First Impressions: Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card-hen Prologue - Sakura to Futatsu no Kuma
By: Zero OmegaIt's been 17 years since the conclusion of CLAMP's famous Card Captor Sakura anime and manga, and aside from a couple movie releases and an off-shoot universe (Tsubasa Chronicles), news about the core Card Captor Sakura series has been relatively quiet. That all changed on June 3, 2016 with the July release of shōjo manga magazine, Nakayoshi, that featured a new arc in the CCS series, Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card. It was later announced that not only would the manga continue, but an anime adaptation would be created and released in January 2018. Cue massive excitement. Fast forward to July 2017, it is time for Anime-Expo and with it come the world premiere of a new OAV Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card-hen Prologue - Sakura to Futatsu no Kuma which is used to bridge the time between the end of the first anime and beginning of the new one.[arve url="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VySDRbfnev4" title="Card Captor Sakura Clear Card Promotional Video" description="Promotional video for the Card Captor Sakura Clear Card prolouge OVA" maxwidth="0" /]And it was pretty entertaining. Having not seen Card Captor Sakura since it ended on Kids WB years ago, it was an awesome blast from the past and a great nostalgia trip. This OVA was definitely as it promised, a connecting link between the two series. If you had already seen the entirety of the first arc, this OVA will look very familiar as it is essentially a retelling of the last two episodes of the first anime. Sakura has captured all the Clow Cards and converted them to Sakura Cards, Eriol announces he's leaving for England, Sayoran confesses his true feelings for Sakura and that he plans to return to Hong Kong, yeah, if you're familiar with the ending nothing here is going to surprise you. That being said, this OVA wasn't to really give you anything truly new, but to get you ready for the new anime adaptation, it catches you up with the events of the anime as Clear Card will kick off right after the first arc. As I mentioned, the OVA itself was very enjoyable for what it's supposed to be and as someone who hasn't seen an episode in quite some time, it was a treat to see in brand new, clear animation. While I haven't watched the series in its original Japanese dubbing, it seems like the original cast was on board for this OAV, the main stars being: Aya Hisakawa as KerberosJunko Iwao as Tomoyo DaidōjiMotoko Kumai as Syaoran LiSakura Tange as Sakura Kinomoto This OAV was a wonderful introduction to the new series and it is definitely something that'll be a treat for new and old fans of Card Captor Sakura, though I do recommend that if you have managed to avoid the manga and anime up to this point, don't go jumping right into it or else you're gonna get some major spoilers. We'll be looking forward to the return of Sakura and her friends in January 2018!