Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card-hen – Episode 8 [Sakura, the Clock, and a Hide-and-Seek Game]

Sakura and Tomoyo are on their way to school when they bump into Akiho. Or rather, Akiho finds them. On their walk to school, Sakura and Tomoyo learn that Akiho is living in the same house that Eriol lived in when he was in Tomoeda. Sakura is amazed at the coincidence, and she and Tomoyo tell Akiho a little about Eriol.

When they arrive at school, Akiho invites Sakura and Tomoyo over for a visit. Later on when Sakura has a quiet moment alone with Syaoran and Kero, she invites Syaoran to go along with them, but he passes because he has something planned that day. Not deterred, Sakura shyly invites Syaoran out for a date the following Sunday, and of course he agrees. The moment is ruined by Kero teasing them for being all lovey-dovey and ignoring him.

Side note: I think this scene was the first time I’ve ever seen Kero genuinely annoyed/angry with Sakura. See, earlier when Sakura had pulled him out to show him to Akiho while en route to school, she lifted him so that her phone (attached to his neck with the long ribbon) dangled below, and it actually started to strangle him! x__x   So Sakura knows now to be much more careful when parading Kero around while he’s attached to her phone.

Back at home, Toya tells Sakura to start on her homework while he makes porkchops for dinner. Sakura tucks Kero into bed but is whisked away to her “dreamland” moments later. The same mysterious figure in the same flowing robes is still standing atop a giant cog, and they refuse to answer any of Sakura’s questions. Sakura is woken shortly after by Kero and is thankfully not hurt from her fall to the floor.

The next day the girls walk over to Akiho’s house, where they meet her butler (houseservant?) Yuna D Kaito, and it’s made very clear quite quickly that this is the person who is the most precious to Akiho. However because of the presumed age difference and the fact that Akiho’s technically his boss (or her parents are), there is a difference in their relationship that likely won’t, or can’t, be crossed. A comment form Yuna seems to make Akiho consider this, although she does her best to hide her feelings from Sakura.

The scene with the girls having tea and cake in the sitting room is really quite sweet. While the girls are friends, they are also growing up and a couple of moments highlight that Sakura is very aware of this. Tomoyo is from an upper class family and is likely used to formal situations whereas Sakura is not, so having a formal visit at a friend’s house has a bit of a learning curve for our young cardcaptor.

After tea Akiho shows Sakura and Tomoyo her family’s humongous library – seriously, there must be at least ten thousand books in it, if not more! I’d die and go to book heaven if I had a library like that in my house ~  0

While they’re touring the library Sakura senses a new card, so she asks Akiho to show her a favourite book, which Akiho leaves to retrieve from her bedroom. While Akiho is gone, Sakura and Tomoyo search the library until they find what looks like a gap on a shelf with nearly ten volumes of books missing.  But when Sakura moves to touch what looks like empty space, she can still feel books on the “missing” shelf! So what gives? Sakura quickly captures the card, which is shown to be Lucid. I’m not sure how something being lucid can make something invisible… maybe because lucid can mean “clear”, it was stretched to refer to invisibility? I’m not quite sure with this card, but as with Flight, I’m sure Lucid will come in handy for Sakura later in the series.

Soon after the card capture, Akiho returns with her favourite book – a gorgeous volume with a sun pattern on its cover. BUT! BUT BUT! Where has Sakura seen said pattern before??

Akiho says the book is called “Alice in Clock Land” (not “Alice in Wonderland”), and while she is not fluent in the language the book is written in, she’s learning to read it. Akiho starts to tell Sakura what the book is about, but before she can start her explanation she’s interrupted by Yuna calling on one of the house’s interior phone lines.

At the very end of the episode, there’s a couple of quick scenes. One is with Eriol and Spinel Sun, who explain to an upset Ruby Moon that they cannot go to Japan to see Sakura because the time is not right. They are all to sit and wait for some unknown, dangerous event to occur. Only then can they lend Sakura their aid.

The other scene is with Syaoran sitting alone in his room. As his bear from Sakura watches silently, Syaoran activates his magical board… thing… sorry I don’t know its proper name. But it is glowing green with Syaoran’s magical power. What does this mean?  What is Syaoran trying to sense?

SO! This episode is important because it gives us a couple of big hints as to who the unknown person in the long robes could be. I really, really don’t want it to be Akiho, but she’s still my first suspect. Perhaps she’s being controlled by some dark magic and she’s not even aware that she’s contacting Sakura in a dream state?

Anyways, after seeing Yuna’s timepiece with the sun pattern on it (similar to the pattern on the cover of Akiho’s book), Yuna is my other guess as to who the robed individual might be. However he looks to be much taller than Akiho, Sakura and Tomoyo, so I think he’s realistically an unlikely pick for this season’s villain. But maybe I’ll be surprised!