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Produced by
Directed by
Cardcaptors is about an ordinary girl Sakura. She finds a magical book and opens, little realising that she was about to let out a powerful magical force. She also releases a little animal that looks very similar to a teddy bear. His name is Kerobearos. will Sakura with the help of her friend Madison, the mysterious li, the exchange student Mei-lin, and Kero-chan be able to return all these mysterious cards to the clowbook before it is too late? And will Sakura be able to keep her secret from friends and family - especially Tori and Julian?
In terms of animation Cardcaptors is your standard shoujo TV affair it features lots of still frames and stop shots. However we're not counting frames here Cardcaptors emits an oozy charm that eventually allows you to see past the [horribly] bad dubbing and censoring and reveal an accomplished series. The characters too are well designed [lifted straight from the original manga by CLAMP] they all retain the same amount of adorable cuteness seen in the manga but are also free to explore the fantastic undertones often seen in girls'
manga
Which leads me to the point of the homosexual elements of Cardcaptors. As to be expected of a shoujo manga there are indeed strong nods towards boys' love. Between Sakura's brother and his best friend and between Sakura's ally Lee it is one big [pink] love triangle and although put aside in the dub the implementations are still there. This keeps the action secondary [as it only ever really lasts a few seconds] and helps enlarge an otherwise boxed in plot.
I will have to mention the shameful editing process that Cardcaptors went through because it was considered unexciting at the start the first three episodes were cut and many of the aforementioned undertones were removed. Although this does not affect the show to the degree it affected shows such as Dragon Ball Z and Battle of the Planets it turns what is otherwise an excellent example of a shoujo anime into a sub standard variation on the shounen genre. That is not to say that show is not enjoyable for these reasons the dub is mediocre at best however it never truly obscures the watching of the show. Instead you left with an easier show to access and a show that will appeal to children as well as some young adults. A good deal if you ask me.
Regarding music, it's typical cutesy stuff lots of merry tunes occasionally coupled by cheesy Japanese rock music. The opening theme has been changed and is pretty bad to tell the truth however Cardcaptors never reaches the dizzy heights of
DBZ in terms of crimes against the eardrums.
So if you enjoy sakura blossoms, love stories and don't mind the occasional lame fight scene and appalling dubbing
Cardcaptor Sakura is the show for you. So what you're looking at is a fun and overall distinguished show among the likes of
Beyblade and Medabots. Should keep the young ones entertained too!
Six out of Ten
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Pictures courtesy of www.lelola.net
