Yue (Cardcaptor Sakura)

Infobox animanga character
colour = Gray
name = Yue
series = "Cardcaptor Sakura"


caption = Yue in his true form
first = The Last Card (Sakura and the Final Clow Card)
last = Chapter 48-final chapter(Sakura and her True Feelings [last episode] )
creator = Clamp
voiced by = Megumi Ogata (Jpn CCS)
Sam Vincent (Eng)
Steve Staley (Eng CCS 2nd Movie)
alias = Yukito Tsukishiro/ Julian Star
age = 300+
gender = Male
aux2 = AB
aux2 name = Blood Type
nationality = Born in England or China, currently lives in Japan
occupation = Guardian of the Clow
title = Guardian of the Clow,The Judge
aux1 = Crystal Projectiles
Superhuman speed, stamina, agility and reflexes
Skilled Archer
Telekinesis
Flight
Energy Bow
Forcefield Projection
Sensing
Celestial magic (Moon magic)
Control over moon attributed Clow Cards
aux1 name = Powers & Abilities

nihongo|Yue|月|ユエ Chinese Pinyin: Yuè) is a fictional character in Clamp's anime and manga series "Cardcaptor Sakura". He is voiced by Megumi Ogata. In English, he is voiced by Sam Vincent, and in the 2nd Movie by Steve Staley.

Name

nihongo|Yue|月 means "moon" in Mandarin Chinese. (The Japanese word for "moon" is "tsuki", but uses the same kanji.) Because his name is not of Japanese origin, Yue's name is spelled in katakana, not hiragana.

In the English anime and the later printings of the English manga, his name is romanized as "Yue" (after the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of his name). In the early English manga, his name is romanized as "Yueh" after the Wade-Giles romanization "Yüeh".

Character

Yue is the one of two Guardians of the Clow Cards, along with Cerberus. While Cerberus acts as the elector, choosing a candidate to become the next Master of the Clow, Yue is the judge who will test the candidate. On the outside he acts very cold and aloof and is much more serious and intimidating than his counterpart, Cerberus. He shared a special bond with Clow that made it hard for him to accept Sakura Kinomoto as a "replacement" for his creator during the Final Judgment, although Sakura manages to work her way into his heart at least as a very good friend. Yue has jurisdiction over all things wind and water, the elements "under him" which in part draw on him for their existence. The known Clow Cards under his jurisdiction are Dark, Windy, Watery, Wood (and Time in the anime).

Yue makes his first appearance when Sakura, the Cardcaptor, captures the final Clow Card, The Earthy. He then announces that he must judge Sakura's worthiness: if she can defeat him in combat, she can be the Mistress of the Cards. Sakura, however outright refuses to harm him, in part because Yukito Tsukishiro, a young man for whom Sakura cares deeply, is his temporary form and would be likewise wounded, and also, as she confirms in the manga chapter entitled "The Final Judgment" because of her natural determination to befriend even the most distant of people she encounters. At first, Yue was determined that "nobody" succeed Clow Reed, and even threatens to shoot Sakura when she tries to ask him about it. Eventually, after transforming her staff to one of her own star power with some help from Clow Reed's Moon Bell, Sakura manages to nonviolently defeat Yue by capturing him in a ball of wind created by the Windy card. After this she finally asks her opponent about his love for Clow, and follows up with a speech in which she freely admits that she's still young and inexperienced, but that she loves Kero, the Clow Cards, and Yue and would like to be his friend. Her words reach Yue, and he ends the Final Judgment declaring that he accepts Sakura as his new master, something he had previously sworn to Clow he would never be able to do.

Afterwards, Yue becomes a more active protector of Sakura, even once risking his own life to protect her. The presence of his true form becomes too great for Sakura's magic to support him, especially since transforming all the cards into Sakura Cards is draining her energy, and the strain soon threatens his own existence and that of Yukito. Since Yue represents the moon, his powers mimic the way the moon reacts to light; the moon cannot make its own, and it dependent on the light of the sun to shine, just as Yue is dependent on his Master's power for strength. Yue and Cerberus carefully keep this fact kept secret from Sakura, since there was nothing she would have been able to do about it, and telling her would have only caused her unnecessary worry. Both Yue himself, and Eriol Hiiragizawa's guardian Ruby Moon realizes that the magical powers of Toya Kinomoto, Sakura's brother, could save him, but Yukito does not know this, despite him being Yue's temporary form (Yukito knew nothing about Yue's existence at the time), and so Yue is not able to transform around Toya. However Toya realizes what was going on and finally offers Yue his power, securing his and Yukito's survival.

Yue rushes to Sakura's aid in her final confrontation with Eriol, arriving just in time to save her and Syaoran from Spinel's attack. He was prevented from helping her for a time during the battle by Ruby Moon, but when Sakura falls crashing through the nearby trees, he overpowers his opponent due to what Spinel describes as "the power of the heart that believes in their owner." He also helps her transform the Light and the Dark along with Cerberus by combining his powers into Sakura's staff. Later that night he confronts Eriol (who had left Sakura and company with Nakuru to join him in the garden) about why it was that Clow made him go through all the pain and suffering when Clow had still existed as Eriol. Eriol responds that, though he has retained all of Clow's memories and most of his magic, he himself is not Clow Reed, and there is no way to bring back the dead.

Yue tends to try and distance himself from others as much as possible. Sakura, however, seems to be able to see through his cold and icy façade, and from the very beginning shows him nothing but friendship. Yue is quite surprised by the amount of concern Sakura shows for him but later comes to accept it. Despite his original determination never to accept her, Sakura actually becomes quite close to Yue, and he seems to be quite unable to stand seeing her in any kind if pain, most especially over him. By the end of the series he more than once comforts Sakura when she is at her most distraught, and manages to halt her tears. This shows the more kind and compassionate side of Yue's personality which he seems to hide.

In the second movie, Yue aids Sakura in defeating a monster that was attacking her at the beginning of the movie. At the performance of Sakura and her class, he is one of the few people who escapes the Nothing (The Sealed Card)'s assault. At the final confrontation with the Nothing, he saves Sakura by destroying the horses of the carousel ride that the Nothing sends at her. He also battles the Nothing, but is unable to defeat her and is soon captured. He plays no further role in the rest of the movie.

Powers, abilities, and role

Yue's appearance is that of a beautiful young man with long silver braided hair and violet (alice blue in anime) cat-like eyes. He has a pair of feathered wings that he can use to fly. True to his namesake, Yue draws his power from "softer" moon energies--which are stronger during a full moon.

He is a capable fighter who can raise powerful magical barriers, send deadly crystal shards at his adversaries, draw up energy around his hands which seems to be able to cut like a blade, shoot energy arrows from an energy bow that he can summon at will, in addition to other magical attacks, such as telekinesis. In the anime he also seems to have some sort of telepathy, as he was able to put Li and Sakura into a trance-like state during the final judgment, and then teleport them a small distance. Yue's skill with the bow manifests itself even in his human form, as can be seen in the archery competition when Yukito's arrows unfailingly land on the bull's eye.

Beyond his role as The Judge, Yue was also a favored companion to Clow Reed, and is speculated to have much deeper feelings for him than that of his creator, which Kero supports by once cryptically commenting that Yue has "his own reasons" for missing Clow. He is highly intelligent, and usually cool and focused, although prone to fury when Clow or, later, Sakura is endangered. He is also a very kind and sympathetic character, though he is reluctant to show it.

During the final judgment, Yue demonstrates the ability to either circumvent or manipulate the power of any Clow cards that fall under his jurisdiction. For example, he cannot be frozen using the Time card, or bound using the Wood card as both are under his jurisdiction. Ironically, this ability helps lead to his defeat during the final judgment. After Sakura's wand transforms into the star wand she invokes Windy to try and capture Yue. Yue believes he can still control Windy as it falls under his jurisdiction. As a result, he tries to take control of it. Either because Windy was invoked using the new wand which draws upon Sakura's own power or because her determination overrode his ability, his attempt fails and he is easily captured.

References