Review: CardCaptor Sakura Vacation Daze

[don Jaime]

This is a nice little tape. If you've never seen the original CCS, this is a good tape to start with. If you have, you're probably going to need it anyway.

The first two episodes, "Sakura's Scary Test of Courage" (#17) and "Sakura, Yukito, and the Summer Festival" (#18) are based on issues of the manga. "Scary Test" deals with the mysterious disappearance of practically everybody in a cave at a beach resort. This had been the issue where Sakura first reduced Li to one of his blushing fits, but that doesn't happen here. The episode feels a little blunted as a result, but his changing emotions do become apparent toward the end. "Summer Festival" hardly deviated from the original; Sakura almost tells Yukito her true feelings but is interrupted.

The real treats are the last two episodes, "Sakura and the Summer Holiday Homework" and "Transfer Student vs. Sakura." These introduce brand new material, and very important material at that. "Holiday Homework" - what kind of school system would do this to kids? - leads Sakura on a mental roller coaster as she tries to fit several weeks of work into the last day. Kero-chan offers to help and does his part wrong ("For seven pencils at 50 yen each, I'd pay 1,000 yen and get some change back!"), the book she needs to write a report on keeps disappearing, and Li snubs her at the library because his horoscope told him to avoid women. Everything almost works out in the end, after Sakura rolls herself and Li into a drainage ditch, but a new girl suddenly enters the picture and we learn how right that horoscope was.

"Transfer Student" offers the first full treatment of Li Meilin. I've only seen her once before on the dub and it was the recent stopover episode where she wasn't such a powderkeg. No such inhibitions here. Meilin will mouth off at anyone who she feels is in the way. After telling off Sakura about four or five times, she tries to help her fiance catch the Fight Card, only to get herself and him kicked around. She does express some grudging respect when martial artless Sakura makes the catch but declares that she will see Syaoran the winner come what may. This girl is a hoot. She makes a good show even better.

So run out and watch this, it's worthwhile.

[Leaping Larry Jojo]

Tape? What is a tape?

[don Jaime]

Hey, we can't all afford a DVD player. Viva VHS!