Review - Cardcaptor Sakura (Manga)

Upon awakening the mystical beast Cerberus, fourth grader Sakura Kinomoto learns that she possesses the magical abilities necessary for capturing the enchanted Clow Cards that have been unleashed on Tokyo. With the help of Cerberus and her best friend Tomoyo, Sakura must capture all of the cards so that she may become their master. 

Cardcaptor Sakura is a manga series written and illustrated by CLAMP, originally published in 50 chapters in the pages of Nakayoshi from 1996 until 2000.

At its core, Cardcaptor Sakura is a simple magical girl series that approaches the genre with just the right amount of cheekiness and sincere innocence. It is divided into two arcs, with the first focusing on Sakura’s pursuit of the Clow Cards and the second detailing her mastery of them. Our titular heroine is tested throughout, constantly having to think and act creatively in order to capture and control the cards. This is emphasized by their unique abilities and the variety of personalities each seems to possess. CLAMP smartly approaches each capture differently and the vast majority are done while Sakura is dressed in insanely cute costumes (designed in the story by her best friend Tomoyo). They’re also to be commended for the mythos behind the Clow Cards and the gorgeous designs for each, fusing western with eastern aesthetics.

In a rather genius twist, CLAMP opt to focus on the interpersonal relationships rather than the magic and action of Sakura’s Clow Card adventures. This helps to relieve the narrative of any predictability. Rather than building each chapter around the capture or mastery of a Clow Card, CLAMP will often treat such an action as a subplot or even forego it altogether. Instead, they explore the complicated relationships that young people engage in while in school. For instance, the second arc spends a lot of time devoted to Syaorang’s love for Sakura and his many attempts to confess his feelings to her. There are also chapters that focus on Sakura’s attempts to win over or impress her crush Yukito. What is most fascinating, however, is the way in which CLAMP involve taboo themes into Cardcaptor Sakura without passing judgment on them. Queer relationships and feelings figure into the narrative through Tomoyo’s love for Sakura and the relationship between Sakura’s brother Toya and Yukito. There’s also the engagement between Sakura’s classmate Rika and their much-older teacher. CLAMP’s emphasis on personal relationships helps to create an intimate and relatable narrative, thus distinguishing it from other works in the magical girl genre.

There’s no denying that Cardcaptor Sakura is an essential read and is almost without peers. However, it has a significant chink in its armor. The magical girl genre had been redefined in the years leading up to the publication of Cardcaptor Sakura, drawing it away from the childish plots in the vein of Sally the Witch to action-oriented superhero stories pioneered by Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon. Since Cardcaptor Sakura features a preteen heroine whose adventures lack a distinctive antagonist, it leaves the series with very little direction to the story. Tension often takes place when new characters are introduced and their motives remain a mystery – as with Syaorang, Mizuki-sensei, and Eriol – but is often deflated once we learn the truth. As such, it leaves the reader with very little payoff. Even the ending is bound to leave readers disappointed depending on their feelings towards the pairing of Sakura and Syaorang. If your favourite character is Tomoyo like she was for me, there’s a sense of dissatisfaction when (SPOILER!) it becomes clear that her feelings for Sakura will remain unrequited. She is unwaveringly loyal and understands Sakura better than Syaorang does, which makes her seem better matched. Unfortunately, CLAMP plays it safe and leave Tomoyo hung out to dry.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Cardcaptor Sakura. It is a breezy and entertaining series that calls back to a more innocent time. The art is breathtaking too. From Sakura’s costuming to the Clow Cards’ designs to the recurring visual motif of flowers, CLAMP delivers an absolutely stunning series that is arguably unmatched in the manga industry. This goes beyond the superficial elements as well, since they are able to set the tone of each panel with their art and successfully orchestrate the reader’s emotions through a variety of expressive reaction shots and epic action sequences. What further elevates Cardcaptor Sakura is its rich mythology that remains iconic within the genre and a narrative that dares to explore taboo subjects through an almost-objective lens. While I found the ending a bit contrived and anticlimactic, and wished there had been some kind of antagonist, Cardcaptor Sakura kept me engaged from start to finish and left me wanting more.

RATING: A-

Review: Wedding Peach (Manga)

When ordinary schoolgirl Momoko Hanasaki is attacked by a demon, she is saved by a mysterious angel named Limone and is gifted magical powers. She, along with her friends Yuri Tanima and Hinagiku Tamano, learn that they are the mythical Love Angels and that they must find the Sacred Four Somethings in order to defeat the maniacal Reine Devila.

Wedding Peach is a six volume shōjo manga series written by Sukehiro Tomita and illustrated by Nao Yazawa.

Originally published in 1994 during the height of Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon’s popularity, Wedding Peach is a magical girl series that is often (unfavourably) compared to its iconic predecessor. Much like in Sailor Moon, its lead characters use magical items to transform into warriors of love and whose goal is to seek out legendary artifacts. Further similarities exist in its themes and the concept of past lives ruined by an evil queen. That said, Wedding Peach manages to hold its own against its forerunner. It proves itself to be a heart-warming series about the inexhaustible power of love and the ultimate triumph over evil.

Wedding Peach focuses on a trio of likeable characters – Momoko, Yuri and Hinagiku – as they navigate through their first experiences with love on top of having to fight the forces of evil as Love Angels. In this respect, there is a surplus of character development. As readers, we quickly understand who these characters are even in the broad strokes that are initially used to paint them. Momoko is the scatterbrained leader, Yuri is the soft-spoken and elegant one, and Hinagiku is the impulsive tomboy. We’re able to see the characters grow through their relationships, especially with Hinagiku and her increasing feelings for her childhood friend Takuro. Even still, much of the attention is squarely placed on Momoko. There’s poignancy to her family life, particularly in how her loneliness and forced independence is acknowledged through the absence of a maternal figure in her life. There’s also the complex relationship she has with the soccer player Yousuke, who goes from being a total lout to being a sweet guy who genuinely cares for her.

Wedding Peach has its fair share of shortcomings. Despite being immersed in a world where angels must protect their heavenly realm from the invading forces of demons, this series is remarkably light on world building and on developing its own mythology. Yazawa and Tomita borrow from Christian and Greek lore, juxtaposing it further with traditions from wedding ceremonies, but do little to elaborate on anything. The first few volumes of this series work nicely and unfold an engaging plot, but things begin to fall off the rails by the fifth volume. A fourth Love Angel is introduced, Angel Salvia, but her personality is extremely aggressive and there’s very little to like about her. Her introduction also leads into a random, but welcomingly unexpected, plot twist about Yousuke. Sadly, the series is abruptly wrapped up before the team behind Wedding Peach can execute anything worthwhile with these revelations. This also means that the conclusion to the series feels tacked on and wholly anticlimactic. The final battle against the Big Bad Reine Devila is depressingly underwhelming.

Wedding Peach is unlikely to ever crawl out from under the shadow of its more famous antecedent Sailor Moon, especially since the latter became a media juggernaut and whose manga series remains a sweeping epic with elaborate mythologies and multi-dimensional characters. Wedding Peach is a satisfying, but somewhat disposable, read. The action sequences are well done and the adherence to the wedding motif is thankfully kept to a bit of a minimum, instead opting to focus on character development and the fight against the forces of Reine Devila. As a whole, what makes Wedding Peach fun to read is its colourful cast of characters who are easy to relate to and its overall youthful tone. However, it fails to build an immersive world, provide necessary backstories and motivations to its villains, and never quite settles on a cohesive narrative that has a distinct sense of direction.

RATING: C+