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150-573: Cardcaptor Sakura ( Japanese : カードキャプターさくら , Hepburn : Kādokyaputā Sakura ) , abbreviated as CCS , is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by the manga group Clamp . Serialized monthly in the shōjo manga magazine Nakayoshi from the June 1996 to August 2000 issues, it was also published in 12 tankōbon volumes by Kodansha between November 1996 and July 2000. The story centers on Sakura Kinomoto , an elementary school student who discovers magical powers after accidentally freeing

300-510: A 70-episode anime television series by Madhouse that aired on Japan's satellite television channel NHK BS2 from April 1998 to March 2000. Additional media include two anime films, video games , art books , picture books , and film comics . Tokyopop released the manga in English in North America from March 2000 to August 2003. After Tokyopop's license expired, Dark Horse Manga released

450-452: A T-shirt was released on August 22, 2001. Ten volumes of a film comic sharing the same name as the manga and anime series were published from August 1998 to November 2000 covering the first two anime seasons, though some episodes were skipped. Three more were published under the subtitle, Sakura Card-hen from March 2001 to February 2002 covering up to episode 59, though again some episodes were skipped. Four picture books were released for

600-624: A benefit from the in-group to the out-group) means "[I/we] explained [it] to [him/her/them]". Such beneficiary auxiliary verbs thus serve a function comparable to that of pronouns and prepositions in Indo-European languages to indicate the actor and the recipient of an action. Japanese "pronouns" also function differently from most modern Indo-European pronouns (and more like nouns) in that they can take modifiers as any other noun may. For instance, one does not say in English: The amazed he ran down

750-414: A distinct language of its own that has absorbed various aspects from neighboring languages. Japanese has five vowels, and vowel length is phonemic, with each having both a short and a long version. Elongated vowels are usually denoted with a line over the vowel (a macron ) in rōmaji , a repeated vowel character in hiragana , or a chōonpu succeeding the vowel in katakana . /u/ ( listen )

900-419: A glide /j/ and either the first part of a geminate consonant ( っ / ッ , represented as Q) or a moraic nasal in the coda ( ん / ン , represented as N). The nasal is sensitive to its phonetic environment and assimilates to the following phoneme, with pronunciations including [ɴ, m, n, ɲ, ŋ, ɰ̃] . Onset-glide clusters only occur at the start of syllables but clusters across syllables are allowed as long as

1050-426: A good Japanese name," with the dubbing being "one of the worst if not the worst dubbing done for a program." He also criticized the editing, saying that it had "demolished the plot" and noting that it cut out vital character backgrounds needed in order to understand the show. Adam Arnold of Animefringe , reviewing the first Cardcaptors DVD, said it was "nothing more than an attempt to dilute a fan favorite anime," with

1200-429: A listener depending on the listener's relative social position and the degree of familiarity between the speaker and the listener. When used in different social relationships, the same word may have positive (intimate or respectful) or negative (distant or disrespectful) connotations. Japanese often use titles of the person referred to where pronouns would be used in English. For example, when speaking to one's teacher, it

1350-519: A male audience who it was perceived would not want to watch an anime with a female lead. Clear Card begins with Syaoran having returned from Hong Kong and staying in Japan. When Sakura loses her cards, Syaoran again helps her to recover them. Two alternative versions of Syaoran, commonly referred to as the clone Syaoran and the original Syaoran , appear in Clamp's later work Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle ,

1500-416: A point to not use roses. Clamp wanted to incorporate transformation scenes into Cardcaptor Sakura , but because many magical girl manga have the girls wearing the same outfit, they wanted Sakura to wear different costumes. They felt that "it's pretty sad for a girl to wear the same outfit all the time." Cardcaptor Sakura began as a manga series written and illustrated by the manga artist group Clamp . It

1650-422: A promise to return. Two years later, Syaoran moves back to Tomoeda permanently. The plot of the anime series is extended, featuring 52 Clow Cards from the manga's original 19, and certain scenes are stretched and delayed, such as Cerberus' true form not being revealed until just before Yue's appearance. Sakura creates a 53rd card, Hope, a talent she is not shown to have in the manga. Some of the circumstances around

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1800-459: A review by Lisa Anderson of Manga Life, the subplots in the series related to the interactions between characters were noted to be of special interest. Anderson praised how the manga, while at the onset begins with a costumed Sakura chasing after a Clow Card, takes a "rather big leap in another direction" when focusing on the characters. The manga is further lauded for its depth. Anime News Network (ANN) reviewer Robert Nguyen felt Cardcaptor Sakura

1950-498: A romantic way. The central theme of Cardcaptor Sakura is love and human relationships. Throughout the series, many forms of love are showcased, including "sibling love, childhood crushes, unrequited love, [and] true love." At times, Clamp even ignores the Clow Cards for several chapters to focus more on the relationships of Sakura and those around her. Each of these relationships are presented nonjudgmentally and without commentary on

2100-408: A sentence need not be stated and pronouns may be omitted if they can be inferred from context. In the example above, hana ga nagai would mean "[their] noses are long", while nagai by itself would mean "[they] are long." A single verb can be a complete sentence: Yatta! ( やった! ) "[I / we / they / etc] did [it]!". In addition, since adjectives can form the predicate in a Japanese sentence (below),

2250-414: A series which features multiple versions of past Clamp characters in different worlds. Although Syaoran Li does not appear in the manga, he is mentioned by the clone Syaoran who states that a mage who shares his same identity provides him vase to seal the two clones for determined time to face their creator, the wizard Fei-Wang Reed . Syaoran has been a popular character. In the 1999 Animage Grand Prix ,

2400-509: A set of magical cards into the world; she must retrieve the cards to prevent catastrophe. Each of these cards grants different magical powers, and can only be activated by someone with inherent magical abilities. A sequel by Clamp, Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card , focusing on Sakura in junior high school, was serialized in Nakayoshi from the July 2016 to January 2024 issues. The manga was adapted into

2550-536: A short drama track. A character song album titled Cardcaptor Sakura Character Songbook was released in January 1999 containing tracks from the previously released character song singles as well as new tracks sung by the various voice actors. An album titled Tomoeda Elementary Choir Club Christmas Concert , released in December 1999, contains seven tracks by a children's choir, including five where they are joined by Junko Iwao,

2700-428: A single adjective can be a complete sentence: Urayamashii! ( 羨ましい! ) "[I'm] jealous [about it]!". While the language has some words that are typically translated as pronouns, these are not used as frequently as pronouns in some Indo-European languages, and function differently. In some cases, Japanese relies on special verb forms and auxiliary verbs to indicate the direction of benefit of an action: "down" to indicate

2850-526: A story that is "brimming with warmth and joy and wonder" and is "much more than the sum of its parts." The manga is cited as being cute by critics, and in some cases too cute; however, Anderson stated that "much like Magic Knight Rayearth , even a cute story will have its depth and drama." The artwork of the manga is praised for being detailed and having "beautifully drawn pictures of the Clow Cards themselves." The cards are described as having "an artful blend of magical fantasy and reality." The anime adaptation

3000-463: A weak awkward friend to Sakura as he is unable to confess her feelings towards her to the point being a comic relief. In an episode involving a play, Syaoran crossdresses, something the Western audience would not understand by that time of writing the book. DVDTalk said that Syaoran's characterization changes across the narrative due to how he is initially presented as a rival but later is more supporting to

3150-675: Is compressed rather than protruded , or simply unrounded. Some Japanese consonants have several allophones , which may give the impression of a larger inventory of sounds. However, some of these allophones have since become phonemic. For example, in the Japanese language up to and including the first half of the 20th century, the phonemic sequence /ti/ was palatalized and realized phonetically as [tɕi] , approximately chi ( listen ) ; however, now [ti] and [tɕi] are distinct, as evidenced by words like tī [tiː] "Western-style tea" and chii [tɕii] "social status". The "r" of

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3300-421: Is topic–comment . Sentence-final particles are used to add emotional or emphatic impact, or form questions. Nouns have no grammatical number or gender , and there are no articles . Verbs are conjugated , primarily for tense and voice , but not person . Japanese adjectives are also conjugated. Japanese has a complex system of honorifics , with verb forms and vocabulary to indicate the relative status of

3450-445: Is also seen in o-medetō "congratulations", from medetaku ). Late Middle Japanese has the first loanwords from European languages – now-common words borrowed into Japanese in this period include pan ("bread") and tabako ("tobacco", now "cigarette"), both from Portuguese . Modern Japanese is considered to begin with the Edo period (which spanned from 1603 to 1867). Since Old Japanese,

3600-488: Is also the true form of Yukito Tsukishiro, Toya's best friend whom Sakura has a crush on. Aided by her school teacher Kaho Mizuki, Sakura passes the test and becomes the new master of the Clow Cards. Afterwards, Eriol Hiiragizawa, a transfer student from England and later confirmed as the reincarnation of Clow Reed, arrives in Tomoeda and begins causing disturbances with two guardian-like creatures, Spinel Sun and Ruby Moon. Sakura

3750-519: Is also used in a limited fashion (such as for imported acronyms) in Japanese writing. The numeral system uses mostly Arabic numerals , but also traditional Chinese numerals . Proto-Japonic , the common ancestor of the Japanese and Ryukyuan languages , is thought to have been brought to Japan by settlers coming from the Korean peninsula sometime in the early- to mid-4th century BC (the Yayoi period ), replacing

3900-464: Is an "atypical shōjo " manga, which puts an "emphasis on the emotions of the character." In Manga: The Complete Guide , Mason Templar states that the series is not "just one of the best kids' manga in translation, it's one of the very best manga available in English, period." He praises Clamp for their creativity and shrewd business sense, in being able to create a series that "clearly has merchandising in line" and an "utterly forgettable premise" into

4050-440: Is appropriate to use sensei ( 先生 , "teacher"), but inappropriate to use anata . This is because anata is used to refer to people of equal or lower status, and one's teacher has higher status. Japanese nouns have no grammatical number, gender or article aspect. The noun hon ( 本 ) may refer to a single book or several books; hito ( 人 ) can mean "person" or "people", and ki ( 木 ) can be "tree" or "trees". Where number

4200-684: Is associated with comedy (see Kansai dialect ). Dialects of Tōhoku and North Kantō are associated with typical farmers. The Ryūkyūan languages, spoken in Okinawa and the Amami Islands (administratively part of Kagoshima ), are distinct enough to be considered a separate branch of the Japonic family; not only is each language unintelligible to Japanese speakers, but most are unintelligible to those who speak other Ryūkyūan languages. However, in contrast to linguists, many ordinary Japanese people tend to consider

4350-462: Is better documentation of Late Middle Japanese phonology than for previous forms (for instance, the Arte da Lingoa de Iapam ). Among other sound changes, the sequence /au/ merges to /ɔː/ , in contrast with /oː/ ; /p/ is reintroduced from Chinese; and /we/ merges with /je/ . Some forms rather more familiar to Modern Japanese speakers begin to appear – the continuative ending - te begins to reduce onto

4500-562: Is capable of using magic and tries to force Sakura to hand over the Clow Cards to him, but fails. Over time, Syaoran comes to accept Sakura as the collector of the cards, and as the story progresses the two fall in love. Syaoran is also at first drawn to Yukito Tsukishiro , but this was because he was drawn to Yukito's own magic power. The series ends with Syaoran returning to Hong Kong, but before he departs he and Sakura are able to express their love for each other. Sakura and Syaoran are reunited two years later, with Syaoran staying in Japan. In

4650-509: Is correlated with the sex of the speaker and the social situation in which they are spoken: men and women alike in a formal situation generally refer to themselves as watashi ( 私 , literally "private") or watakushi (also 私 , hyper-polite form), while men in rougher or intimate conversation are much more likely to use the word ore ( 俺 "oneself", "myself") or boku . Similarly, different words such as anata , kimi , and omae ( お前 , more formally 御前 "the one before me") may refer to

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4800-417: Is important, it can be indicated by providing a quantity (often with a counter word ) or (rarely) by adding a suffix, or sometimes by duplication (e.g. 人人 , hitobito , usually written with an iteration mark as 人々 ). Words for people are usually understood as singular. Thus Tanaka-san usually means Mx Tanaka . Words that refer to people and animals can be made to indicate a group of individuals through

4950-722: Is less common. In terms of mutual intelligibility , a survey in 1967 found that the four most unintelligible dialects (excluding Ryūkyūan languages and Tōhoku dialects ) to students from Greater Tokyo were the Kiso dialect (in the deep mountains of Nagano Prefecture ), the Himi dialect (in Toyama Prefecture ), the Kagoshima dialect and the Maniwa dialect (in Okayama Prefecture ). The survey

5100-831: Is licensed for additional regional language releases by Pika Édition in France, Star Comics in Italy, Egmont Manga & Anime in Germany, Editora JBC in Brazil, Ever Glory Publishing in Taiwan, Ediciones Glénat in Spain, Editorial Ivrea in Argentina, and Editorial Toukan and later Editorial Kamite in Mexico. A 70-episode anime television series adaptation produced by the animation studio Madhouse aired in Japan on

5250-420: Is often called a topic-prominent language , which means it has a strong tendency to indicate the topic separately from the subject, and that the two do not always coincide. The sentence Zō wa hana ga nagai ( 象は鼻が長い ) literally means, "As for elephant(s), (the) nose(s) (is/are) long". The topic is zō "elephant", and the subject is hana "nose". Japanese grammar tends toward brevity; the subject or object of

5400-489: Is preserved in words such as matsuge ("eyelash", lit. "hair of the eye"); modern mieru ("to be visible") and kikoeru ("to be audible") retain a mediopassive suffix - yu(ru) ( kikoyu → kikoyuru (the attributive form, which slowly replaced the plain form starting in the late Heian period) → kikoeru (all verbs with the shimo-nidan conjugation pattern underwent this same shift in Early Modern Japanese )); and

5550-469: Is rude towards Sakura for both having the same goal. Both also develop feelings towards Yukito but Syaoran's attraction is said to be a cause of his magic being affected by Yukito's alterego, Yue. Similarly, Syaoran realizes his math teacher Kaho Mizuki has magic and thus tells Sakura to be distant towards her. As time passes in the narrative, Syaoran becomes interested in Sakura taking a more caring personality in

5700-522: Is suddenly unable to use the Clow Cards and transforms her wand, beginning the process of evolving the cards into Sakura Cards as Eriol causes strange occurrences that forces her to use and thus transform certain cards. Once all the cards have been transformed, Eriol tells Sakura that he aided her in converting the cards so they would not lose their magic powers. Syaoran later confesses his love to Sakura, who comes to realize she also loves him. Cardcaptor Sakura concludes with Syaoran returning to Hong Kong with

5850-402: Is the version of Japanese discussed in this article. Formerly, standard Japanese in writing ( 文語 , bungo , "literary language") was different from colloquial language ( 口語 , kōgo ) . The two systems have different rules of grammar and some variance in vocabulary. Bungo was the main method of writing Japanese until about 1900; since then kōgo gradually extended its influence and

6000-417: Is unaware of what is going on. Syaoran Li , a boy of Sakura's age and a descendant of Clow Reed, arrives from Hong Kong to recapture the cards himself. While initially antagonistic, he comes to respect Sakura and begins aiding her in capturing the cards. Once Sakura captures all of the cards, she is tested by Yue, the cards' second guardian, to determine if she is worthy of becoming the cards' true master; Yue

6150-471: Is used for the present and the future. For verbs that represent an ongoing process, the -te iru form indicates a continuous (or progressive) aspect , similar to the suffix ing in English. For others that represent a change of state, the -te iru form indicates a perfect aspect. For example, kite iru means "They have come (and are still here)", but tabete iru means "They are eating". Questions (both with an interrogative pronoun and yes/no questions) have

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6300-405: Is why some linguists do not classify Japanese "pronouns" as pronouns, but rather as referential nouns, much like Spanish usted (contracted from vuestra merced , "your ( majestic plural ) grace") or Portuguese você (from vossa mercê ). Japanese personal pronouns are generally used only in situations requiring special emphasis as to who is doing what to whom. The choice of words used as pronouns

6450-555: The Ainu , Austronesian , Koreanic , and the now-discredited Altaic , but none of these proposals have gained any widespread acceptance. Little is known of the language's prehistory, or when it first appeared in Japan. Chinese documents from the 3rd century AD recorded a few Japanese words, but substantial Old Japanese texts did not appear until the 8th century. From the Heian period (794–1185), extensive waves of Sino-Japanese vocabulary entered

6600-503: The Animage Grand Prix award for Best Anime in 1999. The American edit of Cardcaptors , however, was criticized for removing elements essential to the plot. Cardcaptor Sakura takes place in the fictional town of Tomoeda, which is located somewhere near the Japanese capital of Tokyo . Ten-year-old Sakura Kinomoto accidentally releases a set of magical cards known as Clow Cards from a book in her basement created by and named after

6750-505: The Japonic language family, which also includes the Ryukyuan languages spoken in the Ryukyu Islands . As these closely related languages are commonly treated as dialects of the same language, Japanese is sometimes called a language isolate . According to Martine Irma Robbeets , Japanese has been subject to more attempts to show its relation to other languages than any other language in

6900-567: The Japonic language family spoken by the Japanese people . It has around 123 million speakers, primarily in Japan , the only country where it is the national language , and within the Japanese diaspora worldwide. The Japonic family also includes the Ryukyuan languages and the variously classified Hachijō language . There have been many attempts to group the Japonic languages with other families such as

7050-485: The NHK television network spread over three seasons. The first season, consisting of 35 episodes, aired between April 7 and December 29, 1998. The second season, with 11 episodes, aired between April 6 and June 22, 1999. The third season, containing 24 episodes, aired between September 7, 1999 and March 21, 2000. Directed by Morio Asaka , Clamp was fully involved in the project, with head writer Nanase Ohkawa writing and composing

7200-504: The Philippines , and various Pacific islands, locals in those countries learned Japanese as the language of the empire. As a result, many elderly people in these countries can still speak Japanese. Japanese emigrant communities (the largest of which are to be found in Brazil , with 1.4 million to 1.5 million Japanese immigrants and descendants, according to Brazilian IBGE data, more than

7350-716: The United States (notably in Hawaii , where 16.7% of the population has Japanese ancestry, and California ), and the Philippines (particularly in Davao Region and the Province of Laguna ). Japanese has no official status in Japan, but is the de facto national language of the country. There is a form of the language considered standard : hyōjungo ( 標準語 ) , meaning "standard Japanese", or kyōtsūgo ( 共通語 ) , "common language", or even "Tokyo dialect" at times. The meanings of

7500-794: The de facto standard Japanese had been the Kansai dialect , especially that of Kyoto . However, during the Edo period, Edo (now Tokyo) developed into the largest city in Japan, and the Edo-area dialect became standard Japanese. Since the end of Japan's self-imposed isolation in 1853, the flow of loanwords from European languages has increased significantly. The period since 1945 has seen many words borrowed from other languages—such as German, Portuguese and English. Many English loan words especially relate to technology—for example, pasokon (short for "personal computer"), intānetto ("internet"), and kamera ("camera"). Due to

7650-434: The "melotic drama" relationship between Syaoran and Sakura as the main focus of the narrative as the fantasy elements from the main work were less prominent. Mania Entertainment enjoyed how Syaoran and Sakura's relationship is developed in the film as their friends support them to confess their feelings. In regards to his role Clear Card , THEM Anime Reviews described him as "blunt but deep down very nice" and laments to how

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7800-454: The "only voices that really shine above the rest." In January 2002, the restaurant chain Taco Bell began a month-long promotion in which four Cardcaptors toys were available in their kids' meals and the company expected to distribute up to 7 million of the toys during the month. The "conservative Christian political orientation" American Family Association complained about the promotion as

7950-518: The 1.2 million of the United States ) sometimes employ Japanese as their primary language. Approximately 12% of Hawaii residents speak Japanese, with an estimated 12.6% of the population of Japanese ancestry in 2008. Japanese emigrants can also be found in Peru , Argentina , Australia (especially in the eastern states), Canada (especially in Vancouver , where 1.4% of the population has Japanese ancestry),

8100-560: The Clow . Madman Entertainment used Tokyopop's English translation to release the series in Australia and New Zealand. Dark Horse Manga published an English edition of the series in four omnibus volumes containing three of the original volumes each from October 2010 and September 2012. After Dark Horse Comics' license expired, Kodansha Comics licensed it and began releasing the series in hardcover Collector's Edition volumes in 2019. The manga series

8250-474: The Clow Cards but found it more surprising how he additionally becomes her rival also in terms of affection as both characters are attracted by the same teenager, Yukito. When Syaoran becomes attracted to Sakura, the writer instead noted that Syaoran acted less than a bully towards to her and instead awkward to the point he blushes often. Similarly, the writers from The Japanification of Children's Popular Culture: From Godzilla to Miyazaki said that Syaoran becomes

8400-482: The Japanese language is of particular interest, ranging between an apical central tap and a lateral approximant . The "g" is also notable; unless it starts a sentence, it may be pronounced [ ŋ ] , in the Kanto prestige dialect and in other eastern dialects. The phonotactics of Japanese are relatively simple. The syllable structure is (C)(G)V(C), that is, a core vowel surrounded by an optional onset consonant,

8550-724: The Old Japanese sections are written in Man'yōgana , which uses kanji for their phonetic as well as semantic values. Based on the Man'yōgana system, Old Japanese can be reconstructed as having 88 distinct morae . Texts written with Man'yōgana use two different sets of kanji for each of the morae now pronounced き (ki), ひ (hi), み (mi), け (ke), へ (he), め (me), こ (ko), そ (so), と (to), の (no), も (mo), よ (yo) and ろ (ro). (The Kojiki has 88, but all later texts have 87. The distinction between mo 1 and mo 2 apparently

8700-599: The Pioneer subtitles, and a 16-page collector's booklet. It does not use the Cardcaptors dub, but the dub aired on Animax Asia. From November 2022 to January 2024, the Animax Asia dub of the series streamed on ITV Hub, along with its successor, ITVX . Madhouse produced two, 82-minute anime films as an extension to the anime television series. The first, Cardcaptor Sakura: The Movie , was released on August 21, 1999. Set between

8850-488: The Ryūkyūan languages as dialects of Japanese. The imperial court also seems to have spoken an unusual variant of the Japanese of the time, most likely the spoken form of Classical Japanese , a writing style that was prevalent during the Heian period , but began to decline during the late Meiji period . The Ryūkyūan languages are classified by UNESCO as 'endangered', as young people mostly use Japanese and cannot understand

9000-566: The TV series from September 1998 to November 2000. Four sticker books were released for the TV series from August 1999 to March 2004. Between February and July 2018, three Cardcaptor Sakura -themed cafés opened in Tokyo , Osaka and Sapporo . The restaurants featured decorations of artwork from the series, and served menu items connected to Cardcaptor Sakura characters or items. The manga has over 17 million copies in print by April 2018. Cardcaptor Sakura

9150-543: The addition of a collective suffix (a noun suffix that indicates a group), such as -tachi , but this is not a true plural: the meaning is closer to the English phrase "and company". A group described as Tanaka-san-tachi may include people not named Tanaka. Some Japanese nouns are effectively plural, such as hitobito "people" and wareware "we/us", while the word tomodachi "friend" is considered singular, although plural in form. Verbs are conjugated to show tenses, of which there are two: past and present (or non-past) which

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9300-592: The albums and singles for Cardcaptor Sakura . For Western releases, there is an original soundtrack for Cardcaptors titled Cardcaptors: Songs from the Hit TV Series that was released in September 2001 by Rhino Entertainment . Ten video games have been produced based on the series and released on a variety of video game and handheld consoles . They feature various genres, such as adventure and role-playing video games . Kodansha published three art books for

9450-477: The anime (including films, audio CDs, and video games), Syaoran is voiced by Motoko Kumai . Kumai said that even though Syaoran grows up for the sequel Clear Card , she still wanted to properly portray him despite their different genders and thus would change the tone she uses when voicing him. In the Nelvana Cardcaptors version of the series, Sayoran was voiced by Rhys Huber for the "Clow Card" arc of

9600-474: The anime is lauded for containing "elements that can be enjoyed by anyone, regardless of age or gender, providing they are open-minded enough." In 2001, the anime ranked 46th on Wizard's Anime Magazine ' s "Top 50 Anime released in North America" ranking. Cat Dennis of Screen Rant praised Sakura for maintaining a "conventionally feminine persona" rather than adopting male characteristics, with her power stemming from her outfits, heart, and love, meaning that

9750-445: The anime version of the series, Syaoran (called "Brat" by Kero, who also refers to Meiling as such) also has a cousin, Meiling Li . Meiling says she is engaged to be married to Syaoran, but as the series progresses she comes to realise that he will be with Sakura. When the series was first dubbed in English as Cardcaptors , Syaoran was renamed Li Showron, and the show re-written to make him the joint lead with Sakura, partly up to attract

9900-507: The audience due to how she fits her role regardless of how time passed between the two Cardcaptor Sakura series and how Syaoran developed. Editor Kiichiro Sugawara commented that when Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle started, most of his colleagues kept mentioning the series was interesting for having an alternate version of Sakura Kinomoto as he found that the original Syaoran was not popular within Cardcaptor Sakura . Because Syaoran Li

10050-402: The bilingual editions after the series was licensed in English for distribution in North America by Tokyopop . In addition to the regular 50 chapters of the manga series, Clamp also wrote and drew two special chapters that were released in Japan as part of two volumes of a collection of artbooks titled Cardcaptor Sakura: Illustrated Collection . The first special chapter, which was published in

10200-511: The capturing of the cards is changed, such as Syaoran capturing several cards himself and being tested by Yue in the Final Judgment. Syaoran's cousin and fiancée Meiling Li is introduced in the anime, who positions herself as a jealous and romantic rival for Sakura and later becomes a friend until she returns to Hong Kong. The television series leaves the relationship between Sakura and Syaoran unresolved, but Sakura confesses her love to Syaoran at

10350-409: The character took the third place in the category of best male character, and second in 2000. In the June 2018 issue of Newtype magazine, Syaoran was No. 1 in the monthly poll of "Top 10 Male Characters", with Sakura being No. 1 in the "Top 10 Female Characters" poll at the same time. When first introduced, Anime News Network described Syaoran as a "jerk" for how he competes against Sakura to get

10500-479: The character, however, was noted to make him more mature and appealing. The character's design was used for the two main characters of Clamp's manga Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle who share the same name: the dimension traveller Syaoran and the young sorcerer Syaoran who replaces him in the second half. According to the Clamp no Kiseki interviews, Syaoran was created before Cardcaptor Sakura debuted, with him being

10650-500: The characters, she had the three artists in Clamp— Mokona , Tsubaki Nekoi and Satsuki Igarashi —design them based on her descriptions. When designing Cerberus, Ohkawa wanted a mascot-type companion for Sakura, but Nekoi tried various forms, including dogs and squirrels, before designing the final version. Syaoran and Toya were conceived to be a common type of character featured in Clamp's works. Various other titles were suggested for

10800-508: The correctness of the relationships. In particular, the romantic relationship between elementary student Rika Sasaki and her teacher Yoshiyuki Terada is presented in such a way that it can be seen as a sweet and innocent tale of "wish fulfillment", or if examined more seriously, as a mildly disturbing story of pedophilic love. The artists, especially Mokona, were told by Ohkawa to use thin lines and to try to express things through curved lines as opposed to straight lines. The style of artwork

10950-530: The dub. Pioneer Entertainment released the first 27 US Cardcaptors episodes to nine VHS and DVD compilation volumes from November 2000 to July 2002; a planned tenth volume was cancelled in June 2002. They also released the unedited Cardcaptor Sakura series with the original Japanese audio tracks and English subtitles, to 18 DVDs from November 2000 to November 2003; the first 11 volumes were also released in VHS. The Cardcaptor Sakura TV series DVDs went out-of-print at

11100-466: The dubbed voices described as "not up-to-par with the originals." The ordering of the episodes on the DVD was also criticized, noting that starting with episode eight meant that the cast are "left without their backgrounds fleshed out." However, he also approved of the episode stories being left intact, and praised the voices of Carly McKillip as Sakura Avalon and Rhys Huber as Syaoran Li, stating that they were

11250-564: The effect of changing Japanese into a mora-timed language. Late Middle Japanese covers the years from 1185 to 1600, and is normally divided into two sections, roughly equivalent to the Kamakura period and the Muromachi period , respectively. The later forms of Late Middle Japanese are the first to be described by non-native sources, in this case the Jesuit and Franciscan missionaries; and thus there

11400-480: The eighth episode of the series, having removed episodes focusing on Sakura and to have the show start with Syaoran's arrival. The series ran for 39 episodes, changing the original episode order but finishing with the show's actual final episode. Rather than using the English versions of the original opening and ending themes like in Australia, the North American runs of the series used a new opening theme produced for

11550-467: The emphasis of Syaoran's and Sakura's feelings were made due to the young demography of the manga. Once Syaoran confesses his love towards Sakura, the series places emphasis on the fact that Sakura is interested in him. Syaoran first appears in Chapter 6 of the manga (Volume 2 of the standard tankobon collections). He is a transfer student to Sakura Kinomoto's class, arriving from Hong Kong. He, like Sakura,

11700-493: The end of 2006 when the license expired. NIS America has licensed the Cardcaptor Sakura TV series and re-released the entire series with Japanese and an unedited English audio track ( Animax Asia 's dub) on DVD and Blu-ray on August 5, 2014. Madman Entertainment licensed the original Cardcaptor Sakura episodes in its uncut form with Japanese audio and English subtitles in Australia and New Zealand, and later released

11850-509: The end of the second anime film . Cardcaptor Sakura was first conceived shortly before the conclusion of Clamp's Magic Knight Rayearth , which was serialized in Nakayoshi . Clamp's head editor Yamonouchi asked them to do another series in Nakayoshi , and Clamp decided to make a " Nakayoshi -esque" series, as opposed to Rayearth , which Clamp described as unlike anything they had done before. Head Clamp writer Nanase Ohkawa 's first impulse

12000-514: The ending themes for its films include "Tōi Kono Machi de" by Naomi Kaitani in August 1999 for the first film, and "Ashita e no Melody" by Chaka in July 2000 for the second film. The theme song for its short film Leave It To Kero! shown with the second film, "Okashi no Uta", was released in July 2000. Six character song singles sung by the voice actors of Sakura, Toya, Cerberus, Tomoyo, Yukito and Syaoran released in June 1998; each single also contained

12150-455: The first and second seasons of the TV series, the film shows Sakura and her friends going to Hong Kong, where they encounter a vengeful spirit who was hurt by Clow Reed in the past. It was released to VHS, LD and DVD in Japan by Bandai Visual in February 2000. Nelvana released an English dubbed version of the film, retaining the same name and story changes as its main Cardcaptors dub, although it

12300-407: The first six volumes with the book "flipped" from the original Japanese orientation, in which the book is read from right-to-left, to the Western format with text oriented from left-to-right. These volumes were later re-released with the original orientation in two box sets, each containing three volumes. Volumes seven through twelve were released in the original orientation with the subtitle Master of

12450-422: The first volume, focuses on Toya and Sakura’s relationship, with Toya caring for her while she has a cold. The second special chapter, which focuses on Sakura's (at that time unrealized) love for Syaoran, has a similar premise, but with Syaoran catching a cold and Sakura caring for him while he is unwell. Tokyopop released the volumes of Cardcaptor Sakura from March 2000 to August 2003. Tokyopop initially released

12600-455: The flow of loanwords from European languages increased significantly, and words from English roots have proliferated. Japanese is an agglutinative , mora -timed language with relatively simple phonotactics , a pure vowel system, phonemic vowel and consonant length, and a lexically significant pitch-accent . Word order is normally subject–object–verb with particles marking the grammatical function of words, and sentence structure

12750-421: The full run, the version aired on American television was heavily edited into 39 episodes. Cardcaptors also aired on Cartoon Network ( Toonami ), Teletoon , Nickelodeon , Network Ten , and RTÉ2 . The TV series and films were sub-licensed by Geneon , which released them unedited with English subtitles. The TV series was also released by Madman Entertainment in Australia and New Zealand. Cardcaptor Sakura

12900-609: The genitive particle ga remains in intentionally archaic speech. Early Middle Japanese is the Japanese of the Heian period , from 794 to 1185. It formed the basis for the literary standard of Classical Japanese , which remained in common use until the early 20th century. During this time, Japanese underwent numerous phonological developments, in many cases instigated by an influx of Chinese loanwords . These included phonemic length distinction for both consonants and vowels , palatal consonants (e.g. kya ) and labial consonant clusters (e.g. kwa ), and closed syllables . This had

13050-430: The language, affecting the phonology of Early Middle Japanese . Late Middle Japanese (1185–1600) saw extensive grammatical changes and the first appearance of European loanwords . The basis of the standard dialect moved from the Kansai region to the Edo region (modern Tokyo ) in the Early Modern Japanese period (early 17th century–mid 19th century). Following the end of Japan's self-imposed isolation in 1853,

13200-453: The languages of the original Jōmon inhabitants, including the ancestor of the modern Ainu language . Because writing had yet to be introduced from China, there is no direct evidence, and anything that can be discerned about this period must be based on internal reconstruction from Old Japanese , or comparison with the Ryukyuan languages and Japanese dialects . The Chinese writing system

13350-449: The languages. Okinawan Japanese is a variant of Standard Japanese influenced by the Ryūkyūan languages, and is the primary dialect spoken among young people in the Ryukyu Islands . Modern Japanese has become prevalent nationwide (including the Ryūkyū islands) due to education , mass media , and an increase in mobility within Japan, as well as economic integration. Japanese is a member of

13500-427: The large quantity of English loanwords, modern Japanese has developed a distinction between [tɕi] and [ti] , and [dʑi] and [di] , with the latter in each pair only found in loanwords. Although Japanese is spoken almost exclusively in Japan, it has also been spoken outside of the country. Before and during World War II , through Japanese annexation of Taiwan and Korea , as well as partial occupation of China ,

13650-403: The manga series and three art books from for the anime television series featuring art by character designer Kumiko Takahashi. The three books for the manga titled Cardcaptor Sakura Illustration Collection were released from July 1998 to December 2000. The three for the TV series titled Cheerio! were released from April 1999 to September 2000. A set of the 52 Clow Cards featured in the TV series

13800-425: The only strict rule of word order is that the verb must be placed at the end of a sentence (possibly followed by sentence-end particles). This is because Japanese sentence elements are marked with particles that identify their grammatical functions. The basic sentence structure is topic–comment . For example, Kochira wa Tanaka-san desu ( こちらは田中さんです ). kochira ("this") is the topic of the sentence, indicated by

13950-399: The organization felt the Clow Cards in the series were too similar to tarot cards and Eastern mythology. However, the organization's complaints did not begin until the promotion was already scheduled to end, so it is unclear whether the complaints had any actual effect. Japanese language Japanese ( 日本語 , Nihongo , [ɲihoŋɡo] ) is the principal language of

14100-456: The original character names and the content unedited and uncut. The films as released by Pioneer (later renamed Geneon) remained in print in North America until late 2007. A bonus short film titled Leave it to Kero! was played with the theatrical screening of the second film. As a preview to the anime series, Kodansha released a tankōbon -sized CD volume titled CD Comic Cardcaptor Sakura in August 1997 containing two character songs sung by

14250-470: The out-group gives a benefit to the in-group, and "up" to indicate the in-group gives a benefit to the out-group. Here, the in-group includes the speaker and the out-group does not, and their boundary depends on context. For example, oshiete moratta ( 教えてもらった ) (literally, "explaining got" with a benefit from the out-group to the in-group) means "[he/she/they] explained [it] to [me/us]". Similarly, oshiete ageta ( 教えてあげた ) (literally, "explaining gave" with

14400-415: The particle wa . The verb desu is a copula , commonly translated as "to be" or "it is" (though there are other verbs that can be translated as "to be"), though technically it holds no meaning and is used to give a sentence 'politeness'. As a phrase, Tanaka-san desu is the comment. This sentence literally translates to "As for this person, (it) is Mx Tanaka." Thus Japanese, like many other Asian languages,

14550-455: The person she loves, Syaoran comforts her by denying such possibility and gives her his handkerchief to stop her tears. Syaoran's popularity within the demography suddenly increased due to his kindness aimed towards the main character. Ohkawa compared Syaoran to that of a strong prince in order to describe his charm to the point male readers also related with him due to their mutual feelings towards Sakura. For all Japanese-language productions of

14700-552: The process as well as mentor whenever she is concerned. Syaoran is charmed by her, causing to constantly blush whenever she talks to him. A big revelation of his affection towards her happens when Syaoran uses her name for the first time as he has a tendency to avoid using people's names. Syaoran constantly wonders whether his feelings towards Sakura and Yukito are true as which changes when Yue notes that his attraction with other types of magic caused his crush on Yukito which serves as an early coming-of-age. Writer Kiyoshi Saiga says that

14850-477: The proposed larger Altaic family, or to various Southeast Asian languages , especially Austronesian . None of these proposals have gained wide acceptance (and the Altaic family itself is now considered controversial). As it stands, only the link to Ryukyuan has wide support. Other theories view the Japanese language as an early creole language formed through inputs from at least two distinct language groups, or as

15000-425: The protagonist. In regards to the Western edited version of the series, THEM Anime Reviews panned the edited version of Syaoran as he comes across as "a bully and unkind idiot unlike the kind and caring one from the original." Adam Arnold of Animefringe, praised Rhys Huber 's work as Syaoran, stating he was one of the few "only voices that really shine above the rest." For the second film, Animefringe regarded as

15150-459: The same structure as affirmative sentences, but with intonation rising at the end. In the formal register, the question particle -ka is added. For example, ii desu ( いいです ) "It is OK" becomes ii desu-ka ( いいですか。 ) "Is it OK?". In a more informal tone sometimes the particle -no ( の ) is added instead to show a personal interest of the speaker: Dōshite konai-no? "Why aren't (you) coming?". Some simple queries are formed simply by mentioning

15300-425: The same type of love Sakura had towards him. In regards to how Syaoran and Sakura ended together, Ohkawa was glad the readers' response were together and claimed it was not because of their age or gender. In general, Clamp found that Syaoran ended up as an attractive character that could be their younger brother due to his independency mostly as pointed out by Mokona and Nekoi. When Sakura believes she will never find

15450-446: The screenplay and Mokona overseeing the costumes and card designs. The series was later released by Bandai Visual to 18 VHS , LD and DVD compilation volumes from September 1998 to May 2000. Two Blu-ray Disc box set volumes were released by Geneon in 2009. An upgraded 4K remaster was released in December 2017 as an 11-disc set in both DVD and Blu-ray Disc box sets. Nelvana licensed Cardcaptor Sakura in North America, dubbed

15600-437: The script for the chapter which reveals Tomoyo loves Sakura. The story was planned to have the theme of "if you try your best, it'll work out", but Ohkawa did not start out with Sakura's "It'll definitely be okay" mindset. Ohkawa addressed the relationships featured in the series by using Tomoyo and Sakura as an example. She explained that the reason Tomoyo and Sakura did not end up together was because Sakura did not love Tomoyo in

15750-655: The second film's soundtrack in August 2000. Nine singles were released; six for its television series and three for its films. Opening themes include "Catch You Catch Me" by Gumi in April 1998, "Tobira o Akete" by Anza in April 1999, and " Platinum " by Maaya Sakamoto in October 1999. Ending themes included "Groovy!" by Kohmi Hirose in September 1998, "Honey" by Chihiro in May 1999, and "Fruits Candy" by Megumi Kojima in November 1999. Two of

15900-407: The series "the best magical girl show ever produced." The animation was described as being "incredibly fluid" with the character designs "maintain[ing] a consistent and impressive level of detail, even during action scenes." The series has been described as formulaic, but this is not said to detract from the show's enjoyment. While Cardcaptor Sakura is normally intended for an audience of young girls,

16050-491: The series downplays the development of his relationship with Sakura despite both having become closer. The Fandom Post enjoyed how comical became relationship between the Syaoran and Sakura as, despite now being an official couple and going on dates, still get disapproval by Sakura's brother in the same mannerism as in the first series where Toya kept staring down at Syaoran. Anime News Network also commented on their date as it gives

16200-503: The series had a "sophisticated design sense" that allowed the series to transcend its target audience of young children and be enjoyable to older viewers as well. Fellow contributor Takashi Oshiguichi found the character Sakura to be appealing and praised the series art work. He felt that while it was "very calculated" to attract male readers, the series was attractive to fans due to Clamp's "unique entertainment style" that incorporates "perfectly time[d] appearances of "fascinating villains" and

16350-528: The series in omnibus editions from October 2010 to September 2012. The anime was dubbed in English by Hong Kong 's Omni Productions, and was aired in Southeast Asia and South Asia on the channel Animax Asia . Nelvana licensed the TV series and first film for North America under the English title Cardcaptors , which first aired on Kids' WB from June 2000 to December 2001. All 70 episodes were dubbed; while other English-speaking territories received

16500-413: The series in two DVD box collections, one consisting of season one and the other consisting of seasons two and three. Each DVD box set contained the textless openings and endings of the series; the second DVD box set also contained an exclusive interview with Sakura Tange , Sakura Kinomoto's Japanese voice actress. The first DVD box collection was released in September 2012, and the second DVD box collection

16650-414: The series into English with Ocean Studios featuring Carly McKillip as Sakura, and released it under the name Cardcaptors . This version was heavily edited from the original Japanese version, and Nelvana spent roughly $ 100,000 on each episode to incorporate new music, scripts, and vocal tracks. The initial version of the dub covered all 70 episodes, although character names were changed, some Japanese text

16800-407: The series such as Cardcaster Sakura and Card Character Sakura before Nekoi suggested Cardcaptor Sakura . While Ohkawa planned out Cardcaptor Sakura from beginning to end, she never consulted the plot with the other members, instead giving them the script one chapter at a time. Mokona initially drew Tomoyo so it would look like she was in love with Toya, which led to her surprise when she received

16950-539: The series was produced by Omni Productions in Hong Kong to air on Animax Asia and it has been shown entirely unedited and uncut making it very faithfully closer to the original Japanese version, which it broadcast on its English-language networks in Southeast Asia and South Asia . Cardcaptors first aired in the United States on Kids' WB between June 17, 2000 and December 14, 2001. The version that aired on Kids' WB

17100-402: The show "explores the complexities of love, both platonic and romantic." Hannah Collins of The Mary Sue called the series an anime "filled with genuine warmth, tenderness, and a strong, underlying message of acceptance,". The Nelvana version of the Cardcaptors dub was panned by critics. Jake Godek of THEM Anime Reviews called it "the worst thing that has ever happened to anime that had

17250-702: The sorcerer Clow Reed. Each card has its own unique ability and can assume an alternate form when activated. The guardian of the cards, Cerberus (nicknamed Kero), emerges from the book and explains that only a person with magical powers could open the seal of the book, revealing that Sakura can do magic. Kero chooses Sakura to retrieve the missing cards. As she finds each card, she battles its magical personification and defeats it by sealing it away. Cerberus acts as her guide, while her best friend and second cousin, Tomoyo Daidouji films her exploits and provides her with both battle costumes and moral support. Sakura's older brother Toya Kinomoto watches over her, while pretending that he

17400-543: The sound effects were replaced when they could not be separated into separate tracks, although the original opening and ending themes were dubbed into English. This version aired in Australia on Network Ten and Cartoon Network , in Ireland on RTÉ2 , in the UK on CITV and Fox Kids , and in Canada on Teletoon (which also aired the episodes with a French dub). An alternative English dub of

17550-439: The speaker, the listener, and persons mentioned. The Japanese writing system combines Chinese characters , known as kanji ( 漢字 , ' Han characters') , with two unique syllabaries (or moraic scripts) derived by the Japanese from the more complex Chinese characters: hiragana ( ひらがな or 平仮名 , 'simple characters') and katakana ( カタカナ or 片仮名 , 'partial characters'). Latin script ( rōmaji ローマ字 )

17700-797: The state as at the time the constitution was written, many of the elders participating in the process had been educated in Japanese during the South Seas Mandate over the island shown by the 1958 census of the Trust Territory of the Pacific that found that 89% of Palauans born between 1914 and 1933 could speak and read Japanese, but as of the 2005 Palau census there were no residents of Angaur that spoke Japanese at home. Japanese dialects typically differ in terms of pitch accent , inflectional morphology , vocabulary , and particle usage. Some even differ in vowel and consonant inventories, although this

17850-476: The story and the first film ; by Jordan Kilik for the "Sakura Card" arc; and Mona Marshall for the second film, The Sealed Card . In a later dub by Animax, Syaoran was voiced by Candice Moore. In Clear Card , he is voiced by Jason Liebrecht , having previously voiced two different versions of the same character in Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle . Syaoran is introduced as a distant child who

18000-476: The street. (grammatically incorrect insertion of a pronoun) But one can grammatically say essentially the same thing in Japanese: 驚いた彼は道を走っていった。 Transliteration: Odoroita kare wa michi o hashitte itta. (grammatically correct) This is partly because these words evolved from regular nouns, such as kimi "you" ( 君 "lord"), anata "you" ( あなた "that side, yonder"), and boku "I" ( 僕 "servant"). This

18150-424: The third character created, behind Sakura and Tomoyo Daidouji . While the character comes from Hong Kong , he was originally going to be Japanese. Syaoran and Toya were conceived to be a common type of character featured in Clamp's works of acting cold but are instead charming. Ohkawa was careful when writing Syaoran's characterization in the early chapters due to how he felt attracted towards Yukito but did not have

18300-461: The title Complete Book were released for the TV series and films. The first two for the TV series were labeled Clow Card-hen ( クロウカード編 , Clow Card Arc ) and Sakura Card-hen ( さくらカード編 , Sakura Card Arc ) and were released in July 1999 and June 2000, respectively. The latter two for the films were released in October 1999 and October 2000, respectively. A poster box containing several posters and

18450-540: The topic with an interrogative intonation to call for the hearer's attention: Kore wa? "(What about) this?"; O-namae wa? ( お名前は？ ) "(What's your) name?". Negatives are formed by inflecting the verb. For example, Pan o taberu ( パンを食べる。 ) "I will eat bread" or "I eat bread" becomes Pan o tabenai ( パンを食べない。 ) "I will not eat bread" or "I do not eat bread". Plain negative forms are i -adjectives (see below) and inflect as such, e.g. Pan o tabenakatta ( パンを食べなかった。 ) "I did not eat bread". Syaoran Li Syaoran

18600-505: The two characters a sense of maturity despite Syaoran hiding information from his girlfriend, something that the series does not properly explore. A review for Anime UK News of Clear Card praised the depiction of Syaoran as being detached from Sakura's main group of friends, but criticized Jason Liebrecht 's performance, saying Syaoran, "sounds like a right wimp and his tone of voice lacks the stoic confidence that his Japanese counterpart has." Motoko Kumai 's performance as Syaoran attracted

18750-419: The two consonants are the moraic nasal followed by a homorganic consonant. Japanese also includes a pitch accent , which is not represented in moraic writing; for example [haꜜ.ɕi] ("chopsticks") and [ha.ɕiꜜ] ("bridge") are both spelled はし ( hashi ) , and are only differentiated by the tone contour. Japanese word order is classified as subject–object–verb . Unlike many Indo-European languages ,

18900-577: The two methods were both used in writing until the 1940s. Bungo still has some relevance for historians, literary scholars, and lawyers (many Japanese laws that survived World War II are still written in bungo , although there are ongoing efforts to modernize their language). Kōgo is the dominant method of both speaking and writing Japanese today, although bungo grammar and vocabulary are occasionally used in modern Japanese for effect. The 1982 state constitution of Angaur , Palau , names Japanese along with Palauan and English as an official language of

19050-472: The two terms (''hyōjungo'' and ''kyōtsūgo'') are almost the same. Hyōjungo or kyōtsūgo is a conception that forms the counterpart of dialect. This normative language was born after the Meiji Restoration ( 明治維新 , meiji ishin , 1868) from the language spoken in the higher-class areas of Tokyo (see Yamanote ). Hyōjungo is taught in schools and used on television and in official communications. It

19200-521: The unusual element of having the main character change costume for every capture. The magazine's Winnie Chow felt the series' animation was "far above average for a TV series", and compliments Sakura's magic-casting scenes for being nearly unique due to the regular costume changes. Zac Bertschy of ANN praised Cardcaptor Sakura for taking an "incredibly stale and repetitive" magical girl genre and "providing something fun, clever, beautifully animated, touching and exciting all at once;" Bertschy goes on to call

19350-407: The verb (e.g. yonde for earlier yomite ), the -k- in the final mora of adjectives drops out ( shiroi for earlier shiroki ); and some forms exist where modern standard Japanese has retained the earlier form (e.g. hayaku > hayau > hayɔɔ , where modern Japanese just has hayaku , though the alternative form is preserved in the standard greeting o-hayō gozaimasu "good morning"; this ending

19500-410: The voice actors of Sakura and Tomoyo and drama tracks. Two drama CDs were released for the series. The first, Sakura to Okaa-san no Organ , was released in July 1998 featuring a script written by Clamp author Nanase Ohkawa . It depicts Sakura having a dream about her mother playing an organ and choosing to write about her the following day for a school project. The second CD, Sweet Valentine Stories ,

19650-416: The voice actress for Tomoyo. A four-CD compilation set, Complete Vocal Collection , was released in February 2001 compiling the series' theme songs, tracks from the character song singles, remixes of previously released songs, and new music. An album containing music from the entire series and films titled Cardcaptor Sakura Theme Song Collection was released in December 2001. Victor Entertainment released

19800-548: The world. Since Japanese first gained the consideration of linguists in the late 19th century, attempts have been made to show its genealogical relation to languages or language families such as Ainu , Korean , Chinese , Tibeto-Burman , Uralic , Altaic (or Ural-Altaic ), Austroasiatic , Austronesian and Dravidian . At the fringe, some linguists have even suggested a link to Indo-European languages , including Greek , or to Sumerian . Main modern theories try to link Japanese either to northern Asian languages, like Korean or

19950-498: Was an alternate version of the Nelvana dub that was heavily edited even further with episodes re-ordered and some left out completely. The editing to the original Nelvana dub was done to refocus the series to be more action oriented for the appeal of male viewers, as they were seen as the largest audience of animation at the time. The first episode aired in Kids' WB's version was "Sakura's Rival",

20100-535: Was based on 12- to 20-second-long recordings of 135 to 244 phonemes , which 42 students listened to and translated word-for-word. The listeners were all Keio University students who grew up in the Kanto region . There are some language islands in mountain villages or isolated islands such as Hachijō-jima island , whose dialects are descended from Eastern Old Japanese . Dialects of the Kansai region are spoken or known by many Japanese, and Osaka dialect in particular

20250-426: Was changed to English, and subjects considered controversial at the time, such as same-sex relationships , were edited out. One of the censored themes was that of homosexual characters, including Tomoyo, who was changed from having a crush to being just a friend, and the gay relationship between Toya and Yukito, which was also portrayed as just friends. The musical score was completely replaced with new music and some of

20400-423: Was created by Clamp as a common archetype of silent but caring male character often depicted in their works. However, Syaoran's traits and relationship with Sakura was noted to be positive within the demography of the manga's magazine. Reception to the character was originally quite mixed with criticisms primarily directed at his initial role and alterations during the localization process. The further development of

20550-494: Was critically well received. Critics praised the manga for its creativity and described it as a quintessential shōjo manga, as well as a critical work for manga in general. The manga series was awarded the Seiun Award for Best Manga in 2001. The television series was praised for transcending its target audience of young children and being enjoyable to older viewers, and for its artwork, humor, characterization, and animation; it won

20700-498: Was decided at the beginning to unify the world view of Cardcaptor Sakura . Ohkawa wanted the series to have a "soft, cute-like" feel, so she asked the artists to not use a lot of ink and to make the pages light. For the multitude of flower imagery used in the manga, Nekoi looked through various books to find appropriate flowers, and tried to avoid using the same flower more than once in one chapter. Igarashi remarked that they "never had to draw so many flowers for one series," but they made

20850-566: Was dubbed with no visual edits and was released in cut and uncut versions. As with the TV series, Pioneer Entertainment also released the film with the original Japanese audio and English subtitles, and also released a bilingual DVD containing both audio tracks. Both the edited and unedited versions were released on VHS and DVD in March 2002. Discotek Media released the first film on Blu-ray Disc and DVD on September 30, 2014, in North America. The second film, Cardcaptor Sakura Movie 2: The Sealed Card ,

21000-718: Was imported to Japan from Baekje around the start of the fifth century, alongside Buddhism. The earliest texts were written in Classical Chinese , although some of these were likely intended to be read as Japanese using the kanbun method, and show influences of Japanese grammar such as Japanese word order. The earliest text, the Kojiki , dates to the early eighth century, and was written entirely in Chinese characters, which are used to represent, at different times, Chinese, kanbun , and Old Japanese. As in other texts from this period,

21150-465: Was lost immediately following its composition.) This set of morae shrank to 67 in Early Middle Japanese , though some were added through Chinese influence. Man'yōgana also has a symbol for /je/ , which merges with /e/ before the end of the period. Several fossilizations of Old Japanese grammatical elements remain in the modern language – the genitive particle tsu (superseded by modern no )

21300-431: Was popular with Japanese readers, ranking among the top five sellers during its release. The manga series was awarded the Seiun Award for Best Manga in 2001. Shaenon Garrity of The Comics Journal described the series as a quintessential shōjo manga, which is praised for its mature direction in the second half. Cardcaptor Sakura has been described as a "critical work" of manga by Christopher Butcher of Comics212. In

21450-490: Was popular with viewers in Japan, despite having a timeslot that normally has low viewership. The Cardcaptor Sakura anime adaptation won the Animage Grand Prix award for best anime in 1999. In May 2000, volumes 8 and 17 of the anime LD release were among the top selling titles, with volume 17 being in first place. The 18th DVD volume was the eighth best selling anime DVD in Japan in June 2000. Animerica contributor Kevin Lew felt

21600-481: Was released in August 1999 and a Clow Card Fortune Book , which contains information on how to use the Clow Card replica set as tarot cards, was released in March 2000. A fan book for the manga titled Cardcaptor Sakura Memorial Book was published on February 27, 2001, containing various illustrations from the series, as well as information on branded merchandise based on the series and interviews. Four fan books under

21750-433: Was released in February 1999 and depicts a single day in the life of the girls in Sakura's class, including Sakura herself. Four original soundtrack CD albums were released for the anime television series from July 1998 to March 2000. The soundtracks included instrumental background music and the vocal theme songs. Two soundtracks were produced for the films: the first film's soundtrack was released in August 1999, followed by

21900-572: Was released in Japan on July 15, 2000. It provided a conclusion to the TV series, in which Syaoran returns to Tokyo in hopes of getting Sakura's answer to his love confession, but her own confession is interrupted by the appearance of a 53rd Clow Card. It was released to LD (as a limited edition) and DVD in January 2001, and to VHS in July 2001. It was released in North America to DVD by Pioneer in November 2003 and featured an English dub by Bang Zoom! Entertainment instead of Nelvana and Ocean Studios, now with Kari Wahlgren as Sakura, and this time retaining

22050-469: Was released in November 2012. Anime Limited licensed Cardcaptor Sakura in its original, uncut form in the United Kingdom and Ireland, and made the first season of the series available on Channel 4 via All 4 . Pre-orders for a Blu-ray release of the series became available in December 2021. The collection includes all 70 episodes across 10 discs, uses the 2017 remaster of the series in 4K resolution,

22200-520: Was serialized in the monthly shōjo (aimed at young girls) manga magazine Nakayoshi from the June 1996 to August 2000 issues. The individual chapters were collected and published in 12 tankōbon volumes by Kodansha from November 1996 to July 2000. Kodansha released the first six volumes in bilingual editions that included both Japanese and English from May 2000 to July 2001. The bilingual volumes were part of an experimental line for helping Japanese children learn English. Kodansha stopped releasing

22350-443: Was to create a magical girl series, despite not being well-versed in the genre. Ohkawa wanted the heroine Sakura to be in the same age group as the majority of Nakayoshi ' s readers so that fans could relate to her. Due to it being different from how Clamp normally conceived characters, Ohkawa designed the other characters such as Tomoyo and Cerberus to be more like Clamp's previous creations. Once Ohkawa had enough information on

22500-414: Was written as "charming" often seen in series aimed towards a female demography, shōjo manga , the older Syaoran from Tsubasa was changed to be been as a more heroic protagonist in order to appeal to the male demography, the ones who read shōnen manga instead. In a review of Tsubasa , another character bearing the same name and appearance as Syaoran appears wielding a jian identical to Syaoran. As

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