Episode 22: "Sakura and Her Kind Father" or "No Time For Sleep"
Introduction to the Experiment
Episode 21
Episode 22: Sakura and Her Kind Father (Card Captor Sakura) or No Time For Sleep (Cardcaptors)
Sakura's dad wakes up late, only to find that his children are already up, fed, and are preparing his share of breakfast. It turns out that Fujitaka is working really hard and late nights on this major presentation he has to do next week. So, to make it easier on him, Sakura and Toya are doing all of the chores. Later on, Sakura explains this to Tomoyo in a bookstore and Tomoyo thinks it's great that Sakura and Toya are making such a good team. Sakura asks why Tomoyo is getting so many books and she explains that she's looking for inspiration for a new battle costume. As they leave, they run into Yukito, who is picking up a book for Toya, which Fujitaka has previously ordered, presumably for his research. Yukito also affirms that it's great that Sakura and Toya are helping their father out. Later that night, Sakura peeks on her father, hard at work. Toya calls her over and tells her to bring Fujitaka a snack. She does so and he takes a break. He tells her that he has all the material he needs, all that's left is the write-up. He'll have to spend a couple of nights at the university but he'll get done in time and life will return to normal. Sakura says that it's okay and then asks if important people will be at his lecture. Fujitaka tells her that there may be important people but also just people interested in history and then he gives a speech about how he does what he does because he wants to know more about humanity's past and share it with others. Sakura decides in her room that she's going to bring her father a snack at the university the next day and bring Tomoyo along. Kero agrees to come too once he realizes food is involved. Sakura and Tomoyo go to the university and eventually meet up with Fujitaka's assistants, who show the girls Fujitaka giving a lecture. Apparently Fujitaka is a very popular professor. After his lecture, and after the viewer sees some sparkly dust float around, they take Sakura and Tomoyo to Fujitaka and he's glad to see them. Fujitaka once again affirms that everyone is helping him out so much and he'll be finished soon. As they're talking, sparkly dust falls on Fujitaka and he nods off briefly. Sakura is worried that her dad is too tired so Tomoyo suggests getting everyone coffee. They do so and return to the office to find it empty. They go to find the assistants and they explain that he had to step out briefly but they are glad for the coffee. As the girl assistant talks, the two boys fall asleep becaue of some sparkly dust. Sakura and Tomoyo comment that they must be tired but the girl assistant says that makes no sense because they were just fine before she, too, falls asleep. Of course, it's a Clow Card and this is the Sleep Card, which puts anyone to sleep at any time. So, after knocking everyone out one by one, Sakura tracks it down to her dad's office where she seals it. However, because she jumped on to a stack of books to do so, she falls and breaks the laptop, ruining her father's work. When Kero wakes up, he asks what's wrong and Sakura asks what Card would fix her current problem. Kero sadly tells her that there are some things that magic just can't fix. Sakura starts to sob. Eventually, Fujitaka, his assistants, and Tomoyo find her and she tells her dad that she broke the laptop. Fujitaka does not strangle his daughter but rather, after a moment of pure horrified shock, tells her that it's okay and the two of them were just going to head home. That night, Sakura can't sleep from the guilt, especially since she keeps remembering her dad's reasons for doing his research. The next morning, Sakura is still depressed and Toya tells her to eat and that their dad is cleaning his room. They hear a crash and they go into their dad's office. Apparently, the room was dirtier than he thought. Sakura starts picking up the books but Fujitaka tells her to leave them. Sakura then says that she is so sorry about ruining his work and she just wants to help and if there's anything she can do, she'll do it. Fujitaka tells her that the manuscript is still in his head and that, if he works really hard, he can finish it in time. But he could use an assistant! Sakura understands and agrees. The English version ends here but the Japanese version has a montage of Fujitaka working and Toya and Sakura getting books for him and such. At the crack of dawn, Fujitaka finishes hand-writing his paper as Sakura sleeps in his office. Fujitaka leaves for his presentation and Toya and Sakura leave for school.
Wanna see it yourself?
Card Captor Sakura Episode 22: Part 1/3
Card Captor Sakura Episode 22: Part 2/3
Card Captor Sakura Episode 22: Part 3/3
Cardcaptors Episode 22: Part 1/3
Cardcaptors Episode 22: Part 2/3
Cardcaptors Episode 22: Part 3/3
This episode is pretty average until you get to the scene where Sakura breaks the laptop. Then it's the most horrifyingly gut-wrenching episode so far. Maybe because there was no quick fix. Maybe because it's such a real-life problem. Maybe because I'm still a college student and losing all my work the day before a deadline is a pretty big nightmare. I think that even the target audience would have completely understood Sakura's problem: what if I had messed up my dad's big project? As a grown-up, I was able to see it from both Sakura's perspective and Fujitaka's perspective. And Sakura is just so sad and guilty and I just totally felt for her and her dad. I had to admire Fujitaka's restraint because I would have blown my top at Sakura. I would have felt bad about it later, of course, and apologized but still... much yelling and swearing would have happened. I knew it would work out somehow but I'm glad it was through non-magical means. It makes the ending even better.
Card Tally
Sakura: Windy, Fly, Shadow, Watery, Rain, Wood, Jump, Illusion, Silence, Thunder, Sword, Flower, Shield, Power, Mist, Float, Erase, Glow, Move, Fight, Loop, Sleep
Current number: 22
Li: Time, Storm
Current number: 2
When I first read the titles, before watching the episode, I was thinking, "Oh, the English is much better" but after watching the episode, I realized the episode is not really about the Sleep Card at all but more about Sakura's relationship with her father. So I prefer the Japanese title this time.
Very little is changed. As I mentioned in the summary, the English version cuts the original ending but the English viewer can still assume that everything worked out okay. And a cute scene where Fujitaka reads Sakura's note ("Dad, do your best work!") that she attached to his lunch is cut. Sure, it was cute but it may have been a time issue here.
But, yeah, pretty much both versions are the same. It's hard to judge voice acting skills because the sound is so wonky on the English version but it didn't feel like either Sakura was phoning in that crying scene and both Keros did a wonderful job explaining that magic can't fix everything. I thought Aidan's comment of "I should be the one who's sorry. I barely had time for my favorite girl" was not as good as Fujitaka's line but it's only a little bit. The English version did feel the need to add a silly pun during the capture by having Sakura say, "It's not my bedtime yet!" but it also added a funny line for Madison by having her say, just before she falls asleep, "And [I forgot] my video [camera]..." which made me laugh. Also, the English version has Tori say that Aidan is cleaning his room so "he can work from home", implying that he was going to try to finish the paper. The Japanese version just says he's cleaning his room which made me think that Fujitaka was just giving up! Um, won't not presenting the paper be very bad for your career, Mr. Kinomoto?
However, the English version did something I found personally annoying. Anthropology is not the study of past human cultures. Anthropology is a broad field which studies human beings throughout time and space. That means studying human evolution and human biology (physical or biological anthropology), studying past cultures through their remains and artifacts (archaeology), studying present-day human cultures (cultural or social anthropology), and studying how human beings use language (linguistics). How do I know this? During my undergraduate college years, I majored in anthropology and my focus was in cultural anthropology. I was interested in present-day cultures, not ancient cultures, in particular industrialized nations such as Ireland and Japan. I had little interest in archaeology and zero interest in human evolution. Yes, archaeology is part of anthropology but Aidan's definition only suits archaeology and maybe physical anthropology (some of these guys do study past humans but not necessarily their culture). Of course, to paraphrase an old saying, if you ask fifty anthropologists to define anthropology, you'll get fifty definitions. But, still, he could have easily said "archaeology" instead of "anthropology" and I would have been perfectly happy with his definition. In fact, it would have been better because most people, especially kids, know what archaeology is. I still have to explain to people what I majored in. Of course, I'm now pursuing an MBA with a focus in Marketing so it shouldn't bother me as much as it does.
Okay, on to plot holes!
1. Why is Yukito able to pick up a book that's not in his name? I know that we know that Yukito's a good guy but the store clerk wouldn't know that!
2. Why doesn't Sakura just explain she's Professor Kinomoto's daughter right off the bat instead of being like "I need to find a person. A professor in the Humanities department. Kinomoto." Seriously, just say, "I need to find Professor Kinomoto, in the Humanities department, he's my dad."
3. Why does no one acknowledge Tomoyo's presence except Fujitaka? Is she invisible?
4. How come Sleep's dust only makes Fujitaka doze off briefly but sends everyone else into comas?
5. Why did Sakura have to jump on the books to seal Sleep? She didn't have to jump up to seal Loop after all!
6. Now, I admit I don't know much about computers, but it looks like Sakura only cracked the monitor. Surely, they would be able to extract the data from the hard drive. Don't they have Computer Science guys running around the university? Unless they're closed by then. Besides, those floppy disks look okay as well. Didn't Fujitaka make any back-ups? Didn't his assistants make any back-ups?
Edit: So, I went and asked the computer lab graduate assistants at my university and described the situation to them (not mentioning the finer details like "it's a cartoon" and "I was watching and analyzing it of my own free will!") and asked if Sakura had broken the computer. All three of them concluded that, no, she did not. In fact, all Fujitaka had to do to get his data was to connect a cable from the laptop to another monitor and work using that. Damaging a computer's hard drive is ridiculously hard to do. The closest one could get to losing the data forever would be to "drop the computer in battery acid" (direct quotation, guys, I'm not making this up) and even then, some data could be retrieved. Even shooting a bullet at a computer wouldn't damage it permanently. So, in other words, the crisis here was completely fabricated because it had a relatively easy solution. Kind of ruins the episode for me now.
Although the conversation I had with the primary speaker was fun:
Me: Well, I guess it negates the moral...
Computer Graduate Assistant: Don't stand on books?
(After she thoroughly explains how hard it is to damage a hard drive)
Me: So basically the whole crisis was a lie! And after it had that moral of magic can't -- uh, people make mistakes and it's okay.
Computer Graduate Assistant: You need to stop watching afternoon specials!
But, considering the situation, perhaps Fujitaka didn't realize how hard it is (I mean, I had an inkling that the data could be retrieved but I had no idea just how hard it is to destroy a hard drive) and will be kicking himself the next day. Or, the computer lab was closed on the Sunday (ours is, after all) and he needed it for Monday. But still, fake drama.
7. And wouldn't Time Card have fixed the problem? Just reverse time in that area and everything would be sorted, right? Of course, Li is the one with the Time Card so she'd have to call him and it would negate the moral of the episode but still, Time Card might have worked here.
8. Why does no one wonder why everyone just collapsed for no reason? I'd understand Fujitaka and the assistants just thinking they got sleepy but what about the random people in the other rooms? Did they just wake up and go, "Well, that was weird" and never think about it again?
In conclusion, with such minor changes and very little added to enhance the episode, I judge these episodes to be...
Equal!
Episode 23
Episode 21
Episode 22: Sakura and Her Kind Father (Card Captor Sakura) or No Time For Sleep (Cardcaptors)
Sakura's dad wakes up late, only to find that his children are already up, fed, and are preparing his share of breakfast. It turns out that Fujitaka is working really hard and late nights on this major presentation he has to do next week. So, to make it easier on him, Sakura and Toya are doing all of the chores. Later on, Sakura explains this to Tomoyo in a bookstore and Tomoyo thinks it's great that Sakura and Toya are making such a good team. Sakura asks why Tomoyo is getting so many books and she explains that she's looking for inspiration for a new battle costume. As they leave, they run into Yukito, who is picking up a book for Toya, which Fujitaka has previously ordered, presumably for his research. Yukito also affirms that it's great that Sakura and Toya are helping their father out. Later that night, Sakura peeks on her father, hard at work. Toya calls her over and tells her to bring Fujitaka a snack. She does so and he takes a break. He tells her that he has all the material he needs, all that's left is the write-up. He'll have to spend a couple of nights at the university but he'll get done in time and life will return to normal. Sakura says that it's okay and then asks if important people will be at his lecture. Fujitaka tells her that there may be important people but also just people interested in history and then he gives a speech about how he does what he does because he wants to know more about humanity's past and share it with others. Sakura decides in her room that she's going to bring her father a snack at the university the next day and bring Tomoyo along. Kero agrees to come too once he realizes food is involved. Sakura and Tomoyo go to the university and eventually meet up with Fujitaka's assistants, who show the girls Fujitaka giving a lecture. Apparently Fujitaka is a very popular professor. After his lecture, and after the viewer sees some sparkly dust float around, they take Sakura and Tomoyo to Fujitaka and he's glad to see them. Fujitaka once again affirms that everyone is helping him out so much and he'll be finished soon. As they're talking, sparkly dust falls on Fujitaka and he nods off briefly. Sakura is worried that her dad is too tired so Tomoyo suggests getting everyone coffee. They do so and return to the office to find it empty. They go to find the assistants and they explain that he had to step out briefly but they are glad for the coffee. As the girl assistant talks, the two boys fall asleep becaue of some sparkly dust. Sakura and Tomoyo comment that they must be tired but the girl assistant says that makes no sense because they were just fine before she, too, falls asleep. Of course, it's a Clow Card and this is the Sleep Card, which puts anyone to sleep at any time. So, after knocking everyone out one by one, Sakura tracks it down to her dad's office where she seals it. However, because she jumped on to a stack of books to do so, she falls and breaks the laptop, ruining her father's work. When Kero wakes up, he asks what's wrong and Sakura asks what Card would fix her current problem. Kero sadly tells her that there are some things that magic just can't fix. Sakura starts to sob. Eventually, Fujitaka, his assistants, and Tomoyo find her and she tells her dad that she broke the laptop. Fujitaka does not strangle his daughter but rather, after a moment of pure horrified shock, tells her that it's okay and the two of them were just going to head home. That night, Sakura can't sleep from the guilt, especially since she keeps remembering her dad's reasons for doing his research. The next morning, Sakura is still depressed and Toya tells her to eat and that their dad is cleaning his room. They hear a crash and they go into their dad's office. Apparently, the room was dirtier than he thought. Sakura starts picking up the books but Fujitaka tells her to leave them. Sakura then says that she is so sorry about ruining his work and she just wants to help and if there's anything she can do, she'll do it. Fujitaka tells her that the manuscript is still in his head and that, if he works really hard, he can finish it in time. But he could use an assistant! Sakura understands and agrees. The English version ends here but the Japanese version has a montage of Fujitaka working and Toya and Sakura getting books for him and such. At the crack of dawn, Fujitaka finishes hand-writing his paper as Sakura sleeps in his office. Fujitaka leaves for his presentation and Toya and Sakura leave for school.
Wanna see it yourself?
Card Captor Sakura Episode 22: Part 1/3
Click to viewCard Captor Sakura Episode 22: Part 2/3
Card Captor Sakura Episode 22: Part 3/3
Cardcaptors Episode 22: Part 1/3
Cardcaptors Episode 22: Part 2/3
Cardcaptors Episode 22: Part 3/3
This episode is pretty average until you get to the scene where Sakura breaks the laptop. Then it's the most horrifyingly gut-wrenching episode so far. Maybe because there was no quick fix. Maybe because it's such a real-life problem. Maybe because I'm still a college student and losing all my work the day before a deadline is a pretty big nightmare. I think that even the target audience would have completely understood Sakura's problem: what if I had messed up my dad's big project? As a grown-up, I was able to see it from both Sakura's perspective and Fujitaka's perspective. And Sakura is just so sad and guilty and I just totally felt for her and her dad. I had to admire Fujitaka's restraint because I would have blown my top at Sakura. I would have felt bad about it later, of course, and apologized but still... much yelling and swearing would have happened. I knew it would work out somehow but I'm glad it was through non-magical means. It makes the ending even better.
Card Tally
Sakura: Windy, Fly, Shadow, Watery, Rain, Wood, Jump, Illusion, Silence, Thunder, Sword, Flower, Shield, Power, Mist, Float, Erase, Glow, Move, Fight, Loop, Sleep
Current number: 22
Li: Time, Storm
Current number: 2
When I first read the titles, before watching the episode, I was thinking, "Oh, the English is much better" but after watching the episode, I realized the episode is not really about the Sleep Card at all but more about Sakura's relationship with her father. So I prefer the Japanese title this time.
Very little is changed. As I mentioned in the summary, the English version cuts the original ending but the English viewer can still assume that everything worked out okay. And a cute scene where Fujitaka reads Sakura's note ("Dad, do your best work!") that she attached to his lunch is cut. Sure, it was cute but it may have been a time issue here.
But, yeah, pretty much both versions are the same. It's hard to judge voice acting skills because the sound is so wonky on the English version but it didn't feel like either Sakura was phoning in that crying scene and both Keros did a wonderful job explaining that magic can't fix everything. I thought Aidan's comment of "I should be the one who's sorry. I barely had time for my favorite girl" was not as good as Fujitaka's line but it's only a little bit. The English version did feel the need to add a silly pun during the capture by having Sakura say, "It's not my bedtime yet!" but it also added a funny line for Madison by having her say, just before she falls asleep, "And [I forgot] my video [camera]..." which made me laugh. Also, the English version has Tori say that Aidan is cleaning his room so "he can work from home", implying that he was going to try to finish the paper. The Japanese version just says he's cleaning his room which made me think that Fujitaka was just giving up! Um, won't not presenting the paper be very bad for your career, Mr. Kinomoto?
However, the English version did something I found personally annoying. Anthropology is not the study of past human cultures. Anthropology is a broad field which studies human beings throughout time and space. That means studying human evolution and human biology (physical or biological anthropology), studying past cultures through their remains and artifacts (archaeology), studying present-day human cultures (cultural or social anthropology), and studying how human beings use language (linguistics). How do I know this? During my undergraduate college years, I majored in anthropology and my focus was in cultural anthropology. I was interested in present-day cultures, not ancient cultures, in particular industrialized nations such as Ireland and Japan. I had little interest in archaeology and zero interest in human evolution. Yes, archaeology is part of anthropology but Aidan's definition only suits archaeology and maybe physical anthropology (some of these guys do study past humans but not necessarily their culture). Of course, to paraphrase an old saying, if you ask fifty anthropologists to define anthropology, you'll get fifty definitions. But, still, he could have easily said "archaeology" instead of "anthropology" and I would have been perfectly happy with his definition. In fact, it would have been better because most people, especially kids, know what archaeology is. I still have to explain to people what I majored in. Of course, I'm now pursuing an MBA with a focus in Marketing so it shouldn't bother me as much as it does.
Okay, on to plot holes!
1. Why is Yukito able to pick up a book that's not in his name? I know that we know that Yukito's a good guy but the store clerk wouldn't know that!
2. Why doesn't Sakura just explain she's Professor Kinomoto's daughter right off the bat instead of being like "I need to find a person. A professor in the Humanities department. Kinomoto." Seriously, just say, "I need to find Professor Kinomoto, in the Humanities department, he's my dad."
3. Why does no one acknowledge Tomoyo's presence except Fujitaka? Is she invisible?
4. How come Sleep's dust only makes Fujitaka doze off briefly but sends everyone else into comas?
5. Why did Sakura have to jump on the books to seal Sleep? She didn't have to jump up to seal Loop after all!
6. Now, I admit I don't know much about computers, but it looks like Sakura only cracked the monitor. Surely, they would be able to extract the data from the hard drive. Don't they have Computer Science guys running around the university? Unless they're closed by then. Besides, those floppy disks look okay as well. Didn't Fujitaka make any back-ups? Didn't his assistants make any back-ups?
Edit: So, I went and asked the computer lab graduate assistants at my university and described the situation to them (not mentioning the finer details like "it's a cartoon" and "I was watching and analyzing it of my own free will!") and asked if Sakura had broken the computer. All three of them concluded that, no, she did not. In fact, all Fujitaka had to do to get his data was to connect a cable from the laptop to another monitor and work using that. Damaging a computer's hard drive is ridiculously hard to do. The closest one could get to losing the data forever would be to "drop the computer in battery acid" (direct quotation, guys, I'm not making this up) and even then, some data could be retrieved. Even shooting a bullet at a computer wouldn't damage it permanently. So, in other words, the crisis here was completely fabricated because it had a relatively easy solution. Kind of ruins the episode for me now.
Although the conversation I had with the primary speaker was fun:
Me: Well, I guess it negates the moral...
Computer Graduate Assistant: Don't stand on books?
(After she thoroughly explains how hard it is to damage a hard drive)
Me: So basically the whole crisis was a lie! And after it had that moral of magic can't -- uh, people make mistakes and it's okay.
Computer Graduate Assistant: You need to stop watching afternoon specials!
But, considering the situation, perhaps Fujitaka didn't realize how hard it is (I mean, I had an inkling that the data could be retrieved but I had no idea just how hard it is to destroy a hard drive) and will be kicking himself the next day. Or, the computer lab was closed on the Sunday (ours is, after all) and he needed it for Monday. But still, fake drama.
7. And wouldn't Time Card have fixed the problem? Just reverse time in that area and everything would be sorted, right? Of course, Li is the one with the Time Card so she'd have to call him and it would negate the moral of the episode but still, Time Card might have worked here.
8. Why does no one wonder why everyone just collapsed for no reason? I'd understand Fujitaka and the assistants just thinking they got sleepy but what about the random people in the other rooms? Did they just wake up and go, "Well, that was weird" and never think about it again?
In conclusion, with such minor changes and very little added to enhance the episode, I judge these episodes to be...
Equal!
Episode 23