is the

main protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...

and

title character The title character in a narrative work is one who is named or referred to in the title of the work. In a performed work such as a play or film, the performer who plays the title character is said to have the title role of the piece. The title of ...

of Clamp's manga series ''

Cardcaptor Sakura , abbreviated as ''CCS'', is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by the manga group Clamp. Serialized monthly in the ''shōjo'' manga magazine ''Nakayoshi'' from May 1996 to June 2000, it was also published in 12 ''tankōbon'' ...

''. In the English anime adaptation by Nelvana of the series, ''

Cardcaptors , abbreviated as ''CCS'', is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by the manga group Clamp. Serialized monthly in the ''shōjo'' manga magazine ''Nakayoshi'' from May 1996 to June 2000, it was also published in 12 ''tankōbon'' ...

'' is known as Sakura Avalon, though her surname was changed back in the second film's dub by

Bang Zoom! Entertainment Bang Zoom! Entertainment is an audio post-production studio with its headquarters in Burbank, California, in Greater Los Angeles. It has worked on anime, video games, television series, feature films, and original animation projects. Their work ...

. For all Japanese-language productions of the anime (including films, audio CDs, and video games), Sakura is voiced by

Sakura Tange is a Japanese voice actress, singer and writer who was born in Ichinomiya, Aichi. She is best known for providing the voice of Sakura Kinomoto in the anime series ''Cardcaptor Sakura'' and before that, she voiced some of SNK's characters, such ...

. For the Nelvana English-language dub production, she is voiced by Carly McKillip through ''Cardcaptors'' and the first film. In the

Animax , stylized as ANIMAX, is a Japanese animation satellite television network, dedicated to broadcasting anime programming. The channel also dubbed other cartoons in Japanese language. A subsidiary of Sony Pictures Entertainment Japan, it is headq ...

English-language dub production, which is much closer to the Japanese original than the Nelvana version (in terms of scenes cut), she is voiced by Andrea Kwan. She is voiced in the second film by

Kari Wahlgren Kari Wahlgren (born July 13, 1977) is an American actress who has provided English-language voices for animated movies, TV series, and video games. She got her start in anime voice-overs as Haruko Haruhara in '' FLCL'', and would later land ma ...

. For the English-language dub of the '' Clear Card'' series, she is voiced by Monica Rial, who also does the voice of her counterpart in ''

Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by the manga artist group Clamp. It takes place in the same fictional universe as many of Clamp's other manga series, most notably '' xxxHolic''. The plot follows how Sakura, the prin ...

''.

Creation and conception

Clamp writer

Nanase Ohkawa is a member of the all-female manga-creating team CLAMP. She is the director of the team and is primarily responsible for writing the stories and scripts for CLAMP's various works. As part of CLAMP's 15th Anniversary, each of the four members ...

's first impulse was to create a magical girl series, despite not being well-versed in the genre. Ohkawa wanted the heroine Sakura to be in the same age group as the majority of ''Nakayoshi''s readers so that fans could relate to her. While Ohkawa planned out ''Cardcaptor Sakura'' from beginning to end, she never consulted the plot with the other members, instead giving them the script one chapter at a time. Mokona initially drew Tomoyo so it would look like she was in love with Toya, which led to her surprise when she received the script for the chapter which reveals Tomoyo loves Sakura. The story was planned to have the theme of "if you try your best, it'll work out", but Ohkawa did not start out with Sakura's "It'll definitely be okay" mindset. Ohkawa wanted to write a story that "minorities would feel comfortable with," referring to the same-sex and

taboo A taboo or tabu is a social group's ban, prohibition, or avoidance of something (usually an utterance or behavior) based on the group's sense that it is excessively repulsive, sacred, or allowed only for certain persons.''Encyclopædia Britannica ...

relationships featured in the manga. The series' main theme is expressed through Sakura, a main character designed to be open-minded about different family structures and kinds of love. Ohkawa addressed the relationships featured in the series by using Tomoyo and Sakura as an example. She explained that the reason Tomoyo and Sakura did not end up together was not because Tomoyo is a girl, but rather because Sakura did not love Tomoyo in a romantic way. Sakura's character design for the manga was originally developed by

Mokona is the pen name of the lead artist, colorist, and composition designer of the all-female manga-creating team Clamp. She was formerly known as ; she dropped her last name because it sounded too "immature". Clamp has had a huge impact on the "man ...

of Clamp. She was designed to capture the image of Mokona's then two-year-old niece Kawaji. The original character's facial expression changed considerably until the manga started. Her many magical costumes were introduced as CLAMP felt it was "sad" for a girl to wear the same magical costume all the time influenced by the manga series '' Sailor Moon''. Between the manga and the anime adaptation, nearly 300 costumes were made with most of them being created specifically for Sakura. As the series' main theme is "love", Clamp focused on the multiple relationships Sakura has. Both Syaoran Li and Tomoyo Daidoji were found as popular characters for often comforting the main character based on how the readers related themselves with their feelings for Sakura. Picking a Japanese actress to voice Sakura was difficult. Neither Ohkawa or anime director

Morio Asaka is a Japanese storyboard artist and director. After graduating Osaka Designers' College, Asaka entered Madhouse. He was inspired to become a director by '' Phoenix: Yamato Chapter'' and made his debut as an episode director in episode 40 of ''Y ...

were satisfied with any of the voice actress who auditioned for the role. In the end,

(who previously voicing Sakura Mitsukoshi, which also have green eyes like Sakura Kinomoto, in 1997 Face/

SNK is a Japanese video game hardware and software company. It is the successor to the company Shin Nihon Kikaku and presently owns the SNK video game brand and the Neo Geo video game platform. SNK's predecessor Shin Nihon Kikaku was founded in 1978 ...

Neo Geo Neo Geo is a family of video game hardware developed by SNK. On the market from 1990 to 2004, the brand originated with the release of an arcade system, the Neo Geo MVS and its home console counterpart, the Neo Geo AES. The Neo Geo MVS was ...

puzzle game A puzzle is a game, problem, or toy that tests a person's ingenuity or knowledge. In a puzzle, the solver is expected to put pieces together ( or take them apart) in a logical way, in order to arrive at the correct or fun solution of the puzzl ...

Money Puzzle Exchanger ''Money Puzzle Exchanger'' is a puzzle game created on January 17, 1997 by Japanese video game developer Face for the Neo Geo MVS arcade system. Athena Co. Ltd. ported it to the Game Boy on August 29, 1997, and the PlayStation on November 5, 1998 ...

'') was selected for the role with sound director Masafumi Mima believing her to fit the character thanks to her quiet and strong voice. There are fictional magical cards used in the manga and anime series ''Cardcaptor Sakura''. They serve as magical items for the protagonist to use for various means. The deck consists of nineteen cards in the manga, and fifty-three in the anime. The popularity and success of ''Cardcaptor Sakura'' led to the creations of several toys of the Clow Cards, including a set of toy cards released by the ''

Nakayoshi is a monthly ''shōjo'' manga magazine published by Kodansha in Japan. First issued in December 1954, it is a long-running magazine with over 60 years of manga publication history. Notable titles serialized in Nakayoshi include '' Princess Kni ...

'' magazine to celebrate its sixtieth anniversary. In Nelvana's English adaptation titled "''Cardcaptors''", Sakura was originally going to be called Nikki, but they later decided to keep her first original given name because of the reception of the ''Cardcaptors'' adaptation plus the difficulty and expense of editing out numerous appearances of her name in ''

rōmaji The romanization of Japanese is the use of Latin script to write the Japanese language. This method of writing is sometimes referred to in Japanese as . Japanese is normally written in a combination of logographic characters borrowed from Ch ...

'' in the anime series. However, her family name was changed to "Avalon".

Characterization and themes

Sakura is portrayed as a young girl with magical powers she inherited from Clow Reed. Her first power is the ability to see the future through her dreams which serves as an ideal protection for the protagonist. In some of her dreams, Sakura sees the man she loves, Yukito Tsukishiro, and often interacts with him as her brother, Toya, is a classmate of him. Despite not knowing her late mother due to being too young when she died, Sakura still cares for her based on what her father, Fujitaka, used to tell her. Sakura is unaware Toya also possesses magic powers but she keeps it a secret though Toya is clearly able to tell when her sister is making magic. Sakura goes through a

character arc A character arc is the transformation or inner journey of a character over the course of a story. If a story has a character arc, the character begins as one sort of person and gradually transforms into a different sort of person in response to c ...

when Toya is hurt by the spirit of the magic card Mirror. As a result, Sakura goes from a passive to a more active characterization in regards to her journey of finding all Clow Cards. In contrast to the distant Syaoran Li who keeps off his distance from people related to magic, Sakura becomes attached to her math teacher Kaho Mizuki. This sort of attraction is not specified to be the cause of the magic or just how Sakura sees Mizuki. Although Sakura cares for her journey he is oblivious what disaster might the Clow cards give. Through her talks with Kerberos, Sakura becomes afraid that such disaster would be her loss of memories. Sakura is also unaware that Syaoran develops feelings for her rather but they become close when he aids her whenever she becomes concerned about how to solve her issues. Sakura herself also develops romantic feelings towards Sakura but her naivety makes her not understand her own feelings. However, the evolution of Sakura's magic and improvement of her staff solves as a symbolism of Sakura's growth. Another major impact in her journey is how Sakura gains allies, most notably Yue, the true form of Clow's servant who had developed a human form, Yukito. Although Yue is devoted to Clow Reed, Sakura's kind heart causes him to choose her as second master. In the last chapters of the series, Sakura confesses her feelings towards Yukito. As Yukito was always aware of the young girl's feelings, he tries to help her but this gives her depression. However, Syaoran comforts Sakura in regards to her feelings she does not understand. Eriol, the reincarnation of Clow Reed, tests Sakura both in terms of magic and emotions. During the climax, Eriols performs his test by attacking Syaoran which causes a more aggressive feeling in Sakura not seen before. This helps Sakura realize that Syaoran is important in her life rather than their initial misrelationship which comes to the realization of the girl that Syaoran is the person she loves the most. Sakura's relationship with Syaoran highly stands out within other love interests in Clamp's works because the manga is aimed towards a younger demographic in contrast to darker stories. Writer Kiyoshi Saiga comments that the focus on multiple types of relationships is Clamp's signature style of writing and ''Cardcaptor Sakura'' heavily focuses on these ideas rather than the search for magic cards. The handling of unconditional love is early portrayed through Tomoyo who is in love with Sakura but, as she can tell Sakura does not share such feelings, her dream is that Sakura meets the person she lives and thus she can achieve happiness. Saiga further comments that Sakura is an

audience surrogate A narrative technique (known for literary fictional narratives as a literary technique, literary device, or fictional device) is any of several specific methods the creator of a narrative uses to convey what they want —in other words, a stra ...

as across the narrative, both the reader and Sakura mature and explore the concept what is the love they seek. Still, Sakura also stands out within magical girls as, rather than changing like other superheroes, Sakura's optimistic feelings remain the same in the manga.

Appearances

In ''Cardcaptor Sakura''

Sakura Kinomoto is introduced as a nine-year-old girl who lives in the town of Tomoeda in Japan, where she attends Tomoeda Elementary School. During the ''Clow Card Arc'' and ''Sakura Card Arc'' storyline, she canonically ages to be twelve years at series end, in both the anime and manga versions. In the ''Clear Card Arc'' storyline, she canonically ages to be fourteen years while attending Tomoeda Junior High School. Sakura is an energetic and cheerful young girl. Sakura has short, honey brown hair, fair skin, and emerald green eyes. As a descendant of the sorcerer Clow Reed, Sakura inherited magical powers in and spends the series searching for the she accidentally lost. Yukito is Sakura's first crush. He is seven years older than her, but it never bothers her. Due to him being her brother's best friend, she tries to get him to come over to her house and commutes to school with her brother to see Yukito every morning. Although heartbroken, she learns to accept that he loves her brother and maintains a deep friendship with Yukito. One of Sakura's most notable traits is her "invincible spell", , which has carried her through innumerable trials and obstacles as she masters her magical skills. Sakura's outfits number in the hundreds, which change frequently throughout the series. Unlike other anime magical girls, whose costumes seemingly form out of magical energy, Sakura's battle outfits are hand-sewn by her friend and cousin Tomoyo. Her most commonly worn iconic everyday outfit is her school uniform, which changes depending on the season. Her winter school uniform is a black long sleeved shirt with red and white sleevecuffs, a white neckerchief with a red stripe, and a white pleated miniskirt with a frilly white knee-length petticoat. On particularly cold days, she wears a thick black coat with her schools insignia on the back. Her summer uniform is a white half-sleeved shirt with a red neckerchief and a black pleated miniskirt. All year round, black Mary Jane shoes are worn along with white socks and a white sailor hat with a black trim. Her common outfit at home has two double transparent red sometimes green(episode 26 original series) beaded scrunchie to keep her hair on the sides popping out. After the Final Judgement, a vision of the spirit of Clow Reed tells her that her magic is not drawn from the sun nor from the moon, but from her own star, which may start small, but is ever-shining with its own brilliant light. However, like Clow Reed's magic, Sakura's is a balance of sun and

moon magic Moon magic is associated with the Moon. There is a belief common to many cultures that working rituals at the time of different phases of the moon can bring about physical or psychological change or transformation. These rituals have historically ...

. Eriol gave half of his powers to Sakura's father, the other half of Clow's incarnation. This made Sakura the most powerful magician in the world, even surpassing her predecessor Clow Reed.

In ''Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card''

Cosplayer of Sakura Kinomoto at FF26 20150829a

In the ongoing '' Clear Card'' arc, her innate magical powers have developed further and increased drastically to the point that she can effectively create entirely new cards subconsciously which embody her various magic. It is a means as to "not being able to control her powers", according to Eriol. As such, she has the very powerful and rare ability to freely see into the past, even with the "Record" card or without her knowledge.

Appearances in other media

In '' Cardcaptor Sakura: The Movie'', Sakura wins a trip to Hong Kong, where she meets Syaoran's family and encounters the spirit of a woman angry at Clow Reed who mistakenly calls Sakura to her because of her being the holder of the Clow Cards. In '' Cardcaptor Sakura Movie 2: The Sealed Card'', she learns that there is a fifty-third Clow Card, The Nothing, which acts as a balance to the positive magic of the others. Sakura is a playable character in eight of the ''Cardcaptor Sakura''

video games Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This feedbac ...

, and her character design is featured in the series' version of

Tetris ''Tetris'' (russian: link=no, Тетрис) is a puzzle video game created by Soviet software engineer Alexey Pajitnov in 1984. It has been published by several companies for multiple platforms, most prominently during a dispute over the appro ...

. The character design of ''Sakura Kinomoto'' is reused in the Clamp series '' Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle'', which presents an alternate world story that also uses characters from many of the group's previous series. In ''Tsubasa'' the design is used for several characters named Sakura, including the central character named Princess Sakura ''(Sakura-hime)''. Sakura also plays an important role during the last arc of '' Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle'', in a dream to a reincarnated Princess Sakura. During this vision, Sakura gives her alternate self the Star Wand and assures her that "everything will be all right". The wand is later seen in Yuuko Ichihara's shop. Sakura also appeared in the OVA '' Tsubasa Tokyo Revelations'' as a spirit or vision that Princess Sakura sees, which guides her back to where see came from, the Tocho (government building) when she gets lost. She disappears when Princess Sakura sees the building. In the short anime film ''Shiritsu Horitsuba Gakuen Bangai-hen: Tenkōsei ni Dokkidoki'' Sakura appears as a student from the anime's titular school and the younger cousin from ''Tsubasa''s Sakura.

Reception

In both 1999 and 2000, Sakura won the Animage Grand Prix for "Best Female Character". In 2001 Sakura Kinomoto won the "Cutest Anime Girl of the Year" award from All Anime World. In a ''

Newtype is a monthly magazine publication originating from Japan, covering anime (and to a lesser extent, tokusatsu, manga, Japanese science fiction, seiyuu, and video games). It was launched by publishing company Kadokawa Shoten on March 8, 1985, with i ...

'' poll from August 2001, Sakura was voted as the fourth most popular female anime character, and in a March 2010 poll, she was voted as the fourth "Most Popular Female Anime Character" from the 1990s. She also won the

Anime Saimoe Tournament , sometimes romanized as ''moé'', is a Japanese word that refers to feelings of strong affection mainly towards characters in anime, manga, video games, and other media directed at the ''otaku'' market. ''Moe'', however, has also gained usage ...

2002, an online popularity contest for the "Most Moe Anime Character of the Year". On April 1, 2016, as part of her 20th anniversary, eight "Card Captor Sakura"-themed × Animate Cafe national stores opened. The Mori Art Center Gallery, located in Tokyo, Japan, featured ''Cardcaptor Sakura Exhibition -The Enchanted Art Museum-'' gallery dedicated to Sakura and her story. The exhibition, which opened in October 2018, is the single largest gathering of ''Cardcaptor Sakura'' art ever amassed. The exhibition has an entire section set up as "Tomoyo’s Sewing Room", with a number of real-world replicas of Sakura's fashions. Concurrent with the exhibition is the adjacent ''Sakura Cafe & Parlor'', a Cardcaptor Sakura restaurant and gift shop. Clamp's editor Editor Kiichiro Sugawara commented that when ''Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle'' started, most of his colleagues kept mentioning the series was interesting for having an alternate version of Sakura Kinomoto as he found that the original Syaoran Li was not popular within ''Cardcaptor Sakura''. As a result, Sugawara wanted Syaoran to also become popular within readers of the series.

References