Episode 8: "Sakura's Rival Appears" or "Sakura's Rival"
Introduction to the Experiment
Episode 7
Episode 8: Sakura's Rival Appears (Card Captor Sakura) or Sakura's Rival (Cardcaptors)
Okay, there is going to be a lot of jumping back and forth between the Japanese and the English versions. There are some changes but not quite to the extent of Episode 3 so I don't actually need two summaries.
Sakura is dreaming and it's similar to the one she had during the pilot except this time, it's not her standing in front of Tokyo Tower but a boy dressed in Chinese clothes. In the English version, she is panicking because this boy now has the Clow Cards. Kero is worried about her and wakes her up. His face so close to hers freaks her out but then she explains that she had a weird dream about a boy wearing Chinese clothes. Toya comes in and asks her what's going on. Toya asks if she's having a nightmare, Tory asks who she's talking to. Either way, he eventually leaves her room and Sakura and Kero discuss the dream. In the Japanese version, Kero tells her that she should be aware that her dream may be a foretelling dream. She may very well meet that boy very soon. In the English version, Kero tells her to stop worrying about the dream. She should focus on capturing the Clow Cards and "expect things when you least expect them". Sakura then rushes off to go to school with Toya and Yukito. Eventually, Sakura tells Yukito that she had a weird dream. Then Yukito/Julian gives the same advice as whatever respective Kero their show has gave earlier. Anyway, Sakura gets to school and it turns out that they have a new transfer student from Hong Kong: Li (family name) Syaoran (given name) or Li (apparently his given name) Showron (apparently his family name). (Thanks wikipedia for the proper spelling!) In the English version, Sakura recognizes the boy as the one from her dream. Anyway, Li glares at Sakura from the front of the room, then glares at her in front of her desk, then glares at her some more from his newly appointed seat behind her. Li glares at Sakura and it's freaking her out because she can't understand why. After all that, Li comes up to her and indicates they should go outside. In the English version, we just jump straight to them being outside. Li recites an incantation while holding a board with various magical symbols on it. He calls this a Lasin Board and depending on the version, it's either a Clow Card compass or it "knows all". A light shoots out of it and into Sakura. Apparently, this confirms Li's hypothesis that Sakura has the Clow Cards. The ensuing argument between them brings up and omits certain items depending on the version you watch. The Japanese version has Li demand the Cards and Sakura refuse because she promised Kero that she would capture them. Li makes the connection that Kero is Kerberus and asks why he leaving the cards to some kid (the irony of him making this statement flies completely over his head). Sakura admits that Kero is not strong enough yet. Li remarks that Kero needs the Fire and Earth Cards and asks how long she's been searching. It turns out to be two months and Li is not very impressed with her progress so far. The English version has Li also demand the Cards but Sakura refuses more defiantly and says that she's doing it for Kero. Li makes the connection that Kero is Kerberus and asks why someone like her is capturing the cards. Sakura admits that she was the one who opened the book in the first place. Li remarks that Kerberus should have been guarding them and ask if they all escaped. Sakura tells him yes. Li asks if she got them back. A few, she replies and adds that she's "working on it". Li is not impressed. Either way, Li seriously wants those Cards and manhandles her to take them by force. Tomoyo and Toya both see him attacking Sakura and Toya jumps over the fence to take Li on. Tomoyo goes to comfort Sakura. Toya and Li have a stare down until Yukito shows up, breaking the tension with food. Yukito, oblivious to it all, starts handing out foods to Toya, Sakura, Tomoyo, and even Li. Li is extremely unnerved by Yukito's presence and eventually runs away, flailing. Sakura and Tomoyo head home (in the Japanese version, they start off with Rika who then leaves to get a present for her older man boyfriend. This is cut in the English version), discussing the Li situation. In the Japanese, Sakura admits that she had been unable to contact Kero. In the English, Sakura is confident that Kero has got her back and working right now on a plan. Either way, Kero is snoozing away. Anyway, suddenly the sky goes dark and lightning bolts start striking everywhere. And just as suddenly, it stops and there's a perfect blue sky. Sakura gets home and wakes Kero up and explain the situation off-screen. Kero's scene after this varies on the version. In the Japanese version, Kero immediately concludes that Li is part of the Li clan, that is, Clow's mother's side of the family. You see, Clow had a British father and Chinese mother, that's why the Clow Card magic combines Western and Eastern magics. And Clow was really awesome because most people who practice magic just use whatever magic is out there. Clow actually developed his own magic. Anyway, Kero had heard rumors about how the Li clan had moved to Hong Kong so apparently this is true. Anyway, this makes Li a distant relative of Clow Reed. In the English version, Kero just repeats his earlier advice ("expect the unexpected") and explains that something like this was bound to happen. The Clow Cards are really powerful so yeah something like this was bound to happen. Then Kero explains that while Clow was awesome and developed his own magic, most people just follow the traditions. And some of those people are "born into" these traditions. Li just so happens to be a descendant of Clow Reed. Either way Kero explains this, Sakura realizes that if Li is related to Clow Reed then she should have given Li the Cards. Kero disagrees: the Clow Cards don't work like that. Sakura had enough power to open the seal and her name is written on the Cards she has. She has every right to those Cards. Tomoyo then calls: the sky's all dark again and there's lightning. Sakura gets into a battle costume and starts going after the lightning bolts. As they're doing this, Kero remembers the fact that Li has that Lasin Board and that they better catch the Card before Li shows up since he will know that a Card is on the loose because of his board. The only way to seal this Card is to get it into its original form. But it's all Sakura can do to not get zapped. Eventually, she runs into Li on a roof top, who is astonished that she doesn't know Thunder's original form. Li is wearing his Chinese outfit, by the way. Anyway, Li casts some sort of thunder spell at Thunder which, in the words of Sailor Jupiter in the SMA Series, is actually lightning but no one ever seems to notice. As he falls, Sakura notices that it's just like her dream (except it isn't because they're nowhere near Tokyo Tower but whatever). For some reason, the thunder that is really lightning spell works and Thunder forced into the form of a dog. Oh, sorry, a Thunder Beast. Seriously, it's a dog. In the Japanese version, Li berates her first for not knowing that turning Thunder into its original shape then sealing it would work and then for pulling out the Windy Card. As Sakura defends her choice of Card, Kero gets upset that Li calls her "baka" (which is very insulting in Kansai dialect). In the English version, Li decides to tell Sakura that the beast is called Raiju and berates her for not knowing that. Sakura tells him to "back off". Sakura then suggests Windy Card but Li says, no, that won't work. Sakura retorts that Windy's worked before. Kero gets mad because while they're standing there bickering, Raiju is still there and active. Either way, Li suggests the Shadow Card, which Sakura has. The Shadow Card traps the Thunder Card in a ball and Sakura seals it that way. Li and Kero get formally acquainted. Li is very not impressed that the guardian of the Clow Card is essentially a stuffed animal. Kero bites his finger to punish him. After this, Li storms off and Tomoyo runs to Sakura. Sakura does not look very pleased.
Want to watch for yourself?
Card Captor Sakura Episode 8 (All)
Cardcaptors Episode 8: Part 1/2
Cardcaptors Episode 8: Part 2/2
Edit: Here is another set of videos.
Cardcaptors Episode 8: Part 1/3
Cardcaptors Episode 8: Part 2/3
Cardcaptors Episode 8: Part 3/3
Okay, I had to write up the summary and return to do the evaluation a few days apart so forgive me if I miss a few details as I evaluate this.
Ah, yes, this is Li's official introduction. The man, the myth, the legend... unfortunately I forgot his introduction is kind of lame and slow moving. You may have been wondering why I am calling the boy "Li" instead of "Syaoran" like I have been for the past couple of evaluations. Funny story about that. When I originally read the Card Captor Sakura manga, I had terrible trouble pronouncing Li Syaoran's name. I couldn't figure out how to do the "syao" sound (the "sy" is a "sh" sound and it rhymes with Mao as in "chairman Mao". In fact, a lot of fans still to this day write the name as "Shaoran" but it doesn't look right to me so I don't) so I'd just call him "Li" even after the characters and the fans switched to Syaoran. Fast forward a few years and I got into Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle which has another Syaoran in it. By this point, I could pronounce the name so I called this one "Syaoran" and since they're sort of the same (it's complicated and spoilery to explain further), I now call both "Syaoran". Unfortunately, when I went to do this project, I realized that Li isn't called Syaoran for some time so it's back to Li. Sorry for any confusion this has caused. Fun fact: Li Syaoran's real name would Li Xiao Lang, which is very similar to the name Li Xiao Long which is the real name of... Bruce Lee!
You may remember that I objected to Li's deep voice during the last few seconds of episode seven. In particular, I said that his actress sounded very deep. I would like to extend to my apologies to Rhys Huber, the actor who plays Li in this season. That's right, English language Li is played by an actual male actor. In fact, considering that his imdb.com profile gave his birthdate, he is only a month and half younger than I am, which means he was about fourteen when he played Li. Wow, I bet he was popular in school! I mean, Cardcaptors wasn't cool even among the otaku crowd, never mind the general public. So, even nearly a decade later, I had to further add salt to the wound and think that he was actually a woman. So, Rhys Huber, if you stumble upon this, I would like to apologize for thinking that you were a woman.
Alright, the two titles are very similar and I actually like both. But I prefer the Japanese one. I don't know, adding "appears" at the end gives it more of a punch, in my opinion.
This episode, in both versions, is actually pretty odd. It feels like a pilot in both versions. I actually understood why the WB chose to show this episode first because it's like the other episodes never happened. I mean, it's not like someone pushed the "Reset" button or anything but just the tone and actions that Sakura takes seem like things that she was still doing in the first episode. We seriously get another "Sakura has to rush to go to school with Toya and Yukito and Yukito's so pretty!" scene. Um, the Japanese episodes have been shoving Yukito and Sakura's crush on him in our faces for the past couple of episodes, why are they all like "Do you know who this man is?" (Although, the English viewers might appreciate the reminder of who Julian is since half of his scenes were cut). It never comes out and says "Let's introduction the concept of the show and the characters again!" but it's just the way the story unfolds until Li shows up.
All of the changes stemmed from one thing: characterization. The very same things would happen in both version but the characters would react completely differently depending on the version, sometimes in contrast to what was going on the screen.
Let's start with Tory. Remember last time when I talked about how Tory is a lot nicer in the English version? Well, forget that. Holy crap, he is total jerk in this episode for no reason whatsoever. I mean, Toya's early morning teasing was actually mild compared to what he usually does. But Tory? Seriously needs to let his joke of Sakura talking to herself/stuffed animals die. He keeps bringing up in this weird effort to show how mean he is. "Look, Julian, I'm teasing my little sister! I'm humiliating her in public! Which is out of character for me in the version! Pay attention to me!" And Julian's like "Ignoring you..." He just seems very vindictive in this episode compared to his behavior in the other episodes.
And Kero? Kero seemed kind of blase in the English version. When Sakura is worrying about her dream, in the Japanese, Kero is trying to comforting. In the English version, Kero essentially like "Quit yer bitchin' and capture me some cards!" I mean, I know the Clow Cards are important to Kero but his cardcaptor is clearly upset by her dream; maybe he should console her first? Besides, it seems like she can't catch a card without it acting up first so telling her to focus on that seems kind of pointless. And speaking of advice, why change Kero's advice? So they can have a neat-yet-cliched tagline for the show? I mean, it's pretty clear to anyone who saw the pilot that Sakura has precognitive (even if its target audience can't spell or define that word) dreams; why couldn't English Kero just say what he said in the original? It doesn't affect anything major in the plot (Li still shows up no matter what Kero says!) but it just makes it seem like Kero's blowing Sakura off.
But the character who wins the characterization change prize is... Sakura! Who bit Sakura right before this episode started? Because she has serious 'tude this entire episode. I mean, I had been noticing that English Sakura tends to be a bit tougher than Japanese Sakura (English Sakura doesn't go on and on about how she's afraid of ghosts, for example) and I didn't mind it but in this episode, man, she's like the only ten year old girl with PMS! English Sakura acts completely different than Japanese Sakura. English Sakura is suddenly all territorial about the Clow Cards, her dream being a good example. Why does Sakura care so much about the Chinese boy in her dream having the Cards? And he didn't even have the Cards, they were just flying around in the air, not being owned by anyone! She was freaking out about nothing! And her interactions with Li are so heated; she gives as good as she gets. I think the Card capture in this episode is a good example where she's telling Li to "back off" when he starts critiquing her methods. Unfortunately, although the dub track has Sakura sounded assertive and confident, the actual shots show Sakura cringing and hiding behind Li at one point. And why she is suddenly so confident in Kero's ability to help her defeat Li? Surely she knows Kero's habits by now and, besides, how would he know what was going on? She never mentions if she called him or anything, so what, psychic link? (Although her stating that Kero was working right now on a plan and then cutting to him snoring was pretty hysterical). From the moment Li shows up, Sakura is on this combative territorial kick that has no end in sight. It's not that I mind that Sakura is more assertive, I mean, dammit, Li really needs to can it with the comments when he hasn't captured a single Card yet, it's just it's so jarring when you watch the Japanese version and even just watch the English episodes before this. The entire time I was going, "Whoa! Sakura! Where did that come from?" What happened to Sakura since we saw her last?
In other news, you will be surprised to learn that Li is consistently in character between versions. One of the comments on youtube said that "Lee" (I, too, thought that was the English spelling in Cardcaptors but both Wikipedia and Internet Movie Database seem to agree it's Li in both versions) was a "sexist" jerk as opposed to Li who was presumably kind. This view of Li is shared by this ranter who objects to Del Rey's description of Card Captor Sakura Li in their first volume of Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle here: "'Where the CS Syaoran is dour, surly, even rude at times, Tsubasa's version is open, friendly- and clearly in love with Sakura.' CCS Syaoran is not rude. Right? Right? I mean having said "baka" once in a life time... Not the rudest ever. ... I haven't watched the American-ized version of CCS, but surely they didn't make the cute, dorky Syaoran rude."
Really? Really? Did the two objectors watch the same show I just did? Li is not a nice kid! In either version! In fact, I think he's slightly creepier in the Japanese track! It never really occurred how freaky Li is until I watched this episode. I mean, he physically intimidates Sakura and then physically manhandles her to extract the Cards from her possession! And then tries to engage in fisticuffs with a nearly grown man! And then later on, during the Card capture, all he does is rag on her. If you're so smart, Li, why don't you just capture the Card and save your breath? Where the hell would anyone get "cute" and "dorky"? At least in the manga, he doesn't really get to the "cute" and "dorky" stages of his personality unless he's crushing on someone, which doesn't take that much page time (at first) so yeah, Li is kind of a dour, surly, (gasp) even rude little kid. Yeah, yeah, he mellows out in the manga near the end but that's near the end. So, yes, Del Rey was right in saying that CCS!Syaoran can be described as rude because he is! Of course, I can't really answer the comment about CC!Li being more sexist than CCS!Li, this being the first episode with him in it and all, but considering that CC!Sakura is channeling Xena: Warrior Princess all of a sudden and, let's face it, Cardcaptors was designed with Western audience (read: more open to equal gender relations) in mind, I have a hard time believing that CC!Li is going to turn out to be a sexist pig. We'll see.
Just as a reminder: In case the above looks like a Li-bashing rant, it's not. Syaoran, in all of his myriad of forms, is one of my favorite fictional characters. I like CCS!Li just as much as I like TRC!Syaoran but I like them for different reasons. What I don't like is when fans forget that CCS!Li started out with and still retained to a small extent some unsavorable characteristics because that's the reason I found the character some much fun.
Characterization issues aside, the English actor for Li is hit and miss. Some lines, he nails. The line "What do you think this is, Chinese checkers?" cracks me up every single time I watch it. Other times, it seems like he's reading off a card. I don't know whether this is a child actor thing or a "voice acting is different from regular acting" thing or if the actor just doesn't have a handle yet on the character, I don't know. I'm just hoping it improves. But, for right now, he's pretty shaky on his delivery.
Moving away from characterization, let's go into some broad changes. The first I'd like to point out is the name: Li Showron. First, I'd like to point out that "Showron" is pronounced the same as "Syaoran", much to my relief. However, saying his name is "Li Showron" might present some problems down the road, considering that Li is his family name. What are they going to do if Sakura ever decides to call Li by his first name and the lip flaps won't match? What if they need to discuss Li's family? I was hoping that them presenting it in that order was because Sakura's school is culturally sensitive or something but wikipedia and imdb.com seem to think that Li is the given name of the Cardcaptors character. We'll see how this flies later.
Second, why cut out the discussion about how Clow Reed was half English and half Chinese and that's why his magic is a mixture of both? Dude, Nelvana, you just got yourself a "Get Out of Jail Free" card regarding all the weirdo Chinese/Japanese characters running around! Why didn't they exploit this? I mean, "Eastern" magic is considered freaky and cool in the Western hemisphere (and, apparently, vice versa) so it wouldn't seem out of place. Oh, so the Cards use Eastern philosophy? Oh, okay. His descendants are Chinese magicians from Hong Kong? Ok, fine, seen this before. Li knows martial arts? Well, of course, he does! He's a magician from the exotic East! Everyone knows kung fu in the exotic East where magic and Bruce Lee dwells! Come on, guys, use what you already have!
Third, why did the English version make Li a more direct descendent than in the Japanese version? I thought that was an unusual choice. In the Japanese version, Kero almost goes as far as blowing the whole Li issue off as nothing because Li is a very distant relative. In the English version, Kero says that Li is a direct descendent, which, to me, means "great times ten grandfather" and he can trace back through his father, and his father, and his father without an interruption or marriage in sight. I just thought that was kind of a weird choice.
Four, why all the "My Thunder Beast Has a Name And It's R-A-I-J-U" nonsense? Since when have the Clow Cards had names besides what the Cards are called? It's not in the Japanese version, nor in the manga if I'm remembering correctly, so the English dubbers clearly just made that name up. But, seriously, why? Did they want Li's complaints to be more colorful?
But I did like some changes. First, thank you Nelvana for cutting out that creepy scene where Sakura's teacher does the Humpert Humpert throat clearing when he looks just a little too long at Rika. Trust me, this subplot we can definitely keep skipping in the future because it isn't played for laughs in the Japanese version. Second, I like how skillfully they got around the "baka" moment with Kero. Since that comment would not work for an English audience (it can lose even people who are learning Japanese. I only found out the difference recently), I liked how they connected it more to what was actually going on and actually made more sense than the original. I mean, seriously, English Kero has a point: The Card is still there, guys! Seal it already and bicker later! Third, I like how they did not reveal how long it's been since Sakura started collecting the Cards. It helped to cover up a plot hole that the Japanese version inadvertly reveals.
Which brings us to plot holes. I know I'm supposed to just critique the differences between the two but in this episode, like a few others, I noticed that it's the plot holes that bother me more than any sub/dub diversions.
1. Right, so, according to the Japanese version, it's been two months since she started. Remember the stuffed animal episode? It was the one with Jump. Yeah, that one. Let's assume episode one is one day and episode two is the next day, leaving the other six episodes to be scattered evenly through the remaining 58 days. The Jump episode happens during episode 5. Let's assume that every ten days after the first two days, Sakura caught a Card. That means that when the Jump Card was making a ruckus, she had been a cardcaptor for thirty days, so a month. Remember how the toy store owner was run out of her previous town because of weird burgalaries that were caused by the Jump Card? The Cards had only been out and about for a month! Are you telling me that she had a store, Jump found her, all the burgalaries happened, the rumors started, she closed up shop, and reopened her shop elsewhere all within a month timeframe? Even doing all that within a two month time frame would be hard to believe! Good thing that the English dubbers decided not to bother with putting the adventures into a time frame to avoid plot holes like this.
2. Back to the two months time frame, so how did Li get there in the first place? Has he been searching for the past two months for the Cards? Did they realize they were in Japan before all this or did the Li clan have a Clow Card alarm that went off when they escaped and used that to pinpoint the location? How did Li learn perfect Japanese in a two month timeframe? I find it hard to believe that Li just so happened to be already studying it before the escape happened. At least in the English version you can argue that since the Clow Cards are in the Canada/America and Li is from Hong Kong, Li would know English and thus can speak English fluently.
3. And is there no one else in the entire Li clan who can be put on cardcaptor duty? Why are they sending a young child to do their grunt work? Especially when it's not clear exactly how Li is supposed to capture the Cards since Sakura has the Key and Li does not.
4. And did anyone else notice that Li's Lasin Board mysteriously disappears when they start arguing about why Sakura has the Cards? One second, it's in his hand, the next, poof! No more pesky board! And where the hell does he carry it? Did he just have it in his schoolbag? So, when he went to creepily pat Sakura on the shoulder to get her to come outside, did they have to go back to the classroom to get his Lasin Board and then go out again without Sakura once asking what exactly that thing is?
5. And did anyone else notice that Li's eyebrows and bottom half of his hair doesn't match the rest of his hair? Seriously, his eyebrows are black but his hair is light brown! It's freaky-looking and it looks like Li decided to dye his hair the night before! And why does the hair along his neck have to be black as well? I mean, is he trying to grow out his roots? A frost tip experiment gone wrong? What's up with the weird coloring? Okay, I'll admit it, that's not a plot hole. But it bugged me anyway.
6. Okay, I get why Sakura has to change clothes to battle Cards. Tomoyo makes her. But what is Li's excuse? Why does he have to change into his Chinese outfit when they're fighting the Thunder Card? I mean, the hat alone seems pretty impractical for battling wayward Cards. Does Li just like being a drama queen?
7. How does Kero hear "rumors" about anything? Wasn't he stuck to the book? Did the previous owners read aloud Celebrity Magician Rumor mags or something?
Edit: 8. And why all the secrecy from Li about his relation to Clow Reed? Why couldn't he just tell her how he knew about the Cards? She might have actually given them to him, no questions asked, if he had just said that he was a relative of Clow Reed! What's weird is the English dub actually has Li allude to his relationship to Clow Reed by saying "You'd be surprised" when Sakura asked who he is. But, seriously, why couldn't Li just say, "Look, Clow Reed is an ancestor of mine so it's my responsibility to capture those cards. Now, give it!"
As before, there are minor cuts and line changes, most of the most important I've already discussed. I was pretty surprised that Julian got to keep his scene but, then again, the original wasn't exactly brimming with boy-crush vibes as much as I expected so we'll see what happens if and when it's gets more obvious that, um, Li may not be playing on the same team as Sakura, if you know what I mean.
In conclusion, this episode tends to drag in either version and the English dub did not take advantage of the opportunities presented to it and changed things that could have been left alone, so I judge these episodes to be...
Different, with the Japanese Card Captor Sakura being the superior.
Episode 9
Episode 7
Episode 8: Sakura's Rival Appears (Card Captor Sakura) or Sakura's Rival (Cardcaptors)
Okay, there is going to be a lot of jumping back and forth between the Japanese and the English versions. There are some changes but not quite to the extent of Episode 3 so I don't actually need two summaries.
Sakura is dreaming and it's similar to the one she had during the pilot except this time, it's not her standing in front of Tokyo Tower but a boy dressed in Chinese clothes. In the English version, she is panicking because this boy now has the Clow Cards. Kero is worried about her and wakes her up. His face so close to hers freaks her out but then she explains that she had a weird dream about a boy wearing Chinese clothes. Toya comes in and asks her what's going on. Toya asks if she's having a nightmare, Tory asks who she's talking to. Either way, he eventually leaves her room and Sakura and Kero discuss the dream. In the Japanese version, Kero tells her that she should be aware that her dream may be a foretelling dream. She may very well meet that boy very soon. In the English version, Kero tells her to stop worrying about the dream. She should focus on capturing the Clow Cards and "expect things when you least expect them". Sakura then rushes off to go to school with Toya and Yukito. Eventually, Sakura tells Yukito that she had a weird dream. Then Yukito/Julian gives the same advice as whatever respective Kero their show has gave earlier. Anyway, Sakura gets to school and it turns out that they have a new transfer student from Hong Kong: Li (family name) Syaoran (given name) or Li (apparently his given name) Showron (apparently his family name). (Thanks wikipedia for the proper spelling!) In the English version, Sakura recognizes the boy as the one from her dream. Anyway, Li glares at Sakura from the front of the room, then glares at her in front of her desk, then glares at her some more from his newly appointed seat behind her. Li glares at Sakura and it's freaking her out because she can't understand why. After all that, Li comes up to her and indicates they should go outside. In the English version, we just jump straight to them being outside. Li recites an incantation while holding a board with various magical symbols on it. He calls this a Lasin Board and depending on the version, it's either a Clow Card compass or it "knows all". A light shoots out of it and into Sakura. Apparently, this confirms Li's hypothesis that Sakura has the Clow Cards. The ensuing argument between them brings up and omits certain items depending on the version you watch. The Japanese version has Li demand the Cards and Sakura refuse because she promised Kero that she would capture them. Li makes the connection that Kero is Kerberus and asks why he leaving the cards to some kid (the irony of him making this statement flies completely over his head). Sakura admits that Kero is not strong enough yet. Li remarks that Kero needs the Fire and Earth Cards and asks how long she's been searching. It turns out to be two months and Li is not very impressed with her progress so far. The English version has Li also demand the Cards but Sakura refuses more defiantly and says that she's doing it for Kero. Li makes the connection that Kero is Kerberus and asks why someone like her is capturing the cards. Sakura admits that she was the one who opened the book in the first place. Li remarks that Kerberus should have been guarding them and ask if they all escaped. Sakura tells him yes. Li asks if she got them back. A few, she replies and adds that she's "working on it". Li is not impressed. Either way, Li seriously wants those Cards and manhandles her to take them by force. Tomoyo and Toya both see him attacking Sakura and Toya jumps over the fence to take Li on. Tomoyo goes to comfort Sakura. Toya and Li have a stare down until Yukito shows up, breaking the tension with food. Yukito, oblivious to it all, starts handing out foods to Toya, Sakura, Tomoyo, and even Li. Li is extremely unnerved by Yukito's presence and eventually runs away, flailing. Sakura and Tomoyo head home (in the Japanese version, they start off with Rika who then leaves to get a present for her older man boyfriend. This is cut in the English version), discussing the Li situation. In the Japanese, Sakura admits that she had been unable to contact Kero. In the English, Sakura is confident that Kero has got her back and working right now on a plan. Either way, Kero is snoozing away. Anyway, suddenly the sky goes dark and lightning bolts start striking everywhere. And just as suddenly, it stops and there's a perfect blue sky. Sakura gets home and wakes Kero up and explain the situation off-screen. Kero's scene after this varies on the version. In the Japanese version, Kero immediately concludes that Li is part of the Li clan, that is, Clow's mother's side of the family. You see, Clow had a British father and Chinese mother, that's why the Clow Card magic combines Western and Eastern magics. And Clow was really awesome because most people who practice magic just use whatever magic is out there. Clow actually developed his own magic. Anyway, Kero had heard rumors about how the Li clan had moved to Hong Kong so apparently this is true. Anyway, this makes Li a distant relative of Clow Reed. In the English version, Kero just repeats his earlier advice ("expect the unexpected") and explains that something like this was bound to happen. The Clow Cards are really powerful so yeah something like this was bound to happen. Then Kero explains that while Clow was awesome and developed his own magic, most people just follow the traditions. And some of those people are "born into" these traditions. Li just so happens to be a descendant of Clow Reed. Either way Kero explains this, Sakura realizes that if Li is related to Clow Reed then she should have given Li the Cards. Kero disagrees: the Clow Cards don't work like that. Sakura had enough power to open the seal and her name is written on the Cards she has. She has every right to those Cards. Tomoyo then calls: the sky's all dark again and there's lightning. Sakura gets into a battle costume and starts going after the lightning bolts. As they're doing this, Kero remembers the fact that Li has that Lasin Board and that they better catch the Card before Li shows up since he will know that a Card is on the loose because of his board. The only way to seal this Card is to get it into its original form. But it's all Sakura can do to not get zapped. Eventually, she runs into Li on a roof top, who is astonished that she doesn't know Thunder's original form. Li is wearing his Chinese outfit, by the way. Anyway, Li casts some sort of thunder spell at Thunder which, in the words of Sailor Jupiter in the SMA Series, is actually lightning but no one ever seems to notice. As he falls, Sakura notices that it's just like her dream (except it isn't because they're nowhere near Tokyo Tower but whatever). For some reason, the thunder that is really lightning spell works and Thunder forced into the form of a dog. Oh, sorry, a Thunder Beast. Seriously, it's a dog. In the Japanese version, Li berates her first for not knowing that turning Thunder into its original shape then sealing it would work and then for pulling out the Windy Card. As Sakura defends her choice of Card, Kero gets upset that Li calls her "baka" (which is very insulting in Kansai dialect). In the English version, Li decides to tell Sakura that the beast is called Raiju and berates her for not knowing that. Sakura tells him to "back off". Sakura then suggests Windy Card but Li says, no, that won't work. Sakura retorts that Windy's worked before. Kero gets mad because while they're standing there bickering, Raiju is still there and active. Either way, Li suggests the Shadow Card, which Sakura has. The Shadow Card traps the Thunder Card in a ball and Sakura seals it that way. Li and Kero get formally acquainted. Li is very not impressed that the guardian of the Clow Card is essentially a stuffed animal. Kero bites his finger to punish him. After this, Li storms off and Tomoyo runs to Sakura. Sakura does not look very pleased.
Want to watch for yourself?
Card Captor Sakura Episode 8 (All)
Click to viewCardcaptors Episode 8: Part 1/2
Cardcaptors Episode 8: Part 2/2
Edit: Here is another set of videos.
Cardcaptors Episode 8: Part 1/3
Cardcaptors Episode 8: Part 2/3
Cardcaptors Episode 8: Part 3/3
Okay, I had to write up the summary and return to do the evaluation a few days apart so forgive me if I miss a few details as I evaluate this.
Ah, yes, this is Li's official introduction. The man, the myth, the legend... unfortunately I forgot his introduction is kind of lame and slow moving. You may have been wondering why I am calling the boy "Li" instead of "Syaoran" like I have been for the past couple of evaluations. Funny story about that. When I originally read the Card Captor Sakura manga, I had terrible trouble pronouncing Li Syaoran's name. I couldn't figure out how to do the "syao" sound (the "sy" is a "sh" sound and it rhymes with Mao as in "chairman Mao". In fact, a lot of fans still to this day write the name as "Shaoran" but it doesn't look right to me so I don't) so I'd just call him "Li" even after the characters and the fans switched to Syaoran. Fast forward a few years and I got into Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle which has another Syaoran in it. By this point, I could pronounce the name so I called this one "Syaoran" and since they're sort of the same (it's complicated and spoilery to explain further), I now call both "Syaoran". Unfortunately, when I went to do this project, I realized that Li isn't called Syaoran for some time so it's back to Li. Sorry for any confusion this has caused. Fun fact: Li Syaoran's real name would Li Xiao Lang, which is very similar to the name Li Xiao Long which is the real name of... Bruce Lee!
You may remember that I objected to Li's deep voice during the last few seconds of episode seven. In particular, I said that his actress sounded very deep. I would like to extend to my apologies to Rhys Huber, the actor who plays Li in this season. That's right, English language Li is played by an actual male actor. In fact, considering that his imdb.com profile gave his birthdate, he is only a month and half younger than I am, which means he was about fourteen when he played Li. Wow, I bet he was popular in school! I mean, Cardcaptors wasn't cool even among the otaku crowd, never mind the general public. So, even nearly a decade later, I had to further add salt to the wound and think that he was actually a woman. So, Rhys Huber, if you stumble upon this, I would like to apologize for thinking that you were a woman.
Alright, the two titles are very similar and I actually like both. But I prefer the Japanese one. I don't know, adding "appears" at the end gives it more of a punch, in my opinion.
This episode, in both versions, is actually pretty odd. It feels like a pilot in both versions. I actually understood why the WB chose to show this episode first because it's like the other episodes never happened. I mean, it's not like someone pushed the "Reset" button or anything but just the tone and actions that Sakura takes seem like things that she was still doing in the first episode. We seriously get another "Sakura has to rush to go to school with Toya and Yukito and Yukito's so pretty!" scene. Um, the Japanese episodes have been shoving Yukito and Sakura's crush on him in our faces for the past couple of episodes, why are they all like "Do you know who this man is?" (Although, the English viewers might appreciate the reminder of who Julian is since half of his scenes were cut). It never comes out and says "Let's introduction the concept of the show and the characters again!" but it's just the way the story unfolds until Li shows up.
All of the changes stemmed from one thing: characterization. The very same things would happen in both version but the characters would react completely differently depending on the version, sometimes in contrast to what was going on the screen.
Let's start with Tory. Remember last time when I talked about how Tory is a lot nicer in the English version? Well, forget that. Holy crap, he is total jerk in this episode for no reason whatsoever. I mean, Toya's early morning teasing was actually mild compared to what he usually does. But Tory? Seriously needs to let his joke of Sakura talking to herself/stuffed animals die. He keeps bringing up in this weird effort to show how mean he is. "Look, Julian, I'm teasing my little sister! I'm humiliating her in public! Which is out of character for me in the version! Pay attention to me!" And Julian's like "Ignoring you..." He just seems very vindictive in this episode compared to his behavior in the other episodes.
And Kero? Kero seemed kind of blase in the English version. When Sakura is worrying about her dream, in the Japanese, Kero is trying to comforting. In the English version, Kero essentially like "Quit yer bitchin' and capture me some cards!" I mean, I know the Clow Cards are important to Kero but his cardcaptor is clearly upset by her dream; maybe he should console her first? Besides, it seems like she can't catch a card without it acting up first so telling her to focus on that seems kind of pointless. And speaking of advice, why change Kero's advice? So they can have a neat-yet-cliched tagline for the show? I mean, it's pretty clear to anyone who saw the pilot that Sakura has precognitive (even if its target audience can't spell or define that word) dreams; why couldn't English Kero just say what he said in the original? It doesn't affect anything major in the plot (Li still shows up no matter what Kero says!) but it just makes it seem like Kero's blowing Sakura off.
But the character who wins the characterization change prize is... Sakura! Who bit Sakura right before this episode started? Because she has serious 'tude this entire episode. I mean, I had been noticing that English Sakura tends to be a bit tougher than Japanese Sakura (English Sakura doesn't go on and on about how she's afraid of ghosts, for example) and I didn't mind it but in this episode, man, she's like the only ten year old girl with PMS! English Sakura acts completely different than Japanese Sakura. English Sakura is suddenly all territorial about the Clow Cards, her dream being a good example. Why does Sakura care so much about the Chinese boy in her dream having the Cards? And he didn't even have the Cards, they were just flying around in the air, not being owned by anyone! She was freaking out about nothing! And her interactions with Li are so heated; she gives as good as she gets. I think the Card capture in this episode is a good example where she's telling Li to "back off" when he starts critiquing her methods. Unfortunately, although the dub track has Sakura sounded assertive and confident, the actual shots show Sakura cringing and hiding behind Li at one point. And why she is suddenly so confident in Kero's ability to help her defeat Li? Surely she knows Kero's habits by now and, besides, how would he know what was going on? She never mentions if she called him or anything, so what, psychic link? (Although her stating that Kero was working right now on a plan and then cutting to him snoring was pretty hysterical). From the moment Li shows up, Sakura is on this combative territorial kick that has no end in sight. It's not that I mind that Sakura is more assertive, I mean, dammit, Li really needs to can it with the comments when he hasn't captured a single Card yet, it's just it's so jarring when you watch the Japanese version and even just watch the English episodes before this. The entire time I was going, "Whoa! Sakura! Where did that come from?" What happened to Sakura since we saw her last?
In other news, you will be surprised to learn that Li is consistently in character between versions. One of the comments on youtube said that "Lee" (I, too, thought that was the English spelling in Cardcaptors but both Wikipedia and Internet Movie Database seem to agree it's Li in both versions) was a "sexist" jerk as opposed to Li who was presumably kind. This view of Li is shared by this ranter who objects to Del Rey's description of Card Captor Sakura Li in their first volume of Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle here: "'Where the CS Syaoran is dour, surly, even rude at times, Tsubasa's version is open, friendly- and clearly in love with Sakura.' CCS Syaoran is not rude. Right? Right? I mean having said "baka" once in a life time... Not the rudest ever. ... I haven't watched the American-ized version of CCS, but surely they didn't make the cute, dorky Syaoran rude."
Really? Really? Did the two objectors watch the same show I just did? Li is not a nice kid! In either version! In fact, I think he's slightly creepier in the Japanese track! It never really occurred how freaky Li is until I watched this episode. I mean, he physically intimidates Sakura and then physically manhandles her to extract the Cards from her possession! And then tries to engage in fisticuffs with a nearly grown man! And then later on, during the Card capture, all he does is rag on her. If you're so smart, Li, why don't you just capture the Card and save your breath? Where the hell would anyone get "cute" and "dorky"? At least in the manga, he doesn't really get to the "cute" and "dorky" stages of his personality unless he's crushing on someone, which doesn't take that much page time (at first) so yeah, Li is kind of a dour, surly, (gasp) even rude little kid. Yeah, yeah, he mellows out in the manga near the end but that's near the end. So, yes, Del Rey was right in saying that CCS!Syaoran can be described as rude because he is! Of course, I can't really answer the comment about CC!Li being more sexist than CCS!Li, this being the first episode with him in it and all, but considering that CC!Sakura is channeling Xena: Warrior Princess all of a sudden and, let's face it, Cardcaptors was designed with Western audience (read: more open to equal gender relations) in mind, I have a hard time believing that CC!Li is going to turn out to be a sexist pig. We'll see.
Just as a reminder: In case the above looks like a Li-bashing rant, it's not. Syaoran, in all of his myriad of forms, is one of my favorite fictional characters. I like CCS!Li just as much as I like TRC!Syaoran but I like them for different reasons. What I don't like is when fans forget that CCS!Li started out with and still retained to a small extent some unsavorable characteristics because that's the reason I found the character some much fun.
Characterization issues aside, the English actor for Li is hit and miss. Some lines, he nails. The line "What do you think this is, Chinese checkers?" cracks me up every single time I watch it. Other times, it seems like he's reading off a card. I don't know whether this is a child actor thing or a "voice acting is different from regular acting" thing or if the actor just doesn't have a handle yet on the character, I don't know. I'm just hoping it improves. But, for right now, he's pretty shaky on his delivery.
Moving away from characterization, let's go into some broad changes. The first I'd like to point out is the name: Li Showron. First, I'd like to point out that "Showron" is pronounced the same as "Syaoran", much to my relief. However, saying his name is "Li Showron" might present some problems down the road, considering that Li is his family name. What are they going to do if Sakura ever decides to call Li by his first name and the lip flaps won't match? What if they need to discuss Li's family? I was hoping that them presenting it in that order was because Sakura's school is culturally sensitive or something but wikipedia and imdb.com seem to think that Li is the given name of the Cardcaptors character. We'll see how this flies later.
Second, why cut out the discussion about how Clow Reed was half English and half Chinese and that's why his magic is a mixture of both? Dude, Nelvana, you just got yourself a "Get Out of Jail Free" card regarding all the weirdo Chinese/Japanese characters running around! Why didn't they exploit this? I mean, "Eastern" magic is considered freaky and cool in the Western hemisphere (and, apparently, vice versa) so it wouldn't seem out of place. Oh, so the Cards use Eastern philosophy? Oh, okay. His descendants are Chinese magicians from Hong Kong? Ok, fine, seen this before. Li knows martial arts? Well, of course, he does! He's a magician from the exotic East! Everyone knows kung fu in the exotic East where magic and Bruce Lee dwells! Come on, guys, use what you already have!
Third, why did the English version make Li a more direct descendent than in the Japanese version? I thought that was an unusual choice. In the Japanese version, Kero almost goes as far as blowing the whole Li issue off as nothing because Li is a very distant relative. In the English version, Kero says that Li is a direct descendent, which, to me, means "great times ten grandfather" and he can trace back through his father, and his father, and his father without an interruption or marriage in sight. I just thought that was kind of a weird choice.
Four, why all the "My Thunder Beast Has a Name And It's R-A-I-J-U" nonsense? Since when have the Clow Cards had names besides what the Cards are called? It's not in the Japanese version, nor in the manga if I'm remembering correctly, so the English dubbers clearly just made that name up. But, seriously, why? Did they want Li's complaints to be more colorful?
But I did like some changes. First, thank you Nelvana for cutting out that creepy scene where Sakura's teacher does the Humpert Humpert throat clearing when he looks just a little too long at Rika. Trust me, this subplot we can definitely keep skipping in the future because it isn't played for laughs in the Japanese version. Second, I like how skillfully they got around the "baka" moment with Kero. Since that comment would not work for an English audience (it can lose even people who are learning Japanese. I only found out the difference recently), I liked how they connected it more to what was actually going on and actually made more sense than the original. I mean, seriously, English Kero has a point: The Card is still there, guys! Seal it already and bicker later! Third, I like how they did not reveal how long it's been since Sakura started collecting the Cards. It helped to cover up a plot hole that the Japanese version inadvertly reveals.
Which brings us to plot holes. I know I'm supposed to just critique the differences between the two but in this episode, like a few others, I noticed that it's the plot holes that bother me more than any sub/dub diversions.
1. Right, so, according to the Japanese version, it's been two months since she started. Remember the stuffed animal episode? It was the one with Jump. Yeah, that one. Let's assume episode one is one day and episode two is the next day, leaving the other six episodes to be scattered evenly through the remaining 58 days. The Jump episode happens during episode 5. Let's assume that every ten days after the first two days, Sakura caught a Card. That means that when the Jump Card was making a ruckus, she had been a cardcaptor for thirty days, so a month. Remember how the toy store owner was run out of her previous town because of weird burgalaries that were caused by the Jump Card? The Cards had only been out and about for a month! Are you telling me that she had a store, Jump found her, all the burgalaries happened, the rumors started, she closed up shop, and reopened her shop elsewhere all within a month timeframe? Even doing all that within a two month time frame would be hard to believe! Good thing that the English dubbers decided not to bother with putting the adventures into a time frame to avoid plot holes like this.
2. Back to the two months time frame, so how did Li get there in the first place? Has he been searching for the past two months for the Cards? Did they realize they were in Japan before all this or did the Li clan have a Clow Card alarm that went off when they escaped and used that to pinpoint the location? How did Li learn perfect Japanese in a two month timeframe? I find it hard to believe that Li just so happened to be already studying it before the escape happened. At least in the English version you can argue that since the Clow Cards are in the Canada/America and Li is from Hong Kong, Li would know English and thus can speak English fluently.
3. And is there no one else in the entire Li clan who can be put on cardcaptor duty? Why are they sending a young child to do their grunt work? Especially when it's not clear exactly how Li is supposed to capture the Cards since Sakura has the Key and Li does not.
4. And did anyone else notice that Li's Lasin Board mysteriously disappears when they start arguing about why Sakura has the Cards? One second, it's in his hand, the next, poof! No more pesky board! And where the hell does he carry it? Did he just have it in his schoolbag? So, when he went to creepily pat Sakura on the shoulder to get her to come outside, did they have to go back to the classroom to get his Lasin Board and then go out again without Sakura once asking what exactly that thing is?
5. And did anyone else notice that Li's eyebrows and bottom half of his hair doesn't match the rest of his hair? Seriously, his eyebrows are black but his hair is light brown! It's freaky-looking and it looks like Li decided to dye his hair the night before! And why does the hair along his neck have to be black as well? I mean, is he trying to grow out his roots? A frost tip experiment gone wrong? What's up with the weird coloring? Okay, I'll admit it, that's not a plot hole. But it bugged me anyway.
6. Okay, I get why Sakura has to change clothes to battle Cards. Tomoyo makes her. But what is Li's excuse? Why does he have to change into his Chinese outfit when they're fighting the Thunder Card? I mean, the hat alone seems pretty impractical for battling wayward Cards. Does Li just like being a drama queen?
7. How does Kero hear "rumors" about anything? Wasn't he stuck to the book? Did the previous owners read aloud Celebrity Magician Rumor mags or something?
Edit: 8. And why all the secrecy from Li about his relation to Clow Reed? Why couldn't he just tell her how he knew about the Cards? She might have actually given them to him, no questions asked, if he had just said that he was a relative of Clow Reed! What's weird is the English dub actually has Li allude to his relationship to Clow Reed by saying "You'd be surprised" when Sakura asked who he is. But, seriously, why couldn't Li just say, "Look, Clow Reed is an ancestor of mine so it's my responsibility to capture those cards. Now, give it!"
As before, there are minor cuts and line changes, most of the most important I've already discussed. I was pretty surprised that Julian got to keep his scene but, then again, the original wasn't exactly brimming with boy-crush vibes as much as I expected so we'll see what happens if and when it's gets more obvious that, um, Li may not be playing on the same team as Sakura, if you know what I mean.
In conclusion, this episode tends to drag in either version and the English dub did not take advantage of the opportunities presented to it and changed things that could have been left alone, so I judge these episodes to be...
Different, with the Japanese Card Captor Sakura being the superior.
Episode 9