The Anime Blog - We Go Beyond Anime!

Admission: I haven’t followed CLAMP very well. I remember seeing a few episodes of Card Captor Sakura when it was on Kids WB. I’ve seen the X movie ‘The Destiny War’. I remember seeing the first episode of ‘Angelic Layer‘. But that’s about it. I’ve never read the Chobits manga nor seen the anime. Same with Magic Knight Rayearth, xxxHolic, etc.

What I’m trying to say is, I wasn’t really sure what to expect with Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle. The only thing I had to go on was the back cover of the Tsubasa DVD right before we watched it. This line jumped out at me:

“Her soul, his sacrifice…“

At first I thought that marketing team had done a great job at coming up with another tagline! The second thought I had was “yawn - it’s gonna be like candle shopping”. But as Rachel and I watched the first few episodes, it started to make sense. I’ve kept my thoughts on this first volume very ‘hush-hush’, so don’t tell anybody. Especially Rachel - she thinks all that I like are anime boobs and outrageous mecha action.:)

Anyway, that line - ‘her soul, his sacrifice’ it may seem simple - but to me it means a whole lot.

Story

Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle tells the story of childhood friends Syaoran (wants to be an archaeologist) and Sakura (princess of the Clow Kingdom). One day, during an attack, Sakura’s memories were stolen. Syaoran desperately seeks out the help of Yuuko the witch. She tells him that in order for Sakura’s memories to return, he must travel through various realities to collect her memories, which have taken the form of feathers. The problem is…once her memories return, she’ll never regain the most important one of all - her love for Syaoran!

Along the way, Syaoran (and an amnesiac Sakura) meet the exiled warrior Kurogane and Fye, a magician ‘on-the-run’. Oh, and don’t forget Mokona the cute little critter/sidekick who helps them find Sakura’s memories!

Volume One Episodes

Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle Volume One: Gathering of Fates consists of five episodes:

1. Destinies Converge - As an ‘introductory’ episode, this sets the stage for the whole series. I thought that the relationship between Syaoran and Sakura was handled well, and there’s a little bit of action/magic in case you get bored.
2. The Power To Fight - This episode really starts the gang on their reality-spanning adventure. I thought it was kinda unusual that the gang takes off with an unconscious Sakura, which slowed things down a little. This episode had it’s ups and downs for me.
3. Sword of Demon Destruction - Again, I was a little concerned that the show was going to be weighed down by a continually-unconscious Sakura, but she starts to come around towards the end of the episode.
4. Innocent Wandering - This episode got me interested again, since Sakura is now fully-awake and roaming around. Rachel kept saying things got all moe at this point, but I know she loves it! This actually kicks off a pretty funny/touching storyline between good/bad characters.
5. The Battle of the Mage - The action kicks in with this episode, and the series starts to stretch it’s legs a bit. The humor is a well-placed along with the drama + action.

Character Design

All of the characters have a really sharp, clean design. Even though I’m no expert in the world of CLAMP, their style is pretty distinct. I think it’s a combination of the sharp angled lines, the rich color palette and attention to detail that helps CLAMP characters unique.

Likes

I like the style of the series, but to me Tsubasa is more about substance than style (did ‘Mr. Visualist‘ just say that???). It’s tough for me to say, but the show has heart!

Dislikes

The pacing of the first episodes was a bit slow. I was concerned that Sakura would be all ‘moe’ (we’ll see). The plethora of characters was a little confusing.

Conclusion

Overall, Tsubasa has heart and and I think fans of adventure series (and CLAMP fans) will like it. It took me a few episodes before I was interested, but now I’m certainly curious about the rest of the story. The story is rather touching, and I think the tagline I spoke of earlier (Her soul, his sacrifice) is the true heart of Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle.

Rating

4 outta 5

DVD Extras

The DVD from Funimation includes cast auditions, a character and world guide, the feature ‘Faces in the Crowd: Cameos from the Clamp Universe, textless OP/ED and trailers.

Additional reading

• An excellent CLAMP/Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle fan site
• Official Funimation site for Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle
• The stunningly beautiful CLAMP creator’s website

Question

So have you seen Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicles yet? If so, what did you think? Does it stay true to the manga? Did you love it? Hate it? Don’t care?