Summary

Ten-year-old Sakura lives a pretty normal life with her older brother, Toya, and widowed father, Fujitaka. Or she did, until the day she returned home from school to discover a glowing book in her father’s study. After opening the book and releasing the cards within, Sakura is tasked with collecting each of these magical cards, while trying to live the life of a normal fourth grader. In the monumental task of collecting all the cards, Sakura must rely on her friends and family, and decide what she finds most important in life.
Via Crunchyroll

PRODUCTION

**Had to edit this in. In all my excitement to get this review posted, I completely forgot to talk about the wonderful studio who produced this series.

CCS was produced by Madhouse and they have some really great shows under their belt including; Ninja Scroll, Wicked City, Perfect Blue, Trigun, Black Lagoon, Death Note, Paprika, One Punch Man (1st Season), Wolf Children, Parasyte: The Maxim and Monster.

Characters

Sakura Kinomoto
Syaoran Li
Tomoyo Daidouji
Cerberus/Kero
Touya Kinomoto
Yukito Tsukishiro

Sakura Kinomoto – THE SECOND BESTEST GIRL (Have to stay loyal to Tohru). She’s only 10 years old and keeping the world from falling apart. Probably the most stylish 4th grader you’ll meet. As expected of a pre-pre-teen, she can be emotional and unsure of herself. But when the occasion came, she always did what needed to be done!

Syaoran Li – I think he was supposed to be like the moody “sasuke” character but he turned out much better. Initially, he is also after the Clow Cards, deeming Sakura not worthy to capture them but you know, heart of the cards and whatnot. He was pretty bitter but you’d never know because he was too busy making GAGA EYES at Yukito. When he was introduced and had all those awkward interactions with Yuki, I was like “Yeah, I’m gonna love him.” It was the bi panic for me. Luckily, he realized his true feelings for Sakura and him being a tomato face mess for the rest of the season was just too cute too handle.

Tomoyo Daidouji – So, there’s a song called ‘Best Friend’ by Saweetie and Doja Cat and this song pretty much encompasses my feelings on Tomoyo and Sakura’s friendship. She truly is willing to risk it all for her bestie. If you could see the way her eyes light up whenever she is about to fight a villain. The girl has a whole van filled with outfits for Sakura to change into and she brings her camcorder to record her fights, like?? It would almost be creepy but she knows her boundaries and it doesn’t get out of hand.

Cerberus/Kero – The best little lion you could ever ask for. He’s essentially Sakura’s guide in finding the Clow Cards. He has a huge sweet tooth but don’t let his tiny stature fool you. His original form is that of an actual lion with wings. Since he doesn’t have all of his power, he was forced to take that form.

Touya Kinomoto – Sakura’s big brother and the town’s golden boy. You’ll never see him relaxing at home because he has about 2322354353 part-time jobs and I wish I was kidding. It’s sort of a running joke that he works everywhere. Of course, as elder brothers do, he likes to make fun of his little sister by calling her ‘monster’ or making jokes about the size of her appetite. However, he truly cares for his sister and even gets jealous of when he realizes Syaoran’s feelings for her. To some extent, he can see and feel spiritual power. It even goes so far as he’s able to see their deceased mother.

Yukito Tsukishiro – The love of Touya’s life. That’s it, that’s the description. No but seriously, I was going to strike through it and be cute and say ‘Touya’s best friend’ but no, he’s his LIFE. For the first couple of episodes I was like ‘Is this baiting?’ but no it’s just you have to pay attention. They don’t ever say it outright but the hints are there. We have to remember that not everyone’s love language is just saying how they feel, they like to show it instead. Initially, Sakura has a crush on him and big kudos to how he handled it. Also his stomach is a bottomless pit.

My Thoughts

Initially, I admit I wasn’t a huge fan of Magical Girls. Maybe it was my tomboy side that just didn’t care for the sparkles, pastel colored dresses or overly-cute animations, but it was hard to get me interested. Before you boo me just know that I’ve tried several times to really get into Sailor Moon as well, but each time was a dud. Although, since it’s part of my CRC, I have to watch it in full, so who knows I might become a fan. My whole point was to point out that going in I figured I wouldn’t be interested in this show too much but I was incorrect!

Sakura Kinnimoto is my queen. She had a certain mature air to her that I related to. Plus, the characters alongside her uplifted her in a way that wasn’t annoying or glaringly for the sake of romance. It was clearly HER story and not anyone else’s. Granted, the series is dated but honestly it could’ve been released last week and the material would still serve. It was far ahead of its time. The overlay of LGBTQ representation was not to be ignored either!

My only quip would be the reference to the student/teacher relationship. In general, I’m against that trope but especially due to the fact that SAKURA IS IN 4TH GRADE AND SO ARE HER CLASSMATES.

Also, as much as I find her father doting and adorable, his origins with her mom are questionable as well. He did fall in love with her when she was still a teenager. Sure, we can just write it off due to different customs and cultural practices but it doesn’t stop me from side eyeing. There was some talk about the manga going more into depth about it but still it was just weird and I don’t understand what could possess someone to write that as a story and think it’s cute.

Probably the main green flag I saw from this show was the fact that communication wasn’t just an idea, it happened. Whenever someone had an issue, they talked through it and didn’t linger on their feelings for too long. We weren’t forced to go through 20 episodes of characters being mad at one another and the other not knowing what was going on. Message to the writers; sometimes that trope is funny and cute but it gets old REALLY quickly.

Conclusion

If you’re looking for a show about a female main character who is useless, bratty, and always complaining, you’re in the wrong place. If you are looking a show about a strong, silly, loveable girl who discovers her truth worth and whose whole storyline doesn’t revolve around falling in love, this is your show. Not to mention, as I said, the side characters add value to the show. The fillers weren’t too terrible to sit through and I thoroughly enjoyed watching each episode. It was funny, sad, cheerful, lots of girl boss vibes. Right now, Sakura is my favorite magical girl and made me apologize for my slanderous thoughts on them. She’s also just too cute.

With that being said, I’ve rated CCS 5/5 Onigiri.

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