The twelfth volume of Card Captor Sakura ~Clear Card arc~ debuted at the 9th position in Oricon’s weekly ranking, with an estimate of 33,090 copies sold in its first week of sales for the regular edition. The Special Edition (Big Art Trump Cards Set) landed in the 29th position, selling 16,726 copies.
Combining the sales of the regular and special editions together, volume 12 sold an estimate of 49,816 copies.
This is the lowest first week sales for a Clear Card volume yet. However, it’s worth pointing out the short amount of exposure that it had. The sales period covered by the ranking goes from March 28th to April 3rd. As you know, volume 12 of Clear Card was released on April 1st. Therefore, those sales numbers account for only 3 days of sale — which is less than half of the week.
It’s also worth mentioning that while the regular edition landed in the 9th position, the first 8 titles are not published by Kodansha. Meaning Card Captor Sakura ~Clear Card arc~ volume 12 was this week’s most sold title published by Kodansha.
Finally, it is always worth mentioning that Oricon only takes into account a certain number of shops and preorders are likely not taken into account. These numbers are only an estimate and it’s possible that the real figures are higher than these.
The chart below shows the progress in the sales of Card Captor Sakura ~Clear Card arc~ over the weeks and compares it with previous volumes’ performances (click on it for dynamic version):
Next week we will probably have a more bird’s-eye view on how the sales for volume 12 went.
The TV Anime of Card Captor Sakura is celebrating today 24 years since its original broadcast. The first episode of the original TV Anime adaptation was aired on April 7th of 1998 in NHK channel.
To celebrate, it’s been announced that a 25th Anniversary project was launched.
A series of special events and goods based on the original and Clear Card series are scheduled for the coming year, while gearing up for April 7th, 2023, when the 25th Anniversary will be officially celebrated.
A new key visual has been released, featuring Sakura from Clear Card, inspired by the classic key visual from the original series:
Moreover, the official Card Captor Sakura twitter account asked fans to stay tuned for future announcements and fans are speculating that it could be the much anticipated Clear Card Season 2 announcement:
The series’ sound director, Mima Masafumi, who very seldom tweets about Card Captor Sakura, has retweeted an article about the 25th Anniversary that was published on a Japanese website, contributing for the speculation of a Season 2 being in production:
I personally think the timing is perfect to tie in with the manga ending. It’s really extremely hard to believe that a series with the magnitude of Card Captor Sakura will be left with its anime adaptation unfinished.
It will be at least a year long of celebrations so stay tuned!
With the opening date for the XXXHOLiC live action moving drawing near, it’s been announced today that a limited amount of cards illustrated by CLAMP will be distributed to those to come to watch the movie at the theaters. They don’t specify how many postcards will be available.
In the new illustration, the cast of XXXHOLiC can be seen wearing the same costumes as seen in the movie. The setting is also akin to the movie.
— 映画『ホリック xxxHOLiC』公式 (@xxxHOLiC_movie) April 1, 2022
Which can be roughly translated as:
The work called “XXXHOLiC”, for which director Mika Ninagawa loves it deeply, the wish for wanting to see the “picture” and “story” that she envisions has come true.
As original authors, we are very happy as a movie fan.
I’m really happy about this because for the first time in months (and about time, really), we have an official statement from CLAMP.
They have spoken informally about the movie in some of their twitter spaces, but always very briefly. The postcard is a nice gift to the fans, too. I’m glad they did it.
I did notice, however, that CLAMP’s comments were not included in the movie official website along with everyone else’s. They can be seen only in the News section that talks about the postcard.
There are many ways to interpret CLAMP’s comment. They were, of course, very polite. But the impression I had reading the comment is that the movie is Mika Ninagawa’s vision entirely, which makes perfect sense given that she’s the director. I do wonder if there were any disagreements between her and CLAMP, which led to this “distant” approach from CLAMP.
The first and second volumes will be released on June 3, with two volumes coming out every month.
Those who purchase all 7 volumes can apply to receive an acrylic stand based on the cover illustration of the classic version of Tokyo Babylon volume 1 (published by Shinshokan in 1991).
Here’s the full release schedule for Tokyo Babylon in CLAMP PREMIUM COLLECTION:
June 3rd, 2022: volumes 1 & 2 July 4th, 2022: volumes 3 & 4 August 4th, 2022: volumes 5 & 6 September 2nd: volume 7
The official Twitter account of Young Ace magazine (Kadokawa’s current official magazine for all things CLAMP) has made a short promotional video about it:
Waaaaaahh so cool! *_* So the color does match the original version! Let’s hope it stays this way for the next volumes!
I love Subaru’s outfit! The style looks good too! Very contemporary but still true to Tokyo Babylon‘s spirit.
I love the fact that we already have the cover of volume 1 even before we got the cover of XXXHOLiC #19! Also, we have the full schedule already. Thank you Kadokawa for such efficiency!! Also, good to know it will keep being 2 volumes per month.
Now, the bonus is indeed different than XXXHOLiC, which has a postcard for each volume and a postcard binder for those who purchase all volumes and apply for it. But I thought each volume would come with an extra, but apparently it will be a bonus only if you buy all 7 (and if you live in Japan).
They will be released on April 6. They can be ordered via Amazon Japan (volume 17, volume 18).
My guesses were half-right! We have older Doumeki on the cover of 17 but we don’t have an older Kohane on the cover of volume 18. Instead, we have Yaobikuni, becoming one of the few selected yokai to make it to the covers.
My bet for volume 19 now is Watanuki all by himself, or maybe with older Kohane? xD
Only one volume left for XXXHOLiC now. Volume 19 will come out on May 6th.
XXXHOLiC Rei will not be released immediately after. Instead, the next CLAMP PREMIUM COLLECTION series will be Tokyo Babylon, to be released by Kadokawa.
Really excited about this! This will coincide with CLAMP’s 33rd Anniversary. They did a special feature by the time of their 20th Anniversary.
And the interview is likely the one that Nanase Ohkawa-sensei mentioned a couple of weeks ago on her twitter:
Nanase Ohkawa-sensei has tweeted that the 4 members of CLAMP just did their first interview in a long time (6 years to be precise, the last one was in 2016!).
The interview was conducted remotely and an announcement will be made soon.
It was announced today that a new TV anime series derived from Cardfight!! Vanguard overDress is in production and CLAMP are providing the original character design concepts for it, once again.
The new series is entitled Cardfight!! Vanguard will+Dress and it’s set to premiere in July, 2022.