Ranked #525

Tsubasa Chronicle

Tsubasa RESERVoir Chronicle (TRC) - the anime - showed a lot of promise from its very first episode. However, because of the fact that TRC is aired during the children's hour in Japan, which limits exactly the kind of content they are allowed to put into this anime, as a result, have disappointed many viewers thinking they would be witnessing a story that was close to what was written in the manga by CLAMP. However, despite all of that, Tsubasa Chronicle still shapes up to be a relatively enjoying series, if you can get through a couple of the more slower arcs and horrendous fillers.

First of, in case you did not know, CLAMP decided to "recycle" a lot of its characters from Card Captor Sakura and other anime in this show. In essence, you will see a ton of familiar faces, but that's all they are - faces. For the most part they have completely different personalities and histories. I don't know if that's because they ran out of ideas for completely new characters or not, but that's just the way it is. But don't get me wrong, it's definitely not a bad thing.

The animation, as usual from CLAMP, is up to par with today's standards and what today's viewers expect from an anime. It's very crisp and clean and very colorful. The relationship between Sakura and Syaoran is something you could shed a tear witnessing the trials they go through, but once again, the slowness of it all prevents a continuous enjoyment of that.

Yuki Kaijura has once again put together a very beautiful soundtrack to go along with this anime. From the very first time the piece named "A song of storm and fire" is played with the anime, that alone will urge you to keep watching this anime. However, this anime does progress extremely slowly at times, especially after the first arc and the fillers (you wouldn't think there would be fillers in a 26-episode season, but there are) are extremely boring, possibly with the exception of one or two filler arcs.

Even with all of that, its the animation and music that keeps Tsubasa RESERVoir Chronicles - the anime - alive and what keeps its viewers, in my mind anyway. The story has the potential (well, it does if you read the manga) to be amazing, but the fillers and slow progress prevent it from doing so. If you want to know what happens, pick up the manga and start reading it. You won't be disappointed. The anime is something you have to be patient with. read more

I'll try to get straight to the point with this review. Before watching this series I had never read the manga nor had I ever seen anything about it beyond the wiki page for the show. I thought it looked decent so I began watching.

The anime had a very promising first episode and the characters seems well thought out and reasonably likable. I found it entertaining and continued onward.

It goes all downhill from there. The plot starts out strong and then begins failing very quickly. There is a massive amount of what I would claim is filler and you really cannot see much progression at all in the story throughout the entire 1st and 2nd series. (I just found out that the third was canceled >_<)

Basically you could skip episodes 10-47 ish and still know whats going on. The part that really got to me was how often they would play a song while slowly moving frames across the screen to take up time during an episode. I know what the characters faces look like and I don't need to see close ups of them doing nothing for 10 minutes every episode. They never even bothered to come up with new songs, just replayed them.

If you can sit through 52 episodes of sameness and you enjoy that feel free to watch. I have nothing against the characters or the idea behind the show. It just seems to me that they never went anywhere with it. Maybe the manga is better, I wouldn't know. Hope this review is helpful and not seen as a hate thread. read more

***A word to the wise: You should probably only read this review if you haven't read the manga version. If you HAVE read it, and have an open mind, then my review will probably help too***

I've seen a few animes that have been based off of mangas [it seems like less and less anime these days are original] and it is very rare that the entire plot line will be in the anime. I was delighted with Itazura na Kiss because for the most part, it does follow the manga version very well, and the characters look the same in both anime and manga.
As for Tsubasa Chronicle, I have only glanced at the manga and never read it. However, I know how it is to read a manga, see the anime version, and be very disappointed. That is why I said if you have read the manga, you should probably not watch Tsubasa Chronicle, for you will be very upset. I know that it strays from it's original plot, but if you have just finished, say, Cardcaptor Sakura and want to watch the "next" thing, then I highly suggest Tsubasa Chronicle. Here is why.

Story: The story follows Syaoran and Sakura from Cardcaptors, but that is all they are. Their appearances are of a teenage Syaoran and Sakura, but their personalities are in no way the same, except that Sakura is still sweet. Syaoran does not still have that awkward temper of his from Cardcaptors, so when you are watching this anime you kind of forget who their original characters were [which is a good thing, because if you didn't, you'd watch the series very disappointed that Sakura isn't with Kero-chan whipping out Sakura cards with Syaoran trying to confess to her :p]. Anyway, Sakura has lost her memory through feathers that sprouted into wings out of her back, and Syaoran travels with the memory-free Sakura through different worlds to collect the feathers and return her memory. However, in exchange for being able to save her, Syaoran has to agree to let the memories of him be erased from Sakura's memory [and it is highly hinted that Sakura is in love with Syaoran, who, judging by his actions, is also in love with her]. So this time around, it is Syaoran fighting, and not Sakura. It's a good story, because traveling to different worlds is very interesting to watch. Instead of being like a normal plot line where you get a different world for every episode, they will stay in one world for around three episodes and develop characters in the other worlds, which I think is very interesting and nice, because normally anime only focuses on the central characters.

Art: Some people complain about the art. It is a little quick looking because their limbs are long lines with large hands, but I actually like it. It's a nice change from the usual super-detailed Clamp because it makes the characters move a little better and it looks a little more updated. I'm not saying it's the best ever, but it honestly doesn't bother me. There is still a lot of super-detailed Clamp things like the clothing, magical items, etc.

Sounds: The music is beautiful. It does get used a lot, the same thing over and over I mean, but all in all it's really pretty and epic. It's not something you'd expect from this anime, and I like the recurring themes so much I don't mind if they get played again.

Character: I personally like this Syaoran. He is a little predictable, but he is tough and fights with all of his heart to find Sakura's feathers, even though he has no motivation but to save her, since she has lost her memories of him. It is his love for her that makes him different from usual characters. He's not weak, he doesn't back down. All he needs is to look at Sakura and he is filled with the spirit to fight for her. Sakura, if you'll pardon me, reminds me greatly of Chi from Chobits when she loses her memory. If you watch the anime, you'll see what I mean. I half expected her to go "Chiiiiii?" every time she saw something like a bird or a new person. Thankfully, she doesn't go so far as to refer to herself in third person. She does, however, get the same happy, dazed looks that Chi gets, and smiles a lot which seems to turn even bad guys good. But hey, it's still Clamp after all. ;-] Sakura and Syaoran are also joined by Fai, who is a delightfully carefree magician that is so classic with Clamp because of his easy-going nature, and Kurogane, who is a tough warrior that works together with Fai and brings a lot of the comedy to the story. Mokona from Rayearth is also there, and he is just soooooo cute. :D You will see a lot of characters from other Clamp works, but be warned: THEY ARE NOT THE SAME. They only LOOK like their original characters, but their personalities are different. Although it has to be said...Yukito and Sakura's brother from Cardcaptor sort of hint at their original characters, especially when you see them in different worlds. :D

Enjoyment: So far, I'm enjoying it. Everyone said that I would hate it after I'd seen 10 episodes, but I am on 13 and still like it. I know I'll finish it. I mean yes, a lot of time is spent panning character's faces and doing flashbacks to the previous episode at the beginning of a new one, but if you skip it and just put up with a lot of zooming in on Syaoran's face, then you'll be able to finish it too. I have to admit, it is the worst zooming-in-on-a-character-to-use-up-time I've ever seen, but I just try to ignore it. But hey, I still look forward to each episode, so obviously it's not as big of a deal as everyone says it is.

Overall: Like I said at the beginning of my long review, just watch it if you haven't read the manga. It really is a good story if you just treat it like an anime and not an anime based off of a manga. Albeit the long pauses on someone's face, the repetitive themes, and the flashbacks, I'm still enjoying it. And I've given up animes before that were far worse. So give it a shot and try to finish it. ;-] read more

First of all I'd like to say that I have been a fan of Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE [ the manga ] since the beginning, I got out of it for a while and then got back into it and what did I find when I picked back up reading the manga? Well, I found out that TRC had been turned into an anime. I first I thought "Great! I can't wait to see everyone animated!" but what happened when I watched "Tsubasa Chronicle" was indescribable.

First of all the art was flat out BAD. The character's look like noodles and their expressions and movements looks labored and dorky. Second of all their voices aren't the best thing in the world. And worst of all, the thing that made me want to pull my large intestine out and hang myself with it was that Bee Train/NHK absolutely BUTCHERED plot. There is no excuse for what Bee Train and NHK did to a simply epic story. The anime was filled to the BRIM with OOC filler episodes that completely messed with the characters of Tsubasa and characters from crossover series. Bee Train/NHK shoved a whole laod of relationships that aren't supposed to be there into the series.

They actually went to the extent where they changed someone's past. It was an epic failure and yes: CLAMP themselves disowned the anime. Thankfully CLAMP has been working on a wonderful looking set of OVA's called Tokyo Revelations. I've seen pictures of what the animation looks like and I can say right now that the art of the OVA's is going to be phenomenal. No more overly scrawny characters. And the best part about the OVA's is going to be that they actually follow the correct plot. Bah. I REJOICE almost every day because season three of Tsubasa Chronicle was canceled. The anime is severely deprived of the true plot. Tsubasa Chronicle really does not reflect the true beauty and qualities that fans have been following in Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE for years. I was actually very dissapointed as I was looking forward to Tsubasa being animated, but alas, this is what I got.
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Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE, one of my favorite manga series. I was happy to discover that it had been made into an anime series, and after I stopped watching it after the first 16 episodes, I decided to pick it up again. Just finish the first season, was what I was thinking. After making my way through the last 10 episodes I needed to watch, I can say that I've been dissuaded from watching the second season and just sticking with the manga.

Story: The story is drawn out, and the series is riddled with fillers and random things that weren't true to the original manga. Things were added that were just there to fill in the episode, and the season itself. The plot is very slow-paced, with long pauses in conversations and unnecessary pans.

Art/Animation: The animation itself wasn't that special. However, the character designs were great, in my opinion; it was also bright and colorful, so that gets a plus in my book.

Sound: The OP and ED were good, especially the ED. Background music's by Kajiura Yuki; it sets the mood perfectly and just her music in general is perfect for the series. After reading the manga for so long, hearing the characters' voices was a little weird at first, but I got used to it and have to say that each voice was well suited for each character.

Character: Call me a CLAMP fangirl, but I love it when they crossover their characters. That said, a majority of Tsubasa's character are indeed, not original to the series. However, individually, they vary from world to world. Each character was kept pretty much the same as in the manga, so there's nothing wrong there. However, I feel like some of Syaoran and Sakura's relationship had a little altering done to it; it seems like the animators decided to hint not-so-subtly that Sakura is falling in love with Syaoran again. Whether it's true or not, this is a crucial part of the plot and changing their relationship makes this section lose a point or two.

Enjoyment: Lots of fillers make the plot kind of boring and very stretched out. Like I said before, when two characters are having a conversation, it seems like they're just trying to fill in the episode. There are long pauses in between statements, even right in the middle of sentences! It made some parts very annoying to watch, and had me thinking, "When will this be over?" Also, the fillers aren't that interesting to watch. I was disappointed to find out that the last episode of this season is also a filler! Although, I did enjoy the Outo arc.

Overall: The only thing really holding this series up is the characters. The plot is painfully slow; if you're ready to tolerate fillers in the series and fillers in the episodes, I say go for it. However, if you really need your share of Tsubasa, without all the filler, I recommend heading over to your local bookstore. read more

Seeing as I haven't read the manga for this show (or any manga for that matter) I won't be referring or comparing these two (as I hear that the manga is "way" better than the show).

Story:
To me the story didn't seem to be very great from the start. Basically in the first episode everything was put together and it felt rushed and was a very lazy way to introduce the characters and plot. Then after I watched further into the show I got even more disappointed as I found out that the style of Tsubasa was just a bunch of mini stories making up the show that didn't really develop the initial story. However, I did like how Tsubasa would come up with different ideas of the mini stories making it somewhat interesting to see what would happen next, except then I kept finding myself getting annoyed by the fact that none were very good and lacked interest.

Animation:
Well once again I still find that art/animation isn't very hard to accomplish with today's standards. Like most animes the animation was pretty much the same as any other anime. The characters were well drawn and the backgrounds were up to detail. There was one point where I felt I was watching an anime from the 90's because of the poorly drawn facial expressions and extras, but everything else felt normal as normal gets.

Sound:
This may be a little biased, but the sound was very corny at times. I know they were trying to be dramatic (or maybe romantic) by playing slow music during some of the episodes and it would have been good if they didn't do it for 5 times. After hearing it over and over again it became (to me at least) a joke. Like: "Oh god, now there doing a music montage and getting 10 different close-ups of everyones face." They could have done with a little variety of background music also, seeing as they were visiting different worlds that could do with more than just the same tune. As for theme songs I thought they were good and helped set the mood of the story.

Character:
Usually when I watch an anime there's always one character whom I wish would simply die and get out of the picture. In this show, although it was close at times, there wasn't really any characters I hated. When I first began to watch this show I already knew what the roles and personalities of all the main characters would most likely be and I was dead on for all of them except Sakura. I don't know if that is a positive to know what the characters would be like because then I easily predicted (and they were all so predictable) what each character would do and got bored of seeing the same thing happen. Predictability is no problem if the characters themselves are interesting which I found most to be. Also as a side note there were no supporting characters. For example if you see a new character and he/she leaves the picture then there outta there! FOR GOOD =)

Enjoyment:
I guess I could say this show had a bad start for me and if I would have only watched they first half then I would probably give enjoyment a 3. But then after a while I started to enjoy some of the episodes and thought that overall it was an ok if not good show to watch. Maybe its just me but, this show is too soft (this is coming from someone who likes gorey animes). Not great but not bad so I give it a 7. (6 to me is where I begin start to hating) read more

I will be firm in saying that nobody, NOT ONE OF YOU would have given this anime the time of day if it hadn't recycled characters from better anime.

CLAMP, in a move of sweeping lack of creativity, decided to make another franchise by reusing their old characters. I gotta say, smart move, CLAMP--your cash cow is ready to be chopped up and sold.

And this is what Tsubasa Chronicle is: a sell-out.

The story is bland and boring. Dimension-travellers bound together for whatever reasons, but you know, viewers won't care because they get to see Sakura and Shaoran or whatever his name is go gaga over one another once again and two yaoi-fodder guys vacillate between passion and disgust of one another.

The art was mediocre. It wasn't good, wasn't bad. Nothing special. Like the sound.

I cannot give the characters a good rating because they aren't characters. They are just themselves from the old anime transported to a new one to serve a purpose. They aren't developed, they aren't deep, it isn't good.

I was yawning and scratching a lot while watching this--that can't be good.

Overall, this is unfabulous crap. Don't watch it. Unless you're a CLAMP fan and you won't listen to me. read more

I went from Cardcaptor Sakura to this series, so overall I think I saw an improvement atleast in the maturity level. And though there were some things I found lacking I am going to continue to the second season.

Likes:
It is a really interesting story idea and I just love the chance to explore different worlds. The characters have some depth, unique traits and all set eachother apart nicely. Also, the interactions between characters is pretty amusing. Actually, the anime overall is pretty funny as well as being serious. It touches on issues that CC seemed to skirt around and actually makes you "feel" for the characters.

Disklikes:
There was a lot of potential, but as the story moves on it almost seems to get less interesting. I saw this in CC as well. Each episode's format is repetitive and that started to cause me to lose interest. Also, sometimes the expressions on the characters faces drove me nuts... during certain scenes they would appear placid, when I felt there should have been more emotion.

Overall, this anime is something that I enjoyed when I was bored. It was not something that I obsessed over or had to watch constantly until I finished the season. Yet, it does have a unique story and is an easy watch. I probably will not ever rewatch it, but it is definitely something I don't regret watching. read more

I haven't watched Card Captor Sakura, but I heard that both these series are serialized by Clamp and both have main characters. But I do not know how alike they are in attitude. What I do know is that both have the same facial features. As such, the art has no originality, though, they were created by the same animators, in the end, you can't help but correlate both characters.

Storyline wise, traveling to other worlds is interesting, but it doesn't keep the audience hooked, in my case that is.

The art would be difficult in my own opinion, since it would take a lot of brain storming to create a different kind of world. And having succeeded at doing it, Clamp is worthy of praise.

Music, I believe stands out in this series. I am a lover of classical, opera and chorale music and using such genre appealed to me. Unfortunately, playing the same music that stand out, over and over, in the long run became annoying to me.

Like I said, some of the characters have no originality. But since this is a crossover between Card Captor Sakura, maybe they intentionally did it.

Enjoyment. I did enjoy it, but not to the point where I would hang out with it over time. I watched it because I have no other thing to watch.

Overall, I give it a 7.6. This is mainly because it did not cater to my age range. Although there are shojo productions out there that were outstanding, this was just mundane. I'd recommend this to teens aged 10-18. read more

Story: 4/10
Tsubasa Chronicle is about a Princess, (Sakura,) and her true love. (Syaoran.)
Sakura looses her memories, which are in the form of, “Feathers,” and when they spread through the different dimensions, the Princess’ Brother and Magician send them to someone for help.

They are sent to the, “Dimensional Witch,” who will supposedly aid Syaoran to find his Princess’ memories back so she will not die.
A Master Swordsmen is also sent at this time to The Witch against his will, to find the meaning of, “True Strength,” while A Master Magician willingly sets off from his world to escape it.
The Four of them are sent off by the Witch to different worlds in hopes each of them will receive what they desire.

The story started out pretty good, but then it wound up a little repetitive, “I must find Sakura’s feathers, no matter what!” now, I can understand that as a jumping off point, but when entire episodes are based in one world looking for a single feather, and when the characters don’t seem as dedicated as they say they are, it’s a little disheartening.
On top of that, it was pretty mild in terms of fighting, and when you have A Sword Master, (Kurogane,) and A Master Magician, (Fai,) it’s almost a slap in the face to NOT have their skills put to the test.
There were a couple good episodes though, Episode 40, “Black Steel,” I will say is one of the better ones, but, "A couple," out of so many...
The other problem with the story is it never really ends, it carries over to the second series, but even then it leaves off at a completely awkward spot, never officially ending, in either part of the series.

Animation: 7/10
The Art was probably the high point in the anime; I enjoyed how lovely everything was. It was very mystical, the way it should be.
Music: 5/10
The music by itself is very lovely, very well composed, well done.
But in the Anime itself, it’s overused, and rarely used in the appropriate context.

Voice Acting: (Dub) 8/10
I can not say that the voice acting was ever bad, which is why I’m giving it an 8.
However, there were rare opportunities to showcase the actors’ talents, which is a shame. because FUNimation gave the series a very good cast. (Vic Mignogna as Fai, Christopher Sabat as Kurogane, Monica Rial as Sakura, etcetera.)

Characters: 6/10
Well, the extra characters are faces of CLAMP’s universe, but despite that, hardly ANYTHING is said about ANY of them, sad. Syaoran and Sakura are obvious alternate versions of Cardcaptor Sakura’s main characters, despite that they did a good job on giving them life.
Fai and Kurogane were the real reason I was watching the series, they are probably some of CLAMP’s best creations.
But I wanted to know more about them, they were developed enough to get the series going, but that’s it.
It takes until the end of the second series to even get more then a wink of Kurogane’s back story, and Fai’s back story was not even mentioned, aside for the reason he hesitates to return to his own world.
Too bad, the back stories of Fai and Kurogane in CLAMP’S original Manga, were very dramatic and heart-wrenching, leaving out so much made it harder to get close to the characters in the end.

Over-All: 5/10 (Average)
It’s a bit of a disappointment, it starts off well, but fails do to lack of depth, action, and character development.
Tsubasa Chronicle is really, “A Shadow of what it could have been.”
CLAMP is great at story-telling, but sadly, the anime did not live up to its potential.

Link to Full Review: http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/SpeedyAlchemistReviews/737258/ read more