After the first CCS movie I was sort of skeptical about how good this one would actually be, but I can safely say that this movie was on par with the actual series for me. This movie was just fucking beautiful, man. It fixed basically all the complaints I had with the first movie.
First let me tell you what the movie was about. It is about one final card, a sealed card that has the power to basically devour and turn anything into nothing. It was created to balance the power of all the other cards, similar to the concept of yin and yang that the Chinese have, and once Eriol’s house was demolished this card was set free and was on the hunt for everything in the city, taking the Sakura cards one by one.
What this movie does so well is that the plot for this one is, in my opinion, more interesting and better than the first movie. It also does what the show did incredibly well. The plot serves as a backdrop to the characters and what they are going through, which this time around is Sakura’s reply to Xiaolang’s confession, since he is back in the city for his summer break to visit the Nadeshiko Festival. Sakura is trying to give him a reply, but every time she just gets interrupted by someone. Seeing these two be hopelessly in love with each other and blushing all the time when making eye contact was just so heartwarming to see. I loved it.
I also loved that we get to see Meiling again, and the fact that Meiling and Tomoyo are playing matchmakers, trying to get Sakura and Xiaolang alone so that Sakura can give her reply, is so funny to me. We also get to see Sakura play the princess in a play once again, with Xiaolang as the prince instead of the princess this time around.
But where we get to the meat of the movie is when Eriol tells Sakura that in order to stop the Nothing card she will have to give up one of her most precious feelings, which is of course her love for Xiaolang. You could see where the movie was taking that whole thing from a mile away, and that is fine, since again the story has never been the focus or the important thing for me personally. It has always been the characters and seeing them grow up and interact with one another. Seeing Toya be kind of pissed at the fact that Sakura also loves Xiaolang and that he will be losing his sister to that brat is so wholesome and again just strengthens the bond those two have as siblings.
By the end of the movie, when Sakura is trying to finally seal the card after basically the entire city and its people have been consumed by its nothingness, she finds out that the card was really just lonely and wanted to be back with her friends, meaning the other cards. She goes to seal it knowing that she was never able to tell Xiaolang how she feels. Then ensues one of the best parts of the movie, when Xiaolang takes the card’s power instead of Sakura, and so his feeling of love for Sakura should be the one to be taken away. This devastates Sakura, but it turns out the Love or Heart card she made herself in the final episode of the main series merges with the sealed card and makes the Hope card, which preserves Xiaolang’s feelings and gives them back to him once it is sealed. We then see Sakura finally confess to Xiaolang in the clock tower and then jump at him. It was such a wholesome and absolute cinema moment.
The best thing about this movie was that it focused on what makes CCS so strong, which is the characters, plus the animation and visuals were absolutely stunning. It was just gorgeous to look at, a real spectacle. Overall it was an amazing sequel to an already highly acclaimed and personal favorite series of mine. The movie had the love and charm that the first movie was missing a bit. I also like how there were parts of this movie that had a horror-like atmosphere. It is a nice tonal shift, and I feel I pointed that out in the first movie too. But yes, I loved this movie.
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