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Sakura

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Information on the DVD Release

Card Captor Sakura

Card Captor Sakura has recently appeared on Australian shores, in the form of the North American version: Cardcaptors. Unfortunately, many names have been changed and the episodes have been hacked-up quite significantly.

Nevertheless, it's great that it has finally arrived at all. As a bonus the series - which was apparently shown out of order on US TV - is being shown in its' original order on Australian TV. Nice :) Cartoon Network is currently screening it as part of their Toonami series on weekends. Not long after Cartoon Network started screening it, Network Ten picked it up for its' morning cartoon show, Cheez TV. Unfortunately, Ten have skipped a few episodes for no reason that I can fathom.

ABOVE: Sakura in a yellow fairy thing.

Madman Entertainment plan on releasing the series to DVD and VHS later this year, and hopefully these will be the subbed versions of the Japanese originals.

In the meantime, you can order the uncut, original episodes on DVD or VHS from The Cartoon Gallery. I've just recently taken delivery of the first two DVDs, and I can't say enough about how refreshing it is after watching the chopped-up Nelvana version.

Each DVD contains four episodes, with Japanese audio and the option of English subtitles. The discs also contain a bonus: for example, the first volume comes with the un-credited opening sequence; two with the un-credited ending. At this stage, I think volumes 1 through 5 have been released in the US, but I could be misinformed.

This story starts off as Sakura's is looking around the basement of her house, a sactuary for old books. One catches her attention, and she opens it: The Book of Clow. Instead of finding pages, the book is an elaborate case for a collection of cards. Picking up the first one, she reads aloud its' name: Windy. The resultant tornado scatters in the cards in every direction, and awakens the books guardian beast, Cerberus.

After admitting he had fallen asleep at his post, Cerberus (or Kero) lays the blame on Sakura, and charges her with tracking down the cards before they can do too much damage. To aid her, he transforms her into a Card Captor, and bestows upon her magic powers. The plot thickens, yes?

Fortunately for Sakura, she doesn't have to battle alone. Kero is always around her begging for pudding.. erm, providing helpful advice, and her best friend Tomoyo (Madisson in the North American version) provides her with encouragement and a new outfit for every card capture. Along the way she meets further comrades who help and hinder her in various ways.

She also has her Father, Fujitaki; her brother, Touyo; and her brother's best friend (and her not-so-secret crush), Yukito. Further into the series, she also meets her rivals in her hunt for the Clow Cards.