Amazon.com: Cardcaptors - Tests of Courage (Vol. 1) [VHS] : Cardcaptors: Movies & TV (original) (raw)
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Reviewed in the United States on March 2, 2009
Let me tell you that this first volume of Cardcaptors will NOT disappoint you. It has 3 exciting episodes. Granted, it is not the first episodes in the series, it's 8, 12, and 17 (Nelvana did dub all 70 episodes, BTW).
So, let me summarize what they are about...
1. "Sakura's Rival"
Sakura has a mysterious dream of this boy. When she goes to school, a new exchange student arrives, and it's the same boy in her dreams! His name is Li Showron, and he is from Hong Kong. And also, he is Clow Reed's descendant! Li finds out Sakura was the one who accidently released the cards. Now the Thunder card appears, and Sakura has to go capture it, but Li shows up also. Will they be able to capture it?
2. "Time and Again"
Sakura had failed her music test. At home, she practiced just to see if she could do it correctly, and she could. Too bad she couldn't do it over again...or so she thought. The Time card is on the loose, and the day rewinds over and over again. Kero has to keep playing Zylon Warrior on a difficult level over and over, Sakura has to keep taking the same music test, and Li always scores a goal when the soccer ball comes flying at him. Will they be able to stop this never-ending time loop?
3. "The Cave"
Li, Sakura, Madison, and their other classmates, are on a fieldtrip at the beach. One night, they have to go do the ancient shrine walk, where they go in groups of 2 or 3 with a candle to leave a gift at the shrine inside the cave. Sakura is terrified of going inside after Nikki's ghost story, but Madison drags her in. Suddenly, everyone vanishes, and only Sakura and Li are left. Is it a Clow Card, or something else?
For those of you who remember Cardcaptors on Kids WB, these will bring back fond memories. For those of you who have never heard of Cardcaptors, but you love anime, check this DVD out!!!
4 people found this helpful
Reviewed in the United States on May 24, 2024
It came sealed which surprised me! For 8.99 what a steal.
Reviewed in the United States on April 8, 2001
When I frist saw Cardcaptors in Kids WB over the summer, I thought that it was one of the best shows on earth. However, In early January this year I purched the frist two volumes of Cardcaptors and, for the heck of it, the (subbed) frist two volumes of Cardcaptor Sakura (avaiable on Amazon.com). I watched the Cardcaptors volumes frist with my four year old brother, and we were both estatic. However, when I watched Cardcaptor Sakura two nights later I was suprised by the amount of depth in the characters of that series, and the lack of plot holes. Yes it's true that Cardcaptor Sakura has been buchered, and that the American version could be a lot better, but the american version is good. So my sugestion is that if you've already seen Cardcaptor Sakura, don't buy this edition, however if you've never seen Cardcaptor Sakura, and don't plan to ever see it(or if your younger that 13), then buy this one. As long as you don't see the Japanese version this one will seem fine.
One person found this helpful
Reviewed in the United States on April 29, 2020
Reviewed in the United States on March 6, 2011
Cardcaptors is the best! The characters' voices are exciting and clear. It contains action packed episodes. I like the stylish outfits and the entire artwork. Cardcaptors is very comical with plenty of action!
Reviewed in the United States on October 25, 2001
Cardcaptors. Hacked up version of Cardcaptor Sakura.
Where to start.....?
The fact that Cardcaptors starts at episode 8 does not put this dub on good footing to start with.
Then the voice actors.
Sakura is meant to sound like a cheerful 10 year old girl.
SaKOOra sounds like an obnoxious 16 year old who has better things to do than appear in this series.
Syaoran (Li to all Cardcaptor watchers) just seems to sound like a bully through the entire trio of episodes.
And I will not even mention Madison (evil twin of Tomoyo), but can you say "Valley girl"?
Then the cuts.....
All relationships are removed including Sakura-Tomoyo(Madison) and Touya(Tori)-Yukito(Julian) and Syaoran's apparent attraction to Yukito (Julian).
So Japan does not exist then. Sakura now lives in Reedington which some clever person at Nelvana thought would be a clever play on Clow Reed's name (Clow is pronounced to rhyme with Glow, not Cow btw.) And any hint that there may have been of Japanese character has been erased e.g. When Mr. Terada writes Syaoran's (Li's) name on the blackboard and nothing appears. Smooth editing eh?
The total cuts are too numerous to count but they even cut out the point where Yukito (Julian) throws Sakura some candy.
Now what is wrong with that? Don't take candy from strangers?
Hmmmm......
Then there's the music. Or what passes for music in CC.
The original songs fit the mood perfectly. Nelvana seem to have pulled out a music catalogue and selected tracks at random.
The opening song it just scary. The lyrics are bad but the person singing them is even worse!
Give me "Catch You, Catch Me" any day.
Now I will explain why you should buy the uncensored version:
1. You can see Cardcaptor Sakura for what it was originally meant to be, a shoujo (girls) anime. But despite what Nelvana believes, this doesn't mean that only girls can enjoy it . It still appeals to a wide audience, perhaps even wider than CC which has been changed so much as to make Syaoran (Li) seem to play a much bigger part than he does and to convert it into a boys orientated action show. It also shows the hero doesn't neccessarily have to be male.
2. It teaches lessions about *love* (something which Nelvana doesn't want you to believe exists) and friendship and relationships.
3. It is about SOOOO much more than capturing cards. (Which is all Cardcaptors is about)
So if you're too young to buy the uncut version, get your older brother/sister or parents to buy it for you.
If you have a younger brother/sister then let them watch the uncut version and if questioned explain that you are "Helping them with their reading".
I'm sure that once they can keep up, they will be much happier than if they had watched Cardcaptors.
If you think that the uncut version is more expensive then we must look at the facts
1. The Uncut version has 4 episodes on a DVD compared to 3 on the Cardcaptors DVD.
2. Each Cardcaptor Sakura episode is 25 minutes in length compared to the average length of 20 minutes for a Cardcaptors episode.
So do the right thing, and leave this DVD well alone.
5 people found this helpful
Reviewed in the United States on July 14, 2006
My husband got interested in the American version of this series (he's a kid at heart), but I just could not stay interested in it. From what I could see, too much of it just did not make sense.
Then, we decided to buy the DVD's for my husband. We bought 3 of them and then I noticed the Sakura/original Japanese version and bought Vol. 1 of that series. We are both now hooked on the original Japanese Cardcaptor Sakura series. The story is delightful to follow and makes the whole thing make so much more sense.
I admit that every now and then we have to hit the pause button so we can read the English subtitles when things get moving fast, but this has in no way dimished our enjoyment.
We highly recommend that anyone interested in this series try the Japanese version.
3 people found this helpful
Top reviews from other countries
5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best anime series ever
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 2, 2004
If there are any fans of anime out there, this is worth a look. If there are fans out there with a preference for the more magical genre of anime then this should definitely catch your eye. If, however, you just wanted to sit back and indulge in a series filled lovable characters with not too over complicated personalities and a plot thick with inventive mythology and stunning scenes then this too, is for you.