Lily reviewed Cardcaptor Sakura, Book 1 by CLAMP
None
3 stars
Sakura Kinomoto discovers an intriguing book in her father’s library—a book made by the wizard Clow for storing dangerous spirits intertwined with magical cards. As Sakura opens the book, there is nothing but Kero-chan, the book’s cute little guardian beast … Kero-chan tells Sakura it is now her job to capture the escaped Clow cards!
From my perspective, the plot left something to be desired.
This book felt very episodic because it was mostly Sakura battling the newest Clow Card. By half-way through, she had already found all the cards, and she spent the next quarter converting them all to Sakura cards. It felt excessively prolonged, and I wanted her to resolve everything.
The number of things I completely missed as a kid or that were completely glossed over in anime surprised me. Also, CLAMP is a big fan of taboo relationships. It is clear in the manga that Tomoyo’s …
Sakura Kinomoto discovers an intriguing book in her father’s library—a book made by the wizard Clow for storing dangerous spirits intertwined with magical cards. As Sakura opens the book, there is nothing but Kero-chan, the book’s cute little guardian beast … Kero-chan tells Sakura it is now her job to capture the escaped Clow cards!
From my perspective, the plot left something to be desired.
This book felt very episodic because it was mostly Sakura battling the newest Clow Card. By half-way through, she had already found all the cards, and she spent the next quarter converting them all to Sakura cards. It felt excessively prolonged, and I wanted her to resolve everything.
The number of things I completely missed as a kid or that were completely glossed over in anime surprised me. Also, CLAMP is a big fan of taboo relationships. It is clear in the manga that Tomoyo’s mother, Sonomi, had feelings for Sakura’s mother, Nadeshiko, and that they were cousins. Toya had an ex-girlfriend who was a student teacher at his middle school. Also, there are many relationships between underage characters and adults. The most obvious one is Sakura’s friend and classmate, Rika. She is engaged to their homeroom teacher.
There are also Sakura’s parents, who married when she was 16 and he was a student teacher at her high school. As well as Kaho Mizuki, who loves Eriol. Despite being the reincarnation of Clow Reed, he is still an elementary school student. His physical form could at least have reflected that. Last but not least is Sakura and Syaoran’s crush on Yukito, who is a high school student. Also, I will let it slide since Yukito does not reciprocate their feelings.
The artwork in Clamp manga is gorgeous, and the omnibus edition contains a lot of gorgeous color artwork.
My overall impression is that this series has not always aged well. While it is marketed to kids, it contains some questionable content. After reading it again, I am surprised because I did not enjoy it as much as I expected. I hope this does not become a trend as I read more of CLAMP’s manga.