 4 episodes left including probably 2 for the final and one with the visit to Masaki and another for the play, we should be about done. So two more anime exclusive cards should be about it.
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“He even manage to freeze Kero-chan, did he ever do that much?”
I was wondering about that too! Which makes me wonder if Syaoran is somehow changing the magic so that it is no longer under Clow’s magic, which would mean that Kero would no longer be impervious to it.
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The animal part aren’t too well animated. And why is Sakura just running after them when she can fly?
Exactly!
And I think Meiling is leaving after episode 16, indeed.
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“So he is turning these light balls into solid balls which works like cards. That’s how he got HAIL in the anime and probably how he got SPIRAL in the manga as well. There was a golden ball next to the bear a few episodes ago, I guess it’s one of these as well. Maybe the card he used against BLAZE in the manga is the next step to this magic. Concentrate enough you get a ball, concentrate even more, you get a card.”
Wow, I really like this idea. I hadn’t caught up with the manga yet and was assuming Syaoran was using non-card-based magic. But if this is to show how Syaoran has started creating his own cards from scratch just like his ancestor Clow Reed did, that’s really cool.
“Maybe that’s why Touya is not telling anything to Yukito or Sakura, he knows he’ll get interrupt anyway. Quite the met-character.”
XD that’s such a great theory, it has to be true!
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Wah! This episode!! I loved it so much! SakuraxSyaoran fans were able to get the cute moments they’ve been waiting for! Syaoran getting taken aback with Sakura’s hairstyle was very cute. I too didn’t care for her new hair that much, but when you don’t have a lot of hair to work with in the first place, it can’t be helped. ^_^; I was worried after the picnic episode that they might make Syaoran a little “too cool.” Like, a little too focused on whatever he is doing behind-the-scenes, and a little too comfortable with his feelings towards her, and he’d end up losing sight of the Sakura right in front of him or leave Sakura the only one all in a dither about her feelings. But this episode (and other episodes since the picnic one) have laid those worries to rest. It’s a shame that the whole mystery of what is going on has forced Sakura and Syaoran to be apart for a lot of time in the series, I think a lot of fans (myself included!) have been thirsting for more sweet interactions between them. But man, when they bring the sweet, they bring the sweet!! Such a nice payoff with this episode!
So this episode has KINDA confirmed another theory I had, in that the new Clear Cards seemed to be based on Sakura’s own wishes. This was especially apparent with the Record Card where she kept wishing for a way to somehow preserve the time she was in at the moment. And then with Hail, when she was wishing for a way for both Syaoran and Akiho to win their match without the other losing. I’d have to go back and re-watch/re-read to see if this holds true with all the cards, but another moment I’d like to point out that helps with my theory is the moment before the Sakura Cards turn clear. She was putting her key away and saying how she hadn’t had to use it in a long time, but that it was better this way. I wonder if that thought was what made the cards turn clear. And Syaoran, somehow foreseeing the cards going clear, gave her the bear she made so that the cards’ magic would be preserved somehow. He has Eriol’s help and knowledge, so maybe Eriol taught him some things about the cards and some magic that would allow Syaoran to manipulate the Cards. This might explain why Syaoran is being told not to say anything: Sakura has become so powerful that her very THOUGHTS are causing the phenomena appearing in Tomoeda, and telling her anything might cause her to be guilty for the things that happen, which might cause even scarier things to appear. This situation has been seen before in another CLAMP manga, I won’t spoil for anyone that hasn’t read it, but fans familiar with Clow Reed appearing in another CLAMP story will know what I’m talking about.
Still trying to work out how Akiho and Kaito and the Magician Society and Akiho’s book is working into this. They could just merely be further complications that happen to be going on at the same time as this. I’m also wondering if the manga and anime are going to split off with their own explanations for everything. The anime is going to finish before the manga at this rate.
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“So this episode has KINDA confirmed another theory I had, in that the new Clear Cards seemed to be based on Sakura’s own wishes.”
yes seems that way. but i wonder if its two things happening at the same time. akiho and sakura. two obviously similar girls (like fujitaka and eriol) with two books- akihos clock book and sakuras clow/sakura book. so i think it may be that they are both creating the cards. it seems like sakuras mere will power and akihos dreams of alice are creating the phenomenons. eriol knew this could happen what with sakura inheriting clows powers via fujitaka. and so (my theory but not canon yet) eriol prepared and tutored syaoran in countering the potential of history repeating itself leading to another trc like events. what if sakura wants to see her mum so much she ends up reviving her???!!! nadeshiko herself seems to fear this or something of the like.
“Still trying to work out how Akiho and Kaito and the Magician Society and Akiho’s book is working into this. ”
as yuuko herself said there are no coincidences! lol i had to get that one in! sakura is probably well known to the society and kaito seemed somewhat in awe of her, addressing her as sakura sama no less! i wonder if whatever sakura is going through power surge wise- kaito is using it to his advantage? i also have a head canon that sakura and akiho are somehow related like cousins or something. i think sakuras power surge may be to do with nadeshikos side. i also wonder if sakuras powers were partially blocked somehow in the past. i dunno… but like she cant detect moon powers and she cant see ghosts. i know she has a phobia of ghosts but what if its a power that was sealed/ blocked. fujitaka said that both touya and nadeshiko could see ghosts and things that dont have voices… so it could well be? and now that blockage is unravelling biiiig time. nadeshikos powers were moon based right? just a passing thought… ^^
with kero and yue, it does surprise me that they haven’t taught her more about magic, especially since it was revealed just closely how related to clow she is. her raw abilities are really powerful- more so than half of clow reed even. but she has absolutely no knowledge of the magic world whatsoever. she just learns on the job. and although shes doing really great so far, she will certainly get into some major trouble now that she’s stepped into clows shoes. she will definitely be targeted along the line. its already happening potentially.
but having said that i have this head canon of syaoran tutoring her on languages and magic knowledge ever since that aquarium episode. or her travelling with him to hong kong to officially meet his family, and his mother – the head of the family- i would love for yelan to offer to tutor her in everything the entire li family know already. but perhaps eriol is the best tutor for her considering she has his magic mostly. and her experiences will no doubt be very similar to clows now she’s stepped out of clows carefully and lovingly constructed picket fence.
oh! forgot to say how much syaoran reminded me of eriol this episode. with how he cooled, calmed, and guided the frantic sakura. remember that basket ballgame in the sakura series. eriol literally slides up behind syaoran and whispers powerful and calming words into his ear and syaoran scores a perfect goal after blustering his way through the entire game cause he was panicked. i wonder if eriol really did continue with his guidance considering how well syaoran responded back then. and now we really do have a cool, calm focused, and driven syaoran. his magic has come on tremendously! seriously eriol, and kaho are great teachers!
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“but having said that i have this head canon of syaoran tutoring her on languages and magic knowledge ever since that aquarium episode. or her travelling with him to hong kong to officially meet his family, and his mother – the head of the family- i would love for yelan to offer to tutor her in everything the entire li family know already. ”
nods
Me too, this is a headcanon I have too, but in general, I’d love for Yelan to appear, for the grand finale.
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“Sakura has become so powerful that her very THOUGHTS are causing the phenomena appearing in Tomoeda, and telling her anything might cause her to be guilty for the things that happen, which might cause even scarier things to appear. ”
Yes, I agree, this is a good point for them to keep silent about what they know. They certainly aren’t doing it for fun or because they’re jerks, but because there’s a concrete reason behind it.
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Hi – I have been reading your website for awhile and just want to say thanks for all your hard work! It really is an excellent resource.
You bring up a good point about music choice in clear card. One of the things I love most about the original CCS is how the music conveys so much emotion, in particular how the capture themes are at the same time victorious and triumphant yet somehow bittersweet. I know alot of bgm in clear card is recycled from the old sountrack and it’s the same music director, but I feel the new capture theme just doesn’t compare. I can understand withholding some of the more iconic themes in order to differentiate clear card form the older series, but it would really make my day to hear Kibou no Yokan again in a scene worthy of its use!
I’ve noticed the inconsistent animation quality as well. I have no doubts about the skill of the main staff, so I wonder why this is. Could the limiting factor be budget? Would it explain why we’re getting 22 episodes instead of a full 2 cour (notwithstanding lack of source material)? Would that be unusual for a “big name” anime like CCS with backing from NHK & Kodansha?
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I recently wondered again about why the 22 episodes instead of 26, as well. It feels so weird.
It could be a budget issue, but it sounds ridiculous, seeing how successful the franchise is.
I think the ups and downs in the central part of the story might be because they’re indeed keeping all the budget for the last 2-3 episodes. This happened in the old anime too, the last 2-3 episodes were really really good. It would be unforgivable if they executed the series finale in an unconsistent way.
I’ve been thinking that maybe the theory going around about the series finale happening in a movie doesn’t sound too far-fetched.
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With the cards, my guesses for what is what (manga card with manga card only):
GALE -> The Windy? (or The Sword? I know it’s called “Gale” but it seems to be more blade-like than wind?)
SIEGE -> The Windy? The Shadow? (with how it traps things in a “soft” way? Sakura uses it in the anime to cushion herself too… not a reliable guess, but until more cards are revealed…)
AQUA -> The Watery
ACTION -> The Jump? (remember how Jump possessed the stuffed animals?); The Thunder? (kinda playing with the whole electricity making things move idea, like electronics or Frankenstein)
REFLECT -> The Shield
RECORD – The Mirror (at first I thought Reflect, but the projection it makes of what it records is quite similar to being Sakura’s doppelganger)
FLIGHT -The Fly
LUCID -> The Erase
SPIRAL -> The Wood (with how it traps things and how spindly it looks doing it); with the anime though, I was also wondering if it could serve as The Sword, because it seemed to cut through everything
SNOOZE -> I hesitate in saying “The Dark” because it would separate it from “The Light,” but Dark is most associated with putting people to sleep (Eriol’s final showdown); another guess that is a bit more faulty is The Glow, simply because of its appearance.
LABYRINTH ->The Maze
APPEAR -> Another that pains me, “The Light?” This is one that more plays on the name, in that with light, things appear. Another guess would be The Jump or The Thunder for reasons stated above. I couldn’t quite tell what exactly APPEAR did that was so different from ACTION, in that it was making inanimate things move.
BLAZE -> The Firey
Cards not accounted for yet/still iffy placement: The Illusion, The Earthy, The Flower, The Sword?, The Glow? The Shadow? The Light? The Dark?
I’m sure MIRAGE will make its appearance soon in the manga (maybe the next one, since there’s a lot of talk about Nadeshiko going on, and her appearance is strongly tied with The Illusion). And I think counterparts for The Earthy, The Light, and The Dark (if the above aren’t what they are) will be towards the end. I want to predict that the card for Earthy will be TERRA, similar to the name for AQUA. “GROUND” or “DIRT” just doesn’t sound as cool. Also I’m more familiar with the anime of CCS than the manga, so forgive me if I mentioned things that weren’t in the manga.
My guesses for what is what in the anime. Because the anime seems to be rushing to get everything done in one season, my guess is that they’re combining cards. Or perhaps they’ll skip them entirely. Syaoran seems to be doing things with the cards on the side too, so maybe that will take care of some of the number. Repeats are for same reasons as above:
GALE -> The Windy, The Sword? The Arrow? The Shot?
SIEGE -> The Windy? The Shadow?
AQUA -> The Watery, The Wave, The Mist, The Bubbles?
ACTION -> The Move, The Thunder? (and The Jump?)
REFLECT -> The Shield, The Lock?
RECORD – The Mirror, The Return (based on recent manga events), The Song? The Voice?
FLIGHT -The Fly
LUCID -> The Erase
SPIRAL -> The Loop, The Return (one idea I had with this card was how much it made a call back to things that happened in the original Watery capture, maybe there’s more to its magic we haven’t seen, like it can mimic things that happened or mimic another magic power?) The Wood? The Sword?
SNOOZE -> The Sleep, The Dark? The Glow?
LABYRINTH ->The Maze
APPEAR -> The Light? The Jump? The Thunder? The Move? The Create? The Sweet?
BLAZE -> The Firey
GRAVITATION -> The Jump
REVERSAL -> The Float, The Power? (call back to showing off its strength by flipping things upside down)
HAIL -> The Snow, The Rain, The Freeze, The Storm? The Cloud?
MIRAGE -> The Illusion, The Dream
The future Earthy Clear Card (there HAS to be one right???!!): The Earthy, The Sand
Magic used by Syaoran that might account for some cards: The Thunder? Not confirmed, but there was something going on with lighting that Sakura noticed when capturing GRAVITATION, The Freeze (he used an ofuda slip but it’s interesting to note that he’s never used it before this, so maybe he combined it with his own magic), The Firey, The Time
Cards not accounted for yet: The Silent, The Flower, The Fight, The Little, The Dash, The Big, The Change, The Through, The Libra, The Twin, The Hope
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Another prediction for the new Earthy Card name: QUAKE
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I really liked this episode and I am a bit surprised at your luckwarm reaction tbh ^^;;
But then again, I was pretty much brain washed by the SxS scene hahahaha
And as for the bits of animations which don’t go well (which is most of the time when we see the characters from a certain distance, rarely close ups) I confess I never really worried about them because I am almost certain these will all be revised for the DVD/BR releases! (hopefully, they will do a spectacular job like they did for the Yuri on Ice DVD/BR, I saw comparisons between the weekly aired eps and the discs and it’s amazing!)
I will skip my endless fangirling over Sakura and Syaoran 😉 Now, about Syaoran…
This episode is quite confusing in the sens it seems to both validate everything the fandom has been theorizing about for a while now, while invalidating them too at the same time:
-We thought there is something weird about the bear exchange in ep01, and this is most definitely confirmed!
-We thought that Syaoran has somehow taken Sakura’s powers, the Sakura cards, in some unknown way we are still not aware of, and using them one way or another: UNCLEAR!
The thing he did with his rashinban in his house and his discussion with Meiling since to both imply he has been working on his very own magic REALLY hard since he went back to HK, and his family are even in the know about it all and preoccupied for him, obviously…
Have we unknowingly been looking down on him and his resolve to better himself for the one he loves the most, by thinking his new powers MUST be Sakura’s, and not his own…?
But then again: what not just say it straight forwardly? Why the guilty conscience?
Or is is both things actually? He became stronger AND is using her powers? …
I agree about the doubts most people have about the use of Time: the first thing that pops into your mind is definitely the card! But then Meiling talk with Syaoran about how he is training his magic, Kero validate that Time CAN be stopped without a card if he trained hard and Sakura … there is no telling what Sakura is thinking, but I don’t think she downright felt her Sakura Card presence, this is not the impression she is giving off…? But there is no way to know atm: just how far does her doubts about Syaoran go? Did it all begin bcs she sensed her cards powers from him to start with? I had the feeling she was just sensitive to his moods and his repeated absences and excuses not to be present here and there etc… but was it all magic related?
-We were wondering what was Syaoran doing all those time he said he was ‘busy’: he was … home with the bear! ^^;;
I thought he might have potentially been doing something outside due to that still unexplained surge of lightening during the cherry blossom viewing episode (when Sakura caught Gravitation)
There is at the moment not telling what these orbs are, why are they appearing on top of his rashinban and how does catching them and shaping them into colored orbs gives him powers? Should we assume THIS is the ‘training’ he is going through, so this are Li clan related methods? One thing for sure: these are not the Sakura cards at first sight, there are 56 of them in the anime, and there are only a few orbs on top of that rashinban @_@
The anime might be more confusing than the manga in that aspect: in the manga, we actually witnessed Syaoran holding an actual CARD in his hands when they captured BLAZE, so yeah, for the manga readers, this is one extra element we are aware of which the anime-only watchers don’t know about…
And talking about BLAZE! The title of episode 18 was revealed, and it says “第18話「さくらと炎と水の鳥」”, since I can’t think of anything ‘fire’ related other than BLAZE (no idea bout the ‘water birds’ ^^;;), I would say the anime is back on track after 4 eps of mostly fillers (eps13-16), with the capture of APPEAR in ep17 and BLAZE in ep18! 😀
I’m repeating myself, and doing my best to leave aside my biased desire for CCS to go on forever and ever, but the actual pace of the anime makes me think more and more strongly that this is only the first season and that another one will be succeeding it in the future; that, and there is the latest interview in Newtype, about the “last storyboard”:
“* the story is finally reaching the core of the big mystery of this series, which is the mysterious cloaked person who appears in sakura’s dreams. *”
>> if, IF the big revelation of these 22 eps (the ‘last storyboard’) is actually ‘simply’ revealing the cloaked figure, than can’t we expect there should be more to come after that…?
Cinzia also said she also surprised about it(she is the one who translated the interview! ^__^): “*that they’re keeping this revelation for the very last episode (or so it seems, he talked about 最後の絵コンテ and I’m gonna interpret it as the storyboard for the last episode)*”
This feels more like a cliffhanger and strong intense moment to end a first season until the 2nd season comes next than a final ending to such a beloved and long awaited sequel…?
But I know many people do not agree about it and think the series can still be jam packed into those 22 eps + a possible Movie shall Madhouse decide to make some big reveals one after the other from now on.
Only ‘Time’ will tell us who is right or wrong about it XD XD XD
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“no idea bout the ‘water birds’ ^^;”
It’s the one on the Aqua card. ^_~
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“I really liked this episode and I am a bit surprised at your luckwarm reaction tbh ^^;;”
DAMN SHERRY I can’t believe I said the EXACT same thing, and even in the beginning of my comment!!! I swear I didn’t read yours XDDDD
I think they can reach the mystery of the MCF and resolve it during the same last episode, but I thought it would be something left for the second or third-to-last episode. Mmmmh.
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Wow I surely didn’t expect you to be so “lukewarm” about this episode XDD
Well, I have to admit I really loved it, for 100 different reasons, and it’s not all about the SyaoSaku scene that broke the fandom, of course!
Starting from the technical side, as always:
Contrary to you, I felt like this episode regained budget and quality, especially compared to episode 13!
The weird faces were few and on the long shots, as usual, to me it feels like we’re back to the average Clear Card quality. Of course, they kept all the efforts for the scene inside the Mirage world.
To me, direction-wise, it was reaaally well done. I loved how they made you realize that the time started flowing again, by having the grass starting to swing first (and consequently, Syaoran freaking out because he saw it, lol), then the sparks originated by the fire started to flow again (and that even acted as a kinda romantic element, talk about smartness), and then in the end, the flames of the fire itself.
I loved the photography in the Mirage world, with dark and eerie colors/light, and I don’t know if you know or anybody else told you already (I didn’t read the other comments, as usual), but the big tree in the middle of the scenery was a baobab. Somebody on Discord told me it’s the “tree of life” in Africa, but I would love to find out more about the possible symbolism this tree could have. ‘Cause, after the last interview Asaka gave in Newtype, I know it’s possible to look deeper in certain scenes, without seeming crazy XD
As for the outfits chosen, I really liked Meiling’s, Sakura’s and Syaoran’s. They all looked little fashionistas dressing up for a teenager’s clothing line XD Sakura’s outfit was cool and definitely different from usual, I warmly welcome these different outfits, because it gets tiring to see her always in cutesy and pink clothes. I loved her wavy hair but I already knew we had different opinions on this XD
Story-wise, like you I loved the Kero/Meiling’s interactions, but I actually love ALL of Meiling’s interactions with the other characters. I love how she cares for Sakura in her tsundere way (I see her taking care of Sakura’s hair as something a sister would do), I loved how she was quick to realize Akiho was cut from Sakura’s same cloth (XD), I loved how she supports Syaoran even though she’s got no magical powers, and I LOVED the 1-second glance she and Tomoyo exchanged before Tomoyo followed Sakura to go buy the water. It was like “You go listening to her, I’ll try to cheer him up here”. The fantastic duo is still there and I’m eager to see what they’ll do before Meiling goes back to HK!
The scene at the beginning with Syaoran really surprised me, because I didn’t think it was already time to show that. As you said, this definitely shows more than the manga ever did. And it seems a bit different too. He isn’t using cards, indeed, in the anime. I didn’t imagine that whatever he is doing is straining him too, it seems like he’s changing the status of those little balls, which from afar seem just balls of light, but when looked closely, they have a solid shape. He took a blue light, “transformed” it (making it go through what appears to be several “status”), and then obtained a yellow light. I’m still at loss at what this means, however I’m still thinking the Sakura Cards’ power has got something to do with it.
You thought the animal thing was ridiculous, but think about it for a moment: if the new cards are originating from Sakura’s thoughts, it only makes sense that it’s nothing too complicated or ominuos at first. She’s a “fluffy” kind of girl, and she thought intensely at those zoo animals (she said they were cute herself, even in the middle of the Mirage world), so the card originated from that. I actually liked how a weird and seemingly innocent situation like those animals, actually turned out to be a source of major discomfort for Sakura, because things escalated quickly. She started to panic because she couldn’t pinpoint the origin of that card, and as soon as she said “what if I can’t get them out of here?” the storm arrived and the lightning struck the tree. I liked how she realized the connection between what she thought and what happened while under Mirage’s effect, because I think this might apply to the broader situation later, not just this card.
SyaoSaku’s scene….I don’t want to annoy you with squealings and in-depth analysis, you can read them on my tumblr XD (and I don’t want to turn this into the longest essay ever), but I’ll just say that this scene alone gave them more character and relationship development of any other lovey-dovey scene we’ve seen between them until now. Yes, even more than episode 09. I found it beautifully executed, not cheesy at all (notice how they didn’t blush or Ohkawa didn’t insert silly shoujo lines – we’re talking about Ohkawa after all), kinda realistic too with that “can you take a deep breath?”. That’s the most reasonable thing to say to someone who’s about to have a panic attack. And let me just mention how I loved Kumai and Tange’s performance here. Kumai sounded enough strained, Tange’s quivering breath gave me goosebumps. And I’ll stop right here. XD
I really liked the BGM that started when Sakura was running towards Syaoran, I think it fitted the moment just right.
All in all, this episode 14 is my new favorite one. Next episode is the looooong awaited episode in which they finaaaally watch the video of the Nadeshiko Festival play, I really hope we’ll get some answers about that matter too. I’m really excited (even though it seems Syaoran won’t be there to watch, but Sakura will feel enough embarrassment for the two of them already). It seems they’re re-animating all the play parts and I’m like “YEESSS” because I didn’t -love- the character design used for The Sealed Card, and it’s also a matter of making everything stick to the current design, so it doesn’t feel out of place (Sakura’s hair first and foremost). Yay!
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Aaaah! I forgot something probably interesting.
I saw on twitter this comment: “With the possible exception of the last (unless it’s supposed to be the Dormouse..?) the animals represented here are all characters in Japan’s favorite foreign book: Alice in Wonderland. Possibly relevant? ”
This person seems to be an Alice In Wonderland fan so they seemed pretty informed about it, while I’m no expert myself.
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More than that, we have the four clamp member animals for the 90s: Meiling has Mokona’s cat; Akiho, Ohkawa’s rabbit; Naoko, Satsuki’s squirrel; Chiharu, Nekoi’s dog (and that’s the very color and forme she used, of all the diversity we see in dogs). Nekoi now has a bear as her totem, so maybe they used it too. As for the ram, I have no clue, maybe Asaka’s choice? And maybe the bear is the chara designer’s avatar.
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“As for the outfits chosen, I really liked Meiling’s, Sakura’s and Syaoran’s. They all looked little fashionistas dressing up for a teenager’s clothing line XD Sakura’s outfit was cool and definitely different from usual, I warmly welcome these different outfits, because it gets tiring to see her always in cutesy and pink clothes. ”
my first thought when i saw sakura and meilings outfits for this episode was oh wow they look like they’re modelling safari couture! then BAM! sakura wnids up creating a safari grassland that looked like it came right out of disneys lionking- especially whe that tree caught fire! needless to say i watched disney bambi, lionking and jungle book after watching this episode XD
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