Card Captor Sakura, when it was aired on the Dutch TV, was basically along with Gundam Wing and Digimon the series to really make me interested in anime. Looking back, it was really the best amongst these three. It was like Jigoku Shoujo: repetitive, but a great premise with great execution. I also saw the first movie a few years ago, though I never got around watching the second one until now. Turns out that this is the conclusion of the series, even though I ended up only watching the first half of it (blame the Dutch broadcasting-companies who’d rather show Sailor Moon than this gem). Still, I figure that anyone who got to the first major climax of the series will have no problems following the second movie.
First up, I must congratulate this movie for reminding me what made the series so great. Especially the first half has an excellent combination between light-hearted quirky characters and serious scenes. The cast for Card Captor Sakura is a really memorable one, and I especially loved Tomoyo, one excellent supporting character.
Then the second half kicks in, and the comedy takes a step back for the story. Overall, it formed a very nice ending for the series, though unfortunately there were quite a few convenient plot-holes, including a deus-ex-machina-ending. Something also tells me that the creators overestimated the acting- and singing-abilities of mere grade-schoolers. ^^;
Still, despite this, The Sealed Card is a must-watch for any fan of the original series. While the first movie was basically a glorified filler, the second movie gives a nice conclusion, and it has enough elements of what made the original series great. Surely, this is along with xxxHolic the best of what I’ve seen from Clamp.
Sorry, but I’ve been reading your blog for a while off and on, and I was really happy to hear that you liked Tomoyo. She’s voiced by one of my friends (at least in the japanese version), so it always makes me happy to hear that people liked her work!!
Wow, this is the first time that I’ve gotten a comment from the friend of a voice-actor (or member of production-staff, for that matter). I indeed really liked what she did for this movie. 🙂
Sorry if this seems off topic, but did you watch the Japanese version of Sailor Moon or a dubbed version? The anime’s really quite good in the Japanese version because the dubbed versions tend to cut out a lot, change people’s genders, and basically screw the entire thing over.
Yes, I watched a Dutch dub back then. I’m not sure whether the original series was any better, but what I saw was basically a huge series that could have been just as well condensed into thirteen episodes.
So is it me, or CLAMP is at their best when they don’t try to make DEEP, TRAGIC stories like X, but instead when they make more down-to-earth stories like this
I’ve watched it a long time ago. This Sakura movie is great!!! Card captor Sakura remains one of the best classic ANIME. The two movies and all the three seasons of Sakura are so amazing!
Sorry it’s out of subject but just now I’m watching another anime called “Glass no Kamen” or “Glass mask”. It’s one of the best too. Did you watch it? About a girl longing to become an actress( there two different anime , the first one of 1984 and the second one of 2005). Now I’m watching the new one. Really it’s a good one. Well I see Porfy’s long journey started. I’ll start to watch it soon.
elow