Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card Arc Gets Anime Treatment for 2018

Sakura Kinimoto and the gang are returning to the small screen. The manga sequel of Cardcaptor Sakura, with the subtitle "Clear Card Arc", will be getting its own anime series.

According to My Anime List, the series is scheduled for a January 2018 airing on NHK. Helming th project would be Madhouse's Morio Asaka, who also served as the director of the first anime series, as well as the two movies. The site also adds that several voice actors from the original tv series will be reprising their roles for this sequel among them are Sakura Tange for Sakura Kinimoto, Motoko Kumai for Li Shaoran, Junko Iwao for Tomoyo Daidouji and Aya Hisakawa for Keroberos.

The announcement was made through the January issue of the Japanese magazine Nakayoshi , under the manga publisher Kodansha. The magazine's previous issue already made hints leading to the announcement, as Anime News Network reports.

The manga sequel, which started in July on the same magazine, was made to celebrate the 20^th anniversary of the original manga. The manga focuses on the "clearing" of the Sakura cards, as it follows the lead protagonist Sakura as she faces her first year in junior high school. After experiencing a mysterious dream, all of the Sakura Cards become blank and devoid of power.  Sakura and her friends start collecting new transparent cards, using a new key to capture them.

The oirignal manga series was serialized in Nakayoshi from May 1996 to June 2000, while the 12-volume compilation was released by Kodansha from November 1996 to July 2000. Selling over 12 million copies, the manga was brought to the West by Tokyopop, while an omnibus format was published by Dark Horse Comics.

As for the anime, it aired from April 1998 to March 2000. Following the story of the original manga, it expanded the established story by adding additional cards, giving it a total of 53, and leaving the relationship between Sakura and Shaoran hanging, though she confesses her feelings to him on the second movie. The anime received a western release through NIS America in 2014, in a Blu-Ray premium edition and a standard edition DVD.