English Dub Review: Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card “Sakura and a Game of Tag in the Garden”

Kero is such a ham.

Overview (spoilers)

Sakura just caught Record, and as soon as she got home, she contacted Yue for some phone chat to show it off. Its name kinda gives away what it does, but she’s going to need to learn how to do it. Kero has just the plan! Tomoyo is a pro with a camcorder. Heading over to her house would be a great way to not only pass the time, but a great way to train! Not to mention, Tomoyo’s mother Sonomi hasn’t seen Sakura in forever. For those who don’t remember Sonomi, she’s the owner of a major toy conglomerate, and first cousin to Sakura’s mother Nadeshiko. To aid in Tomoyo’s life mission of recording the world’s only magical girl’s adventures, Sonomi’s company has developed a whole new toy. It’s a phone-controlled camera drone. It’s as thin as a tablet, but has incredible speed, range, and battery life. After a bit of gushing from Sonomi, the two girls rush off with Kero and the drone to play with Record. After they summon the little camera, they have a bit of trouble commanding it. The thing just sits there doing nothing, until she tells it exactly what to record. Once she does, it can then create a hologram of whatever it saw. That sounds useful later.

Now that we’re done learning that card, it’s time for tea, and Syaoran shows up to join them. The kids discuss the cards a while, and send pictures of them to Spinel and Eriol. As they chat, the breeze floats about in strange ways. Syaoran pulls out his sword in ways only Voltron can, and uses it to blast lightning all over to see if it is a monster. Nothing. She sees something flit off into the garden maze and runs after it, telling Syaoran not to attack anymore. Using Gravitation to bounce from one surface to another, she chases the floating ribbon, debating how to catch it. It’s too fast for Action to catch, Gale or Aqua might hurt it, and Siege is too frightening. This is the first time one of these cards hasn’t been aggressive (or a creeper like Record), and her intuition tells her to be friendly with it. After finally getting close enough to interact, she steels herself for the hardest battle of her life…. okay, she just smiles at it and asks to be friends. It transforms into a bow, revealing the crystal at its core. It is Flight. Since they still have time in the garden with nobody watching, she decides to try it out. The bow forms on her back, allowing her to fly in any way she wants. Though all of these cards are special in their own way, she thinks she might just like Flight the best!

Our Take

Despite the ominous portents of the last episode, this one is a bit more sweet and fun. It’s a training episode, focusing on the less meanie-faced cards. These almost directly replicate cards from the Clow set: The Illusion and The Fly. Unlike the original Fly, Flight binds its power directly to its user’s body. This give Sakura a bit more freedom of movement. The Fly made it so that she was riding her key, broomstick style, and that came with some limitations. I doubt we’ve seen the full breadth of Record’s abilities, as Sakura didn’t really move or talk as she was being recorded. This might be really helpful for covering up magical activity, I think. It seems odd that Sakura just immediately treats this mysterious force as a misunderstood friendly. Could this be her developing an intuitive connection to the Clear Cards? In the end, however, not much happens in this episode. Just a break from the building tension.

Animation and voice acting aren’t bad in this episode, though it was kind of interesting to see Syaoran summoning that sword. Again, I love that this show doesn’t use stock sequences for its magic. It’s great work and I’m still trying to figure out how they are making it match previous iterations so precisely. One thing I’m a bit iffy on is Michelle Rojas’ performance as Sonomi. She is so excited and fawning that it starts to go in a bad direction. She sounds just a little too excited to see Sakura. What I’m not iffy on is Michaela Krantz as Kero. So much personality in that little voice. Kero was being a total showman in this episode, and Michaela kept pace.