Anime: Tsubasa Chronicle

Story - 3
One word describes the entire series. Boring. Let me tell you why.
Too episodic with too little time, too many corners cut, and too many unnecessarily boring battles.

There are series out there that make great use of episodic arcs. An example would be One Piece. New characters, new mini story, new problem with every arc. The problem is Tsubasa Chronicles does not have the time to develop every set of new characters. This anime fits 4-5 episodic mini-arcs in a span of 26 episodes. THAT is short. I, for one, don't give a damn about a character or story unless you 1) are very very very good at giving me an emotional story that'll connect me to the new characters or plot or 2)spend a good portion of episodes dedicated to giving the character depth. The anime tried to go with 1) and failed pretty hard at it. The result is that each potentially great mini-plot means little to nothing to the audience. It doesn't help that they spend the majority of each mini-plot on bland battle scenes.

Secondly, there's almost no development in the main plot. Most of the time, nothing from these mini episodic arcs add anything to the main storyline - not even character development. It feels like you're watching Naruto fillers.

Thirdly, this series probably would've worked much better if they added in more comedy from the manga. -_-
Sound -9
The soundtrack for Tsubasa is one of the best I've listened to in anime. It was good enough to mask over the subpar storyline and make it seem passable. OP/ED aren't bad but also aren't particularly memorable.
Voices: There's nothing wrong with the voices (the voice actors did a pretty good job), but they are polite to utter annoyance. It's one thing to read the manga and internalize the dialogue. It's another thing to hear it.
Art and Animation - 7
I am a fan of Clamp's long-limbed, pretty (and round) faced characters. They're characteristic, memorable, and reminiscent of past series. :mymaster: So in my opinion, all hail Clamp art.
That set aside, settings are very well done and haven't been skimped on at all. They're beautiful.
Battles are not as well done. Maybe Beetrain was trying too hard to make the characters look 'cool' (or they cut out excess fighting movements for budgetary reasons), but besides the fun leaping movements, there's not enough fighting contact or dimension to the scene to make a battle look or feel worthy of paying attention to. There is a lot of dialogue to make XXXX character seem awesome during the battles, but no one gives a real damn because they cut the battle time in half to include the extra dialogue. Most battles are just a couple of slashes between opponents (which I wish they'd set the time aside for better setting introduction if the battles are done so blandly).
Character - 2
The 2 problems with characters in this series: 1) there's no character growth with the exception of Syaoran learning how to use a sword... 2) our two main characters have worst character archetypes in the world.

Fai and Kurogane are both interesting characters - the way they speak and act, their mannerisms. It's too bad that we don't get any background on them in the first season, and they don't do much except act as sidekicks for Syaoran.

Our focus in this series is instead directed to Syaoran and Sakura, who are unfortunately dull as white bread. They are both too stereotype-perfect. Syaoran is a hardworking, earnest, valiant knight and martyr who thinks next to nothing about sacrificing himself for Sakura. Moreover, unlike some stereotype-perfect characters in other anime series, there is nothing charismatic or enigmatic about him. There's no room for character development. Since that's the case, they should really focus him on getting physically stronger, but that doesn't happen either.

Sakura is a damsel in distress - who just grates my nerves. She's kind, sympathetic, and .... useless. But despite that, she never ever tries to do anything of real use in the series, and the other characters encourage that helplessness. Unlike Syaoran, she has room for development, but it seems that the author just doesn't want to do anything with it. It doesn't seem like she'll try to fight back anytime soon.
Value - 1
The series is too flat for value.
Enjoyment - 4
The soundtrack and setting are the saving factors for entertainment. The rest is sort of blah.

Tsubasa Chronicles (TC) is using on of the cheapest tricks in the book in order to sell: Crossovers! It appeals to your fondness of characters from past series in order to lure you in. And then it appeals to the fame those shows have because of their fandom in order to lure in newcomers who didn’t get to watch them yet are piqued by fame. As such, this is a title that was going to sell well no matter how bad its overall quality is; and since the producers and/or makers know that, they weren’t exactly motivated to try too hard to make something great in overall. Hey, if it sells why try harder?

Anyways, I am not fond of crossovers in general, since they are almost always terrible in conception and directing, with very poor excuses for bringing together characters from various different universes to fight some cardboard supervillain. The very heroes are treated as nothing but caricatures, used only as display of their special powers without ever revealing new sides of themselves or developing further. At the same time I do not reject the idea since over the years I have actually seen some good examples of this sort. The Kingdom Hearts games is one famous example, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie where they join forces from different series is another. Unfortunately, TC is not the exception but the rule of what makes crossovers damn tasteless.

The premise of the show is very catchy as you get to watch most CLAMP anime characters in various roles, trying to collect the lost memories of a princess and preventing a villain from taking over the multiverse. The initial episodes are actually very captivating as you not only get to see Sakura in the role of the princess of a magical kingdom next to the valiant Shaoran prince, having their romance about to bloom, you also see how an evil witch steals her memories in the shape of feathers (thus the name of the show) and various other characters from other realities need to join hands or antagonize them in order to progressively manage to collect it. That is all something very good to build a good story from.

Sadly, the execution of the idea is far from good, as the plot is basically the heroes going to some reality where they meet friends and foes in different roles each time. They have these almost simplistic adventures until they manage to find a portion of lost memories and move to the next world where the process repeats.
-Basically, the plot is separated into stand-alone arcs which despite the feeling of progress in making Sakura gradually returning to her normal self, are still disjoined from one another entirely. There are also some hints of the evil plan the villains set in motion in each arc but it is all too basic and hardly counts as an interesting mystery to follow.
- The plot is not the only thing that is done simply. The actual action is not good either as it is almost bloodless and without excitement, consisting of some boring choreography of characters standing still and exchanging special attacks.
- The pacing is also slow to the most part, as you need to tolerate several episodes where nothing much is going on, only to be rewarded with lukewarm showdowns with caricature villains.
- The very heroes are not really maturing or developing beyond their initial introduction, with the exception of Sakura because she turns to a mindless doll and gradually returns to her normal self. Although basically not even her is developing; just returning to her initial stage. All the rest are just shallow posers most of the time.

To be honest with you, CLAMP characters were never interesting for their development. It was always their attitude and the spicy premises that made all CLAMP related anime so interesting; something to do with a taboo romance, or the end of the world, or some really bloody showdown. Script-wise all these stories were very simple and even fillerish to the most part, yet the bold interactions and the dramatic or cute characters were enough to be likable to thousands. Well TC is nothing like that; it is boring, shallow, and uneventful most of the time. The famous characters we all liked are used here as noting but cameos with almost no personality, the story moves very slow and unexciting, and the action is juvenile. In fact, it was so boring that the third season was cancelled after the producers realised that the fans weren’t falling for it anymore (how I wish the same would happen for some perpetual on-going fighting shonens).

The artwork and animation are ok but are really bogged down by the slow plot and the bloodless violence which makes everything look boring to stare for long. Outside the fondness of watching your favourite characters’ appearance, they are mostly walking around slowly, talking a lot about things with little importance, and fight in really simple ways. Heck, even their facial expressions are dull, like they don’t even care for what is going on.

Music and voice acting are by far the best things in this show; the soundtrack is good enough in terms of romantic sadness to go buy it without a second thought, while the characters don’t sound irritating in their roles. Too bad most of what they were talking about was so boring.

Overall, this show has no value at all; it is shamelessly betting all its cards on our fondness of the other shows while doing very little to stand on its own feet and try to tell a good romance, show a spicy romance, an exciting battle, a captivating mystery, a uniformed setting, or something worth of our attention in general. Heck, it even resets the plot by taking away the memory again at one point, in order to further milk us with its dullness. This is just beyond lame. I do not recommend this anime as nothing else but a good example of how exploiting the mangaka can turn after they get rich and famous.

Personally, this is one of my favorite anime/manga.

[Animation] I like the style of this animation a lot, but it's not everyone's cup of tea. I haven't seen more than a few episodes of CardCaptorSakura, but I found it much more boring than this to be honest.

[Story] It's a bit lacking until the second season, though I recommend all of you read the manga if this first season doesn't meet your expectations.
I understand it better since I'm up to date with the manga from reading it on onemanga.com^^.

[Characters] Yuuko is a crossover from XXHolic while Syaoran & Sakura are from CCS. As for Mokona, I have seen Magic Knights Rayearth, though I watched it after I had seen this. Mokona I could take way more seriously in Tsubasa than in Rayearth...Fye & Kurogane are the only ones who are original characters and they are most interesting to observe.
[Development] mainly goes to Syaoran in the first season. Kurogane gets some in the second, and Fye isn't focused on until the OVAs.

[Music] Personally I loved all the music. the OP "Blaze" by Kinya is the most memorable song for me out of all the OPs . All four of the OSTs have nice memorable tunes.

[Value/Enjoyment] The filler episodes in the anime are very enjoyable regardless. I can watch this over & over while not being bored, but that's personal preference.

Tsubasa Chronicle is a mix of CLAMP works. The storyline seemed very cliched at first, but as i abandoned anime after its run of 52 eps, I began reading the original manga. First of all I got the impression that it won't differ too much...and i was wrong. . I will try to review differences and anime itself...so as to begin...

Animation&Art:
While anime had a decent-looking backgrounds and character animation, manga won in this category...First notable difference was gore and torn clothes. Anime amused my in this thing as I always wondered how even after getting burned by fire, the characters still retained their clothes. Manga did a better job...Every injury or hit or scorch is visually seen on clothes and body of character. Anime removed alot of elements(bodies, injuries, blood) who were the main stuff in creating a decent atmosphere. So, this leads to the comparison of art. I was yet again surprised by the fact, that Animators took freedom to "redo" some of the characters. While manga Sakura looked cute and young with messy hair and those different clothes, anime Sakura seemed a lot older in appearance(facial features, hair, eyes)...Other difference were character expressions. While everyone in anime seemed like drones without emotions, manga did a good job on displaying them. Watching anime i felt, as if the characters are completely uninterested in what happens...Still, even if manga did a way better job in art, anime animation is decent in first season...but, since it got alot worse in season two, so...6

Sound:
The only thing i really loved in this manga adaptation. Kajiura Yuki did a really good job on Tsubasa OST...Although i never really liked the opening&ending songs...so 9

Story
This is where anime falls down, while manga goes up...Anime just was way too much extended and fillerish...The entire first season(taking out filler eps) would fit into ~5 episodes. While anime used up the beginning material to create entire season, it was a mere few volume introduction in manga...Another bad thing in this anime was the atmosphere...I mean, the whole point of the first part of manga was the change of atmosphere. Tsubasa Chronicle is exactly that kind of thing, where atmosphere goes from happy and adventuristic to angsty and sad...Animators decided to omit this fact...The entire two seasons of anime were done in the style of first few volumes...So instead of atmosphere change, we got an adventure style boring anime...The other fact, which enraged the original mangaka, CLAMP, was the handling of the storyline itself. Animators took freedom to take out what they thought was "unnecessary" or "Inappropriate", and to put in something they thought will fit...They did very bad job here, because of this many characters seemed two-dimensional(the exact thing what would they seem if you would take out their expressions and famous lines out and put in some lame jokes). But the worst part of handling was the part called by original manga an "insult to their work"...yes, I am talking about second season...Animators got a little more brave...and changed the story direction...The "Library" arc, who was supposed to be a big "wtf" twist with very unexcepted ending was changed into traditional "adventure". I am talking about how they finished that arc...they basically omitted entire end of it and replaced it with some gross chibi-chimera saying that main characters aren't bad and that they helped the country(bah)...Maybe it will seem spoilerish, but the original ending was to be a lot more intense and emotional, with Library owners declaring tsubasa crew as criminals and launching all what they got at them(beginning with chimeras, phoenixes, witches and finishing with...acid sea)...The "Kurogane background" was toned down A LOT too, but, thankfully they had ALMOST everything right...and yet they did a mistake, which would come to haunt them(anime Kurogane ran in AFTER sword disappeared, while he was supposed to see it happening, which would later elaborate into his hatred for a certain person in tsubasa crew). The Last part of anime was horrible to say at least...Instead of angsty fight-filled post-apocalyptic world and biggest twist, for which entire first part was intended, we get some stupid "king" storyline...I am REALLY disappointed on how they "adapted" the story so...2(well they did something right after all...)

Characters:
This was downside to anime too...while Sayoran was supposed to have no "facial expressions"(for his future development), the other characters seemed like doll-copies of manga characters...Fai, who supposedly had to show off his sad side abit, was toned down into complete comedy relief. His scene of him standing in room filled with corpses at the beginning was "cleaned"...which removed a good part of his character foreshadowing...Kurogane was mostly the same as in manga, but he lost his phrases...and scenes...Animation studio did a really bad job on adapting characters...they seemed really "out of themselves", acting not how they were supposed to...Since, they still retained abit of Sayoran's and Kurogane's personalities...4

Value:
All i can say, that after reading the manga, hatred towards this anime began growing inside me...Everyone, i think, knows, how sad it is, to see your favorite characters getting butchered into cliches and plot getting destroyed...Anime has no value at all, but i recommend Tsubasa Chronicle manga, since its a way better entertainment and brain-food than anime adaptation...2

Enjoyment:
While i still enjoy the manga, anime was ruined by the things pointed out above...1

Overall
Don't ever begin watching this anime...if you want to see how storyline was INTENDED to be - read manga...

Not much to say as i agreed with all the reviews above me. For me after watching this I have lost faith in CLAMP. I haven't seen X yet but after watching this anime i don't know if i wanna see another Clamp work. First thing that dissappointed/pissed me the most was that in ever F'ing episode, there is a flash back almost ever 5 mins that consiste of stuff that happen the last 5 mins which is total BULL i tell u. It was amazingly boring. I was tired of that flashback shit. I distrust CLAMP's production and refuse to watch anything made by them. The only thing i see good is their animation work. I do not recommand watching this anime. If you to watch because of the characters i recommand Code Geass. CLAMP is doing their character animation. rating of seven meaning fine

Tsubasa Chronicle tells the story of a young boy's quest to recover the memories of his childhood friend, Princess Sakura one at a time by travelling to different worlds. Syaoran and Sakura (of Clow Captor Sakura fame) are joined by the "macho" swordsman Kurogane, the annoying pokemon-type creature Mokona (from xxxHolic) and the former wizard Fai.

If you think the premise of the group travelling to different worlds to find one of Sakura's memories at a time sounds tedious, you would be correct. The plot is incredibly boring, predictable, and tedious. Through 26 episodes not much actually happens, it seems that these 26 episodes are merely a preview or introduction into the series, merely giving basic character development to everyone but Syaoran.

Syaoran himself is an incredibly serious and focused character, and if he and Sakura were the only characters then the series' tone would be incredibly different. However, due to the pathetic and annoying antics of Mokona and the tired jokes among Fai and Kurogane (calling Kurogane Kuro-pin, Kuro-pun, Kuro-chan, and Kurogane being comicly angry gets really old really quickly) the series' atmosphere is ruined, in my opinion. If the series got rid of Mokona I think it would have been a lot more enjoyable.

Many side characters are introduced in each world, some of them being the alternate versions of characters in worlds our heroes have already been to or come from, causing some conflict or background information to be revealed. Also, Yuuko, from xxxHolic, plays a role as a Dimensional Witch who aids the companions in their quest.

The animation is an odd mix of beautiful background animation and the long-armed awkward character models, but it works for this series. The action scenes are suprisingly good, though the build up to the action acenes can get a bit tedious. The soundtrack is pretty good; nothing too special here though. The voice actors were ok as well; there wasn't really too much that was asked of them and no real acting was needed for anyone but Syaoran.

If this series were a stand-alone series, I would not recommend it, but as it stands, I am going to watch the sequel to see if the anime gets any better. As I stated, the series was a bit tedious at times, but I am interested enough to see where they are going with the plot so I will try out the sequel (hopefully it has less Mokona and less attempts at comic relief).