Tsubasa Volume 1: Gathering of Fates
Hawkeye
The young archeologist Syaoran loves his child hood friend Princess Sakura and she too loves him. They’ve had a happy child hood and are now grown, all seems right in the world and soon they will confess their feelings for each other and be wed. But fate has another darker plan for this happy couple, and dark plots arise as Princess Sakura discovers a power awakening in her that causes all of her memories to escape from her body. Now Syaoran must travel across different worlds collecting her memories piece by piece to save her life though he does not have to go it alone as his destiny intertwines with two traveling companions from different worlds.
Clamp loves to do complicated plots, they love to twist story lines and give the viewer mysteries to figure out, Tsubasa is no exception to this. It starts out simple enough, with a princess who is destined to be with a child hood friend. But princess Sakura hides a strong power in her that leads her would be chosen one on a tragic quest to regain her memories and save her life. But even more complicated are the deep plots hiding under the surface, the advisor who seems to know about the future, and strange traveling companions as the two make their journey across different worlds. This is just the beginning of what’s going to be an utterly fantastic adventure.
The art an animation was exactly what I expected it to be, utterly breath-taking and extremely well done. When I think anime made by Clamp I expect it to be pretty and Tsubasa didn’t disappoint. Not only that but this series takes the designs of characters from their other series and gives them new names and new clothes, and occasionally even a bit more adult look, like Syaoran and Sakura from Card Captor Sakura. Clamp fans are going to have a blast seeing familiar faces and trying to remember where each of them came from, and if you’re new to Clamp don’t worry you’ll still thoroughly enjoy this well animated show.
The voice acting was good, though I compared it to the Japanese ones and I have to say that while Sakura sounded better in English, Syaoran sounded better in Japanese. Though his English voice was pretty good too. The music was also spectacular, almost a techno Arabic feel to it that really got my heart pumping during the action scenes. However this disc was lacking in wonderful extras. For something that is surely going to be a fan favorite it would have been great to get some interviews with Clamp or commentary on an episode or two. That isn’t to say that there were no good extras like Cast Auditions and a World Guide, but over all I was disappointed by what they put in.
This series is going to become a classic, it’s going to entrap the hearts of new viewers and completely satisfy the old ones. Clever, fun, serious and heart felt, Tsubasa is a must see for this years new releases.
Entertainment: 10
It’s everything I want as far as story, art and sound.
Technical: 9
It was perfect except for the extras.
Overall: 10
DVD Features: Episodes 1-5, English, Japanese with English Subtitles
DVD Extras: Cast Auditions, Character Guide, World Guide, Faces in the Crowd: Cameos from the Clamp Universe, Textless Songs, Trailers
