Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card Arc 11
カードキャプターさくら クリアカード編 chapter 11

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Sakura and Kero show Yue (via smartphone) the new Record card. Sakura tries it out, getting it to record her, then play back a 3D version of her. Yue thinks the card is harmless and Kero agrees. Sakura is happy because she can see usages for the card.

Sakura heads out, Kero in tow, and meets Akiho on the way to school. She greets Akiho’s Momo-chan small plushie before showing off Kero-chan in stuffed animal mode. Sakura is shocked when Akiho reveals that she lives in Eriol’s former home. Later, Sakura informs Syaoran about this. Sakura says they are invited to Akiho’s house on Sunday, but Syaoran can’t make it. However, he agrees to go with Sakura someplace on the following Sunday.

Come Sunday, Tomoyo and Sakura visit Akiho’s home. There, they meet Akiho’s butler Yuna D. Kaito. Sakura remarks on how the inside of the place has changed since Eriol lived there. Yuna makes the Sakura Tea, provided by Tomoyo. Yuna provides a desert he made to go with the tea, which causes Sakura to let out her trademarked “Hanyaaan!”

After tea, Akiho shows off her massive library. While there, Akiho reveals she came to Japan for a specific book. Sakura senses what she thinks is a card in the library, so after Akiho leaves to grab her favorite book, Tomoyo and Sakura get to looking. The find a set of books where volumes 10 through 17 are missing. Sakura thinks she has discovered something.

Thoughts/Review:

For a monthly series, Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card Arc 11 shows again that not a lot happens despite more pages. But there are some cute moments.

Sakura’s New Card

First up, we get to see Sakura try out her new card, Record. She hasn’t done much with the other cards she’s captured. I think this is the first time she’s been excited about a card once she learned what it could do. I can see how this card could be used for surveillance or to create an illusionary decoy. It wouldn’t surprise me if this is how Record is used in the future.

Sakura and Syaoran

Haha! It is cute seeing Sakura get flustered and invite Syaoran out for what I think is a picnic. Syaoran should be a man and ask Sakura out, but whatever. I’d like to see the romance between Syaoran and Sakura continue since it is cute, sweet, and wholesome. 🙂

Hopefully, Syaoran and Sakura can do more team-up stuff as the series progresses. There may not be a need for Syaoran’s brand of combat, but I’d like to see more of how Syaoran is involved in everything. I’m guessing whatever has him too busy for the trip to Akiho’s house is tied to his discussions with Eriol.

Akiho-ojousama

Initially, I was surprised that Akiho lived in Eriol’s former mansion. However, considering Akiho is likely not as innocent as she seems, I suppose it shouldn’t come as a surprise. I still think that her plushie Momo-chan will turn out to be Akiho’s butler Yuna in another form.

I suspect that the book Akiho came to Japan for is the Book of Clow (or Clow Book I guess). She’s probably the figure in Sakura’s dreams and the one responsible for everything going on now. But we’ll see where CLAMP takes things.

Still, she has one impressive library. I was reminded by this (and by Yuna) of Hayate the Combat Butler back in its innocent, fun days. 😉

Conclusion

In the end, Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card Arc 11 is fun for what it is. We get some progress on the Sakura x Syaoran romance and some interesting reveals about Akiho. Oh, and we got a cute “Hanyaan!” from Sakura-chan. 😉