Name: (English) Li
Showrun (Japanese) Li Syaoran, Li Xiaolang (this is the Chinese
"spelling" since in the series Li is Chinese - Li is the family name in both
the Japanese and the Chinese)
Name: (English) Li
Showrun (Japanese) Li Syaoran, Li Xiaolang (this is the Chinese
"spelling" since in the series Li is Chinese - Li is the family name in both
the Japanese and the Chinese)
Alias(es): Clow's descendant, brat (gaki)
Birthday: July 13th
Age: 10-12
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Amber (which can evidently mean reddish brown or yellow in anime - but in this case means reddish brown)
Blood Type: O
Family: Li is a direct descendant of Clow Reed. His living relatives are his mother and four older sisters. His mother is very strict. In the Japanese he is also Meilin's cousin.
Status: Card captor, magician, elementary school student.
Quote: I... I... I love you! (very elegant confession Li. Can you scream any louder? -_-")
Anime: Cardcaptors/ Card Captor Sakura. Syaoran is also the main character in Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicles, though he naturally has a different history etc. in that series his personality and his relationship with Sakura are very similar to what they are at the end of Cardcaptor Sakura
Voice: (English) Rhys Huber, Jordan Kilik, Mona Marshall (don't even ask me which is which...) (Japanese) Motoko Kumai
History and Personality: (as the bulk of this history was taken from Wikipedia it will utilize the Japanese names, though I have attempted to put the English equivalent in parenthesis after the Japanese the first time it is used) Syaoran is a distant relative of Clow Reed, the creator of the Clow Cards. As a member of the Li clan of sorcerers from Hong Kong, of which Clow's mother was a member, Syaoran believes that he should be the one to inherit the Clow Cards, not Sakura Kinomoto. He first appears as an antagonist in the story, capturing a few cards for himself in the anime (though none in the manga). As the series progresses, and especially after Sakura is officially deemed the new master of the Cards, Syaoran drops his rivalistic attitude towards her and becomes her ally and friend, eventually falling in love with her and blushing at practically every sight of her.
Although he claims certain Clow Cards for himself in the anime, Syaoran does not actually capture any Cards, as the act of capturing can only be performed using Sakura's sealing wand. However, if Syaoran has played a major role in weakening or cornering the Card entity prior to its capture, credit for the capture is awarded to him (as the materialized Card floats autonomously to its owner after capture). While Sakura writes her name in English on the Clow Cards, Syaoran writes his name in kanji.
Before his relationship with Sakura, Syaoran appeared to have an attraction to Yukito Tsukishiro (Julian), often blushing madly and abruptly running away at the sight of him. While Sakura was also in love with Yukito, Syaoran would compete with her for his affections, usually by getting him a better present, making him better food, or giving the better compliment. It is discovered later that Syaoran was just attracted to the magic of the moon that was residing within Yukito.
Syaoran and Cerberus (Keroberos for those who only follow Cardcaptors - the English dub) often fight in the series, where Syaoran often calls him a "stuffed animal" while Cerberus retorts with patronizing terms like "kid".
A major change to Syaoran's character in Cardcaptors involves elevating Li Showron to become the male lead character, rather than a supporting character for Sakura in Cardcaptor Sakura. Here, Li is also referred to as a Cardcaptor, while he has no such title in the original series (as Cerberus never selected him).
Syaoran first meets Sakura at school on his first day as an exchange student from Hong Kong. His seat is behind Sakura, a very easy position for the many angry stares that he gives her throughout the next few manga chapters and anime episodes. That same day, he confronts her about the Clow Cards, claiming that he is the one destined to inherit them.
This attitude continues throughout the first season of the anime where Syaoran constantly tries to capture new Clow Cards before she can, often stating facts about the Cards and about Card-capturing in a condescending manner. Although he would appear to do anything it takes to get the Cards, Syaoran never acts or fights dishonorably (i.e. stealing Cards from Sakura or injuring her in order to get ahead). As Sakura and Syaoran continue to meet whenever a Card-capturing situation arises, they begin to work together and combine their efforts, although he still tries to win the Card in the end. Additionally, starting halfway through the first season, Syaoran begins to blush occasionally when he comes face to face with Sakura, usually after she smiles or makes a sweet comment.
After the Final Judgment, Sakura is declared the new master of the Cards, leaving Syaoran essentially a failure. At the start of the third season, Syaoran plans on returning home to Hong Kong until newcomer Eriol Hiiragizawa (Eli) comes along and starts (toyingly) charming Sakura. At this point in the series, Syaoran's feelings toward Sakura have slowly changed from that of rivalry to that of an elementary school crush. Sakura's consistently cheerful attitude and warm smiles cause more and more blushes on Syaoran's cheeks. Much to his surprise, Syaoran finds himself jealous over the fact that another student is getting too close to Sakura, and he in turn stays in Tomoeda (Reedington) for the remainder of the school year.
Season three of the anime is where the plot takes a stronger shift towards the development of Syaoran and Sakura's relationship. Though Sakura is still dealing with strange occurrences and using the Cards, each episode gradually puts more emphasis on the growth of this relationship, including Tomoyo Daidouji's (Madison) involvement in giving Syaoran advice plus one particular dramatic scene in episode 60 involving Syaoran's then-fiancée, Meiling Li (Meilin Rei). Syaoran finds himself in more and more blushing situations, including those where he is on the brink of confessing his feelings to Sakura but is always interrupted (often in a comical way) just before he utters the climactic syllable.
Syaoran finally confesses his love at the end of the next-to-last episode of the series, 69. The news comes as a major surprise to Sakura, who had always just viewed Syaoran as a close friend. Sakura broods over the thought of it throughout all of episode 70, which ends with Syaoran planning to leave Tomoeda for Hong Kong. Sakura hears about his unannounced trip just in time to find him at the airport. He is holding (after his caretaker, Wei, hands it to him) a homemade teddy bear, which he had considered giving to Sakura but never found the right chance.
Instead, Sakura asks if she could have the bear in his arms. There is a tradition stated in the series (it is not an actual Japanese tradition) that when one person gives another a personally-made plush, if the receiver names the plush after its creator (the giver in this case), then both people will be together forever. Sakura is never seen giving a name to the bear, but the symbolism of her accepting his bear is enough to suggest that Sakura and Syaoran have a special bond with each other.
The TV series concludes there, a cliffhanger of sorts for the upcoming release of the second movie, which finalizes the Sakura and Syaoran relationship in the anime. Set over summer break, Syaoran returns from Hong Kong for a short visit to Tomoeda. After having time to think about it, Sakura feels that she does love Syaoran back but is shy about confessing her feelings to him. Sakura wishes to tell him in person instead of writing a letter, because Syaoran had confessed his feelings in person (albeit quite randomly) and she wants to answer him the same way. The second movie goes through several situations where Sakura is just a moment away from uttering the next word after "Syaoran, I..." when something else interrupts her. In climactic fashion, Sakura finally completes her sentence in the last few lines of the movie. Syaoran smiles at this and accepts.
The manga concludes the development of their relationship differently, as there is no movie for which to create a cliffhanger. Instead of after a major battle as in the anime, Syaoran finds a quiet moment in Penguin Park to confess to Sakura. Sakura again is left in a mild state of shock as she tries to absorb the words, while Syaoran, satisfied that he has said what he needed to, leaves for home. This occurs near the beginning of volume 12, and the remainder of the volume details Sakura's quiet thoughts about the situation and her reanalysis of her feelings for Syaoran. Here in the manga, Syaoran also is planning to return to Hong Kong, prompting Sakura to hurry to the bus station to confess her feelings. She has the teddy bear that she made and successfully gives it to Syaoran through the window before the bus begins moving. She also confesses her feelings right there, asking to call the bear he gave her "Syaoran" after he asks to name his "Sakura." As the bus begins driving away, Syaoran tells Sakura to wait for him until he is finished with his tasks in Hong Kong.
Some time passes, and Sakura is seen in a secondary school uniform, obviously older, preparing to leave for school. Along the way, she meets Syaoran, who is happy to announce that he is through with his duties in Hong Kong and is now here in Tomoeda to stay. There would be no more need for letters and phone calls; they can both be, in Sakura's words, "together forever."
As for his personality, Syaoran first comes off as cold and arrogant, with a bit of a temper and a definite grudge, but it turns out that he is very loyal, with a deep sense of duty and loyalty. He is also very intelligent and emotionally awkward (which seems to be typical of male leads in anime...).
Syaoran in Tsubasa - In Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE, Syaoran is an archeologist who is excavating ruins in the country of Clow and the adopted son of Fujitaka. In the anime, he is voiced by Miyu Irino. In this series Syaoran is studious, very polite, worried about others, and possesses the ability to walk and/or ride a horse with his nose buried in a book! He gets very excited over all things archeological...
He and the princess of Clow (Princess Sakura) are very close childhood friends. One day, Sakura displays mystical powers, but in the process she loses her memories, which are scattered through different worlds in the form of feathers. The lost memories put her life at risk, forcing Syaoran to go on a journey across the many dimensions in order to find them and save the person who is most special to him. In order to travel from dimension to dimension, he must sacrifice his most valuable possession: his old relationship with Sakura. It is a strange twist of fate, as it is shown that Syaoran himself was found without any memories, his name given to him by an adoptive father, and a birthdate given to him by Princess Sakura herself, which just so happens to be her birthday as well: April 1st.
In the series, Syaoran is shown to be an excellent fighter, centered around his devastating kicks (taught to him by Seishirou Sakurazuka to compensate for his lack of reliable depth perception due to being blind in his right eye; he was then trained to sense attacks coming from the left by Kurogane). He is also an experienced archaeologist, with the attendant skills and experience of a hardened adventurer somewhat reminiscent of Indiana Jones. In Outo, he receives a sword named Hien whose blade can be made to burst into flame and trained in swordsmanship by Kurogane.
A tattooed figure who appears identical to Syaoran can be seen floating in a tank in Fei Wong and Xing Huo's headquarters (who, instead of being blind in the right eye, he seems to be blind in the left). In the manga, the tattooed figure escapes and, with the assistance from Xing Huo, was sent to the Witch of Dimensions, Yuko Ichihara, (this original Syaoran makes an appearance in xxxHOLiC in volume 9). It has been revealed that this Syaoran was actually the original Syaoran, but Fei Wong captured him and created a clone, who is the protagonist Syaoran. Fei Wong's intention was to use the copy collect all of Sakura's feathers for him, but the original Syaoran gave half of his own heart to the clone (his left eye) and put the seal on the clone's right eye. At first Fei Wong did not care if Syaoran had feelings, as long as he had the determination to get the feathers and let the child go without removing Syaoran's alterations. Everything had been going as he had planned until he was met with interference in the form of the Witch of Dimensions.
Once the original Syaoran broke free from Fei Wong's hands, the main protoganist's right eye seal also broke (which is the reason why the protagonist's right eye was blind), for the heart did not actually belonged to him, but the Syaoran who was trapped by Fei Wong. As a result, the copy became a ruthless being without any feelings or heart, hurting his friends mentally and physically (including Fai D. Flourite whose left eye, since his eyes being the source of his magic, was taken out by the copy) in order to eliminate anyone from interfering with the collection of feathers. Once he collected all of Tokyo's feathers, the copy left behind his companions, including his childhood friend, Sakura.
Relationships: Technically Li is friends with everyone that Sakura is. At school he spends most of his time with Zachary who is a bit of a trouble maker, and then later with Eli/Eriol because the other boys hang out with him (and he wants to keep an eye on Eli for more than one reason...) Because he is around Sakura so much Li also has interactions with Julian and
Meilin - In the Japanese Meilin is Li's cousin, though in the English Dub she is only a very close family friend who grew up with him (they even changed her last name...). Either way the two are betrothed - meaning engaged by their families' wishes. Meilin is very attached to Li, in fact she adores him. For the most part Li seems to suffer through her attentions. He generally tolerates her, even when she is hanging on him, but can sometimes become annoyed with her. He does not seem to realize his power over her, and more than once deeply hurts her by his careless (and even sometimes concerned) words. Evidently their engagement was only as binding as they wanted it to be because Meilin "break it off" when she realizes that Li really loves Sakura.
Tory - Li is forced into a relationship with Tory because of his dealings with Sakura. Though Tory and Sakura's father seems to have no issue with Li, Tory very clearly dislikes him. He refers to him as "that brat" and wants him to stay away from Sakura. Of course, that may be because the first time they met Li was threatening Sakura to get the Clow cards... Later Tory is suspicious of Li's feelings for Sakura (and for good reason!) and is just playing the over protective older brother. But in the end he does trust Li. Li seems to find Tory one part annoying and two parts frightening...
Wei - Wei is a servant of the Li family, and is Li's caretaker/guardian in Japan. He has known Li all his life, and helped in his training. He gives very sage advice.
Sakura - Obviously the primary relationship for Li (and probably for the entire series) is his relationship with Sakura. Though the two begin as enemies, and are technically rivals for the entire first season, their relationship becomes almost one of partners and friends very early on. If nothing else there is clearly respect and a desire to see the other safe between them. They even work together on many card captures, despite Meilin and Kero trying to stop them. As one can see in the history the relationship progresses further after Sakura is named Card Mistress, and the two eventually fall in love (though, surprisingly, Li figures it out first. The shift in Li's attitude is so subtle that they managed to remove most of it from the English Dub Cardcaptors, however, for those with some understanding of Japanese customs and formalities of relationship it is quite obvious in the manga and the subtitles version of the anime.
First name addressing - Common courtesy and respect in Japan dictate that people should address each other by their last names, with the addition of an honorific (-san, -sama, -kun) if necessary. Addressing on a first-name basis is mostly reserved for family members or very close friends. A significant moment in Syaoran's developing relationship with Sakura is his shift to addressing her as "Sakura," coupled with Sakura progressing from "Li-kun" to "Syaoran-kun."
Syaoran's case is slightly unique in that, prior to the "Sakura" address, he has never called her "Kinomoto" or "Kinomoto-san" (the only time he even says that name is in Episode 12 when he takes some time realizing that Fujitaka Kinomoto - Aiden Avalon - is Sakura's father). In conversation, he usually omits the address and just begins speaking, using "Hey" or "You" on rare occasions. Sakura is often attentive of him whenever he speaks, too, so his lack of address is not usually noticed or viewed as awkward. For Syaoran's character, such a shift from no address to first-name address marks a very notable change in his feelings.
In the manga, Syaoran first says (yells) Sakura's name after losing his grip and dropping her into an abyss while battling The Earthy. Cerberus ends up saving her, but Sakura is happy nevertheless that he addressed her as such. She smiles innocently and asks if she could call him "Syaoran-kun" in return. In a fit of blushes, he eventually stammers, "Sure, do as you like." This occurs in volume 6, just before the halfway point in the series.
In the anime, Syaoran does not use Sakura's name until the middle of season three in episode 57, "Sakura, Syaoran, and the Elevator." In a similar fashion, Syaoran fails to save Sakura before she falls into a bottomless pit and screams her name in anguish as a result. Moments later, Sakura is seen returning to safety riding on The Float. Syaoran is so relieved that she is okay that he immediately hugs her, much to her surprise.
At the end of the day, Sakura makes a phone call to Syaoran thanking him for his help that day and mentioning that his calling her "Sakura" made her happy, that it made her feel like they've become good friends. She asks if she can address him as "Syaoran-kun" in return. Even on the phone, he blushes and can only stammer, "Do as you like," which is Syaoran's indirect way of saying "yes."
Techniques: Syaoran is shown, or at least implied, to be an excellent martial artist, swordsman (using a Chinese jian), and sorcerer. His magical abilities are centered around elemental spells using his sword or a collection of ofuda. He also uses a "lasin board" which gives him direction and can be used to locate people and objects. Like most of the magic in CCS an incantation of sorts is required to release Li's items. The following are Li's magical phrases.
Lasin board: Source of light with ancient spin, send forth the magic power within. Metal, wood, water, fire, earth, cloud, wind, rain, and electricity. Force, know my plight. Release the light!
Fire based ofudo: Element Fire! Come to my aid! ("Now, Element, Fire!" in the original)
Wind based ofudo: Element Wind! Come to my aid! ("Now, Element, Wind!" in the original)
Lightening based ofudo: Element Lightening! Come to my aid! ("Now, Element, Lightening!" in the original)
Trivia: Li's name in the original version, Syaoran, means "Little Wolf"
Li's favorite subjects are P.E. and Math, his least favorite is Japanese (because he is Chinese and the kanji is so similar and yet so not)
Li's favorite color is green, and his favorite flower is the peony.
His favorite foods are Dim Sum and chocolate (smart boy ^_^) and his least favorite is yam jelly (they actually make that? Yuck!)
Evidently his entire wish list consists of a Magic Book written by Clow (though I'm sure the cards and Sakura are in there somewhere too...)
Officially Li has no extracurricular activities (they evidently aren't counting martial arts training, magic training, and card capturing/ saving the world from magical phenomenon.)
Li has four older sisters who have an affinity for all things cute...
Why we love him: Why wouldn't we? He's sweet, and intelligent, and powerful, and he blushes in such a cute way all the time!
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