Reviews for Tsubasa Chronicle (6.48)

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...