Cardcaptor Sakura - Episodes 42 to 46

Cardcaptor Sakura season two is the season for which Cardcaptor Sakura was made! Everything about this season - every episode - bore a carefully meted dose of information, drama and development that came to a head for the final judgement. CLAMP brought their best skills to the fore to create the cute apocalypse.

These episodes aren't "slow", by any means. The first season, which would go for huge stretches at a time with nothing happening but one question Clow Reed's sense of humour ... that was slow. The plot is there, and you know that it's there, and it's quite clear that the door will open.
There are two more Clow cards that can talk - the lesbian pair of light and darkness. Their ability to comfort Sakura is something and reinforces the idea of loyalty between Card and Master. And the reason that Sakura is so strong and attracts so many is revealed: that she can say "zettai daijoubu" (I will definitely be all right) with absolute conviction. The other great thing about this episode is the school's take on Sleeping Beauty - with Sakura as the prince and Shaoran as the princess. The casting for this is perfect, with the three "unimportant" friends as the three fairies, Yamazaki as the Queen and Meilin as the Evil Witch. She had complained about playing the villain before hand, but she played it to the hilt! Sakura's fight against the demons was so well orchestrated. I remember how this played out in the manga, with the cute kids working behind the scenes to move the stage about, but the "stage deaths" were marvellous. Sakura's costume was reminiscent of Tezuka Osamu's own Princess Knight, so it was a good tribute episode as well as a good revelation of character.
Meilin gets an episode all to herself about her return to Hong Kong. Perhaps this is to kick her out of the way for the sake of the judgement, but it's the best episode that there has been for the poor character. Her history of liking Shaoran was finally explained, and the reasonable nature of her engagement (it amounts to "until you find a girl you like more, you are betrothed to me!"). It's a sad goodbye, but you know she'll be back ... and finally she got along with Shaoran. It's not his fault that he's such a reserved child.

The final three episodes are entirely to do with the final card and the judgement. There is too much to like about these episodes. Kero-chan's true form finally manifests itself, and it's a relief to know that the voice is right. It could have been too serious, but Onosaka Masaya performs as a logical extension of Hisakawa Aya's Kero-chan. He can take a joke, and he cares about what's going on without being gruff. It was a small cause of worry, but just the right casting tackled something that could have made the whole thing sink. Similarly, Yue's casting was a masterstroke. The performance was spot on.
Then the cute apocalypse comes around and it's just too sad. Everything is revealed, including everyone's purpose.

What follows is a segment that can easily be seen as a "definite ending" or as a "we'll be back". It was a good cap for 46 episodes. It will be interesting to see if the "star" season that follows can live up to this. It may have taken more than 30 episodes to get there, but this judgement arc was pure gold, clearly the reason for which the whole series was made.