Of Swords and Parasols

Have I ever voiced my theory on the real reason Toya and Syaoran can’t stand each other? It’s that close proximity to each other messes with the finely tuned “Sakura is upset/in trouble/needs help/sad/might stub her toe/near another male” radars.  

( people should stop being 10 already )

TWO IMPORTANT QUESTIONS!

1.  Is Clamp capable of writing any sort of student/teacher relationship without indications of (though they seem to prefer explicit) romantic feelings?

2.  So, does anyone know if Clamp had always planned to go the Sakura/Syaoran route?  Because if I didn't know how it ends up on that front and Tsubasa hadn't already conditioned me to believe that any two people named Sakura and Syaoran belong together, I'd probably be thinking Sakura/Tomoyo was the intended pairing at this point.  Of course, as all three are 11, I'm not really invested on that front beyond OMG THE CUTE!!

Sakura: “Um, Um evil? Like stealing a snack? Or bending a flower? Or not doing homework? Staying up late…?”
Me: “Wow, I’m not used to Clamp characters being so cute and innocent and naïve!”

Of the people reading this LJ who are likely to ever read Cardcaptor Sakura, I’m likely the last one to get around to it. The setup for the series is pretty normal Magical Girl Shoujo: Sakura, a 4th grader, found a book in her father’s library. When she opened it, swirly magical lines came out, as did a small, winged thing named Kerberos that looks like a stuffed animal and speaks with a Kansai dialect. Kero tells Sakura that he’s the guardian of the Clow Cards, each of which, made by a powerful magician, has a magical entity sealed inside, but they caught him napping and they all escaped and are out wreaking havoc on the world. Since only someone with magic can open the book, Kero tricks talks Sakura into making a contract with him and becoming a Cardcaptor-a collector of the Clow cards. Naturally, all the escaped cards are lurking somewhere around her school.

Meanwhile, Sakura’s best friend, Tomoyo, knows her secret, so she creates all sorts of fancy dresses for Sakura to wear in battle, and videotapes her. Tomoyo is also extremely rich, and has a horde of female minions bodyguards. Tomoyo is Special. Sakura also have an older brother, Toya, who balances what looks to be an extreme and overprotective sister complex with nonstop torment. Which sounds about right for teenaged boys with much younger sisters. Sakura also has a crush on Toya’s best friend, Yuki (though I believe that’s short for Yukito) though that is clearly Doomed.

Obviously, this is set up for nonstop unadulterated cute, and the standard Magical Girl Shoujo Formula. Except, maybe I’m just brainwashed from all the xxxHolic and Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle I’ve read the last year but I don’t care about either. I do rather embrace the unadulterated cute, though, even if I usually need the cute to be in the form of flashbacks of characters I’m used to as adults. Sakura and Tomoyo are both nicer than nice and sweeter than sweet, but don’t really come across as cloying or saccharine, and Tomoyo’s sheer insanity adds some interesting fun to the mix.

I must say, though…Sakura’s parents were 16 and 25 when they married? Well, I was warned that Clamp tries out pretty much every pairing type they can think of in this series.

I really wish, though, that they weren’t so overly fond of the swirly line approach to action. I’m not sure, but they may be worse at it here than they are in Tsubasa.

Also, even though I have, by default, absorbed a fair number of spoilers for this series, I’d rather not get more spoiled.