Cardcaptor Sakura
| Fandom | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Cardcaptor Sakura |
| Abbreviation(s): | CCS |
| Creator: | CLAMP |
| Date(s): | 1996 – 2000 |
| Medium: | manga |
| Country of Origin: | Japan |
| External Links: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Cardcaptor Sakura is a shojo manga series by the artist team CLAMP. Sakura Kinomoto is an ordinary grade school student until she opens a strange book and accidentally releases the ancient, magical Clow cards, and is told by the cards guardian, Cerberus, that she has to recapture all of the cards or something terrible will happen. Sakura pursues the cards with the help of Cerberus, nicknamed "Kero-chan", and her best friend Tomoyo Daidouji. To succeed she must locate and master the cards while competing with Syaoran Li, a descendent of Clow Reed, the wizard who created the cards.
The manga was adapted into an anime series of the same name. There was also a dub called Cardcaptors, though several elements (like references to homosexuality) were removed in order for it to be aimed at a general market. The dub was poorly distributed in the USA, but elsewhere distributed more or less in a proper form. It is presumed the poor distribution is due to Warner's handling of the anime, and then later Disney's handling of the anime when it was shown for the second time in the UK.
The series got a sequel that started serialization in 2016 called Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card. The sequel started right where the original series had ended the story. In 2018, a 22-episode anime series based off the manga was also released.
Fandom
While not a Mega Fandom, Cardcaptor Sakura enjoys a devoted following. The series is considered a staple of shoujo fandom for the balance between light-hearted themes with dark storylines, as well as the beautiful artwork and costume designs.
Ships
Cardcaptor Sakura has a very devoted Girls Love fandom, Tomoyo/Sakura being the juggernaut ship. It helps that Tomoyo's romantic feelings for Sakura are canon and that the cast is still young enough that fans who prefer Tomoyo/Sakura to the canon pair Sakura/Syaoran can set their fics in a projected future, where Sakura and Syaoran part ways. However, the canon ship also has its devoted followers.
Tomoyo is also shipped with Eriol despite the two never having met, and the second movie led to a rise in Tomoyo/Meiling shippers.
LGBTQ+ Representation
Over the years, CLAMP has both been criticized and applauded for the queer representation they have put in their works. Being a work from the 90s, CCS has received a fair amount of backlash, society being even less accepting of diversity then than it is now. [1][2]
Clow Reed could predict anything, but not the Gays and the Bis. [3]
Example Fanworks
Fanfiction
- Breaking the Ice - a fanfic by Tin.
- Icebreakers - an Eriol/Tomoyo story by Suppi No Miko.
- Card Captor Touya - a Touya-centric fanfic by Van Donovan where Touya becomes a Cardcaptor.
Fanart
- Cardcaptor Torika - a fancomic by Clowprincess223 in which Sakura's daughter Torika becomes the Cardcaptor.
- U Must Not Vanish - a Yukito/Touya fancomic by tamoe1
- Yue and Toya + CCS + - a Yue/Touya fanart by sambre
- our dear Sakura by chocolatadafria
- Cardcaptor Sakura - Flower by song jin
- First Time Using Marker | Drawing Cardcaptor Sakura Step by Step by Cocobelly DIY
Cosplay
Card Captor Sakura is reknown for the variety of elaborate costumes displayed through the canon material. Cosplay fans quickly picked up the challenge of recreating and wearing some of their favourites. Cosplaying the cards is also popular, by example as shown in this gallery of secondary CCS characters cosplays. Some fans went so far as to film live-action parodies while in costumes.
- endbattle Sakura costume, made by Neko-Shizu and worn by Gothic-angel
- Queen of Hearts Tomoyo costume, by SAlbi
- Card Captor Sakura Magic, posted by astellecia, showing a group shot of the main characters along with several cards.
Fanvid / AMVs
AMVs have been made with both canon and fannish sources where drawn fanarts, manips, and scans of the manga or artbooks are then displayed in a slide-show manner. A mix of animated and still images has sometimes been used for showing characters with less screening time or ships with fewer interactions, as is the case in It's what you do . . . , an Eriol/Syaoran fanvid by jadehaku7. AMVs of CCS are often described by the creators as tributes to specific couples. The arrival of the Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle (TRC) manga and anime, which has several characters in common with CSS, brought new material for AMVs. This sometimes resulted in a CSS and TRC mix of sources in videos.
- CCS: A Meilin Tribute - My happy ending, a Meilin POV by punkgirl1891.
- Wake us up!, a Sakura and Yue tribute showcasting the similarities between the characters in the last season, by Kabuto Yakushi.
- Rest in Pieces, an exploration of Yue's character by Arigatomina. The creator describes it as
This is mostly a profile of Yue/Yukito, but it also serves as something of a tribute to Clow's memory - this was made to look like a brief view of how Yue finally puts Clow behind him in favor of his new life as Yukito.
Fancrafts
- Making daidouji tomoyo/Cardcaptor Sakura/clay tutorial by SHINANDA_CLAY
- Cardcaptor Sakura sketchbook - Japanese Bookbinding - Art Timelapse - Lets Create Mistakes by create mistakes
Zines
- LetsMagicalCooking, 2023. A multifandom magical girl cookbook zine.
- Magical Meeting Zine, 2019. A multifandom art zine.
Archives
- Card Captor Sakura and Card Captor Sakura crossovers on FanFiction.net
- Card Captor Sakura fanworks on AO3
- Card Captor Fanart on theotaku.com
- MoonlitNights - a multifandom fic archive including femslash Cardcaptor Sakura stories
Communities
- Card Captor Sakura Mailing List
- ccsyaoi mailing list
References
- ^ Davidson, D. G. D.. Why I Hate ‘Cardcaptor Sakura’ (and you can, seven!), posted May 23, 2017]
- ^ Queer coded characters in Cardcaptor Sakura, Tumblr, posted October 5, 2021.
- ^ Tumblr post by eyeofthebrainstorm, posted June 27, 2020.