Cardcaptor Sakura

Cardcaptor Sakura is a manga series written and illustrated by the well-known and beloved manga collective Clamp. The series was first serialized in the shojo manga magazine Nakayoshi, with twelve volumes in total later released and distributed by Kodansha. The series was a hit, spawning a popular three-season TV anime series that aired in Japan between 1998 and 2000. Both the manga and TV anime series was critically acclaimed, the manga winning the Seiun Award for best manga in 2001, and the second season of the anime winning the Animage Anime Grand Prix prize in 1999. An English localization of Cardcaptor Sakura, known as Cardcaptors, was broadcast in America, the U.K., Australia, and New Zealand. A sequel to the series, Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card is currently being serialized in Nakayoshi, with the first season of the anime adaptation released in 2018.

The series takes place in the fictional Japanese city of Tomoeda, in which the main protagonist, ten-year-old Sakura Kinomoto lives. The manga begins when Sakura accidentally sets free magical cards known as the Clow Cards from a mysterious book she finds in her basement. Once the cards were released, the guardian of the cards, a small angel-winged lion named Cerberus emerges from the book and demands that Sakura retrieves the missing cards. He explains that the cards have magical properties and were created and named after an ancient sorcerer known as Clow Reed. In order to retrieve the cards, Sakura must battle each card's magical personification and seal it away.

During her quest to capture all of the Clow Cards, Sakura's best friend Tomoyo Daidouji films her adventures and provides her costumes, while her older brother Toya Kinomoto quietly watches over her from a distance. Her school friend Syaoran Li from Hong Kong is a member of the Li-clan and a distant relative of Clow Reed. After discovering that Sakura has been chosen by Cerberus to collect the cards, he begins to try and capture them himself, believing he should inherit the cards due to his lineage. As the series progresses he begins to respect Sakura as a Cardcaptor, and eventually falls in love with Sakura. However, Sakura is slower to realize her own feelings, due to her crush on Yukito Tsukishiro, who is in actuality, Yue, the guardian of the Clow Cards.