This article covers the major characters of Clamp's manga Cardcaptor Sakura and its respective anime and movies. The manga and anime focused on Japanese schoolgirl Sakura Kinomoto who finds the magical Clow Book in her father's basement study, accidentally unleashing the magical Clow Cards loose across her hometown Tomoeda. Dubbed the Cardcaptor by the cards' guardian Cerberus (better known as Kero-chan), Sakura must wield the Clow Staff to capture the card spirits and turn them back into cards for her use. Sakura is aided by her best friend and cousin Tomoyo Daidouji, who creates battle costumes for her as well as videotaping her ventures as Cardcaptor; and later by Syaoran Li, a Chinese boy who is a descendant of the Clow Cards' creator Clow Reed. The anime also introduced a fourth companion, Meiling Li (sometimes spelled as Meilin Li), Syaoran's cousin. The rest of the characters are mostly oblivious to Sakura's magical life, aside from her brother Toya who has his own magical powers, and later Eriol Hiiragizawa, who is a reincarnated Clow Reed.

The anime was dubbed into English by Nelvana under the title of Cardcaptors, with most of the character names changed to English ones with the exception of Sakura, Meilin, Kero, Mr. Terada, Wang Wei, Ruby Moon, Yue, and Clow Reed.

A large number of the characters reappear as alternate selves in Clamp's other series, Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle and xxxHolic.

Sakura Kinomoto (木之本 桜, Kinomoto Sakura) is the heroine of Cardcaptor Sakura, named after the Japanese word for "cherry blossom". Her most defining character traits are her unyielding determination, caring nature and loyalty to her friends. Sakura is portrayed as a perceptively sweet, extremely energetic and cheerful character who is well-loved, pretty, cheerful, cute and at times naïve, clumsy, and clueless. Sakura is athletically gifted and skilled in sports at school, being an excellent runner and called the "best baton twirler in school" by her friends. She hates math and is openly phasmophobic. Sakura maintains a crush on Yukito Tsukishiro for most of the manga and anime, but when she finally confesses to Yukito, she is gently rejected by him. Then, when asked by Sakura, he reveals he has feelings for her big brother, Touya. Eventually, Sakura realizes she is actually in love with Syaoran, but doesn't realize her feelings until he first confesses his love for her. Although she fails to admit her feelings in the final episode, Sakura later manages to finally confess her love to Syaoran when he and Meiling return to visit in the series movie, Cardcaptor Sakura Movie 2: The Sealed Card.

The manga version of the events leading to Sakura and Syaoran's confessions is quite different. Following the duel with Eriol, Syaoran reveals to Sakura his feelings to her one afternoon after school; telling Sakura that he loves her and that she is the one he loves most of all. Taking in Syaoran’s words, Sakura struggles to understand her own feelings for Syaoran before realizing that she feels the same way about him. Before he leaves for Hong Kong, Sakura gives Syaoran a teddy bear she makes for him and tells him that he is her Number One; the person she loves the most. Now knowing that Sakura feels the same way about him, Syaoran promises to return once he’s finished his business in Hong Kong and desperately asks Sakura if she will wait for him, and she promises that she will. Over the next few years Sakura and Syaoran maintain a long-distance relationship (which was the focus of a bonus one-shot Clear Card manga story released only in Japan called “Until We Meet Again”); writing letters and making phone calls. However, he reunites with Sakura when she starts Middle School and reveals to her joy that he is back in Tomoeda for good. The two happily embrace, with a tearful Sakura proclaiming that from now on, they’ll be together forever.

Sakura becomes the titular Cardcaptor by guardian beast Cerberus after accidentally opening and releasing the Clow Cards from the Clow Book. Aided by Cerberus, her best friend and cousin Tomoyo Daidouji, and later Syaoran, Sakura successfully captures all the cards and is named the new Clow Mistress by the cards' second guardian Yue (Yukito's true form). In the second half of the manga and anime, Sakura must use the power of her own star to transform the Clow Cards into Sakura Cards, or else the cards would lose their powers. In the beginning of the Clear Card arc, all the Sakura cards suddenly turn blank, losing their powers and while looking for a way to restore them, Sakura must capture new cards of an unknown origin that started appearing around town. She later learns that Syaoran was responsible for the Sakura cards' disappearance in a move to protect her, as her own power had grown too strong for her to control, leading to the creation of the Clear cards.

For all Japanese-language productions of the anime (including movies, audio CDs, and video games), Sakura is voiced by Sakura Tange. In the Animax English dub, she is voiced by Andrea Kwan. In the English dub of the second movie, she is voiced by Kari Wahlgren. In the English dub of the Clear Card arc, she is voiced by Monica Rial, who reprised her role as Sakura from Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle.

In the Nelvana English dub Cardcaptors, she is known as Sakura Avalon, though her given name is repronounced as "Sa-KU-ra" instead of "SA-ku-ra". She is voiced by Carly McKillip. In this version, she is portrayed as a more thick-skinned character than in the original anime, her initial romantic feelings for Yukito and fear of ghosts are removed, and later in the series she and Syaoran never developed their romance as it was heavily edited out.