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Tsubasa : RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE

Tsubasa : RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE

List Price: $10.95
Your Price: $8.21
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The First Tsubasa Review
Review: As one of Del Rey's premiere manga titles in the US, Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE is quite a nice start. Basically, its story involves alternate universe versions of *MANY* different charactes from previous CLAMP series, along with new characters original to this particular comic, as they hop from parallel world to parallel world on their long-ranging quest, ala Sliders. The story is well told and translated, though a bit overly quick at times. Of course, multiple universe spanning stories like Tsubasa do tend to move at a faster pace than other adventures, so it's not really too surprising, just an issue of pacing that one can easily adjust to. As for the art, it too is quite nice, but, as is traditional for CLAMP, it can get quite busy and hard to interpret at times, most notably in action scenes. If one is used to CLAMP's art style from their earlier works, it shouldn't be a big deal, but people new to them might find it confusing. Also, for some reason, the character designs seem slightly different from previous titles of theirs, such as Magic Knight Rayearth and X/1999. Whether this is due to a gradual change in their artwork, or a switch in who exactly does the penciling among the CLAMP team itself, I cannot say. Regardless, the art quality is still most acceptable, especially once one adjusts to its more hectic traits. Surprisingly, the book also comes with a number of extras, such as a preview of xxxHOLiC and the next Tsubasa GN, as well as notes about the Japanese language and the various characters in the series. I'm glad that this trend is spreading to so many graphic novels in the US now. Ultimately, the only reason I didn't give the debut of Tsubasa a perfect five stars is due to the paper stock used in its printing, which is slightly rougher than that of the usual GN. If Del Rey can upgrade the paper quality a bit in the future, it would erase my only real qualm with this release, and even that qualm is relatively small. All in all, I am happy with the final product, and look forward to more of Tsubasa in the future, among other titles from Del Rey. Pick it up if you can :)

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Tsubasa: RESVoir CHRoNICLE
Review: At first I thought I was dodging a bullet by avoiding this series. At first I was annoyed that it was included as a cross-over plot with XXXHolic. Obviously, at first, I didn't know what in Sam-Hill I was thinking!

While I have no background on the CCSakura series except for some brief glimpses of the Saturday Morning butchering of the Anime. I think that I have been able to grasp the connections of the characters relative to this story. At first I was worried that the only way this story could be enjoyable is if I could experience some nostalgia from older Clamp series. Considering that I have only read Chobits, I was prepared for a certain level of dissapointment when Chii appeared with furry cat ears. Now that I have actually read the story... I find I had nothing to fear.

Although the relationship between Sakura and Syaoran is introduced in a meager 12 pages, I was still able to grasp the sense of innocent love beyond social barriers type of story quite easily. Which makes some of the later events of the story (especially on Vol-2) much more painful to observe. I enjoy finding stories that don't require me to choose between drama and action. This series carries a fair balance of both.

The combination of Kurogane, Fai, and Mokona make for most of the comedy. Fai, taking on a role not unlike Yuko in XXXHolic as being the wisest and most carefree person in the group. His constant pestering approach to the more intense Kurogane cracks me up every time. I can almost hear the shrill voice that would be used on Mokona if this series was ever animated. Hopefully if Sakura awakens from her sleep her character will be fleshed-out a bit better. I'm looking forward to seeing how they all deal with taking care of someone who is basically an amnesiac. The idea that she will be able to recover every memory except one also adds a hint of bitter-sweetness to the story that makes me almost fear reaching the conclusion.

This will definately be another series that I plan to follow to the end.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Not just for Card Captor Sakura Fans
Review: But it is much cooler if you have experienced some of CLAMP's work before. many of the characters are pulled out of other manga and used in this new story. For example, Chii from Chbits has cat ears and is is guarding Fai's world; and Sorata and Arashi from X/1999 are married and living in another world where the threesome travel to. Mokona is also used rather creatively, I'll admit, but that still doesn't mean i like mokona. (Especially now that it can talk...)
5 star artwork, and it did make me laugh once or twice, but lacks creativeness of story and some of the uniqueness of their other works, I guess you can understand why.

i wish, though, that someone would tell me why it is spelled in half capitals...?

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Tsubasa, a winning name!
Review: CLAMP is known for their many great titles -- "Cardcaptor Sakura", "Angelic Layer", "Chobits", "X", "Magic Knight Rayearth", "RG Veda", & "Miyuki-chan in Wonderland" (and I think a few more). So the four ladies that make up CLAMP came up with an idea. What if they created a new manga title in which alternate universe versions of their popular characters from other series came together in a massive crossover title? That idea became "Tsubasa". At the same time CLAMP created a 2nd new series called "xxxHolic" in which one of the main characters, the powerful 'space-time witch' Yuuko, would play a supporting cameo role from time to time.

The main characters in "Tsubasa" are Syaoran-kun and Sakura-chan from "Cardcaptor Sakura". Sakura is a teenaged princess in the land of Clow and Syaoran is a teenaged boy who is following is father's footsteps as an archaeologist. Both are attracted to each other and have known each other since childhood, but Syaoran feels uncomfortable with the idea of being involved with a princess. When Sakura's powers mysteriously awakened one evening, she sprouts wings which then disappear taking Sakura's memories and leaving her an unconsious, empty shell. Fearing the worst, the mage Yukito sends Syaoran and Sakura to "our world" where the powerful space-time witch Yuuko resides.

There they are joined by two new characters, the wizard Fai (who created Chi from "Chobits" in his universe) and the ninja-warrior Kurogane, who serves the Princess Tomoyo in his universe. Each has a reason to see Yuuko-san and the need to travel. For a very high price, Yuuko grants their wish, but one of the catches is that they are forced to travel together.

Thus Syaoran and his new companions begin their journey to a universe where two main characters from "X" reside. There, they must do battle with powerful, seemingly magical street gangs as the look for a feather containing some of Sakura's memories.

As to the story, I love the idea of such a massive crossover. Fortunately, one doesn't have to have read or seen any of CLAMP's other titles to enjoy this because it is new and doesn't base anything on what happened in their other titles. That said, you will enjoy this more if you know CLAMP's other works. The story in "Tsubasa" is interesting and Yuuko's character was so interesting, I had to check out "xxxHolic" to see more of her. She's pretty cool.

As for Del Rey, when they got into the manga business, I wasn't impressed. After all, we had enough publishers in the business, most of whom could care less about things like unflipped art (though that's all changed now), Japanese honorifics, Japanese culture, or keeping the translations undomesticated. TokyoPop had been the only company to remotely show any interest in keeping it real ("Fruits Basket") and many of their titles (like "Chobits") had problems. Further, when Del Rey said they'd be censoring "Negima!", I just knew this company would be bad and I wasn't going to buy anything from them.

However, I was interested in reading "Tsubasa" because of Syaoran and Sakura. Someone informed me that the title would be to my liking, meaning it would have all of the Japanese honorifics. So, I went to the bookstore and saw that this was not only true, but Del Rey's reasons were the ones I'd always argued for keeping them in the English text. Futher, Del Rey provided the best extras ever I have ever seen in a manga title. They included a page telling about "Cardcaptor Sakura". Then they included a section explaining various characters seen in this volume of "Tsubasa" and what previous CLAMP series they came from. Finally, they included translator notes which explained certain Japanese cultural references.

As such, Del Rey has immediately become my favorite manga publisher. Since the story in "Tsubasa" is interesting, I'll have no troubles buying this series whenever the new volumes are published.

Bottom line: CLAMP fans will certainly want to read this title. Manga fans who like their manga easy to read, yet undomesticated and contain the Japanese honorifics will really appreciate Del Rey's work here.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I bought it before you did!
Review: I must say, I love this book! And of course the ones that follow it in the series. I bought Tsubasa a LONG time ago in the original Japanese. My freind (who has nothing to do at all) Is still translating the first volume for her enjoyment. The artwork is beautiful as always. Cute girls, hot guys, random characters (well when you don't knoe Japanese EVERYTHING seems random) it is a 70000000000000 out of 5!

Best part? You don't need to know ANY of the characters! Sure read the other CLAMP works, but it doesn't matter, everything is explained in the book, and almost nothing is the same as the series that the characters originate from!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Really Faithful Translation
Review: I read translations of this and I was surprised at how faithful this was to it. I was afraid Del Rey would Americanize the translation but they didn't! I would suggest buying this.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Couldn't put it down!
Review: I was extremely happy to read this book, and see my favorite Clamp characters back in action. I have not read all of Clamp's previous works, except for Cardcaptor Sakura and Chobits. But it isn't necessary to be familiar with all of them, the story is entertaining nontheless. Sakura and Syaoran still seem to harbor feelings for each other, but they are much more grown up now. They are different Sakura and Syaoran than from CCS, but they have the same basic personalities as before.

Too bad Sakura couldn't get more lines in this first volume. I'm really looking forward to getting my hands on the next volume!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Amazing!
Review: I wasn't exactly excited when this manga first came out, since I'm leery of crossovers of any kind. They usually mean that the people producing the crossover have run out of ideas and are just sticking their older, better characters into the story for lack of original material. Not to mention that I've become rather tired of CLAMP lately, having not been a fan of their newer series to date! Fortunately, TSUBASA turned out to be much better than I expected, crossovers and all. The artwork is different from older CLAMP works - it's more sketchy, and somehow slightly less detailed, but in a way that really appeals to me. It looks unique and adds to the feeling of the story itself. The book moved quickly and effortlessly, and the mood is mostly serious, but sometimes there are little touches of humor to lighten the mood (and it actually makes me laugh, something most jokes in manga seem unable to do). The crossover aspect is actually quite smooth and the crossovers don't seem "just tossed in", for the most part; they don't interrupt the story's flow.

If there's one nitpick I need to make about this manga, it's all in how Del Ray handled the release. It's a gorgeous book, but the paper quality is a little rough, which means that the quality of the images isn't so great. Large areas of black ink are especially problematic (some areas are darker than others or flecked with white where the ink doesn't seem to have stuck). Also, TSUBASA will set you back $10.95 instead of the seemingly universal $9.99 most people have grown used to. But these are small complaints, and really, the manga is worth the price and worth getting despite those issues.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This starts a spectacular adventure.
Review: Now if you are familiar with CLAMP, you'd know about this series Cardcaptor Sakura, xxxholic, Magic Knight Rayearth, Chobits, etc. Well, when the Cardcaptor Sakura series ended, apparently CLAMP wanted to do something new, and I'm so happy they did.

One of the main things in this book is going to different dimensions, and when you do, you go into different worlds of series that CLAMP has already created ^-^!!! Isn't that cool? For example, you could travel to a world where there are characters from X.

Anywho, about Cardcaptor Sakura, Sakura and Syoran {yes, that's them on the cover} may be in this series, but they're not the same people you know from Cardcaptor Sakura. The setting starts out in a kingdom called Clow. Sakura is the princess, the king is Toya, the high priest is Yukito, and Syoran is the leader of an archeological dig. *NOTE*- SOME ELEMENTS THAT ARE IN CARDCAPTOR SAKURA ARE IN THIS BOOK AS WELL. Anyways, when Sakura goes to see Syoran, an extraordinary thing happens!! What is it? No way I'm going to tell you, but it's the thing that will set Syoran on his journey to save Sakura. But he's going to have some company from Fai, a guy who's a magician and ruler of his country and Kurogane, a ninja who loves to fight. They each have a wish, so they have to give up the thing that is most valuable to each of them, and this is where xxxholic comes in. Yuko sends them on their journey.

I'm saying you should read this, and if you don't want to then you're stupid. You won't regret buying this series, trust me. If you're a fan of any of CLAMP's comic series, ecspecially Cardcaptor Sakura, then you should definately buy this, no questions asked.

Highly Recommended.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Good but totally confusing
Review: okay, i have to say, this story is pretty good. BUt...... It's SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO confusing! o_O It's not all bad though, and it's worth reading. It's just not one of my faves.


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