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Japanese title
ツバサ RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE
Manga-ka/Author
CLAMP
Genre
drama, romance, action, supernatural
Volumes: 15+
Distributor: Del Rey & Tanoshimi
Classification: U
Originally serialised in
週刊少年マガジン
Weekly Shounen Magazine
Rating
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All is well in the Clow kingdom. The people are happy, and the princess, Sakura,
is well-loved. By permission of King Touya, excavations are being carried out
upon the ruins just outside the city. These excavations are being overseen by
Syaoran, son of Fujitaka, following the untimely death of his father.
Syaoran is a particularly good friend of the princess, Sakura, and in fact, the
two are hiding feelings for each other. Sakura plans to tell Syaoran how she
feels and visits the excavation site, but suddenly she is rendered unconscious
by a mysterious event in the ruins as masked soldiers attack. Syaoran rushes to
her side only to discover that she is unconscious, and worse; the chief priest
Yukito tells him that her memories have been lost.
Yukito sends Syaoran and the unconscious Sakura across time and space to the
dimension witch, Yuuko. She tells Syaoran that he must gather the feathers
(Sakura's memories) or Sakura will die. Two strangers from other worlds, Fai and
Kurogane, appear, and Yuuko agrees to send all four of them to another world in
return for that which is most precious to them. Kurogane hands over his sword,
Fai his magical tattoos, and Syaoran - his relationship with Sakura. This will
mean, even if they find all Sakura's feathers, she will never be able to
remember Syaoran from before the incident. Syaoran agrees, and Yuuko gives them
Mokona, a strange creature with the power to travel to other worlds. And so,
they travel to their first world, where a feather is waiting to be found.
Together, the five travellers search from world to world for Sakura's feathers,
solving mysteries and battling foes in order to reach them. However, they are
unaware of the fact that they are being watched.
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If you're a CLAMP fan, you will have already recognised most of the names in the
above passage; indeed, many of the characters in Tsubasa are from CLAMP's
many other series.
This, of course, has made Tsubasa one of the most sought-after manga
(especially if you like CLAMP). The art style that CLAMP adopted with this
series and with its sister, xxxHOLiC (which follows events from the
perspective of the Dimension Witch Yuuko and her assistant Watanuki) is a stark
change from their usual rounded style, but fits this series well.
Personally I like Tsubasa because I am a CLAMP fan and it's fun spotting
all the characters in their new roles. However, this series is well-written and
should attract most manga fans; while it is officially
shounen it
has universal appeal.
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Manga
I'm quite confused as
to which company is producing Tsubasa, as I have volumes published
by both Del Rey and Tanoshimi. Regardless, this series is incredibly popular and
shouldn't be hard to find.
Anime
Not long after its
manga release, work on the Tsubasa anime series began in earnest. The
anime is now into its second season in Japan, together with a film release,
Torikago no Kuni no Himegimi (Princess of the Birdcage Kingdom). The
anime series is scheduled to be released in the West in May 2007.
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