New and Shiny: Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card

Synopsis

This is the tale that takes after the battle at Tokyo Tower and the leaving of two dear people. Sakura has now entered into junior high and Syaoran has returned from Hong Kong, but mystery is on the rise as she begins to dream of a mysterious cloaked figure.

The Good

For those who have followed this series when it was still in its peak like this writer, the work brings waves upon waves of nostalgia. When a reboot is made, most often the art is smoothen out and there are slight changes seen to the art style, but here the art style not only remains the same but also improved as well. Bur more than the art style it is the content of the work that makes it stand out so much.

With the original series, one of its high points is its mature way in handling the emotional curves of the characters along with their development. It is pleasant to see that insightful handling of emotional characters reach into the new work, especially in terms of the relationship between Syaoran and Sakura, one of the most iconic young couples from the classic era of anime.

Another plus point of the flow is the overall execution of the plot and the portrayal of characters, with very little action but plenty of depth it revealed just enough that it would interest new viewers to check out the series.

The Bad

With the cleaning of the art to match with the general standard of the new anime works of today it left a rather glaring flaw with the work (no pun intended). The style remains the same and as nice as the original animation  work was and there is clear improvement, the main problem however, is that it ended up making many scenes very bright, thus the unintended pun.

Yes it can be argued that the old art to anime transition has its rough lines like any other classic anime at the time. But with the comeback and the smoothing out of the animation, the overall look of scenes make it rather bright and sometimes oversaturated. Then there are the floral and watercolor backdrops when a certain emotional scene comes in. With the original series it appeared on certain moments and brought out a specific tone to the scene.

Here however, it seems to come out in every other scene and results in it being rather overused and dampens the tone of the scene. Then there are certain points when the voicing of the characters, especially when they are far away, comes off as rather clearly recorded and goes off tangent with the work.

Conclusion

While it may be bright and slightly off tangent in some points, the work did really well as a return to the series. The credit most especially goes to the writers who were able to keep the essence of the plot and characters along with the emotional depth that the series is well known for. It is not necessarily the most perfect of reboots, but as a whole, it brings in a very high interest.

Rating: 8/10