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カードキャプターさくら [Cardcaptor Sakura] #9

Cardcaptor Sakura: Master of the Clow, Vol. 3

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Capturing Cards was only the beginning...

Once upon a magic night, an English sorcerer mixed Western wizardry with Eastern enchantments to create a magical deck of cards called the Clow Cards. These cards were hidden inside a dusty old book for decades, their powers virtually wasted. Then one fateful day, a young girl named Sakura Kinomoto discovered the book in her father's library. When she opened it, however, the Clow Cards were gone--and so was life as she knew it. The book's magical guardian, Cerberus, declared Sakura the Cardcaptor, and after many exciting adventures, she finally retrieved all of the cards. Now Sakura has earned the title Master of the Clow.

The mysterious presence of Clow Reed continues to test Sakura with new dangers that require all of her energy to defeat. And this means that she no longer has the energy to support Yue, the Guardian of the Moon, and now he could disappear forever! Most of the time, Yue stays in his human form as Yukito, the boy Sakura has a crush on, but now that Yue is weakening, Yukito is deathly ill. If Sakura can't find a way to help him, boy and guardian will disappear forever!

185 pages, Paperback

First published July 22, 1999

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734 people want to read

About the author

Clamp

744 books3,138 followers
Ōkawa Nanase 大川七瀬
[born: 2 May 1967; Ōsaka, bloodtype: A]

Mokona Apapa もこなあぱぱ
[born: 16 Jun 1968, Kyōto; bloodtype: A]

Nekoi Mick 猫井みっく
[born: 21 Jan 1969, Kyōto; bloodtype: O]

Igarashi Satsuki 五十嵐さつき
[born: 8 Feb 1969, Kyōto; bloodtype: A]


CLAMP originally began in 1989 as a twelve-member dōjinshi circle, but by 1990, the circle had diminished from twelve to seven. Of the remaining seven, Tamayo Akiyama, Sei Nanao, and Leeza Sei left the group during the production of the RG Veda manga. Other former members of CLAMP also included Soushi Hishika, O-Kyon, Kazue Nakamori, Yuzuru Inoue and Shinya Ōmi. Currently, there are four members in the group.

In 2004, CLAMP's 15th anniversary as a mangaka group, the members changed their names from Nanase Ohkawa, Mokona Apapa, Mick Nekoi, and Satsuki Igarashi to Ageha Ohkawa, Mokona, Tsubaki Nekoi and Satsuki Igarashi (her name is pronounced the same, but written with different characters) respectively. The August 2004 issue of Newtype USA, a magazine specializing in events of the anime and manga subcultures, reported that the members of CLAMP simply wanted to try out new names. In a later interview with Ohkawa, it was revealed that initially Mokona wanted to drop her surname because it sounded too immature for her liking, while Nekoi disliked people commenting that her name was the same as Mick Jagger's. Ohkawa and Igarashi, wanting to go with the flow of Nekoi's and Mokona's name changes, changed their names as well.

In 2006, they made their first USA public debut at Anime Expo in Anaheim, California. They were well received at the convention, with 6,000 fans in attendance at their panel.

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5 stars
2,137 (57%)
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1,043 (27%)
3 stars
491 (13%)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 65 reviews
Profile Image for Karla Jaime G-R.
194 reviews7 followers
September 10, 2020
Ya está! Para mi todos los capítulos van a ha tener 5 estrellas. Lo siento, amigos pero este es mi anime favorito de todos los tiempos jajaja 😂 Y eso que hay muchas cosas diferentes entre el manga y el anime, pero igual está todo muy lindo y no puedo evitar darle 5 estrellas jaja 🙈

Me mata la intriga entre Eriol y el papá de Sakura ¿Qué ha pasado? No sale nada de eso en el anime 😱 no me digan que son familia. 😱 Bueno, bueno, mejor sigo leyendo y no invento teorías. 🤭

Cartas Sakurita: borrar, tierra y sombra (Ush! ya solo quedan 9 por transformar 👀)
Profile Image for Bibliothecat.
1,740 reviews77 followers
October 15, 2025


Review for the complete series



While not as big as similar titles such as Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Cardcaptor Sakura is definitely a manga household name. Elementary Schooler Sakura finds a book in her father's library which not only proves to be magical but also releases the lion-like creature Kero-chan who tasks her with finding all the magical cards the book once contained. The cards were created by the mightiest magician to have lived - Clow. With each card Sakura adds to her collection, her own magical powers grow.

CLAMP
Cardcaptor Sakura already wins points simply by being a work of CLAMP. The art is as gorgeous as one can expect and it's almost unavoidable to read if one wants to delve into the multiverse these artists have created. It's definitely one of their bigger works, especially as it features the characters that are later featured as the protagonists of CLAMP's crossover work: Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE. Although this manga's art is a tad less intricate and almost simple in the use of screen toning, there's something very light and loveable about it and it's undeniably adorable.

Magical Girl
I've always struggled to view Cardcaptor Sakura as a magical girl manga. It undoubtedly is, but I do find it drops some of this genre's typical tropes - and I mean that in the best way possible. Sakura doesn't actually transform through any magical means. She wears a different 'magical girl' costume for most chapters, but they are all tailored by her best friend Tomoyo and are really just for variety and cuteness (and surely the artists having their fun) rather than any magical process that all other magical girls go through. In fact, all the magic is much more akin to more traditional witches and wizard's and even draws on Chinese mythology. One thing I also really appreciate is that Sakura is just your normal girl who is collecting magical cards to stop them from causing havoc rather than a girl (or group of girls) pitched against an evil force to save the earth from certain doom. It just has a much lighter and appropriate feeling to it.

Characters & Plot
It definitely starts off very episodic, but it has a nice underlying plot that becomes more solid toward the second half of the story. I find myself more invested in the main story rather than the individual episodes in which Sakura finds yet another card. The plot itself is to an equal amount about the mystery behind the cards as well as Sakura's daily life with her family and friends. Unfortunately, if we're purely looking at the plot, I can't deny that I find Cardcaptor Sakura a little boring at times. It is a bit strange because Sakura and the male protagonist Syaoran are among my favourite manga characters. I absolutely adore these two and this series features a lot of other likeable characters such as Kero-chan and Tomoyo. It is, therefore, a little baffling that their plot is sometimes a little underwhelming, though it does not change that this is still a manga I hold dear.

Romance



This is where it gets complicated. CLAMP are known to have rather unconventional romantic couples. And despite Cardcaptor Sakura being one of their most innocent and light-hearted works, I think it is also easily the most controversial romance-wise. As mentioned above, I love Sakura and Syaoran and even more so as a couple. Mind you, these two are about 10 years old and their relationship doesn't develop until very late into the series - an embrace is as far as they get. Yet it's almost that innocent setup that makes them such an adorable couple - it doesn't need to be romance focused for these two to be an exemplary match.

When it comes to homosexual characters, I find that CLAMP has always been ahead of time, though not necessarily in a realistic way. On one hand, it is great that multiple sexualities are included throughout the CLAMP world. On the other hand, it is treated almost too idealistically. Don't get me wrong, equality is important. But there is truth to non-straight persons having to face certain difficulties in daily life that others might not. In Cardcaptor Sakura, as well as most other CLAMP works, the appearance of a homosexual character is almost taken for granted - it sometimes feels as though the whole of it takes place in an ideal parallel world. I believe that both in reality and in other fiction, there's bound to be a character or two who at least consider the situation around a homosexual character. This is probably even more true when one considers that this series is from the 90s.

The only true issue in regards to romance lies with a certain age gap. Mind you, I am not in the least against relationships with age gaps - fiction or reality alike. 10 years, 20 years - where to draw the line? I don't think there is anything wrong with an age gap as long as it's a relationship built on mutual feelings and care rather than an older party taking advantage of a younger one. You can't really choose who you fall in love with and age seems a trivial thing when you truly love someone. In the same sense, I have no issues with certain 'taboo' relationships such as student-teacher, provided again the feelings are genuine and neither party is taken advantage of. I know people in real-life who have loved and married their former teacher - they're just about as happy as any couple I know. A relationship like that brings its difficulties, but in my mind, it really comes down to how it's handled more than anything else.

Now, while I neither mind age gaps nor student-teacher relationships, I do believe there is a certain threshold of how young the younger party can be. Realistically, there's a massive difference between an 8-year-old dating an 18-year-old and a couple of, say, an 18 and 28-year-old. Cardcaptor Sakura blows all caution to the wind and introduces the relationship between the 10-or-so-year-old Rika and her teacher Terada. Now Terada might be as young as 20, which would result in an age gap of about 10 years. I don't see an issue with a 10-year gap, but the fact that Rika is around 10 makes this a really awkward couple. While everything is kept at a perfectly innocent level - there are clear signs that they're staying apart until she is old enough - the fact that Terada is even considering a 10-year-old is just not right. The only thing that makes this readable to me is the fact that none of the young characters, the protagonists Sakura and Syaoran included, behave like the 10-year-olds they're meant to be. I often seem to get this issue when it comes to manga, but most characters appear a good couple of years older to me than they are actually meant to be. I would much rather think of Sakura and co. as 14-year-olds, and that already makes the whole Rika business a tad less of a shocker.

Interestingly, while Rika and Terada receive a lot of scorn from readers everywhere, there is another very similar couple which is rarely called out. There are clear hints of a budding - and encouraged - romance between yet another 10-year-old pupil and his female teacher. Their age gap is likely similar to that of Rika and Terada's, yet it does not receive nearly as much backlash. It seems people have a bigger issue when the girl is the younger party which frankly is quite unfair - I believe both are equally problematic.

So, coming to an end, Cardcaptor Sakura has its oddities and even boring moments - the romance must really be taken with a grain of salt or a flexible imagination. But it is also an adorable and loveable series with some of my very favourite and memorable characters that I can't help but love.
Profile Image for Nightshade.
1,067 reviews4 followers
October 29, 2021
Lacking in power, Yue's civilian form Yukito can't sustain his energy. If Yue doesn't receive magical energy to fortify him, Yue and Yukito may both disappear. Yue discovers Clow Reed in Eriol's form and confronts him, but Eriol erases his memory and reverts him back to Yukito. Syaoran finally confesses his feelings for Sakura, but she doesn't hear because of a nearby panic when Yukito faints. When they're alone, Toya tells Yukito he knows he's not human, and Yue takes over so the two can have a conversation. Toya agrees to sacrifice his magic, including his ability to see his mother's spirit and sense when Sakura's in danger, in order to keep Yue and Yukito from disappearing from existence. Cards transformed: Erase, Earthy, and Shadow.

I loved the little CLAMP Easter egg of Kero reading an Angelic Layer book in this volume.
Profile Image for Kati.
2,338 reviews65 followers
August 26, 2010
The card catching business makes up just a tiny part of this volume, mostly it's all about Sakura's family, Yukito and Eriol and his crew. This is the volume that I've been waiting for, the one where Toya tells Yuki that he KNOWS. Man, the scenes where Toya finds Yukito unconscious, knowing that he could help if Yuki just let him, are heartbreaking. And Toya's sacrifice... Man. Also, Eriol's so caring and gentle - but I still can't decided, with him having some hidden agenda, if his behavior is sweet or creepy.
Profile Image for Isabella.
829 reviews55 followers
August 13, 2019
not only were the cute parts VERY cute (with white day/valentine's day) and syaoran almost (almost!!!) confessed to sakura...

but also touya met yue and gave away ALL of his power just so yukito could keep on existing!!!!!!

THAT'S LOVE, BITCH
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Nix.
5 reviews1 follower
May 18, 2020
Quisiera más de Touya y Yukito, son simplemente adorables. Por otro lado, aunque antes el personaje de Tomoyo se me hacía indiferente creo que gracias a este volumen empecé a quererla y apreciar su rol en la historia. Respecto a Shaoran, cada vez lo amo más. 🥰
Profile Image for Esther.
313 reviews146 followers
October 19, 2012
Damn it, Syaoran!! GROW SOME BALLS AND TELL HER YOU LOVE HER!!!!11!!!11!1

(Note that they're 10-11 year olds)
(Note that it contains yaoi)
Profile Image for Bells.
353 reviews42 followers
September 27, 2014
Guau el final de este tomo ha sido genial. haciendo que quiera seguir ya con el siguiente.
poco a poco todo se desvela
Profile Image for Natali TabaiBooks.
222 reviews4 followers
April 1, 2022
Me encanta como la relacion entre la familia de sakura y los parientes de la mama de sakura se van arreglando poco a poco gracias a su intervencion un poco indirecta al mismo tiempo que directa. Amo que la mama aparezca de vez en cuando para vigilarlos y no desaparezca por completo.

Por otro lado, mi preocupacion por Yukito siempre fue valida… se nos desaparece, menosmal que existe Touya para soluciionar el problema porque sino… casi me muero de un infarto. Es una lastima que Touya ya no posea poderes pero si es por mantener vivo a Yue/Yukito para mi es valido.

Por que Eriol es tan malditamente perfecto? Me encanta esta reencarnacion del mago Clow… es todo lo que esta bien
Profile Image for Anne.
499 reviews21 followers
January 4, 2023
I forgot about the Yuki subplot but I love it. As usual, this book is very cute. Tomoyo singing so that they can find her in Eriol's magic school maze? A hike full of sheep plushies? Aww...

I do dislike that they (the translators) switched some of the dialog tics. Things like the first series kept honorifics and this one doesn't, or Sakura previously saying "hoe?" when she's confused or surprised but saying "phwee!" in this series. Consistency, people. Readers like consistency with this kind of thing.
Profile Image for diana ᥫ᭡.
86 reviews8 followers
September 26, 2023
3.5★ ❝Si logras tener un poco más de calma para no perderte a ti mismo…vas a llegar a ser una persona muy fuerte.❞ La última mitad del libro >>>>>> la primera mitad del libro. Sakura puede ser lo más dramática que ella quiera, porque se puede decir que yo soy igual además me gusta Eriol y su misterio y Touya y su encuentro con Yue; pero necesito un mejor contenido en la segunda parte del manga. Me quedan tres tomos y si comparo el anime con el manga, el anime gana con las últimas partes así hayan agregado más cartas.
Profile Image for Sandra Girard-Demontigny.
466 reviews7 followers
April 3, 2018
Like all other Sakura's mangas I liked this one. Sakura is so brave and sensitive to the aura of Clow Card. I remember very well the episode concerned in this manga. I can't wait to read the next one it's so good.

Comme tout les autres manga de Sakura j'ai bien aimé celui-ci. Sakura est tellement courageuse et sensible au aura de Clow card. Je me suis très bien rappeler de l'épisode concerné dans ce manga. J'ai hâte de lire la suite c'est tellement une bonne série.
Profile Image for Hannah Belyea.
2,764 reviews40 followers
June 20, 2021
Battling alongside her Clow Cards is draining Sakura, and that means Yukito must deal with the price by falling deathly ill - which forces Sakura to desperately search for a solution before Yue ends up as nothing more than a memory! CLAMP offers another entry that feels more filler than focused on the main plot, but nonetheless will keep fans entertained with more character growth and tidbits of lore. Is this the end of Yue's powerful legacy?!
Profile Image for Soobie is expired.
7,169 reviews133 followers
March 21, 2020
La seconda parte della serie mi piace meno della prima. Un po' perché Eriol mi sembra viscido come pochi, un po' perché la storia perde di freschezza e sembra ripetersi. E anche la tipa strana che perseguita Tōya mi sta sulle scatole.

Mi ero dimenticata che Sakura incontrasse il . Che tenera!

Che invidia verso il rapporto che hanno Sakura e il fratellone!
Profile Image for Natalie.
421 reviews46 followers
November 20, 2025
This manga is one of CLAMP's adorable magical girl transformation stories. The characters are fun. It's cute and the main couple is absolutely adorable.

If there's one thing I have beef with is the age gap of a student (one of Sakura's friends) and a teacher relationship. I don't like it. It's weird and there's no reason a teacher should be involved with a student. Especially that young. Is that even legal in Japan? That's my main issue and all I have to say about that.

The artwork is absolutely beautiful and the design of the CLOW cards are fascinating.

Of all the characters, my favorite is Syaoran. He's a hilarious young kid who's badass in his own unique way. I love the dynamic between him and Sakura. They start off as rivals for the CLOW cards and even when he behaves like a brat at times, his heart is in the right place.

The development of this character as he begins to develop feelings for Sakura is so heartwarming and you feel for this kid as he acknowledges his love for her and makes attempts to confess to her. (Especially in the anime. some of those scenes are hilarious)

This manga is sweet, and I found myself enjoying it.
Profile Image for Shirley.
923 reviews81 followers
July 12, 2019
Childhood favorite, still one of my favorite times doesn't change my opinion.
The last scene still got me like i just read it for the first time, Touya and his love for Sakura aww worth melting for, best brother awards goes to him.
Profile Image for Tefy Lima.
384 reviews3 followers
May 23, 2018
Las cosas se están poniendo duras pero sakura poco a poco comienza a tomar fuerza y a tener mas poder. Fue bonito pero confuso
Profile Image for Jillian -always aspiring-.
1,868 reviews537 followers
February 29, 2020
2020 Read #266

Reread in 2020

I do appreciate the deepening of the themes in the series as well as the balance of darkness and light in the story. This is just a really fun, breezy series overall.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 65 reviews

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