Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card Arc 07
カードキャプターさくら クリアカード編 chapter 07

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Sakura confronts the figure in her dream, who seems keen on taking her new key. She seems to recognize the figure when Kero-chan wakes her. She tells Kero-chan of her experience while outside, the same figure stands on a power poll.

The next morning, a concerned Touya makes pancakes for Sakura. He realizes she’s still involved in stuff, so he resumes teasing her. At school, Sakura is still irritated over Touya’s antics. A new, female transfer student named SHINOMOTO Akiho joins their class. Sakura invites Akiho to join her group of friends for lunch, where Yamazaki spins a yarn. Akiho reveals she’s been to Hong Kong, surprising Syaoran.

Akiho suddenly remembers she has to speak to a teacher in the faculty room. Since she doesn’t know the way, Sakura offers to escort her there. Sakura blushes at the compliments fro Akiho. She also notices the similarities in their names. The two agree that they hope to get to know each other well.

Syaoran calls Eriol to report on Akiho, stating he felt no magic coming from her. Eriol confirms this as well. Eriol’s divination reveals that Sakura and Akiho will become close friends. Syaoran reports on the new card. Eriol reminds him not to say anything yet, but to contact him if something happens. Eriol says he will do the same for Syaoran.

In art class, Sakura is surprised to see a sketch in her book showing her with Syaoran. She looks outside and sees a tree come to life and rampage. She startles the class with her reaction, but doesn’t speak of what caused her noise. When she looks out again, she sees multiple trees uprooted and apparently walking.

Thoughts/Review:

Well, after playing it safe and nostalgic, CLAMP decides to put a small change-up in Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card Arc 07. However, this too is not new territory.

Touya

You know what would be a nice change for the manga? How about Touya telling Sakura he knows more than he’s let on in the past. CLAMP could still have him be the comic relief in teasing Sakura, but it would put a new dynamic on his relationship with his little sister.  Instead, he just pretends not to know that magical stuff is going on and Sakura is involved.

Broccoli with pancakes and sausage? Barf! Seriously, even if I liked broccoli, I wouldn’t want it polluting my breakfast. Buttermilk pancakes, lots of butter, spicy link sausage, and a really good syrup if I’m in the mood. Maybe some fried eggs with the yolk not broken to dip the pancake in. That’s good eating. Broccoli just ruins that.

The Transfer Student

Now that the unimportant stuff is out of the way, lets get to the part where new transfer student Akiho comes into play. Initially, I thought that CLAMP went someplace new, but then I remembered that Eriol was also a transfer student for the Sakura Card arc. Whether Akiho has a role to play in this adventure or not remains to be seen. However, in true CLAMP fashion, one would think that she would.

Still, it is interesting that Eriol seemed to suspect something like this would happen. Both he and Syaoran were not able to detect magic from the girl. That doesn’t mean much to me though. Eriol noted that Akiho and Sakura would become friends.

Regardless, I hope Akiho isn’t some character from the insane mess known as Tsubasa or xxxHOLiC (all titles). I really want this current iteration of Cardcaptor Sakura free of that mess. I also hope she doesn’t play an Eriol-type role in this manga.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

Not much else here, so lets wrap this up.

• !The Wood seems to have appeared at the end of the chapter. Will anyone else notice rampaging trees?
• Did Sakura start to see the face of the figure in her dreams? Is this the new girl? Is this Syaoran?
• Why is this figure trying to get Sakura’s key-staff?
• I guess Cardcaptor Sakura is still massively popular in Japan. Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card Arc 07 boasted of three consecutive color covers and two-page color splash pages. I don’t get the sense that the series is as popular outside the Japan.

In the end, Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card Arc 07 is a bit more interesting that chapters of late have been. This is partially due to new transfer student Akiho. However, this event is not anything new on CLAMP’s part.