Sakura

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Sakura Kinomoto 26
Alias(es)	Sakura; original name: 小樱
Gender	Female 25 34
Affiliation	Tomoeda Elementary School 26
Occupation/Role	Fifth-grade student; Cardcaptor recovering the scattered Clow Cards 26 27
Residence	Tomoe Town 25
First Appearance	Chapter 4, arriving to meet Tomoyo during a shopping trip 4

Power Progression

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Innate magical potential	28	Huo Lin concludes that Sakura possessed magic before finding the Clow Cards; otherwise, she could not have activated them.
Beginning Cardcaptor	27	Three months before this conversation, Sakura scattered the cards and began recovering them after Kero taught her to release the Sealing Key. Each captured card gave her access to another power.
Increased mana after capturing The Mist	26 27	Sealed The Mist after it escaped Huo Lin’s restraint. Huo Lin directly observed a small increase in Sakura’s magical power afterward.
Addition of the Silent Card	33	Used Shadow to seal the card from a distance, overcoming its response to nearby noise while Huo Lin kept the police occupied.

Background / History

Becoming a Cardcaptor

Sakura found the Clow Cards in her basement and accidentally scattered them across Tokyo. Cerberus, usually called Kero, stayed with her in the guise of a stuffed toy and helped her recover them. She collected the cards because their uncontrolled powers caused trouble, not because she wanted to possess them all 25 26.

Kero taught her how to transform the Sealing Key into a wand. Over the following three months, capturing cards expanded the powers available to her and gradually improved her proficiency with magic. She kept her Cardcaptor activities secret from her family, sometimes using homework at Tomoyo’s house as an excuse to investigate magical disturbances 25 27.

Meeting Huo Lin and Hayate

Sakura first crossed paths with Huo Lin and Hayate when she came to meet Tomoyo at a clothing store. Three months later, she and Kero followed the Jump Card’s magical signal toward Shinjuku and found Hayate testing it in an alley. Sakura was pleased to discover other magic users, while Kero was alarmed by Huo Lin’s overwhelming power 4 25 26.

After introductions, Huo Lin returned The Mist and requested a short loan of Jump for research. The Mist immediately escaped because it had never been properly subdued; Sakura released her wand and sealed it. Their encounter ended with plans to meet again for a movie 26.

Devices and Friendship

At their next outing, Huo Lin returned Jump and let Sakura experiment with her voice-changing bow tie and face-changing hair clip. Sakura playfully imitated her older brother Toya’s voice, only to discover him standing behind her. Embarrassed, she removed the bow tie and accepted responsibility for being careless with her secret 27.

Tomoyo subsequently arranged an exchange: Huo Lin would make Sakura a Changing Stage, and Tomoyo would sew outfits for Huo Lin and Hayate. Sakura received the Device three days later and used it to change into Tomoyo’s costumes. She also exchanged phone numbers with Huo Lin and Tomoyo, making it easier to request help when necessary 28 29.

The Clow Trial

Eriol explains that the card collection is a Clow Trial, intended to pass on Clow Reed’s magic and preserve the cards. Because some cards are dangerous and his role as examiner makes direct intervention awkward, he asks Huo Lin to protect Sakura. Huo Lin agrees to intervene if Sakura is endangered 30.

Sakura nevertheless chooses to attempt the remaining captures herself. She considers the scattered cards her responsibility, while accepting that she may need Huo Lin’s help against a card she cannot safely handle 29.

Museum Operation

Sakura’s attempt to capture a card hidden in the painting Smile becomes complicated when Phantom Thief Jeanne announces plans to steal the same work. Tomoyo calls Huo Lin for assistance, and the three enter the heavily guarded museum through the roof 31 32.

The card displaces Jeanne after she makes noise near the painting, creating a problem for Sakura’s spoken sealing spells. With Huo Lin covering the courtyard in mist, Sakura uses Shadow to project her wand-bearing silhouette beside the painting and seals the Silent Card from a distance. She then escapes with Fly, leaving the painting restored to an image of a smiling girl by a window 33.

Personality

Sakura is polite, trusting, and welcoming toward fellow magic users. Finding someone else with a Clow Card interests her more as an opportunity to meet another magician than as a challenge to her ownership. She explicitly tells Huo Lin that keeping the cards from running wild matters more than returning them to her 25 26.

She takes responsibility for her mistakes. After the incident with Toya, she refuses to blame Huo Lin’s Device for her own carelessness. Likewise, she declines an offer to have Huo Lin help capture every remaining card, preferring to resolve the consequences of scattering them herself 27 29.

Despite handling magical threats, Sakura is deeply afraid of monsters, ghosts, and demons. Tomoyo’s reassurance calms her during the museum operation, and Huo Lin’s explanation of demons as a form of magic makes them less incomprehensible—though still frightening 33 35.

Her enthusiasm for unfamiliar Devices also reveals a playful side: she experiments with voices and copied faces, including an exaggerated imitation of Toya praising her 27.

Abilities & Skills

Card Sealing

Sakura uses the Sealing Wand to return manifested Clow Cards to card form. Kero instructs her that defeating a card and writing her name on it prevents it from causing trouble again 26.

• Spoken incantations: Sakura states that she cannot seal cards without reciting her spells 33.
• Remote sealing: Shadow allows her to act through a projected silhouette rather than approach the Silent Card directly 33.
• Developing proficiency: Capturing cards improves both her available powers and her ability to use magic 27 28.

Clow Card Powers

• The Mist — Captured after Huo Lin returned it. Sakura later lends it to Huo Lin to conceal the museum courtyard 26 33.
• Jump — Enables enhanced leaps and safe landings; Sakura uses it to descend from the museum rooftop 25 33.
• Fly — Allows aerial travel, including rooftop entry and escape from the museum. At that point, Sakura is not skilled enough to carry another person with it 32 33.
• Shadow — Projects her shadow across the courtyard and through glass, allowing her wand-bearing silhouette to reach the painting 33.
• Silent — Successfully captured from Smile; Sakura’s subsequent use of its power is not documented 33.

Magical Device Use

Sakura has enough mana to operate Huo Lin’s Devices, unlike Tomoyo 27.

• Voice alteration: Successfully changes her voice to Huo Lin’s disguised male voice and Toya’s voice 27.
• Facial disguise: Copies Huo Lin and Tomoyo using the hair clip. The Device does not change body shape or hair extending beyond the shoulders 27.
• Costume changes: Activates her own Changing Stage to switch between stored outfits 29.

Magical Strength

Huo Lin observes Sakura’s mana increasing after The Mist’s capture. Later, she estimates that Hayate’s power feels comparable to Sakura’s current level while placing Hayate at at least C-rank; this is an informal comparison, not a confirmed rank for Sakura 27 39.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Sealing Key / Sealing Wand — Worn as a necklace in key form; transforms into a wand through a release incantation and is used to seal Clow Cards 26.
• Clow Cards — Magical cards whose individual powers become available to Sakura as she captures them 27.
• Changing Stage — A keychain-shaped Device made by Huo Lin. Tomoyo fills it with more than ten costumes; Sakura adopts the activation phrase “Clow power, transform” 28 29.
• Tomoyo’s costumes — Include a pink-and-white Lolita dress and a black stealth outfit with small wings, shorts, thigh-high socks, and a dark hat 29 31.

Relationships

• Cerberus / Kero — Guardian, guide, and friend. Helps locate and recover the cards, teaches Sakura sealing procedures, and watches over her safety 25 26 27.
• Tomoyo Daidōji — Close friend who designs her costumes, films her magical activities, and comforts her when she is frightened 27 28 29 33.
• Huo Lin Yagami — Fellow magical girl, friend, Device maker, and powerful backup. Respects Sakura’s wish to capture the cards herself while agreeing to protect her 26 28 29 30 33.
• Hayate Yagami — Meets Sakura while testing Jump and later joins the movie outing and visit to Tomoyo’s home 25 27 28.
• Toya Kinomoto — Older brother. Sakura hides her Cardcaptor activities from him and is embarrassed when he catches her imitating his voice; he thanks Huo Lin for looking after her 27.
• Eriol Hiiragizawa / Clow Reed — Oversees the Clow Trial and arranges protection for Sakura. Through his reincarnated connection to the Kinomoto family, Eriol regards her as his daughter rather than merely a distant relation 30 41.
• Phantom Thief Jeanne / Kurumi Kusakabe — Encountered during the museum operation. Sakura recognizes that Jeanne may not be malicious and later witnesses Huo Lin’s investigation of her powers 33 34 35.

Notable Quotes

“Oh, you don't actually have to give it back to me. As long as the cards don't run wild and cause trouble, that's fine.” 26

“I want to try my best on my own. I was the one who accidentally scattered the Clow Cards, so they're my responsibility.” 29

“They aren't ‘lines’! They're spells. I can't seal the Clow Cards without reciting the spells.” 33