Cardcaptor Sakura (Japanese: カードキャプターさくら, Hepburn: Kādokyaputā Sakura), abbreviated as CCS, is a Japanese manga series written and drawn by the group Clamp. It was published each month in the shōjo manga magazine Nakayoshi from June 1996 to August 2000. The series was also released in 12 book volumes by Kodansha between November 1996 and July 2000. The story follows Sakura Kinomoto, a young student who discovers magical powers after accidentally releasing a set of magical cards into the world. She must find the cards to stop a disaster. Each card has unique magical abilities, and only someone with natural magical powers can use them. A later story by Clamp, Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card, focuses on Sakura in junior high school. It was published in Nakayoshi from July 2016 to January 2024.
The manga was turned into a 70-episode anime TV series by Madhouse. It aired on Japan’s satellite channel NHK BS2 from April 1998 to March 2000. Other media include two anime films, video games, art books, picture books, and film comics. Tokyopop published the manga in English in North America from March 2000 to August 2003. After Tokyopop’s license ended, Dark Horse Manga released the series in omnibus editions from October 2010 to September 2012. The anime was translated into English by Hong Kong’s Omni Productions and shown in Southeast Asia and South Asia on Animax Asia.
Nelvana licensed the TV series and first film for North America under the English title Cardcaptors. It first aired on Kids’ WB from June 2000 to December 2001. All 70 episodes were dubbed in English. While other English-speaking regions saw the full version, the American version was heavily edited into 39 episodes. Cardcaptors also aired on Cartoon Network (Toonami), Teletoon, Nickelodeon, Network Ten, and RTÉ2. Geneon licensed the TV series and films for other regions, releasing them unedited with English subtitles. Madman Entertainment released the TV series in Australia and New Zealand.
Cardcaptor Sakura received good reviews. Critics praised the manga for its creativity and called it a classic example of shōjo manga, as well as an important work for manga in general. The series won the Seiun Award for Best Manga in 2001. The TV series was praised for appealing to older viewers and for its artwork, humor, characters, and animation. It won the Animage Grand Prix award for Best Anime in 1999. However, the American version of Cardcaptors was criticized for removing parts of the story that were important to the plot.
Plot
The anime Cardcaptor Sakura is set in the fictional town of Tomoeda, located near Tokyo, Japan. At age 10, Sakura Kinomoto accidentally releases a set of magical cards called Clow Cards from a book in her basement. The book was created by a sorcerer named Clow Reed. Each card has a unique power and can change form when activated. A guardian named Cerberus (also called Kero) appears from the book and tells Sakura that only someone with magical abilities could open the book. Kero explains that Sakura has magic and chooses her to find the missing cards. As Sakura locates each card, she faces its magical form and seals it away. Cerberus helps guide her, while her best friend and cousin, Tomoyo Daidouji, films her adventures and supports her with costumes and encouragement. Sakura’s older brother, Toya Kinomoto, watches over her while pretending not to know about her powers.
Syaoran Li, a boy of Sakura’s age and a distant relative of Clow Reed, arrives from Hong Kong to find the cards himself. At first, he opposes Sakura, but he later respects her and helps her capture the cards. After Sakura collects all the cards, she is tested by Yue, the cards’ second guardian, to see if she is worthy of becoming their master. Yue is also the human form of Yukito Tsukishiro, Toya’s best friend, whom Sakura has a crush on. With the help of her teacher, Kaho Mizuki, Sakura passes the test and becomes the new master of the Clow Cards.
Later, Eriol Hiiragizawa, a student from England and the reincarnation of Clow Reed (though he only remembers Clow Reed’s past), arrives in Tomoeda. He causes disturbances with two creatures, Spinel Sun and Ruby Moon. Ruby Moon takes a human form named Nakuru and attends the same school as Toya. Nakuru develops a crush on Toya and sees Yukito as a rival. At some point, Yukito tells Sakura he loves Toya, who later reveals he loves Yukito in return. Sakura suddenly loses the ability to use the Clow Cards and transforms her wand, beginning the process of changing the cards into Sakura Cards. Eriol causes strange events that force Sakura to use the cards, helping them evolve. Eriol explains that he helped Sakura transform the cards to preserve their magic, while Spinel reveals that Eriol stopped aging to stay close to Sakura. Syaoran later confesses his love for Sakura, who realizes she loves him too. She tells him he is her “Number One.” Syaoran returns to Hong Kong but promises to come back after finishing his work. For two years, Sakura and Syaoran keep in touch through calls and letters. When Sakura starts middle school, Syaoran moves back to Tomoeda and reunites with her.
The anime series expands on the original story, featuring 52 Clow Cards instead of the manga’s 19. Some events are changed, such as Syaoran capturing cards himself and being tested by Yue. Syaoran’s cousin and fiancée, Meiling Li, is introduced in the anime as a rival for Sakura but later becomes a friend. The anime leaves Sakura and Syaoran’s relationship unresolved, though Sakura confesses her love for Syaoran in the second anime film.
Production
Cardcaptor Sakura was first created shortly after Clamp finished their series Magic Knight Rayearth, which was published in the magazine Nakayoshi. Clamp's head editor, Yamonouchi, asked them to make another series for Nakayoshi. Clamp decided to create a series that was similar to Nakayoshi, unlike Magic Knight Rayearth, which they described as very different from their previous work. Nanase Ohkawa, the main writer for Clamp, first wanted to make a magical girl story, even though she had little experience with that genre. Ohkawa wanted the main character, Sakura, to be the same age as most Nakayoshi readers so fans could connect with her. Because this was different from how Clamp usually created characters, Ohkawa designed other characters, like Tomoyo and Cerberus, to resemble characters from their earlier works. Once Ohkawa had details about the characters, she asked the three artists in Clamp—Mokona, Tsubaki Nekoi, and Satsuki Igarashi—to draw them based on her descriptions. When designing Cerberus, Ohkawa wanted a friendly companion for Sakura, but Nekoi tried many designs, such as dogs and squirrels, before creating the final version. Syaoran and Toya were created as common types of characters that Clamp often used in their stories.
Other names were considered for the series, such as Cardcaster Sakura and Card Character Sakura, before Nekoi suggested Cardcaptor Sakura. Ohkawa planned the entire story from start to finish, but she did not share the plot with the other members. Instead, she gave them the script one chapter at a time. Mokona first drew Tomoyo to look like she was in love with Toya, which surprised her when she read the chapter that revealed Tomoyo loves Sakura. The story was meant to have the theme that "if you try your best, it will work out," but Ohkawa did not begin with the idea that Sakura would have the mindset of "It'll definitely be okay." Ohkawa explained the relationships in the series using Tomoyo and Sakura as an example. She said that Tomoyo and Sakura did not end up together because Sakura did not love Tomoyo in a romantic way.
The main theme of Cardcaptor Sakura is love and human relationships. The series shows many types of love, including sibling love, childhood crushes, unrequited love, and true love. At times, Clamp focused on the relationships between characters instead of the Clow Cards for several chapters. Each relationship is shown without judgment or comments about whether it is right or wrong. For example, the romantic relationship between elementary student Rika Sasaki and her teacher Yoshiyuki Terada is shown as a sweet and innocent story of "wish fulfillment," or it could be seen as a slightly troubling story about inappropriate love.
Ohkawa told the artists, especially Mokona, to use thin lines and to use curved lines instead of straight lines to express ideas. The art style was decided early to create a unified look for the series. Ohkawa wanted the series to feel "soft and cute," so she asked the artists to use little ink and keep the pages light. For the many flower images in the manga, Nekoi studied books to find the right flowers and tried to avoid repeating the same flower in one chapter. Igarashi said they "never had to draw so many flowers for one series," but they avoided using roses. Clamp wanted to include transformation scenes in the series, but since many magical girl stories have characters wearing the same outfit, they wanted Sakura to wear different costumes. They believed it would be sad for a girl to wear the same outfit all the time.
Media
Cardcaptor Sakura began as a manga series created and drawn by the group Clamp. It was published monthly in the shōjo (for young girls) magazine Nakayoshi from June 1996 to August 2000. The individual chapters were later collected into 12 tankōbon volumes by Kodansha, released between November 1996 and July 2000. Kodansha made the first six volumes available in both Japanese and English from May 2000 to July 2001. These bilingual editions were part of an experiment to help Japanese children learn English. Kodansha stopped making bilingual versions after Tokyopop licensed the series for release in North America.
In addition to the 50 regular chapters, Clamp created two special chapters included in a collection titled Cardcaptor Sakura: Illustrated Collection. The first special chapter focused on Toya caring for Sakura while she had a cold. The second special chapter showed Sakura caring for Syaoran when he was sick, highlighting her feelings for him at that time.
Tokyopop released the manga volumes in North America from March 2000 to August 2003. The first six volumes were printed in a Western format (text read left-to-right) instead of the original Japanese right-to-left format. These were later reprinted in the original format in two box sets, each containing three volumes. Volumes seven through twelve were released in the original format with the subtitle Master of the Clow. Madman Entertainment used Tokyopop’s English translation for releases in Australia and New Zealand. Dark Horse Manga published the series in four omnibus volumes (each containing three original volumes) from October 2010 to September 2012. After Dark Horse’s license ended, Kodansha Comics began releasing the series in hardcover Collector’s Edition volumes in 2019. The series has also been licensed for release in other languages, including French, Italian, German, Brazilian Portuguese, Taiwanese, Spanish, Argentinean Spanish, and Mexican Spanish.
An anime adaptation of the series, with 70 episodes, was produced by Madhouse and aired in Japan on NHK over three seasons. The first season (35 episodes) aired from April 7 to December 29, 1998. The second season (11 episodes) aired from April 6 to June 22, 1999. The third season (24 episodes) aired from September 7, 1999, to March 21, 2000. Clamp was involved in the project, with Nanase Ohkawa writing the screenplay and Mokona designing costumes and cards. Bandai Visual released the anime on 18 VHS, LD, and DVD compilation volumes from September 1998 to May 2000.
Geneon released two Blu-ray box sets in 2009. A 4K remaster of the series was released in December 2017 as an 11-disc set on DVD and Blu-ray.
Nelvana licensed the series for North America in August 1999. A fan petition led to the release of a subtitled version. Nelvana dubbed the series into English, changing character names, translating some text, and removing scenes with same-sex relationships. The English version aired in Australia, Ireland, the UK, Canada, and other regions. An unedited version was produced by Omni Productions in Hong Kong for Animax Asia.
The English version titled Cardcaptors first aired in the United States on Kids’ WB from June 17, 2000, to December 14, 2001. This version was heavily edited, with episodes reordered and some removed to focus more on action for male viewers. The first episode aired was “Sakura’s Rival,” skipping earlier episodes. The series ran for 39 episodes, ending with the original final episode. A new opening theme was used instead of the original Japanese version.
Pioneer Entertainment released the first 27 episodes of Cardcaptors in nine VHS and DVD compilation volumes from November 2000 to July 2002. They also released the unedited Japanese version with English subtitles on 18 DVDs from November 2000 to November 2003. The series went out of print in 2006 when the license expired. NIS America re-released the entire series with Japanese audio and the unedited English dub on DVD and Blu-ray in August 2014.
Madman Entertainment released the uncut Cardcaptor Sakura episodes with Japanese audio and English subtitles in Australia and New Zealand. They later released the series in two DVD box sets, including textless openings and endings. The first box set was released in September 2012, and the second in November 2012.
Anime Limited licensed the uncut version in the UK and Ireland. They made the first season available on Channel 4 via All 4. A Blu-ray release was announced in December 2021. The collection includes all 70 episodes on 10 discs, using the 2017 4K remaster, Pioneer subtitles, and a 16-page collector’s book.
Reception
The manga series Cardcaptor Sakura had over 17 million copies available for sale by April 2018. It was very popular among Japanese readers and ranked among the top five best-selling manga during its release. The series won the Seiun Award for Best Manga in 2001. Shaenon Garrity of The Comics Journal described the series as a classic example of a shōjo manga, which is noted for its more mature storytelling in the second half of the series. Cardcaptor Sakura has been called a "critical work" of manga by Christopher Butcher of Comics212. In a review by Lisa Anderson of Manga Life, the stories about how characters interact with each other were highlighted as particularly interesting. Anderson praised how the manga, which begins with a character named Sakura wearing a costume and chasing a magical card, shifts focus to the characters’ relationships later in the story. The series is also praised for its depth. Anime News Network (ANN) reviewer Robert Nguyen described Cardcaptor Sakura as an "atypical shōjo" manga, which focuses on the emotions of the characters.
In Manga: The Complete Guide, Mason Templar stated that the series is "not just one of the best kids’ manga in translation, it's one of the very best manga available in English, period." He praised the creators, Clamp, for their creativity and business skills, noting that they turned a simple idea into a story full of warmth, joy, and wonder. Critics have described the manga as cute, though some said it was "too cute" in places. Anderson compared it to another series, Magic Knight Rayearth, saying that even a cute story can have depth and drama. The artwork is praised for being detailed, especially the drawings of the magical Clow Cards, which are described as combining magical fantasy with realistic details.
The Cardcaptor Sakura anime was popular in Japan, even though it aired during a time of day that usually had few viewers. The anime won the Animage Grand Prix award for best anime in 1999. In May 2000, volumes 8 and 17 of the anime’s LaserDisc release were among the top-selling titles, with volume 17 being the best-selling. The 18th DVD volume was the eighth best-selling anime DVD in Japan in June 2000. Animerica contributor Kevin Lew said the series had a "sophisticated design sense" that made it enjoyable for older viewers as well as children. Another contributor, Takashi Oshiguichi, praised the character Sakura and the artwork. He noted that the series was designed to attract male readers, but its unique style, including the way the main character changes costumes, helped it appeal to a wide audience. Winnie Chow of Animerica said the animation was "far above average for a TV series," and especially praised the scenes showing Sakura using her magic, which are unique due to the frequent costume changes. In a poll by TV Asahi of the Top 100 Anime, Cardcaptor Sakura ranked 87th.
Zac Bertschy of ANN praised the series for transforming a "stale and repetitive" magical girl genre into something fun, clever, and emotionally touching. He called it "the best magical girl show ever produced." The animation was described as "incredibly fluid," with character designs that kept their detail even during action scenes. While some critics said the series was formulaic, they did not see this as a problem. The anime is intended for young girls but is praised for having elements that can be enjoyed by people of all ages. In 2001, the anime ranked 46th on Wizard’s Anime Magazine’s "Top 50 Anime released in North America" list. Cat Dennis of Screen Rant praised Sakura for staying true to a "conventionally feminine persona," with her power coming from her outfits, heart, and love. Hannah Collins of The Mary Sue called the series an anime "filled with genuine warmth, tenderness, and a strong, underlying message of acceptance."
The Nelvana version of the Cardcaptors dub was criticized by reviewers. Jake Godek of THEM Anime Reviews called it "the worst thing that has ever happened to anime that had a good Japanese name," saying the dubbing was "one of the worst if not the worst dubbing done for a program." He also criticized the editing, saying it "demolished the plot" and removed important character details. Adam Arnold of Animefringe said the first Cardcaptors DVD was "nothing more than an attempt to dilute a fan favorite anime," with dubbed voices that were "not up-to-par with the originals." He also criticized the order of the episodes on the DVD, which started with episode eight and left characters without enough background information. However, he praised the voices of Carly McKillip as Sakura Avalon and Rhys Huber as Syaoran Li, saying they were the "only voices that really shine above the rest."
In January 2002, the restaurant chain Taco Bell launched a month-long promotion offering four Cardcaptors toys in kids’ meals. The company planned to give out up to 7 million toys during the month. The American Family Association, a group with certain religious beliefs, criticized the promotion, saying the Clow Cards were too similar to tarot cards and Eastern mythology. However, the group’s complaints came after the promotion was already scheduled to end, so it is unclear if they had any impact.