Every once in awhile I come across others referencing this anime on the site. And it is always a reference to "Cardcaptor Sakura" not "Cardcaptors". And upon searching I realized not only has it not been reviewed here, but that a lot of people probably don't know the amazing show that it actually is. Filled with the tragedies of death, broken families, lost loves, and imperfect human nature, Cardcaptor Sakura teaches more about the true nature of hope and healing that can come over time.
If you've seen "Cardcaptors", may I say to you upfront: You have been cheated!!! The original was nothing like the farce that was sent over. If you did like what you saw, be of good cheer, for there was 4x's that much but the story and characters are vastly different. And if you have not seen Cardcaptor Sakura or only bits, I welcome you to a magical girl series that tackles serious, real-life issues with tact and grace.
My fellow Escapists: I give you "Cardcaptor Sakura" (with spoilers).
Cardcaptor Sakura on the surface will seem like just another cute, fluffy anime involving a girl gaining magical powers. And as a premise it serves just fine. Premonitory dreams play a big part in the series and presage momentous occasions in the series. Our heroine (hence the title) is a 10 year old girl who awakens from a strange dream to prepare for a normal day as a 4th grader. We are introduced to:
Toya: Sakura's older brother who is a high schooler in 11th grade and enjoys picking on
his little sister. (But as with many a brother, only HE can pick on her!)
Mr. Fujitaka: Sakura's father who is a Professor of Archaeology at the local college.
He is also good with cooking and sewing and is idolized by his daughter.
(And almost every bit of this is pertinent to the story later on.)
Mrs. Nadeshiko Fujitaka: Sakura's mother who passed away when she was only 3 years old.
Sakura's family keeps a home shrine to her as is common and because
Nadeshiko was a model at one time, the family has many pictures of her and
do their best to include and honor her in their lives. Although it may
not be fully stated, it seems she died of an illness such as cancer that
sapped her over a period of time rather than suddenly.
*It is also of some importance to note that Nadeshiko (Dianthus superbus)
is a type of flower representing the ideal woman and Sakura means
"cherry blossom" which represents the transient nature of life. Cherry
blossoms are viewed in Japan as the "Fall Colors" are in the northern US.
The blooming of the cherry blossoms also tends to correspond with the
beginning of the school year in April, thus we find that is woven into
the tale as Sakura starts off to school.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamato_Nadeshiko
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherry_blossom
Yukito Tsukishiro: Toya's best friend and fellow classmate. Sakura is in love with him.
He is kind, charming and possesses a large appetite-again, important to
the tale. (His name means "Snow Rabbit" and you can catch a rabbit motif
on his clothes sometimes.)
Tomoyo Daidouji: Sakura's best friend. She is pretty and smart and actually related to
Sakura as a cousin...although Sakura does not know this early on. Tomoyo
seems to have a crush on Sakura and admires Sakura's athleticism and
adventurous spirit, but gets rather uncomfortably involved in the minutiae
of Sakura's life, having a passion for video and photography. Her
enthusiasm goes far beyond even small-town level of "everybody knows
everything about everybody". But a clue is given in that Tomoyo's mother
is the head of a large company. But she will come in later.
For now, the story sets up its plot by having Sakura at home alone after school only to find that something is making noises in the basement of the supposedly empty house. She grabs her metal practice baton as a weapon and goes downstairs to see what it is. The basement is filled with shelves of books and knick-knacks from around the world. A book called "The Clow" emits a strange glow and attracts her eye. The glow stops as she reaches it but the lock on the cover comes undone of its own accord as she holds it.
Inside are some strange cards written in English. Sakura picks one up and tries to sort out what the word sounds like (since she studies English in school as a second language) and manages to pronounce "Windy". The card reacts by emitting a huge gust of wind that releases all the other cards in the book. Sakura is left only with the Windy card as the strange little, winged creature from her dream rises from off the cover of the book and greats her with a hearty Konodachiwa! (Although Konodachiwa is more like "how ya doin'" rather than the "hoo hoo ha" it got translated as...)
Kerberos/Kero (Cerberus): This is the Beast of the Seal that guards the cards and keeps
them from getting loose and causing havoc. His "true form" is that of a
large winged lion, but his own abilities are tied to the cards. So with
so few around he looks more like a small, stuffed animal.
Kerberos pressures Sakura into helping him recover the lost cards since she was the
one who released them. He acts as Sakura's mentor and gives her advice and assistance on her journey to recapture the Clow Cards. The premise most reminds me of the "Friday the 13th tv series". Both shows have people unwittingly release dangerous items out into the world and are stuck trying to retrieve them at great personal risk.
There is a touch of the Kaiju feel as many of the cards produce dramatic monsters representing powerful natural forces. But for each one Sakura manages to overcome via bravery, trickery, or brains, she gains the use of the card's abilities in a tame fashion. This relates to some of the "man vs. nature" and "man vs. the unknown" themes which lends the tale strength for Sakura is a child and must face her own fears and limitations to gain mastery over the cards and to slowly grow up herself (which is the usual point of magical girl series).
Sakura captures her first card by the end of the 1st episode and it is the "Fly" card. And it allows her flight using the key/staff given her from accepting the responsibility of collecting the cards under a magical contract. (No going back.) But her night flight was captured by her friend Tomoya who is then in on the secret and then proceeds to create outfits for Sakura to wear on her outings. Kero backs Tomoya up on this since Tomoya is helping him encourage the reluctant Sakura to perform the duties of a Cardcaptor.
But it starts to come out WHY Tomoya goes through all the effort. She is the daughter of a rich family. Her mother is generally very busy with work and has little time for her. She has family bodyguards, plural, that escort her to whatever places she wishes to go. Sakura is shocked and makes much of Tomoya being a grade-schooler with bodyguards but Tomoya cleverly deflects what could easily have put an uncomfortable distance between her and her friend by stating that grade-schoolers who use magic are much more rare than those with bodyguards.
What we learn, is that Tomoyo is smart and rich, but lonely and limited on what activities she is allowed. You soon realize that this is a girl who probably isn't allowed to climb trees or play on monkey bars because "she might get hurt". Thus, to overcome her frustrations at such limitations, she lives vicariously through Sakura. If she can't be athletic or go on amazing adventures, she can support her friend and hand sew the costumes so that a part of her touches the dream she can never have.
This series is FULL of such character depth but it never beats you over the head with it. The viewer is allowed to absorb the information bit by bit and come to the realizations on his/her own. And thus, if you only casually view the series, you may miss much of the emotional depth and true driving force of the show. Rarely are we, as viewers, encouraged to THINK by a series, and the same reason that "Lost" gets people talking is why Cardcaptor Sakura gains loyal fans from those who truly allow it to pull them in.
We soon meet Tomoya's mother and learn that she DESPISES Sakura's father. But not without reason per se. She was Nadeshiko's cousin and they were as close as sisters. Sakura's father was merely a college professor and "not good enough" for her by the family's standards. Moreover, she felt that he stole Nadeshiko away from her when they got married. Then Nadeshiko became ill and he couldn't afford "the best care" which may or may not have made a difference in the end but it cemented her grudge. The episode lays bare the years of pain and unhappiness that had darkened this part of their family life.
But Tomoya's mother did not even realize the "Sakura" her daughter was friends with at school was her cousin's daughter. She had avoided seeing even the children in her bitterness. But the catharsis of being able to finally express her pain and anger at the one she felt had wronged her begins a change in the character. She sees a lot of her cousin in Sakura and realizes part of the person she loved lives on in her daughter and begins to encourage Tomoya to have Sakura come by their home. Despite her busy schedule she tries to spend more time with the girls and have a relationship with the family she had been shunning. Perhaps only with Sakura at first...but real life problems aren't solved in a 1/2 hour and this series truly expresses that.
We also have time to get introduced to more of Sakura's classmates and we learn that Sakura is deathly afraid of ghosts. What we often discover is that rather than ghosts, most of the scary things that Sakura faces are caused by Clow Cards. Sakura doesn't lose her fear simply by confronting it once, but unlike Disney shows like the "Aladdin" tv series where the main character "learns a valuable lesson" simply to utterly forget it the next day, Sakura's fears have a deep foundation and she manages to face them again and again without knowing what the outcome will be. And in time she comes to terms with her fears and can cope better, if not shed them completely.
Naoka-the glasses wearing girl who LOVES ghost stories and mysteries. She sets up Sakura
to have to face her fear of ghosts on more than one occasion.
Chiharu-the girl ponytails who is related to the lying boy,
Rika-the girl who has a crush on her teacher
-the boy who lies, spinning huge yarns to catch the gullible much to his relative's
dismay.
It isn't until the EIGHTH episode that her rival Shaoran Li/Syaoran Li/Xiaoran Li (as you like) makes an appearance. He and his cousin Meiling soon take the scene and rattle Sakura calling her an amateur. Just as Sakura begins to feel confident, these two people from a magical family who have had training all their lives come in and test her resolve and worthiness.
We also witness Toya, Sakura's brother being mean to his little sister a lot and managing to ALWAYS be around when she finally gets a chance to see her crush Yukito. But he also proves to be her protector, more aware of what she is up to than she realizes and watching out for dangers she doesn't see. Toya has a special ablility of his own: he can see ghosts. He can also sense energies to a degree. He knows something is off with his friend, Yukito, thus he makes sure Yukito and Sakura are rarely alone together. He also can tell that Syaoran is a punk and chases him off when he goes after his sister.
Toya shows both sibling-rivalry and sibling-love. Moreover, with their father busy a lot, he clearly has taken on part of the duty of watching over Sakura like a parent as often happens in single parent homes. And he comes to trust Sakura to grow up, at one point giving up his power to save someone HE loves and charging them to do it since he will no longer be able to. It is a sign of self-sacrifice, that Toya has avoided getting into relationships in order to keep an eagle eye on his sister. But in giving up his powers he also trusts his sister to do the right thing on her own.
Syaoran starts off blustering and fierce but soon finds himself dismayed as he discovers he is attracted to Yukito just like Sakura. As he starts to find a working balance with Sakura, Meiling shows up. She is quick to jump into things and stir up the pot by announcing that she and Syaoran are engaged! This leads to lots of complications and Meiling manages to be as much of a problem as a help to Syaoran. But even though she is rather unpleasant, by the end of the series I could not help but forgive her all of it and more. For the end is filled with much bittersweetness and sorrow. And we discover an unusual alliance for her and another important character born of mutual grieving for things that can never be. It is excellent but it must be seen to feel.
Syaoran himself learns that his emotions are tied to Yukito's odd nature. His energies are something more than normal, causing the unexpected attraction for Syaoran towards another male character. These themes are lightly touched on in the series and most of them are resolved with an "oooohhh, so THAT'S why" sort of solution. But the series touches on the ages when kids may have crushes on older men and women or others of the same sex, and although it is often a phase for kids it is rarely addressed in our society. Moreover, those kids who do discover they are homosexual have no role-models who have shared their confusion or sorted out such feelings. And that is something I think this series helps to touch on in ways that are not threatening or promoting, but rather simply acknowledges that it is there. And it can help reduce fear by showing it in such a carefully orchestrated but normal setting. I give the series a lot of credit for this but it has earned it a higher than PG rating.
Then we come to episode 16 "Sakura and the Rainbow of Memories". I would argue this as being the best episode of the series. It seems simple enough, Sakura's family goes on vacation and gets use of a summer house. There is no big fight, no Syaoran, it would seem no conflict really. BUT IT IS THE MOST EMOTIONALLY INTENSE OF ANY!! (Save the sleep card episode, but I'll touch on that one later.) Sakura wanders down the road and meets an older gentleman who chats with her and invites her for tea. (Now, I know things are different there from here but I was a bit surprised the family was so relaxed about it all. I figured it was just the difference in cultures.)
Sakura tells her family about her day and her father tells her she should visit again since she was invited to while her brother chides her about her manners in just taking advantage of the old man's hospitality just because he offered sweets. So she gets ready to go again the next day and her father sends her off with some cookies he baked for the sake of politeness.
This time the older fellow invites her upstairs and shows her to see his daughter's room and she learns that she has passed on but that she used to draw rainbows. They went out to have tea and she offers the cookies and he asks if she made them. He pauses when she says no and explains it was her father...then he eats them and says they are good. It turns out it is her grandfather. Her family was bound to know who "lived next door" to that summer cottage. And the grandfather had also cut the family out of his life. His acceptance of the cookies was also a sign of forgiveness if only for the grandchildren's sake. And Tomoya's mom makes an appearance having played invisible servant. All of this leads up to a moment where the grandfather eventually helps the family in a moment of need far down the line. It has all the difficulties and hopes of shattered families that I believe is incredibly current to things today.
The other episode with the sleep card involves an accident that Sakura couldn't avoid. Her father could go ballistic, but instead, he is gentle and understanding that accidents do happen. And Sakura learns that magic can't fix all problems. But even though her father forgives her, she feels awful. It is only later when her father does sends an encouraging note in her lunch just as she did for him, does she finally forgive herself.
There is lots and lots more. This covers a good chunk of the first part of the series. Hopefully you have discovered the hints of the depth of the series and will look past the cute exterior to see the grand story within. Give Sakura a chance and you will be as spellbound as the cards themselves. Enjoy.
If you've seen "Cardcaptors", may I say to you upfront: You have been cheated!!! The original was nothing like the farce that was sent over. If you did like what you saw, be of good cheer, for there was 4x's that much but the story and characters are vastly different. And if you have not seen Cardcaptor Sakura or only bits, I welcome you to a magical girl series that tackles serious, real-life issues with tact and grace.
My fellow Escapists: I give you "Cardcaptor Sakura" (with spoilers).
Cardcaptor Sakura on the surface will seem like just another cute, fluffy anime involving a girl gaining magical powers. And as a premise it serves just fine. Premonitory dreams play a big part in the series and presage momentous occasions in the series. Our heroine (hence the title) is a 10 year old girl who awakens from a strange dream to prepare for a normal day as a 4th grader. We are introduced to:
Toya: Sakura's older brother who is a high schooler in 11th grade and enjoys picking on
his little sister. (But as with many a brother, only HE can pick on her!)
Mr. Fujitaka: Sakura's father who is a Professor of Archaeology at the local college.
He is also good with cooking and sewing and is idolized by his daughter.
(And almost every bit of this is pertinent to the story later on.)
Mrs. Nadeshiko Fujitaka: Sakura's mother who passed away when she was only 3 years old.
Sakura's family keeps a home shrine to her as is common and because
Nadeshiko was a model at one time, the family has many pictures of her and
do their best to include and honor her in their lives. Although it may
not be fully stated, it seems she died of an illness such as cancer that
sapped her over a period of time rather than suddenly.
*It is also of some importance to note that Nadeshiko (Dianthus superbus)
is a type of flower representing the ideal woman and Sakura means
"cherry blossom" which represents the transient nature of life. Cherry
blossoms are viewed in Japan as the "Fall Colors" are in the northern US.
The blooming of the cherry blossoms also tends to correspond with the
beginning of the school year in April, thus we find that is woven into
the tale as Sakura starts off to school.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamato_Nadeshiko
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherry_blossom
Yukito Tsukishiro: Toya's best friend and fellow classmate. Sakura is in love with him.
He is kind, charming and possesses a large appetite-again, important to
the tale. (His name means "Snow Rabbit" and you can catch a rabbit motif
on his clothes sometimes.)
Tomoyo Daidouji: Sakura's best friend. She is pretty and smart and actually related to
Sakura as a cousin...although Sakura does not know this early on. Tomoyo
seems to have a crush on Sakura and admires Sakura's athleticism and
adventurous spirit, but gets rather uncomfortably involved in the minutiae
of Sakura's life, having a passion for video and photography. Her
enthusiasm goes far beyond even small-town level of "everybody knows
everything about everybody". But a clue is given in that Tomoyo's mother
is the head of a large company. But she will come in later.
For now, the story sets up its plot by having Sakura at home alone after school only to find that something is making noises in the basement of the supposedly empty house. She grabs her metal practice baton as a weapon and goes downstairs to see what it is. The basement is filled with shelves of books and knick-knacks from around the world. A book called "The Clow" emits a strange glow and attracts her eye. The glow stops as she reaches it but the lock on the cover comes undone of its own accord as she holds it.
Inside are some strange cards written in English. Sakura picks one up and tries to sort out what the word sounds like (since she studies English in school as a second language) and manages to pronounce "Windy". The card reacts by emitting a huge gust of wind that releases all the other cards in the book. Sakura is left only with the Windy card as the strange little, winged creature from her dream rises from off the cover of the book and greats her with a hearty Konodachiwa! (Although Konodachiwa is more like "how ya doin'" rather than the "hoo hoo ha" it got translated as...)
Kerberos/Kero (Cerberus): This is the Beast of the Seal that guards the cards and keeps
them from getting loose and causing havoc. His "true form" is that of a
large winged lion, but his own abilities are tied to the cards. So with
so few around he looks more like a small, stuffed animal.
Kerberos pressures Sakura into helping him recover the lost cards since she was the
one who released them. He acts as Sakura's mentor and gives her advice and assistance on her journey to recapture the Clow Cards. The premise most reminds me of the "Friday the 13th tv series". Both shows have people unwittingly release dangerous items out into the world and are stuck trying to retrieve them at great personal risk.
There is a touch of the Kaiju feel as many of the cards produce dramatic monsters representing powerful natural forces. But for each one Sakura manages to overcome via bravery, trickery, or brains, she gains the use of the card's abilities in a tame fashion. This relates to some of the "man vs. nature" and "man vs. the unknown" themes which lends the tale strength for Sakura is a child and must face her own fears and limitations to gain mastery over the cards and to slowly grow up herself (which is the usual point of magical girl series).
Sakura captures her first card by the end of the 1st episode and it is the "Fly" card. And it allows her flight using the key/staff given her from accepting the responsibility of collecting the cards under a magical contract. (No going back.) But her night flight was captured by her friend Tomoya who is then in on the secret and then proceeds to create outfits for Sakura to wear on her outings. Kero backs Tomoya up on this since Tomoya is helping him encourage the reluctant Sakura to perform the duties of a Cardcaptor.
But it starts to come out WHY Tomoya goes through all the effort. She is the daughter of a rich family. Her mother is generally very busy with work and has little time for her. She has family bodyguards, plural, that escort her to whatever places she wishes to go. Sakura is shocked and makes much of Tomoya being a grade-schooler with bodyguards but Tomoya cleverly deflects what could easily have put an uncomfortable distance between her and her friend by stating that grade-schoolers who use magic are much more rare than those with bodyguards.
What we learn, is that Tomoyo is smart and rich, but lonely and limited on what activities she is allowed. You soon realize that this is a girl who probably isn't allowed to climb trees or play on monkey bars because "she might get hurt". Thus, to overcome her frustrations at such limitations, she lives vicariously through Sakura. If she can't be athletic or go on amazing adventures, she can support her friend and hand sew the costumes so that a part of her touches the dream she can never have.
This series is FULL of such character depth but it never beats you over the head with it. The viewer is allowed to absorb the information bit by bit and come to the realizations on his/her own. And thus, if you only casually view the series, you may miss much of the emotional depth and true driving force of the show. Rarely are we, as viewers, encouraged to THINK by a series, and the same reason that "Lost" gets people talking is why Cardcaptor Sakura gains loyal fans from those who truly allow it to pull them in.
We soon meet Tomoya's mother and learn that she DESPISES Sakura's father. But not without reason per se. She was Nadeshiko's cousin and they were as close as sisters. Sakura's father was merely a college professor and "not good enough" for her by the family's standards. Moreover, she felt that he stole Nadeshiko away from her when they got married. Then Nadeshiko became ill and he couldn't afford "the best care" which may or may not have made a difference in the end but it cemented her grudge. The episode lays bare the years of pain and unhappiness that had darkened this part of their family life.
But Tomoya's mother did not even realize the "Sakura" her daughter was friends with at school was her cousin's daughter. She had avoided seeing even the children in her bitterness. But the catharsis of being able to finally express her pain and anger at the one she felt had wronged her begins a change in the character. She sees a lot of her cousin in Sakura and realizes part of the person she loved lives on in her daughter and begins to encourage Tomoya to have Sakura come by their home. Despite her busy schedule she tries to spend more time with the girls and have a relationship with the family she had been shunning. Perhaps only with Sakura at first...but real life problems aren't solved in a 1/2 hour and this series truly expresses that.
We also have time to get introduced to more of Sakura's classmates and we learn that Sakura is deathly afraid of ghosts. What we often discover is that rather than ghosts, most of the scary things that Sakura faces are caused by Clow Cards. Sakura doesn't lose her fear simply by confronting it once, but unlike Disney shows like the "Aladdin" tv series where the main character "learns a valuable lesson" simply to utterly forget it the next day, Sakura's fears have a deep foundation and she manages to face them again and again without knowing what the outcome will be. And in time she comes to terms with her fears and can cope better, if not shed them completely.
Naoka-the glasses wearing girl who LOVES ghost stories and mysteries. She sets up Sakura
to have to face her fear of ghosts on more than one occasion.
Chiharu-the girl ponytails who is related to the lying boy,
Rika-the girl who has a crush on her teacher
-the boy who lies, spinning huge yarns to catch the gullible much to his relative's
dismay.
It isn't until the EIGHTH episode that her rival Shaoran Li/Syaoran Li/Xiaoran Li (as you like) makes an appearance. He and his cousin Meiling soon take the scene and rattle Sakura calling her an amateur. Just as Sakura begins to feel confident, these two people from a magical family who have had training all their lives come in and test her resolve and worthiness.
We also witness Toya, Sakura's brother being mean to his little sister a lot and managing to ALWAYS be around when she finally gets a chance to see her crush Yukito. But he also proves to be her protector, more aware of what she is up to than she realizes and watching out for dangers she doesn't see. Toya has a special ablility of his own: he can see ghosts. He can also sense energies to a degree. He knows something is off with his friend, Yukito, thus he makes sure Yukito and Sakura are rarely alone together. He also can tell that Syaoran is a punk and chases him off when he goes after his sister.
Toya shows both sibling-rivalry and sibling-love. Moreover, with their father busy a lot, he clearly has taken on part of the duty of watching over Sakura like a parent as often happens in single parent homes. And he comes to trust Sakura to grow up, at one point giving up his power to save someone HE loves and charging them to do it since he will no longer be able to. It is a sign of self-sacrifice, that Toya has avoided getting into relationships in order to keep an eagle eye on his sister. But in giving up his powers he also trusts his sister to do the right thing on her own.
Syaoran starts off blustering and fierce but soon finds himself dismayed as he discovers he is attracted to Yukito just like Sakura. As he starts to find a working balance with Sakura, Meiling shows up. She is quick to jump into things and stir up the pot by announcing that she and Syaoran are engaged! This leads to lots of complications and Meiling manages to be as much of a problem as a help to Syaoran. But even though she is rather unpleasant, by the end of the series I could not help but forgive her all of it and more. For the end is filled with much bittersweetness and sorrow. And we discover an unusual alliance for her and another important character born of mutual grieving for things that can never be. It is excellent but it must be seen to feel.
Syaoran himself learns that his emotions are tied to Yukito's odd nature. His energies are something more than normal, causing the unexpected attraction for Syaoran towards another male character. These themes are lightly touched on in the series and most of them are resolved with an "oooohhh, so THAT'S why" sort of solution. But the series touches on the ages when kids may have crushes on older men and women or others of the same sex, and although it is often a phase for kids it is rarely addressed in our society. Moreover, those kids who do discover they are homosexual have no role-models who have shared their confusion or sorted out such feelings. And that is something I think this series helps to touch on in ways that are not threatening or promoting, but rather simply acknowledges that it is there. And it can help reduce fear by showing it in such a carefully orchestrated but normal setting. I give the series a lot of credit for this but it has earned it a higher than PG rating.
Then we come to episode 16 "Sakura and the Rainbow of Memories". I would argue this as being the best episode of the series. It seems simple enough, Sakura's family goes on vacation and gets use of a summer house. There is no big fight, no Syaoran, it would seem no conflict really. BUT IT IS THE MOST EMOTIONALLY INTENSE OF ANY!! (Save the sleep card episode, but I'll touch on that one later.) Sakura wanders down the road and meets an older gentleman who chats with her and invites her for tea. (Now, I know things are different there from here but I was a bit surprised the family was so relaxed about it all. I figured it was just the difference in cultures.)
Sakura tells her family about her day and her father tells her she should visit again since she was invited to while her brother chides her about her manners in just taking advantage of the old man's hospitality just because he offered sweets. So she gets ready to go again the next day and her father sends her off with some cookies he baked for the sake of politeness.
This time the older fellow invites her upstairs and shows her to see his daughter's room and she learns that she has passed on but that she used to draw rainbows. They went out to have tea and she offers the cookies and he asks if she made them. He pauses when she says no and explains it was her father...then he eats them and says they are good. It turns out it is her grandfather. Her family was bound to know who "lived next door" to that summer cottage. And the grandfather had also cut the family out of his life. His acceptance of the cookies was also a sign of forgiveness if only for the grandchildren's sake. And Tomoya's mom makes an appearance having played invisible servant. All of this leads up to a moment where the grandfather eventually helps the family in a moment of need far down the line. It has all the difficulties and hopes of shattered families that I believe is incredibly current to things today.
The other episode with the sleep card involves an accident that Sakura couldn't avoid. Her father could go ballistic, but instead, he is gentle and understanding that accidents do happen. And Sakura learns that magic can't fix all problems. But even though her father forgives her, she feels awful. It is only later when her father does sends an encouraging note in her lunch just as she did for him, does she finally forgive herself.
There is lots and lots more. This covers a good chunk of the first part of the series. Hopefully you have discovered the hints of the depth of the series and will look past the cute exterior to see the grand story within. Give Sakura a chance and you will be as spellbound as the cards themselves. Enjoy.
