Meiling Li

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Meiling Li (Meilin Rae) and Syaoran Li (Li Showron)

This is a Chinese name; the family name is Li

Meiling Li (李 苺鈴, Ri Meirin^?, Chinese Pinyin: Lǐ Méilíng) is a fictional character in CLAMP's anime series Cardcaptor Sakura. She is known as Meilin Rae in the English adaptation Cardcaptors.

[edit] Name

Meiling's name in kanji translates, character by character, to "plum strawberry bell."

Like Syaoran, Meiling has many alternate spellings to her name, which are used in fanfiction, DVD releases, and some publications. Some spellings include Meirin, Meilin, and Mei-Ling.

li= plum
mei~ cao/tsao mei= straw berry
mei= pretty
ling~ ling dang= bell
ling= bell as in school bell

[edit] Character and role

Voiced by Yukana Nogami, Meiling is Syaoran Li's cousin and fiancée in the anime. She does not appear at all in the manga, suggesting that her character was created in the anime for filler purposes or to make the anime more dynamic. However, Meiling has established herself as a prominent in the series with her interaction with the main cast and plot. She also balances the main cast of characters by being more tomboyish, and more outspoken about her emotions than the other characters.

Meiling first appears at the end of Episode 19 ("Sakura and the Summer Holiday Homework") with both a cheery Chinese greeting and a hot temper. Her self-proclaimed engagement to Syaoran is something she values and protects highly. Her first impression of Sakura Kinomoto is not good when she sees her wearing a shirt that she had given Syaoran. Like Syaoran at the time, Meiling also plays rival to Sakura, though she often does so more at school than when capturing Clow Cards.

She has no magical abilities (a rarity for someone of her lineage) but believes that her physical talents (she's an excellent martial artist) would more than make up for it. Carrying such pride, Meiling vows to help Syaoran capture the Clow Cards to the best of her abilities. This is however much to Syaoran's displeasure, as she tends to get in the way of his card capturing more often than not.

One instance of her hindering the progress of a capture occurs when Meiling challenges The Fight to a battle in Episode 20. Although she did fairly well at first, The Fight's supernatural strength and endurance proved to be too much for her, and she was soundly defeated. Had Syaoran not intervened at the last moment, catching The Fight by surprise and kicking it out of Meiling's way, she would have been seriously hurt.

Meiling is not always a hindrance, as she is significantly helpful during the capture of The Twin in Episode 43. Because weakening the card entity required a synchronous attack from two people, Meiling was the perfect resource in that she and Syaoran had memorized several martial arts forms together, while Sakura and Syaoran fail to synchonize adequately their attacks. Benefitting from all their rigorous training, Meiling and Syaoran were able to successfully immobilize The Twin long enough for Sakura to capture it.

Meiling is well-meaning if immature, and devoted if brash. Her view of Sakura changes from rival to friend as the series progresses. And in Episode 60, she acknowledges Sakura as the person Syaoran loves, instead of herself, spending that night at Tomoyo Daidouji's house to release all of her frustration and sadness. It is a very dramatic moment in the series, as Meiling has to give up what she has held dear for several years. Although Meiling is heartbroken, she supports and helps to progress Sakura and Syaoran's kindling relationship, out of love for both of her friends.

In the second movie, Meiling becomes Tomoyo's ally in a complicated scheme to give Sakura the opportunity to confess her thus-far-unrevealed feelings to Syaoran. She is, for the most part, unaware of the events surrounding the release of the sealed card, The Nothing.

[edit] Cardcaptors

In Cardcaptors, Meilin Rae is known as Li Showron's childhood friend, who happens to have a crush on him, keeping the possessive attitude from the original anime. Any family relation to Li is erased, which is easily done by Meilin and Li's change of last name. The engagement between them is also removed.

[edit] Engagement with Syaoran

Young Meiling

Shown in Episode 43, Meiling's fascination with Syaoran began when she was about five, when they were both living in China. Even at such early ages, they both trained daily in martial arts. While Meiling seemed the typical young girl, playing and talking with her friends, Syaoran would keep to himself, usually reading a book. For that reason it was difficult for Meiling to really associate with him at first.

One night, one of Meiling's birds escaped from its cage, leaving her in tears. Syaoran, after witnessing the situation, simply said "Don't cry," and ran into the woods to find the lost bird. It began raining while he was away, and after what felt like hours he finally returned, successful. Meiling was not only happy that he found the bird but also quite touched that he would do such a thing for her. She embraced Syaoran, crying again (though out of relief), though it only left him confused, asking if she had suddenly hurt herself somewhere.

Since then Meiling has watched over Syaoran and been by his side. Not too long after the bird rescue, Meiling confesses her feelings to Syaoran. This appeared to be a random outburst, as Syaoran had been quietly reading opposite her on the patio table. Meiling continued to declare that she liked him more than anyone else, and she argued that Syaoran liked nobody else more than he liked her. Syaoran stuttered in agreement (though it was probably only true because he had never yet thought of liking girls, which placed Meiling as first out of a group of one), which further led Meiling to declare herself engaged to him. The promise was that she would give him up if he ever found somebody he liked more than her; until then, she would be his bride. The promise itself took some persuasion, as Meiling leaped onto the table, nearly shrieking "All right?!" in his face until he finally accepted ("Do as you like..").

This engagement is what is seen at the beginning of the series with Meiling's appearance. Syaoran is her fiancé, and she is extremely protective of him, whether or not Syaoran acknowledges or (sometimes) cares. The "Do as you like" agreement still obviously holds, as Meiling is consistently seen glomping Syaoran at nearly every possible moment, especially in front of Sakura and much to Syaoran's exasperation (but he lets it happen anyway).

It is speculated that Meiling knew that Sakura would be the person that Syaoran likes more than her as early as the day she and Sakura first met. Regarding Syaoran, Meiling can be very perceptive, as she will have predicted this event before either Syaoran or Sakura even realize they could like each other. This part-jealousy would be additional fuel to her rivalry against Sakura, in addition to her initially being a rival against Syaoran in capturing the Clow Cards.

However Meiling does not dislike Sakura forever, as by the time she leaves Tomoeda to return to Hong Kong in Episode 43, she has become friends with Sakura (though still viewing her as a possible threat for Syaoran's affection), accepting a sleepover invitation at her house. Meiling's brief return in Episode 60 also finds her and Sakura on good terms.

In that episode, Syaoran has decided to tell Meiling finally that he has found someone else, as promised. But before Syaoran can continue further after telling Meiling that much, she already correctly guesses that the person is Sakura. This surprises Syaoran, but Meiling explains that Sakura is the only other girl besides her (and his sisters) that he addresses by first name. She then calls off the engagement, as promised, and leaves for Tomoyo's home before Syaoran could say anything further.

Tomoyo, in her greater perception, had told Meiling earlier that day that she was welcome at her home if she ever needed company. After ending the engagement, Meiling needs someone to talk to who is not Syaoran, and especially not Sakura. Tomoyo provides the sympathetic ear and quietly listens as Meiling sobs into Tomoyo's lap and lets out all of her thoughts. What frustrates Meiling most is that she cannot hate Sakura. Meiling likes her, too. She understands that Sakura is a really good girl and that she cannot help it that Syaoran has fallen in love with her, but she also declares that "crying is completely different." In her grief, Meiling exclaims that she will cry herself to death so that she will never want to cry about Syaoran ever again.

Meiling still loves Syaoran as family. Over time her romantic feelings for him fade and she moves on. In the second movie, her next appearance in the series, Meiling explains to Sakura that she wants a boyfriend who would love her only. This would imply that, since Syaoran loves Sakura, Meiling would not be romantically interested in him anymore.

This "manga-style" image of Meiling comes from the booklet included in the Character Songbook, a CD compiling the singles featuring the characters in Cardcaptor Sakura.

[edit] Statistics and trivia

• When Sakura's class performs Sleeping Beauty, the role of the witch is played by Meiling in the anime, while it is played by Takashi Yamazaki in the manga.
• Meiling teaches Sakura how to open chestnuts in one episode.
• Because Meiling's character was created for the anime only, she has only two "manga styled" pictures.