 Could've picked less of a mouthful for the title, I think. Anyway, 'end of an era' time as Cardcaptor Sakura
finally draws to a close. Can Sakura finally tell Shaoran exactly what
she thinks about him? Can she save her friends without losing her 'most
important feeling'? And who will get the last piece of Takoyaki - Kero
or Spinel? No, wait, that's the Kero-chan Special...
2-for-1 again. The main event is of course The Sealed Card, but the Special Edition also comes complete with Leave it to Kero-Chan - Theatrical Edition, hidden away on the extras menu.
The Sealed Card
Back to normal life for Sakura, now that all the cards have been
converted to Sakura cards & Eriol has returned to England, his
testing of her complete. It's the summer holidays & the annual
Nadeshiko Festival approaches - Sakura's class is putting on a play,
with Sakura as the Princess (natch). It's also an opportunity for
Meilin and Shaoran to come visit, and it seems Meilin has some
matchmaking on her mind.
Meanwhile, Eriol's old house (and Clow's house before that) has been
demolished to make way for an amusement part - but beneath the house a
Clow card, sealed away for reasons unknown, has been released. Now free
again, it begins gathering the other Cards to itself, robbing Sakura of
her powers and endangering her friends in the process...
The usual CCS formula in big-screen format, here, as we're
handed the usual half-ep of everyday school life, followed by a half-ep
of Sakura -vs- the Card of the week. It's just on a grander scale -
instead of a 25-minute episode this is a 90-minute movie, and the risks
& rewards have scaled accordingly. Possibly events move a bit
slowly - less time could have been spent on school life & more on
building up the threat posed by the Sealed Card, but such is life. What
could have been a climactic final showdown between Sakura and the Card
also turns into something of a damp squib - but then the Sealed Card is
really just a plot device to bring about what we all really wanted to
see - Sakura & Shaoran getting it together
Yup, it's a mushy movie at heart, with the liberal sprinkling of emotional sugar that is an integral part of the Cardcaptor Sakura
experience. There's finally some closure to the Sakura / Shaoran
relationship, and there really are no more cards - all that's left is
for those involved to live happily ever after.
If you've been a fan of CCS and don't have a warm & fuzzy
feeling about you after watching this, go see a doctor - I suspect you
may be clinically dead. For those who didn't like the TV series, this
really isn't going to have much to offer you - it's a treat for the
fans & not much else. Me, I thoroughly enjoyed it - although the
series may have been stretched out to bit too much, this was a fitting
end. Well worth it.
Leave it to Kero-chan - Theatrical Edition
A 15-minute (ish) short film featuring everyone's favourite Card
guardian & his rival, Spinel (Suppie to his friends). Having been
given a bowl of Takoyaki to share by Sakura, it's come down to the
final piece. Let battle commence - a battle that rages across town
& has no winners, only losers...
Pure comic relief, this, and it's quite welcome given that the movie
was quite serious in tone. Kero and Spinel play well against each other
in their city-spanning race for the last piece of Takoyaki - not that
similar things haven't been done before, for they certainly have, it's
just great fun to watch. And great also to see the return of Leave it to Kero-chan after it's untimely cancellation at the end of the first season :)
Wouldn't buy the disc just for it, but great to watch nonetheless. |
