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Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card Chapter 71: Comments + JP-ENG translation differences

(pic courtesy of Dyoring on Twitter because the JP one criminally covers the costumes) Looks like I'm still alive after that bomb that was chapter 70, huh? 😂 Welcome back to our monthly appointment with angst with the commentary on Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card, everyone! Last chapter might have bent me, but I'm not broken yet! Mwahaha! And yet, I can't say this chapter completely healed me, far from it! Sure, it's full of fluff and happy feelings...but man, how we feel his absence here. It's so apparent and glaring that it hinders the complete enjoyment of the chapter, which I'm sure is totally the feeling CLAMP wanted to elicit from us. If you care even a little about the new characters, you can't help but feel a sense of "this is not how it's supposed to be", while reading this. Fortunately, the cliffhanger at the end gives us good hope for the kids to start get into action to solve this mess at the earliest, hopefully with the help of someone we were waiting for? In the meantime, let's explore this chapter and all that it talked about...I don't have particular translation mistakes from the ENG version to report this time around (thank god).

Gif of the month, and then we go!

The Color Page

Well, this was a surprise? I didn't expect a color page like this, opening the very last volume of Clear Card Arc, but it's also true that there can be a quite powerful meaning behind those four outfits. They're literally representing the first discrepancies that originated after Kaito's rewriting of everyone's memories. Sakura's eyes are closed, she appears to be very pensive, no, actually as if she's contemplating something. About to make a decision. As she stands literally in the middle of all those outfits, this can be interpreted as way to convey how she's in the middle of these two lives they have lived and are living right now, and she's probably the one who can really do something about this whole mess. The conjunction ring. "Which outfit am I going to choose to wear?" isn't the frivolous question it might seem, but in this case it actually means "which life will I decide to keep?" Tough question, for an even tougher answer. But remember what Touya onii-chan said. "When it's up to me to decide what's real and what's not, then I decide to go with what I don't want to lose".

Besides the hidden meaning analysis, this is also a nice way to have set in canon the colors of *all* the main outfits for the play. (●ˇ∀ˇ●) (nice to know Akiho's Alice outfit actually got a gradient blue on her shirt!)

A New Life

The chapter starts with a very, very familiar scene, which might not have been drawn exactly the same as the original one, but it's definitely designed to remind you of it: the very first scene of volume 1, with Kero (and this time, Suppy) waking Sakura up to go to school!! I see what you did there, CLAMP 😏 In their latest Twitter Spaces where they talked about Clear Card, they did mention how the last volume would serve as a way for things to come full circle, and what's better than making a reference to the very first pages of chapter 1? We have the same Sakura introducing herself to the readers (breaking the 4th wall), same Kero shouting that it's time to go, same Sakura getting ready (this time she's evidently in a hurry though). We're clearly being introduced to her new life (that only we know is new) after Kaito rewrote their memories thanks to Momo's book. And well well well, what do we have here?? It's the very first panel of the chapter, no, of the volume, and we're already spotting something off, here??

Oooh, the Kinomoto home....grew an additional portion of itself?? Or did they build it in the few months that passed from the school play? I wonder what for...? heheh...(already knows)

But that's not the only surprise! We just need to turn the page and we are immediately taken aback by Sakura getting ready...with a new school uniform, which represents her second winter uniform (the one reserved for the colder months, just like it happened in Tomoeda Elementary) while she tells us she soon will be attending the 2nd year of Tomoeda Middle school!!! I was completely shocked when I saw her total-black new uniform!! I have to say that the idea of unifying the top and the skirt in a one-piece dress is definitely good, I really like it, but I thought that having even the black tights might be a little bit too much. Later we'll discover she's got black boots too. I'd need to see this in full color to judge! I predict the tie and decorations will be red! 👀 I want to point it out now, since Sakura says it immediately, but the French translation made it sound like she's already starting the second year of middle school, and honestly the ENG translation with the choice of words kinda infers the same: but from what we'll see in a few pages, we're in full winter (it's about to snow too) and Japan usually gets spring vacations between March 25th and April 5th (right between the end of a school year and the beginning of the next) so it cannot be really that imminent. I predict this could be February/early March at best. The JP text says もうすぐ which means "soon" but that can also only mean they're just in the last month of the school term.

So we basically had another mini time skip of about 5/6 months, considering the play very likely took place in September (kids were already wearing their long sleeved uniforms but some guests to the school event still wore short sleeves). If you ask me, it doesn't look like Sakura grew much in these 6 months. 😂

And when she quickly goes downstairs, that's where we find the other surprise (which was actually expected): AKIHO IS COOKING IN THE KITCHEN, apron over her uniform and all!! Yeah, remember? Thanks to the rewriting of their memories, now they're living their life as sisters! In fact, we see them interacting in a friendly and comfortable way, which is totally reminiscing of how they were interacting even before this big change happened. And yet, personally, I have a hard time getting used to the new arrangement. 😅 Sakura introduces Akiho to us as her twin sister, confirming they live together with Touya and Fujitaka too.

Sakura tells us people often comment about how they resemble each other very much, and as if on cue, Mokona sensei provides us with yet another very cute double feature of Sakura and Akiho smiling happily and lovingly at eachother. As much as I want Akiho to go back to her real family, I have to admit this panel totally melted me. ❤️ My lovely Akiho looks so happy....and that's why it also hurts a lot. Well, here come the first explanations of how this hell of a change can work at all, in this situation!! Apparently, Akiho has always suffered of fragile health ever since she was young (....) so she always lived with great-grandfather Masaki to get treatment and rest. With some friends we have been joking that, if this is the result of what Kaito wrote in the story he wanted for Akiho, he must have watched lots of soap operas, because the justifications totally seems at the writing level of one! 😂 Sakura says Akiho came back home to live with them only recently. And while Akiho excitedly yells that she's cooked the no-fry croquettes that Sakura taught her the recipe of, we also find out from narrator Sakura that this is probably the reason why Akiho still addresses her in a very polite way, with suffix -san and all. And sigh, my heart here broke a little because the no-fry croquettes....was the recipe Sakura taught Akiho specifically for Kaito, and that she successfully prepared for their date, eliciting a delighted comment from him. ☹️☹️Now she's still cooking them for her loved ones...but it's different. ☹️ Aaaaaa but here comes Fujitaka, ready to have breakfast and go to work, greeting both his daughters.........gosh, this sounds so weird. Will I get used to this madness before this chapter ends?? As it normally would be expected from him in this situation, Fujitaka addresses Akiho with a -san suffix too, so narrator Sakura says that probably that's also where all Akiho's politeness comes from. Fujitaka says that Touya conveniently left very early for his job, and Sakura adds that he'll go straight to his university classes afterwards. Uh uh uh, I wonder why CLAMP didn't want to show us Touya's reaction yet. Did he notice anything...? Fujitaka-papa gets ready to taste Akiho's croquettes....and with a delighted face he says they're delicious!! ......I mean, this totally works. Look at these two dorks faces, they light up in the same way. 🙈😅😅

Narrator Sakura keeps telling us about Akiho and how she transferred to her school before summer (and behind her, in the flashback, we can see the name Kinomoto Akiho written on the board), that she participated to the play for the school event and all...and that she wants to make so, so many happy experiences now that she's with her sister, to make up for the time they spent apart.

The girls leave the house and we get a chance to see the coats of the second winter uniform too: they're very pretty and compliment the whole outfits very well (they got big scarves and gloves too!). Some snowflakes start to fall down and Akiho just needs to sneeze once to unleash the scariest kaijuu in Sakura: ....that of the fussing big sister! 😅😅 she gives her her own scarf on top of Akiho's one and feels with her own forehead if she's getting a fever, demanding to know immediately if she starts feeling unwell! 😅😅Akiho worries that Sakura would get cold in this way, but she doesn't want to hear any of it!! Awwww, how can I not melt in front of this? 🥹My gosh Sakura really is super protective of Akiho here...and we immediately get another character to remark that: our dear Tomoyo!! She comments on Sakura's behavior in JP with this funny way which could be translated more or less with "powerful big sister manners", and I cannot really disagree! 😂 Akiho states that she's feeling better now, that she doesn't experience pain like before...but Tomoyo just knows that Sakura will worry no matter what, and the girl in question confirms so herself: because Akiho is someone important to her. Akiho cannot really do much else than blushing with happiness and thank her...😊 Tomoyo gives the final touch to this scene with one of her kind but sharp comments: "Maybe sister complex runs in the family!", making reference to a very early joke in CCS where Yukito teased Touya telling him he had a sister complex for how he's always so protective of his younger sister: well, guess what, now said sister gets to have the same complex towards her twin too 😂😂

We proceed with the chapter and we have Sakura meeting Syaoran in front of the school, showing us how nice and elegant the male second winter uniform (well, we mostly see the coat) is! Syaoran comments how cold it got overnight and as the caring and loving boyfriend he is, he inquires his girlfriend about her health. Luckily she's super healthy, and apparently, as she says herself, the Cards are too! Yessss, folks, it seems the Sakura Cards are back with Sakura, now!! Sakura didn't have a particular reason, but apparently the previous night she summoned Mirror to have a chat! Syaoran asks what she wanted to discuss about with him, and Sakura announces that she was thinking about telling everything to Akiho. Everything that happened while they were apart...about Tomoyo and her costumes, about Kero, Yukito and Yue, Kaho, Eriol, Nakuru and Suppi....and most importantly, about the Cards.

Now, before we proceed, I would like to talk about two different aspects that really stood out for me from this couple of pages. First: the relationship Sakura's got with her Cards. As I was saying, it seems the Sakura Cards are back with Sakura, and judging by the panel where Sakura says she wants to tell Akiho about them, the Clear Cards don't seem to be part of this scenario. The panel shows both Clow and Sakura Cards (because of course Sakura would need to tell her the whole story), but no Clear Card is present at all. We can only infer that probably everyone forgot about the Clear Cards too (although I still think they exist somewhere, it's just that they're hidden/sealed for now), and that Sakura might not have her problem with the uncontrollable powers anymore. Did Kaito fix that problem for her too, in some way?? Did he really go that far to ensure everyone's happiness...? And another thing I noticed, is that Sakura seems more...comfortable with the Cards and her own powers. Summoning a Card just to have a nice chat is the complete opposite of what she was doing at the beginning of chapter 1. She had put away her key, saying "I don't use it much anyway...and maybe it's better like that". The next thing you know, the day after she started producing incidents and Clear Cards. You see, I'm not sure how accurate this is, but ever since this started I've always thought that the problem with Sakura's rampant powers was caused by something of psychological nature. Since the production of the Cards seemed to be so connected to her emotions, in the beginning her power was so chaotic that the Cards were pretty much originating randomly (Gale does seem really random and not based on any thought or memory Sakura had), to become more and more connected with her thoughts and desires along the way. The more she got in touch with herself and her desires, the more the Cards were produced as a result of those, and eventually Sakura found out on her own that the Cards were originating from her own wishes. But that did not end there, because the Clear Cards started to change again when Sakura started to finally listen to Syaoran's advice to look into herself and listen to the stirrings of her heart, and started trusting her intuition and powers more: from merely following her wishes, the Cards started to take the appearances of her loved ones, which would become important later on in Clockland to help her remind who she was. Basically, anticipating her needs. Even if we didn't see an immediate reaction from her, finding her loved ones on her way contributed to wake up her conscience, with the final coup de grace from Akiho and Syaoran. So where I'm getting at is....could it be that Sakura's connection and trust in her magical powers, in this gift she's been blessed with, has become so strong that it ended up stabilizing it? While she was detached and almost refusing it before, dismissing her intuitions as "it's just my imagination", now she's learned to accept it as a part of herself and trust it more? If this is the case, I think that would be a very lovely character development for her. We'll see if I got it right.

The second thing is that I cannot help but noticing again how Kaito really avoided changing any important part (save for adding a sister) of Sakura's life: everything is still as it was before, the events in her memories still happened as they happened, it's just that everything that concerns Akiho has been staged differently, in order to fit her in.

Syaoran, as the honest and straightforward boy he is, comments that probably what Sakura wants to tell Akiho will be a shock for her twin, Sakura doesn't deny that but confidently replies that knowing her, she'll accept the situation just fine. Syaoran wonders if that will really be the case since she doesn't have magic (he poses the uncomfortable but necessary questions), he's evidently worried she might feel somehow less for not being blessed with that gift....and here Sakura replies something that I publicly thanked CLAMP for on my twitter account, because it was time for a character to spell it out:

JP: (Yes), because Akiho-chan is...a very kind and strong person.

Kind, because she would accept whatever concerns her dear sister with the purest heart, devoid of any jealousy. And strong, because she'd be able to withstand the inevitable feeling of comparison that would ensue. Yes, because Akiho IS strong. She's resilient. She wouldn't have survived her trauma and abuse if she wasn't strong. She wouldn't have that single crumb of information about her parents that connects her with them, if she didn't keep stubbornly insisting with her clan to tell her something about them. She wouldn't have stubbornly insisted when she saw her most important person shutting a door in her face because he couldn't share his burden with her. I beg you to not reduce her character to just a girl we should pity on, because she's nothing like that. Let's drop the narrative she's "passive" right now. Otherwise when we'll see what is probably about to happen, she'll seem "out of character" for you. When she's always been like this, all along. Syaoran comments that Sakura really trusts Akiho, and wonders if it's because they're twins... Again, Sakura shows how wonderful she is, but most importantly, how her emphathic nature helps her amplifying her foretelling powers without even realizing it. Because she makes a very relevant comment: JP: "Even if she weren't my twin, I'd still believe in her. Because feelings and emotions aren't measured with time"

Again, let me clap my hands till they hurt. Because I can't count how many times, along the years, I've seen Sakura's bond with Akiho being dismissed or questioned just because they've been knowing eachother for short time. "Why does she fusses about Akiho so much? She's barely arrived shortly ago!" This is Sakura crossing the T's and dotting the I's for everyone. The value of her bond with Akiho isn't measured with the length of time they've spent together. If she feels she loves her very much despite knowing her since short time, that love is true and genuine nonetheless. As for someone who's able to experience very strong bonds with people in short time, what Sakura says here feels extremely validating on a personal level, too.

This reminds Sakura that she wants to talk to Akiho about someone else too....with a blush, she says she wants to tell her about Syaoran, how they met, how he's always coming to her rescue, and also...that he's her most important person ❤️ (the trademark definition!)

And here Ohkawa is finally paying her dues by writing this cute lovey dovey moment between SyaoSaku in the chapter, where the two lovebirds hold hands (scandalous!! 😂) and share a romantic forehead touch that shows an intimacy that is unrivaled by what we've seen of them till now, while Sakura says (with a hint of sadness?? Am I imagining things, or are her intuitive powers at work again?) that she would like to hear from Akiho about her most important person too. Yeah. I would like to hear about that too....

And as if to say "WELLLL, ABOUT THAT-" Sakura suddenly falls into a dream-state, and guess who she finds in front of her, in a scene that is a complete reference to a panel from chapter 6?

YEA, you guessed it, it's MCF!! 😂 our Mysterious Cloaked Figure just can't avoid bothering Sakura even in her new, rewritten, happy life, but lo and behold, when Sakura asks them who they are, they remove their hood without any drama!! And who could it be under that hood? Dear CCS fans, this chapter was shorter than usual with just 25 pages, but oh my gosh, if it didn't end up with a surprising cliffhanger that actually makes you go "WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THAT BEFORE?" 😂

Young Lilie to the rescue!

A young Lilie stands in front of Sakura, introducing herself:

"I'm Lilie. I've crossed [time] and [dreams] to meet you"

Oh my gosh how cute she is, smiling brightly as usual! 😍 Since here she's clearly Sakura's age, we can see how young Lilie used to have her hair slightly longer than her daughter Akiho at the same age. ❤️ What is happening here? For those confused, or who aren't familiar with CLAMP's other manga, I'll copy-paste here what I've already written on my Twitter thread. What Lilie did here is customary in CLAMP's manga. People with lots of power are capable of crossing dreams, even in a different point in time. That's why Lilie says "I've crossed TIME and dreams to meet you". Lilie is already a Yumemi, so it isn't suprising at all that she can work her magic on dreams. She probably attempted this when she was still alive, of course, and about 13 (Sakura's age). Think of it as a "videocall from the past". Lilie is, at current state, of course still very much dead. She isn't revived or anything. This is a "communication" Sakura received from Lilie from the past, because of course she already knew how things could go and she made sure to reach out and help however she could. Remember Clow at the Final Judgement? He also left a "message" for Sakura from when he was still alive, through a dream. Time travel with your physical body might be another story altogether, but visiting people through their dreams is very "customary" in CLAMP's manga 😂

Now, we only need to see what Lilie will tell to our dear heroine. If she will spill the entire story, or if she'll give the necessary basic info but will wait for the girls, or rather, for her daughter to remember about Kaito on her own. Maybe with a little push. Of course I had already imagined (and even warmly called for) an intervention from Lilie, in some kind of way, but I guessed she would go talking to Kaito, as a ghost or something. That's where CLAMP surprised me again, making her go to talk to Sakura instead, and also revealing that MCF was her, or rather, one of the MCFs we have seen throughout the story. Because I'm still convinced that, basing on the scene, MCF wasn't the same person everytime. We have seen how sometimes it was Syaoran (and we'll probably find out why). Sometimes we have seen them outside Sakura's room, on a lamp post (and I imagine that one could've been really Akiho, maybe in a moment in her dreams when the artifact took control of her). We have a MCF often accompanied by a Dragon, we'll need to see who exactly that one is, too. Well, all in all, a few hours later I can say I digested this chapter a bit better, but man at first it was really hard. All this fluff, all this blushing, these warm feelings...people doting on Akiho, seeing her so happy....and I couldn't stop thinking about him....our Kaito who gave everything he could give of him to make this become true....where are you now...? ☹️ If I pause long enough to think about it, the stinging feeling comes back. I'm sure they'll come rescueing you soon. And you'll be so shocked, because the last thing you're expecting is that anyone would come searching for you. Claiming you back. Oh there's so much you're gonna learn, very soon, Kaito. And I can't wait to see it!!

Okay, let's now recap the next release dates for what concerns chapter 72:

April 1st, on CLAMP’s Youtube channel (digital, JP and other languages) April 3rd, on Nakayoshi (paper and digital, JP)

The situation is still the same with the digital releases, so for now we'll have to make do with reading the chapters on Youtube, first!

I remind you that there's also volume 14 getting released on March 31st! And on April 1st there's also SAKURA FES 2023!! Yay!! See you for next chapter and as usual my inbox is open for your asks!

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