I think everyone should have a magical girl series that theyre obsessed with and mine is now Cardcaptor Sakura. I wasnt sure if Id enjoy it or not what with three different student x teacher pairings and my growing list of magical girl series I didnt click with. However despite the problematic CLAMPery I loved Cardcaptor Sakura enough that I would give it a 10/10 if it didnt have the really really really weird side couples but well get to that later. Sakura Kinomoto is an ordinary elementary schooler until she discovers a strange book in her fathers library. When she opens it a magical creature pops out declaring that he is Cerberus guardian of the book which contains magical cards called Clow Cards. However his job is more about keeping the cards from people than the other way around. Unfortunately the cards have already escaped and the tiny guardian declares that Sakura will be the one to capture them and prevent them from wreaking havoc upon her town. http://www.paroledelibraire.com/wpcontent/uploads/2018/05/cardcaptorsakura450.jpg Cardcaptor Sakura is adorable. Its an episodic adventure series clearly meant for a young audience. However while its easy to follow and child friendly it doesnt sacrifice good writing just because its made for kids. Id go so far as to say it has the best writing of all the CLAMP works Ive read so far. Its cutesy but also very mature in how it deals with the characters emotions despite being very idealized. Its simple but thats the point. Not every story must be overly complicated especially if it is something for kids to learn from and understand. This is the story of how Sakura comes into her own magical power and becomes a magical girl in her own right first collecting the cards then mastering them. While it begins in an episodic manner with Sakura taking on the card of the day it evolves into having a more cohesive plot with the introduction of Yue at the end of the first half complete with twists. It then introduces antagonists for the second half with mysterious motives making things a lot more intriguing. Sakura is my child. I love her so much. Shes athletic and likes music but she hates math most fourth graders dont like math from my experience. Shes upbeat though a bit clumsy and oblivious and she cant stand being fussed over. However its her unabashed kindness empathy and creativity that make her a worthy Cardcaptor. In general shes just super adorable and I dont blame Tomoyo for wanting to make clothes for her. Her most constant companions are Tomoyo and Syaoran. Tomoyo is her best friend who has a bit of a crush on Sakura. Shes very perceptive able to catch on quickly. She is the most intelligent of Sakuras crew able to sense other characters motivations and figure out whats going on. Shes very artistic and stylish as well constantly filming Sakuras exploits and making cute clothes for her using her crush as a creative outlet. However Sakura isnt perceptive enough to notice her friends feelings or anyones feelings for that matter. Syaoran on the other hand doesnt get off to a great with Sakura. He comes from a magical family connected to the cards. Syaoran views Sakura as his rival when it comes to card collecting and in romance as they both have onesided crushes on an older boy. Syaoran is hot headed and easy to fool but hes also just super awkward and kind to people once he warms up to them. https://www.denofgeek.com/wpcontent/uploads/2020/06/TouyaYukitoCardcaptorSakura.jpg?fit=12002C675 The other characters Id like to discuss are Touya and Yukito. Touya is Sakuras older brother. Hes another perceptive character with latent magical abilities. Hes prone to teasing those he cares about and hes very protective of his loved ones. His best friend is Yukito whos truly kind to a fault and a bit airheaded. Hes gentle and shares Touyas love of sports though hes also fond of cooking and eating. Both Syaoran and Sakura feel for him despite him being much older. Touya and Yukito have their own arc alongside Sakuras in the second half of the series and they provide support for her in their own ways. Love particularly romantic love is a major theme of the series. Sakura Syaoran and Tomoyo are all in the fourth grade and are discovering their first romantic feelings and discovering what it means to love someone and want to be with them. The way every character approaches love is different and its different for each time the characters fall in love as well. Tomoyo knows that Sakura wont return her feelings and wouldnt be happy with her so she has taken an altruistic path supporting Sakura and making Sakuras happiness her happiness. I hope Tomoyo finds her happiness and gets a girlfriend in the ongoing sequel. Sakura and Syaoran both have a somewhat aggressive approach to wooing Yukito who obviously doesnt return their feelings. Its when Syaoran moves on and falls for someone else and Sakura is let down gently by Yukito that the two change their approaches and think more critically about love and how they love someone. https://i.post.cc/DyvjCzbm/yandere91493samplecardcaptorsakuraclampdaidoujitomoyodressfixedhiiragizawaeriolkerbero.jpg Sakuras romantic path involves a lot of uncertainty when it comes to her feelings. She has a tough time discerning between strong feelings of love be it familial or romantic. Its only when she finds someone who she loves more than her family that she knows what true romantic feelings are. Its only when shes forced to confront the romantic feelings of someone close to her when shes faced with the idea of losing someone she loves that she realizes what it means to be in love. I never thought that Id be that invested in an elementary school couple but here I am. When she is confessed to I started flapping my arms around it was that adorable. Syaoran has fallen in love with our dear Sakura naturally over time. Hes so awkward and afraid to confess and hes afraid of hurting Sakura and making her feel like she must reciprocate. Hes more in tune with his emotions and the emotions of others than he was with his first love. This time hes aware that he has a chance and he takes things more seriously. He has more to lose when it comes to confronting Sakura and hes painfully aware of that. Touya and Yukitos journey is also full of uncertainties. The friends have romantic feelings for each other but neither one has confessed yet. Yukito keeps his pain to himself as well as his feelings for Touya. He doesnt want to confront the emotions he doesnt want to deal with. Meanwhile Touya is just very awkward and doesnt know what to do with himself or show Yukito how he cares in ways he already does. Its only when he offers Yukito everything he has that he bridges the gap between them. Theyre also an extremely cute couple. I cant say the same thing for all the other sidecouples because of all the CLAMPery thats going on. Cardcaptor Sakura contains one of the most infamous CLAMP age gap relationships. We got a fourthgrade math teacher proposing to Sakuras friend and fellow fourth grader Rika. They have a secret romantic relationship which is occasionally referenced throughout the series. Im grateful it barely came up because that meant I got to forget about it for multiple volumes at a time. I thought the whole second half would go by without hearing from Rika and Terada but it gets mentioned again in the last volume and I was like Oh yeah that exists. In CLAMPland Terada is a perfectly nice guy who fell in love with Rika for who she was not for her age and wouldnt do anything to hurt her though in real life he wouldnt be anywhere near as nice as the manga paints him. We also get a few other... lovely age gap pairings all of which are student x teacher. My favorite. Sakuras father married her mother when he was in his 20s and her teacher and she was 16. We heard about them going to school together and it just made me shudder. It just made me unsettled to think about every time they brought up Sakuras parents. Sakuras brother dated a teacher Mizuki Kaho an important character when he was in middle school. Fortunately their relationship is not dwelt on though Mizuki does go on to date a 30something year old man who looks like hes 10 so... Needless to say I didnt really feel comfortable with her character either. https://www.denofgeek.com/wpcontent/uploads/2020/06/CardcaptorSakuraManga.png?w=1024 The art is gorgeous. I adore it and after my Pandora Hearts banner I will do a Cardcaptor Sakura one. All of the characters are extremely cute looking as well as elegant. Sakura is always welldressed courtesy of Tomoyo and she always has a new outfit to show off. CLAMP is sure to let other characters be stylish in the color pages as well. Theres something that just feels so delicate and fluid about the art and I love the floral illustrations that compliment it. Its a wonderful manga and a magical girl classic. Its unbelievably cute with Sakuras adventures journey as a magical girl and exploration of her first love. However its also got the huge caveat of the side couples with huge quite frankly inappropriate age gaps which are all student x teacher... I dont blame people for avoiding the series for those things I initially planned to avoid it for those reasons. However if you do choose to push past that youll find that Cardcaptor Sakura is genuinely good and is a kids manga well worth reading.