Cardcaptor Sakura is one of those unforgettable pieces of art that stays with you for the rest of your life. It’s precious while unassuming; it’s approachable while keeping you fully aware the entire time that, yes, this is a special, monumental work.
Anyone who didn’t have the pleasure of growing up with this modern classic of shoujo manga and anime — a sweetly comic, heartbreakingly romantic magical girl story about elementary schoolers with special gifts — will get a second chance when it returns to TV in 2018. A sequel anime, based on creative team CLAMP’s new series of comics, premieres next January, and its teaser looks nearly as special as the original.
Returning characters include Sakura, the hopeless romantic with the power of a magical book of cards at her disposal; Li, the boy she loves; Tomoyo, her best friend and preternaturally talented fashion designer; and much of the rest of Sakura’s friends and family. Sakura isn’t again collecting the cards that belong in her book this time. She’s now set to “clear” them, whatever that means.
The sequel comes almost a full 18 years after the original anime, which aired stateside on Toonami and Kids WB, wrapped. The promise of a reunited production force and voice cast gives us confidence in the series’ return.
We won’t fret the details until January 2018. We’ll just watch this lovely 90-second trailer and feel nostalgic for our childhoods, when the days were long and the living was easy and the original Cardcaptor Sakura was on right after school, affirming on a regular basis that these mixed-up emotions we had were normal, even important.