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Toya Kinomoto

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Toya Kinomoto
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Toya Kinomoto

is a fictional character in CLAMP's anime and manga series Cardcaptor Sakura.  He is known as Tori Avalon in the English adaptation Cardcaptors.
He appears in another CLAMP series ' and is known there as Tōya'''.

Character

Toya is the brother of Sakura Kinomoto. He holds the belief that as Sakura's older brother, he is the only person entitled to make fun of her, a belief that his best friend Yukito Tsukishiro refers to as a "sister complex." However, he is also protective and caring of her, which leads him to dislike Syaoran Li when he finds Syaoran cornering Sakura in the schoolyard. Though Syaoran and Sakura eventually stop fighting, Toya continues to dislike Syaoran when he becomes friends with Sakura, subconsciously knowing that Syaoran will eventually take Sakura away from him. He is a perceptive young man and has had a vague idea as to what Sakura has been up to as a Cardcaptor, despite Sakura's attempts to keep it a secret.

He is often working, and a running gag in the series involves Sakura and Yukito running into him while he's at work, which can happen virtually anywhere. It is later revealed in the series, however, that the reason for him bumping into Sakura all the time was not just mere coincidence but deliberance on his part (he was following her in case she needed protection from any danger). In the first few episodes, a running gag was Sakura purposely stepping on his foot.

Toya was born with some magical ability, allowing him to see ghosts (including that of his late mother). His magical ability is also what helps him sense when Sakura is in danger or when she is doing other "magical" things (which enables him to follow her as described above).

Late in the series, Toya gives up his magical abilities in order to keep Yukito alive. Yukito's alter-ego Yue was being weakened from a lack of supporting magic after Sakura became Master of the Clow. Sakura's magic was not strong enough to maintain Yue's existence at the time, and if Yue ended up disappearing, so would Yukito. Toya was more than willing to give up his magic to save Yukito, but he knew that doing so came at another cost: losing the ability to sense when Sakura was in danger. So, Toya made a deal with Yue and had him promise that he would now protect Sakura with all of his power.

Toya and Yukito are extremely close, and there are strong hints that they are more than just close friends. This is somewhat confirmed towards the end of the series when Yukito openly admits his love for Toya in front of Sakura, after Toya sacrifices his powers for both Yukito and Yue. In addition, Yukito, now aware that he is Yue, expresses insecurity about his real self, but Toya says that he would not be able to stand losing Yukito and that their common memories are real. The manga also reflects on their relationship more deeply than the anime does.

Toya briefly dated Kaho Mizuki, but they broke up when she decided to move to England to pursue her career. She told him also that he should not grieve over that, for she would be back, and by those days both of them would have other love intrests (Yukito and Eriol Hiiragizawa, respectively). After returning, she treats him affectionately, but more as a younger brother than a boyfriend.

The Mirror

The Mirror (as Sakura) and Toya
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The Mirror (as Sakura) and Toya

While Toya still had magical powers, he would never be fooled whenever Sakura uses to cover for her during a card capture. Rather than be upset, Toya instead hopes (optimistically) that Sakura would soon return safely and, in the meantime, treats Mirror as an individual person.

In the anime, Toya encounters Mirror three times. The first occurs in episode 25 when Mirror is a loose card entity, causing mischief throughout town while in Sakura's form. The disguised Card mischeviously leads a somewhat suspicious Tōya off a tall ledge in the park but soon apologizes to him (while he is unconscious) right before the real Sakura performs the capture.

Since then, Mirror appears to be indebted to Toya for the trouble she caused him. Tōya sees Mirror again in episode 39 when the Card covers for a sick Sakura one night. He is downstairs when the switch occurs but figures it out the moment he enters Sakura's room with food and medicine. He plays along by giving Mirror the ricemeal but takes the tray away after she's finished without giving her the medicine. Mirror, still playing Sakura, asks about taking the medicine, and Toya responds, "You shouldn't take medicine if you're not sick." Mirror knows she is caught, but Toya reassures her that it is fine and also requests that she help look after Sakura.

The third encounter occurs in episode 61 when a magical disturbance (Eriol-related) forces Sakura to "cancel" her afternoon shopping plans with Tōya. She calls Mirror to the rescue, who again smiles innocently at Tōya when he arrives to pick her up. Again, Tōya is not fooled for a moment and sighs, commenting that he senses the real Sakura somewhere in the distance. Mirror again looks sullen, but Tōya instead invites her to go shopping in Sakura's place.

At a cafe later on, Toya presents Mirror with a long green hair ribbon. "You actually have long hair, right?" he asks, suggesting that Tōya's magic is strong enough for him to see through Mirror's disguise. Mirror happily accepts the gift and can be seen wearing the ribbon from then on when in Card form.

It can be argued that The Mirror had fallen in love with Toya, though he never returns these feelings in either the manga or the anime (depending on the interpretation of the ribbon gift). Nevertheless, their bond is unique and special in the series by building on Tōya's caring character and by showing that the Cards are capable of individual and complex emotions.

List of part-time jobs

Statistics

Tōya in Tsubasa

In , Tōya is not only the older brother of Sakura but also the King of the Kingdom of Clow. The former king, Tōya and Sakura's father, is Clow Reed. Like his Cardcaptor Sakura incarnation, he dislikes Syaoran and refers to him as a brat (though the antagonism is one sided now). His reasons are similar; from the predictions of the High Priest of Clow (who is Yukito, his best friend and confidante), he knows that Sakura and Syaoran are meant to be together and their destinies are linked. Additionally, Tōya had initially felt that Syaoran possessed a rather unsettling presence within him and confronted his father about it, though Tōya later admits that the feeling went away as Syaoran opened up to Sakura.

Another incarnation of Tōya appears with Yukito in the Hanshin Republic, where he and Yukito are waiters at a local restaurant, and once again during the Outo Country where he and Yukito are patrons in the cafe run by Syaoran and the others.


Information
Cardcaptors dub
Media information
List of episodes
Voice actors
Characters
Kinomoto Family: Sakura | Toya | Fujitaka | Nadeshiko
Li Clan: Syaoran | Meiling
Daidouji Family: Tomoyo | Sonomi
Clow-Created: Eriol Hiiragizawa | Clow Reed | Cerberus | Yue | Spinel Sun | Ruby Moon
Classmates: Chiharu Mihara | Rika Sasaki | Takashi Yamazaki | Naoko Yanagisawa
Teachers: Kaho Mizuki | Yoshiyuki Terada
Friends: Yukito Tsukishiro | Maki Matsumoto
Clow Cards
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