Sakura (Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle)
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| "Sakura" | |
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| Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle xxxHolic character |
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 "Sakura" in Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle |
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| First appearance | Episode one (Tsubasa anime) Chapter one (Tsubasa manga) Chapter eight (xxxHolic manga) |
| Created by | Clamp |
| Voiced by | Yui Makino English Dub Monica Rial |
| Profile | |
| Nicknames | Princess |
| Age | 14 |
| Gender | Female |
| Date of birth | April 1 |
| Nationality | Japanese |
| Occupation | Princess of Kingdom of Clow Waitress |
| Title | Princess of Clow |
| Known relatives | Clow Reed ("Father", deceased) Fujitaka (Father, deceased) Nadeshiko (Mother, deceased) Touya (Brother) |
| Residence | Kingdom of Clow |
| Powers | Incredible unidentified magic (scattered in feathers of memory), understanding the feelings of living things[1] |
Sakura is a protagonist in Clamp's crossover series, Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle and Tsubasa Chronicle. Her character is similar only in looks and personality to her Cardcaptor Sakura counterpart. Tsubasa Chronicle takes on a new story with new histories for each of its characters.
She also appears in another Clamp title xxxHolic and briefly cameos in chapters 7, 8, 133, 136, 137, 140, 145, and 146.
Contents |
[edit] Story
At the start of the series in both manga and anime, Sakura is the princess of the Kingdom of Clow who has feelings for Syaoran, her childhood friend.
When she is about to confess her feelings, a mysterious force causes her own dormant magical powers to manifest in the form of feathered wings. When her feathers are scattered across time and space, Syaoran vows to recover all of them because each feather represents a memory Sakura has had since birth and are connected to her heart; without the feathers, she will die.
Fei-Wong Reed (the mysterious villain in the series) reflects on the ability of people like the High Priest Yukito, Princess Tomoyo of Nihon, and Yūko to cross dimensions and comments that the power concealed within Sakura and the ruins in Clow Country surpasses them all.
A relationship between Sakura, Kimihiro Watanuki (to whom she shares a birthday) and Kohane Tsuyuri has been hinted at, in a similar way to Syaoran's relationship to Watanuki.
[edit] The Clone - Sakura
In order to cross dimensions, Sakura must pay Yūko the thing most important to her and she pays Yūko in an indirect way but her price is pretty much the same as Syaoran - her memories of him. When she awakes in the Hanshin Republic the first person she sees is Syaoran, but she does not remember anything about him, asking "Who are you?"
At times, such as in Ōuto, Sakura comes extremely close to remembering Syaoran but it is quickly erased once more from her memory. Syaoran, having known this would happen previously, will never tell her anything about their previous relationship. At most, all Sakura knows about Syaoran is what she has relearned from the adventures together with Mokona, Fay, and Kurogane, although she knows she knew him previously and he was very important to her. It is also clear that she is falling in love with him once more.
Sakura possesses unnaturally good luck; both Chun Hyang and Yūko call her "a favored daughter of the gods". This is what allowed her to travel dimensions safely until Yūko asks for her good luck as a price. According to Yukito and Syaoran, Sakura also has the ability to "hear" the voices of those who cannot be heard, such as spirits of nature, and to see ghosts. Such as the time in the Country of Jade, she can see Princess Emeraude while others couldn't. She can also see the future in visions, though this ability is unreliable and nothing she has control over.
In the anime, at some points when she is asleep, she will unknowingly go out and search for her feathers. She will seem to be awake, talking and interacting with others and her surroundings, yet is actually completely out of it, like she is unconsciously searching for her own feathers.
In Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle anime, Sakura's personality is passive and weary, exhausted from her loss of memories. However as the series goes on, she becomes stronger and more independent. Syaoran states, even though she's lost most of her memories, she'll never change. She helps the group whenever she can, whether it's washing dishes or saving their lives.
However in the manga, her personality undergoes a change after the clone Syaoran leaves her. As she voices to Fay, no matter how identical the two Syaorans may be, the real Syaoran is still not the one she knows. Subsequent chapters show Sakura with a much darker personality, and wearing gothic clothing.
In the Infinity Arc, the group spent a few months fighting in a tournament, supposedly wanting to use the prize money to restore a world the clone Syaoran destroyed. However, the truth is that she was after the real prize - a robot (who is identical to Freya from Chobits) who can let one person and one person alone travel across dimensions.
It is later revealed that Fay is under a curse that forces him to kill if he ever meets a person that is stronger than him. And in volume one, you can see that Yūko was not hit by the rain, nor did she touch any of the people directly; this was because she was in another dimension to prevent Fay's curse from being activated. But when Sakura receives two feathers in the Infinity Arc, she was made stronger than Fay's halved magic and so he stabbed her, seemingly possessed. Sakura had a vision that after killing her, he would go insane and kill everyone else, eventually committing suicide, but she used the robot to transport her soul to a dream world, thus saving herself and stopping Fay from going insane.
Later, it's revealed that she was not the original target of the curse, as the real Syaoran was. This is explained further in her appearance in xxxHolic; she changed the future so that Syaoran would not be killed. As she explains to Watanuki (Xxxholic chapter 140), her coldness to the real Syaoran was because she was trying to follow the dream as close as possible up to that near fatal event. It's later learned that Sakura can still be saved. The two places where her body and her soul went contains two feathers. Her soul went to the world of dreams, her body to Celes. So the real Syaoran, Fay, Mokona and Kurogane went to Celes Country to rescue the body of Sakura, as Kurogane said they'd get the body first; then the soul. Her body has recently been saved by the group. In chapter 173, Syaoran had gone to the dream world, to try to rescue Sakura. On the final page of this chapter (chapter 173), a hand is seen reaching out towards Sakura in the dream world. In chapter 145 of xxxHolic, while walking to school Watanuki suddenly falls into the dream world and sees the exact same thing. In chapter 146 of xxxHolic it is shown that the hand belongs to "Syaoran".
Syaoran, having already retrieved the feather Seishiro had, falls under attack from The Clone, who strikes without care for Sakura's wellbeing. It states it is to retrieve the feathers, no matter the circumstances despite Sakura's pleas for it to stop. The two battle, Syaoran summoning his Jian and The Clone summoning Hien. Syaoran encapsules Sakura in a protective wind barrier right away, and declares that he will personally destroy The Clone. As The Clone starts to overpower Syaoran, Sakura screams out his name in horror as he is surrounded by flames. She does not scream out "Syaoran-kun" though, which is what she called The Clone and Real Syaoran before this event. Instead, she screams out "Syaoran" without the suffix which indicates that she is very close to him. This could mean she thinks of him as a very close friend, or it may have a deeper meaning, such as her realizing he is the Original. She only called The Clone "Syaoran" without the -kun before she lost her memories.
When the Clone advances on her and the fallen Syaoran, she attempts to cradle and protect him, no longer being held back herself by Syaoran's protective spell. When the Clone demands she step aside, she only hugs him tighter and refuses to do so. In response, it stabs her in the shoulder. She weakly says "Syaoran-kun" in an attempt to reach out to him, but it falls on deaf ears as it moves to finish her off upon the orders of Fei Wong. However, it is subconsciously stopped by itself, just as Yūko comments that even if a heart loses its memories, they can still persist within the body.
Sakura then tries to convince The Clone not to kill Syaoran. She said something will end, that includes the Clone Syaoran and the herself. It isn't clear what that means. Syaoran then awakens.
As Syaoran and his Clone jump to deliver their last blows, Sakura interferes, getting stabbed at her heart by the Clone's Hien, even shocking the Clone. Syaoran calls out to her, but she tells him "Your Sakura isn't me" and dissolves into cherry blossom petals. In a flashback sequence, Fei Wang reveals to Xing Huo that Sakura up until now is in fact a clone herself, both body and soul.
From what the real Syaoran said when they were in Tokyo," What treasures *that* Sakura the most isn't 'my heart'! It's yours!" So Sakura had a feeling that the real Syaoran already knew she was a clone and the real Sakura is waiting for him.
Sakura then falls into the arms of the Clone, telling him "Even if we are just creations... we are the same... if those two (real Syaoran and Sakura) keep on living it won't end....I..love y..." and dissolves into cherry blossom petals. The Clone, still shocked, holds in his hand the last petal and screams. While Kyle steals Sakura's body, the real Syaoran manages to move out from the dream, falling flat on his face after Kyle's departure.
Fay confirms the clone Sakura's statement (in which she is made like the clone Syaoran, but a little differently) in explaining that Syaoran only had his body cloned, while Sakura had "both her body and heart" cloned. Yuuko explains further that if the clone Sakura would fail, Fei Wang could keep creating more clones, as long as he had the original (whether Sakura was a clone or not, the feathers would still respond to her). However, Yuuko comments that he is killing innocent lives, even though they are only creations. Though the clone Sakura seems to have died, the real Syaoran requests from Yuuko to grant him another wish for him to pay: the whereabouts of both Sakuras, in order to save them.
[edit] The Original - "Sakura"
The whereabouts of the true Sakura's body and soul are yet to be found out, although the end of Chapter 178 shows her wearing the outfit Clone Sakura was previously wearing in the dream world (although this image of her was a flashback to after Real Sakura was switched with the clone). It has been slightly hinted that the Original Sakura may be in the Kingdom of Clow, and Fei Wong Reed has her captive there. He is using her to make clones of her when the other clones of her died, he still has the original to make even more clones. But also important to notice is that the body of the original is with Kyle, while the soul is in the glass tube still unconscious. So they have to save her body and soul the same way when the clone had her body and soul were separated.
In chapter 181 of Tsubasa, Sakura's body is with Fei Wong Reed, but it was confirmed that the body was the clone's. Further explaining this, Fei Wong Reed has Sakura's body in his hands. He has told Kyle when he cloned the real Sakura, both the body and soul, it was different from when he cloned Syaoran. So then the real Sakura's body has disappeared, only the soul of the real Sakura was left and the cloned body is used after Sakura gains her wings. What's also confirmed by Yūko is that Fei Wong Reed is in a "cut-off time" Clow Country with Sakura's cloned body and real soul. Yuuko found out his location only recently, in volume five of xxxHolic during the soul stealing incident. By following the souls, which Fei Wang Reed has been stealing; it is possible to discover his location (though, by her discovering his location, Fei Wong also found out Yuuko's location). Syaoran, Fay and Kurogane have recently set off to Clow Country for the "final battle" and to rescue Sakura.
The group arrive in 'cut-off time' in Clow Country, which is revealed to be at a time very close to Sakura's seventh birthday; which is a shock to the group. Syaoran then reveals that the original Sakura has been by his side all the time up until he was captured. He also reveals that he had known Sakura since "seven days before her birthday, right up to the age you see me now." Syaoran explains further that time was reversed by way of a price to Yūko.
In 'Syaoran's flashback, it is revealed that he gave his name to Sakura as 'Li Syaoran', the same name as his father. It is also revealed that Sakura's mother was Nadeshiko, and that Fujitaka was Sakura's father, not Clow Reed. In chapter 191, Syaoran tells Sakura that she looks exactly like his mother (Sakura Kinomoto of Cardcaptor Sakura) and shares the same name as his mother as well, to which Sakura responds "But.. My name..", thus hinting that, like Syaoran, Sakura may not be her real name. Syaoran responds with a typical "eh?", and Sakura shakes it off, changing the subject.
She goes on to ask if she can call Syaoran "Syaoran", without a -"kun" at the end. He says sure, and Sakura calls him by "Syaoran", to which he responds by blushing.
[edit] Sakura in xxxHolic
Sakura first appears in the manga in an unconscious state, held by Syaoran.[2] She next appears when Watanuki's dream connects him to the world her "soul" resides in.[3] She does this several more times, each time holding a short conversation with Watanuki. In one such conversation, she explains that she changed the future in such a way that Syaoran would not be stabbed and so that everyone would still live, including herself.[4] An important occurrence in another dream is the emphasis put on Sakura's, Clone Syaoran's, and Watanuki's birthdays – they are all on April 1st.[5] Clone Syaoran's birthday was not an actual birthday, although, it was just a birthday given to him by Sakura. Real Syaoran's birthday is not known.
After the first of these meetings, Yuko tells Watanuki that if Sakura's soul is separated from her body too long, she will die.[6]
She has also appeared in xxxHolic when Watanuki falls into the Dream world again, and a hand pops out behind of Sakura. The hand belonged to the real Syaoran, then another hand pops out and the cherry blossoms fluttering around are blocking Watanuki's view so he doesn't know who's hand that was (It actually belonged to the clone Syaoran). He then eventually went back to his world.
Although it wasn't intentional, one of Sakura's feathers ended up in the body of Kohane Tsuyuri, giving the young girl the power to exorcise ghosts. It was subsiquently removed from her as the price for a wish to Yuuko (she wished for happiness). However, as Yuuko noted herself, the time that Kohane received Sakura's feather and the time that the feathers were scattered doesn't match up, meaning that the time-space continuum is beginning to collapse.
[edit] References
[edit] Bibliography
- Clamp (w), "Cardcaptor Sakura" Cardcaptor Sakura vol. 1-12, (1999) Kodansha
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