Cardcaptor Sakura Movie 2: The Sealed Card

Cardcaptor Sakura Movie 2: The Sealed Card (劇場版カードキャプターさくら 封印されたカード, Gekijōban Kādokyaputā Sakura Fūin Sareta Kādo) is a 2000 Japanese anime film directed by Morio Asaka and written by Nanase Ōkawa, with animation produced by Madhouse. The film is a sequel and finale to the anime television series adaptation of Clamp's Cardcaptor Sakura, and is the second feature-length film based on the series. The film follows Sakura Kinomoto as she faces the final Clow Card alongside her friends and allies, and comes to terms with her romantic feelings for Syaoran Li.

Plot
Eriol Hiiragizawa's house is demolished to make way for a new amusement park in Tomoeda, activating a Clow Card, The Nothing, hidden underneath the house. After the park is built, she hides in its clock tower and begins secretly stealing the other cards from their mistress Sakura Kinomoto. Sakura faces her own challenges, having the leading role in a play her school is putting on as part of Tomoeda's annual festival, and her own feelings towards her friend Syaoran Li, who confessed to her before returning to Hong Kong. Sakura and her best friend Tomoyo Daidoji visit the amusement park, where Sakura senses a magical aura. Running into the park, she bumps into Syaoran and Meiling Li, returning for a visit planned by Tomoyo and Meiling to get Sakura to confess to Syaoran.

Tomoyo and Meiling make a hasty departure, leaving Sakura to invite Syaoran to dinner. She tries to confess but is interrupted by the Clow Cards guardian Kero, and then the arrival of her brother Toya and his friend Yukito Tsukishiro. Over the next few days, Sakura and her friends rehearse the play, and although Sakura repeatedly attempts to confess to Syaoran, she is interrupted each time. They also notice that things in the city are disappearing including a bridge in the local park. Sakura, Syaoran, Tomoyo and Meiling spend a day at the amusement park, with Sakura and Syaoran ending up on a Ferris wheel together where Sakura tries to confess again. However, both witness one of the Clow Cards vanishing and chase its aura to a hall of mirrors where they encounter the Nothing, who steals several more of Sakura's cards.

Sakura and Kero are contacted by Eriol from England, who explains the Nothing was created to balance the positive magic of the Clow Cards with Sakura's own negative magic. The Nothing was released due to Sakura changing the cards' power from Clow Reed's to her own, resulting in a part of Tomoeda being erased every time the Nothing steals a card. Eriol warns Sakura that when she seals the Nothing card, her greatest feeling at the time, namely her love for Syaoran, will be erased as payment. Sakura informs Syaoran, but he concludes the sacrifice is their only option. Sakura runs off in tears but is consoled by Yue, the second guardian of the cards and Yukito's true form. During another rehearsal, the Nothing attacks the school, injuring Takashi Yamazaki who was to play the lead role opposite Sakura, so Syaoran steps in.

During the play, the Nothing's power spreads and erases many of Sakura's loved ones including Tomoyo, Meiling, and Sakura's family. Sakura, Syaoran, Kero, and Yue go to the amusement park and battle the Nothing, who erases Kero and Yue. Syaoran attacks her on the Ferris wheel but is caught in her destructive spheres and vanishes. Sakura pursues the Nothing to the clock tower, where she is stripped of her last cards apart from an unnamed card she created with her own magic after Syaoran left for Hong Kong. Sakura learns that the Nothing collected the cards so she would not be alone anymore, but Sakura promises that she will never be isolated again and seals the Nothing. However, the required toll instead comes from Syaoran who tells Sakura he will fall in love with her all over again.

The Nothing and the nameless card fuse into one, becoming the Hope Card as Sakura tearfully confesses to Syaoran. She is shocked when he replies that he feels the same, discovering that the fusion averted the toll. The Nothing's powers are then reversed, reviving Tomoeda and its inhabitants. Sakura springs across the reforming clock tower to Syaoran's arms, together at last.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) It picks up on where the last episode of the series left off (Sakura rushing to the airport in order to meet up with Syaoran one last time before he left, only for her to, while not yet confessing her true feelings to, accepting the stuffed bear that Syaoran gave her and wonders if she will see him again, while the Nameless Card is born from her tears over her love interest leaving) and gives Sakura and Syaoran their happy ending. While the series' finale was still good as it gives the message that sometimes, you'll have to say goodbye to people you care about permanently, it's still nice to see them end up together in the end.
 * 2) Like the series it's based on, the animation and voice acting are still phenomenal.
 * 3) The film introduces the Nothing Card. A card containing negative magic in order to balance out the positive magic of the other cards. She was unable to interact with anyone other than the Clow Cards, who Sakura spent the entire series unknowingly taking from her. Because of this, the Nothing, out of terrible loneliness, decides to forcibly steal the cards back and destroy anything and everything Sakura loves in order to get revenge on her for stealing her friends. But after her actions cause the other cards to reject her, she accepts Sakura's offer of being sealed, no longer suffering from the loneliness that plagued her for so long.
 * 4) Syaoran's willingness to sacrifice his most important feelings to seal the Nothing in order to save the others from the card was very noble and courageous of him. As it proves that he was willing to sacrifice some of the most important things he had in order to assure the others' safeties. But thankfully, it was later mitigated when the Nameless Card reacted and fused with the Nothing.
 * 5) Amazing Ending: Crying and believing it's too late, but encouraged by the Hope Card, Sakura still confesses to Syaoran that she loves him and that he is the most important person to her. To her surprise, he gently replies that he loves her too, and Sakura realizes he didn't lose his intense romantic feelings for her after all. As everyone and everything begins to reappear, an overjoyed Sakura uses the Jump Card and leaps to Syaoran before the stairs return to normal with no intention to wait further, despite Syaoran's protests to keep her safe. As she leaps to embrace Syaoran, she exclaims, yet again, "I love you!" And the movie ends leaving Sakura in mid-air with their warm embrace not directly shown in the video.
 * 6) Overall, this movie serves as a very strong conclusion for the Cardcaptor series (at least until it later returned with Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card in 2016)

The Only Bad Quality

 * 1) While serving as a good finale, Syaoran and Sakura ending up together undermines the original series' message that sometimes, you will have to say goodbye to people you care about forever (as previously mentioned in WIR# 1).

Reception
Cardcaptor Sakura Movie 2: The Sealed Card received generally positive reviews from audieneces, especially Cardcaptor Sakura fans. Ridwan Khan noted that "understanding the film required knowledge of Cardcaptor Sakura's second season," and Chris Beveridge cautioned that "the continuity of events was not entirely right." Beveridge felt the Kero-Chan Theatrical Event special was the best extra. Allen Divers of Anime News Network felt "it was a satisfying conclusion to the series." THEM Anime felt that "the plot of the film was more substantial than the plot for the first film", and enjoyed the two story lines of Sakura's emotions and the final card.

The film won the Feature Film Award at the 2000 Animation Kobe. It was released on DVD in 2003.[citation needed] It received a limited theatrical release for the first time in the US on January 31, 2018. On May 29, 2018 Discotek Media announced they will release the film for the first time on high definition Blu-ray in North America on July 31, 2018.[1] It was followed by Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card in 2018.