Hello everyone!! End of the month, we’re here back again to comment and analyze the content and translation of this new chapter of Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card
This time around I was quite nervous because I didn’t know what to expect, and we’re basically at the doorstep of the climax (Ohkawa mentioned working on the climax earlier this month, and by the timings with which they work, they were working on chapter 63). And I have to say it, I was left completely confused and disoriented, but not in the way I was expecting
In fact, the gif of the month:
This is me upon seeing the first page after the color one. Come with me under the cut and you’ll find out why!!
The color page
I have to start with the color page ❤ cause honestly I’ve been strongly anticipating it and it came true! Our Kaito comes back after 10 color pages of absence, in an unexpected version: this is seemingly coming right from the earliest period of his life, before the Association approached him and recruited him. He’s very little here, and absolutely adorable! The boy seems to have a passion for heights, what’s with always being upon a tree or on a street lamp like here but it’s understandable, it’s where people will leave you alone I was commenting with my friend Sarah that he doesn’t really look like in an English setting, but rather an Eastern European one, which was also the vibe I’ve had the first time his backstory was introduced. Like, those shorts gave me English vibe somehow, but that hat…. He might be possibly coming from that area. I find the wintery atmosphere very fitting for him, I’ve always associated him to winter ❤ EDIT: forgot to mention the translation of the text you can see on this color page…it’s Lilie’s words to him that were featured in chapter 60: “It exists, somewhere…. a like/love that will only be yours. And it’ll be waiting for you to realize it”.
The power of love
Now, first thing first as soon as we turn the first page:
WHAT THE HECK IS HAPPENING?? WHY ARE THESE KIDS WEARING THE WINTER UNIFORM?? Wha-how?? They were at the end of June/beginning of July literally a chapter ago?? Where’s Syaoran’s birthday gone to?? What about the outfits the girls were sewing for their boys?? What the f- I don’t know. I know CLAMP said we would end the Clear Card arc with the winter uniforms (but not so cold that they required a coat, so in Autumn), and I know I missed them a little, but I expected them for the very last, maybe in the epilogue! Here it seems like we had a timeskip of about 3 months and no one is batting an eye or mentioning it. Now, either something very very fishy is going on or CLAMP is making fun of us. What are your thoughts on this?
Well, let’s just go forward since we have a SyaoSaku romantic scene after a while ❤ The kids are having lunch together (all alone) in the schoolyard, and Syaoran is tasting Sakura’s chocomint macarons! AND HE LIKES THEM!!! What happened there? Sakura of course is pleasantly surprised and asks him to not force himself just to please her, but Syaoran insists that he wants to eat them since she worked so hard to make them, and he’s growing to like chocomint for that reason what a sweet, dedicated boyfriend. At this stage of the story it’s hardly any news but it’s nice that Syaoran keeps finding new ways to deepen his bond with Sakura….and of course, he does it with very meaningful gestures. What love can make you do…. Sakura doesn’t want to be outdone in this “I love you more” contest and states that she also wants to learn to like the stuff Syaoran likes, even if it’s something she hates…..like konnyaku……but Syaoran reassures her, he doesn’t like it either and Sakura is like “Ah, that’s right”.
We then learn that “next week” it’s gonna finally be the dreaded day of the school event, and so the fateful day of the play…. Our poor Naoko is struggling with still lots of things to decide and to change(small omission of the ENG translation) at the last minute, and Syaoran comments that the two Alice aren’t slacking off either… Sakura reaaaally studies hard to remember her lines, but she mentions forgetting them all of a sudden….I’m eyeing this sentence pretty warily because in the ENG they translated it as “sometimes”, but in the JP there’s actually the presence of that 突然 (suddenly) that kinda…..gives off the vibe that something weird is going on? Forgetting her lines suddenly? I don’t know, I’m suspicious. Whatever, Sakura says she and Akiho decided to start reharsing their lines together. Also, take this with a grain of salt because I’m not sure of the structure of the sentence (EDIT: I checked the Spanish translation and I was right), but it seems like Akiho and Sakura are trying to learn eachother’s lines too, in case one of them forgets a line? This nuance is missing from the ENG translation. In fact Syaoran says “it’s a relief you can tell/teach eachother’s (lines), since you two have so many scenes together”. The idea I get from that 教え会えたら is that in case one of them forgets a line on the stage, they can quickly suggest it to eachother and carry on with the play? Anyway, Sakura and Akiho today will stay behind and reharse some more. Syaoran’s expression changes. Aaah, yes. He can’t really fight it. This apprehension that doesn’t let him go. He knows Akiho doesn’t have any magical power and he knows she isn’t malicious…but…you know… KAITO… Sakura understands perfectly what he means. Syaoran is mostly worried about not knowing what Kaito’s goal is. So he offers to be present with them too, but Sakura reminds him that he’s got his own plans for the afternoon, helping with the props and all. And he would’ve given up all of that, I know that he would have if she just gave him a sign that she needed him there. But she doesn’t. Our big girl is quick to tell him that she’ll be careful, and when he’s about to tell her “(don’t) behave recklessly” she cuts him off and says “I won’t. I promise”. Syaoran has no choice but to trust his girl. (That “better not” from the ENG version sounds so menacing?? wtf?? He just repeats “It’s a promise, (then)”)
And you have to give him credit here. It’s really admirable of him to have this much faith in her… trusting her to be alone with a person who’s deeply connected to someone who might mean harm to Sakura. But trust and communication, the weak spots with which this wonderful couple started this Clear Card arc, have finally blossomed and made them progress a lot in their relationship. Trust. Trust the person you love to be able to make their own choices. This is gonna be so much more relevant and important, you’ll see.
But as our lovebirds are about to make their iconic pinky promise, the inevitable happens. This reminds us that the no-touch spell is still active and still ready to fry Syaoran at the minimum contact between the two. But the two don’t let this bring them down, and resort to a “no-contact pinky promise” that ANY TRC fan will immediately connect to this scene, oh I know you’ll do it:
They’re so sweet, but dammit the trauma. Anyways.
Reharsing, reharsing….
We switch to the music room, Akiho and Sakura are indeed reharsing their lines… And it’s a pretty “strange” exchange. For one, when Sakura says “since I’ve got here, my heart’s been aching”, Akiho goes “….” the first time around. We find out that here Akiho is playing the role of the Red Queen, too. I know we’ve been always told that it was about “The Two Alice”, and that’s always been correct, but what I think is happening here is that since Akiho is the Alice who couldn’t go back to where she came from,she ended up becoming the Red Queen of that land. Moreover, the script says “they call me the Red Queen”. But what’s even stranger, is that when Sakura/Alice asks her “What’s your name?”, Akiho is about to say something, hesitates, goes “….” and then says her correct line.
What was she about to say?
This scene got me reaaaaaaaaally intrigued. Especially cause I’ve been theorizing since forever that Akiho Shinomoto might simply be a fake name. Was she instinctively about to spell out her real name? Hmmmmm… We’ll see.
Sakura and Akiho finish reharsing that part, and we also get to know that right after this skit the lights will go out and Yamazaki will start playing his song at the piano….why do I have the feeling that the shitstorm will start right in that moment??? Akiho mentions that Tomoyo will make some arrangements to her Red Queen costume to not let her fall, because moving in the dark can be quite tricky with her dress (in fact we have already seen that Akiho was meant to have a long and queen-like dress). Sakura proposes to take a break and offers her macarons to Akiho….as soon as the blonde sees the chocomint ones, she goes absolutely crazy! We weren’t probably aware of how much Akiho loved chocomint, just like her mom Sakura takes the opportunity of Akiho’s display of passion for chocomint to tell her what happened earlier with Syaoran, and how he grew to like the chocomint flavor lately, even though he hated it before! Akiho without hesitation states that it’s because Sakura made them (if anyone still had any doubt, yes, Akiho is very well aware of what’s going on between those two ), making her friend blush hard…but then she gives once again a little additional info on her parents, specifically on her father: it seems like he too, just like Syaoran, used to hate the chocomint flavor or any kind of sweets for that matter, but after eating what Lilie prepared for him….he grew to like them! That’s sooooo sweeet I’m growing more and more intrigued by the couple Lilie + Akidad…. So there we have, in the matter of one chapter, explained the chocomint incongruence of last time!!! I’m really glad CLAMP didn’t drag this too long and remember, CLAMP always know what they’re doing! In fact, Akiho continues:
JP: “It’s really amazing when someone important to you eats something you made… And on top of that, they also come to like the same things as you do”
I’ve put the JP version here because the sentence was kept “general”, not specifically referring only to the experience of her father and mother. This is because CLAMP want us to connect the dots between the characters. The experience of some characters can be shared by others too…. And I have to be honest, my heart completely melted at the sweetness of our romantic Akiho….she’s wishing, longing so much for a love like that….
Sakura agrees that it’s really wonderful, and Akiho swears to try to overcome the things she doesn’t like……like konnyaku….. Sakura immediately remembers “Didn’t Kaito-san like konnyaku?” and here I have to point out maybe the only translation difference that is a little bit confusing in the entire chapter:
I was thrown off, reading the ENG at first, cause does it make sense to you that Akiho doesn’t remember that Kaito likes konnyaku, but Sakura does? Come oooon! And it doesn’t even make clear what Akiho means here. Akiho wants to overcome her hate of konnyaku precisely (!!!) because Kaito likes it!! So she’s like “Yeah, that’s right, he likes it, so that’s why I want to try to like it too”
Sakura tells Akiho that she’s been talking about konnyaku with Syaoran too, earlier on, and the two girls slowly spell out what we’ve been waiting for them to realize since forever….they say clearly that they do the same things, make the same movements, and speak the same words….while saying so, they touch hands….and then it happens. Sakura suddenly finds herself in the dream world, touching hands with MCF. She immediately tries to see who’s under the robe, but the image in front of her breaks and once again we hear the Ominous Voice repeating “You can’t go back anymore”
Sakura wakes up in her reality on the floor of the music room, Akiho has fainted too. The girl understands immediately that a new Card is around, so she secures it promptly, but we don’t find out immediately what Card it is.
It’s only later at home, while talking to Suppy and Kero, that we’re shown what Card she produced: the name is Synchronize and the kanji is 呼応, which corresponds to “ to act in unison” but also “to sympathize with”. Very interesting. And who’s on the Card, this time around? The two who were missing among Sakura’s school friends, Yamazaki and Chiharu!! It’s so cool that they’ve got a Card together… It seems like Akiho woke up right after, but even if Sakura told her she’d walk her home many times, Akiho insisted that she was fine. I wonder what she thought about the fact that she fainted once again….. This time it wasn’t Kaito’s time rewinding’s fault….. And I wonder what Kaito will think about it, if she will tell him once she got home…..
Sakura, Kero and Suppy reflect on the events occurred and the fact that lately all the Clear Cards Sakura has been creating are depicting people….and that’s quite a difference with the Clow Cards, which used to depict “spirits” and “sacred beasts”…Kero says that the Clear Cards are rather about “phenomena”. (My friend Eru-kun on Twitter spotted the Gravitation Card among the ones depicted here, another anime-only Card making a cameo”). They realize how all the people depicted on the Cards are in fact important people to Sakura, and she wonders if there’s a deeper meaning to that…. She even wonders if Dreaming, modeled on MCF, is representing Akiho…. Sakura really seems convinced that MCF is Akiho…I wonder if she’s right, or if CLAMP will surprise everyone…. But it’s precisely when she’s wondering about that, that she realizes with dismay: the Mirror Clear Card became transparent!! Kero says he can’t feel any power from it anymore….what the f- happened now?? Basically, both “Mirrors” now are gone: one we know is in Kaito’s hands, but the other one…..?? I have a theory on this but we will see…
And that’s it, for this chapter! Luckily, as you could see, no major translation differences. I hope they won’t do any major mess up in this part of the story because it’s really crucial. Judging by what Ohkawa said in their Spaces and from the work schedule, next one we should enter the climax officially, so I presume it’ll be at least the beginning of the play. This dreaded play. We’ve been dreading this moment since…2018, I think? I definitely remember that the fandom eyed suspiciously the first mentions even in the anime….as we all suspected, it’ll mark the end of Clear Card arc.
I’m still quite shocked and confused about the change of the uniforms and I hope CLAMP will give me peace about that soon enough
I’m reminding you the dates for Chapter 63: May 31st, on Bookwalker (digital, ENG) June 1st, on Clamp-fans and Comic-days (digital, JP and other languages) June 3rd (probably), on Nakayoshi (paper and digital, JP)
Thank you for reading, I’ll await your asks and see you at the end of May!!
A/N: A big thank you to everyone who read, liked/reblogged Part 1! Let me know what you think of this. ^_^
Pairing: Syaosaku, Clamp
Rating: T
Prompt: Inspired by @syaosakuweek ‘s week prompt ‘Shyness/Amaryllis’.
Beads of sweat lined her brow as she dipped the bucket into the river. The water was so cool and refreshing, she had half a mind to slip out of her dress and into the blue waters, splashing around with the fish below.
But she can’t afford to, not when hewas in such a critical state.
“Come on, Kero-chan,” she says, fondly petting the large golden canine that lay sprawled on the grass beside her.
He was different from any other dog that she had seen, bigger and furrier, with a golden mane around him that made him look almost regal. His size alone scared most people - which is why she named him ‘Cerberus’ – but she wasn’t afraid. He’d been with her for as far as she could remember. Way back from when Touya would tease her for being a shrimp that only came up to his hip.
Even 5 days ago when she’d wandered into the middle of what used to be a golden field of corn, only to see it transformed into a battle-torn wasteland, he’d been by her side.
When she’d scoured the ground to find only one breathing body, he’d helped her carry it back to their home.
Now, as she lay crouched over the body of the soldier that had yet to wake up, he watched her, alert and cautious.
She dips a new washcloth into the fresh water and places it on his forehead. It had been 5 days since she pulled him from the clutches of death. She’d worked feverishly to close his wounds, mixing every healing herb she could think of, to create a soothing salve that she rubbed across his skin.
The gash on his stomach was responding well to her efforts, but the soldier had yet to open his eyes. His body burned with a fever that she was powerless against, and all she could do was trickle water past his chapped lips and try to cool him down.
She brings her face closer to his, a face that under any other circumstance, she would consider handsome. Even the war bruises couldn’t take away the bronze of his skin, the high brows and the arrogant bend of his nose. She remembers his eyes, tired and hurt before he collapsed that day in her arms and instantly feels guilty for being so inappropriate. Her cheeks reddening, she listens to his faint sounds of breathing.
His lungs were still functioning, but he refused to wake up despite her efforts to feed him or bathe him or change his clothes. It’s as if he’d said goodbye to the world and did not wish to glance upon it again.
Placing her head on his chest, she listened closely to his soft heartbeat.
“… You’re still alive,” she whispers, “… so don’t give up yet. You have,” -
Letting out a scream, she finds herself flipped on to her back and on the mattress, staring into reddened eyes made of pure amber.
“I’ll kill you,” he rasps, his hands closing around her throat, “… Everyone will know what a traitor you are,” -
“Please,” she chokes out, pleading to the possessed man on top of her. Lying on her bed, he had seemed, so broken, soft, gentle even. But now it seemed a gross misconception as he looked at her with the eyes of a madman who wasn’t seeing the person in front of him but someone else, filled with hatred towards a person that was not her. “… I am not a traitor! Please let me go!”
Sharp teeth clamp over his wrists causing him to hiss in pain. Kero tackles him to the floor, growling menacingly at his face and it takes him a moment to understand what is happening to him.
His eyes widen as he turns to look at the startled woman across from him. “… I,” he struggles, his throat dry, “… I didn’t mean…,” he whispers shakily.
The fear takes a heavy second to leave her. “It’s alright,” she breathes, body still heaving in response to the panic. “… Kero-chan,” she beckons, “… it’s okay, please get off of him.“
"… Who are you?” he asks, even though it occurs to him that he should introduce himself first, common courteousness that could do nothing to save the awkwardness and horror of the situation that just transpired.
“Sakura,” she says meekly, hands rubbing against the grip marks he’d left on her throat, filling him with shame. “… What’s your name?”
Sakura, he thinks, knowing that in the language of Nihon, it meant cherry blossom, a flower that their people revered and celebrated. Slowly, he takes in the porcelain of her skin, the soft flush of her cheeks, and her willowy brown hair.
What a fitting name.
“… Syaoran,” he mumbles, taking a second to check his Nihongo, “… my name is Syaoran.”
SyaoSaku Week 2018 Day 7: 牡丹 | Botan (Peony):Bravery
“The wolf I will follow into the storm To find your heart, its passion displaced By ire ever growing, hardening into stone Amidst the cold to hold you in a heated embrace” - The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt; Priscilla’s Song
Sakura: S-Shaoran, may I take a picture with you? Shaoran: eh?! Oh. Sure… Tomoyo: Alright. 1…2… Tomoyo: 3… *press* *saw Shaoran kissed Sakura’s cheek on the screen* Sakura: *blushing tomato* HOEE! Shaoran: *walks away like a boss, but blushing* Tomoyo: Hohoho! What a beautiful shot!
A very old trad comic I did. Just look at their adorable blush~! This could also work for Shaoran’s Bravery as well. XD
SyaoSaku Week 2018 Day 07: Peony:Bravery When Shaoran just amazingly split open a dimension where Sakura is. Without missing a beat used to Time card and still had enough time calm down Sakura despite magic draining his energy, it was just fangirling moment when he hugged her and Sakura hugged back. *^* Definitely my fave scene on episode 14.
The New Trials of Cardcaptor Sakura by Wish-chan Rating:K+ Summary: Set two years after CCS, this is a fanfic started in Fall 1999 and continues the adventures of the gang against Dark Ones. As S&S seal new forces, they learn secrets about of their parents’ past and strive to understand the future.
Arc 1, Chapter 4: The Camping Trip -Just in Time (snippet under the cut)
![An Shiraishi In Real Life? [NOT CLICKBAIT]](https://64.media.tumblr.com/6c82dcbd820e3155a459591598b1b6d3/fbf18520024f8326-9e/s30x30u_c1/a2087546e664b7796539e7b688029b2a25a5d3c8.jpg){kind=small}
