Yue (Cardcaptor Sakura)

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Yue and Sakura
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Yue and Sakura

Yue ( ユエ?) Chinese Pinyin: Yuè) is a fictional character in CLAMP's anime and manga series Cardcaptor Sakura. He is voiced by Megumi Ogata.

[edit] Name

Yue (?) means moon in Mandarin Chinese. (The Japanese word for moon is tsuki (つき?) but uses the same kanji.) Because his name is not of Japanese origin, Yue's name is spelled in katakana, not hiragana.

In the English anime and the later printings of the English manga, his name is romanized as "Yue" (after the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of his name). In the early English manga, his name is romanized as "Yueh" after the Wade-Giles romanization "Yüeh".

[edit] Character

Illustration of Yue
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Illustration of Yue

Yue is the one of two Guardians of the Clow Cards, along with Cerberus. While Cerberus acts as the elector, choosing a candidate to become the next Master of the Clow, Yue is the judge who will test the candidate. He is cold and aloof and much more serious and intimidating than his counterpart, Cerberus. He shares a special bond with Clow that makes it hard for him to accept Sakura Kinomoto (Sakura Avalon in Cardcaptors) as a "replacement" for his creator although he later comes to accept her as a friend. Yue has jurisdiction over all things wind and water, the elements from which he draws his power.

Yue makes his first appearance when Sakura, the Cardcaptor, captures the final Clow Card, The Earthy. He then announces that he must judge Sakura's worthiness: if she can defeat him in combat, she can be the Mistress of the Cards. However, since he is another form of Yukito Tsukishiro, a young man for whom Sakura cares deeply, she is reluctant to harm him. In addition, Yue was determined that nobody succeed Clow Reed. Eventually, Sakura manages to overcome both her own fear and Yue's arrogance and wins him over.

Afterwards, Yue becomes a more active protector of Sakura. The presence of his true form becomes too great for Sakura's magic to support him, and the strain soon threatens his own existence and that of Yukito. Eriol Hiiragizawa's (Eli Moon) guardian Ruby Moon realizes that the magical powers of Toya Kinomoto (Tori Avalon), Sakura's brother, could save him, but Yukito does not (it also does not help that Yukito does not realize that he is Yue). However Toya realizes what was going on and finally offers Yue his power, securing his and Yukito's survivial.

Yue finally aids Sakura in her final confrontation with Eriol, and then confronts Eriol to ask why he was made to find a new Master while Clow Reed (albeit a reincarnation) still existed. Eriol responds that, though he has retained all of Clow's memories and most of his magic, he himself is not Clow Reed, and it was Clow's wish that Sakura be the new Master.

[edit] Powers, abilities, and role

Yue's appearance is that of a beautiful young man with long silver hair and violet (blue in the anime) cat-like eyes. He has a pair of angelic wings that he can use to fly.

He is a capable fighter who can raise powerful magical barriers, send deadly diamond (could be ice) shards at his adversaries, shoot energy arrows from an energy bow, in addition to other magical attacks. Yue's skill with the bow manifests itself even in his human form, as can be seen in the bow and arrow competition against the Math teacher, Kaho Mizuki. His other form, Yukito is seen firing normal arrows that unfailingly land on the bull's eye. As the final confrontation with Ruby Moon demonstrates, he is a truly formidable combatant when enraged.

Beyond his role as The Judge, Yue was also a favored companion to Clow Reed. Although it is highly speculated by fans that Yue was in love with Clow Reed, there is no official proof of this fact. Such hints are limited to the manga. He is highly intelligent, stern, and usually cool and focused, although prone to fury when Clow or (later) Sakura is endangered.

Just what role Clow expected Yue to play in the drama surrounding his successor is unclear. He may have expected Yue to fixate on Sakura the way he had fixated on Clow himself. The false form of Yukito was clearly designed to be everything that would be attractive to Sakura, and she did harbor a massive crush on him for a very long time. However, Yukito ended up in love with Toya instead, something Clow admitted that he did not predict. Yue's consciousness is separate from Yukito's, and while Yukito cannot remember his time as Yue, Yue remembers everything that happens in his other form. He mentions that this is complicated. Despite being separate, Eriol has speculated that "their hearts are not as far apart as he believes." This is a similar belief voiced by Sakura and Toya, who both said Yue and Yukito were exactly alike, much to the confusion and embarrassment of Yue.


Cardcaptor Sakura (CLAMP)
v  d  e
Information
Cardcaptors dub
Media information
List of episodes
Voice actors
Characters
Kinomoto Family: Sakura | Toya | Fujitaka | Nadeshiko
Li Clan: Syaoran | Meiling
Daidouji Family: Tomoyo | Sonomi
Magical Beings: Cerberus | Yue | Spinel Sun | Ruby Moon
Clow-Related: Clow Reed | Eriol Hiiragizawa | Kaho Mizuki | Yukito Tsukishiro
Classmates: Chiharu Mihara | Rika Sasaki | Takashi Yamazaki | Naoko Yanagisawa
Other adults: Yoshiyuki Terada | Maki Matsumoto
Clow Cards
A-F -- G-R -- S-Z
Episode Guide: Clow Card Arc: 1-18, 19-35, 36-46 | Sakura Card Arc: 47-59, 60-70