Let's Review! Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle

Anime became a big part in my life. I grew up with Pokemon, Clamp, and other classic Anime shows. Today, I would like to share one of my favorite shows growing up, and it's Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle. 

Note: The following review contains spoilers and will be focused on the Anime alone. Discussions on manga or it's anime/manga crossover, XXXholic, will not be included in the post. 

Plot

Syaoran's hand grabbing Sakura's feather

Okay let me break it down for you; Syaoran and Sakura have been best friends ever since they were kids. They were supposed to have a beautiful future together but Sakura got in trouble and it has something to do with her powers (which was not fully explained at all). And her powers could change the world. Because of her complicated magical skills, she was succumbed into a deep sleep and her memories, which are in the form of feathers, were scattered across different dimensions. Not countries. DIMENSIONS. Then Syaoran, being the caring person that he is, goes to the shop of Yuuko Ichihara (the powerful and sexy witch who can grant wishes) and begs her to save Sakura. She grants him the power to cross dimensions so he can grab all the feathers and save her life. And that's what he basically does for two seasons. 

The manga and OVA has already revealed a much more complicated plot than this, but I will just stick to the two seasons this anime already offered before it was canceled. 

Each episode is dedicated to finding the feathers with a little bumps along the way. Some worlds or countries are dedicated to one entire arc, meaning it would take them at least three to five episodes before they could get the feather in that certain world or country. Sometimes they find a feather, sometimes they don't. Even if they don't get a feather, they have to move on to different dimensions and they have no control on which way to go. So basically, their style of traveling is kind of like a game of chance. This world may have one or more feathers, this one may have none. The entire plot itself is pretty interesting but it was never given another season, so I never saw the real end of it. It ended up looking like a plain series with no serious plot whatsoever. Then again, collecting feathers can be really tiring. Since they are traveling across different worlds, it would take them at least a millennium to finish the task.

Characters

From left to right, we have Fai, Sakura, Syaoran, and Kurogane. Mokona is the little white thing jumping from behind with joy.

What makes the entire series ultimately interesting were the characters. Most of the characters found in this series were just recycled. In other words, they all came from different anime shows (i.e. Clamp Detective School, Chobits, X/1999 or X) that Clamp created. Sakura and Syaoran came from Cardcaptor Sakura. Not only that, this anime also has a crossover with another anime called XXXHolic, featuring Yuuko (the same witch Syaoran encounters in the first episode) and Watanuki as the leading characters. So if you read or watch XXXHolic, you will find similar scenes from Tsubasa (i.e. The episode where Syaoran asks Yuuko for help). 

Apparently,  Sakura and Syaoran did not have to go through this challenge alone. They were accompanied by three more memorable figures and two of them are original characters. First is Fai D. Flowright (commonly known as Fai), a happy-go-lucky wizard from the country of Celes. He wanted to travel across dimensions because he wanted to run away from a certain someone. Next is Kurogane , who is a war freak ninja from Nihon and was exiled from his own home by Princess Tomoyo. He wanted to cross dimensions so he can return back to Nihon. Finally, we have Mokona Modoki, the magical mascot of the team and the one who transports them to different dimensions. Mokona is another recycled character, and the little manju bun came from Magic Knight Rayearth. These three companions are at the highest level of their expertise, be it magic or combat skills. So every time they go to different dimensions, people can immediately tell that they are not ordinary travelers. Other than that, they're basically like anime Powerpuff girls, sticking to one color when it comes to clothes. Sakura loves pink, Fai is always seen in anything blue, Kurogane pulls off black and red, and Syaoran wears green clothes (Mokona doesn't really need to wear anything). But they learn to change it up in season 2.

In the first season, they remain consistent with their characters. But you'll only see more development from them in season two, and they were just getting started. Although the story started with Syaoran and Sakura, the one who was more of an open book was Kurogane. In season one, he started to change, and in season two we get a glimpse of his past and we immediately understood why he's...like that. So if you ask me who my favorite character in this anime is, it's Kurogane. He's just awesome. The rest, I'm afraid, are a little too flat (I would love to go through each character in detail, but that would take up too much time...perhaps another time). Again, they weren't given enough time to develop even more. How disappointing.

Music

I think what made me enjoy the anime so much was the music. Let's start with the opening and ending theme; personally, I liked all the songs they showed. It was quite consistent. They will start the anime with an awesome rock number. Then they will end it with a sweet and sentimental song by Maaya Sakamoto. As for the music within the anime itself, I find it impressive that they would use the song, "A Song of Storm and Fire" for one of the characters' intense moments. It definitely heightens up the suspense!!! It's perfect for battle, perfect for highlighting a plot twist, perfect for revealing something, perfect for a "Oh my god!" moment. I also appreciated the fact that they would translate some of their Japanese songs into English, namely "Yume No Tsubasa"  and "You are My Love". I grew up with these songs, and I love how they sound sincere and meaningful. Their songs are great choices if you want to woo a woman, if you ask me. The soundtrack is just amazing. It can calm you, it can make you cry, it can make your heart fly, and it can even make you bang your head. They complement the anime very well. 

Art

Tsubasa Tokyo Rebellion. From left to right are Subaru and Kamui (X), Kurogane, Fai, and Syaoran

Syaoran and Sakura separated.

What is an anime review without mentioning the art style??? Well you can tell very well that the anime is created by Clamp because one of one detail: thinness. Everyone in this anime is really, really thin. I think there was only a small percentage of "plus-sized" people in that show. Apart from that, I give kudos to the design. Everything was absolutely detailed and well-drawn. The way they draw facial features are beautiful, and I love how they draw cute things (i.e. Mokona, Fai's drawings of cats and dogs) with minimal and simple details. Even when they draw different kinds of clothing (be it casual or formal or traditional)... let's say they look great visually but they seem impossible to sew in real life. The details are just that grand. 

Overall

Basically, I had mixed feelings about this anime. I love Clamp for being a creative bunch, but out of all their works this one went a little downhill. I decided to give this anime three eggs, which is Scrambled. Well I guess that's an easier way to describe the entire series... scrambled. 

I am definitely doing this again very soon. It's either I will share my opinions on each character or I will review more of their OVAs or hopefully, their movie. But I will definitely review another anime very soon.