CLXXXIX: "Tsubasa: Reservior Chronicle"

Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle is another CLAMP anime that I caught by chance, around the same time xxxHolic was spotted. In fact, they relate to each other more than just coexisting on the same channel.

The anime follows the Princess of the Clow, Sakura, as she loses her soul, which is the plot device for the protagonist. Being her childhood friend, archeologist Syaoran is instructed by the witch Yuko to venture to different worlds, recovering various fragments of her memories. Under the same order, he is accompanied by two others: Fai D. Flowright, a powerful magician with a calm, lax nature; and Kurogane, a rough-mannered ninja in search of his true strength. Throughout the series, he finds Sakura's memories bit by bit, though things may not be as they seem on the surface...

Made by the manga artist group CLAMP, the character designs and names are akin to their earlier work, Cardcaptor Sakura. Not only that, but as usual with CLAMP's works, they tie in with other titles, more so in this case xxxHolic, with Yuko and, on few occasions, Watanuki. It even spots a few references from Chobits, also made by CLAMP. Strangely enough, Mokona, another character of Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle (and ironically the name for one of the members of CLAMP), would appear there, xxxHolic, and another CLAMP title Magical Knight Rayearth. Nevertheless, Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle is dubbed already, under Funimation license. The length is 52 episodes, along with a 3-part OVA series called Tsubasa Tokyo Revelations, the 2-Part OVA series Tsubasa Spring Thunder Chronicles, and a film surnamed The Princess of the Birdcage Kingdom, based off of this anime. All of these works, as well as xxxHolic, were done in the Production I.G. studio. Quite much, but since it's CLAMP, who did other things like costume work for Namco Bandai's Tekken 6 video game, I kind of expected no less. Syaoran is voiced by Jason Liebrecht, Sakura by Monica Rial, Kurogane by Christopher Sabat, and Fai by Vic Mignogna.


Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle left a mixed feeling in me. I still see it as a little sappy today, but not as much as when i first saw it. That said, 7 of 10 should do it for this title.