Cardcaptor Sakura

CCS is made of the stuff I love anime for. It is the small slice of heaven that everyone yearns for deep inside. Yes, it is a feel-good anime and yes again, it is fluffy and saccharine but it is by not means a superficial or even childish series. CCS is the perfect antidote to depression. The only problem is that you may suffer the effects of REALITY after the end of the series. That may possibly plunge one into greater depths of depression.

It is an earthly paradise, Sakura’s world. But the fact that it is set in current times can give the false impression that it’s a plausible world. Everyone has someone to love. Everyone is loved. Everyone is kind, especially Sakura, who happens to be really, really kawaii too. Even the dead are not really gone but have become angels to watch over their loved ones. Nothing really bad happens and there’s no real baddie in the series either. Yeah, if I could choose an anime world to live in, it would be this.

Set in this present day utopia is a well crafted story which engages the viewer very intimately through the characters. Now despite the “one card captured in each episode” formula, I tend to see the card capturing as props to facilitate the main thrust of the series which is the character growth. The characters are all very endearing and one will really grow to love them as they mature with the series. Well, one may think, “Sure, they had 70 eps to flesh out the characters.” However I have learnt never take a long and consistently good anime for granted. Too many times, I have been disappointed as wildly successful animes are turned into cash cows and we don’t hear the end of the series; cheapening the once-solid characters to mere mechandise. CCS was good, right down to the last second. It was not 70 eps so that they can sell another Kero-chan stuff toy.

*Yaoi warning* Of course, CCS being a work of CLAMP, one would also expect yaoi and yuri elements to be present and they tend to be very ‘in-your-face’ too. Nevertheless some of the Tomoyo/Sakura yuri moments are really funny and they actually do add to the value of the anime. The yuri-ness has a touch of childlike innocence to it, which makes it somehow more acceptable. I can’t say the same for our yaoi Yukito/Touya. No childlike innocence here but a deep sacrificial love that extends beyond being brothers. It’s surreal but beautiful in its own way. In fact the deep affections the various characters have for each other are extremely well brought out. There were quite a few touching moments scattered throughout the series that almost brought a tear to my eye.

CCS made it to my top 10 fav animes with Sakura claiming her stake in my daughter’s name. Do yourself a favour and watch it, the 70 eps will fly by. Chinese mythology states that 1 day in heaven is 1 year on earth. Now I know that applies to anime paradise too.