Forum - View topic

EP. REVIEW: Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card

Several interesting observations I had about this series now that we're three episodes in. And while it might have been obvious to most, it just occurred to me that this is pretty much a reboot in disguise. Other than new merchandise, they needed to take away her old cards in order to start her from zero again so that she could start collecting cards from scratch again. Not to mention, the cards are pretty much the exact same in terms of abilities save for the designs. Gale = Windy, Aqua = Watery, Reflect = Mirror, Siege = Shadow, etc... At the moment, there is literally nothing new.

That was one of my issues about this series. Why do we have to retread the same formula again? Yes, she is indeed Cardcaptor Sakura, but I stand by my initial opinion of wanting to have seen Sakura develop her existing powers more. Think of the opening scene of the second movie. More of that, where she has already mastered her powers. The original show spent so much time building it up and throwing all of that away is just heartbreaking. The best outcome I see for this series is for her to lose all these new cards and reclaim her old ones in a triumphant return. Jeez... It's the Metroid problem. What reason do we give players for taking away all of her upgrades from the previous games to necessitate yet another treasure hunt?

That became painfully clear with the heavy rain thing. I found it weird when Sakura never mentioned something like this happening before. But I guess that would have drawn far more attention to that reused plot point than necessary.

Canon issues aside, one of my biggest pet peeves is how Sakura didn't seem to care about the Sakura Cards. However, I have to admit that at least they acknowledged it in the previous episode with Sakura saying "Nothing I can do... So, why worry?" Fair enough. Li doing nothing is also a tad frustrating. Why is he not in his battle attire coming to Sakura's aid? He still can use elemental magic.

Last but not least, like all other nostalgia-bait properties iIs there anything to like about it once the nostalgia has been taken away. That's the issue I have with sequels to old properties that aren't adaptations of existing unadapted material like Full Metal Panic IV (eg. Digimon Tri., Yu-Gi-Oh! Dark Side of Dimensions, etc...).

When the original series aired, it didn't rely on nostalgia. It had to prove itself and stand on its own merits. And we loved it. Now, all these years later, the only thing that anyone talks about is the nostalgia factor. Okay... but nostalgia aside, what does the show have to offer? That's why I'm curious to see how it will fare after the initial squeals of nostalgia have died down.

The reason I'm cynical is because everything feels so contrived. One of the main reasons companies do sequels is to capitalize on people's nostalgia. It's an easy way out without putting in any thought or effort into them. Seeing everyone squeal over the nostalgia and not talk about anything else is somewhat disheartening as it kinda validates my cynicism.

I remember watching the first few episodes of CCS when I was first getting into anime and I was checking out every series I could get my hand on. However, it didn't grab me as much as the other shows I was watching (shonen genre definitely had grabbed me) so I dropped it and never went back to see it again.

Given that the reviewer says its a sequel, how much does this new series rely on you being familiar with the original? I don't even really remember the episodes I watched as it's been probably 14 years since I first took a look at it.

In the interest of honesty, I have to admit that I've always found Tomoyo voyeurism annoying, even if Sakura has never seen her that way—she's just so invasive of Sakura's privacy.

These first few episodes have been a great return, but also feel very repetitive of the original series (especially aqua). I'm looking forward to the plot finally really getting rolling, though it is a bit worrisome that it seems to be another case of a mysterious transfer student that will ultimately be the source of (or at least heavily tied to) these new events.

I haven't read the manga, so I don't know where it's headed and I'll watch it regardless, but if this primarily ends up feeling like a rehash of the original series, I'll end up being entertained, but ultimately disappointed.

Covnam wrote:

These first few episodes have been a great return, but also feel very repetitive of the original series (especially aqua). I'm looking forward to the plot finally really getting rolling, though it is a bit worrisome that it seems to be another case of a mysterious transfer student that will ultimately be the source of (or at least heavily tied to) these new events. I haven't read the manga, so I don't know where it's headed and I'll watch it regardless, but if this primarily ends up feeling like a rehash of the original series, I'll end up being entertained, but ultimately disappointed.

i dont see how siege is repetitive since i dont know which card it feels like it replace

Now, my only worry, is what this means for the extra content. If the new cards really ARE upgraded/converted forms of the older cards, will we actually get the filler episode cards from the first anime upgraded, too?