カードキャプターさくら クリアカード編 1

The first 3 volumes were free to read on Bookwalker for a limited time, so read them all in the span of about a week.

Kanji with full furigana. Aimed at younger readers, probably around the 9-11 age-range (what we'd call a mid-grade book in English), so the grammar and concepts are a bit more complex than material aimed at younger children, but still not too difficult.

There is some fantasy vocabulary related to magic, magicians, sensing, and strangeness, but it's a single over arching story (as opposed to standalone chapters), so these words repeat often. The chapters are longish, about 30 pages each, and there's about 3-4 chapters per volume.

The art is cute and, unlike the original series, it was intended for digital release from the onset, so the lines and furigana are much easier to read.

I'm a longtime fan of the original series and read this one in English as it was serializing, which helped me with some of the more difficult sections. That said, I don't think this will be too difficult for anyone who has read at least 1 or 2 volumes of manga before. Plus, Tomoyo speaks in formal Japanese, which is the form taught in most beginner textbooks.

The trade-off is Kero and his Kansai-ben, which I found near incomprehensible at the start of the volume. I got a bit more used to it near the end, since his dialogue is often short, simple, and he likes to repeat phrases, so it gets easier to recognize the patterns. That said, I don't think I'll become an expert at reading Kansai-ben anytime soon...