The first time I was exposed to Cardcaptor Sakura was when it was shown on Kids WB under the heavily edited version that was named Cardcaptors. I was intrigued by the series when I saw its heavily edited version, and I've finally managed to watch the full, uncut version. There are far too many differences to list in one review, and since this isn't comparison between the two series I won't list a single one!

Cardcaptor Sakura was a wonderful anime, from the fantastic opening credits to the segment during season one called "Leave it to Kero-chan" where the episode's fashion trends were discussed in detail. There was comedy, there was action, there was romance, and there was a whole lot of story for what essentially boils down to a Monster of the Week anime. Oh, excuse me. That's CARD of the Week. I found the idea of using cards to use magic to be a pretty dumb idea, and it really seemed to be Pokémon-esque at first. She has to capture these cards one by one, and the more she captures, the stronger she becomes. Meanwhile, there are other people trying to capture these cards in an effort to become the "master" of the clow cards. I was really tired of the whole idea at first, but it eventually grew on me midway through the first half. The much more interesting second half of the series really couldn't have happened without the cards, after all.

And whoa, what a second half Cardcaptor Sakura had! It had all of the elements that made the first half good, but it removed the Card of the Week element and put in a whole bunch o' story and each episode was related to the previous one. The ending is also very good, and it perfectly fit with the flow of the story. It felt like it went a little slowly for my taste, but that's much better than an unexplained and rushed ending like so many other anime choose to do.

The comedic elements of Cardcaptor Sakura work to perfectly. Each gag was perfectly timed and took full advantage of the usually great CLAMP art style. Most of the comedy was driven by the overwhelming cuteness that is Sakura, Tomoyo, and Kero-chan. For those of you that watched the version that was aired in the US, that would be Sakura, Madison, and Kiiro, the talking, flying teddy bear.

Not all was well in the land of Cardcaptor Sakura, though. The first half of the series was occasionally a chore to watch, relying on the same jokes time after time to fuel the series, and it doesn't pick up until around episode thirty, which is coincidentally around the time every card is captured. Also, I was a little bugged by how young all of the characters were. It was perfectly fine in the beginning when they're all in the fourth grade, but when the second half comes around and they're only in the fifth grade, it gets a little unbearable when you watch them all fall in love with each other. After the first half of the series ended, there was a perfect chance to progress the characters a few years into the future, but instead they chose to just continue where the first half left off.