Peaceful card capturing
What They Say:
“Sakura and a Game of Tag in the Garden”
Sakura and Kero-chan visit Tomoyo’s house to test the abilities of the Record card. Tomoyo’s mother appears and gives Sakura an enthusiastic welcome, then the girls head outside to test the card.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
This week’s episode was very different from what I had expected, especially from the card capturing portion of the episode. Sakura is at Tomoyo’s place so they can test out the record card. Since she has a hobby surrounding filming things, more so Sakura than anything, she will know how to help if they get confused. Once they figure out how to command it, they find that it can take images of something from any angle and show it as a 3D hologram-type image. It’s very obvious they will find a way for her to use this in future episodes and I look forward to seeing what that could be.
During this visit, we finally get to see Tomoyo’s mother for the first time in this series. In the original series, it was revealed that her and Sakura’s mom were very cousins, which makes Tomoyo and Sakura second cousins. The reveal of their relationship didn’t change anything in their friendship; only making it a reason that they get along so well. It was cool to see Sonomi back as a character, even in passing. Li shows up as well and there are a few cute moments between him and Sakura, mostly surrounding how she looks in the costume Tomoyo dressed her in; always good to see. Sakura tells them about her dreams, about the figure. First, she hears breaking glass, but in her most recent dream, she heard a ticking clock. She doesn’t seem to know what it means yet but seeing her trusting her friends with her concerns will help her to figure it out. Not this episode of course, because card encounters are very disruptive things.
Once the card shows up Li uses some of his magic. He even has a new technique to make his sword appear of which I am very curious about. This is the second time he’s been present during a card encounter, but only the first time where he’s had the chance to help a little bit. The card runs off and Sakura runs after it ensuing in the titular game of tag in the gardens. Sakura is alone with the card for a lot of this section and this one is quite playful. The main difference in this encounter compared to the others in this series, and maybe even the original as well, is that Sakura decides against capturing the card without force. It’s only been playing with her and hasn’t tried to harm her. So, she gains its trust and it shows its true form, therefore allowing her to turn it into a card; the Flight card. They try it out and it gives her wings in the shape of a ribbon bow on her back and she flies around in the sky. It’s an adorable scene and I love the new way that she will be able to fly in this season.
At the very end, however, Li gives her a concerned look, which implies that he knows what her dreams mean and that she’s running out of time to capture all the cards. We’ll find out why she has a time limit soon enough I hope.
In Summary:
This episode was cute and I loved the unique way she captured the card this week. Li actually did something this time but didn’t have enough time to do much. Sakura is still doing a lot of the card encounters on her own, which I like, but I would also love to see her and Li working together again.
Grade: B+
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
