Cardcaptor Sakura
Card Captor Sakura / Cardcaptors
Magical Girl
Fantasy
Adventure
Romance
Comedy
Details & Synopsis
Sakura Kinomoto is an ordinary fourth-grade student until she opens a mysterious book in her father's library and accidentally releases the magical Clow Cards across Tomoeda. The book's guardian, Cerberus, awakens in the form of a tiny winged creature Sakura quickly calls Kero and gives her an impossible responsibility: find the cards before their powers cause real harm.
Sakura's search begins with escaped magic appearing inside otherwise ordinary childhood experiences. A school trip can become a battle with living water, a sports day can disappear beneath a storm of flower petals, and a quiet visit with friends can expose another card hiding in plain sight. Tomoyo Daidouji becomes Sakura's closest confidante, costume designer, and enthusiastic camerawoman, while transfer student Syaoran Li arrives from Hong Kong convinced that Sakura has no business controlling magic created by Clow Reed.
What starts as a card-catching adventure gradually becomes a story about Sakura growing into power she never asked for. The mystery surrounding Kaho Mizuki, Yukito, and the second guardian Yue pushes Sakura toward the Final Judgment and forces her to prove that kindness is not a weakness. After the Clow Cards finally recognize her as their master, a new transfer student named Eriol Hiiragizawa brings another wave of magical incidents and Sakura discovers that possessing the cards is not the same thing as making their power truly her own.
Cardcaptor Sakura aired on NHK BS2 from 1998 to 2000 and became one of the defining magical-girl anime of its era. Western audiences encountered it in dramatically different forms. Nelvana's Cardcaptors dub was edited, reordered, and reframed for television, while Pioneer also released the original Japanese series uncut with English subtitles on VHS and DVD. For a generation of fans, the contrast between those releases became part of the experience of discovering what anime localization could change.
Sakura's search begins with escaped magic appearing inside otherwise ordinary childhood experiences. A school trip can become a battle with living water, a sports day can disappear beneath a storm of flower petals, and a quiet visit with friends can expose another card hiding in plain sight. Tomoyo Daidouji becomes Sakura's closest confidante, costume designer, and enthusiastic camerawoman, while transfer student Syaoran Li arrives from Hong Kong convinced that Sakura has no business controlling magic created by Clow Reed.
What starts as a card-catching adventure gradually becomes a story about Sakura growing into power she never asked for. The mystery surrounding Kaho Mizuki, Yukito, and the second guardian Yue pushes Sakura toward the Final Judgment and forces her to prove that kindness is not a weakness. After the Clow Cards finally recognize her as their master, a new transfer student named Eriol Hiiragizawa brings another wave of magical incidents and Sakura discovers that possessing the cards is not the same thing as making their power truly her own.
Cardcaptor Sakura aired on NHK BS2 from 1998 to 2000 and became one of the defining magical-girl anime of its era. Western audiences encountered it in dramatically different forms. Nelvana's Cardcaptors dub was edited, reordered, and reframed for television, while Pioneer also released the original Japanese series uncut with English subtitles on VHS and DVD. For a generation of fans, the contrast between those releases became part of the experience of discovering what anime localization could change.
Alt Title
Card Captor Sakura / Cardcaptors
Studio
Madhouse
Network
NHK BS2
Aired
1998 - 2000
Episodes
70
Genre
Magical Girl, Fantasy, Adventure, Romance, Comedy
Status
Completed
Guides and reference pages for this series. More coming.
