Owieee! The first chapter is out. I read the raws side by side with the English translation last Friday, only a few hours after the magazine has been released in Japan. The English scanlations followed after a day or two. That was fast, indeed! Thanks to the lovely CCS fans out there.
The story started with Sakura’s first day in Tomoeda Junior High School. Touya, even though now a college student, doesn’t get rid of his hobby of teasing her. We didn’t see Yukito in the first chapter but it is implied that’s he attends the same university as Touya. Fujitaka, on the other hand, is still as caring and loving father to the two.
Kero-chan also haven’t changed a bit. He’s to be seen playing video games in PS4 and rambling about sending Suppie an email to tell how unfortunate he might be for not being to able to go to the sweet buffet they went before.
And yes! Syaoran’s back from Hong Kong. It’s indeed a direct continuation of the manga. One may not realize the gap if not for the fact that the two look way older on the last pages of Sakura Card Arc. Unlike other readers, I won’t be stretching this issue out as I don’t really care if they indeed look younger in the new chapter than what they’re supposed to be. I’m all good as long as it’s them. ^.^
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| Sakura and Syaoran’s reunion in Sakura Card Arc (left) and Clear Card Arc (right) |
So what’s new with this new chapter? As for Syaoran, he always smile now. I love his smile, really but I’m not used to it and him being snobbish is one of the things I like about him. Hahaha. Anyway, despite displaying his smiling face all around, he had this concerned look as if something terribly bad is bound to happen. And no doubt, the plush bear is involved somehow.
Admittedly, it crossed my mind that he might probably be not the real Syaoran but when he blushes every time Tomoyo teases him and Sakura, a part of me know it is indeed Li. And if he’s not, then, as another fan pointed out, that would make the ending of the original manga really weird. That’s why I ruling that hunch out.
Also, what’s with the new classroom setup? I actually made a fuss about it after commenting that the two English translations of the chapter don’t match. It’s clear that Rika transferred to a different school but everyone’s confused who are classmates with whom. Though I’m leading to Sakura being alone in Class 2, Syaoran, Yamazaki and Naoko in Class 3 and Tomoyo and Chiharu in another class (possibly Class 1). Whatever it is, the point is the whole gang is not in the same class anymore. To split even Sakura and Syaoran, CLAMP sure wants to stir things up.
Sakura being alone in her class really calls for new characters. I can imagine newcomers with real interest in Syaoran or Sakura will shake the love team up. With that, I mean the real thing, not like Eriol to Sakura or Meilin to Syaoran (not saying that Meilin doesn’t really like Syaoran, it’s just that Meilin is so adorable that you can’t even hate her, and we have her only in the anime, anyway). But yeah, we already had a lot of Syaoran’s jelly moments before so maybe this time, we need someone Sakura can get jealous with. Hahaha.
As for the cards, I’m still not buying the idea that they will be absorbed into her or something like that. In all the CSS fanfics I wrote in my head, I always imagine a new season with Sakura being able to make new cards named after intangible things, just like The Hope. And the story will focus more on her relationship with the people around her. This new set of cards may include something like The Trust, The Faith, etc. and ultimately The Love. Hahaha. Although the clear cards still sound something different. But we don’t know yet. Maybe she’ll really find a new set of clear cards and one by one they will be named. Hahaha. It doesn’t explain the cards being transparent which I’m sure means something significant. I’m crazy over this, really.
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| Sakura dreams of The Clear Cards |
It’s been only a couple of days since I’ve read Chapter 1 and yet it feels like years ago. Seriously, this is torture. Waiting for merely 30-40 pages of CCS goodness every single month? ? Well, at least, I can review every chapter because of the long gaps. Like I can stay put for one whole month after reading only a few pages.
I hardly ever read manga, ongoing ones to top it off, so I’m not that familiar with the process. I thought volumes are up every month and the reason I didn’t get to read the chapters all at once is because of the bottleneck in the scanlation process. Turned out I’m totally wrong. lol. Apparently, volumes are published after releasing enough chapters (in a monthly or weekly magazine) to fill it up.
If this arc, like the previous two, will consist of six volumes with four chapters per volume, that will mean at least two years of CCS madness. Yay! Let’s raise our glasses and celebrate this new era of our fandom, CCS fans!
P.S.
I’m loving their junor high school uniform. So kawaii!
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| Sakura in Tomoeda Junior High Uniform |
