Sakura, Li, Kero-Chan, and Yue all feel it - the presence of Clow Reed. But how is that possible since he died so long ago? Sakura continues to fight a formless enemy who always uses another creature or creates a natural phenomenon that Sakuramust subdue. Each time she does, the Clow Cards she summons to help her are transformed - Reed’s magic circle on the back is changed into a distinct one Kero-Chan believes is a representation of Sakura’s own magic. These new cards are therefore more part of Sakura than Clow. But this takes a terrible toll on Sakura; she leaves battles completely exhausted and begins to run a fever, but even sickness isn't going to stop her from saving her friends and getting to the bottom of this mystery.
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Sakura finally collects all the Clow Cards, and doing so triggers the awakening of Yue, the Judge and second guardian of the Clow Cards whose power stems from the moon. We also get to find out what Mizuki-sensei’s roll is in all of this. Once Sakura passes the final judgment, she’s ready for some peace and quiet around Tomoeda Elementary. She goes into the 5th grade, and a new transfer student from England joins her class. Li-San was going to go back to Hong Kong, but there’s something off about Eriol, the new kid, so he’s sticking around. There’s also a new student in Tōya’s class, and she is super high energy and a little sweet on Tōya. When it starts raining only over Tomoeda for several days, Sakura sets out with her guardians to figure out what supernatural power is causing it, but she might have uncovered a new enemy in the process.
It's nearly Silver Eve, and the Atelier travels to Ezrest, the royal capital, to take part in the biggest festival of the year. Several of the girls have created a spell item that will be sold at the festival, but Agott has prepared a performance she intends to stage in front of the royal family. Custas catches up with Coco and Tartah again, but he's been corrupted by the Brimmed Hats and now knows the truth about magic. He's angry that Coco and Tartah didn't do more and didn't show him more when they were helping him gain more mobility. Luluci and Easthies, along with several other Knights Moralis, also attend Silver Eve to monitor the secret of magic. The two respond to an incident where one witch is selling contraptions that see through people's clothing, and it triggers Luluci's childhood trauma where she and her fellow apprentice were sexually assaulted by a person they were trying to help.
Sakura’s family goes on a weekend vacation to a lake house, and Sakura befriends a nice old man at a much larger lake house next door. He serves her tea and gives her one of his granddaughter’s dresses. It turns out that he’s related to Sakura, but he doesn’t reveal himself to her. Then, it’s time for the annual talent show, and Sakura’s class is going to put on The Sleeping Beauty play. The teachers decide to cast roles by playing the ladder game - Sakura is cast as the prince, and Li-san is cast as Aurora! But the play isn’t without incident as another Clow Card shows up to challenge Sakura. We also learn how her teacher, Mizuki-sensei, is involved with the Clow Cards as she reveals herself to Kero-Chan.
Illustrated by Mia Ikumi
Earth is under attack from aliens who are disgusted by the way humans are destroying the planet. They infect animals with chimera properties to make monsters. Ryô Shirigane, a rich high schooler, and Keiichirô Akasaka, a “café owner” and researcher, want to protect the world from these aliens. They infuse five girls with “red data” animal DNA - DNA from endangered animals - to become warriors against the chimera animals. When they’re not fighting, the girls work at Café Mew Mew as a way to gather information from customers. Ichigo is the first warrior to awaken to her transformation powers and found by the two guys, and she must find the other four teammates while fending off attacks from Kish, one of the aliens who has keyed in on Ichigo. Ichigo also has to juggle her time with her crush, Masaya, who is also interested in endangered animals and saving the planet. 
Chloe is a late-20-something actress who had one major role in her teens and can’t seem to find another gig. On the way home from an audition she bombed, she’s attacked by ghosts and demons who have escaped Hades and are drawn to her for her superb occult power. Luckily, the Ghost Reaper Kai comes along and saves her, and turns out to be her biggest fan! He convinces Chloe to combine forces with him - literally - where she absorbs him and is able to transform into a Ghost Reaper with a magical scythe that is the embodiment of Kai.
Silver Eve is coming, and the Atelier has been asked to help out. With his grandfather still in the hospital, Tartah, Coco’s friend and masterless apprentice, needs help running their booth in a prime location for the festival. Tartah and Coco also spend a significant amount of energy trying to make the world easier to navigate for their friend Custas, who has lost the use of his legs. They create an ingenious flying cape for him. As they muse philosophically about magic not going more directly to the people who could benefit from it most, bandits attack Custas and his master in hopes of getting his cape. Help comes from a witch, but probably not through methods The Order would teach or condone.
Sakura continues to collect Clow Cards in a few new adventures. Her class gets a new substitute Math teacher, Kaho Mizuki, and it's someone from Tōya's (Sakura's brother) past. She can make predictions, and often they come to fruition. Syaoran warns that she is incredibly powerful, and tells Sakura not to trust her, but Sakura has a warm, floaty feeling evey time she talks Mizuki-san. Mizuki is the daughter of a local shrine family where Sakura tries to buy a charm, but instead she, Syaoran, and Tomoyo get sucked into a maze. Then, the school goes on a field trip to the beach, and one of Sakura’s classmate scares her with a ghost story about a test of courage that happened inside a cave on the very beach they're visiting. The next day, Sakura’s class has to do the same test of courage, and Sakura is petrified. When classmates start disappearing inside the cave, it's up to Sakura to figure out why and save them all.
Sakura continues to collect Clow cards with her fabulous outfits, only in this volume, she has a rival: Syaoran, a transfer student from Hong Kong who seems to hate Sakura right off the bat. Kero figures out that Syaoran is a descendant of Clow on his mother’s side, and thinks he has a claim over Clow’s cards and magic. However, since Sakura released the deck, Syaoran can’t collect the cards on her behalf. Some of the cards in this volume are more difficult to capture. Sakura runs into an entirely different card - one that she has to call by its name in order to capture. There’s also another thing about Syaoran - he also seems to like Yukito, making him Sakura’s rival for magic and love.
Here's the latest series pulling on my nostalgia and purse strings alike. Kodansha has released an anniversary edition of Cardcaptor Sakura in hardback, and of course I need to get all of them.
Fourth-grader Sakura Kinomoto, with her latent magical ability, accidentally sets free a deck of magical cards, called Clow Cards, from inside a book in her father’s study. She’s also awakened “Cerberus,” nicknamed Kero-San, the Guardian of the Seal, who gives Sakura the key to the book and the ability to capture the cards again. These cards have gone out into the world and will wreck havoc in their own ways depending on their magical affinity. Sakura must capture the cards and use their abilities to capture even more cards. |
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