Sakura Kinomoto

 ( Anime And Manga Characters Introduced In 1996 ) 

In the last chapters of the series, Sakura confesses her feelings towards Yukito. As Yukito was always aware of the young girl's feelings, he tries to help her, but this gives her depression. However, Syaoran comforts Sakura in regard to her feelings, which she does not understand. Eriol, the reincarnation of Clow Reed, tests Sakura both in terms of magic and emotions. During the climax, Eriol performs his test by attacking Syaoran which causes a more aggressive feeling in Sakura not seen before. This helps Sakura to realize that Syaoran is important in her life (in contrast to their initial bad relationship) and is the person she loves the most. The decision to have Sakura and Syaoran become a couple was popular amongst fans, with Nanase Ohkawa noting this in a February 2001 interview; saying that she was glad that the readers were happy that Sakura and Syaoran got together. However, Ohkawa dismissed potential concerns that this ending was chosen for heteronormative reasons, outright stating that Sakura loves him as a person in the first place and would still have fallen in love with him under different circumstances like greater difference in age or even the same gender. In the same interview she said that Sakura platonic love Tomoyo but not the same way she feels about Syaoran.

Sakura's relationship with Syaoran highly stands out among other love interests in Clamp's works because the manga is aimed towards a younger demographic in contrast to darker stories. Writer Kiyoshi Saiga comments that the focus on multiple types of relationships is Clamp's signature style of writing and Cardcaptor Sakura heavily focuses on these ideas rather than the search for magic cards. The handling of unconditional love is portrayed early through Tomoyo, who is in love with Sakura, but, as she can tell, Sakura does not share such feelings. Her dream is that Sakura meets the person she loves and thus can achieve happiness. Saiga further comments that Sakura is an audience surrogate as across the narrative, both the reader and Sakura mature and explore the concept what is the love they seek. Still, Sakura also stands out within magical girls as, rather than changing like other superheroes, Sakura's optimistic feelings remain the same in the manga.

In November 2016, Ohkawa added that Sakura is someone who believes that "those around her will be there to catch her." Available online in Japanese version here

During a CLAMP Twitter Space discussion in April 2024, Nanase Ohkawa indirectly revealed that Sakura will one day marry Syaoran, but expressed doubts at the time about their wedding ever being shown, expressing the view that "it’d be best for everyone to imagine Sakura and Syaoran’s wedding in their own hearts," but did not rule out the story continuing at some point after Clear Card. Report of CLAMP’s Twitter Space - April 1st, 2024 (part concerning Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card)

The Clear Cards are new cards that started to appear after the Sakura Cards had turned blank and clear. It was revealed, in Chapter 23, that new cards were created by Sakura herself without realizing it, due to the growth of her magical powers. Unlike either the Clow Cards or Sakura Cards, they do not begin with "The" before the name of the card. In addition, the Clear Cards have two kanji in their Chinese/Japanese name, as opposed to one in the Clow Cards and Sakura Cards (with the exception of The Hope, which also has two kanji).

• The Fiery: Grants Sakura the ability to use pyromancy, as well as giving her abilities tied to physical power. Cards under the Fiery are: The Arrow (Enables archery mastery and conjures a bow), The Fight (Martial arts expertise), The Power (Physical strength increase), The Shot (Self-aiming projectile attack, endless until commanded otherwise), The Sword (blade mastery and conjures a fencing sword), The Through (Passage through otherwise solid objects), The Thunder (Control over lightning), and The Twin (Duplicate any target).
• The Watery: Grants Sakura the ability to use water to slow and assault her enemies, as well as some control over weather phenomena. Cards under the Watery are: The Wave (Weaker version of Watery), The Rain (Creates rain), The Bubbles (Creates soap bubbles), The Cloud (Creates clouds in the sky), The Mist (Covering fog and acidic mist), The Freeze (Cryomancy), The Snow (Creates snowfall), The Wood (Control of trees, vines, and branches, spontaneous growth).
• The Earthy: Grants Sakura the ability to manipulate stone and earth as she desires. Cards under the Earthy are: The Flower (Creates any flower or blossom in an infinite amount), The Libra (Truth-telling spirit), The Lock (Seal any door, room, or area, psychokinetic defense), The Loop (Bend time/space to create an infinite loop), The Maze (Generate a maze that must be navigated to escape, can be destroyed), The Mirror (Copy and become reflected individuals, reflect abilities), The Sand (Manipulate sand), The Shield (Near-perfect defense against any attack or ability, can be circumvented/broken).
• The Windy: Grants Sakura the ability to control wind currents and create bindings. Cards under The Windy are: The Dash (Supernatural speed), The Float (Ability to hover/float in midair), The Fly (Indefinite flight), The Jump (Enhanced jumping abilities), The Move (Teleportation of small objects), The Song (Copies and can sing any song), The Storm (Summon rainstorms and tornadoes), The Voice (Steal voices).
• The Light: Grants Sakura the ability to control light and force the sun to rise. One of the strongest cards in the deck (Its counterpart being The Dark). Cards under the Light are: The Big (Massive size increase), The Create (Conjures a book that can write anything into existence), The Glow (Create glowing orbs), The Little (Shrink something, reduce magical abilities), The Return (Travel into the past, cannot interact with the past), The Shadow (Control shadows), The Sweet (Turn objects into candy/sweets).
• The Dark: Grants Sakura the ability to control darkness, as well as nullify opponents' magic. One of the strongest cards in the deck (Its counterpart being The Light). Cards under the Dark are: The Change (Swap bodies/minds once per day), the Dream (Create dreams/prophecies), The Erase (Remove something from existence), The Illusion (Create an illusion from any perspective), The Silent (Stifle all sound, limited kinetic control over noise-generating sources), The Sleep (Put anyone, or a group, of people to sleep), The Time (Freely control the passage of time).

Sakura's outfits number in the hundreds, which change frequently throughout the series. Unlike other anime , whose costumes seemingly form out of magical energy, Sakura's battle outfits are hand-sewn by her friend and cousin Tomoyo. Her most commonly worn iconic everyday outfit is her school uniform, which changes depending on the season. Her winter school uniform is a black long-sleeved shirt with red and white sleeve cuffs, a white neckerchief with a red stripe, and a white pleated miniskirt with a frilly white knee-length petticoat. On particularly cold days, she wears a thick black coat with her school insignia on the back. Her summer uniform is a white half-sleeved shirt with a red neckerchief and a black pleated miniskirt. All year round, black Mary Jane shoes are worn along with white socks and a white sailor hat with a black trim. Her common outfit at home has two double transparent red sometimes green(episode 26 original series) beaded scrunchie to keep her hair on the sides popping out.

After the Final Judgement, a vision of the spirit of Clow Reed tells her that her magic is not drawn from the sun nor from the moon, but from her own star, which may start small, but is ever-shining with its own brilliant light. However, like Clow Reed's magic, Sakura's is a balance of sun and moon magic.Cardcaptor Sakura Volume 6 Chapter 4 Page 30 Eriol gave half of his powers to Sakura's father, the other half of Clow's incarnation. This made Sakura the most powerful magician in the world, even surpassing her predecessor Clow Reed.Cardcaptor Sakura Volume 11 Chapter 3 page 39.

Sakura is a playable character in eight of the Cardcaptor Sakura video games, and her character design is featured in the series' version of Tetris. The character design of Sakura Kinomoto is reused in the Clamp series , which presents an alternate world story that also uses characters from many of the group's previous series. In Tsubasa the design is used for several characters named Sakura, including the central character named (Sakura-hime). Sakura also plays an important role during the last arc of , in a dream of Clone Sakura's; who is now married to Clone Syaoran (one of Syaoan's counterparts in ), by this time. During this vision, Sakura gives her alternate self the Star Wand and assures her that "everything will be all right." A replica of the wand is later seen in Yuuko Ichihara's shop.

Sakura also appeared in the OVA Tsubasa Tokyo Revelations as a spirit or vision that Princess Sakura sees, which guides her back to where she came from, the Tocho (government building) when she gets lost. She disappears when Princess Sakura sees the building.''Tsubasa Tokyo Revelations, Episode 2

In the short anime film Shiritsu Horitsuba Gakuen Bangai-hen: Tenkōsei ni Dokkidoki Sakura appears as a student from the anime's titular school and the younger cousin from Tsubasas Sakura.

On April 1, 2016, as part of her 20th anniversary, eight "Card Captor Sakura"-themed × Animate Cafe national stores opened.

The Mori Art Center Gallery, located in Tokyo, Japan, featured a Cardcaptor Sakura Exhibition -The Enchanted Art Museum- gallery dedicated to Sakura and her story. The exhibition, which opened in October 2018, is the single largest gathering of Cardcaptor Sakura art ever amassed. The exhibition has an entire section set up as "Tomoyo’s Sewing Room", with a number of real-world replicas of Sakura's fashions. Concurrent with the exhibition is the adjacent Sakura Cafe & Parlor, a Cardcaptor Sakura restaurant and gift shop.

Clamp's editor Editor Kiichiro Sugawara commented that when Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle started, most of his colleagues kept mentioning the series was interesting for having an alternate version of Sakura Kinomoto as he found that the original Syaoran Li was not popular within Cardcaptor Sakura. As a result, Sugawara wanted Syaoran to also become popular among readers of the series.