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
Tsubasa, hands down, is the ultimate CLAMP crossover series. Initially published as a manga, it features characters from
or based on other CLAMP series. Unfortunately, from what I've seen (and read), there is not a terrible amount of
continuous plot. While the viewer knows the basic idea of the story, there hasn't been much in terms of actual hard
events.
Every few episodes, (about one and a half volumes of manga) the main party travels to a different location. They
encounter some locals (many of which we've met in other CLAMP series), and an adventure ensues. At the end, they
are rewarded with one of Sakura's feathers and they move on. It's sort of like a video game: defeat enemies,
get items, level up, fight new enemies, repeat. While it is somewhat interesting to watch, it doesn't always compel
me to watch the next episode.
So what is the story? Well, we have our main charachters Syaoran and Sakura. They aren't the Syaoran and Sakura
we've come to know and love in CCS. Rather, they're an archeologist and princess in the mystical country of
Clow. Similarly, most of the other charachters we meet don't necessarily match up with their familar counterparts.
Blanche (from Angelic Layer) for example, is several feet tall and is a hotel receptionist in the Country of Oto. She
also didn't talk.
Syaoran et. all are in search of Sakura's memories. Think Inuyasha and searching for the shards of the Shikon no
Tama. The memories got scattered early on and now they must journey to find them. It's fairly unoriginal in
principle.
Rating: 5
Art
The art in the series is on par with most other series I've seen recently. CG is used in wise areas for effect and
doesn't detract from the overall quality of the picture. However, speaking from the perspective of a fan of the
manga, I'd venture to say that the anime is an extremely poor representation.
The key in this category is the sheer amount of crossovers used in the manga. When a character appears out of
"context," they maintain an art style close to the original rendition of the character. One prime example is
Yuko, the Dimensional Witch from xxxHolic (a series that runs in "parallel" to Tsubasa). In the manga, Yuko is
of a fairly different character style than, say, Syaoran and Sakura. She's far more angular in style. These
differences were maintained throughout the manga, but seemed to be cast aside in the anime. There are some other
examples of this phenomena, but I shant get into them here.
Rating: 5
Sound
The music was composed by Kajiura Yuki... need I say more? I'm personally a big fan of her work, so this part may
be somewhat biased.
The soundtrack is absolutely amazing. It displays a decent range of emotion and feeling and for the most part, fits in
with the visuals. It is subtle when needed, graceful when required, and energetic when demanded.
To my dismay, the characters are not voiced by the same people as the original charachters. While this is not
necessarily bad (or good), it would have been nice to have some charachters with their "original" voices. One
could argue that people in different worlds have different voices, but there are only so many ways to say
"Chii...?"
Overall, dialog flows well and seems well placed with the music.
Rating: 8
Presentation
The idea of a CLAMP crossover, while not completely original, can be refreshing. Although knowledge of CLAMP's past
works isn't required, it definitely adds an extra dimension to the story. Each time I pick up a new volume, the
same thing usually happens: the rest of my CLAMP manga ends up scattered all over my bed as I flip through and try to
find all the crossovers (some of them are very minor, like the apartment complex in the Hanshin Replublic or Tamayo in
the Country of Oto, where others are blatantly obvious). It's almost like a "Where's Waldo" book,
but with CLAMP characters, and Miyuki-chan.
From a CLAMP fan's perspective, the crossovers make this an extremely fun manga to read. The anime, however,
requires me to find something else to like. I'm still sort of searching for it, though this may follow the trend of
the other CLAMP anime adaptations I've seen. While the anime is a good adaptation of the manga, it lacks some of
the magic (and sometimes the plot, in the case of Chobits) of the manga.
Rating: 8
Final Verdict
6.5000 (above average)
Reviewed by kawaiiguy, May 31, 2005
