Sakura Kinomoto
Sakura Kinomoto is the main protagonist and title character of Clamp's manga series Cardcaptor Sakura. In the English anime adaptation by Nelvana of the series, Cardcaptors, she is known as Sakura Avalon, though her surname was changed back in the second film's dub by Bang Zoom! Entertainment.
A student in the town of Tomoeda, Japan, Sakura Kinomoto was originally nine years old when she began her journey as the Cardcaptor, an unintentional student of the mystical deceased magus Clow. Breaking the seal on his spellbook, she released several powerful spirits from their prison in the form of tarot cards, which then went out to cause chaos and havoc in her hometown. Working alongside the two familiars of the book, Cerberus and Yue, Sakura set out to capture each of the cards and restore their seals, gaining their abilities for her own use in the process. It took four years, but Sakura succeeded in capturing, and sealing, each of the Clow Cards, as well as transforming them into her own creation, Sakura Cards, further increasing her abilities with them.
For all Japanese-language productions of the anime, Sakura is voiced by Sakura Tange. For the Nelvana English-language dub production, she is voiced by Carly McKillip through Cardcaptors and the first film. In the Animax English-language dub production, which is much closer to the Japanese original than the Nelvana version, she is voiced by Andrea Kwan. She is voiced in the second film by Kari Wahlgren. 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.
Creation and conception
Clamp writer Nanase Ohkawa'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 Nakayoshis 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." 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 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 nor anime director Morio Asaka was satisfied with any of the voice actresses who auditioned for the role. In the end, Sakura Tange 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 creation of several toys of the Clow Cards, including a set of toy cards released by the Nakayoshi 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 in the anime series. However, her family name was changed to "Avalon".
Characterization
Sakura is portrayed as a young girl with magical powers she inherited from Clow Reed. Her first power is the oneiromancy and precognition 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 boy she has a crush on, 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 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 regard to her journey of finding all Clow Cards.Relationships
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. Although Sakura cares about her journey, she is oblivious to what type of disaster the Clow Cards might cause. Through her talks with Kerberos, Sakura becomes afraid that such a 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 Syaoran but her naivety makes her not understand her own feelings. However, the evolution of Sakura's magic and the improvement of her staff solves as a symbol 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 his 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 regard to her feelings, which she does not understand. Eriol, the reincarnation of Clow Reed, tests Sakura both in terms of magic and emotions. During the climax, Eriol performs his test by attacking Syaoran which causes a more aggressive feeling in Sakura not seen before. This helps Sakura to realize that Syaoran is important in her life and is the person she loves the most. The decision to have Sakura and Syaoran become a couple was popular amongst fans, with Nanase Ohkawa noting this in a February 2001 interview; saying that she was glad that the readers were happy that Sakura and Syaoran got together. However, Ohkawa dismissed potential concerns that this ending was chosen for heteronormative reasons, outright stating that Sakura loves him as a person in the first place and would still have fallen in love with him under different circumstances like greater difference in age or even the same gender. In the same interview she said that Sakura loves Tomoyo but not the same way she feels about Syaoran.
Sakura's relationship with Syaoran highly stands out among 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 portrayed early 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 loves and thus can achieve happiness. Saiga further comments that Sakura is an audience surrogate 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.
In November 2016, Ohkawa added that Sakura is someone who believes that "those around her will be there to catch her."
During a CLAMP Twitter Space discussion in April 2024, Nanase Ohkawa indirectly revealed that Sakura will one day marry Syaoran, but expressed doubts at the time about their wedding ever being shown, expressing the view that "it’d be best for everyone to imagine Sakura and Syaoran’s wedding in their own hearts," but did not rule out the story of Cardcaptor Sakura continuing at some point after the publication of the final volume of Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card.