Episode 35: "Sakura's Wonderful Christmas" or "The Third Element"
Introduction to the Experiment
Episode 34
Episode 35: Sakura's Wonderful Christmas (Card Captor Sakura) or The Third Element (Cardcaptors)
Okay, this is going to need two summaries.
Japanese version: The episode starts off with Sakura having her Tokyo Tower dream again, but this time the Clow Cards disappear. Sakura again wonders who the mysterious long-haired figure is only to wake up in Ms. Mizuki's class. She is embarrassed but she remembers her dream as she looks at Ms. Mizuki. After school, Tomoyo asks if Sakura is alright. Sakura says that, besides her weird dream, she's fine. They then discuss how Christmas is coming up and how they have to get presents. Sakura remembers that Yukito's birthday is Christmas Day. The next day, during gym class, Chiharu wonders what to get Yamazaki while Sakura wonders what to get Yukito. Tomoyo suggests asking Meilin. After gym class, Sakura approaches Meilin and, after a moment of Meilin thinking Sakura is going to use her as a hostage to get Li's Clow Cards, asks her what she gets for Li every year for Christmas. Meilin essentially says that as long as the person likes you, whatever you get them is fine. At home, Sakura hems and haws over calling Yukito. Eventually, Kero pushes the redial button and her cell phone calls Yukito's house. She invites him to the amusement park on Sunday (I'm assuming that's Christmas Day but it's never stated). Yukito accepts and Sakura is thrilled. On Sunday, Sakura and Yukito go to the amusement park with Tomoyo and Kero spying on them. As they discuss the date, a Christmas wreath goes up in flames. Eventually, Sakura and Yukito run into Li and Meilin. It seems like that every year Li and Meilin (with Li's older sisters) go to an amusement park on Christmas Day. As Li acts weird around Yukito, Meilin and Sakura have a private conversation about Sakura giving her present to Yukito. After a montage of them enjoying themselves, they decide to eat and are served by Toya. Yukito eats a lot and Meilin makes a comment about it. Li defends Yukito's eating habits with his "eating makes you healthy" spiel and Sakura agrees with him. This causes Li to have a confused moment where he's not sure who he likes better: Yukito or Sakura. He shakes it off. Meanwhile, Tomoyo is just letting the camera roll but Kero interrupts that he's hungry. Of course, soon after, little fires start appearing all over the place. Kero, Sakura, and Li realize that it's a Clow Card and spring into action. Toya tries to follow but Li stops time. Sakura then puts everyone but herself, Kero, and Li to sleep. After this, Li stumbles and Sakura asks if he's alright. Li explains that using the Time Card takes a lot of energy. Sakura tries Windy but that just makes the fires worse. Kero appears and explains that it's one of the Element Cards. So it must be Firey. Sakura and Li both come to the conclusion that Watery would be able to handle Firey but Kero vetoes that plan: they're equally matched. Firey starts shooting fire at Sakura and she runs away. Kero suggests using both Watery and Windy. Li objects: using two Element Cards at once is impossible. Kero tells Sakura that she has to try because everything will start to burn up. This steels Sakura's resolve so she asks her Cards to help her and luckily for her, they do. Windy and Watery combined weaken Firey so she can seal it. After this, Kero begins to glow. Kero explains that his symbol is the Sun and so Sakura needed at least Firey to increase his power. He can't change into his true form yet but he can make little fireballs, which is nice. Li is unimpressed because Kero is still a plush toy. Meanwhile, Ms. Mizuki looks on. Later, Tomoyo laments that she missed another capture as Kero takes his leave of her. On the Ferris Wheel, Meilin laments missing the Firey capture as Li looks at Sakura and Yukito in the next car. Again, he shakes off his confusion of not deciding who he likes best. Sakura gives Yukito his present: it's a handmade doll that looks like Yukito. Next, the sky is full of glowing sparks and it turns out to be Kero, scattering the sparks to... be nice to Sakura on her date? I'm not quite sure. Anyway, it's really pretty and the scene lasts for about a minute before Yukito says that he would like to come to the amusement park next year.
English version: Sakura is having her dream (taking time to establish that it's a radio tower she sees. Perhaps she means the CN Tower?) and is woken up by Miss Mackenzie. As Miss Mackenzie announces drill team tryouts, the light bulb goes off in Sakura's head: Could the mysterious figure she is seeing be Miss Mackenzie? After school, she poses this theory to Madison, adding that perhaps the Clow Cards disappearing meant that she's nearly captured them all and maybe the dream is a way of warning her about a test she must undergo. Madison says she should ask Kero. Sakura doesn't want to: she wants to do this on her own. How about Li then? Nope, not him either. He's related to Clow Reed and she wants to prove that she's worthy of the Cards. Madison also suggests asking Nikki about dream interpretation but Sakura shoots that down too. The next day, at drill team tryouts, after some discussion about the Winter Carnival, Sakura realizes something: What will happen to Kero when she captures all the Cards? This upsets her and Madison suggests asking Meilin if she knows anything about it. So, after drill team tryouts (Li apparently is selected to be captain of the drill team), Sakura approaches Meilin. After a moment of suspicion, Meilin decides to hear her out. Sakura apparently asks her question about Kero off screen and then says that since Meilin has been around Li and the Clow Cards for so long, maybe she might have an idea. Meilin asks why she just doesn't ask Kero. Sakura says she wants to figure this out on her own, with Meilin's help. This answer pleases Meilin and she mutters to herself as she thinks. In the end, though, she suggests asking Li. At home, Sakura hems and haws about calling Li. Kero, annoyed by her indecision (he thinks she just wants to ask Li to the Winter Carnival), pushes a button on her cell phone. It rings and she starts babbling about how she knows that Meilin invited him to the Winter Carnival but she has to talk to him about something only to realize that she hasn't called Li at all but Julian! Kero says to the audience that no one ever thought to ask him if he would like to go to the Winter Carnival... besides, he hates Li. Luckily, Julian takes this misdial in stride and takes Sakura to the Winter Carnival anyway. Madison and Kero follow them as Madison hopes that Sakura might get to capture a Clow Card. As they discuss how they keep missing captures, a wreath goes up in flames. Soon enough, Julian and Sakura meet up with Li and Meilin. Li and Julian walk together as Sakura and Meilin talk. Meilin scolds Sakura for calling Julian instead of Li so now they have to hang out with Julian. Sakura apologizes. Meilin also points out that now she'll have to come up with some way to get Li and Sakura by themselves so they can talk about Clow Cards. Sakura admits that that is the plan. Meilin reminds Sakura that she owes her one. They have a montage of having fun at the carnival. After this, Sakura asks Meilin if she's hungry. After an encouraging pinch, Meilin "admits" that she is and they go eat. They are served by Tori and Sakura remarks that Tori has a new job. She tries to get Tori to take Meilin and Julian to the kitchen but Tori is not having it since Julian clearly in the middle of stuffing his face. Sakura amends her request to Tori taking them after Julian is done eating as Li glances at Sakura wonderingly. Meanwhile, Madison is totally loving the scene in front of her but Kero interrupts that he's hungry. Madison promises to feed him before fires start appearing everywhere. Kero, Sakura, and Li realize it's a Clow Card and spring into action. Tori tries to follow but Li uses the Time Card and tells Sakura to put everyone to sleep. She does. Li stumbles and Sakura asks if he's okay. Li explains that the Time Card uses a lot of energy so this time, she's on her own with this capture. Sakura tries Windy but that makes the fires worse. Kero appears and explains that it's the Firey Card and because it's a special Card, because it's an Element Card, it's really powerful. Li clarifies that Sakura only has two of the Elements. Kero explains that Firey used Windy to spread the flames. Li suggests using Watery and Sakura is about to but Kero stops her: Firey will just use Watery to spread the flames. Firey starts throwing fire at Sakura and she runs away. Kero asks where she's going and she explains she's going to get help. Kero tells her to use her Clow Cards. Li objects: it is impossible to use two attack Cards at once. Kero tells Sakura that she must try and, in a reverse-psychology kind of way, says that she's captured a lot of Cards so maybe this is the end of the road for her. Sakura won't stand for that and reaffirms her promise to capture all the Cards. Looking at her Cards, she wonders if this was the test her dream was warning her about. She uses Windy and Watery together and they weaken Firey enough to be sealed. Kero begins to glow. Sakura begins to panic and asks what's wrong. Kero explains that nothing is wrong. He is controlled by the Sun and by capturing Firey, he is able to start his retransformation. Sakura is relieved: Kero is still with her, he hasn't left. Kero realized that that was what had been bothering her and gently admonishes her. He reaffirms that he's still the same old Kerberos. Li is unimpressed: he looks like a stuffed toy. Later on, Madison complains about missing yet another capture as Kero takes his leave. Meanwhile, on the Ferris Wheel, Meilin laments missing the Firey capture and argues that Sakura "had been up to something" as Li looks at Sakura and Julian in the next car and shakes his head to get rid of the apparent squishy feelings he must be experiencing. In the next car, Julian brings up that Sakura said she had something she wanted to discuss and wants to know if she needs advice. Sakura explains that it's been sorted. Julian is glad to hear that. Then Kero makes sparkles fall over everyone (who interpret it as snow) and affirms that he's going to make a comeback.
Wanna see?
Card Captor Sakura Episode 35: Part 1/3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfhSoiWUDOk
Card Captor Sakura Episode 35: Part 2/3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAUyfUAnC0o
Card Captor Sakura Episode 35: Part 3/3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Q8ojIkdSQ4
Cardcaptors Episode 35: Part 1/3
Cardcaptors Episode 35: Part 2/3
Cardcaptors Episode 35: Part 3/3
We've made it, people! We've reached the first season finale! Yoo hoo! For some bizarre reason, the first season was 35 episodes long, rather than the usual 12, 24, or 26. Don't ask me why. It's taken me nearly nine months to get this far and I'm already being amazed by the changes I've seen so far. Let's try to get to the finish line! Anyway, the Firey Card is one of the last Cards captured in the original manga so its capture is very early here.
Card Tally
Sakura: Windy, Fly, Shadow, Watery, Rain, Wood, Jump, Illusion, Silence, Thunder, Sword, Flower, Shield, Power, Mist, Float, Erase, Glow, Move, Fight, Loop, Sleep, Song, Little, Mirror, Maze, Shot, Sweet, Big, Create, Change, Firey
Current number: 32
Li: Time, Storm, Return, Dash, Freeze
Current number: 5
Because of the changes made, especially the omission of the fact that it's Christmas in this episode, the titles don't really describe the same episode. But the Japanese title is still dumb for the episode it's describing so the English title wins.
Wow, I loved what the English producers did with this episode. The Japanese episode is mediocre by having half the episode be occupied by the Christmas plot. Why do all of the Element Cards have to share plotlines with dates with Yukito? Okay, Windy didn't but Windy was in the pilot. But still! Stop with the Yukito dates during really important Card captures! Anyway, back to the English version. I liked how they made it about Sakura worrying about Kero. Not only did the English version bring up a very good question that never occurred to me when I was reading the manga the first time (um, what's gonna happen to Kero when this is all over?) but it actually was something that both Sakura and the audience would actually care about. Boyfriends come and go but magical Guardian Beasts who eat your cake in your bedroom are there for life. Give the plush toy some loving and care about his welfare, okay? Furthermore, it was more appropriate for a season finale, at least North American season finales which nowadays end on either cliffhangers or are about something very important to the characters and/or plot.
Of course, changing the plotline has its risks as they have demonstrated before. This time, there was no episode collapse. In fact, I felt the new plotline made for a much better story and was much more entertaining.
I was astonished that not only did they keep Li's slowly blossoming crush on Sakura but added to it! For the past couple of episodes, the English production has been shying away from romance of any kind but this time, it was practically the B Plot! Maybe I'm reading too much into it but it seems like no one believed Sakura was tracking Li down to talk about Clow Cards. True, no one besides Meilin and Kero knows about the Clow Cards in the first place, but those two didn't seem to catch on to that being what Sakura wanted Li alone for. In fact, one could argue that Kero called Julian on purpose because he didn't want Sakura to start dating Li (because he hates him). And Meilin's last line of the episode ("Oh, I knew she was up to something!") can be interpreted in two ways:
1. (In reponse to her missing the capture) Sakura had planned to capture Firey alone with Li all along.
2. (In response to Li looking at Sakura in the next car) Sakura had planned to get Li by himself, using the Clow Cards as a pretense, to work her feminine wiles on him. In other words, "God damnit! While I was unconscious, Sakura and Li had some sort of bonding moment and now I've lost him for sure! Curse you, Canada and your man-stealing little girls!"
Even Madison seems to think that Sakura has romance on the brain when she observes them during the meal scene, by saying, "Oh, this is good!" in a tone usually reserved for talking to the TV while watching a soap opera.
Add all this to Li losing his bicurious tendencies and having reaction shots that show Li as amazed by Sakura's very presence (eating scene, Card capture scene) or doing head-clearing shakes, it starts to look like Cardcaptors is pushing the Sakura and Li romance plotline back into the show. Apparently, everyone can see the red string on Sakura and Li's fingers, even though it's not part of North American culture.
All this and they managed to have an interesting episode that mostly focused on Sakura trying to work on her Clow Card problems by herself.
See what happens when the romance is the B Plot and the Clow Card stuff is the A Plot? Interesting episodes result!
I liked how they made Sakura realize that she's probably seeing Miss Mackenzie in her dream. I like it when Sakura has brain cells. I mean, we already know Miss Mackenzie is magical so why not her? But I also like that Sakura is just guessing it might be her: she's not sure. So it doesn't screw up the plot.
They also managed to save themselves from the weirdness of Sakura and company going to the amusement park in the dead of winter. Amusement parks in my area usually closed, at the latest, in the autumn so going to amusement park in the winter, around Christmas, is impossible. So it's a Winter Carnival. Cool, I accept this. I can buy never mentioning the Christmas decorations because a. it's rerun-friendly and b. North American cartoons tend to avoid spotlighting one religious holiday over another in order to avoid angry letters from parents who aren't of that religious bent.
I was confused by the drill team plot point, though. On one hand, why can't it just be gym class? On the other hand, how else would they explain Li's weird walking in this episode if he can't be gay (but so very, very crushing on Sakura, omigoduguys)? How much do you want to bet we will never hear of Li's captaining the drill team ever again?
Oh, but about that scene with the drill team tryouts: Thank you again, English producers, for cutting the Rika and Mr. Terada moment.
As for dialogue, Meilin and Kero got some wonderful rewrites for this episode. Those two were making me laugh the whole time. I think the English producers realized that Meilin and Kero are comic relief so they should just run with it. Although I do wonder why Meilin's crush (?) on Li has remerged in the English production by having her call Li "her Li". It's weird because the Japanese version seems to backing off on that score lately.
Although I have to ask: Did Kero have to invoke the "allies" motif from Episode 3 when suggesting combining Windy and Watery? I did not need to be reminded of that horrible, horrible episode in this really amazing one. Can we just pretend that never happened?
While we're here, why the weird reverse psychology moment? "Oh, well, I guess you just can't handle this!" was kind of out there for this scene. Kero just needed to tell her to try using the Cards, it wasn't like she was about to throw in the towel. It didn't help that the images used don't match whatsoever. Although the Japanese version isn't much better, with Sakura concluding that she must stop Firey because "this is everyone's park". Or, you know, the fact that everyone here will be burned alive?!
Another minor problem I had was when Sakura asks Meilin for help regarding Kero. She's already said she wants to do it on her own so why ask Meilin for help? Asking for help is not doing it on your own. This is especially weird later on because she already said she didn't want Li's help because she wanted to prove her worth but then she's about to call Li to ask about Kero. Make up your mind!
Speaking of doing things on her own, it did make me laugh when Li tells Sakura that she has to handle Firey by herself because Time took his energy. Yes, because Li is always so helpful during these captures. Oh, what would poor Sakura do without Li there to... yell at her and cast magic spells that don't work and be mostly useless? I suppose Sakura will just have to muddle through and do... exactly what she does anyway whether he's energetic or not.
Plot holes!
1. Why would Tomoyo suggest asking Meilin for advice? Meilin doesn't know Yukito very well and furthermore, Sakura poses the question as "what do you get Li every year?" Yukito will not have the same tastes as Li so asking Meilin is kind of pointless.
2. Since Sakura never brings up Yukito, why doesn't Meilin wonder why Sakura is asking about Meilin gets Li? Why doesn't Meilin suspect that Sakura wants to get a present for Li? I was expecting a scene of jealousy at this point but Meilin barely blinks. Does Meilin know through psychic link that Sakura wants the present for Yukito? Okay, maybe she told her off screen but still.
3. Why don't more people notice the burning wreaths earlier on?
4. Why does the Time Card use so much energy now? I know that was the case during the Return Card capture but there's still the fact that Li was perfectly fine after using Time during the Power Card capture. What gives?
5. Why doesn't Sleep affect Kero and Li? It affected Kero last time so I assume that magical people are not protected from its affects and she never specified who would be protected.
6. Why does no one seem to care about the amusement park lighting on fire and then everyone collapsing, only to wake up with all the fire gone? I mean, that would make national news, wouldn't it?
7. Not a plot hole but: Making a cloth doll of Yukito was the best thing she could come up with? Does she think he's vain or something? Weirdest gift ever.
8. Why does no one freak out about a sky full of sparks falling down on everyone? Seriously, the amusement park was just on fire earlier. No one is, like, "Oh pretty... wait, what the fuck are these sparkles? Where is it coming from? Oh my God, are pieces of comet falling on us?!"
In conclusion, because of the skillful rewriting of the plot to be more engaging while adding comedic elements and some romantic elements that had been neglected in previous episodes, I judge these episodes to be...
Different, with the English Cardcaptors being the superior!
The First Movie
Episode 36
Episode 34
Episode 35: Sakura's Wonderful Christmas (Card Captor Sakura) or The Third Element (Cardcaptors)
Okay, this is going to need two summaries.
Japanese version: The episode starts off with Sakura having her Tokyo Tower dream again, but this time the Clow Cards disappear. Sakura again wonders who the mysterious long-haired figure is only to wake up in Ms. Mizuki's class. She is embarrassed but she remembers her dream as she looks at Ms. Mizuki. After school, Tomoyo asks if Sakura is alright. Sakura says that, besides her weird dream, she's fine. They then discuss how Christmas is coming up and how they have to get presents. Sakura remembers that Yukito's birthday is Christmas Day. The next day, during gym class, Chiharu wonders what to get Yamazaki while Sakura wonders what to get Yukito. Tomoyo suggests asking Meilin. After gym class, Sakura approaches Meilin and, after a moment of Meilin thinking Sakura is going to use her as a hostage to get Li's Clow Cards, asks her what she gets for Li every year for Christmas. Meilin essentially says that as long as the person likes you, whatever you get them is fine. At home, Sakura hems and haws over calling Yukito. Eventually, Kero pushes the redial button and her cell phone calls Yukito's house. She invites him to the amusement park on Sunday (I'm assuming that's Christmas Day but it's never stated). Yukito accepts and Sakura is thrilled. On Sunday, Sakura and Yukito go to the amusement park with Tomoyo and Kero spying on them. As they discuss the date, a Christmas wreath goes up in flames. Eventually, Sakura and Yukito run into Li and Meilin. It seems like that every year Li and Meilin (with Li's older sisters) go to an amusement park on Christmas Day. As Li acts weird around Yukito, Meilin and Sakura have a private conversation about Sakura giving her present to Yukito. After a montage of them enjoying themselves, they decide to eat and are served by Toya. Yukito eats a lot and Meilin makes a comment about it. Li defends Yukito's eating habits with his "eating makes you healthy" spiel and Sakura agrees with him. This causes Li to have a confused moment where he's not sure who he likes better: Yukito or Sakura. He shakes it off. Meanwhile, Tomoyo is just letting the camera roll but Kero interrupts that he's hungry. Of course, soon after, little fires start appearing all over the place. Kero, Sakura, and Li realize that it's a Clow Card and spring into action. Toya tries to follow but Li stops time. Sakura then puts everyone but herself, Kero, and Li to sleep. After this, Li stumbles and Sakura asks if he's alright. Li explains that using the Time Card takes a lot of energy. Sakura tries Windy but that just makes the fires worse. Kero appears and explains that it's one of the Element Cards. So it must be Firey. Sakura and Li both come to the conclusion that Watery would be able to handle Firey but Kero vetoes that plan: they're equally matched. Firey starts shooting fire at Sakura and she runs away. Kero suggests using both Watery and Windy. Li objects: using two Element Cards at once is impossible. Kero tells Sakura that she has to try because everything will start to burn up. This steels Sakura's resolve so she asks her Cards to help her and luckily for her, they do. Windy and Watery combined weaken Firey so she can seal it. After this, Kero begins to glow. Kero explains that his symbol is the Sun and so Sakura needed at least Firey to increase his power. He can't change into his true form yet but he can make little fireballs, which is nice. Li is unimpressed because Kero is still a plush toy. Meanwhile, Ms. Mizuki looks on. Later, Tomoyo laments that she missed another capture as Kero takes his leave of her. On the Ferris Wheel, Meilin laments missing the Firey capture as Li looks at Sakura and Yukito in the next car. Again, he shakes off his confusion of not deciding who he likes best. Sakura gives Yukito his present: it's a handmade doll that looks like Yukito. Next, the sky is full of glowing sparks and it turns out to be Kero, scattering the sparks to... be nice to Sakura on her date? I'm not quite sure. Anyway, it's really pretty and the scene lasts for about a minute before Yukito says that he would like to come to the amusement park next year.
English version: Sakura is having her dream (taking time to establish that it's a radio tower she sees. Perhaps she means the CN Tower?) and is woken up by Miss Mackenzie. As Miss Mackenzie announces drill team tryouts, the light bulb goes off in Sakura's head: Could the mysterious figure she is seeing be Miss Mackenzie? After school, she poses this theory to Madison, adding that perhaps the Clow Cards disappearing meant that she's nearly captured them all and maybe the dream is a way of warning her about a test she must undergo. Madison says she should ask Kero. Sakura doesn't want to: she wants to do this on her own. How about Li then? Nope, not him either. He's related to Clow Reed and she wants to prove that she's worthy of the Cards. Madison also suggests asking Nikki about dream interpretation but Sakura shoots that down too. The next day, at drill team tryouts, after some discussion about the Winter Carnival, Sakura realizes something: What will happen to Kero when she captures all the Cards? This upsets her and Madison suggests asking Meilin if she knows anything about it. So, after drill team tryouts (Li apparently is selected to be captain of the drill team), Sakura approaches Meilin. After a moment of suspicion, Meilin decides to hear her out. Sakura apparently asks her question about Kero off screen and then says that since Meilin has been around Li and the Clow Cards for so long, maybe she might have an idea. Meilin asks why she just doesn't ask Kero. Sakura says she wants to figure this out on her own, with Meilin's help. This answer pleases Meilin and she mutters to herself as she thinks. In the end, though, she suggests asking Li. At home, Sakura hems and haws about calling Li. Kero, annoyed by her indecision (he thinks she just wants to ask Li to the Winter Carnival), pushes a button on her cell phone. It rings and she starts babbling about how she knows that Meilin invited him to the Winter Carnival but she has to talk to him about something only to realize that she hasn't called Li at all but Julian! Kero says to the audience that no one ever thought to ask him if he would like to go to the Winter Carnival... besides, he hates Li. Luckily, Julian takes this misdial in stride and takes Sakura to the Winter Carnival anyway. Madison and Kero follow them as Madison hopes that Sakura might get to capture a Clow Card. As they discuss how they keep missing captures, a wreath goes up in flames. Soon enough, Julian and Sakura meet up with Li and Meilin. Li and Julian walk together as Sakura and Meilin talk. Meilin scolds Sakura for calling Julian instead of Li so now they have to hang out with Julian. Sakura apologizes. Meilin also points out that now she'll have to come up with some way to get Li and Sakura by themselves so they can talk about Clow Cards. Sakura admits that that is the plan. Meilin reminds Sakura that she owes her one. They have a montage of having fun at the carnival. After this, Sakura asks Meilin if she's hungry. After an encouraging pinch, Meilin "admits" that she is and they go eat. They are served by Tori and Sakura remarks that Tori has a new job. She tries to get Tori to take Meilin and Julian to the kitchen but Tori is not having it since Julian clearly in the middle of stuffing his face. Sakura amends her request to Tori taking them after Julian is done eating as Li glances at Sakura wonderingly. Meanwhile, Madison is totally loving the scene in front of her but Kero interrupts that he's hungry. Madison promises to feed him before fires start appearing everywhere. Kero, Sakura, and Li realize it's a Clow Card and spring into action. Tori tries to follow but Li uses the Time Card and tells Sakura to put everyone to sleep. She does. Li stumbles and Sakura asks if he's okay. Li explains that the Time Card uses a lot of energy so this time, she's on her own with this capture. Sakura tries Windy but that makes the fires worse. Kero appears and explains that it's the Firey Card and because it's a special Card, because it's an Element Card, it's really powerful. Li clarifies that Sakura only has two of the Elements. Kero explains that Firey used Windy to spread the flames. Li suggests using Watery and Sakura is about to but Kero stops her: Firey will just use Watery to spread the flames. Firey starts throwing fire at Sakura and she runs away. Kero asks where she's going and she explains she's going to get help. Kero tells her to use her Clow Cards. Li objects: it is impossible to use two attack Cards at once. Kero tells Sakura that she must try and, in a reverse-psychology kind of way, says that she's captured a lot of Cards so maybe this is the end of the road for her. Sakura won't stand for that and reaffirms her promise to capture all the Cards. Looking at her Cards, she wonders if this was the test her dream was warning her about. She uses Windy and Watery together and they weaken Firey enough to be sealed. Kero begins to glow. Sakura begins to panic and asks what's wrong. Kero explains that nothing is wrong. He is controlled by the Sun and by capturing Firey, he is able to start his retransformation. Sakura is relieved: Kero is still with her, he hasn't left. Kero realized that that was what had been bothering her and gently admonishes her. He reaffirms that he's still the same old Kerberos. Li is unimpressed: he looks like a stuffed toy. Later on, Madison complains about missing yet another capture as Kero takes his leave. Meanwhile, on the Ferris Wheel, Meilin laments missing the Firey capture and argues that Sakura "had been up to something" as Li looks at Sakura and Julian in the next car and shakes his head to get rid of the apparent squishy feelings he must be experiencing. In the next car, Julian brings up that Sakura said she had something she wanted to discuss and wants to know if she needs advice. Sakura explains that it's been sorted. Julian is glad to hear that. Then Kero makes sparkles fall over everyone (who interpret it as snow) and affirms that he's going to make a comeback.
Wanna see?
Card Captor Sakura Episode 35: Part 1/3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfhSoiWUDOk
Card Captor Sakura Episode 35: Part 2/3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAUyfUAnC0o
Card Captor Sakura Episode 35: Part 3/3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Q8ojIkdSQ4
Cardcaptors Episode 35: Part 1/3
Click to viewCardcaptors Episode 35: Part 2/3
Cardcaptors Episode 35: Part 3/3
We've made it, people! We've reached the first season finale! Yoo hoo! For some bizarre reason, the first season was 35 episodes long, rather than the usual 12, 24, or 26. Don't ask me why. It's taken me nearly nine months to get this far and I'm already being amazed by the changes I've seen so far. Let's try to get to the finish line! Anyway, the Firey Card is one of the last Cards captured in the original manga so its capture is very early here.
Card Tally
Sakura: Windy, Fly, Shadow, Watery, Rain, Wood, Jump, Illusion, Silence, Thunder, Sword, Flower, Shield, Power, Mist, Float, Erase, Glow, Move, Fight, Loop, Sleep, Song, Little, Mirror, Maze, Shot, Sweet, Big, Create, Change, Firey
Current number: 32
Li: Time, Storm, Return, Dash, Freeze
Current number: 5
Because of the changes made, especially the omission of the fact that it's Christmas in this episode, the titles don't really describe the same episode. But the Japanese title is still dumb for the episode it's describing so the English title wins.
Wow, I loved what the English producers did with this episode. The Japanese episode is mediocre by having half the episode be occupied by the Christmas plot. Why do all of the Element Cards have to share plotlines with dates with Yukito? Okay, Windy didn't but Windy was in the pilot. But still! Stop with the Yukito dates during really important Card captures! Anyway, back to the English version. I liked how they made it about Sakura worrying about Kero. Not only did the English version bring up a very good question that never occurred to me when I was reading the manga the first time (um, what's gonna happen to Kero when this is all over?) but it actually was something that both Sakura and the audience would actually care about. Boyfriends come and go but magical Guardian Beasts who eat your cake in your bedroom are there for life. Give the plush toy some loving and care about his welfare, okay? Furthermore, it was more appropriate for a season finale, at least North American season finales which nowadays end on either cliffhangers or are about something very important to the characters and/or plot.
Of course, changing the plotline has its risks as they have demonstrated before. This time, there was no episode collapse. In fact, I felt the new plotline made for a much better story and was much more entertaining.
I was astonished that not only did they keep Li's slowly blossoming crush on Sakura but added to it! For the past couple of episodes, the English production has been shying away from romance of any kind but this time, it was practically the B Plot! Maybe I'm reading too much into it but it seems like no one believed Sakura was tracking Li down to talk about Clow Cards. True, no one besides Meilin and Kero knows about the Clow Cards in the first place, but those two didn't seem to catch on to that being what Sakura wanted Li alone for. In fact, one could argue that Kero called Julian on purpose because he didn't want Sakura to start dating Li (because he hates him). And Meilin's last line of the episode ("Oh, I knew she was up to something!") can be interpreted in two ways:
1. (In reponse to her missing the capture) Sakura had planned to capture Firey alone with Li all along.
2. (In response to Li looking at Sakura in the next car) Sakura had planned to get Li by himself, using the Clow Cards as a pretense, to work her feminine wiles on him. In other words, "God damnit! While I was unconscious, Sakura and Li had some sort of bonding moment and now I've lost him for sure! Curse you, Canada and your man-stealing little girls!"
Even Madison seems to think that Sakura has romance on the brain when she observes them during the meal scene, by saying, "Oh, this is good!" in a tone usually reserved for talking to the TV while watching a soap opera.
Add all this to Li losing his bicurious tendencies and having reaction shots that show Li as amazed by Sakura's very presence (eating scene, Card capture scene) or doing head-clearing shakes, it starts to look like Cardcaptors is pushing the Sakura and Li romance plotline back into the show. Apparently, everyone can see the red string on Sakura and Li's fingers, even though it's not part of North American culture.
All this and they managed to have an interesting episode that mostly focused on Sakura trying to work on her Clow Card problems by herself.
See what happens when the romance is the B Plot and the Clow Card stuff is the A Plot? Interesting episodes result!
I liked how they made Sakura realize that she's probably seeing Miss Mackenzie in her dream. I like it when Sakura has brain cells. I mean, we already know Miss Mackenzie is magical so why not her? But I also like that Sakura is just guessing it might be her: she's not sure. So it doesn't screw up the plot.
They also managed to save themselves from the weirdness of Sakura and company going to the amusement park in the dead of winter. Amusement parks in my area usually closed, at the latest, in the autumn so going to amusement park in the winter, around Christmas, is impossible. So it's a Winter Carnival. Cool, I accept this. I can buy never mentioning the Christmas decorations because a. it's rerun-friendly and b. North American cartoons tend to avoid spotlighting one religious holiday over another in order to avoid angry letters from parents who aren't of that religious bent.
I was confused by the drill team plot point, though. On one hand, why can't it just be gym class? On the other hand, how else would they explain Li's weird walking in this episode if he can't be gay (but so very, very crushing on Sakura, omigoduguys)? How much do you want to bet we will never hear of Li's captaining the drill team ever again?
Oh, but about that scene with the drill team tryouts: Thank you again, English producers, for cutting the Rika and Mr. Terada moment.
As for dialogue, Meilin and Kero got some wonderful rewrites for this episode. Those two were making me laugh the whole time. I think the English producers realized that Meilin and Kero are comic relief so they should just run with it. Although I do wonder why Meilin's crush (?) on Li has remerged in the English production by having her call Li "her Li". It's weird because the Japanese version seems to backing off on that score lately.
Although I have to ask: Did Kero have to invoke the "allies" motif from Episode 3 when suggesting combining Windy and Watery? I did not need to be reminded of that horrible, horrible episode in this really amazing one. Can we just pretend that never happened?
While we're here, why the weird reverse psychology moment? "Oh, well, I guess you just can't handle this!" was kind of out there for this scene. Kero just needed to tell her to try using the Cards, it wasn't like she was about to throw in the towel. It didn't help that the images used don't match whatsoever. Although the Japanese version isn't much better, with Sakura concluding that she must stop Firey because "this is everyone's park". Or, you know, the fact that everyone here will be burned alive?!
Another minor problem I had was when Sakura asks Meilin for help regarding Kero. She's already said she wants to do it on her own so why ask Meilin for help? Asking for help is not doing it on your own. This is especially weird later on because she already said she didn't want Li's help because she wanted to prove her worth but then she's about to call Li to ask about Kero. Make up your mind!
Speaking of doing things on her own, it did make me laugh when Li tells Sakura that she has to handle Firey by herself because Time took his energy. Yes, because Li is always so helpful during these captures. Oh, what would poor Sakura do without Li there to... yell at her and cast magic spells that don't work and be mostly useless? I suppose Sakura will just have to muddle through and do... exactly what she does anyway whether he's energetic or not.
Plot holes!
1. Why would Tomoyo suggest asking Meilin for advice? Meilin doesn't know Yukito very well and furthermore, Sakura poses the question as "what do you get Li every year?" Yukito will not have the same tastes as Li so asking Meilin is kind of pointless.
2. Since Sakura never brings up Yukito, why doesn't Meilin wonder why Sakura is asking about Meilin gets Li? Why doesn't Meilin suspect that Sakura wants to get a present for Li? I was expecting a scene of jealousy at this point but Meilin barely blinks. Does Meilin know through psychic link that Sakura wants the present for Yukito? Okay, maybe she told her off screen but still.
3. Why don't more people notice the burning wreaths earlier on?
4. Why does the Time Card use so much energy now? I know that was the case during the Return Card capture but there's still the fact that Li was perfectly fine after using Time during the Power Card capture. What gives?
5. Why doesn't Sleep affect Kero and Li? It affected Kero last time so I assume that magical people are not protected from its affects and she never specified who would be protected.
6. Why does no one seem to care about the amusement park lighting on fire and then everyone collapsing, only to wake up with all the fire gone? I mean, that would make national news, wouldn't it?
7. Not a plot hole but: Making a cloth doll of Yukito was the best thing she could come up with? Does she think he's vain or something? Weirdest gift ever.
8. Why does no one freak out about a sky full of sparks falling down on everyone? Seriously, the amusement park was just on fire earlier. No one is, like, "Oh pretty... wait, what the fuck are these sparkles? Where is it coming from? Oh my God, are pieces of comet falling on us?!"
In conclusion, because of the skillful rewriting of the plot to be more engaging while adding comedic elements and some romantic elements that had been neglected in previous episodes, I judge these episodes to be...
Different, with the English Cardcaptors being the superior!
The First Movie
Episode 36