Ode to a Chinese girl

Now then, what was is that the manga version of Cardcaptor Sakura was missing? What on Earth was it? Hmm . . . was is one of the Clow cards? Nah. That's not it. Was it the music? Granted, I like the music in the CCS anime, but that's not it either. Was it a character? Yeeeeeah, that's it. There was a character who only appeared in the CCS anime who, for whatever reason, doesn't appear in the manga! Now, who was it? Umm . . . it couldn't have been a minor character who only appeared in one episode; it was somebody a little more prominent. Was it a boy? No. Oh wait! Look at the title of this entry! "Ode to a Chinese girl". That's it! It was a Chinese girl! Now then, what was her name? Umm, she probably didn't have a Japanese name, since she's Chinese, so . . . oh that's right! She was related to Shaoran Li, so the character I'm thinking of is Meiling Li!

"OH NO! NOT MEILING!"

Oh yes, that's who I'm thinking of! I was a little disappointed that Meiling-chan is a no-show in the manga; I liked her. And I have reasons for liking her. For starters, well, just look at this. (And for a bonus, this will be a CLAMP scan in manga style!)



Look at her, singing into a microphone shaped like Sakura's wand! Does that not melt your heart!? Is it no surprise that she's on my "Insanely Cute" anime character list!? She can match the cuteness of Sakura-chan and Tomoyo-chan, and that is no small feat, let me assure you.

And also, she exudes confidence. Although she has no magical powers, she is gifted in martial arts. And also, she is also confident in Shaoran's abilities, always bragging about how awesome he is. Isn't that love, right there? But also, she, like most of the other characters in the series, is going through what it's like to fall in love for the first time, her love interest being Shaoran. They're already cousins, so they're close in that aspect. And also, well, she behaves like how someone would being in love for the first time: she's always daydreaming about him, and of course, in a flashback, she reveals her feelings to him without flinching, indeed, while smiling, and even proposes. (I don't remember the exact dialog, but it was something like, "I like you! In fact, when we're done with school, and if you haven't found anyone else, let's get married, okay? Okay!") However, at that point in the series, Shaoran had already decided he wanted to be with Sakura. This leads to Meiling crying and going to Tomoyo for help. She then also experiences heartbreak for the first time.

Now, okay, there's a similar scene in the CCS manga. When Yukito reveals that he's not romantically interested in Sakura, she broke down the same way, so I guess that covers it, but still, Meiling was a fun character. Some people criticise her for being annoying, even though she's not. (Believe me, I could think of character a lot more annoying than Meiling-chan. A certain girl from Tales of Legendia, for starters . . .) And others say she was superfluous and added nothing, hence why she doesn't appear in the manga. Still, she brought a dynamic that wasn't in the manga, even if she only appeared in about 20 episodes. (She does appear in both movies, though.) I remember when I watched the anime, that a comment for one of the episodes said that Meiling rocked, and I also remember someone on tvtropes saying that Meiling, as well as Sakura and Tomoyo, were very well-written characters, despite being complete girly-girls. You see? I'm not alone.

Oh, you probably want that link, don't you? I found a CCS fansite about a year ago. It's pretty cool. It's called Kawaii Sakura Shrine.

You can find it here.

You can look up differences between CCS and Cardcaptors, avatars, wallpapers, (clean) fanart, episode summaries written like fanfics, and even a section on Tsubasa. Just, some word of warning; some parts of Kawaii Sakura Shrine were authored by . . . fanboys. I think you know what I mean. Just stay in the sections free of fanboyish immaturity and you'll be fine, provided you like CCS.

Oh, and another thing. Another criticism I've read, this one applying to CCS in general, is this, "What could ten year olds know about love?" Well, let me tell you this: remember when I was talking about the times I graduated from school, remember how I skipped over my 5th grade graduation? Well, here's what happened to me at that time in my life: I was eleven. I had fallen in love with a girl for the first time in my life. I was (kind of) like a male version of Meiling-chan, always daydreaming about my sweetheart. I was even thinking of marrying this girl when we were finished with school. But then, the girl in question rejected me, and I respected her wish, even though it caused me a kind of heartache I had never felt at that time. I was barely older than Sakura-chan at that time in my life, and even then, I already knew the agony and the ecstasy that love brings out. But yes, I behaved the same way many kids do when falling in love for the first time, even behaving like fictional characters.

And thus ends my ode.