Konnichiwa! Maid-chan desu!
What would anime be without magical girls? Certainly a lot less diverse!
Magical girls, if you don’t know, are young girls who use some sort of magic item to transform into a costume and fight the evil – for a certain amount of fight and evil.
In Kinomoto Sakura’s case the magic item is a key that allows her to use magical cards. The big difference to other magical girls is that she does not change into a magical costume.
Instead her costumes are made by her best friend Tomoyo, every episode a different one! (Which is a kind of trademark for CLAMP works.)
Of course after going through so much trouble with all the costumes Tomoyo insists of filming Sakura catching the Clow Cards.
Catching Clow Cards? Yes!
There was once a great magician called Clow Reed. He created magical cards that can do different magic. But Clow died and the cards were sealed away.
That is a big waste, Maid-chan thinks, and Clow was of the same opinion! He intended for a new master to take over, but you can’t just put that as a job offer in the newspaper, right?
Nobody knows why, but the book with the cards ended up in the house of Sakura. One day Sakura hears strange things in the library, goes down the stairs, meets the (until then sleeping) guardian of the cards and ends up being a “Card Captor”.
The reason is that the sleeping guardian Kerberos (call him Kero-chan, everyone does it) didn’t realized that the cards had all flown away.
What a guardian!
But Sakura is not the only one chasing the cards. A Hong Kong based descendant of Clow Reed’s blood appears shortly after the cards have appeared again. And of course he is a boy in Sakura’s age and transfers into her class. And to the seat in Sakura’s back. From where he stares at her.
Li Shaolan is not aggressive, but very unfriendly towards his rival Sakura. And, if you ask Maid-chan, a bit lonely.
Sakura, a very pure and helpful little girl, is very disturbed by that aggressiveness, but Maid-chan thinks what disturbs her even more is that Shaolan also shows feelings toward a person she holds very deer. Every time Sakura sees Yukito, she goes totally han-yaaa! Except when someone is mean to him. Then even Sakura can get angry!
Yukito is a classmate and friend of Sakura’s brother Toya. Toya is always mean to Sakura, so Maid-chan will not show his picture!
Instead Maid-chan will show you Meiling!
Meiling is Shaolans cousin and in love of him from the time they were small children. As such she tries to be always close to Shaolan, even if he is not interested.
Prideful Meiling is a character not appearing in the manga! She is anime only! She joins in the fights for the cards, but is never there when the really important things happen. Poor girl!
Competing for the cards, Sakura and Shaolan often find themselves fighting together and slowly his attitude changes. This is of course seen by Tomoyo, who takes a special delight in taking Sakura’s or Shaolan’s flustered faces.
Of course Tomoyo always films the cards getting captured. And it is said Tomoyo has not a drop of magic in her. But Maid-chan does not believe this!
Tomoyo always manages to have the perfect costume (like water proof against “Watery”) ready and on Sakura before they even know which card they are up against.
Strange, right?!
But finally the day comes when all the shattered cards are found and Yue, the judge, will decide who will become the new master of the Clow Cards. He first fights Shaolan, who loses. Then Yue fights Sakura, who also loses. And a big catastrophe is changing the world…
Clow Reed may like to play pranks, but he is not a bad person. He has prepared something to give Sakura a second chance. What that is, Maid-chan will not spoiler.
In the end everything works out and Shaolan gives up on the Clow Cards. He prepares to leave and go home, a bit reluctantly because, well, Sakura.
And then new strange things start to happen. There is also a new class mate, Eriol. Sakura looks up to Eriol, saying he feels so grown up. For whatever reason Shaolan loses his usual cool when seeing that boy.
Eriol is very popular with everyone in the class, but mostly keeps to himself if not invited. He does show a certain interest in Sakura. Could there be a deeper reason?
But whatever the reason this is not as important as the strange incidents that happen all around Sakura, even in the pool. (No, Maid-chan is not showing little Sakura and Tomoyo in swimming suits! You hentais!)
And since now Sakura is the new master of the Clow Cards, she has to change them into Sakura Cards before using them!
This uses a lot of magic and often tires out Sakura completely.
As the fight goes on Shaolan and Sakura grow closer and closer together, and Tomoyo has many chances to film red faces!
Why is Shaolan's face so red, you ask?
Easy answer! Because this ultra-cute girl, nearly as cute as Maid-chan, is in front of his door to pay him a new year’s visit!
The strange incidents continue to happen, and Sakura keeps fighting them with new Sakura Cards – and Shaolan on her side.
And then, finally, the reason for what is happening is revealed. Everyone is surprised, but Maid-chan had known it from the start! Really!
But with the end of the fight comes the time when Shaolan has to go home, and both he and Sakura realize that their mutual wish is different.
Movies
The story Maid-chan has told until now are the first two arcs, the Clow Card Arc and the Sakura Card Arc, which were released 1998 - 2000.
The anime was praised by watchers and critics, who lauded the uniqueness of a series in a very stereotypical genre.
Yeah. If you ask Maid-chan, forget what the critics say. Just watch it. Then you will understand!
There are also two movies. One movie plays quite early in the series, when Sakura wins a trip to Hong Kong – and surprise, surprise, runs into Shaolan and Meiling! They also meet Shaolan’s mother, a very dignified and strong magician, and his big sisters.
Maid-chan is not sure what happened to them. Are they drugged or got all seriousness out of them and into Shaolan?
Whatever the reason is, the big sisters are extremely fond of Sakura and Tomoyo and cudddling them to near-death. But there is one thing that interests those sisters even more then cute girls: handsome young men! When Sakura’s brother Toya and Yukito appear, the eyes of the sisters get really scary. In fact Maid-chan is so scared, that as a protections she wants to cut the sister’s internet access for lifetime!
The second Movie is about the “Sealed Card”. But why this card is sealed and what this means and what the card has to do with Sakura’s answer to Shaolan’s feelings – that is something you have to find out yourself by watching!
Or you can just have a glimpse at this:
Yes, Maid-chan is doing it the Clow Reed way, playing a cruel prank on you! Watch or don’t watch? Hahahaaa!
And Maid-chan will also be cruel a second time: There is a new Arc, the Clear Card Arc, animated and released just this year! Because of the long time between, Maid-chan will give the Clear Cards a stand-alone review.
Conclusion
This time it is really hard to decide on the rating. This is less because of the age of the anime and more because this one is so special. You would need a whole conference to point out all the little details that make it so special!
Yes, the art has aged, but it is still very fluid, beautiful and above all CUTE!! The unusual turn on the magical girl genre makes this anime very unique, and while you can argue about the aesthetics of many costumes, this change alone is an interesting point no one else has ever done.
Also Sakura is super-ultra-mega-cute! She is so sweet, dentists recommend to not watch more then two episodes a day! Think about that! Clow Reed might like pranks, but those dentists are sadists!
There are a few points that could have been done better, mostly at the start. But you will forget that fast and get captured by Sakura and her friends like a Clow Card!
All in all Maid-chan gives a 9/10 on the totally objective Maid-chan scale and a strong Maid-chan recommendation to watch it even if you don’t like magical girls! CCS may look like a child’s anime but can be enjoyed by all ages. Just look at cute Sakura!
Other media
Maid-chan wants to add that if you are now addicted to Sakura, you can have more Sakura candy if you know how to get it. There are several games, drama CDs etc. out to catch. You might even get your own set of Clow Cards!
But remember, those are magical cards. They are for magic, not to be played around with by foolish humans!
See you next time!
