Waaaah I think I have a new favourite episode~! ≧◡≦
This episode was divided up into four neat quarters. In the first we had a scene with Toya and his father, and omg it honestly never occurred to me that Fujitaka had the notion that “something” was up with Sakura. Toya obviously knows more, but despite his lack of magical ability/gift Fujitaka is a definite believer in things that he cannot see or hear because he remembers Nadeshiko being able to interact with those objects/beings. And while we’re on that note, that idea had never occurred to me either – that maybe Sakura’s mother had some degree of magical ability.
As a whole however, the scene with father and son was “very Japanese” if that makes sense. If it doesn’t, hear me out. In North America many children grow up with helicopter parents, or parents who don’t let their kids figure things out for themselves. Their child makes up excuses or appears to be hiding something? Grounded! Yet Fujitaka acknowledges that Sakura is obviously dealing with something he cannot fully understand, and trusts that if she gets in over her head she’ll come to him for help. (Then again Sakura seems to think that her family has zero clue about her powers, so maybe she wouldn’t…. but it’s a nice thought anyways ^^;; ) This attitude towards Sakura’s independence reminds me of being in Japan and seeing children ride public transit alone, or walk to school together in small groups. From what I have seen, many Japanese parents allow their kids much more independence than some parents in the west. IMHO, of course.
Anyways, Fujitaka’s comments about leaving Sakura to handle whatever she’s dealing with on her own really spoke to me, and I admired his ability to control himself that much. I guess it eases Fujitaka’s mind a little knowing Toya would definitely help Sakura out if she needed it, too.
In the next scene, Sakura is waking up at her grandfather’s mansion. She feels much better, so Masaki leaves and returns with his (technically first) present for Sakura: a beautiful silver key with a blue stone embedded in its handle. Masaki explains that he and his wife bought it in England many years ago and gave it to Nadeshiko when she was young. Sakura doesn’t pick up on the key’s potential significance, but Syaoran’s all over it like sauce on pasta. England of course is where Eriol is located… and it’s where Yuna D Kaito is from too. Where could the key have come from, and why would its owner sell it?
The third scene with Yue, Kero and Eriol contains a bunch of backstory and fills in many of the details missing from the story until now. Eriol’s big revelation is that he contacted both the magical association he suspected Yuna D Kaito was from and Syaoran’s mother, and learned that a year ago Yuna was excommunicated for stealing a secret magical item, likely the clock book Akiho is reading. Could Sakura’s new key be tied to the book somehow? Furthermore apparently anyone with a “D” in their name, like Yuna, can’t be defeated. This means that the magical association Yuna is from won’t approach Yuna and force him to return the stolen relic because they fear a potential powerful retaliation.
As for Sakura’s magic, Eriol acknowledges that she is a very strong magic user but once again she cannot control her magic properly. Eriol suspects that Yuna might be after Sakura’s clear cards but he can’t say definitely whether that’s true.Will Sakura’s magic stabilize again once she captures all the clear cards?
Then as Yue and Kero are talking to Eriol via his magic link, said link becomes under attack by an unknown magic! It’s Yuna trying to prevent Sakura’s protectors from communicating with each other. But nyah nyah, too late buddy! Eriol’s link with Yue and Kero is broken, so he uses a surge of magic to halt Yuna’s magical attack. In doing so though, Eriol’s sun staff is nearly destroyed. ;~;
Sure enough, Yuna knows of Eriol’s existence and his magical abilities. Yuna is indeed after the clear cards, and it appears that they have some kind of link with a spell. Perhaps a spell within the clock book? Maybe Yuna needs the clear cards to summon the black dragon from the clock-dream-world?
The last segment of the episode focuses on Sakura and Syaoran’s return home. Syaoran still seems a little distant so Sakura makes self-deprecating small talk to help get him to open up.
Upon their arrival at her house, Sakura notices that her house is backward! And it’s super foggy out. But why is her house flipped around? Well they’d just been talking about a mirror in the car… Sakura pulls out her staff and quickly seals the new card. Sure enough it’s Mirror, just like in her original deck of Sakura cards.
The episode ends on a cute and happy note as Sakura uses Mirror to replicate Flight’s magic and create a second pair of wings: one for herself and one for Syaoran. As the two fly together in the sky, Syaoran becomes overwhelmed with his love for Sakura and his deep desire to protect her. As the sun sets the two share a tight hug up high in the air.
I didn’t mention it earlier, but I really appreciated that Sakura finally spoke up and tipped Syaoran off to the fact that she knows something is up. She knows he’s hiding something from her, likely in an effort to protect her, but she very pointedly reminds him that he can depend on her too. She can look out for him, but she has to know what’s going on to be able to do so. Go Sakura!
Also, who da faq gives a whole frigging mansion to a middle school kid?! No wonder Sakura’s dad asked Masaki to keep that gift to himself for now! Sheesh! …. * is secretly jealous * >>;
Ahaha, shit finally gets real next week! Sakura’s gonna meet the robed person in the real world for the first time! Will it be Akiho? Yuna? I can’t wait to see! time for the big showdown! What role will this new “key of memories” play…?
P.S – Anyone else think that Sakura totally looks like her dad in the first screencap in this post’s gallery?
I can’t say I agree with the sentiment about Japanese parents being less hovering. They let young children walk alone to school because Japan has very low crime rate, especially in comparison to many western nations. However, that doesn’t mean parents are less domineering in their children’s upbringing. I’m Asian and I think Asian parents are far more hovering than parents in western countries. After all, cram schools aren’t in great demand because kids want to go there; it’s because their parents want them to go there.
Yes, there are definitely ways in which Asian parenting is a lot stricter or demanding than parenting in the west. Different perspectives eh? 🙂