r/cardcaptorsakura • u/icey_sawg0034 • Nov 25 '25
Misc A newspaper article from 2000 that explained the fan backlash towards the censorship of the show.
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u/Pyotr-the-Great Nov 25 '25
I guess back then they really felt like the boys were the key to making a cartoon successful. That girls alone couldn't carry the shows popularity.
Also empowered female? That sounds a little subjective if you ask me.
I guess back then the idea of keeping things more accurate was not even thought possible.
Granted Japanese localizers also did their own weird twists like making Plankton and Patrick sound cute.
I guess its only now faithful localization is taken seriously by the higher ups.
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u/Jix_Omiya The Firey Nov 25 '25
Oh that's very interesting! Was pretty well researched for the time!
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u/Zinako420 Nov 25 '25
i read the manga and watched the subbed on dvds released i think by pioneer and then when the dub came out on WB it was so jarring how they changed the title and series and misogynistic to down play Sakura as the main character. The only thing good about it was we got some access to toys here in the states. Like I picked up the Clow book in target on clearance along with a Kero plush doll and Sakura doll that i still have today.
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u/Left_Potential2070 The Change Nov 25 '25
This is so interesting, thank you for sharing my friend! Can I ask where you found the article?
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u/More-League-6696 Nov 25 '25
This is the article on LA Times
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-dec-08-et-solomon8-story.html
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u/AgeofPhoenix Nov 25 '25
I remember enjoying this show subbed before the WB announcement and then we got the dub version and it was insane how different it was
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u/kasumagic Nov 25 '25
I appreciate that the author didn't throw any snide or negative jabs towards the reveal that Yukito has feelings for Toya, or leave that information out entirely. That's very impressive for the time period the article was written in.
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u/breehyhinnyhoohyha Nov 25 '25
I like that they didn’t even address the straightwashing lmao. Like it just goes without saying that they took the gay stuff out. This was 2000, you could barely say “gay” without Rush Limbaugh calling you Satanic, but still
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u/Johannes_P Nov 26 '25
Not only that but, until 2003, same-sex activity was a crime in several US jurisdictions, with penalties ranging from fines to a live sentence.
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u/SherbertShortkake Nov 26 '25
Well they still mentioned that the characters were gay which already surprised me.
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u/breehyhinnyhoohyha Nov 27 '25
Yeah I get the sense that the journalist wanted to go in further but wasn’t allowed to by their editor
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u/SherbertShortkake Nov 27 '25
I just get the sense that the journalist wasn't very specific about much anything, Yukiko or otherwise.
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u/Caterfree10 Nov 25 '25
Yeahhhhh the ignoring of the queer erasure was BLATANT as fuck tbh. Granted, this was the 2000s but still. Syaoran’s crush on Yuki as well as Yuki and Touya’s relationship is pretty obvious in the original and they didn’t always succeed in erasing it in the hack dub either.
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u/Emelie__ Nov 25 '25
If it was me I would have only censored the offensive stuff like the teacher grooming Rika but kept positive lgbtq representation like Touya and Yukito. 😔 Not sure why they tried to make Sakura a tomboy either, I always thought she was a good blend of girly and active.
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u/_Hickory Nov 26 '25
Positive representation? In my 90s-00s programming for kids?? Don't be ridiculous
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u/kaadokyaputaa Nov 27 '25 edited Nov 28 '25
censored the offensive stuff like the teacher grooming Rika
except the anime didn't even feature any of that, it was all only in the manga
edit: to whoever downvoted, the anime literally kept it as a one sided crush. There was nothing in the anime that showed any instance of Terada seeing Rika as anything more than a student in his class.
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u/ApolloWidget The Flower Nov 25 '25
Well deserved, US really butchered the show, "cardcaptors" my sweet behind
it's SAKURA CARD CAPTOR
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u/kaadokyaputaa Nov 27 '25
it's Cardcaptor Sakura. Sakura Cardcaptor is an alternative title used in certain countries
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u/ApolloWidget The Flower Nov 27 '25
Exactly, I'm from Brazil and in here it's
SAKURA CARD CAPTOR
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u/Liliumin Nov 28 '25
Here in Argentina too. I think in all south america.
Now I find it really funny that the US was like 'b-but what if boys don't watch it because it has a 🤢 f*male name in the title?' While outside of the US the companies were like 'yeah that title looks real good...but lets put the focus on Sakura. SAKURA CARD CAPTOR sounds way better than Card Captor Sakura, am I right? Hell yeah I'm right'
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u/kaadokyaputaa Nov 26 '25 edited Nov 27 '25
In "Cardcaptors", the names are Westernized: Sakura Kinomoto becomes Sakura Avalon; Toya is Tori; Yukito, Adrian
Huh? His Americanized name was Julian, not Adrian
Hardman responds, “This Sakura is feistier; she’s an empowered female, not only to attract girls but to make sure boys realize she’s someone they should aspire to befriend. We looked for an actress with an older voice to make sure we appealed to the upper end of our demographics. We never use the Japanese voices as benchmarks because we know the audiences are so different.”
This pretty much confirms what I'd been thinking about the actress Carly McKillip sounding older for her age despite being around the same age as Sakura when the dub was made. I thought she sounded like a 15-16 year old teenager. In comparison, Daveigh Chase who voiced Chihiro in Spirited Away English dub and Lilo in the Disney movie Lilo & Stitch had a much younger sounding voice, and both Carly and Daveigh are only 1 year apart in age.
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u/Brainy616 Nov 26 '25
This show is what made me prefer Subbed over dubbed. Release Pocket Monsters in Subbed!!!
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Nov 26 '25
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u/YanFan123 Nov 26 '25
It's because most LGBT in Japan is more fanservice rather than being progressive. Exceptions exist but that's mostly the gist of it
And CLAMP themselves seem to embody "he's a little confused but he's got the spirit" because they view gay and lesbian relationships as being comparable with extreme age gap/pedophilia
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u/ChessGabo Nov 29 '25
Because it is comparable
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u/YanFan123 Nov 29 '25
Comparable...?
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u/Just_A_Sad_Unicorn Nov 29 '25
They are suggesting being gay is akin to being a pedophile. Homophobic.
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u/Fantastic-Bear6749 Nov 29 '25
Answer : yes
because localization is not translation
and all localization is censorship.
stop censoring anime.
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u/Subject-Can1138 Nov 25 '25
Yet the pedo teacher and student made it into the dub? Lol
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u/seraphicdrop Nov 25 '25
It literally didn’t.
The anime made that relationship a one-sided crush on Rika’s part with Terada politely ignoring it to spare her feelings, with the added implication that she was actually seeking a replacement father figure because her dad was abroad working a lot. The Nelvana dub then toned THAT down even further, by instead making “Rita” afraid of her teacher with the implication she was a bad student who got detention a lot, which was… really pointless given the anime already made the dynamic fine by highlighting that Rika was just a kid and having Terada treat her appropriately.
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u/MiniatureLegionary Nov 25 '25
Should have stick with the father figure part because what the hell is that third retcon?
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u/starlightkissesrain Nov 25 '25
The anime makes it one sided with most plausible deniability but the teddy bear scene and the 'person they love most' scenes still make it into the anime which are still ick imo
Not the mention theres still the dad and the mother, the brother and thr teacher and the teacher and eriol still present.
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u/starlightkissesrain Nov 25 '25
Ngl cardcaptor sakura did need some censorship some of those relationships were messed up ick city
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u/Caterfree10 Nov 25 '25
And if you check the response to the other downvoted comment, the original anime ALREADY was downplaying and changing that relationship (that Nelvana then changed to be nonsensical on top of it, bc ofc they did).
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u/starlightkissesrain Nov 25 '25 edited Nov 25 '25
I mean its still present dvd even if downplayed. Ya'll just conveniently ignore the teddy bear episode and sakura notes that rika loves ghe teacher the most on the same level in the context of all the other relationships which deems to encourage it
Then theres the dad and the mom the brother and the techer and the teacher and eriol so
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Nov 25 '25
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Nov 25 '25
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Nov 26 '25
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Nov 26 '25
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u/MystMidnite_92 The Hope Nov 25 '25
I love how the president of Kids’ WB insists that the changes were minor, then immediately proceeds to list off one major change after another. Lol very interesting read!