Characters

Main Characters

• Sakura Kinomoto  is the titular protagonist and the eponymous heroine of Cardcaptor Sakura. Sakura is portrayed as a well-loved, pretty, cheerful, cute and at times a naïve ten-year old. Named after the Japanese word for "cherry blossom", Sakura is skilled in sports at school, being called the "best baton twirler in school" by her friends. However, she hates math and has an open fear of ghosts. Sakura maintains a crush on Yukito Tsukishiro for most of the manga and anime, but when she finally confesses to Yukito, she is gently rejected and she realizes that she loved him because of his resemblance to her father. Soon after, Sakura develops similar feelings towards Syaoran, although she doesn't realize them until he confesses.
  
  She becomes the entitled Cardcaptor by guardian beast Kerberus after accidentally opening and releasing the Clow Cards from the Clow Book. Aided by Kerberus, her best friend and cousin Tomoyo Daidouji, and later Syaoran, Sakura successfully captures all the cards and is named the new Clow Mistress by the cards' second guardian Yue (Yukito's true form). In the second half of the manga and anime, Sakura must use the power of her own star to transform the Clow Cards into Sakura Cards, or else the cards would lose their powers.
  
  
  
  
  
• Cerberus, nicknamed Kero by Sakura, is the appointed guardian of the book which holds the Clow Cards. He is one of two magical creatures created by Clow Reed along with the Clow Cards. Before his death, Clow appointed Kero as the one to select the potential candidate to be the next master of the cards, Cerberus himself, and his "brother" and fellow guardian, Yue. After Sakura accidentally releases the cards, Cerberus chooses her to be the candidate and teaches her the basics of capturing the cards. Throughout the series, he displays an extensive knowledge of mysticism. After Sakura passes the Final Judgment to become the Clow Cards master, Cerberus remains with her as a friend, companion, adviser, and protector when new threats appear.
  
  Having spent a lengthy amount of time in the book while it was in Osaka, Cerberus speaks with a pointed Osakan-accent.He tends to be bossy, demanding, egotistical and gluttonous, but clearly displays his affection for Sakura, especially if she is hurt or in danger. He becomes very fond of video games, and is addicted to sweets.Cerberus spends most of his time in a "temporary" or "false form": a small figure resembling an orange stuffed animal with wings. Unlike Yue, Cerberus' magical powers are like the sun, and thus largely self-sustaining, and he is subsequently not as dependent on his master's power to support his life as is Yue. However, his master must have control of the Firey and Earthy cards in order to power his true form, a large-winged mountain lion. In the anime adaptation, the Light card is changed to the Earthy card to delay his obtaining his true form.
  
  
  
  
  
• Tomoyo Daidouji is the best friend of the series' protagonist, Sakura Kinomoto, and her second cousin on their mothers' sides. The daughter of the president of Daidōji Toy Company, Sonomi Daidōji, Tomoyo lives a life of wealth and is watched over by a team of female bodyguards.She has access to a variety of prototype technological gadgets from her mother's company, and supplies Sakura and Cerberus with different communication devices throughout the series. She is depicted as being mature, kind-hearted, intelligent, and regularly speaking using more formal verb conjugations and expressions than normally seen in elementary students. She is a talented singer, and is shown performing in various school events; in the anime, her musical ability causes her to be targeted by both the Voice and Song cards.
  
  Tomoyo is notable for her obsession with recording every single detail of Sakura's life on video as much as possible, much to Sakura's discomfort. When she learns of Sakura's new role as a Cardcaptor, she insists that Sakura must wear "special outfits" and begins providing Sakura with the various "magical girl" costumes she wears during her captures, as well as accompanying her on missions to record the events with her video camera. She encourages Sakura's love of Yukito, and later becomes Syaoran's confidante when he begins to fall in love with Sakura.
  
  
  
  
  
• Syaoran Li is a distant relative of Clow Reed, the creator of the Clow Cards. As such, he believes that he should be the one to inherit the Clow Cards and tries to capture the cards for himself. As the series progresses, Syaoran comes to respect Sakura and becomes her friend and ally. He eventually falls in love with her, though she is slow to realize it due to her own feelings for Yukito.
  Initially, Syaoran has a crush on Yukito (the attraction to him was because of the high moon power inside of Yukito). Only later, at the beginning of the third season of the "Cardcaptor" series, does Syaoran begin to fall in love with Sakura, and make his feelings visible to viewers.In the manga, Syaoran begins to develop feelings for Sakura around the time of the Erase card's capture. After Yukito rejects Sakura's feelings, Syaoran comforts her even though Sakura still oblivious about his feelings towards her. Near the second-half of the series, Syaoran confesses his feelings to Sakura. With Sakura now undisputed master of the cards, he decides to return to Hong Kong. At the end of the series, he returns from Hong Kong a few months later to visit his old school. In the anime adaptation, Syaoran manages to catch several cards by playing a major role in helping Sakura seal them. He is allowed to attempt the final judgment but fails. Syaoran is shown to have similar powers to Sakura, such as sensing Clow Cards and magical auras, is a skilled martial artist, and wields a sword which he can use to cast spells when equipped with incantation papers. He can also use a device dubbed a "lasenboard" in Cardcaptors, which can detect and direct him to magical entities. A running gag is Kero calling him kid.
  
  
  
  
  
• Yue is the one of two Guardians of the Clow Cards, along with Cerberus. His name, which is written in kanji rather than hiragana is the Mandarin Chinese word for "moon". Whereas Cerebus is the elector of the new Clow Card Master, Yue is the judge who is allowed to test the candidate for their worthiness. He spends most of the series in his temporary form, Yukito Tsukishiro, who initially has no memory or knowledge of his other self. Unlike Cerberus, Yue's powers are heavily dependent on the power of his master. Sakura's power is not yet strong enough to sustain him after he awakens, particularly after she begins transforming the Clow Cards into Sakura Cards. Yue's growing need for power is reflected in Yukito's ravenous appetite, and later constant sleeping. Similarly, the deficit affects Yue himself in instances such as the blatant failure of his magic which causes he and Sakura to fall out of the sky during one of Eriol's synthesized 'situations'. Eventually, Sakura's brother Toya reveals that he knows Yue and Yukito are not human and gives his power to Yue to sustain his existence so he does not lose Yukito.
  His personality is depicted as serious and aloof in contrast to Yukito's, and while Yukito is fond of Sakura, Yue is reluctant to accept her. As the series progress, he comes to respond to Sakura's request that rather than being his master, she just wants to be his friend. Yue has jurisdiction over the elements wind and water, though he is stated by Cerberus to have control over other cards, including the Wood.

Secondary Characters

• Toya Kinomoto is Sakura's older brother. Though he teases her frequently, he cares a great deal for her and works to protect her. He is fully aware of what she is doing as a Cardcaptor, and regularly takes on several part-time jobs that put him in a position to be nearby when she is working on capturing a card. He also initially dislikes Syaoran, knowing that one day Syaoran will "take her away" from him. Toya possesses several magical powers, including the ability to see ghosts and other non-humans, the ability to sense when Sakura is in danger, and mild precognition. He has a close relationship with his friend Yukito, despite knowing he is the alter-ego of Yue. To save them both, he eventually gives all of his magical powers to Yue, making him promise to protect Sakura in his stead as well as himself (and, by extension, Yukito)

• Yukito Tsukishiro is the close friend of Sakura's older brother, Toya, and the human alter-ego of the Clow Card guardian, Yue. Though he is certainly Yue's temporary form, he is referenced several times by other characters (including Eriol and Yue himself) as being simultaneously a completely separate "heart" from Yue's. As Yukito, he displays a kind and gentle nature, and at the start of the series, Sakura has a crush on him. When she eventually confesses her feelings, he gently rejects her. For most of the series, Yukito is unaware of Yue's existence, though he maintains an enormous appetite for food in an unconscious attempt to give Yue power. Yue's existence is revealed to the other characters after all of the Clow Cards are collected, and Toya states he knew of Yue's existence all along and was just waiting for Yukito to notice himself.

Kaho Mizuki is a shrine maiden and the daughter of the priest at the Tsukimine Shrine. She first appears in the series as a new substitute teacher at Tomoeda Elementary School for the math class of Sakura Kinomoto and Syaoran Li. While Sakura instantly likes the teacher and feels a connection with her, Syaoran is distrustful and believes she is up to no good. She dated Sakura's brother, Touya, when she was his junior high school teacher and they broke up when Kaho left to study in England.

After meeting her, Cerberus incorrectly believes that Kaho is the false form of his fellow guardian Yue, which is later shown to actually be Yukito Tsukishiro. Kaho's role is to use the bell left at her family's shrine to give Sakura another chance when she is unable to defeat Yue out of fear of hurting him. The bell changes Sakura's staff into a new staff containing her own power of the stars and gives her the power to use the cards to defeat Yue. After fulfilling this duty, she returns to England.

• Eriol Hiiragizawa is the principal antagonist in the second half of the series, commonly called the Master of the Clow arc. The reincarnation of Clow Reed, Eriol has both Clow's memories and all of his magic power. He has a magical staff similar to Clow Reed's, can restrain Clow's creations Yue and Cerberus, and has created his own similar pair of guardians: Ruby Moon and Spinel Sun. He moves from England to transfer to Tomoeda Elementary school after Sakura Kinomoto passed the Last Judgement and became the official master of the cards. He is depicted as a quiet, mature boy while at school, though he also shows a mischievous side when he regularly joins classmate Takashi Yamazaki in weaving complex lies about the history of objects, places, and events. While seeming a normal student to Sakura, Syaoran Li is suspicious of him, mainly due to that Eriol is overly nice to Sakura which makes Syaoran jealous. It is soon shown that Yue and Cerberus are able to detect his magical signature as being Clow's, and Eriol must erase Yue's memories after he is accidentally seen by him.

• Spinel Sun is the cat-like magical guardian created by Eriol Hiiragizawa as a counterpart to Clow Reed's original guardian Kerberus. Spinel Sun's true form is a butterfly-winged black panther, while his false form is similar to a small winged cat. Nicknamed Suppi by Ruby Moon, Spinel Sun spends most of his time reading and projects a calm demeanor. Ruby Moon often teases him that he needs to have more fun. During the series, he mostly remains out of sight of the main characters, except when he once runs into Cerberus in his false form (though this encounter is exclusive to the anime). Fortunately for him, Cerberus doesn't suspect anything and instead declares Spinel Sun a monster and feeds him sweets, not realizing that the sweets would turn him into a hyperactive eating machine. Cerberus does not learn his true identity until just before the final battle where the two cats face one another. Initially, Spinel Sun appears to have the upper hand, however Cerberus' greater determination to protect Sakura enables him to defeat him.

• Ruby Moon is one of two magical guardians created by Eriol Hiiragizawa. The counterpart to the original guardian, Yue When Eriol transfers to Tomoeda Elementary, Ruby Moon created a false form named Nakuru Akizuki and enrolls in Seijou High School, entering the same class as Toya Kinomoto, Sakura's brother, and Yukito Tsukishiro, the false form of Yue who is unaware of his true nature. As Akizuki, she acts as a general annoyance, deliberately interfering every time Toya tries to talk to Yukito about the latter's dwindling energy. She claims she wants to consume Toya's energy herself, though it is never stated that she actually has a need for it nor why she couldn't simply steal it. When Toya is finally able to speak with Yue and give him all of his magical energy to sustain Yue's life, Akizuki gives up her pursuit. In the final battle, Ruby Moon battles Yue and initially appears to be winning. However, Yue is able to get past her due to Yue's greater determination and desire to protect Sakura.

• Meiling Li is a character that appears only in the anime adaptation of Cardcaptor Sakura. Introduced in episode 20, she is a very impulsive and overconfident girl, as well as Syaoran Li's cousin and fiancée. As children living in Hong Kong, they both trained in martial arts under the tutelage of Wang Wei. One night her pet bird escaped from its cage, and the normally quiet and withdrawn Syaoran told her not to cry, then left. After spending hours in the rain, he returned with the bird and Meiling was both grateful and touched. From that day, she devoted herself to him, eventually declaring that she liked Syaoran above all others and, reasoning that he liked her as well, she declared them to be engaged. At the same time, she promised that if he found someone he liked more than her, he would tell her and she would release him from the promise.
  Unlike Syaoran, Meiling has no magical abilities, relying solely on her physical fighting abilities and a healthy dose of pride. Her lack of powers and tendency to leap before thinking, however, results in her hindering more than helping Syaoran in most battles against the cards. She challenges The Fight card in episode 20, and was nearly badly wounded and had to be rescued by Syaoran. Recognizing that she was being a burden, Meiling grew upset and lashed out at Syaoran. However, she was then able to be an aid to him while fighting The Twin card, as their years of practicing martial arts together enables them to match the card's synchronized fighting style.

• Clow Reed is the magician who originally created the Clow Cards, and their magical guardians Cerberus and Yue. Born of an English father and a Chinese mother, Clow created a new type of magic that blended both Eastern and Western magical elements. His plan was to hand down the magic to people who would use and protect it while meeting all of the qualifications. However, few people could learn his brand of magic. The character of Clow is only seen in flash backs, as he has long been dead before the series starts. Few details are revealed about his character, personality, or life; however, it is known that despite his benevolence he seems to have been quite eccentric, having created such cards as The Flower, The Bubble and The Change solely for his own amusement and convenience.
  When Clow knew he was about to die, he chose his then unborn descendent, Sakura Kinomoto, to become the new guardian of the cards and the new master of Yue and Cerberus. Clow's magical ability allowed him to foresee most of the future and plan many of the situations that would enable Sakura to succeed in taking full possession of the Clow Cards. Likewise, he deliberately made the sealing wand pink, reflecting that its future user would be a young girl. He also split his soul into two reincarnations, Eriol Hiiragizawa who had all of his memories and magic he possessed, and Fujitaka Kinomoto, Sakura's father. In the anime adaptation, Clow does not split his soul, instead passing on his memories, soul and powers to Eriol exclusively.