Wednesday, March 14, 2007

SAKURA KINIMOTO - CONTINUATION

Relationships


Syaoran Li
Sakura's relationship with Syaoran Li (Li Showron) is the most recognized relationship in the series, mostly because the second half of the series is heavily devoted to its development.
Most significant to the development of their relationship is Syaoran's changing opinion of Sakura, mostly because of Sakura's own heart-warming personality. In the beginning of the series, Syaoran immediately considers Sakura a rival when he finds out she is the Cardcaptor and concludes her unworthy of bearing the responsibility of the Clow Cards. Sakura is constantly intimidated by his glares and brash attitude both at school and while capturing Clow Cards. However Sakura never gives back any negative responses or behavior. Most of the time, despite Syaoran's aggression, she thanks him for his help and effort. This eventually becomes very confusing to Syaoran, whose gentler side soon causes him to be more humble than arrogant.
Though Syaoran gradually becomes more committed to liking Sakura, she still remains completely clueless of his feelings. Syaoran's blushes become more frequent, and there are some occasions where he would suddenly become clumsy when in her presence, but Sakura will either keep an innocent smile on her face or look confused and worried at Syaoran whenever he trips and falls.
Following the Final Judgment when Syaoran makes a permanent change from rival to ally, Sakura begins viewing Syaoran as a very close friend, often thinking of including him when there are school or community events. She is very happy to become able to call him "Syaoran-kun" instead of the more neutral "Li-kun" when he (in a more desperate moment) calls her "Sakura." When Sakura confesses her feelings to Yukito, only to have them essentially rejected, Syaoran is there to comfort her in the park afterwards. It is a very emotional period in the series, but she is able to recover, thanks to Syaoran. In the anime, Sakura returns the favor by spending several nights in a row knitting him a scarf, which he accepts after a surprised pause. Similarly, in the manga, Sakura returns the favor by spending a week making him a yukata.
Sakura is finally made aware of Syaoran's feelings when he personally confesses them after the final battle with Eriol Hiiragizawa (Eli Moon). The news comes as a complete shock to her, and it is ever present in her thoughts over the next few days. In the manga, after talking to her friends about why she is upset and confused about her feelings, those feelings lead her to conclude that Syaoran is her true "number one person," and she confesses her newfound feelings as Syaoran suddenly leaves for Hong Kong (though only temporarily). The anime stretches out the suspense, with Sakura not yet answering Syaoran in the last episode of the series. Instead, her confession comes at the end of the second movie, after several failed attempts throughout the film.
The teddy bears (seen in the above picture) are named Sakura and Syaoran, respectively, referring to a fictional tradition where if two people make teddy bears for each other and the recipients name them after their donors, the two will be a couple forever. In the manga, Sakura and Syaoran name their bears after each other after she confesses her love to him. In the anime, Syaoran gives Sakura his bear (she asks to have it) in Episode 70, but Sakura never gives him one, having already given it to Yukito earlier in the series. [citation needed]
In the second movie, Syaoran returns to Japan with his cousin Meiling Li who was having secret phone calls with Tomoyo Daidouji who helped plan their return. Tomoyo and Meiling attempted to organise outings for Sakura to tell Syaoran about how she feels but, rather amusingly, she gets interrupted until the end of the movie where Sakura confesses her love believing that Syaoran had forgotten his most important feeling. She begins to cry but Syaoran surprisingly replies "Me too, Sakura". The song Ashita e no Merodi plays with the sunrise clear in the background to symbolize happiness and victory.
Sakura and Syaoran continue to be widely recognized in fandom to the present day. They are also likely Clamp's most famous fictional couple, as they make a lead appearance in their crossover manga series, Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE.

Yukito Tsukishiro
In the first half of the series, before any hint of a relationship with Syaoran, Sakura's primary romantic focus was on the older Yukito Tsukishiro (Julian Star). The origin of the relationship is unclear, but Yukito's presence always causes a significant effect on Sakura's feelings, commonly provoking her "floaty" exclamation, "Hanyaan~" (はにゃああん~).

Sakura always does her best to impress Yukito, on rare occasions even competing with Syaoran to give the better compliment or gift. She often looks forward to going to school with Yukito each day, and she is worried when he is not there. Most times when her brother, Toya, is present, Sakura is often provoked to raise her voice or else act "unladylike" at Toya, which immediately elicits her embarrassment when she realizes Yukito is also there watching her.
Late in the series, Sakura finally decides to confess her love to Yukito instead of forever skirting around the issue. However, Yukito does not return the feelings, admitting that he loves her also but only in a platonic way. He asks her to reevaluate her feelings towards him and suggests that she feels attached to him more because he resembles her father. Sakura agrees with Yukito after some thought, and he continues to reassure her by saying that the real "number one person" for her is still out there somewhere, and she should not give up searching for him.
After an emotional afternoon in the park, Sakura is able to get over Yukito but still remaining a close friend through the end of the series. She, in a rare perceptive moment, also realizes that Yukito's feelings have always been aimed towards her brother, Toya. She accepts that fact, also, and wishes them the best.
Interestingly, in episode 70, Eriol reveals to Yue that when Clow chose Sakura as the future new Master of the Clow (later Master of the Sakura) Cards and their guardians, he had expected that in the future Yukito would love Sakura more than anyone else and vice versa. Yukito's attraction to Toya and Sakura's to Syaoran are the unforeseen occurrences, the deviations from Clow's plan, that Eriol mentions to Sakura and friends at the party in Clow's mansion.
Because Sakura's romantic ties with Yukito end in canon, her appearance with him in fandom and fanfiction are rare. Yukito is instead more popularly paired with Toya.

Tomoyo Daidouji
Though non-romantic, Sakura's close relationship with Tomoyo Daidouji (Madison Taylor) is likely the second most significant relationship in the series. Sakura and Tomoyo are best friends (and second cousins as their mothers were cousins), meeting randomly for the first time in the third grade when Sakura offered Tomoyo one of her erasers. Since then, Tomoyo has been very attentive to everything that Sakura does, including finding a passion for filming her throughout her daily activities.

Sakura holds a lot of trust in Tomoyo, often allowing her to take lots of measurements for the multitude of battle costumes and dresses that are made for her. Tomoyo is also one of the few keepers of Sakura's secret as the Cardcaptor, often accompanying Sakura in many of her adventures for filming and costume-testing opportunities. In the second half of the series, when Sakura gets a new wand and mission, Tomoyo is responsible for choreographing Sakura's new action poses.
Tomoyo holds a special, arguably romantic attachment to Sakura, of which Sakura is completely oblivious. In both the manga and anime, Tomoyo admits that she loves Sakura, but Sakura replies innocently, "I love you, too," in the platonic sense. The manga takes the scene further where Tomoyo comments that her love is more than what she is thinking it is. Sakura gives a confused look, but Tomoyo drops the topic, adding, "I'll tell you when you're older." Throughout the series, Sakura never realizes this deeper attachment, simply remaining Tomoyo's best friend. Tomoyo, however, selflessly does not mind this at all and even helps Sakura most times in setting up situations with Yukito and Syaoran, as Tomoyo understands they are the ones who would make Sakura the happiest.
Because Tomoyo lacks magical powers, Sakura takes on a protective responsibility most times when capturing or transforming cards. If Tomoyo is even in danger (or missing), Sakura will be the one concerned for her most, and her focus changes from that of the Card at hand to Tomoyo's safety. Fortunately, Sakura has always succeeded and hugs Tomoyo warmly whenever she reunites with her.
credit: Wikipedia

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