ABBC Offshoot・カードキャプターさくら・Card Captor Sakura Vol 2-12 Book Club🌸Home Thread - Vol 3 Starts Mar 15th!

Japanese Language Book Clubs
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This is the ABBC Offshoot Book Club for volumes 2-12 of カードキャプターさくら!

View this series on Natively!

CCS Vol 2 Kindle Image
CCS Vol 2 Kindle Image1057×1500 282 KB

Thank you @araigoshi for running the ABBC Card Captor Sakura Book Club, on which this book club is closely based. If you haven’t read vol 1 yet, start there!

How To Participate/Note About Editions:

There are multiple editions of Cardcaptor Sakura (further details below). Here’s what you need to know:

  1. We are currently reading 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). Clear Card is the sequel and has a completely new storyline, so it won’t be useful for this book club at all. Please be careful when purchasing!

  2. Card Captor Sakura has three editions: the original edition (OG), the refurbishment edition (RE), and the anniversary edition (AE).

  • The paperpack 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!
  1. For this book club, I intend to post a new thread for every new volume. Keep an eye on this thread for updates!

Schedule:

Current volume is in bold.

For an individual volume’s schedule, please go to the thread for that volume.

Note: Future volume starting dates assume two weeks per chapter and no breaks between volumes. Subject to change.

Vol Date Chapters Vol (AE)
1 Sep 7, 2024 1-5 1
2 Jan 4, 2025 6-10 1-2
3 Mar 15, 2025 11-14 2-3
4 May 10, 2025 15-18 3
5 Jul 5, 2025 19-22 4
6 Aug 30, 2025 23-26 4-5
7 Oct 25, 2025 27-30 5-6
8 Dec 20, 2025 31-34 6-7
9 Feb 14, 2026 35-38 7
10 Apr 11, 2026 39-42 8
11 Jun 6, 2026 43-45 8-9
12 Aug 1, 2026 46-50 9

Vocabulary:

Vocabulary Sheet Master List

Vol 1
Vol 2
Vol 3

Vocabulary sheets are also linked in each volume’s thread.

Note: the vocab sheet lists three sets of page numbers: OG (original edition), RE (refurbishment edition) and AE (anniversary edition). When adding page numbers, please use printed page numbers for consistency, even if you are using a digital edition.

Also, on occasion there have been differences in dialogue between the editions. If the vocab sheet contains words that you can’t find in your manga, please check if it’s for a different edition than yours!

For vol 1-3 you can also reference Manga Kotoba. (It will be updated as the book club continues!)

Discussion Guidelines

Please use this thread for general discussions about the Card Captor book club, such as questions about the scheduling, or what books you’ve purchased so far. For discussing specific details of your reading, please go to the related volume’s thread.

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.

  1. Any spoilers, predictions and conjecture for the Card Captor Sakura books should be hidden by spoiler tags and labelled with the chapter information. Spoilers from the anime, the Clear Card series, or other related things should be labeled with the source (ex. “anime episode 1”)

  2. Any potential spoilers for external sources need to be covered by a spoiler tag and include a label (outside of the spoiler tag) of what might be spoiled. These include but are not limited to: other book club picks, other books, games, movies, anime, etc.

Instructions For Spoiler Tags

Click the cog above the text box and use either the “Hide Details” or “Blur Spoiler” options. The text which says “This text will be hidden” should be replaced with what you are wishing to write. In the case of “Hide Details”, the section in the brackets that is labelled “Summary” can be replaced with whatever you like also (i.e, [details=”Chapter 1, Pg. 1”]).

Hide Details results in the dropdown box like below:

Example

This is an example of the “Hide Details” option.

The “Blur Spoiler” option will simply blur the text it surrounds.

This is an example of the “Blur Spoiler” option.

Membership Polls

Still open! Feel free to vote if you're joining us late.

Will you be reading with us?

  • Yes
  • Yes, but I might start late
  • Maybe
  • No
0 voters

What version will you be reading?

  • eBook (OG)
  • eBook (RE)
  • Paperback (OG)
  • Hardcover (RE)
  • Hardcover (AE)
0 voters

Don’t forget to set this thread to Watching for important updates, such as when a new volume’s thread is posted!

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Number of pages per week:

UPDATE:
As per the results of the poll, we will be reading volume 2 at a pace of 2 weeks per chapter. We will revisit the pace at the end of volume 2.

Original Post

After the first two chapters of vol 1, the cardcaptor sakura book club moved at a steady 2 weeks per chapter.

I plan to continue at this pace, at least for vol 2, as the chapters seem to be a similar length to in vol 1. Note that I haven’t checked how many pages have low/no text – basically, it seems to be just a few pages per chapter. We can revisit this topic at the end of vol 2.

Other options:
We could increase the pace, either to a simple one week per chapter, or we could split chapters 8 and 10 into two weeks since those are slightly longer.

We could also decrease the pace to 3 weeks per chapter, as per the beginning of the vol 1 book club.

What pace would you like to read volume 2 at?

  • Keep the current pace (2 weeks per chapter)
  • Increase the pace to 1 week per chapter
  • Read chaps 6,7 and 9 in 1 week, split 8 and 10 into two weeks
  • Decrease the pace to 3 weeks per chapter
0 voters
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When to start:

UPDATE:
As per the results of the poll, we will start the offshoot book club on Jan 4th, after the Christmas and New Year’s holidays.

Original Post

I’m currently planning to start the book club on Dec 14th, right after the current one ends. However, that would be just 1.5 weeks before Christmas, which is often a busy time for people, including myself.

Alternatively, we have the option of starting on Jan 4th, skipping the whole Christmas + New Years season. This would give people plenty of time for the holidays, but it’s a full three-week break.

We could also start on Dec 21st for a one-week break, which would give people time to acquire CCS vol 2 + finish any late reading. This would mean starting just a few days before Christmas, though.

Similarly, starting on the Dec 28th would give us a two-week break, putting us after Christmas… but just before New Years.

I’ve provided those options for completeness, but note that if we start on the 21st or the 28th. I don’t expect to be very active during those weeks.

When would you like to start the offshoot club?

  • Dec 14th (no break)
  • Dec 21st (one week break, before Christmas)
  • Dec 28th (two week break, after Christmas)
  • Jan 4th (three week break, after Christmas and the New Year)
0 voters
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Thanks for putting this together zucchi! I just put in an order for the AE edition from Japan (so excited!). Will probably take a few weeks to arrive given the Christmas rush, but I’m fine to keep the momentum going on the 14th with a digital copy. FWIW we are not huge on Christmas around here, so I’m not inconvenienced by the holiday nearly as much as many other people are. I have no problems waiting around if we want to push the start date…I just might read ahead a bit :slight_smile:

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If we start in January, we can always create the thread in December for those who want to start ahead. I voted to continue, but if some people want to wait for new year, let’s do that. It would be silly to leave people behind.

If we’re able, it would be nice to eventually increase the pace. Maybe it would be simpler to just set a number of weeks per volume ?
We’ll re evaluate at the end of volume 2 anyway.

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Yes! I definitely don’t want to leave anyone behind!

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It does seem like some offshoot book clubs go by weeks per volume vs a weekly reading schedule! My only concern is that I, for one, tend to procrastinate if there’s no weekly schedule. I don’t want to end up trying to binge a whole volume in the last week :joy:

I will note that if we go for two weeks per chapter, we will naturally increase pace at least a little bit, because
A) we aren’t doing the slow start that we did in the ABBC
B) vols 3-11 have only four chapters each.

Of course, the week is just starting, so I’ll continue to keep an eye on the poll! And we’ll have a chance to re-evaluate later, too.

Also, it does indeed seem like officially starting after the new year is the way to go! Better to wait a while than to leave behind half the club. Maybe we’ll be joined by some folks who have been reading the first volume at their own pace too.

I’ll consider opening the vol 2 thread early if there’s interest, though you’re also welcome to read ahead and make notes in advance, which could help the discussion a bit more organized. Otherwise, maybe we could do a “pre-reading” section in the thread where everything needs to be spoiler tagged and labeled with the chapter, etc.

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For something that branches off from ABBC (or even BBC), a weekly schedule is essential.

When spanning a chapter across two weeks, there are two methods you can choose from:

  1. Do half a chapter per week, splitting chapters in two, with weekly posts.

  2. Do two weeks per chapter without splitting the chapter. A primary “next chapter” post is done every two weeks, but a check-in post can be done in the midway week to get a feel for how everyone’s doing. (If everyone repeatedly polls “I’ve finished reading this chapter” at the halfway mark, the remaining readers are likely ready to pick up the pace.)

I often try to get a new volume’s thread up at least a week in advance, but I also usually fail to do so and create it right at the start of the reading schedule.

For the first volume of an offshoot, I recommend treating it like a book club pick, where you post a bit in advance. This gives you a chance to figure out what all will go into the post and any resources and links you want to include, rather than figuring it all out last minute. (You can optionally do this in a draft post without posting it in advance.)

Overall, it’s often the case that anyone who falls behind is unlikely to catch up, even given a break period. This certainly isn’t the case for everyone (I’ve fallen way behind and managed to catch up many times!), and I agree 100% with giving some breathing room based on the poll. I only mention this so you’re prepared if some people don’t catch up in time, and the offshoot must push ahead with a smaller readership than you may have expected.

More volumes will be added over time as I buy them and read along with the club =D

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I started volume two and really need to check my understanding of two EXTREMELY important plot points.

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Thank you so much for your insight!

I think to start with, it might be easier for folks if each week has a specific number of pages, since that’s how the original book club worked. I’ll keep in mind the other option for later!

I’ll definitely prep the thread in advance! It may well be easiest for me to post it before Christmas so I don’t have to think about it over the holidays, though I’ll be sure to note the official reading time isn’t until January.

Good point! I definitely don’t expect everyone from the vol 1 book club to be joining us. Still, even the folks who’ve responded in this thread seem to favor having a break, so it looks like that’s what we’ll be doing.

Thank you for your work on Manga Kotoba! I’m glad to have you join us!

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Picked up a copy at kinokuniya yesterday and couldn’t help cracking it open for a peek, but gonna try to not go too far ahead of the club. Some great discussion here already but I’ll just second the fact that at least to start out it’s better safe than sorry, and we should go less by the winner of the polls but more by just how we can best accommodate all the readers. I also would like to increase speed eventually, but I think that’s something we can talk about later down the line as I imagine we will all improve in reading speed and readership will likely dwindle as well. Our current reading speed will have us reading CCS for about 2 years haha. Can’t wait to get reading with everyone!!

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Thanks for setting this up, zucchi! I’ve been a bit delayed on the last couple of weeks for the Vol 1 club, but I’m caught up now and looking forward to reading more! I haven’t put in a vote on the polls for pace or start time because I don’t really have a preference - whatever works for the most people is good for me! :grin:

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I forgot to mention, my post is just recommendations and guidelines. If you think of anything you want to try differently, don’t hesitate to give it a go.

This is something I’ve incorporated, especially when polling mid-offshoot to see if we’re ready for a speed-up. I might, for example, only increase the speed if 75% of readers are ready for it; a poll saying 60% for speed up, 40% to keep the slower pace would result in keeping the slower pace.

Whenever a poll result may not go with “most votes”, I recommend mentioning it when first posting the poll so everyone knows what to expect.

The Takagi club recently finished after over 3.5 years (20 volumes)! It’s amazing to look back on how long it’s been, reading a series every week for so long. (And now we’re on the sequel series, which is even longer. I hope I live long enough to finish running it! :skull_and_crossbones: )

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Polls are closed!

As per the results of the polls, the CCS Offshoot Book Club will be starting on Jan 4th at a pace of two weeks per chapter for Vol 2.

Thank you everyone for participating in the polls and for your helpful discussion!

The Vol 2 thread has been posted in advance for anyone who might be interested in giving it a look.

I’ll post a reminder in this thread once reading starts on Jan 4th!

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My AE edition arrived on the same day the early thread got posted…coincidence? :thinking:

I am so stoked! Incredible timing regardless, it wasn’t supposed to arrive until early January so I wasn’t expecting this at all. The text is so crisp…I can finally see furigana :joy:

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If anyone is lurking here wishing they read volume one so they can join in on volume two, it’s free to read through Christmas on BookWalker:

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The Card Captor Sakura Book Club Has Officially Started!

Hooray, it’s finally time! Happy 2025, everyone!

Please make your way down to the Vol 2 thread to get started with the discussion!

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I’ve made week 2’s post!

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Vol 3 Reading Pace Poll

Based on the results of the poll, we will be reading volume 3 at a rate of 2 weeks per chapter.

Original Post

Hey folks, we’re coming up to the end of volume 2! It’s a good time to revisit the reading pace for our club. Namely, does 2 weeks per chapter still work for you, or would you prefer to increase the pace?

For reference, here are the page counts for vol 3:

Chapter Pages (RE) Page Count (no interchapter art)
11 7-50 41
12 51-98 44
13 99-144 42
14 145-189 44

Because this volume has only 4 chapters, but a similar number of pages as vol 2, the chapters have, on average, 10 more pages each. I haven’t had a chance to check how dense each page is on average, though.

Since the chapters are all almost identical in length, I won’t be suggesting a mixed approach for this volume.

Just to be clear, I’ll only consider increasing the pace if there’s a strong majority interested in doing so (maybe 70%+), as we’re a small club and I don’t want to leave people behind. Also, regardless of the exact vote count, I’m happy to hear people’s opinions on the issue below before making a final decision.

And of course, we can revisit the topic at the end of vol 2!

What pace would you like to read volume 3 at?

  • Keep the current pace (2 weeks per chapter)
  • Increase the pace to 1 week per chapter
0 voters
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I’ve already been struggling to keep up with the current pace due to a variety of reasons. Seeing that the next set set of chapters are longer and the group is overwhelmingly voting to move at a faster pace, I will likely drop out if that’s the direction that the group is moving in. I am already compromising my learning a bit to try to keep up, and if it goes any faster I will just be skimming and not be able to take the time to translate and learn the language properly.

The book club was advertised as ABBC, and by increasing the length and the pace at the same time it makes the entire level of the book club increase midway through with basically no warning. Maybe other ABBCers are learning and reading at a faster pace than I am, and that’s fine. I don’t expect the club to cater to me in particular just because I have been consistently lagging behind. But if people who are voting to increase the pace are already reading at intermediate or expert levels and are just bored with a beginner’s pace, that would be really upsetting to me.

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