CCS Review

“The Magic of Idealism: A CCS Review”

Card Captor Sakura is a popular Japanese animation or animé made by CLAMP, a group of artists renowned for their previous works namely “X1999” and “Magical Knight Rayearth.” The story is about a ten-year-old girl named Sakura appointed by the Clow Guardian Kerberos to be the next Card Captor. Her task is to collect all the scattered Clow Cards, cards with magical powers made by the magician Clow Read, in order to prevent the chaos and havoc these cards are capable of.

Card Captor Sakura, critically speaking, is an impossibly optimistic and escapist cartoon show. It presents certain ideal situations that seem unfeasible to its viewers. For example, there are no divorced families in the show and everyone in the neighborhood is genuinely happy. It embodies a world where peer pressure and vices are non-existent; homosexual relationships are not treated prejudicially; family closeness is given importance; and most of all, there is an absence of violence and vulgar scenes in the show, something most TV programs do not have.

All the characters in the show do the things they do solely for the sake of others. This is especially evident in the character of Sakura. She is capable of touching the heart of anyone she encounters and in turn, earns sympathy from him or her. This quality is achieved because of her kindness and willingness to believe in the good of others.

Like Sakura, most of the characters believe in the good that can be found in every person, no matter how awful he or she seems. Some of them, Li Syaoran in particular, are not that trusting. However, as the show progresses, he slowly learns to trust people and care for those other than himself. Sakura helps him realize that he had good qualities in him --- qualities he was not aware of, and the viewers see that revelation little by little in the later episodes of the first season and onwards to the very last episode.

Card Captor Sakura teaches that there is always hope in every ordeal. This is because there is always someone who will back you up in times of difficulty, as evident in the seventy episodes of this popular animation. In the show, even the so-called ‘antagonists’ offer their assistance to the main character whenever she is in trouble. There are also factors in the animé that contribute to this element of ‘hopefulness.’ The bright colors used in the animation give it a vivid and cheery overall atmosphere. Its background music and theme songs offer the same effect because of their bouncy beat and catchy melodies, some having an ascending tune that adds height to its supposedly ‘hopeful’ impression. The ending of the series also has this ‘element of hope’: both in the TV series and the second movie (which is actually the last episode of Card Captor Sakura). The TV series ends with Sakura hoping to meet Syaoran again in the future. The second movie, wherein Sakura indeed meets Syaoran again, ends with the formation of a Sakura Card called “The Hope” --- a card made by the fusion of “The VVoid” card and “The Love” card.

Card Captor Sakura attained its growing popularity because the show provides its viewers with the diversion they need from an unpleasant reality. It allows them to escape and detach themselves from the real world, even for just a while. Overwhelmed by the hardships and complexities of our world, the viewers would jump at any opportunity to somehow forget about life’s atrocities and enjoy their lives without having to worry so much. Once the viewers are absorbed into the ideal world found in Card Captor Sakura, they experience a subtle contentment in life and feel charged to take on all the problems in the world. However, the realization that this ideal world can never exist in real life cause the viewers to become frustrated with reality, making them give up on it instead of making them work their way towards that desired ideal. Ironically, the idealistic quality of the show is actually one of the reasons why fans seem to dislike it as well. This is because the resolution of conflicts in Card Captor Sakura does not give justice to the complexity of the human struggle for survival in a callous world. Sakura, though mature in her own way, is still a naïve child. She always takes the easy way out in a seemingly hopeless situation: that is, use the magic of the cards. If there is a situation resolved which was not done by the use of magic, it always seems too simply done and does not compromise with the viewers’ expectations. This accounts for the thousands of fan fiction found on the Internet. Most of the stories made by Card Captor Sakura fans are usually either bubbling over with drama having a disturbing resemblance to telenovelas or extremely out of character.

Aside from entertainment value, there must be more to a cartoon show than just a spectacle of human goodness. For it to have the ‘completeness’ both critics and fans alike look for in a TV show, it must also show the darker side of human existence.

All in all, Card Captor Sakura is an amusing animation that is suitable for those seeking light entertainment, especially commendable for its attained popularity without the use of violence and vulgar scenes. However, in a more critical perspective, Card Captor Sakura is simply a fictive world created out of frustration caused by the absence of the more positive things in life, both in reality and in realistic fiction.

Only when it begins to compromise with the expectations of its viewers without seeming too optimistic or too cynical would the show be considered as something truly excellent. For now, the best rating it could receive is a fair seven out of ten.