< Cardcaptor Sakura

Cardcaptor Sakura/Characters


Many of the characters of Cardcaptor Sakura are described here.

WARNING! There are unmarked Spoilers ahead. Beware.

Main Characters

Sakura Kinomoto

Everything will be all right.

Voiced by: Sakura Tange (JP), Carly McKillip (EN), Kari Wahlgren (EN - 2nd Movie), Cristina Hernandez (Latin America)

The heroine of the series, Sakura wanders in her father's basement one day and accidentally sets loose a deck of nineteen/fifty-two tarot-like magical cards, each containing a magical spirit, into the wild. Annoyed, the book's guardian Cerberus (Kero-chan) declares her the new Cardcaptor who has to track them down and recapture them. Tagging along on the chase is her best friend Tomoyo and Rival Syaoran.

  • Action Girl: Less so than Mei Ling, though.
  • All Girls Want Bad Boys: Subverted with Yukito, played more straight with Syaoran, albeit largely because his gentler side began to show.
  • Anime Hair
  • Badass Adorable
  • Beware the Nice Ones: Rather mild case, but you still don't want her mad at you.
  • Bifauxnen: Plays Prince Charming in a School Play of Sleeping Beauty.
  • Book Dumb: Has incredible wisdom and resourcefulness, but a bit of a ditz in terms of normal intelligence. She HATES math.
  • Break the Cutie: Played hard a couple of times. Both out and in-universe, Sakura in tears is considered an incredibly heartbreaking sight (interestingly the dub downplays a few of these scenes, likely to make her seem like a less vulnerable protagonist, though the remaining examples are still valid).
  • Catgirl: One of Tomoyo's outfits.
  • Cheerful Child: In spades!
  • Cherry Blossom Girl: A poster girl.
  • Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Despite being extremely naive and occasionally outright ditzy at times (believes every last one of Yamazaki's ridiculous stories and is completely oblivious to the fact that her two best friends are infatuated with her) she has moments of remarkable inspiration, particularly when it comes to the use of her magic.
  • Cute Clumsy Girl
  • Cute Witch
  • The Danza: She's voiced by Sakura Tange.
  • The Ditz: Has some shades of this.
  • Dogged Nice Girl: Gender reversal to Yukito. Not nearly as clear cut an example as Syaoran however.
  • Dub Name Change: Averted; she's still called Sakura, but it's now pronounced "Sah-KOO-ruh" instead of "SAH-koo-rah". She does, however, get a Dub Surname Change to Avalon.
  • Even the Girls Want Her
  • Fragile Flower: Rare rendition mixed with Plucky Girl traits. While she rarely gives up, her disposition is very similar to that of a real child under such situations.
  • Genki Girl
  • Girlish Pigtails
  • Gotta Catch Em All: Played straight in the first season, but is increasingly subverted in the third season when she has to turn all the Clow Cards she's captured into Sakura cards.
  • Green Eyes
  • Hair Antennae: Sometimes she has THREE strands of hair.
  • Hair Decorations
  • Heart Is an Awesome Power
  • The Heroine: In the Japanese version at least. Executive Meddling tried desperately to establish her and Syaoran as co-Heroes for the Cardcaptors dub, but for the large part she is still obviously the main heroine.
  • Kindhearted Simpleton: Borderline example. She is more immensely naive and spacey than outright stupid and has incredible showings of resourcefulness and wisdom at times, but it's obvious her heart is much bigger than her brain.
  • Magical Girl Warrior: Though she does have two or three Cute Witch traits.
  • Magic Wand
  • Morality Pet: For numerous characters, but most notably Syaoran.
  • Naive Everygirl: Usually, though Character Exaggeration leans her a bit more as a Moe or Kindhearted Simpleton later on.
  • Oblivious to Love: A rare example both for and towards the character since, on one side, it takes her a while to notice Syaoran's feelings and she never picks up on Tomoyo's. Meanwhile she also has problems expressing her crush towards Yukito and later Syaoran.
  • Ping-Pong Naivete
  • Plucky Girl: To an extent, she is rather determined and has little regard for her own well being when her loved ones are endangered, but also has a rather fragile disposition that can lead her to break down and panic without emotional support.
  • The Pollyanna
  • Power Incontinence: Inverted, after gaining half of Eriol's powers in the manga, she becomes more powerful than him and Clow Reed, unlike both of them however, she is powerful enough to negate such magic. This isn't present in the anime where this event does not occur.
  • Precision F-Strike: In one translation, she abuses the phrase "What the hell?" to hell and back while impersonating a ventriloquist and using Kero-chan as her dummy early on. Kero-chan was not amused.

Kero: What the hell was THAT all about!?

  • Puppy Love: Invoked with Syaoran.
  • Say My Name: Lighter variant. Calls Syaoran by his first name later on (though this is a fair step into their bond since she is the only non-related aquaintance allowed to do so).

Sakura: *giggles* Right, Syaoran-kun?

Kerberos/Kero

Voiced by: Aya Hisakawa (JP), Matt Hill (EN), Wendee Lee (EN - 2nd Movie), Yamil Atala (Latin America)
True Form: Masaya Onosaka (JP), Richard Newman (EN), Dave Wittenberg (EN - 2nd Movie), Yamil Atala (Latin America, too)

Wise yet somewhat eccentric guardian of the Clow Cards. Having fallen asleep on duty while Sakura inadvertently sets them loose, Kero drafts her unwillingly as a new Cardcaptor. Secretly resident of her house, the somewhat gluttonous and obnoxious Kero also acts as a bickering close friend and mentor for Sakura.

Syaoran Li

Voiced by: Motoko Kumai (JP), Rhys Huber (EN - Clow Cards arc and the 1st movie), Jordan Kilik (EN - Sakura Cards arc), Mona Marshall (EN - 2nd Movie), Uraz Huerta (Latin America)

A distant descendant of Clow Reed that initially views himself as rightful Master Of The Cards, leading him to act as a rival for Sakura in her own attempts to retrieve them. As time passes, Sakura warms herself to Syaoran and treats him as a close friend or consultant, oblivious that by this point he has become disinterested in inheriting the cards and has gained an overwhelming crush on her.

Sakura: You always act like that, but it's never true.
Syaoran: What makes you say that?
Sakura: I know you. Syaoran-kun, you're a Nice Guy.
*Syaoran turns bright red*

Tomoyo Daidouji

The greatest happiness is seeing someone you like stay happy.

Voiced by: Junko Iwao (JP), Maggie Blue O'Hara (EN), Michelle Ruff (EN - 2nd movie), Monica Villaseñor (Latin America)

Wealthy, softspoken, and pretty, Tomoyo is Sakura's best friend and second cousin, Tomoyo is one of the few people who knows Sakura's secret as being Master of the Cards, and can always be counted on to be there when one is being hunted down. She's a talented seamstress and is very fond of making Sakura wear... interesting outfits.

The Kinomoto Family

Touya Kinomoto

Voiced by: Tomokazu Seki (JP), Tony Sampson (EN), Kirk Thornton (EN - 2nd movie), Luis Daniel Ramirez (Latin America)

Sakura's big brother. He often teases her, calling her "Monster" ("kaiju" in Japanese) but he has a huge Big Brother Instinct around her. He is best friends with Yukito, and has a tendency to switch jobs a lot. Toya can see ghosts, including his mother's when she visits.

Fujitaka Kinomoto

Voiced by: Hideyuki Tanaka (JP), Brian Drummond (EN), Michael McConnohie (EN - 2nd Movie), Enrique Mederos (Latin America)

Sakura and Toya's father. A kindhearted middle-class man, Fujitaka married Nadeshiko when she was just sixteen when he worked as a teacher. He later became a university professor in archaeology.

  • Dub Name Change: In the English dub, he becomes Aiden Avalon.
  • Good Parents
    • Parents as People: Does what he can, but is almost always consumed by his work and more than once he laments how often he can't be with his children when they need it.
  • Honorifics: Has very formal speech patterns, referring to everyone (including his kids) as "-san." The only exception is Sonomi, whom he calls "Sonomi-kun".
  • Hot Dad
  • Hot for Student and May-December Romance: With Nadeshiko.
  • Hot Teacher
  • Long Lost Sibling: Well, long-lost other half-reincarnation in Eriol.
  • Megane
  • Self-Made Man: Was an orphan and had to build himself a place in the world. Now he's a well-respected uni professor.
  • The Mourning After: He is still loyal to Nadeshiko, and puts up a new picture of her every day.
  • Together in Death: Heartwarmingly subverted in the manga, as he gains the ability of seeing his wife Nadeshiko's ghost. So, they're reunited without him needing to die! Awww!
  • Workaholic
  • Yamato Nadeshiko: Even moreso than his dead wife, whose name was Nadeshiko! He's the one raising their kids after she died.

Nadeshiko Kinomoto

Voiced by: Yuko Minaguchi (JP), Janyse Jaud (EN), Monica Villaseñor (Latin America)

Sakura's deceased mother who was a famous model, Nadeshiko was Sonomi's best friend and cousin whom Sonomi was very protective over.

Other Students

Yukito Tsukishiro aka Yue

Voiced by: Megumi Ogata (JP), Sam Vincent (EN), Steve Staley (EN - 2nd Movie), Enzo Fortuny (Latin America)

Toya's best friend and Sakura's first love interest. A kind, spectacled Big Eater, Yukito is incredibly friendly with Sakura and her friends. It is revealed he is actually Yue, the second guardian of the Clow Cards and assigned to appoint the next owner of the cards. He becomes an ally to Sakura after she passes the Final Judgement.

  • The Archer: An accomplished sportsman, we see him once in an archery competition. As Yue, his Weapon of Choice is a supply of beam arrows.
  • Badass in a Nice Suit: As Yue.
  • Big Eater: At first just for the Moe, then we learn that it's because his magical energy is getting drained by Yue's latent and then explicit existence.
  • Bishonen
  • Chick Magnet
  • Cross-Dressing Voices: Original Japanese only.
  • Defrosting Ice King: Yue, actually.
  • Dub Name Change: In the English dub, he becomes Julian Star.
  • Heavy Sleeper - Sleepyhead: Subverted. The reason why he falls asleep randomly and is very weakened in the second part is because of the lack of a stable spiritual energy source, rather than simply being tired or sick).
  • Hidden Depths: Yukito is really Yue... except that Yukito has his own identity and personality as well. And he angsts for a short while because of such identity issues.
  • Laser-Guided Amnesia: As Yukito, he can't recall what his Yue side does. That is, until Touya gives him his powers and he gains access to Yue's own side.
  • Long White-Haired Pretty Boy
  • Man in White: As Yue.
  • Meaningful Name: His surname contains the character for 'moon.' Yue is Mandarin Chinese for 'moon'.
    • Doubly, Yukito's surname can mean "moon castle"; appropriate considering he's a vessel for Yue.
  • Megane
  • Nice Guy
  • Sensitive Guy: To Touya's Manly Man.
  • Raised by Grandparents: Subverted. Yukito's grandparents never really existed, as they're a part of his Fake Memories: he believes they're always traveling instead.
  • Rapunzel Hair: As Yue.
  • Split Personality: Sort-of, with Yue. It's... complicated.
  • The Stoic: Yue.
  • Tomato in the Mirror: When Yukito finds out that he's Yue's false form, he has a minor identity crisis until Touya sets him straight.
  • White-Haired Pretty Boy: Both his forms.
  • Yamato Nadeshiko: Toyed with rather interestingly. Yukito only partially looks the part, as he's rather tall and softspoken but lacks the dark hair, yet he is only about equal with Sakura in kindness and politeness. (The reason why Sakura liked him was because of Yukito's strong resemblance to Fujitaka, the YN of the series). As for Yue, he averts this: his language is rather crude (certainly not humble), and in the anime he is even called a foreigner to Japan outright.
  • Winged Humanoid: Yue has a rather prominent pair of white feathered wings.

Meiling Li

Voiced by: Yukana Nogami (JP), Nicole Oliver (EN), Julie Maddalena (EN - 2nd movie), Gabriella Willert (Latin America)

An anime exclusive character and Syaoran's cousin and fiancee from Hong Kong. Meiling arrives in Tomoeda to help Syaoran capture the Clow Cards. At first a Clingy Jealous Girl and a Bratty Half-Pint, Meiling eventually warms to Sakura and Tomoyo. She is a Badass Normal, being a pro in martial arts alongside Syaoran.

Eriol Hiiragizawa

Voiced by: Nozomu Sasaki (JP), Bill Switzer (EN), Johnny Yong Bosch (EN - 2nd movie), Alfredo Leal (Latin America)

The antagonist of sorts in the series, Eriol arrives as a New Transfer Student who quickly befriends Sakura and Tomoyo. He is really the reincarnation of Clow Reed, hoping for Sakura to transform the Clow Cards in Sakura Cards so his legacy is continued.

Naoko Yanagisawa

Voiced by: Emi Motoi (JP), Kelly Sheridan (EN), Sherry Lynn (EN - 2nd movie), Martha Ceceña (Latin America)

A Cute Bookworm who loves ghosts stories and is a Nightmare Fetishist.

Chiharu Mihara

Voiced by: Miwa Matsumoto (JP), Jocelyne Loewen (EN), Dorothy Elias-Fahn (EN - 2nd movie), Isabel Martiñon (Latin America)

One of Sakura's close friends. She often exposes Yamazaki's lies to the bewildered Sakura and Syaoran.

Rika Sasaki

Voiced by: Tomoko Kawakami (JP), Stevie Bloch (EN - 2nd movie), Circe Luna (Latin America)

A shy, nervous but well-educated girl who has a Precocious Crush on Mr. Terada.

Takashi Yamazaki

Voiced by: Issei Miyazaki (JP), Phillip Pacaud (EN), Joshua Seth (EN - 2nd movie), Gerry Meza (Latin America)

Syaoran's friend in school. His eyes are always closed and he has a humourous habit of making up exaggerated stories about the origins of various subjects, which Sakura and Syaoran always fall for.

  • Beta Couple: With Chiharu.
  • Butt Monkey: Always in the receiving end of Chiharu's tantrums. These almost always come after he starts telling his lies.
  • Consummate Liar: As far as Sakura and Syaoran are concerned.
    • Bad Liar: In the eyes of everyone else. Specially Chiharu, who knows him as the palm of her hand and immediately stops him when he goes overboard. Very violently
  • Dub Name Change: In the English dub, he becomes Zachary Marker.
  • Eyes Always Shut: Chiharu calls him "lines-for-eyes" due to this. They actually open on a few occasions. Meiling believes that they open every time he tells the truth. Not really, they were just open because Chiharu was stepping on his foot.
  • Oblivious to Love: Poor Chiharu.
  • Shout-Out: Named for producer Takashi Yamazaki, who is a good friend of CLAMP
  • The Storyteller
  • Wholesome Crossdresser: In the school play. His role changes depending on the media: in the manga he's the evil fairy, whereas in the anime Meiling becomes the evil fairy and he plays the Queen Mother instead.

Anime!Touya: "... T-that Queen, she's played by a boy!?"

  • Will Not Tell a Lie: Inverted, as he's a HUGE liar and pretty much addicted to telling bizarre stories.

Magical Beings

The Clow Cards / Sakura Cards

A deck of magical cards created by Clow Reed. Each card is actually a spirit with its own power as described by its name. They grew so strong that Clow Reed created the Clow Book to keep the cards in. Sakura accidentally lets the cards loose leading to the series Gotta Catch Em All story. She later has to transform them into Sakura Cards so they can be kept alive via her magical energy.

In the manga, there were a mere nineteen cards - there are fifty-two cards in the anime, plus three more by the end of the second movie ( The Nameless and the Nothing cards fuse together to become the Hope card, resulting in 53.)

The Nothing: Don't get in my way...

Clow Reed

Voiced by: Kazuo Hayashi (JP), Dale Wilson (EN), Rafael Rivera (Latin America)

Creator of the Clow Cards, Kero and Yue, Clow Reed died before the manga and anime. A powerful sorcerer in his own right, he reincarnates as Eriol and Fujitaka.

Nakuru Akizuki, aka Ruby Moon

Voiced by: Ryoka Yuzuki (JP), Willow Johnson (EN), Monica Manjarrez (Latin America)

One of Eriol's two minions, if you want to call them that. A hyperactive but manipulative Genki Girl, as Nakuru she has apparent affections for Toya. In her true form Ruby Moon she can fly and has similar powers to Yue.

  • Adaptation Dye Job: Nakuru's hair goes from light auburn in the manga to brown in the anime. Likewise, Ruby Moon's color scheme changes from red and black to pink and indigo.
  • Badass
  • Clingy Jealous Girl: She appears to be this towards Touya she's actually after his magic and not him per se. And she lays off once it's clear that Touya will give his powers to Yue and not to her.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: The stuff she says doesn't make much sense.
  • Dub Name Change: Averted. In the English adaptation both her true form and false form is called Ruby Moon.
  • Genki Girl: Very energetic, and to Touya's dismay, its all directed at him.
  • Manipulative Bitch: She has everyone fooled into thinking she's a ditzy Muggle. Then there's her sabotage of Touya's relationship with Yukito...
  • Moment Killer: Repeatedly and deliberately, to the point where Touya has to physically lock her out of the room in order to finally get some alone time with Yukito.
  • New Transfer Student
  • No Biological Sex/Purely Aesthetic Gender: Nakuru chooses to present "herself" as female simply because girls have cuter school uniforms. As "she" puts it, "I look good in a skirt!", and she then adds "Well, it's not like gender really matters... I'm not a human being anyway..."
  • No Sense of Personal Space: Constantly Glomping Touya.
  • Secret Public Identity: In the Nelvana dub only, where she goes by "Ruby Moon" in both forms.
  • Token Evil Teammate: Sorta. She is perhaps the nearest to being genuinely antagonistic out of Eriol's posse. Is intentionally interfering with Touya and Yukito so the former can't save the latter as his magic fades, in a sense she is attempting to ensure Yue fades and dies (the creepy smirk she frequently gives Yukito as she plays it out doesn't help). When she realises it is futile, however, she gives in quickly and limits herself to aiding Eriol in his plans.
  • Winged Humanoid: Large butterfly wings in her true form.

Spinel Sun

Voiced by: Yumi Touma (JP), Colin Murdock (EN), Philece Sampler (EN - 2nd Movie), Ernesto Lezama (Latin America)

The second of Eriol's minions, and a counterpart to Kero. Essentially The Eeyore, Spinel is quiet and calm but can go hyperactive when he eats sweets. His true form is a butterfly-winged panther who has powers similar to Keroberos.

Kaho Mizuki

Voiced by: Emi Shinohara (JP), Linda Rae Jurgens (EN), Dulce Guerrero (Latin America)

A mysterious but Cool Teacher who starts teaching at Sakura's school, but is actually a powerful magician of some kind.

The Enchantress (Mahoudoushi / Su Yung)

Voiced by: Megumi Hayashibara (JP), Nicole Oliver (EN)

The Big Bad of the first movie. She was a fortune teller, foreseeing a person's future through water. However, her predictions attracted Clow Reed who disputed her claims, leading to a number of battles between the two until he imprisoned Madoushi. She uses dreams and forces events so Sakura can win a trip to Hong Kong and attacks her because she carries the Clow Cards, since she is searching for Clow Reed.

Other Adults

Sonomi Daidouji

Voiced by: Miki Itou (JP), Venus Terzo (EN), Wendee Lee (EN - 2nd Movie), Monica Manjarrez (Latin America)

Tomoyo's mother and Nadeshiko's best friend plus cousin. She resents Fujitaka from marrying Nadeshiko at such a young age but is thrilled to be in Sakura's company.

Yoshiyuki Terada

Voiced by: Tohru Furusawa (JP - first season and first movie), Katsuyuki Konishi (JP - third season and second movie), Steve Blum (EN - 2nd movie), Ricardo Tejedo (Latin America)

The on-and-off teacher of Sakura's class. Rika has a crush on him which he seems to acknowledge.

Maki Matsumoto

Voiced by: Kotono Mitsuishi (JP), Nicole Oliver (EN), Alejandra de la Rosa (Latin America)

The owner of the Twin Bells shop in Tomoeda, Maki has trouble due to the troublesome Jump Card, but is helped out by Sakura and her friends.

The Li Family

Li Yelan

Voiced by: Kikuko Inoue (JP), Stevie Vallance (EN)

Syaoran's strict, stern mother and head of the Li family. She is an incredibly powerful sorceress.

Li Xiehua, Li Huenli, Li Fuurie and Li Feimei

Syaoran's eccentric four sisters. They are easily attracted to cute people.

Wei Wang

Syaoran and Meiling's Parental Substitute whilst they live in Tomoeda. He seems to have a degree of magical powers, and as The Jeeves for Syaoran.

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  1. ↑ Yes, there's a card for this.
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