Cardcaptor Sakura, created by the manga group Clamp, is one of the classics of the magical girl genre in the anime world. It is remembered, along with Sailor Moon, as the most beloved magical girl franchise of all time. The plot of the series is also quite interesting compared to the time it was released.
The story of Cardcaptor Sakura revolves around Sakura Kinamoto, a schoolgirl who accidentally sets free magical cards in the world. Now she had to capture the cards using her magical powers to prevent the end of the world.
The anime overall had a very cutesy theme and was more aimed toward young girls. It had deep thought put into the costume designs for every character and also had some good character development, with characters dealing with real feelings and problems.
The franchise was not just a fantasy world created to promote the sale of merchandise like many other anime that belonged to the same genre at the time.
The anime premiered in 1998 in Japan and was brought to the United States in 2000. It was also not spared from the heavy changes and toning down that the production houses did to make shows more kid-friendly for children in the United States. It was dubbed by Nelvana, and many controversial changes were made to the story and characters of the show, including Sakura, the main lead heroine.
A sequel to the story is released by Clamp and focuses on the life of Sakura in junior high school. The squeal is named Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card; this has gained the attention of a lot of people, which in turn has led many people to discover the original series as well. Now, here are 20 facts that you need to know about Cardcaptor Sakura:
1. Sakura’s design was inspired by the artist’s niece
Mokona, who is the lead artist and designer at Clamp, is responsible for the majority of the artwork in the twenty-two manga series created by the group. In the fifteenth edition of Clamp no Kiseki, which launched in 2004, Mokona revealed that the inspiration for Sakura’s design was her two-year-old niece.
She said that when she was working on the character for Sakura, she tried a lot of designs but settled on the final one, for which she used her two-year-old niece for inspiration. The child was used as an inspiration for Sakura’s expressions.
2. Sakura is an Aries Zodiac Sign
Sakura has Aries as her zodiac sign; this is because her birthday is on the first of April. This is not an April Fool’s joke; Sakura’s birthday coincides with the Japanese school year. The school year in Japan starts in early April and lasts until July, when the summer break starts. The second term starts in September and continues until December, after which the winter break commences.
After the winter break, the final term is from January to March. This makes Sakura’s birthday fall right before the Japanese school new year, which is the first of April. Thus, her zodiac sign is Aries.
Also read: Kaguya-Sama: Love is War, character’s birth date and their zodiac signs.
3. The Reason For The Always Changing Costumes
Cardcaptor Sakura’s costumes separate it from the magical girl classics like Sailor Moon. In Sailor Moon and many other magical girl anime, the characters transform into magical girls and mostly wear the same attire throughout the series. But that is not the case in Cardcaptor Sakura.
Unlike Sailor Moon, Sakura does not transform into her magical gear or costume to go into battle. The costumes she wears are made by her best friend.
In an interview with the New York Times in 2006, the creative team at Clamp said that they thought it was “sad” that a person had to wear the same thing over and over, and they wanted to “add a twist” for their readers. Hence, they introduced many different costumes, which Sakura wore throughout the series.
4. Sakura Holds the title of the Two Time Winner of the “Best Female Character” Award
The Magical Girl genre has tough competition among itself, let alone the rest of the anime universe. Sakura beat the rest of the characters and claimed the title of “Best Female Character” two times in a row: 1999 and 2000. The award was for the reader’s choice of the best female character in the Anime Grand Prix contest organized by Animage magazine.
The Animage magazine is one of the longest-running entertainment magazines that cover content related to anime. It began its run in 1978 and is still publishing serialized stories. The magazine started the Anime Grand Prix contest in 1979 and is still continuing it.
5. From Cardcaptor Sakura to Almost Cardcaptor Nikki
It is not uncommon for production companies or dubbing houses to change the name of a character in a series. The Nelvana dub of Cardcaptor changed the surname of Sakura from Kinamoto to Avalon, but that wasn’t the only change they initially planned to make.
Originally, the studio had planned to change Sakura’s name from Sakura Kinamoto to Nikki Avalon. But the attachment to the name Sakura made them drop the plans to do so. Sakura is a name that represents hope and youthfulness in Japan, and the name is so common that one automatically thinks of Japan when he hears the name Sakura.
6. English Dub’s overhaul to attract Male Audience
Censorship is a very common practice, and many shows are censored or changed heavily when they are brought to the West. Anime classics like Dragon Ball Z had the violence toned down a lot, and the references to killing were removed.
For Yu-Gi-Oh!, an entirely new concept of the “shadow realm” was created to avoid the killing and disturbing things happening to characters. These changes are mostly made in order to make the show more kid-friendly for kids in the West.
But for Cardcaptor Sakura, this was not the main case; the changes that were made to the show were super heavy on the plot and characters. The role of Sakura as the protagonist of the story was diminished, while on the other hand, Syaoran, the second lead, had a more prominent role in attracting more boys to the show.
The show never was intended for boys; it was always a story aimed toward young girls, but the Dub made changes to the show in order to attract a male audience. In order to do so, many episodes were removed from the show to hasten the entry of Syaoran, and the magical capabilities and powers of Syaoran were significantly improved as well.
7. Sakura’s Blood Type – ‘A.’
In many promotional materials for the series, it is listed that Sakura’s blood type is A. The naming of blood types for fictional characters is very common in Japan. This is because there is a popular personality theory in Japan that describes or predicts the personality of a person depending on their blood type.
Sakura’s blood type is A, which is seen as earnest and warm. This trait can be truly related to Sakura, as we can see her thoughtful and earnest personality in her tendency to become friends with everyone. Another personality trait linked to people with A-type blood is that they are perfectionists. This aspect can also be seen in Sakura, as she tries her best to do things perfectly in everything she does.
8. Censorship of Immoral Romance in the Anime
The dubbing team for Cardcaptors did not only change the story when it came to the roles of Sakura and Syaoran. They had a lot of work to do, apart from making the anime more attractive to male audiences.
A lot of the content in Cardcaptor Sakura can be considered immoral or socially incorrect for western audiences. In fact, some content from the manga didn’t even end up making it into the anime. The relationship between Terada and Rika is one of those controversial topics. Rika is a young schoolgirl who is shown engaged to her teacher Terada who is much older than her in age.
The two of them are in a romantic relationship (not much sexual), and Rika and Terada are allowed to go on dates and spend time together alone. It’s totally not suited for western audiences and would obviously cause major controversies if it were added to the anime.
The censorship completely removed the romantic angle from the relationship between Terada and Rika. Any type of romantic interaction between the characters was cut from the anime during its dubbing to make it more suitable for western audiences.
9. Is Sakura bi-sexual?
The earliest fans of the series Cardcaptor Sakura surely would remember that Sakura as a character is very weird. The whole series has multiple sexuality themes in it, showing and embracing different sexualities. Touya (Sakura’s brother) and his best friend Yuki have an element of more than friendship in their relationship.
Tomoyo, the best friend of Sakura, also harbors romantic feelings toward her, which can be seen clearly in the later half of the series. As for Sakura, she is only seen to show interest in the opposite gender.
But her warm feelings and fuzzy behavior near her teacher, Mizuki, can make the audience think otherwise. Sakura’s behavior makes you think that she is, at the very least, a bit curious about her sexuality and feelings when it comes to her teacher Mizuki.
10. The Pokémon Cameo/Connection
Cardcaptor Sakura was released in 1998, the same time as the anime boom in the West. The West was getting a taste of anime as a medium for content and entertainment and was liking it quite well. The biggest name at that time was Pokémon; the series was super popular in the West and is arguably the biggest success of the anime world in the West.
Cardcaptor Sakura and Pokémon share many similarities. The monster-catching elements (Pokémon and Clow Cards) of both shows often invited comparisons between the two shows. Many people even addressed Cardcaptor as the Pokémon for girls, but that is nothing but a very vague remark. The show has much more in it than a girl catching monsters.
At the beginning of the seventy-seventh episode of Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, we can see two girls who look very similar to Sakura and Tomoyo. This can be considered an homage paid by the Pokémon series to the Cardcaptor series, though there is no confirmation of it. The two girls were entrants in the Wallace Cup and were seen in the episode for a very brief time.
Also read: Why is Ash leaving Pokémon? The journey of 25 Years Comes To An End!
11. The Voice Actor for Sakura was a Child
The original voice actor for Cardcaptor Sakura’s Japanese version coincidentally shares the Sakura name as well. The voice actor for the Japanese version did an incredible job of hiding the fact that the character she voiced was nowhere near the same age as her.
The Nelvana, or the English Dub, didn’t have to fake it; the voice actor who voiced Sakura in the English Dub (Carly McKillip) was eleven years old when she voiced Sakura. Sakura, who is a nine- or ten-year-old girl herself in the series, received a perfect match for her voice in the eleven-year-old voice artist.
The Dub’s intention of making Sakura more boyish was not seen at the time of making a choice for her voice actor. This was a good decision for the series, as McKillip portrayed Sakura brilliantly.
12. Cardcaptor Drama CD and Music Albums
It’s very common for big cartoon series to receive their own music albums. Cartoons like The Simpsons, The Family Guy, and South Park already have their own music records. The records usually feature music tracks from the shows and original songs performed by the voice actors or the cast.
Music albums from anime are hugely popular in Japan; many series have their own records and albums, which have been very successful as well. These albums often feature audio dramas as well, which are performed by the cast of the respective anime series.
Over the entire course of the series, Cardcaptor Sakura released a lot of CDs and albums that featured tracks from the anime and songs performed by the characters in the anime. The voice actor for the characters performed the songs for the records; there was also an audio drama released where Sakura dreamed of her mother and the interactions she had with her for a brief time in her dream.
13. Romantic Family Relations
It was common for characters in Cardcaptor Sakura to fall in love with their cousins. The characters were mostly under the age of thirteen, so the form of love shown was mostly non-physical. Meiling, who is the cousin of Syaoran, is seen to be in love with his cousin; she also claims to be her fiancé in the series.
We also know that Sonomi (the cousin of Sakura’s mother) was in love with Sakura’s mother and treated her in a romantic way. While this was the case in the original manga or Japanese version of the anime, the English Dub removed all traces of romantic relationships between family members.
14. Different Manga and Anime Endings
The manga and anime versions of Cardcaptor Sakura had different endings. In the manga, after the final battle takes place, a confession of love takes place between Sakura and Syaoran. Syaoran had to return to Hong Kong after this, which complicated the situation, but two years later, we see the both of them reunited after maintaining a long-distance relationship.
The anime changed this ending; the anime ends with Sakura seeing off Syaoran to the airport with the teddy bear he had made for her earlier in the series.
The production house saved the real ending for the Cardcaptor Sakura movie that was scheduled to release after the ending of the anime. The hug between Syaoran and Sakura was actually saved for a piece of bonus artwork that came with the CD or DVD.
15. Tomoyo’s Sacrifice for the English Dub
This is another one of the censorship acts that changed a significant aspect of Cardcaptor Sakura. After making changes to make the anime more appealing to boys and completely removing family-related romance, the censoring hammer fell on Tomoyo and her as a character in the series.
In the manga, Tomoyo, Sakura’s best friend, blatantly admits that she is in love with Sakura. She states that she will be okay with whatever makes Sakura happy, even if it means Sakura ends up with someone else. The English dub version totally removed this aspect of Tomoyo from the character in the anime.
It is a shame as it makes Tomoyo less diverse as a character, but it is also understandable why it needed to be done. The show was meant to be kid-friendly and not promote any weird ideas or scenes that might influence them.
16. The Ability to Create Cards
Sakura’s mission changes from capturing the clown cards to changing them into “Sakura Cards.” This change in mission comes when she collects all the clown cards. The reason to do this was to become the rightful owner of the cards so that they would not be able to wreak havoc on the world anymore. This was a difficult task to accomplish, but Sakura was successful in doing so.
Later on, Sakura’s power grew significantly. The fans who have watched the sequel to Cardcaptor Sakura, Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card, know that later in the series, Sakura was able to not only change the cards but also create new ones all by herself.
17. Is Sakura Solar Powered?
The main source of Sakura’s power as a magical girl is uncertain. We can give the clown cards credit for being the source, as their presence might be the reason for the powers of Sakura. But after she changes the clown cards into Sakura cards and is able to create new cards, the reason becomes more uncertain.
The strongest thing we can get from the series is that Sakura’s powers are derived from the sun itself. We see that Keroberos and Yue, who signify the sun and the moon, are drawn toward Sakura. They even draw power from her, and later on, Sakura also harnesses the “Star Power.”
18. Cardcaptor Sakura and Granblue Fantasy Crossover
Mobile gaming is huge in Japan; it became so huge that, at one point, it posed a threat to the console gaming industry in Japan. The popularity of mobile games is so high in Japan that crossovers of games and anime franchisees are not uncommon. Instead, many animes and games collaborate for crossovers so that both parties can benefit from them.
It is not uncommon for games like Puzzle & Dragons and Genshin Impact to generate millions of dollars each month. The player base in Japan is extremely loyal and invested in the mobile gaming scene. They love crossovers between their favorite games and anime series; this provides the creators with another opportunity to do the crossovers to make their fans happy and earn more profit.
Granblue Fantasy is a game in Japan that is hugely popular in the country, with around ten million users. It gained popularity with the help of several characters from the Final Fantasy series.
There was a crossover in 2017 between Cardcaptor Sakura and Granblue Fantasy, where, during the event, players could play with Sakura and even obtain the character in the game. The response to this crossover was good, and fans of the series and the players were happy that they could play with Sakura in the game even after the event ended.
19. Espeon the Pokémon and Dash the Clow Card
This is a detail that the fans who have watched both Cardcaptor Sakura and Pokémon won’t have missed. There is a clow card called Dash that debuted in the thirtieth episode of Cardcaptor Sakura. It grants the user the ability to move super fast. The card’s manifestation is of a purple-furred fox-like creature with a gemstone attached to its forehead.
The same features can be noticed in a Pokémon in the anime Pokémon Gold and Silver. The Pokémon is called Espeon and is one of the multiple evolutions of Eevee. It is very likely that the design for Espeon was inspired by Dash because the trainer who uses Espeon was one of the kimono sisters, also having the name Sakura.
20. Into the Multiverse
The idea of reincarnation is quite prominent in Cardcaptor Sakura. The creators of the series Clamp have created a multiverse of the world they created in Cardcaptor Sakura. In the series Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, the alternative versions of Syaoran and Sakura are the main characters around whom the story of that series revolves.
But there is more to it; our Sakura from the Cardcaptor universe also crosses over to this parallel universe at one point and finds the alternative version of her and Syaoran. This is interesting to see that a multiverse has been created; there can be endless possibilities with which the creators can go to give us more series that are based on the same concept but with a different taste.
These were 20 facts that you needed to know whether you had watched Cardcaptor Sakura or not. If you haven’t watched it, I am sure this article must have sparked some curiosity inside.
