There are three editions of Cardcaptor Sakura, all of which can be used for this book club.
For the Vol 12 reading, you will need one of the following:
the original edition(OG) or refurbished edition (RE) of カードキャプターさくら Vol 12 (softcover, hardcover or digital)
the anniversary edition (AE) of カードキャプターさくら Vol 9 (hardcover)
Differences Between Editions
Card Captor Sakura has three editions: the original edition (OG), the refurbishment edition (RE), and the anniversary edition (AE).
The paperback copy is OG, the original hardcover version is RE.
Digital versions are mostly RE, but some are OG.
To distinguish between OG and RE books, look between chapters. If there’s a picture of Kero-chan and the words “refurbishment edition,” you have an RE book.
The AE is a newer hardback edition. It has more chapters than either OG or RE books. For example, vol 1 of AE contains chapters 6 and 7, which are part of vol 2 for the OG and RE.
To check if your hardcover book is AE, simply look at the cover. It’ll say なかよし60周年記念版 on it near the bottom!
This reading is for カードキャプターさくら (Cardcaptor Sakura), NOT カードキャプターさくら クリアカード編 (Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card). Buy carefully!
Schedule:
Note: all page numbers are based on the print version of the refurbishment edition (RE).
If you are reading the digital edition of the RE, the digital page count will be a few pages ahead of the print. Please check how many pages off your copy is before using the page numbers below.
If you aren’t reading the refurbishment edition, the page numbers will be completely different than those listed below. Please pay special attention to the chapter number and the last panel for every week, which should be the same between editions.
The vocabulary list hasn’t been in use for the last few volumes, but you’re welcome to contribute if you’re interested in doing so!
If you do, please add vocabulary using printed page numbers for consistency, even if you are using a digital edition.
Otherwise, consider using Manga Kotoba for your vocabulary needs!
Discussion Guidelines
Spoiler Courtesy
Please follow these rules to avoid inadvertent ネタバレ. If you’re unsure whether something should have a spoiler tag, err on the side of using one.
Any potential spoilers, predictions and conjecture for the current week’s reading or earlier should be covered with a spoiler tag.
All spoilers outside the current week’s reading (whether related to Card Captor Sakura or not) should be covered with a spoiler tag, and please label where the spoiler comes from if it’s not clear from the context.
Posting Advice
When asking for help, please mention the page number and your book edition
Check before posting if your question has already been asked and answered. You might be able to join an ongoing conversation!
Be sure to join the conversation! It’s fun, and it’s what keeps these book clubs lively! There’s no such thing as a stupid question! We are all learning here, and if the question has crossed your mind, there’s a very good chance it has crossed somebody else’s also! Asking and answering questions is a great learning opportunity for everyone involved, so never hesitate to do so!
Membership
Will you be reading vol 12 with the book club?
Yes
Yes, but I might start late
Maybe
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Week 2: Chap 47
A chapter passes so quickly! Sakura’s faced a lot of intense magical battles in the past, but her current issues are of a quieter sort, it seems…
Check out the home post for details on the week’s reading.
Happy discussing!
Participation Poll:
I’m reading along
I’ve already read this part
I’m still reading but I haven’t reached this section yet
Read the first two chapters this morning!! This is actually my first time reading to the end of a plot focused manga in… many years. I’m really enjoying that this whole final volume is dedicated to the story resolution. I think I was worried that due to the serialized format that it would end rather abruptly. That said, I want to be invested in the love plot lines here but I’m having trouble buying in. I can sort of get the li sakura thing (although she should be w tomoyo for sure), but I feel like the kaho eriole thing was super out of left field. Maybe I wasn’t paying close enough attention - curious what others think.
Congratulations! It feels good to finish a series. Especially one with so much care put into the ending!
RE: Pairing 1
Since Sakura is super oblivious in terms of love, I think the only way Sakura and Tomoyo would have ended up together was if Tomoyo confessed, which she was never going to do – she made it clear pretty early on that her focus was on Sakura’s happiness, and she seems to have decided the way to make Sakura happy is to help her find romance with someone else – first she helps Sakura spend time with Yukito, and then she encourages Li to confess.
As to why Tomoyo does that, I think a big part of it was that Sakura had a huge crush on Yukito – to pursue Sakura at that point, Tomoyo would have to be willing to cause Sakura a lot of internal conflict, which is not at all her style.
As for why she didn’t pursue Sakura afterwards, it’s harder to tell. Eriol says she has great powers of observation – maybe she simply felt that Sakura wasn’t romantically interested in her. Maybe she wanted to make sure how Sakura felt about Li before making any romantic decisions herself. But I think it’s more that she’s someone who deliberately puts herself on the sidelines and says things like “I just want you to be happy,” so she’s very unlikely to end up with someone who isn’t actively pursuing her.
RE: Pairing 2
This pairing is less established than the other one, but I do think it’s plausible.
Near the end of Vol 6, Kaho helps Sakura defeat Yue by giving her a bell made by Clow. It’s implied she has a significant history with Clow because she can talk in detail about what happened when he died, and her whole duty has been to wait for the new master to appear so she can pass on the bell. This isn’t necessarily a romantic history, but you have to care about someone a whole lot to sit around for an untold number of years waiting to pass on something they made to someone who isn’t even born yet.
Anyways, after this, at the end of Vol 6, Kaho goes to England. Eriol first appears at the beginning of Vol 7.
Kaho says at the beginning of the volume 12 she and Eriol met while she was in England, so they met between those two points. I guess there’s a decent time skip between those volumes!
Anyways, after having just had to fulfill a duty which started with Clow’s death, I’m sure meeting his reincarnation was quite an emotional moment, especially since he seems to have explained everything to her.
The fact Eriol explained everything to Kaho also means that, for quite some time, Kaho has been potentially the only human on Earth who knows what he’s up to (since Ruby and Spinel aren’t human). They were also clearly on the same page, or Kaho wouldn’t be willing to send those cryptic letters to Sakura.
Also, Eriol and Kaho seem seem to live together? Either that or Kaho is just super comfortable in Eriol’s house and visits a lot. Them living together would certainly explain how Eriol gets away with living alone as a child without seeming to have any parents/other adults in his life. (Though to be fair, Li also doesn’t appear to have any adults with him in Japan.)
While most of this is only explained in Vol 12, the fact that Kaho’s relationship with Clow was established in Vol 6 makes it easier for me to believe she and his reincarnation could fall in love (particularly because he retained his memories).
If I remember right, the bell was left in the care of the Kaho’s family’s shrine.
Further Thoughts
Fujitaka has no background (which made him suspicious to Nadeshiko’s family). When Clow Reed split into Fujitaka and Eriol, it seems they were formed as grown boys, and Eriol kept himself young so he could attend school alongside Sakura.
If they started out at about age 10, that would be about 30 years before the events of the series, and shortly before Kaho was born.
Kaho was a student teacher when Touya was in 8th grade, so he would have been about 13-14 years old at the time, about two years before the events of the series. We don’t know how long Kaho was in England before meeting Eriol, but they could potentially have been together in some capacity for over a year.
Ooh the clarifying details are definitely appreciated, thanks!
I do think finding out someone you just met is the reincarnation of the guy who created a magical artifact housed at your shrine, which is your duty to pass on, would make it a lot easier to have intense feelings about him, although it’s definitely different than having a prior personal relationship with him.
Alright, this is it! The last chapter of Cardcaptor Sakura! Thanks for sticking with me on this long journey, it’s helped me develop a really consistent Japanese reading habit and now it’s something I can do casually for fun! Some things are still challenging, of course, but it’s really lovely to be able to just decide to do some light reading or play a game in Japanese without becoming immediately overwhelmed.
I’d be very happy to hear some of your thoughts on the ending of the series, or just about Cardcaptor Sakura in general, below. If you’re enjoying any other Japanese media recently I’d love to hear about that too!
Recently I’ve been playing Milano’s Odd Job Collection (with Japanese text and voices). There’s not a ton of text in that game and what there is is fairly repetitive, so it’s nice for a casual play. I’m also in the middle of a playthrough of Marvelous: Another Treasure Island, which is more challenging in terms of language, but it has a more engaging narrative and it’s very satisfying to be able to navigate puzzles in Japanese!
Anyways, back to Sakura! Let’s get to that ending, folks!
Check out the home post for details on the week’s reading.
Happy discussing!
Participation Poll:
I’m reading along
I’ve already read this part
I’m still reading but I haven’t reached this section yet
WOOOO WE DID IT!!! @zucchi thank you so much for being such a wonderful steward of this club for the past two years. It’s been an absolute pleasure to read and grow along with all of you. I feel as if so much has changed since we started. I remember when the club was beginning I thought “holy shit 2 years to read this series?? Man learning Japanese will take me a lifetime!” And while the second part of that sentence may be true, my sentiments have changed so much. The 2 years have gone by in a flash, and I’ve learned and grown so much since we began. This club was my first foray into native material, and I used to spend sometimes hours a week writing and deciding the panels by hand, and it’s since become my light reading that I get to look forward to every week, and I will surely miss it! (Special thanks to @simboubou too who I know didn’t make it all the way yet, but your translations in the early days kept me afloat and helped me learn!)
Thoughts on the ending
I ultimately thought the ending was a mixed bag. I like that they gave enough time for the resolution, but I found it a bit underwhelming. With so many chapters dedicated to sakuras internal confusion all building up to what was an ending that couldn’t have happened any other way. It was cute though, and I’m sufficiently pleased with the way the story tied together. I’m also so happy to know the whole story now as my partner is a fan of the series and so we can share that now!!
My biggest pet peeve was the last pages though. What the hell was with Li leaving on the train (and not making a dramatic scene by jumping off) if they were just gonna drop an “I’m back” timeskip panel on the next page?? I really thought that was the worst of both worlds lol
Nowadays, I’m really trying to up my novel reading game - I’m currently reading 人質の朗読会 with the IBC as well as 街とその不確かな壁 on my own time. I’ve also of course been running the ひらやすみ manga club here on the WK forums (which I highly recommend everyone here joins!!) It’s my favorite thing I’m reading right now. I’ve technically got Mario Galaxy and Pokémon platinum play through going on but I pick them up really infrequently.
congrats on finishing, everyone!!! I remember looking at the big stack of volumes and thinking I might have made a huge mistake, but it’s done!! It’s done and I can say I’ve read them all!!!
I have a habit of hedging my own accomplishment with “but I still heavily rely on a dictionary”, but I’m trying not to do that anymore. I think the heavy dictionary usage has actually taught me a lot. I’ve learned to use a Japanese keyboard with decent speed, learned to identify radicals in unfamiliar kanji, learned more about conjugation and dictionary form, and maybe even learned a new word here or there Like jablekanji I went from handwriting and translating EVERYTHING to being able to read some pages very quickly with minimal translation. It’s been a huge improvement. Thank you!!
I actually recently picked up a secondhand DS cartridge, 漢字そのまま楽引辞典. It’s an app designed to help Japanese natives learn English, but it also functions pretty well as an Japanese → English dictionary! When I was looking at actual electronic translators they seem to be starting around $100 and going up from there, but this cartridge was only $13. It’s been really useful! Japanese electronic dictionaries are so different than English dictionaries - I literally don’t think I would even have been able to navigate to my first translation on this app without the last two years of the book club teaching me how to read!
This is also the first time in years I’ve seriously read any manga in any language at all, and I think this is the first time I’ve actually finished a whole series front-to-back. Sakura was soooooo good. I have some other manga I want to import and read (namely Nana and Fruits Basket), but I’m a bit broke right now so it’ll have to wait
In the meantime I’ve been playing a bit of Idolmaster on PS3. No furigana!! The resolution is also so low that sometimes I can’t even begin to make out what radicals are in the kanji so I can look it up, haha. I’ve fumbled some events pretty badly from completely misreading the text, but I guess that’s a type of learning too.
Big thank you to Zucchi for hosting and for everyone else for the help, translations, discussions, and everything else. I had a great time with this club and hope to see you around in another one!
I read through CCS in English forever ago. When Clear Card started releasing in English, I planned to re-read CCS first, but only got as far as completing the Maze card event before I started reading manga in Japanese. And there’s no way I was going to start Clear Card in Japanese without reading CCS in Japanese first, so that’s that crossed off the list!
I wonder if the ending was a sequel hook? Like Syaoran seriously glosses over this thing he had to do in Hong Kong that took literal years lol. They didn’t expect people to accept that with no explanation, did they?
I didn’t mind the time skip so much, but maybe that’s because I had to see it in advance while setting up the book club post lol. So it was no surprise to me.
I did think the bus scene was a bit silly though! Like, first of all, was it really possible for Syaoran to catch his plane when he got on the bus to the airport less than an hour before departure? And then, what was Sakura’s plan? Did she know somehow which bus Syaoran would be taking, or did she intend to go to the airport herself? Was the airport so small she expected to be able to find Syaoran?
Also, Syaoran appeared to be the only one on the bus, but the bus driver still completely ignored him yelling and leaning his whole body out the window and started driving?
I don’t know, I think the scene would have been really sweet even if Sakura just gave the bear to Syaoran at his house instead of having all the extra drama, lol.
@ChristopherFritz Are you going to start reading Clear Card soon, then? Have fun!
After two years straight of Cardcaptor Sakura (and 1.5 years of running the bookclub) I think I’m ready to start something different. Maybe I’ll get the itch to read Clear Card in the future, though!
That said, you can sometimes still succeed at this for a European-internal flight with no checked luggage in Dublin Airport. If you’re feeling very brave.
That’s fair, I did wonder if things were just Different back in the day – I guess we should also assume Sakura and Syaoran live pretty close to the airport!
Thanks for the congratulations! It wouldn’t have happened without you.
Thanks so much for hosting this club @zucchi, and thanks to everyone else for reading along too!
The Cardcaptor Sakura anime was the first thing that made me want to learn Japanese, so reading the whole manga in Japanese has been something I wanted to do for a very long time but always put off as something I should do when I was better at reading.
Having people to read along with gave me the motivation to actually do it.
Thanks for helping the childhood version of me achieve one of her dreams
Like jablekanji I went from handwriting and translating EVERYTHING to being able to read some pages very quickly with minimal translation. It’s been a huge improvement. Thank you!!
The resolution is also so low that sometimes I can’t even begin to make out what radicals are in the kanji so I can look it up, haha. I’ve fumbled some events pretty badly from completely misreading the text, but I guess that’s a type of learning too.
