time is a place.

Sakura Blossom Month

I had the chance to give a look to the interview with Meiling Li’s voice actress Yukana that is being featured on the Animage issue currently in stores, the June one, and I felt so touched by her words that I decided to make my usual “highlights” post! This interview is highly focused on Meiling, so if you don’t like her….you know what to do! As usual, I’m not a native English speaker, so forgive me if my translation sounds a bit off. If you mean to repost or translate this in another language, send me a message/credit me, thanks!

The title of the interview is “She became a little bit more mature ahead (of everyone else)”

Yukana starts the interview saying how she didn’t even think Meiling would appear at all in the Clear Card anime, because she’s is an anime-only character, although the interviewer points out that she blends so well with the CCS world, that is hard to believe she’s an “original character”.

Yukana continues saying that when they announced that CCS would get a new series, she was very happy and wanted to fully support it as “audience” , because it’s a work full of memories for her. When she met Aya Hisakawa (Kero’s VA) during the recordings for a different work, she congratulated her for reprising her role as Kero-chan. Then, precisely in those days, when she looked at her schedule book she found “Card Captor Sakura” and was honestly believing there was a mistake or something, because she didn’t understand how Meiling could fit in the story since she doesn’t appear in the manga…it was a very pleasant surprise for her as well! Yukana points out often how much she loves CCS.

She was very surprised when Meiling said “I have the intention to go to Japan during summer vacations” in episode 6, thinking “Will I really join everyone else? When is this ‘summer vacation’ ?” Then, Meiling finally shows up in episode 13, and Yukana says how she enjoyed the fact that she stayed at Sakura’s home, in a place where they had the opportunity to get closer because very “intimate”. She mentions how the scene of Meiling drying Sakura’s hair left a strong impression on her, because in that situation the two became very close.

The interviewer goes on mentioning that Meiling looked rather matured.  Yukana: “If you look at the previous series by Meiling’s point of view, you can actually perceive it as a story of a girl’s growth. Her beloved Syaoran was struggling with the events surrounding the Clow cards. Precisely because she loved him a lot, she wanted to help him with her own strength, but she’s got no magical powers. She obtained both knowledge and physical abilities by putting a lot of effort, but no matter how she works hard for it, she’ll never be able to obtain magical powers. Such young Meiling could not accept this sad reality, that’s why I think she was trying to give stability to her heart by considering Sakura a rival, in the beginning.  While Sakura and Syaoran were experiencing growth as people who can handle magical powers, she had to fight hard against all the things that resulted in nothing, Syaoran’s feelings included, and had to overcome them, so she became a little more mature in the process.”

The interviewer asks if the reason why Meiling avoided Syaoran, who worried over her, was coming from that experience.  Yukana: “Yes, probably. Meiling is already confident with herself, so I think she looks at still clumsy Syaoran feeling like a mother or a sister. She understands that Syaoran is doing it out of care for her, but to Meiling sometimes it seems (his worry) is misdirected. So I was thinking that, slightly annoyed by that, she’s probably feeling like ”It’s not me the person you must watch over. I’m not that little girl who must be protected by you anymore.“ I think that she conveyed a little of that feeling to Syaoran, when they had that conversation over the phone while Meiling was going back to Hong Kong.”

The interviewer says “It seems Meiling graduated from the childhood love” Yukana: “The Meiling of the previous series was just content with being looked after and treasured by Syaoran. But, she ended up realizing that being protected like you would do with a person weaker than you, out of sense of duty and desire to protect, wasn’t the feeling she wanted (from Syaoran). Of course, I think there isn’t just that, but…once she realized that, being treated with care became also difficult for her.”

The interview continues mentioning that Yukana had a lot of fun while Meiling and Sakura prepared gyoza together. The recordings were being held at evening so she became really hungry after that scene! Yukana also mentions she liked the episode where everyone became animals. Her favorite was Tomoyo as a sheep who was carefreely sitting while everyone else was in a panic (note: I think Yukana’s memories of the episode are slightly off here).

The interviewer takes the opportunity to say that Meiling’s care for Sakura and Syaoran looks similar to Tomoyo’s. Yukana “Tomoyo gave Meiling a lot of support in the previous series. Because she is someone who had to get over (love) all by herself, and now she thinks about "Sakura’s happiness” first and foremost. I think we can say that, just like the current Meiling, she’s a character whose priority is someone else’s feelings, even if they aren’t directed towards herself. But this time, it seems to me that Meiling has got a very firm focus in her heart, so much that she doesn’t need to sympathize with someone else to carry on her own will anymore. We can also say that Meiling and Tomoyo’s relationship is one where they can understand eachother without even exchanging a word. In Tomoyo’s case, Sakura is ultimately the focus, but Meiling gives me a different impression, Sakura and Syaoran are both important existences to her at the same level”.

The interview continues with Yukana’s/Meiling’s impressions on Akiho, where she says it was interesting how she immediately put herself in an equal position as Akiho, once she realized that she didn’t use keigo with her to put distance between them, but just because it was a habit. Yukana remarks how amazing it is that she can assess these situations without even being a Japanese native speaker.

As expected, the interviewer asks about the Cantonese lines she had to say during Meiling’s stay. Yukana says that after receiving the scenario, she started to look for a Cantonese speaking person in a hurry, through the friend of an acquaintance. Since nowadays Japanese anime is a worldwide thing, she wanted to make sure her pronounciation would be as close as possible to the real Cantonese language, so she had this person recording some things that someone living in Hong Kong would normally say, and some other things a bit more slowly, then she practiced on those.

The interview concludes with the interviewer saying that, as a fan, she/he hopes to see Meiling again, and Yukana says that while she’d be very happy if she had the opportunity to appear again, she doesn’t want it to be forced, because it must be fitting the story. If the possibility for a proper role for Meiling does exist, she would be glad to participate again! BONUS:

In a small circle on the side of the interview, Yukana talks about the scene where Meiling dries Sakura’s hair. Drying someone else’s hair, or having her hair dried by someone else is an act she likes a lot. Hair holds a lot of meanings for a girl, and touching someone’s hair or letting them touch it makes the “distance of the heart” shrink. She feels that thanks to that scene, Meiling and Sakura’s relationship deepened once more.

In another circle, Yukana mentions how she feels that this time, starting by a new relationship with Syaoran, Meiling became sort of a guide to Sakura, who’s currently got her heart shaken by many events. Probably this seemingly more mature Meiling wanted Sakura to feel and think about certain things. Among her family, friends and also her role as a cardcaptor, in the whole situation surrounding Sakura, which one is the most important thing to her. She wants her to grasp it tightly and think about what is the best way to protect all of those above. Yukana says that although there are wonderful adults like Fujitaka, this is a story about children gaining something with their own strength. In this situation, the current Meiling becomes sort of an adviser.