Cardcaptor Sakura - episode one

I couldn't resist and just put the first DVD in the player for "sampling" today.
Now this is truly something great!
Forget anything you heard about Cardcaptors; this is not it.

Basically it's a magical girl show about Kinomoto Sakura who opens an ancient book, freeing the magic cards within. The guardian of the cards, Kero-chan, demands that she get them back lest they wreak havoc on the world!

The first episode of Cardcaptor Sakura is little more than a cursory glance at the life of Sakura, but it's not a heavy introduction episode. A surprising part of the way it was presented was all of the music. It almost never stopped, like the episode was simply the unrelenting spirit of Sakura.
Essentially it was a preview of what was to come, setting up her homelife, her school life and her "professional" life.
Reluctant heroes and heroines are starting to get a bit old, however, but I think they're a staple that will forever be with us. As long as they can overcome that, it's okay.

The light of the series is Kero-chan and Sakura! Their rapport is great, and Hisakawa Aya's voice is just spot on. Ogata Megumi really had the teenage boy voice downpat by then, too.
Tomoyo is presently very over the top and obvious, in a good way, and there's just a visual richness to the series that was lacking before (for reasons unknown, back in the day I watched several thousand episodes of Cardcaptors).

There's a magic to Cardcaptor Sakura: CLAMP magic. It's just like one big splash of colour at this point.