Episode 22, Finale
Oh, so it is finished now? Right when things seemed to finally start to move beyond the card of the week formulae, time gets reversed because there are not enough cards, and then we get told that it is the last episode. That is, kind of disappointing, especially if there might be nothing else after this, we spent the entire season building up that there could be a point to these cards, and the mysterious transfer student, we start to see that the cards cam be sport of ominous in how strong Sakura might actually be, that Akiho has some strange connection with Sakura's mother, and we just end. To say nothing of Momo, the rabbit mascot thing that spent the majority of its time being an inanimate toy despite its prevalence in the OP or ED, and it is treated as almost a surprise late into the show that Momo is actually alive. I can't say I am angry with any of that, just disappointed.
For what I could say about the show in general, it meant a bit to me in just what it was as a piece of nostalgia. The English dub that I watched as a child, meant quite a bit in an anime I watched that was not Pokémon, having some clear differences, and that I could enjoy something that had some clear feminine aspects to it. To say something was living off of nostalgia, is the sort of thing that is normally nothing like a compliment, and assuredly it is not going to be anything of value to quite a few people. Nostalgia shows anyway have been making comebacks with the likes of Sailor Moon Crystal, and all sorts of shows that would mean nothing to an English speaking kid of the 90s in Australia, but I would argue that CCS has a place separate of the Pokemons, Sailor Moons, Dragaonballs, Yatterman, etc. That sure there is action in this show, I don't think it quite fits as being called a fighting show like the others.
Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card has included bits like they do cooking, go on a date, generally be friends, have fun an make others welcome. I will actually think that Clear Card was best when it focused on these things a lot of the time, instead of the trying to work in the weekly action sequence that one associates with monster/card of the week that this show otherwise fits into. It is kind of why it was worth looking at the Kero's Corner bits after the ending of each episode, where he would talk about a particular costume or something that showed up, we the audience are expected to be a bit like Tomoyo in wanting to check out Sakura's latest costume. There were a couple notable action scenes though, such as the water episode that was a great callback to the one from the original series, that Sakura even commented on, which seemed to get some animator attention for its worth. And another would be the one in Tomoyo's garden, getting to Sakura's iconic ability to fly, but also that it was a card that did not just need to be beaten into submission, which goes into what I remembered of the cards being more than mindless entities.
Anyway, I think that I will land on a rating of Decent (6/10), my instinct says that it felt worth seeing, but I did find my attention waning at times, that it was an easy watch, but not always a compelling one for everything that was happening. I don't know what I could say that might improve it, perhaps things like more nostalgia and less battles for their own sake, could actually make it less balanced and liked by other audiences. It may be that as a mid to late 20 year old man, that I am not really the target audience, and shouldn't feel too out of place. But I also think that especially the last season of Sailor Moon Crystal, actually did a fairly good job to have me feel invested, although at the least Clear Card did not have the very lopsided characterisation issues that plagued most of Crystal.
I would like to see a continuation if possible, maybe if there is enough attention. Maybe they could even do a work to feel more of a build up of tension, that although they were trying to do, I don't think quite landed with how sweet this show otherwise is. That I know they cannot contact their friend and Sakura's power is at risk of being taken, but it is easy to not worry because everything is gonna happy.
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