We all have reasons for liking the anime we do. Some have a deep and thought-provoking message. A lot have interesting and complex characters. Others may have an involving plot that keeps the viewer watching out of intrigue and delight. However, a lot of anime fans will have anime that they like that many consider to be odd, poor in taste, obscure, too mainstream, too moe or boring. Some of my guilty pleasures don’t make me feel particularly guilty or anxious. Some slight embarrassment, yes, but I harbour no negative feelings towards anything I like. Now I am going to go into my top 5 “Anime Guilty Pleasures”. I will write one article on each anime. First, and my favourite…
Cardcaptor Sakura
The basic premise of the story is that a 9 year old girl called Sakura Kinomoto has accidentally released some magic cards from a magic book she found, and so she must use magic to recapture them. Anyway, pretty much everything about Cardcaptor Sakura is so sweet and adorable. It’s not sweet to the point of being sickly since there are some adult jokes, and there is a lot of peril throughout the series. There are no characters to dislike (not intentionally, at least), and everyone is quite “happy-go-lucky” in their outlook on life and their surroundings. The bright colours add to the cuteness of the atmosphere, and seeing as the animation studio behind it was Madhouse, the animation quality is pretty good for its time.
Now despite being an airhead, Sakura is still very lovable due to her determination and being very capable when push comes to shove. She has a naive nature, and so this leads her to being duped into doing her big brother’s chores and believing everything a known fibber in her class says. Also, whilst not being unintelligent, she struggles with her homework, even when she’s not carrying out her card catching duties. However, despite her flaws, she is still very likable, and this is why the viewer will root for her.
People may argue that it’s a moe series (in a negative context), but I believe that’s wrong for two reasons. First, it wasn’t designed to be a moe or loli anime. There is no fan-service or ecchi to speak of and you cannot have girls with real innocence be an object of desire (unless you’re a natural pervert, a.k.a otaku/lolicon). Second, Cardcaptor Sakura aired from 1998 to 2000, which was well before the moe craze. I have seen some ecchi images of Sakura before, and quite frankly, they annoy me. This is one of the few series of its type to be created without fan-service or ecchi, but lolicons and otakus still found a way to make some. These people are trying to take away the purity of a very wholesome series.
Cardcaptor Sakura fits very nicely into the “Mahou Shoujo” genre, but it’s still fresh enough to be able to stand out from its peers. First of all, Sakura doesn’t have a particular costume that she goes through the typical transformation sequence for. Instead, she transforms her wand. This means that she has to use magic in whatever clothes she’s wearing at the time of transforming her wand. Much to Sakura’s bemusement, her best friend Tomoyo (an avid costume designer) makes her a new costume especially for almost every occasion that she uses magic, and other occasions when the need arises. Also, there is a lot of homosexual subtext. However, it’s all quite innocent stuff, so unless you’re close-minded, you will actually find that stuff rather funny and touching at the same time. Also, there is no actual evil character or force to speak of. This comes as a relief to me because it allows Cardcaptor Sakura to be a character driven series, which is what I prefer to a plot driven series. Because of this, there are a fair few episodes that focus solely on Sakura. However, the plot is by no means weak. While not fantastic, it definitely captures my interest, and it never gets boring or sidetracked. The comedy and romantic sub-plots are well executed and contribute very efficiently to the main plot without getting in the way or being pushed into the background.
Despite being a guilty pleasure, Cardcaptor Sakura is an anime that I deem good enough to be in the list of my top 20 anime. All 70 episodes are a joy to watch, and I recommend it to anyone who is a fan of romance, comedy, mahou shoujo or any combination of those. Cardcaptor Sakura is a classic.
Posted by Maxon 