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This chapter is available for free at CLAMP-FANS.com.
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Card Captor Sakura is available for purchase at CD Japan and Amazon Japan with worldwide shipping.
What a lovely color spread! I like the book motif, it’s great that CLAMP are trying different settings. I love that Sakura’s crown is made from a flower. I also love how the book pages seem to be golden?
There seems to be a message on the spread, something along the lines of “may the happiness return soon”. Whether this was CLAMP’s or Nakayoshi Editor’s idea, I think it refers to the situation the world is currently living in.
We’re thrown right into Momo’s backstory and boy, were we waiting for it.
So, much as we all expected (honestly at this point I don’t remember anymore if this or that has been officially said in the story or not), Momo is the book’s guardian, the Alice in Clockland book. The book has time magic that no one managed to properly handle it. Other people have tried before…
Momo decided to sort of retire (that’s what the Portuguese translation says) until Kaito arrived asking for her help (in favour of chocolate, a matching drink, a couch, a comfortable bed and more chocolate).
The book protected by Momo is the forbidden magic that the Magician Society was keeping safe. Kaito steals it. Kaito is looking much older than he was when he first decided to take the “job” of traveling with Akiho. Also, Momo doesn’t have the ring that Akiho’s mother gave to her, even though this flashback scene with Kaito and Momo definitely took place after Akiho’s mother gave Momo her ring. Therefore I wonder what’s up here that Momo is not wearing the ring…
I would like to talk briefly about how CLAMP are giving us characters’ backstories at regular doses. They’ve done that with the new trio (Akiho, Kaito and now Momo). A very similar approach was used in Tsubasa, except we always got the whole story instead of small fragments, as it seems to be the case in Clear Card. Also, in Clear Card, all backstories are told in a way that it resembles a narrated story from a book, and that is of course intentional.
That’s all. Just wanted to talk about this pattern of character backstory that is being explored in Clear Card.
So Akiho wants to make little costumes for the mascots. I love how Tomoyo is all supportive instead of being jealous or seeing Akiho as a competition of some sort. Sorority.
My dear friend Cinzia/Sakura84-chan pointed out that the fact that Syaoran’s birthday is mentioned it means that the story is taking place somewhere in July (see their summer uniforms), which means that only about 3 months have elapsed since the arc began. I like how CLAMP are keeping the time consistent instead of having season after season and time not actually going by (this happened with XXXHOLiC, in which we had many seasons and yet Watanuki never seemed to move forward with the same pace in his school years).
Tomoyo points out that not only Sakura and Akiho have the same heights, but similar overall measures too. Hummm.
No, CLAMP did not forget about Naoko’s play, it is still happening — before or after the climax? That’s the question. So sad that Syaoran won’t get to play the princess this time, but I guess it would be way too much playing with the same set of cards.
Such sweet moment between Sakura and Syaoran there, as they reminisce the past. It’s one of those look where we are at now moments. There is certainty in the air that only a solid couple can provide. They are wise beyond their years here. They just know that everything will be alright. We are reminded again that they still cannot touch each other, for reasons unknown. It’s amusing how this scene was drawn during the pandemic scenario we are living at the moment…
There is something about Sakura and Syaoran not being able to touch each other that CLAMP love to explore.
Now at Yukito’s place, Sakura senses something. Her gaze is very determined and wise and the gaze of someone who knows her shit. It’s not often we see CLAMP drawing her like that in CCS. Don’t know if you all remember but Yukito and Nakuru went to Tsukimine Shrine a few chapters ago to do something that we ended up not knowing about. Pretty much this has something to do with this and why the afternoon has suddenly became night. Unless it’s another card? But the way the moon seems to be the focus, I’d say that it’s something to do with the Moon, Yukito, Nakuru and Tsukimine Shrine.
Very happy to see Sakura picking up and sensing things.
The updated list of cards secured so far:
- GALE
- SIEGE
- AQUA
- ACTION
- REFLECT
- RECORD
- FLIGHT
- LUCID
- SPIRAL
- SNOOZE
- LABYRINTH
- APPEAR
- BLAZE
- MIRROR
- BLADE
- REPAIR
- REWIND
- SHADE
- BREAK
- TRANSFER
Anime-only cards:
- GRAVITATION
- HAIL
- REVERSAL
- MIRAGE
- SWING
- STRUGGLE
27 pages for this chapter. 112 pages for volume 9 so far. Next chapter will be published on April 30th (earlier probably because of Golden Week).
Before going, two last points:
- if you’ve been reading the English translation by Kodansha USA, I highly recommend you check this analysis that Cinzia/Sakura84-chan did comparing the English and Japanese versions. You will notice that there are many inconsistencies in the English version, unfortunately. Really worth checking for detailed analysis. Good job, big sis!
- Happy CLAMP Day!!! I was hoping for some cool update over at CLAMP-FANS.com but alas, nothing so far =/ Let’s all celebrate it, regardless, however we can! I will be doing some celebration myself at twitter, likely (mostly hyping about it).
8 thoughts on “Card Captor Sakura – Clear Card arc – Chapter 43”
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Chibi Yuuto's CHRoNiCLEs 
I hope you’re holding up well, Alex! This has been a stressful time for everyone, but I’m glad we got this chapter to cheer ourselves up a little bit. (This is a petty thing, but I’m hoping my copy of Vol. 8 successfully ships out, ahaha.)
So, much as we all expected (honestly at this point I don’t remember anymore if this or that has been officially said in the story or not), Momo is the book’s guardian, the Alice in Clockland book. The book has time magic that no one managed to properly handle it. Other people have tried before…
The two lingering questions here are 1) What kind of time magic is this supposed to be? and 2) Who made Momo and the book? Akiho’s mother can’t be a candidate, since the book has existed for at least a hundred years prior to the present (and Akimom was clearly growing up at the same rate as Nadeshiko, so it’s very doubtful she was a little girl for hundreds of years before meeting her). Clow could have made the book, but if CLAMP doesn’t come up with a good explanation for him creating it, he’ll come across as a plot device again. Sakura could make the book and send it back in time somehow, but that kind of TRC-esque plot twist could end up becoming too complicated for CCS. And I feel that we’re too late in the story to introduce a new, random magician?
The book protected by Momo is the forbidden magic that the Magician Society was keeping safe. Kaito steals it. Kaito is looking much older than he was when he first decided to take the “job” of traveling with Akiho. Also, Momo doesn’t have the ring that Akiho’s mother gave to her, even though this flashback scene with Kaito and Momo definitely took place after Akiho’s mother gave Momo her ring. Therefore I wonder what’s up here that Momo is not wearing the ring…
This sequence of events must have taken place in a very short time frame. I don’t think Kaito looks that old here, but he does look older than when he first met Akiho’s mother. Akimom would have had to give Momo her ring either shortly before or shortly after Akiho was born.
It’s interesting that Kaito frames the story as if nobody approached Momo for a long time until he came around. I wonder how Akiho’s mother came to meet her? (Why did she have a clock-shaped ring in the first place, come to think of it? We only saw her wear it during that one scene, too.)
Tomoyo points out that not only Sakura and Akiho have the same heights, but similar overall measures too. Hummm.
Good on the girls for realizing that this is weird. The resemblance between Sakura and Akiho has reached the point where there has to be some kind of magic involved, but how? Cinzia suggested that Akiho might be growing to resemble Sakura more and more over time due to the book’s influence, while a bunch of other fans are bringing up the possibility of…well, let’s hope this story doesn’t get another link to TRC. I personally was wondering if Akimom and Akiho were alternate-dimension versions of Nadeshiko and Sakura who somehow slipped into the CCS world, but that idea doesn’t really hold water.
Now at Yukito’s place, Sakura senses something. Her gaze is very determined and wise and the gaze of someone who knows her shit. It’s not often we see CLAMP drawing her like that in CCS. Don’t know if you all remember but Yukito and Nakuru went to Tsukimine Shrine a few chapters ago to do something that we ended up not knowing about.
If Sakura is picking up unusual feelings or sensations from the people around her and is now acting on them, she’ll come much closer to figuring out what’s up with Kaito and Akiho soon. I’m glad she confronted Yukito directly rather than wait for him to tell her, as she would have done earlier in the series.
The English translation makes it sound as if Yukito was somehow responsible for separating Sakura and Syaoran, but…why would he do that? Another possibility is that he tried to fully combine with Yue (a la Nakuru and Ruby) or even fully separate from him, but it would be weird that several days or even weeks have passed without Sakura sensing anything. I have a feeling the sudden nightfall is the work of a new card, born out of Sakura thinking of Yue, the Final Judgement, and maybe even Eriol’s final trial.
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Hi Pan! I hope you’re holding up well too!
This has been a stressful time for everyone, but I’m glad we got this chapter to cheer ourselves up a little bit. (This is a petty thing, but I’m hoping my copy of Vol. 8 successfully ships out, ahaha.)
I know what you mean… we need these things to distract ourselves. I was slightly disappointed with nothing new at the CLAMP-FANS.com site. I was expecting some fanfare…
The two lingering questions here are 1) What kind of time magic is this supposed to be?
The Japanese translations (thanks Cinzia!) implies that is some sort of magic that is not like the other time magic we’ve seen.
2) Who made Momo and the book? Akiho’s mother can’t be a candidate, since the book has existed for at least a hundred years prior to the present (and Akimom was clearly growing up at the same rate as Nadeshiko, so it’s very doubtful she was a little girl for hundreds of years before meeting her).
Agreed. Probably some time travel shit going on?
Sakura could make the book and send it back in time somehow, but that kind of TRC-esque plot twist could end up becoming too complicated for CCS. And I feel that we’re too late in the story to introduce a new, random magician?
Again, agreed.
Yeah, the timeline is a bit confusing (purposely, I’m sure) regarding the events of before Akiho was born until present day.
I personally was wondering if Akimom and Akiho were alternate-dimension versions of Nadeshiko and Sakura who somehow slipped into the CCS world, but that idea doesn’t really hold water.
I think they would look exactly the same and have the same souls, I don’t think that’s the case here. I thought in the beginning that Akiho was some sort of “Watanuki” to Sakura. As if she would replace Sakura in some way.
I’m glad she confronted Yukito directly rather than wait for him to tell her, as she would have done earlier in the series.
Yes. Character development!!
The English translation makes it sound as if Yukito was somehow responsible for separating Sakura and Syaoran, but…why would he do that?
Do we know if the moment where Sakura touched Syaoran for the first time and felt a jolt matches the time when Yukito and Nakuru were at the Shrine?
I have a feeling the sudden nightfall is the work of a new card, born out of Sakura thinking of Yue, the Final Judgement, and maybe even Eriol’s final trial.
Good guess!
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Do we know if the moment where Sakura touched Syaoran for the first time and felt a jolt matches the time when Yukito and Nakuru were at the Shrine?
In Chapter 36, Yukito told Nakuru he wanted to go somewhere with her, then we transitioned to the scene where Sakura zapped Syaoran for the first time. In Chapter 37, as Syaoran was wondering who was responsible for it, we cut to Yukito and Nakuru arriving at the shrine.
The timing is suspicious. You would think this implies that the shrine visit came after the zap scene, but it’s possible we saw a flashback to Yukito and Nakuru earlier in the day.
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Thank you! It really looks like the two facts are linked.
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Such a cute chapter!
> We are reminded again that they still cannot touch each other
When was this mentioned before? My memory is terrible 😛
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I also didn’t remember at first, but do you remember how Sakura touched Syaoran and there was some sort of electricity? Some small jolt.
There 😉
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WHAT A SPLENDID CHAPTER!
I’m skipping the part with Momo since you commented it so well already (just one note, when I read she was a creature with long ears from another world, I immediately though of Mokona, but Mokona is the chubby version while our diva Momo is slim and taking care of her line XD XD XD), and I will keep going on by saying it started with a BANG for me with Syaoran’s birthday? Syaoran’s bday, in the manga? REALLYY?! The characters never celebrate their bdays in the CCS universe! The one exception was Yukito on christmas, and it was more like an excuse to have Sakura convert a new card and, more importantly, use her wings on her back for the first time in that gorgeous 2 pages spread ^^ Ah, back to clear card, I was saying I’ve waited half of my life for this!! HALF OF MY LIFE, for that bday, not an approximation! I am very excited about this! XD
And the play at school! They brought it up in the manga too!
Considering it’s an original production by Naoko, I hope we will know what the story is about and be able to witness part of the plot at least!
Syaoran’s cry of the heart was quite a sight for sore eyes XD You could feel the despair, the boy wants to be a stagehand! Syaoran’s resolution is at least at the same level as TRC|Syaoran when he went on a journey to get Sakura’s feathers: he is going to put his life on the line to stay backstage! XD
and!
and!!
What came afterwards?!!
CLAMP, do you finally love your fans?
This SxS moment was so touching and indeed, quite bittersweet. I NEVER imagined this moment would ever be brought back in the manga, ever again, but it’s there, I am astounded and in awe. Sakura and Syaoran found each other, they are each other most important person and even though they still can’t touch, Sakura is confident she will never loose him ;_; They have both grown up so much, being able to talk like this to each other, I’m really feeling emotional about it ;_; You are right chibiyuuto, they are indeed mature beyond their years.
But you have to give it to Ohkawa, she literally had Kero and Spinel comment on that moment and telling us how bittersweet it was: don’t die on us guys!
That said…
mmmhh… what I am personally noticing is almost the NEED for CLAMP to interrupt those two no matter what no matter where, or follow it up with comedy like what they did this time, while in the 90s manga, there were just that, “moments”, as we saw in the flashbacks, without having to have them come together hand in hand with a comic scene…? Well, this is just a general impression I’ve been having recurrently, I do know they also had a couple of serious scenes, like when he confessed taking the Sakura cards and Sakura cried in his flat, or when they both looked so serious while flying above the city… but those are outweighed by far with interruptions of all sorts though.
As for the Yukito and Sakura moment at the very end, then the night outside? This is one hell of a cliffhanger @_@ The focus is clearly on the moon, and after the question Sakura asked Yuki and his visit to Tsukimine shrine, everything indeed seems to indicate what happened here must certainly have something to do with him, and Nakuru knows what is going on for sure too. As for how, I’d really like to know: Yukito is not supposed to be able to use magic, and since Yue knows everything his other self does, then he knew but also said nothing to his mistress…?
Ah, and I skipped something…
The part with Sakura and Akiho being the exact same from head to toes was… disturbing… It was began in quite a cute way with two new friends getting to know each other, similar names, ok, they have similar reactions too sometimes, cute, they support each other cooking together and visiting each other houses, nice, synchronizing and having visions of each other, getting kinda heavy, Sakura getting absorbed by Akiho (though time was rewound) and experiencing all she went through with the taboo spell being in Akiho’s place, getting hard to watch, and now theirs bodies measurements are identical from head to toes, Ohkawa is really escalating this and she is trying to do something with this for sure…
About the page count, next month’s chapter should be the last chapter of volume 9, this is my personal pages count since the series began:
volume01
ch01 38 pages [07/2016] [spread] [COVER]
ch02 33 pages [08/2016] [CCS furoku]
ch03 32 pages [09/2016] [CCS furoku]
ch04 34 pages [10/2016]
Total=137 pages (and then published as a 155 pages volume including blank pages which serve as transition from one chapter to another and similar extras)
——
volume02
ch05 34 pages [11/2016] [spread] [CCS furoku] [COVER]
ch06 32 pages [12/2016] [COVER]
ch07 38 pages [01/2017] [COVER]
ch08 37 pages [02/2017] [CCS furoku]
+omake 7 pages
Total=148 pages (and then published as a 157 pages volume including blank pages and the likes)
——
volume03
ch09 28 pages [03/2017] [CCS furoku]
ch10 30 pages [04/2017]
ch11 26 pages [05/2017][COVER]
ch12 28 pages [06/2017]
ch13 33 pages [08/2017]
Total= 145 pages (NOT including blank pages and the likes for the tankubon release)
——
volume04
ch14 29 pages [09/2017][spread]
ch15 26 pages [10/2017] [CCS furoku] [COVER]
ch16 20 pages [11/2017]
ch17 22 pages [12/2017]
ch18 22 pages [01/2018]
ch19 26 pages [02/2018] [CCS furoku] [COVER]
TOTAL = 145 pages (NOT including blank pages and the likes for the tankubon release)
——
volume05
ch20 30 pages [03/2018]
ch21 30 pages [04/2018]
ch22 31 pages [05/2018] [COVER] [spread]
ch23 29 pages [06/2018]
ch24 29 pages [07/2018] [COVER]
TOTAL = 149 pages (NOT including blank pages and the likes for the tankubon release)
——
volume06
ch25 29 pages [08/2018]
ch26 29 pages [10/2018] [COVER]
ch27 28 pages [11/2018]
ch28 29 pages [12/2018]
ch29 29 pages [01/2019] [spread] [CCS furoku] [COVER]
TOTAL = 144 pages (NOT including blank pages and the likes for the tankubon release)
——
volume07
ch 30 30 pages [02/2019]
ch 31 29 pages [03/2019]
ch 32 28 pages [04/2019]
ch 33 31 pages [05/2019] [spread] [COVER]
ch 34 32 pages [06/2019] [spread]
TOTAL = 150 pages (NOT including blank pages and the likes for the tankubon release)
——
volume08
ch 35 31 pages [08/2019] [COVER] [furoku-clear file]
ch 36 27 pages [09/2019]
ch 37 29 pages [10/2019] [COVER]
ch 38 29 pages
ch 39 32 pages
TOTAL = 148 pages
——
volume 9
ch 40 30 pages
ch 41 29 pages
ch 42 30 pages [04/2020]
ch 43 28 pages [05/2020][COVER] [furoku-clear file]
ch 44 pages
TOTAL =
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Hey Sherry,
I am
so
so
so
SO
SOOO
TERRIBLY sorry for this goddamn late reply. Chapter 44 is almost here and here I am replying a comment of chapter 43. Unexcusable.
I was saying I’ve waited half of my life for this!! HALF OF MY LIFE, for that bday, not an approximation! I am very excited about this! XD
Omg I’m so excited for you! ❤ Indeed, not even Sakura's birthday is celebrated lol
Sakura and Syaoran found each other, they are each other most important person and even though they still can’t touch, Sakura is confident she will never loose him ;_;
a very common treat in CLAMP young couples: they behave like mature grown up couples.
what I am personally noticing is almost the NEED for CLAMP to interrupt those two no matter what no matter where, or follow it up with comedy like what they did this time, while in the 90s manga, there were just that, “moments”, as we saw in the flashbacks, without having to have them come together hand in hand with a comic scene…? Well, this is just a general impression I’ve been having recurrently, I do know they also had a couple of serious scenes, like when he confessed taking the Sakura cards and Sakura cried in his flat, or when they both looked so serious while flying above the city… but those are outweighed by far with interruptions of all sorts though.
That’s a very fair point you’ve raised and I personally don’t like this new approach. Most of the times I don’t find it all that funny to begin with. I prefer the sweet moments to be left as they are, no need for interruptions (it’s getting a little repetitive). I say this is something that CLAMP have been doing for almost 20 years now, since the 2000s.
Your count for vol. 9 is counting 117 pages and mine is counting 112. Hmmmm, I must have missed some. Either way, yes, Chapter 44 will be the last for vol 9, for sure, leaving 6 chapters left for vol. 10 (final? We’ll see).
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