Along with Sailor Moon, Cardcaptor Sakura is one of the most beloved magical girl franchises of all time. The story follows schoolgirl, Sakura Kinamoto, who uses magical powers bestowed on her by a mysterious sorcerer to capture his rogue "Clow Cards."

The anime series, which premiered in 1998 in Japan, made its way over to the U.S in 2000 where it was repackaged as Cardcaptors and given an American dub by Nelvana, a version that's become infamous for its controversial changes to the story and characters—including to its central hеroine. Read on for more on that, and ninе other Sakura facts.

Updated On June 1st, 2020 By Amanda Bruce: 20 years after the debut of the original series, Sakura Kinomoto is getting lots of love again thanks to the sequel series The Clear Card Arc. With more new fans discovering the original series as well, there's still plenty more to learn about the character.

15. Sakura's Birthday Is April 1

While some fans might see Sakura's birthday as a reference to April Fool's Day, that's not the case. In Japan, the school year actually begins in early April, and it's divided into three sessions. The first runs April through July, with a break for summer. The second term runs September to December, with a break for winter holidays, and the third runs January to Mach.

That makes Sakura's birthday right before the start of a new school year. It also means she would likely be the youngest in her class as all of her classmates would have their own birthdays over the course of the year.

14. There's A Reason For Her Ever Changing Costumes

Unlike the classic Magical Girl Sailor Moon, Sakura doesn't magically transform into a uniform every time she goes into battle. Instead, her best friend makes her costumes. According to a New York Times 2006 interview with the creative team at CLAMP, that's because they thought it was "sad" that a person always wore the exact same thing and wanted to "add a twist" for their readers.

13. Sakura's Blood Type Is A

Whether manga or anime creators believe in it or not, there is a popular personality theory in Japan that focuses on blood type. As a result, many fictional characters have their blood types listed in promotional materials for their series. Sakura is Type A.

Those with Type A are seen as warm and earnest, which is definitely true of Sakura's tendency to befriend everyone. They're also seen as perfectionists, which is seen with Sakura's desire to be good at literally everything she does.

12. Her Design Was Inspired By The Artist's Niece

Mokona (the lead artist at CLAMP) is not only responsible for much of the artwork created for 22 different manga series, but is the lead character designer as well. When the 15th anniversary series Clamp no Kiseki launched in 2004, she revealed that her design inspiration for Sakura was close to home. Her niece was only two years old when she started working on the character, and she drew inspiration from the toddler for Sakura's facial expressions.
11. Sakura Is A Two-Time Winner Of "Best Female Character"

Animage is one of the longest-running anime entertainment magazines. It began publishing in 1978, and continues to publish serialized stories today. The Anime Grand Prix is a contest the magazine has run every year since 1979, allowing readers to vote in different categories for the anime released in the last year. Sakura was the readers' choice for Best Female Character two years in a row: 1999 and 2000.

10. She Was Almost Cardcaptor Nikki

It's not uncommon for anime characters to get Western name-changes in dubbed versions. Sakura is no different—at least, in part. Viewers of the Nelvana Cardcaptors dub will have noticed Sakura's surname was altered from Kinamoto to Avalon, but her Japanese first name remained unchanged. Originally, the studio wanted to rename Sakura "Nikki," but audiences already had so much attachment to Sakura, a name that signifies youthfulness and hope in Japan. Fortunately, the change was eventually ruled out.

9. She's Part Of A Multiverse

Cardcaptor Sakura plays a lot with the idea of reincarnation, with Eriol revealed to be a new version of the sorcerer, Clow Reed—who granted Sakura her powers—and Sakura's father hinted to have a similar identity in the manga. Cardcaptor Sakura's creators, CLAMP, also took this repetitive history one step further by spinning out Sakura's universe into a multiverse. In Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, not only do alternate versions of Sakura and Syaoran Li carry the main story, but our original Sakura crosses over into this parallel world.

8. She Likes Guys... And Girls?

As fans of the original Japanese run of the show know, Cardcaptor Sakura is queer as hell. Sakura's brother Touya and his best friend Yuki have tons of sexual tension, while Sakura's own BFF Tomoyo overtly expresses her romantic interest in Sakura later in the series. Sakura primarily only shows interest of that kind in members of the opposite sex; first Yuki, and then Syaoran. However, her "warm, fuzzy" feelings towards her teacher, Mizuki, hint that Sakura might be a little bi-curious, at least.

7. She Has A Doppelganger In Pokémon

Cardcaptor Sakura's 1998 premiere date on Japanese screens—and it's popularity overseas—means it qualifies as part of the 90s anime boom in the West. The biggest proponent of this spike in interest was undoubtedly Pokémon.

Back then, the catch 'em all hook of both Pokémon and Cardcaptor Sakura invited frequent comparisons, a mirroring that the Pokémon anime actually paid homage to in the Diamond & Pearl series, Episode 77, where two girls that look just like Sakura and Tomoyo can be seen at the start of the episode.

6. Sayoran Can't Say Her Own Name

Sakura's rival-turned-partner, Syaoran Li, saw the peppy Sakura as nothing but a thorn in his side when he first arrived. As time went on and he got to witness her in action, his mood toward her softened into one of respect and, eventually, love. Japanese etiquette dictates that being on a first-name basis with someone is a big deal, signifying a more intimate relationship between two people. But, while Sakura graduated from "Li-kun" to "Syaoran-kun" with relative ease, it took the tongue-tied boy 40 episodes to utter the name, "Sakura."
5. She Can Make Her Own Cards

After successfully catching all of Clow Reeds' escaped Clow Cards, Sakura's mission later becomes converting the cards into "Sakura Cards." While strenuous, she was able to achieve this, too, cementing her status as their rightful owner. But, those who haven't watched the follow-up series, Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card, might not be aware of how Sakura's powers have progressed since the show's original run. Clear Card reveals that Sakura is now powerful enough to not just convert cards, but create new ones all by herself.

4. She Has Another Pokémon Link

Not only is there a Sakura clone running around the Pokemon universe, but there might also be a reference to one of her most-relied upon Clow Cards in the series, too. In Pokemon's Ecruteak City, one of the five "Kimono Girls" is named Sakura. Now, Sakura is such a popular Japanese name that it's not enough of a reference point on its own, but fans have noticed that the trainer's chosen Eeveelution, Espeon, is remarkably similar in design to the fox incarnation of the Dash Card that Sakura often uses.

3. She's Solar Powered

What is the source of Sakura's magic power? While Clow Reed's continued presence in Sakura's world could be seen as the initial source, once Sakura is able to change his cards into "Sakura Cards" and even create her own "Clear Cards," the question becomes harder to answer. The strongest hint the series gives us is that Sakura draws her powers from the sun. After all, Keroberos, who symbolizes the sun, and Yue, who symbolizes the moon, were drawn to her and draw power from her. Plus, she later harnesses "Star Power."

2. Her Voice Actor Was A Child

Sakura's Japanese voice actress—who also happens to be called Sakura—does a great job disguising the fact she's nowhere near Sakura's age. The actress who voiced her in the Nelvana dub, however, didn't need to fake anything as she was a real child at the time. Sakura is about nine or 10-years old when Cardcaptor Sakura begins. Carly McKillip, the Nelvana voice actress, was 11-years-old when the show first debuted. This authenticity didn't entirely correlate with the different direction the American production took Sakura's character, making her more boyish and tough.

1. She's A Video Game Star

2019's Jump Force pulls together stars from Shonen Jump's pages—like Goku, Naruto, and Luffy—into a video game crossover brawl. Anime fans clamoring for a shojo version might be interested to learn that Magical Battle Arena is just that. Sakura is a playable character in the third-person shooter, and she also appears in the RPG, Granblue Fantasy, as part of a special collaboration event between CLAMP and Cygames called: "Cardcaptor Sakura: Sakura and the Mystery Sky Journey."