‘Cardcaptor Sakura’ is Getting a Gorgeous 4K Remaster

Cardcaptor Sakura was a prolific anime series for a lot of fans in the 90s, and now it’s getting a remaster worthy of its status.

Cardcaptor Sakura will see a DVD/blu-ray box set collecting its two-season 1998 series with an upgraded 4K scan remastered edition. Releasing in Japan on December 22, the series’ original 35mm film negatives will be digitally scanned for the new box set.

The 11-disc set features the anime’s two seasons: the “Clow Card” arc, which ran for 46 episodes from April 1998 to June 1999, and the “Sakura Card” arc, which ran for 24 episodes from September 1999 to March 2000.

Cardcaptor Sakura‘s original manga author collective CLAMP are even providing a newly drawn piece of art for the box set’s first wave of release. If you’re interested in importing, the price for the Blu-ray set is 45,360 yen (about $410 USD) and the DVD set is 23,328 yen (S211 USD).

This remastered release should be good news for fans in the West as the original broadcast of Madhouse’s anime was originally licensed by Nelvana. Nelvana renamed the series Cardcaptors, and it aired on KidsWB from June 2000 to December 2001. This original run is infamous for only airing 39 English language dubbed episodes in the United States while airing the entire 70 episode run in other English speaking territories.

Nelvana’s Cardcaptors was also critically panned for making numerous edits to the English broadcast. Their goal was to edit the show to make it more action heavy and friendlier to boys despite the anime gaining both young and adult audiences in Japan. Character names were changed, character backgrounds were altered, such as any reference to same-sex relationships as seen in the Japanese original, the musical score was completely altered, and some sound effects were completely removed.

The original broadcast compounded these edits even more so as KidsWB had aired the series out of order. The series premiered on the network with its eighth episode “Sakura’s Rival” and removed episodes solely focusing on the series’ main character Sakura. It never quite fixed its episode order until airing the series’ final episode.

For those unfamiliar with Cardcaptor Sakura, the series follows Sakura, an elementary student who discovers she has magical powers after accidentally releasing a set of magical cards from a mysterious book. CLAMP’s original manga ran for 12 volumes from November 1996 to July 2000. There will be a new anime series, Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card Arc premieres next January.

Are you excited for this Cardcaptor Sakura 4K remaster? Talk to me @Valdezology.