Li Syaoran in the Clear Card Arc: Less Mr. Darcy, More Mr. Wooster

“It may be Nature’s provision for maintaining the balance of the species.” — P.G. Wodehouse, “Carry On, Jeeves” (Footage courtesy of CLAMP)

Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card Arc has been of the more prominent sequels in anime recently. Then again, “the long-awaited sequel to an old classic ” idea hasn’t been worn down as it has in Hollywood. But tech updates aside, things are generally picking up where the second movie let off. Sakura and Co. are in middle school now, everyone is still friends with each other, and there’s a tiny little thing of all her cards losing their magic as the new cards appear seemingly out of thin air. It’s like what John Mellencamp sang, “Oh yeah, life goes on/Long after the thrill of living is gone.”

Naturally, we are reintroduced to Li Syaoran, Sakura’s onetime rival turned love interest. I had covered him plenty in a video essay, even calling him “a little Mr. Darcy.” And for the most part, his character arc picks up where it last left off. Fresh from his commitments in Hong Kong, he’s looking forward to being back with Sakura and eventually starting a romantic relationship. Despite their ages, it makes total sense, especially considering all of the drama they’ve been through together.

Now that the first batch of heavy drama is long gone, the tone of the episodes so far has been more relaxed. There is still a plot about [SPOILERS REDACTED], but that’s been more of a slow burn. Partly because of this, there have been criticisms that this is a sequel coasting on older fans’ nostalgia. “It’s basically a slice of life show!”, “The characters are exaggerated like crazy!”, and so on and so forth.

Some of these criticisms are valid, mind you. This is mainly because of the show expecting viewers to be vigilant for the eventual payoff. In an age of unlimited content, not everyone’s going to be onboard with that. Plus, an episode that takes time to be a mini-cooking show isn’t exactly going to be taking home any writing awards.

“I could see that, if not actually disgruntled, he was far from being gruntled.” — P.G. Wodehouse, “The Code of the Woosters” (Footage courtesy of CLAMP)

But in a way, this more nonchalant approach may be less dramatic, but it isn’t necessarily more shallow. Which brings us back to Li Syaoran. Fans of the old show have seen his personality generally mellow down throughout the old show, and it slightly continues into Clear Card Arc. His actions are now plot-progressing, as he is now tied with Eriol in an intrigue involving the missing old cards. But other than that, his character beats are more of the animated reimagining variety: funny callbacks to the old show sprinkled with pop culture references.

This slice-of-life kind of character dynamics is similar to the comedies of relatively old. Sakura is still his emotional weak spot and makes him blush constantly. Tomoyo still asserts her “Sakura’s best friend” status by casually trolling him. Wei is still his Jeeves and his sisters are still energetic — and they still outnumber him.

Because in the Clear Card Arc anime, Li Syaoran’s comedic side is essentially Bertie Wooster. More importantly, a Bertie Wooster that has much healthier personal relationships. He may have a stern mother, but at least she’s not an aunt that treats him as a living embarrassment to the family name. Meiling may nag him about his commitment to Sakura, but at least she can accept when he has moved on. Sakura’s friends may seem a little out there, but at least they don’t drag him into schemes involving stuff like stealing a policeman’s hat.

Of course, a sequel series to a shoujo classic will be wildly different from the original P.G. Wodehouse novels. But what Syaoran and Wooster share is the general code of “never let a pal down.” In the former’s case, said ‘pal’ is Sakura, for whom he has done so much. Perhaps it is a sign of Sakura’s gentle personality that she isn’t like the melodramatic Meiling. Because otherwise, that would be a Wodehouse-esque engagement — and would require a Jeeves to bail him out.

Let’s be clear: Syaoran is still a generally funny character. However this time around, it’s a style of humor that goes with his character development. What has stayed the same is akin to jokes passed around at family dinners. What has changed may seem a little dumber, but it still makes people laugh.