Day 12: Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card

It’s finally Christmas time, and you know what that means? Yep, my last post in the 12 Days of Anime. I’m giving my final spotlight to Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card. I only mentioned a few dozen times how Cardcaptor Sakura is one of my favorite animes. I also got pester a few times while it was airing what I thought about it from some fine folks. So now those folks can ignore this since they hate reading.

My thoughts on it Clear Card is pretty much the same as the general census from what I could gather. A lot of fans of Cardcaptor Sakura felt it didn’t amount to much. Reusing plot lines from the previous season with a just a new paint job. The comparison to the episodes being similar would have been easier to ignore too if the Clear Cards didn’t basically serve the same purpose as the Sakura Card. Feeling like I was watching a rehash instead of a continuation.

Personally I wouldn’t mind writing more harshly about Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card, however it simply ain’t in me to do so. In all the flaws I found in the series I simply couldn’t find myself strongly disliking it. It provided me one thing I can’t find another anime; more time with the same cast of characters I grew to love. In how the spirit of Christmas is about spending time with friends, and families. I consider the cast of Cardcaptor Sakura like an extended family. So I welcome seeing these same characters, and how they were doing.

One of the best moments in Clear Card.

One bright spot of the series was easily seeing more of Sakura, and Sayoran together. I have a soft spot for these two when they’re together, and Clear Card provided some more cute moments with them. It warmed the essence of my cold, cynical, frozen heart. I also got a kicked out of Sayoran Engrish in the anime. That was a pleasant surprise.

Among other things I enjoyed was the return of Mei Ling. It was nice seeing her again in the series since she’s a anime original. So you could imagine how greatly I appreciate Madhouse for sticking to the anime canon. Meaning some of my favorite episodes are canon so nothing wrong there. The other aspect I appreciated was the animation. Sure it didn’t influence my enjoyment much, but I did enjoy how colorful, and nice it looked. I sound like I’m struggling to find ways to compliment this season.

Clear Card was also just a pleasant watch. I saw the characters grow in the first series so the lack of further development to these characters didn’t bother me as much as it would have. If I went into Clear Card without watching the original anime I likely would have been harsher on it.

Plus I get a kick out of these two bickering

For me, Clear Card is a disappointment that doesn’t hold a candle to the original anime, but it’s just like a family reunion for me. It’s not going to be pretty, it’s exhausting dragging back old memories, and once it all done no matter how much of a struggle it felt. I’m happy I went through it, and it’s simply worth all the endeavor to spend time those whom bring a smile to your face. Kinda hard not have a good time with an endearing character like Sakura Kinomoto.

Well that concludes my 12 Days of Anime posts. I’m glad I took part in this since I got to write about animes series I’ve didn’t get around too this year. There were also The Big O, and Full Metal Panic I didn’t get to write about, but there’ll be another chance for me to give those the spotlight. After participating in 12 Days of Anime I can’t wait get back into blogging leisurely. This is exactly what I needed to get my blogging groove back. I’m also happy got to participate in this. There were some ups, and down, definitely some hair tearing figuring things out, but it was a great time!

Depending when, and where you’re reading this; Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays from yours truly. Here’s looking to a wonderful 2019! Cheers!

 

(Am I) Unique Blogger Award Tag Post

Well this is a surprise. When I think about unique I am the furthest thing from that definition. In fact, before typing this opening I looked up the definition for unique on Dictionary, and it said “everyone is capable of being one of a kind, except Arsene_Lucifer. F*&% that guy!”. Of course I thought this was a troll until I actually looked it up in my own dictionary, and it said the same thing! Refusing to believe this I asked random people on the streets the definition the of unique. They all told me to go away. It’s as if I’ve been living in a entirely different world than I thought I was a part of. Only one way to get over this revelation, blogging! Firstly, those rules.

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• Display the award!
• Thank the person who nominated you, and post a link to their blog on your blog. (Try and include a little bit of promotion!)
• Answer the questions they’ve written for you!
• Nominate bloggers and give them three questions in the spirit of sharing love and solidarity within our blogging family!

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Look at Asta! He craves that recognition XD

Before I answer the questions I would like to thank, and provide some kind words about our sponsor Eumiiboo. Do you like reading, but don’t what to read? Well don’t worry because Sakura Galleria is all about further adding things to your reading backlog. Covering a wide arrange of comedy, romance, horror, and you name it Webtoons that’ll make you wish you had more time to read muahaha! Not only that, but you’ll get her thoughts on anime music, manga, and discussion pieces all for the low, low price of absolutely free! Best part of all, she’s pretty good at it. So go check it out! Do it, she holding my Pandas hostage!

Now that we returned to our regularly scheduled blog, lets get to the questions!

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If you were to describe your life based on a anime character, who would it be, and of course why?  

That’s a tough one. I guess I’ll have to go with Yato from Norgami. Much like Yato, I tend to generally go around doing odd favors, except for people I know. Just like with Yato, his jobs will lead him to some strange situations to almost comical level. Whenever I share my stories in Bobsamurai’s Discord server they tell me my stories sounds like things out of a sitcom. I’m inclined to agree when you have stories that includes a car getting blown up, helping out a friend to fix his problem vomiting on women, taking one of my bosses daughter out to prom as a favor, going into a gay club to help my friend get a guy he has a crush on be jealous, and so many other random things.

Another thing I would say I have in common with Yato is his goofball nature despite the dark past he has. I try to maintain some fun in my life despite the hand life dealt me with. Because hey, there’s no point in moping around as I eventually gotta move forward since you can’t run away from your future.

Now let’s try to get personal, what was one of the anime’s you’ve watch that left an impact on your life, or perhaps change your view in a certain point in your life.

In Cardcaptor Sakura case, it was specifically episode 22, that unexpectedly moved me in a way I wasn’t expecting it too. The series did a good job providing me with a cast of likable characters who grew on me. Then come in episode 22 getting me on a emotional level, and actually made me tear up from happiness of the strong family bond presented between Sakura, and her father. It was touching to the point it made me consider wanting to be a father one day. I can’t name you another piece of media that ever made me consider that.

In 2003’s Fullmetal Alchemist, there’s a funeral scene that has more hard hitting the second time around. I knew the death of this certain character was coming, but it didn’t make it any less gut wrenching, and shocking seeing it a second time. That funeral scene was very sad for me to watch, and is one of the most powerful moments I’ve seen in any anime. It’s only during the closing credits did I realize I teared a up bit.

Both of these anime have a strong theme revolving around families, and both make made me appreciate the same thing even more after watching them. Serving as a reminder no matter how distant the bridge between me, and my family can be at times they’ll always be my family. In a very cliche way, for better, and worse.

Imagine, you have been chose to create a crossover between three anime series, which would it be and why?

For my answer I would combine Gundam, Neon Genesis Evangelion, and Serial Experiment Lain. A odd combination right? Well with Gundam I get the mecha action, and war politics cover, while Neon Genesis Evangelion has the psychology, and Serial Experiment Lain has existentialism. If I combined story elements from all three anime it’ll be a clusterfuck to manage the information delivered to the viewer, yet I would like to see that. Something like Lain diving into the wire to see all kinds of reaction people have in this world that has mecha wars, and end of world monsters to content with would be interesting.

Witnessing these series to trying to make something coherent in their crossover would be a blast to watch. As for the character interaction side that’ll unlikely happen given Shinji doesn’t want to get in the robot, Lain is addicted to the web, and Ray Amuro hates war. Although, if there is ever a Gundam crossover with Neon Genesis Evangelion I’m still happy with that.

Now my turn to ask the questions muahaha!

• What’s the most challenging post you’ve written for your blog?
• If you had to choose between making your husbando/waifu a real person, or being in charge of making a continuation to one of your favorite series which would you choose? Of course, don’t forget the why.
• Which animal from any anime is your spirit animal?

Now the one thing you’ve all been waiting for. Time to see who wins the big one. My nominees for unique bloggers are:

Jenn

(Not Angry) Average Joe Reviews

Zainou

If you’ve already been nominated, I would apologize, but that just makes you twice as unique. And the winner is, oh my gosh! It’s a three way tie! Never in my entire life hosting such an event has this ever happen! Congratulations everyone! Give yourself a round of applause. You’re all wonderful bloggers.

It’s my time to make my exit, and let the offline me at this time get back to working at his miserable job. Muahaha, wait that’s also me! I’ll see you in the next post. Sayonora bloggers!

Bye! Bye!

The T.A.P. Tag – Unleashing the poet within me, and those I tag!

A long long time ago, in the distant past of yesterday. Doing my usual activities of plotting my next plan for world domination. Something suddenly came over me, but I ignored it training my subjects of evil penguins. Once I went home, I was unable to enter my domain. Locked under a spell, I was given a great challenge. Something I only heard about in myths. These things called tags, and I got tagged by none other than Jenn from Welcome to Hell Zone. I got no idea what voodoo, or pop idol magic she used on my house, but I’m going to break it! So Jenn, thanks for the tag, and I accept your challenge! (epic violin plays me out)

So firstly, the rules of the tag!

Rules of the tag:

1. Headline your post with “The T.A.P. Tag!” and put “tanka” as one of your tags.
2. Make sure to link back to the original post that started the tag (this post!).
3. Make sure to mention the person who forced introduced the tag to you!
4. Pick 1-3 of your favorite anime.
5. Write your tanka about the anime you’ve chosen. It’s fine if you decide to do only one or two if the schedule is tight.
6. Tag at least 3 or more bloggers you know, and get their creative muscles flowing.

So what are tankas? I don’t know. I never heard of them before, but lets pretend I do, and let’s also pretend I didn’t copy, and paste this explanation from The Luminous Mongoose blog post on this tag either.

Tanka (短歌 tan-kah) poems are short poems that originated in Japan in the 13th century. They are five lines long and often convey deep feelings about nature, love, or desire. They usually have a structure of syllables that starts similar to haiku (5-7-5), but ends with two more 7-syllable lines, making it 5-7-5-7-7, for a total of 31 syllables.

I followed this quick guide that explained the core concepts of it, but for a TL;DR, here’s the structure of a tanka.

• Setting up the scene (two lines that describe a moment)
• The “pivot” line (middle line that links the top and bottom lines together)
• The payoff (last two lines that describe your feelings toward said moment)

I gotta reach deep inside myself…I ain’t got no soul right now. One moment, gotta find me a penguin’s soul. Okay, now I got me a soul. Reach deep inside myself, and get poetic. This should be easy I said to myself a day ago, and here I am just now posting this. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be. Didn’t help that Jenn’s, and The Luminous Mongoose tankas were so good. I chosen three of my favorite animes to do my tankas on, and hopefully they’re good enough to break the spell. I really need my coffee!

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Death Note

Shaping the world, taking names

A silver line crossed

Trying to find myself

Becoming further from myself

I am, the light outside

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Fullmetal Alchemist

The past I won’t forgive

Memories fading

Form a link between our hearts

Hold your hands out to me

We push on together

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Cardcaptor Sakura

On a desk, a bear sits

Alone, but filled with love

In the distance, another soul

Returning those precious words

“I love you”

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What tripped me up on these tankas were the syllables of all things. I wanted to keep in spirit, and so I tirelessly edited them all until they were all within 31 syllables. The hardest to work around was Cardcaptor Sakura. It was too good to give up on, but in the end I found a way to make it work. Also, I wanted something sweet, and simple to end my series of tankas on.

Now time for my targets. I would have tagged another user, but according to him on Twitter. He’s currently on the path to reaching godhood building his harem. So these three will do nonetheless.

Nenha senpai – Here’s a guy who puts in serious work into his reviews. What I like most his blog is the variety of thing he covers, and all with the same amount of effort. Also, this will help you remove some of those spider webs you mentioned in your Akira review.

TPAB – Here’s a guy I haven’t seen in my feed for a while. I’m very jealous of what I’ve read of his body of work. The man knows to analyze, and critique anime. Just do what you typically do TPAB; takes the pants off, and get those creative juices flowing!

Yomu – I recently started reading his stuff, and quite enjoy the posts I’ve read so far. Also, having read a bit of his collab commentary on Divine Gate (as of the moment of this writing) he’ll be bursting with inspiration from such a well written anime as that one.

Now that I have completed the tag, now time to back get into my house, and it’s still locked. Who did it this time? Huh, a note from Ai Enma? “I know who you were with!”. Oh well, until the next tag folks.

Feed me tankas!