This review was taken from our old database. The original reviewer was CDLviking

Sakura is synonymous with magical girl anime. Top notch animation, excessive cuteness, and the standard transformation scenes are the calling cards for this show (though the transformation is for the staff and cards, as the clothes are homemade). The main target audience here is young girls, though just about anyone should be able to be entertained by its good mix of comedy, story, and well animated action sequences. The plot turns are fairly easy to predict,
though even I was caught off guard once or twice.
Generally, this show is squeaky clean, but there are two areas that cause particular concern, and will require careful reflection of whether or not parents should allow younger children to watch this show.

The first, and less troubling, is the sorcery involved in the show. The Clow Cards are living magical beings that Sakura calls upon to aid her. They can also be used like tarot cards, and Sakura refers to her wand as “hiding the powers of the dark.” Li uses Chinese magic by invoking the gods, and uses some sort of feng sui compass to track Clow Cards. All of this is somehow connected to the sorcerer Clow Reed who died long ago.

The second, and somewhat disturbing, problem is same sex attraction. I hesitate to use the term homosexuality because there is never anything sexual in the entire series. There are many characters that develop crushes on members of the same sex, but do not really act upon them. Some of them are explained away and disappear while others persist. What makes this even more disturbing is the young age of the characters, and the way in which it is not even looked at as odd.

Finally, in light of these two areas of concern, I’d like to explain the age rating. Given the age of the characters, and the amount of my understanding at the same age I feel that 10 is about the youngest age I could recommend this show to. That takes into account that they have a Christian upbringing and know that sorcery and homosexuality are wrong, as well as some of the reasons why. At a younger age, or without this understanding, I fear that children could develop a skewed idea of what is appropriate in relationships. Also, there is no dub, so good reading skills are a necessity. [goldy's note: There is dub available now. Several, in fact.]

Music
Catchy and cute songs that one would expect. Tomoyo also sings on occasion in the show. Good songs that fit the show, but nothing exceptional.

Sub vs Dub
Cardcaptor Sakura is the Japanese release and has no dub available on the DVDs. There is an American release titled Card Captors, but it is butchered, edited to pieces, has changed names, bad acting, and everything that can possibly ruin anime when it is imported to America. [goldy's note: I haven't heard the dub, but since it's older and I'm biased, it's probably not the best.]

Manga
The anime series is based off CLAMP's Cardcaptor Sakura manga. Characters from CCS also appear in CLAMP's manga series Tsubasa Resevoir Chronicle.

Related Movies
There are two movies. The first takes place sometime during the first half, and is a stand alone. The second is a direct sequel to the show and resolves some things left over at the shows end.

Violence Details
The Clow Cards cause a fair deal of trouble, and capturing them usually requires a chase or some sort of fighting. Usually nothing too threatening, but the violence does occasionally become life threatening.

Language Details
Throughout all 18 volumes, I can count the number of minor swears, such as h**l and d**n, on my hands. That’s less than once per volume.

Nudity Details
Being a show for kids, it is exceptionally clean in this regard. There is only one bath scene of Sakura with nothing shown, and bathing suits and magic girl outfits are quite modest.

Sexual Content Details
In addition to the above mentioned same sex attraction, there’s a tendency for children to fall for those older than them. Students fall for their teachers, and elementary school kids fall for high schoolers.

Religious Material Details
As I already stated, there is a lot of sorcery, Li’s invoking of the gods, and same sex attraction. For some reason, every time there’s a school play, guys are cast in female roles, and vice versa, though they don’t seem too happy about it. Reincarnation is a major theme of the second half of the show. Also there is a Christmas episode in which a character explains that he is playing the piano for a Christmas mass at a Christian church, then he goes on to explain that he is doing it to express his gratitude to the earth, religious relativism at its most dangerous.

This is absolutely one of my favorite anime of all time. Sakura is the sweetest heroine I've seen in anime, and her counterpart, Sayoran, makes a great foil. He's out for the cards for entirely different reasons, and competes with her even as he falls in love with her. Following Sakura is her protective older brother, who adores her but is more of a 'tough love' sort, her adoring cousin Tomoyo, and her crush Yuki, who has a secret that even he doesn't know about. Other, more minor characters do come in from time to time, fleshing out her background and family situation in interesting ways.

This is all about her becoming the Master of the Clow Cards, and then gaining her own power in her own right. It's a fantastic show, with great lessons on friendship, forgiveness, family, working hard, and all those things you'd like your kids to do.

Violence/Gore- There is some minor fighting and "life-threatening situations" (but it's a kids show, no one dies or is ever seriously in danger).


Nudity/Sexual Content- There is one scene of Sakura in the bathtub, she's covered though.

Theological Themes- The story centers on magic and Sakura's use of the Clow Cards. Magic is apparently hereditary, there are no pacts made with demons or anything. She does use them once to try and tell the future. There is reincarnation in the second season.

Other themes- Tomoyo is Sakura's cousin, but she does have somewhat romantic feelings for her. This is not obviously apparent and is a very minor subplot in one of the episodes. Sakura's brother is in love with his best friend, and those feelings are returned. Nothing ever occurs between them, just the statement by Yuki that this is so. There is an occasional swear, mainly the d- or h-word.