Waaayy back, right after Sailor Moon took the west by storm, almost all of the voice cast were in high demand. A few of them landed in an adorable magical girl anime created by the all-female studio that goes by the name CLAMP…and another blockbuster series was born.
Tokyopop licensed Cardcaptor Sakura, and did a very decent job with it, but it came out just slightly too soon for the big shoujo popularity wave. CCS was infamously licensed for TV as Card Captors, and hacked into pieces, to make the Li Syaoran the lead, instead of the titular character Sakura. I know people who are still angry about that. ^_^
More importantly, this series just had the worst timing ever in terms of the US market. It just sort of disappeared into the gap after Sailor Moon and before Fruits Basket. Then Tokyopop went under and CCS faded away.
But, having hit a major anniversary in Japan, a new premium box set was released there. I’ve had it on my personal wish list of licenses since it was announced and yesterday the news hit – NIS America is releasing a Blu-Ray Premium box set of the Cardcaptor Sakura TV anime, with a dub (that I will never ever listen to. ^_^) I will totally be getting this for a number of reasons:
CLAMP series on Blu-Ray
Yue
Voice actors who win the universe
Gender and age bent relationships up the wazoo
Fabulous story
Did I mention Yue? Really…he’s worth the entire series.
Stolen directly from ANN: The Premium Edition, will be US$249.99, will include all 70 episodes on nine Blu-ray Discs, a 76-page hardcover art book, clean openings and endings, and a collectable slip case. The Standard edition will include three 4-DVD volumes for US$59.99 each. This is slated for an August release.
I know what I’m getting myself as a birthday present.
Along with this and Dear Brother getting fully funded, i’m going to have a classic anime packed summer!
Isn’t it delightful? ^_^
I saw this earlier, I was very happy. I have been buying CCS 1 every month to get all the DVD (18 total I think, I have 9). I did not know they tried to make him the lead in the western production, but I am not surprised. Ah, I do not care about Yue, I love Tomoyo and also her Mother who was a tiny Yuri character herself. Also, rightstuf.com has here pre-order for US$42.99 each.
http://www.rightstuf.com/rssite/facetedSearch/?search=cardcaptor%20sakura%20dvd#/?s=cardcaptor%20sakura%20dvd&o=0
Yeah, Sonomi is quite wonderful, but I love Yue best.
It’s really hard to believe, but a pleasant surprise nonetheless. I’ve seen (and still have) the movies a long time ago, so it’s about time I see the series. I’ve read the manga, for sure, but this should be a different experience, what with its expanded narrative and additional characters I was surprised were never in the manga to begin with. Looking forward!
The movies were a pale shadow of the series. ^_^
I don’t know how many people already know this, but the Card Captor Sakura -> Card Captors transitioning appears to have been a two-stage process.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovKqt8My-IE
Original ver — which we got in australia and I think the canadians did too [but the canadians didn’t get the OP above…] — didn’t have much more in the way of changes than, say, Sailor Moon: significant, but not a radical reshaping of the work. It was the US market that got the repackaging, presumably at the insistence of the US broadcasters.
[we do know that the australian version *did* have some cuts, or the Madman release would have been bilingual.]
The Right Stuf has the Blu-ray set for $178.99, a nice discount over the SRP.
Yes, I am still angry about that! ^_^; Also about the chop-job they did on just about every single romantic relationship/crush/etc, especially the gay ones.
Oh dear, I think this means I have to buy a blu-ray player. o_O;
I agree with you entirely, 100% about Yue. <3
I thought you might. ^_^
I’m thinking I need a Blu-Ray player now, Because I can’t connect this computer to my new TV.