CLAMP's Sakura Kinomoto and Syaoran Li are back, but they're not the same characters we've come to know from Cardcaptor Sakura. This time, our pair is from the magical country of Clow, where Sakura is the beloved princess and Syaoran is a commoner working as an archeologist. He's tasked with exploring the ruins of Clow, which seem to hold magical power. Our two characters are destined for each other, but many perils lay in their path.
When visiting the ruins, Sakura is mesmerized and drawn into a strange gateway on the wall. Evil forces are at work and try to steal her away to another dimension. Syaoran prevents her from going but, in the process, scatters her feathers (representing her memories) across multiple worlds. With Sakura unconscious, Syoaran must travel to each world and recover Sakura's memories. Upon visiting the dimensional witch, Syaoran is given two traveling companions, each with their own reasons for going on a journey between worlds. They are also given Mokona, a magical creature that allows them to communicate and travel between worlds.
Their journey begins here and many dangers await them on the road ahead.
Story & Characters
Aside from things proceeding too fast in the beginning and a bit slow afterwards, this anime is quite fun. This anime is
quite entertaining. Although at times Syaoran's all-motivated, idealistic, all-gentle, and all-objective
personality gets really boring and flat, I found some of the other characters somewhat made up for it in terms of humor.
However, really... the characters are too shallow and none of their "will" or "determination" really
impacted me at all. Syaoran can say "im going to get it done" all he wants, but I just don't feel that
drive he does.
Nevertheless, there are so many inconsistences in this story line. They also assumed too many things. I guess its
understandable when you try to fit so much into 26 episodes. In other words, only the barebones of the story line are
touched upon. This made the anime a bit harder to get into. The last few episodes improved this aspect a little bit, but
I didn't really gain anything from watching the beginning journey... not enough story elements.
I really liked all the flashbacks with Sakura and Syaoran though :) These were very heartwarming to watch at times. I
also liked the parts where they finally stopped in the cafe to find the feather. The story really improved exponentially
once they stopped in one place. They finally allowed some development to happen. However, I don't really feel
Syaoran's devotion to Sakura. Sakura is too airheaded most of the show and her interesting character prior to
losing her memories were gone with those feathers. She's too quiet most of the time.
Fye and Kurogane are great support characters though. They're both like comic relief for the all too serious
Syaoran. It'd be nice if he lightened up a little bit. After all, Sakura is still alive next to him while he tries
to get those memories back.
And if there were reasons to be sad, this anime doesn't really convey this feeling very well. In the end, there
just isn't enough "at-the-moment" enjoying of the story-line.
Rating: 6
Art
It was funny to see all these "grown up" CCS characters, but I really liked the costume design and colors. It
made everything more fantasy and dream like, and very easy to get into. I think this is the next-best thing to a
computer enhanced animation style if only they drew in more movements.
My only qualm is that the pretty colors seemed to take away from any character movement. If you look beyond the cute
characters and fanciful costumes, you'll notice that no one is making smooth movements. (Too much panning and basic
movements).
Rating: 8
Sound
Very basic music that captures (makes?) the essence of various environment. Too bad the music rarely heightens the
mood... as it never really appeared during the anime during key moments.
The sound effects were sufficient, but nothing really impressive.
Rating: 7
Presentation
Tsubasa Chronicle is a very straightforward anime with few tugging questions or 'mysteries'. Although a lot is
left unsaid, the pacing of the anime really doesn't make their mysteries very important. The crew set out on a
journey almost immediately with absolutely no background given for anyone. Even up to episode 18 nothing about
anyone's powers is told and the groups cooperation with each other is almost too simple and quick. My main qualm
with the beginning is how did Kurogane accept Syaoran so quickly? I accepted Fye's reasons just barely.
Putting all personal annoyances aside, this anime is a fun travel/journey anime and there aren't enough of these
pure journey animes out there. I really liked the excitement of the characters traveling to different times and
dimensions, meeting all sorts of interesting figures. Furthermore, after awhile the fights get more heated and flashy.
With a combination of nice visuals and sound effects, Tsubasa Chronicle is a good fantasy anime to enjoy in a laid back
manner.
Rating: 7
Final Verdict
6.8333 (above average)
Reviewed by nauxolo, Nov 12, 2008