Card Captors Premiere

Card Captors has debuted on Kids’ WB. The first episode shown was the eighth episode in the Japanese release. The episode was used to premiere the series because it introduces Sakura’s male rival Li, who they [Nelvana & Warner] hope will attract male viewers to the series. The episodes featured the mainstays of CLAMP based anime: foreboding dreams, Tokyo Tower, a cute mascot, effeminate males, and their signature character design. The resources that Nelvana put into the show were apparent. A new CGI sequence of the Clow Book was used for the intro and commercials, and there was a new English vocal in the background music. The names of the supporting cast have been changed. Sakura and Li retain their names, but Sakura’s video camera obsessed friend Tomoyo has become Madison, her brother Touya has become Tory, and her brother’s classmate Yukito has become Julian. Dialogue was changed slightly, for example Tomoyo/Madison seemed less obsessed with Sakura. The “Kero Explains it All” (Kero-chan ni Omakase) end feature has been replaced by an end feature that profiles one of the Clow cards. It might be that “Kero Explain it All” was not included because Kero-chan smokes a pipe during the feature. Fortunately they left in Kero biting Li’s finger.

With the launch of Card Captors on WB, Nelvana has updated their site. As well as sections on Clow mythology, an episode pictorial, videos, and a high quality image gallery, the page also an FAQ that should interest anime fans. The FAQs feature reasons behind the translation choices, a full rundown of character name changes, and the fact that Pioneer is aiming for a September DVD release of the subtitled version.

The domestic episode two, entitled “Double-Edged Sword” looks to the ninth Japanese episode “Sakura and the Mysterious Brooch.”