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Cardcaptors

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For the information on the original version of anime as well as original manga, see Cardcaptor Sakura.

Cardcaptors is the title of the English adaptation produced by Nelvana of the Japanese anime series Cardcaptor Sakura. It first aired in 2000. The series has aired in the United States as well as the United Kingdom and Australia. [1]

Plot synopsis

After a young girl (Sakura Avalon) accidentally releases a series of magical cards encased within an ancient book, she finds her life flipped, turned upside down as she attempts to recapture all of the cards before they can destroy the world.

Whether sometimes rivals or allies, Sakura and her rival Li aim to recapture all the Clow Cards before they wreak havoc upon the world.

Characters

Note: Links currently redirect to articles about the characters' Japanese counterparts. Specific information regarding the Cardcaptors characterization is slowly being added.

Plot Differences

Cardcaptor Sakura Cardcaptors
Character Relationships
  • Tomoyo is infatuated with Sakura, although Sakura is mostly oblivious to the depth of Tomoyo's love.
  • Yukito and Toya share a close relationship, hinting towards a serious one at the series' end.
  • Syaoran is attracted to Yukito throughout the first season.
  • Toya dated Sakura's teacher Kaho Mizuki (Layla Mackenzie) when she was a student teacher at his Junior High School.
  • Nadeshiko and Sonomi are cousins and Sakura and Tomoyo are second cousins.
  • Syaoran and Meiling are cousins and are engaged to each other.
  • Rika has a crush on her teacher Yoshiyuki Terada, and he appears to reciprocate those feelings.
  • A love relationship between Chiharu and Takashi Yamazaki is strongly hinted
 Many relationships and romances, especially non-heterosexual romance, are erased.
  • Madison is still a good friend to Sakura, but the infatuation is erased. They are also not acknowledged as cousins.
  • The relationship between Tori and Ms. MacKenzie is more mysterious, but it is clear they have met before. It hints that their magic has caused them to meet up in the past.
  • Li and Meilin are no longer related. Meilin Rae, as she was renamed, is still engaged to Li.
  • Rita's crush is not acknowledged. The situations regarding Rita's crush are redepicted as Rita being somewhat afraid of Mr. Terada.
  • Li and Sakura's relationship is not completely edited out, but was edited slightly. Instead it just shows the transition from rivalry to friendship, though there are very small hints that their relationship is still there.
  • Chelsea and Zachary are cousins, to give reason to the fact that she repeatedly strangles him.
  • In the original, Li is attracted to Julian. In the dub, he is at first terrified of Julian's forever-happy personality but eventually just sees him as a friend. The continuous scenes of his love towards Julian are changed to rivalry scenes against Sakura, or just embarrassment.
Episodes There are 70 episodes and two movies. Throughout the first season, a "Kero-chan ni Omakase" segment airs after the end of each episode. Episode previews follow every episode also. The U.S. adaptation began airing episodes at Episode 8, skipping or editing Sakura-centered ones to ensure Li would be a co-leading character (so to appeal to male audiences). According to networks, 60% of the audience is male. Various Clow Cards were previewed, but these scenes proved to create plot holes. Other English-speaking countries started at Episode 1 and showed 68-70 episodes.
Location The series takes place in Tomoeda, Japan. The Li family resides in Hong Kong. Sakura has frequent dreams that take place on or around Tokyo Tower. Kaho Mizuki apparently left to study in England The series takes place in Reedington, though it doesn't refer to where. Sakura refers to Tokyo Tower as the Radio Tower. Li and Meilin's hometowns are still Hong Kong.
Music The original score was composed by Takayuki Negishi. The opening theme (for season one) was "Catch You Catch Me." The original score was changed and composed by Dave Doré. The opening theme was changed to a title-style song, "Cardcaptors." Any and all insert songs were replaced. No closing themes were presented in order to allow advertising windows. In some variants of the dub, (like in Australia), dubbed versions of some of the original songs have been used as openings and closings.
Names Characters contain common Japanese/Chinese names. "Sakura" is pronounced with a Japanese pitch accent, with the accent on "sa". The transformed cards in season three are called Sakura Cards. All given names except Sakura's and Meiling's were changed to Western-styled names and Yoshiyuki Terada was just known as Mr. Terada. The pronunciation of Sakura's name was changed to sa-KU-ra (heavy emphasis on the middle syllable), which is how many English-speakers would likely pronounce it. Li's name was flipped around from Syaoran Li to Li Showron, and his cousin, Meiling Li's name was changed to Meilin Rae in order to remove any blood relation between the two. The Sakura Cards became Star Cards. Incantations were also changed.

Notable Changes

TV Series

Although Nelvana adapted all 70 episodes of Cardcaptor Sakura, half were omitted from broadcast in the United States, for content unsuitable for children or otherwise noted. Romantic subtext between several characters (I.E; Sakura/Madison, Tori/Jullian, Mr. Terada/Rita, among some of the few) were removed in order to retain platonic and heterosexual relationships, as the subject matter was not suitable for children, the series main target audience. The first episode of the dub ("Sakura's Rival") was Cardcaptor Sakura's Eighth Episode.

Cardcaptors first aired in the United States in June 23d, 2000, on Kids' WB during its Saturday morning block and ran for 58 episodes shortly before being canceled. Cartoon Network also carried the series during the afternoon Toonami block beginning on June 4, 2001, during the merge between Kids WB and Cartoon Network. Half of the first season was aired only once before the series was removed from the lineup.

In other English-speaking countries (i.e. Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom), Cardcaptors ran in a more complete form, with all 70 episodes being shown in its original order, though still an edited form due to culture and political differences, in some cases keeping the English opening and closing themes in favor of Japanese versions of the original themes. Australia and India received the original titles in their distributions, with dubbed versions of at least 4 of the 6 title/credit songs. They started the show in January 2000 before canceling it in Canada around July 2000. On November 14th, 2000, Cardcaptors was released on both VHS and DVD. However, by July 9, 2002, the series cancelled after the ninth volume (the beginning of the second arc) on both VHS and DVD formats. (The original Cardcaptor Sakura series has been released by Pioneer, uncut, featuring all 70 episodes on 18 discs.) As it stands, none of the Cardcaptors episodes are available in any form of Bootleg or VCD.

Films

Both versions of the Cardcaptor Sakura films have also been dubbed into English, both by The Ocean Group, with only one, Cardcaptors - The Movie, featuring the original Cardcaptors dub and storyline produced by Nelvana. The dubbing for second film, Cardcaptor Sakura - The Sealed Card, was produced by Bang Zoom Entertainment. The second movie did not adhere to any censorship standards that were attached to Nevlana's original dub. All of the original names and much of the original dialogue were retained.

Merchandising

In addition to its negative reviews, Cardcaptors merchandise was not widely received as certain parents were concerned that, as the Clow Cards vaguely resembled tarot cards, the series could be seen as promoting witchcraft or the occult. The concern was so great that, when Cardcaptors toys were released at Taco Bell during a promotion in 2002, two of the four (Sakura's "tarot-like" Clow Book, and Li's Lasin Board) toys were pulled within a week of release due to articles published by Christian groups. [citation needed] There is also the SWORD Card, which is a suit in tarot cards (i.e. the ace of swords, the king of swords, etc.). Clow Books were also available in stores such as Blockbuster as well as Sakura Dolls.

Episodes

The last Cardcaptors episode to air on Kids' WB was "Revelations Part 2" on December 28, 2001. The series was never officially cancelled, but was never mentioned again. (Note: There was a special running after the general cancellation that showed up to Episode 70 a few weeks later. This was during the weekday showing time)

A more complete version appeared on Canadian network Teletoon. The last time it aired was during Summer 2003, ending its run with "Revelations, Part 2", the last episode of the 2nd season.

Season 1

# Episode Title # Episode Title
1 One Fateful Day 24 No Problem Too Small
2 Partners In Crime 25 Double Take
3 Allies 26 No Way Out
4 An Unexpected Find 27 Return To The Future
5 Trouble At Twin Bells 28 Buyer Beware
6 Seeing Is Believing 29 How Sweet It Is
7 The Mysterious Painting 30 The Race
8 Sakura's Rival 31 Dragon Slayer
9 Double Edged Sword 32 The Switch
10 An Unexpected Reunion 33 Ice Breaker
11 The Special Box 34 By the Light of the Full Moon
12 Time And Again 35 The Third Element
13 Power's Ploy 36 Stormy Weather
14 Play Misty For Tori 37 The Show Must Go On
15 Kero and Sakura's Big Fight 38 A Berry Strange Day
16 The Summer House 39 Under the Weather
17 The Cave 40 Dream a Little Dream
18 A Fair To Remember 41 The Sands of Time
19 Nothing To Report 42 A Strange Intermission
20 The New Rival 43 Meilin's Story
21 The Long Marathon 44 The Last Card Part 1
22 No Time For Sleep 45 The Last Card Part 2
23 Practice Makes Perfect 46 The Final Judgment
  • The 2nd season, which occurs after the events of the 1st movie, was amalgamated as part of the 1st season in the North American release. The events of the 3rd season are referred to as the 2nd season.

Season 2

# Episode Title # Episode Title
47 The New Transfer Student 59 Trapped
48 Unlocking the Key 60 Just Like Old Times
49 The Dangerous Piano 61 A Present for the Cards
50 The Threads That Bind 62 Sakura's Strange Fortune
51 Attack of the Teddy Bear 63 A Wave of Danger
52 Trouble at the Park 64 A Slippery Slope
53 Running Out of Time 65 The Vanishing Act
54 Calendar of Memories 66 When Stars Fall
55 Sakura in Wonderland 67 The Calm Before the Storm
56 Spinning Out of Control 68 Sakura's Return to the Past
57 Li's Calling 69 Revelations Part 1
58 Double Trouble 70 Revelations Part 2

References

  1. ^ Poitras, Gilles (2001). Anime Essentials: Every Thing a Fan Needs to Know. Stone Bridge Press. p. 27. ISBN 1-880656-53-1.

Official sites

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