Cardcaptor Sakura – 67 – Scarfknitter Sakura

When Sakura wakes up in the morning, it’s the first time she does so knowing Yukito’s answer definitively. When Syaoran lent her his ear, he enabled her to get all of the sadness out and accept that answer.

Sakura wants to show her gratitude to him for helping to cheer her up, so first thing in the morning during class chores, she asks Syaoran if he’ll join her at the Tsukimine Shrine festival, even getting him to pinky promise!

As the school days pass, Sakura gets sleepier and sleepier in class, concerning Syaoran, who thought she’d gotten over the fatigue of card-converting. Sakura promises she’s fine.

While walking home with Tomoyo hand-in-hand, Sakura makes sure to thank her for all of the many ways she’s helped, including being living proof that you can be happy with the one you love being happy, even if you’re not the one they chose.

We learn that Sakura had been staying up late not going to underground raves, but knitting Syaoran a scarf. She knows the Hong Konger isn’t a fan of the cold—it’s why she initially hesitated to invite him out to the festival—but the choice of gift shows just how kind and thoughtful she is, and why Syaoran fell for her so easily!

That said, Syaoran confides in a disappointed Tomoyo that he’s decided not to confess to her after all. Now that Sakura knows the pain of rejection, she’ll naturally empathize with him in that same scenario, and he doesn’t want to trouble her with that. Ah, but kid, you’ll only “trouble” her if she doesn’t return your feelings!

Yukito is similarly needlessly guilty about having taken all of Touya’s magical power, especially when Sakura unwittingly sneaks up on her brother (Before, he’d have been able to sense someone coming with his eyes closed), and now that Touya is as sleepy as Yukito once was. Touya sets Yuki’s mind at ease: he did what he wanted to do, because keeping Yuki around was more important than his power.

This brings us to the Eriol-fuckery of the Week, which takes a form somewhat similar to the hell-horse that greets visitors to Denver International Airport. It emerges from a moon pool where Sakura learned from Mizuki Kaho (remember her?) how to tell one’s fortune.

Sakura and Syaoran work together to bring the horse to heel, the former converting the Thunder card in the process, but the damage is already done: the horse clipped an electrical wire, shrouding the festival in darkness. Rather than let it be shut down, Sakura converts one more card—Glow—in order to re-illuminate the festivities and enchant the festival-goers and her friends alike.

As Syaoran lets one of the glowing orbs settle into his palm, Tomoyo tells Syaoran to reconsider his refusal to confess to Sakura. No one has watched Sakura closer than Tomoyo, and she knows Sakura isn’t someone who “keeps sad things in her heart as sad things forever”. Basically, he owes it to himself and Sakura to tell her about his feelings, thus giving her the chance to accept them. Syaoran seems convinced!

Cardcaptor Sakura – 66 – These Bitter Tears

Nakuru’s movie is a big hit, with particular praise going to Sakura’s cuteness, but as Yukito sits with Touya in the projector room, his heart is uneasy, since now Touya knows he’s not human. Touya assures him it doesn’t matter what he is, as long as he doesn’t disappear and stays by his side.

After some post-movie drinks, Sakura, Yukito, Syaoran and Tomoyo enjoy the other diversions of the school fair, with Syaoran watching wearily at Yukito and Sakura in particular. Nakuru then insists only two can enter their class exhibit at a time, thus separating Yukito and Sakura from Syaoran and Tomoyo. Nakuru is following Eriol’s orders, but it ends up working in Sakura’s favor, because this gives her the ideal opportunity to confess to Yukito.

It’s also fitting that she does so while surrounded by stars, the source of her magical power. But when Sakura tells Yukito that she really likes him, he says he likes her too, but asks her to look closer at her feelings. He posits that her feelings for him are quite similar to those for her dad, which is understandable since he looks so much like her dad and is a kind lad besides. But his point is, there’s someone she likes more than anyone…and it’s not him.

Sakura is thus rejected by Yukito, but in the softest, gentlest way possible. He also admits that the person he likes most is indeed Touya, who saved him, after all. And while he’s unsure if Touya feels the same way, Sakura grasps what he’s getting at. Alas, their talk is interrupted when all of the glass stars around them start to shatter, and Yue appears to protect her.

When other students enter the exhibit, Sakura uses both Maze and Illusion to cover up the damage, as well as hide the two of them, though they’re soon separated. Even so, when Syaoran senses Clow’s presence, he’s able to cut through the illusions with his sword. As he and Yue search for her, Sakura encounters Eriol with his staff and Clow’s magical circle.

Admitting he’s been “found out”, Eriol puts Sakura to sleep. When she comes to, she remembers Clow’s presence and the circle…but not Eriol. She leaves the school fair with Syaoran, Yukito, and Tomoyo, but when the latter two split off to head to their respective homes, Syaoran insists on walking Sakura all the way home.

Sakura asks a favor: that they stop by the park first. While they sit on the swings, Sakura tells Syaoran how she confessed to Yukito and was turned down. And while Yukito is right that she mostly thought of him as family, a little part of her liked him in a way differently than that. And while Tomoyo told her there’s no greater happiness than seeing the one you like most happy—Sakura can’t help but weep bitter tears.

Syaoran offers his handkerchief, a smile, and the promise that she too will find that someone, and they’ll be just as happy when she finds them. Of course, Syaoran wants to be that very person, but wisely doesn’t press that issue. Here and now, he’s there to be an ear to listen a shoulder to cry on…and a friend to console the heartbroken Sakura with a hug.

My goodness, that was one emotionally heavy episode, but absolutely flawlessly executed, and one of the all-time best episodes of CCS as a result. The show can spin its wheels with diversions to pools and ski slopes, but when the time comes for a major development it does not hold back the feels. And now, of course, with Yukito officially eliminated as a potential love interest for Sakura, Syaroan’s path is clear.

Cardcaptor Sakura – 65 – The (Near) Disappearance of Tsukishiro Yukito

Sakura is blading home from the grocery store when she spots Touya grabbing Yukito and moves to intervene. That’s when she learns she’s rolled into the middle of a scene being filmed by Touya and Yukito’s class for their school fair.

The director, one Akizuki Nakuru, offers Sakura a role, knowing her cute factor could pay dividends. This elicits a hoeee from both Kinomotos in unison, which I believe is a first! She also gets approval from Eriol to use the old European-style mansion they live in with Spinel.

Tomoyo laments she can’t design Sakura’s costume for the movie, but she does help with hair and makeup, while her Taisho-era garb made her closely resemble a mini-Yuna, especially when she breaks out her wand later. Sakura’s look is a big hit with Nakuru and the high school girls.

That said, Sakura is super-nervous and her movements become super-mechanical as a result. Even so, she’s able to film her scenes to Nakuru’s satisfaction, though we don’t get to watch her performance live, Tomoyo is also filming the “making of” movie.

Sakura ends up finishing before Touya and Yukito, whose final scene takes place on a balcony. Unfortunately Yukito passes out and goes head over heels over the railing. Distressingly, it seems Nakuru AKA Ruby Moon was actually hoping something like this might happen.

Sakura quickly hides behind a bush, summons her wand, and invokes Windy in order to cushion Yukito’s fall, while an uncharacteristically anxious Touya climbs a tree down to him in order to carry him back inside.

Yukito is awake again when Touya decides it’s time to finally say what he’s wanted to say all season, but kept getting interrupted by Nakuru: he knows Yukito isn’t human…but it doesn’t matter. He just doesn’t want him to disappear. With the proverbial snow rabbit out of the bag, Yue reveals himself to Touya for the first time.

Yue tells Touya that Yukito above all didn’t want Touya to find out, but he’s kinda out of options, so he asks Touya if he understands what needs to be done to ensure Yukito (not to mention Yue) don’t disappear. Touya does know: it means giving Yue all of his magical power, which up to this point has allowed him to not only see his mom and others who have passed, but detect when Sakura is in danger.

Even so, Touya doesn’t hesitate, and after the transfer, he’s the one laid up in bed, recovering from the shock of losing all his magic. In exchange, Yue is stronger than ever, something Nakuru was trying to avoid all this time, but ultimately something neither Spinel nor Eriol believe will matter much in the long run.

Sakura feels bad about not having sufficient power for Yue, but he tells her not to cry lest she make her brother sad. So Sakura resolves to be strong and protect her brother now that he’s lost all his power. When she comes home, she learns Kero-chan knew all about Yue’s risk of disappearing, but kept it from Sakura lest it get her down.

But she’s down now anyway. Things have worked out for now, but having come so close to losing Yukito has spurred her to step up her efforts to confess to him. This is somewhat surprising, as her crush on Yukito has been markedly underplayed this season as Syaoran’s crush on her (and many a failed attempt to confess) has been at the forefront. Even so, she’s poised to make her move next week.

Cardcaptor Sakura – 63 – Waves, Listen to Her!

It’s still winter, but that doesn’t stop Sakura & Co. from donning their swimsuits and hitting up the new state-of-the-art indoor water park. It’s an episode heavy on character count and slice-of-life and light on…well, everything else! But that’s okay; sometimes it’s nice to just kick back and relax at the pool (though I’ll admit to being envious; pools in my city were closed all summer due to you-know-what!).

Like Tomoyo, Syaoran is smitten with Sakura’s swimsuit, but things have gotten to the point where all he can do is stare at her. Naturally, Touya and Yukito have part-time jobs at the park’s restaurant, but this time Nakuru joins them, lending her another opportunity to glom onto Touya, who is otherwise still concerned about Yukito’s tendency to, uh, fade out of existence now and then.

Even Kero-chan manages to smuggle himself into the park in Sakura’s bag and steals her cream soda when she’s not looking, only to get harshly scolded (Sakura even bears a fang, a rare occurrence unless she’s protesting her brother’s teasing). Otherwise everything’s peachy until Eriol summons a  massive wave that threatens to drown Rika (who is still learning to swim from Sakura), among others.

Sakura can’t very well summon her wand and cards out in the open, so she has a clever solution: do it while she’s in a water slide! She conjures and converts Watery to a Sakura Card, who proceeds to make it rain inside the park, which has the effect of lowering the water level, thus rescuing Rika.

In another private corner of the park Nakuru straight up asks Eriol why he insists on “doing cumbersome things” like this; he tells her she’ll find out soon enough. I certainly hope so!

Cardcaptor Sakura – 62 – Dreaming of Darkness

New Year has come, and Sakura gets gussied up in a lovely pink kimono even her brother has to admit looks good (for a kaiju!). She and her fam visit the Tsukimine Shrine for New Years greetings and prayers, but Yukito is a no-show; Touya later finds him slumped over in his house, simply unable to stay awake.

On the bright side, Sakura spots Tomoyo with her mom Sonomi, and both Daidoujis make sure Sakura’s beauty is recorded for posterity. On the darker side, Eriol is the one to dispense Sakura and Tomoyo’s fortunes, and while Tomoyo’s foretells great luck, Sakura’s is a lot stranger, saying she’ll “find truth in her dreams”.

Speaking of dreams, Syaoran gets one granted when Tomoyo urges Sakura to pay him a visit and some tea; he quietly thanks Tomoyo for the gesture. They get to taste Syaoran’s homemade peach pastries, and Sakura learns from Wei that until her, only family have called him by his first name…which of course makes Syaoran as pink as Sakura’s kimono.

Her fortune gives her pause, and Kero-chan is increasingly concerned that Yue isn’t getting enough magical power to keep from fading out of existence, but for now Sakura goes to sleep. There, she finds no rest, but is urged by an ominous voice to release her wand and then convert and use the Dream card.

It shows her a foretelling dream of darkness descending on Tomoeda from the Tsukimine shrine. Upon its gate stand three figures in silhouette: a winged leopard-like beast, a winged human figure with long hair, and a boy with a staff.

While she hasn’t quite put faces or names to those shadowy figures, she’s closer than ever to discovering the source of the town’s many recent magical disturbances, and as Kero-chan warns, the day will come when she’ll meet them at the shrine. It’s in the cards.

Cardcaptor Sakura – 59 – Use Your Words!

Now that Sakura has converted a bunch of Clow Cards to Sakura Cards, her magic has increased and she’s a lot less fatigued by the effort. To Tomoyo that not only means she’s more powerful, but also more “beautiful, elegant, and dignified”. Sakura can nervously laugh off Tomoyo’s exuberant praise all she wants, it doesn’t change the fact that Tomoyo is right, and that her love for Sakura is pure and unceasing.

We and Tomoyo also get to witness Sakura curb-stomping her opponent in one-on-one basketball. Eriol initially does the same to Syaoran by rejecting his shot and draining from way downtown, but is then magnanimous enough to help Syaoran focus enough to nail a jumper. Yukito then spots Eriol and transforms into Yue, who recognizes him as Clow in disguise. Clow being Clow, he knocks Yue out and transforms him back into Yukito. Clearly he doesn’t want his secret out quite yet.

After school we find Syaoran at Tomoyo’s house, and Tomoyo is happy to give Syaoran advice, well aware that he’s got feelings for her. Tomoyo doesn’t consider Syaoran a rival for Sakura’s heart—in her mind, anyone who didn’t love Sakura would be a fool! Instead, Sakura’s happiness is paramount.

If Syaoran can make her Sakura happy, that frees Tomoyo to continue observe and record that happiness, which in turn makes her happy. It’s the kind of love and admiration that make Tomoyo such a strong, unique, and beautiful character, but at the same time…a teensy bit sad. Tomoyo also knows that Sakura is denser than a brick made of diamonds, and won’t know Syaoran likes her unless he tells her upfront.

His first attempt to do so, when Sakura emerges in a new battle costume, is interrupted when both of them sense Clow’s presence. It leads them to the school, where a basketball that moves on its own. They give chase, but the layout of the school becomes a warped labyrinth, and Sakura and Syaoran are separated from Tomoyo.

Sakura starts to cry, having voiced her concern for Tomoyo’s safety during her magical missions earlier that day at school. Syaoran snaps her out of it, urging Sakura to instead think of a means to get back to Tomoyo. Also notable throughout the episode is that Sakura now calls Syaoran “Syaoran” instead of “Li” following their agreement in the elevator.

Thanks to Syaoran—and Tomoyo singing to indicate her location—Sakura thinks up a plan that doesn’t involve possibly getting stuck between the walls (as is the risk of the Through card). Instead, she summons and converts Shadow, and clearly commands it to help her find Tomoyo.

Since Syaoran and Kero switched on every light in the school, the shadow is able to lead them to Tomoyo, whom Sakura gives a big hug upon their reunion. Worried Tomoyo was scared about being alone, Tomoyo tells her she was never scared, because she knew Sakura would find her.

Tomoyo’s only regret is that she wasn’t able to record Sakura at her most heroic and wonderful, whereupon Kero-chan volunteers to be her consolatory subject, striking some poses for the camera. Little does he know this gives “the kid” another opportunity alone with Sakura to tell her he likes her.

Alas, Syaoran hesitates too long, and the moment is lost when Kero-chan grabs Sakura for more footage. Will he ever explicitly tell Sakura “I like you?” I’m not sure. With eleven episodes remaining, there’s certainly time for it to happen. Then again, maybe Tomoyo will be proven wrong, and Sakura will indeed realize Syaoran’s feelings without words.

Cardcaptor Sakura – 58 – Within the Bubble

Whether you consider it testing Sakura or just plain fucking with her, Eriol keeps up his little secret game this week. Sakura, Syaoran, Tomoyo, Kerberus and Yue all show up at Penguin Park when Clow’s presence is felt, but they can’t find anything out of the ordinary and it starts to rain, they all go home.

Eriol’s “trial-of-the-week” this time involves blocking either Kerberos or Yue from transforming back into their disguises. While nobody is in any immediate danger, it’s certainly a hassle to have to hide them from those she believes not to be in the know (namely Touya). More distressing to her is the prospect of Yue never being able to become Yukito again, as she considers them two distinct people she cares about in equal measure.

But again, this isn’t a particularly pressing matter except insomuch as it will be tough to keep what is essentially a winged lion and cultish-looking winged dude in her room indefinitely. So she tries to catch some shuteye, hopeful the guardians be able to change back the next morning. Alas, the situation doesn’t change, and on top of it all Sakura has a Sunday full of house chores to perform.

She puts Kerberos to work doing what he can with his beefy paws; he’s ironically far more useful in a house in his plushie form! When he gets fed up with Yue simply standing around not helping (and Sakura not insisting he help, thus spoiling him just like Clow used to), Kerberos prepares to toss a bag of flour at him, only to himself become covered with it. Sakura takes him into the bath and he suggests she convert and use Bubble to wash him, as Clow once did.

Upon returning to the kitchen, Sakura finds that Yue has helped out after all by cleaning up the flour mess. She broaches the topic of Clow and Yue’s particular devotion to him, noting the look in his eyes when he speaks about him is similar to how her dad looks when talking about her mom.

Suddenly it dawns on Sakura to convert and use the Shield card on her guardians. Eriol’s magic is repelled by the shield, enabling them to finally change back to their disguises. And since Yukito is at Sakura’s house, he might as well stay for dinner!

All’s well that ends well, but Kero-chan is thoroughly unnerved about the possibility of someone with Clow’s power out there unchecked. Whether it’s Kero, Yue, Syaoran, or Sakura, I’m certain someone will manage to connect the strange incidents and Eriol…but with twelve episodes left, a few more trials are likely…in the cards.

Cardcaptor Sakura – 57 – Going Up…

This will probably go down in the annals of CCS as a landmark episode in the development of Sakura x Syaoran. Specifically, the latter’s feelings for the former begin to boil over to such an extent that he can no longer lie or obfuscate to himself about what she means to him.

While he occasionally asks either out loud while alone or in his thoughts something along the lines of “What’s wrong with me?”, much of his realization comes wordlessly as he watches Sakura both close up and from afar, be it during class, gym, music, or recess.

When Sakura invites Syaoran to join her, Tomoyo and Eriol at a teddy bear exhibit, he’s reminded of the bear he made but has yet to give to anyone. As he wrestles with his feelings after school he bumps into Yukito, who can quickly tell that Syaoran cares for Sakura very much, even if he won’t admit it.

Try as he might to shake off or run away from his feelings, they’re there, and they’re only growing the more time he spends with her. In fact, when he hears her voice on the answering machine (she had to leave two separate messages thanks to her tripping on Kero-chan’s video games), he listens to her a second time, just to hear her lovely voice.

Syaoran decides to play it cool the next day when the four of them hang out, keeping his hands behind his head most of the time as he watches Sakura having fun. The sequence is one of two montages that place Sakura and Syaoran in interesting visual framing devices decorated with autumn leaves signifying change on the horizon.

However, when Eriol brings up Syaoran’s homemade bear and Sakura asks if he’s given it to anyone, he becomes embarrassed again and runs off. Sakura chases him down as he enters the elevator, but then, as seemingly both another test for Sakura and a chance for Syaoran to be alone with her, Eriol locks them in the elevator.

After a period of awkward silence in the dark, Sakura starts to cry, so Syaoran cheers her up with a flame taliasman. She lays out her handkerchief and invites him to sit beside her so they’ll be more comfortable.

But then Eriol activates the next stage of the test, which involves the walls of the elevator falling away and Sakura plummeting down a deep, dark pit. Panicking, Syaoran calls out to Sakura using her first name for the first time.

Sakura rises up out of the darkness, having converted and used the Float card, and Syaoran simply gathers her into a hug, overcome with relief and joy she’s okay. Eriol ends his spell, the elevator returns to working order, and Sakura and Syaoran are rejoined by Tomoyo and Eriol.

That evening, Syaoran gets another call from Sakura thanking him for being with her during the elevator incident, as well as expressing how happy she was to hear him call her Sakura. In exchange, Syaoran gives her the okay to call him by his first name.

This is a big deal! Syaoran has finally stopped running and accepted that Sakura is special to him. It’s another crucial step towards a Clear Card future in which they’re officially a couple.

Cardcaptor Sakura – 56 – Kero-chan v Suppie: Dawn of Plushtice

In a tale of two teams, Kero-chan is excited about Sakura’s upcoming bazaar, because it means a good deal of tasty sweets will be on hand, while Spinel Sun is far less enthusiastic, as Eriol hints that “something” happens when he eats sweets. Spinel is as calm and subdued as Kero-chan (not to mention Nakuru) is brash and excitable. His voice is very soothing, without a hint of a dialect.

The day of the bazaar arrives, and Sakura is cute as always in her handmade outfit (a Tomoyo original, natch). Tomoyo is nearby with her camera, Eriol beats Syaoran to complimenting Sakura, Yamazaki goes off on a string of rambling lies, Rika has a nice moment with Terada-sensei, and Touya tries to fight off Nakuru as Yukito eats a lot. Pretty standard CCS stuff, really.

What this episode offers that is unique and thus more compelling is the first meeting of Spinel and Kero-chan, though due to Spinel’s ability to completely mask his magic, Kero-chan doesn’t quite know what to make of the guy, but in any case doesn’t consider “Suppie” a threat…especially when he learns his name is “Suppie”.

We then learn why Spinel avoids sweets: they make him drunk, alternating between happy, goofy, crying, and vacuuming up all of the sweets in the school with no regard for whether he or Kero-chan are seen by witnesses. Spinel’s seiyu makes the necessary changes in their delivery for a convincing transformation.

Kero-chan decides to go to Sakura and implores her to convert Sleep and cast it in order to prevent exposure. Sakura is confused, but does so, and Kero eventually finds Spinel, who is now started “vomiting” his red laser beam. Kero counters with his fire breath and Spinel flees, essentially framing Kero-chan for the sweet-stealing spree, which Sakura assumes was his fault.

It was a close call for Spinel, but he was saved by Kero’s cluelessness. It’s also somewhat frustrating that Sakura and Kero still have no idea they’re being targeted by Eriol, Spinel and Ruby, and this episode failed to move that needle.

Cardcaptor Sakura – 53 – Tour de Dash

Sakura’s chronic fatigue is such that it’s starting to interfere with her daily life, from staying awake during class to being able to sweep the yard without passing out. Fortunately (from her perspective) there’s kind, refined Eriol to the rescue, helping her complete her outdoor chores before dinner. Little does she know that Eriol is behind all the strange goings-on lately. This time he puts a spell on Touya’s bike, something he notices immediately.

Until now Sakura had been content to convert the Clow Cards to Sakuras as needed, but when she feels the Clow Cards and they’re not warm as usual, she becomes very concerned with their well-being, and decides the best thing to do is to convert them all to Sakuras…at the same time! Somehow she stays awake after the exertion, but the last card she converts, Dash, is released without a clear target, and so panics, dashes outside, and possesses Touya’s bike.

During the a thrilling nighttime rollerblade chase that ensues, Sakura makes sure to keep her promise to Tomoyo and Syaoran to call them if she’s in trouble. Tomoyo’s phone goes to voicemail, but Syaoran is Johnny-on-the-spot, saving Sakura from suffering a serious fall after using Jump fails to catch up to the bike. Syaoran moves to shock the bike with lightning, but Sakura doesn’t want to hurt Dash or make it more riled up than it already is.

Instead, she makes clever use of Loop to let Dash basically run to its heart’s content until it realize it can’t escape Sakura’s embrace. Once she has Dash, she’s able to calm it down enough to return it to card form, having learned a valuable lesson about only invoking cards when she needs them, not willy-nilly!

While she’s encouraged that she’ll eventually be able to convert all of the Clows to Sakuras, it’s not long before she’s once again fallen asleep from using far too much magical power. Tomoyo arrives too late, having been in the bath when her phone rang, and when she tries to salvage the night by filming Sakura’s sleeping face, her camcorder’s battery is dead. Shake it off, Tomo—everyone has the occasional off-night!

Cardcaptor Sakura – 52 – Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing

Sakura has a problem. Because she’s drawing upon her own source of magical power to use the new Sakura Cards, she is in an almost constant state of fatigue, and a slowly, calmly told story about sheep in class soon puts her to sleep; Syaoran has to grab her before she falls out of her desk. All the while Eriol is watching and grinning his smug grin. Such a prick!

Yukito is suffering similar problems. Since Yue also draws from Sakura’s power, he’s low on energy as well, and Yukito’s overeating isn’t making any difference. Touya can seemingly sense all of this without explicitly bringing it up, and is concerned for his friend, leading to a wall (or rather tree) slam and a near-confession that’s interrupted by Nakuru, who warns Yukito to stay out of her way. What a bitch!

If things keep going this way, Yue fears he’ll disappear altogether, which means his disguise Yukito will disappear with him (Kero doesn’t have the same problem since he draws power from the sun). Still, Kero needs Sakura to stay positive and cheerful if they’re going to get through this. Tomoyo tries to help by providing a new battle costume and devises some new poses for the Sakura Cards. So cute!

Sakura is responding to a call from Syaoran (on the new cell phones issued to them by Tomoyo), who sensed a powerful Clow-like presence at, where else, Penguin Park. They find a large hole where the King Penguin slide should be, and Sakura flies down it to investigate. No one can follow her due to a strong magic barrier, and she’s soon buried in plush sheep!

Going over the cards in her arsenal, Sakura settles on Erase, which I don’t believe she ever used even in Clow form. Once converted to a Sakura Card, it does the trick, but after having to also convert and use Power to put the slide back where it belongs, Sakura is once again out for the count. Eriol is impressed and amused by her performance, but promises even more “fun” down the road. This shit can’t go on!

Cardcaptor Sakura – 51 – Bearing the Brunt

Sakura can’t quite make her homemade teddy bear not look like Kero-chan, so Eriol volunteers to help her fix it. When a delighted Sakura asks what he’d like as thanks for his help, he simply kisses her hand and walks away. Thus begins Eriol’s Fuckin’-with-Sakura Session Number Four: MegaBear.

Teddy Bears are big at Sakura’s school. They’re like Pogs when I was in grade school. The idea has developed that if you give a bear with your name to someone you have feelings for, you’ll be together forever. Syaoran has made his own bear, but while Yukito has classically been the only one to make his heart race, Sakura has lately been having the same effect.

Yue later tells Syaoran that his feelings for Yukito are a result of Yue’s magical power, and that if he searches his heart, he’ll discover the person for whom he has real feelings. That Sakura is still so far from noticing Syaoran’s feelings portends a continuing of their slow-burn romance.

As for Sakura, she’s sure Yukito is the one who should have her bear, even though she may be subject to the same effect as Syaoran. Tomoyo insists on coming along with her new camcorder and dressing Sakura up for the event—a different kind of battle costume, for the battle of love! Only due to some magical mischief committed by Eriol, the bear blows up in Yukito’s face.

As Eriol, Spinel and Ruby observe, the teddy bear grows to the size of a building and attacks Sakura. Yue rescues him from its first strike, but loses his wings and grows weak, leaving Sakura on her own (Syaoran isn’t around this time).

Sakura converts Jump to a Sakura Card in order to evade the bear, but it’s causing a great deal of collateral damage, so she has to separate it from the magical core in its ear, which she can cut off with the converted Sword. The only problem is, Jump isn’t precise enough while Fly requires she ride the wand like a witch’s broom.

Sakura determines that in addition to converting Fly to a Sakura Card, she can modify it so the wings sprout from her back, not the wand, freeing her hands to use Sword to successfully de-ear the bear and return it to its original size. Rather than a card, she recovers a purple talisman bearing the same magical circle she used to capture Clow Cards.

While Sakura seems as far away from discovering the identity of her tormentors as she is from noticing Syaoran’s feelings, Cardcaptor Sakura’s third season is definitely integrating more serialized elements into the quest-of-the-week format that drove most of the first two seasons. Slowly but surely, the pieces of the puzzle are coming together.

As they do, in the meantime we have wonderful set-pieces like Tomoyo’s quasi-confession and Syaoran’s romantic realization. And while much of Eriol’s machinations come off as cruel, I’m heartened by the fact Sakura has deftly handled everything he’s thrown at her so far—even as I’m apprehensive that he’ll soon be upping the difficulty level.

Cardcaptor Sakura – 50 – Thread and Thrum

Sakura wakes up early, but seeming a little down. Kero-chan tells her whatever the deal is with the Sakura Cards, she needs to keep her spirits up and stay positive. To that end, she goes to school early to watch Touya and Yukito play soccer. Naturally, they’re a dynamic duo on the pitch—and Akizuki is quick to pounce on Touya and glare at Yukito.

Sak’s friends have noticed she’s seemed not quite her usual cheerful self, so Rika makes her some delicious homemade cookies, and also shows everyone the teddy bear she’s making for Terada-sensei. Syaoran lounges in a tree high above Sakura, about whom he’s worried, when Eriol confronts him about all the nasty looks he’s shot his way. Eriol seems to have plans for Syaoran, deeming him “useful”.

While she seems to have the blessing of her friends, I do wish Terada-sensei would give Rika a tactful yet firm word about not falling in love with an adult when she’s still in fifth damned grade. As for Tomoyo, she holds firm in her position that she’s happy if Sakura’s happy—even if Sakura doesn’t requite her feelings. It’s an incredibly sweet sentiment…but also deeply sad considering how clueless Sakura seems to be!

Sakura’s attempt to make a bear for Yukito hits some snags when she suddenly senses Clow Reed’s presence once more. She meets with Tomoyo where the feeling is most powerful, and calls Syaoran to be by her side as she promised. However, this works against Sakura in this case as Syaoran’s body is being controlled by someone, and it’s making him attack her! A heroic Tomoyo tackle stops Syaoran from slicing Sakura.

This costs Tomoyo her camcorder, but she can buy more cameras. She only has one Sakura! Syaoran manages to regain control long enough to summon the water spirit, which makes visible the puppet threads in which he’s tangled. Sakura quickly releases her wand, converts Sword to a Sakura Card, and slashes the threads with authority, freeing Syaoran.

Having expended considerable magical power, Sakura passes out once more, this time in Syaoran’s arms. This side-effect of using Sakura Cards could prove a decisive liability if shit really hits the fan—say if a second threat appears after she falls asleep battling the first. It seems inevitable Eriol is going to make that scenario happen in the near future, because he seems determined to, in the parlance of our times, fuck Sakura’s shit UP.

And why, do you ask, would he want to do that? Well, the same reason Sakura and Kero-chan sense Clow Reed before something bad goes down: Hiiragizawa Eriol is the reincarnation of Clow Reed. Further, he’s created two guardian equivalents to Kero and Yue in Spinel Sun and Ruby Moon, AKA Akizuki Nakuru. Not only is Nakuru not human, she’s not a “she”, and doesn’t want to date Touya, but eat him!

Clearly, Eriol is testing Sakura’s powers, and while they’re impressive, I’m sure he’s just itching to regain control of the Clow Cards. Hopefully Sakura and her friends can keep that from happening and send Eriol and his minions back to merry old England. But since twenty episodes remain, that’s probably going to take a while!

Stray Observations:

• Sakura’s all-white and gray battle costume was gorgeous, making it a dreadful shame when Puppet!Syaoran slashes it with his sword.
• I also want to note this third season’s OP is probably my favorite so far, which isn’t too surprising since it’s anchored by the lovely vocals of one Sakamoto Maaya.
• It also features my favorite OP Battle Costume, though Sakura seems awfully sleepy throughout the OP…no doubt since using her cards is so tiresome!
• GROOVY! was the most toe-tapping end theme but the New ED has the best visuals, with a glowed-up Sakura and Tomoyo having an absolute blast baking a cake.