Tsubasa Chronicle anime review
Let me start by saying something: There is no need to use the word "seiyuu." It means "voice actor," and there is nothing special about the word "seiyuu" that would merit using that word over the English equivalent, which is what we speak, by the way. Also, you don't need to add "-chan, -kun, -san" to people's names either. Just because you watch anime doesn't mean you know Japanese, and even if you could speak Japanese, using Japanese words or adding Japanese titles for no reason when speaking English is just pretentious (it also sounds really stupid). "I like the Japanese word better" isn't a good enough excuse.
Now, onto the review: I have only seen the first 3 episodes. The 4th episode is not out yet, but 3 episodes is enough to know if you're gonna like the show or not.
The story is set up nicely within itself. No knowledge of any other CLAMP works in necessary, but if you are a fan, you will be delighted to see characters from many of their mangas appearing in some form. I was doubtful of this amalgamation idea, but it works out very well with the story. The main character is Shaoran (spelled many ways, I use the Japanese spelling as I have not seen this subtitled and don't know how they spell it there). While he is from "Card Captor Sakura," this is very different. This is an alternate reality very fantasy-like where he is a humble archeologist, and Sakura is the princess of the kingdom (They are also in love, which is important). One of the ruins he was exploring apparently contained some weird power, because it drew Sakura too it, put her into a trance, and made her grow wings. When Shaoran tries to save her, her wings disappear into many little feathers and fly away. He is told by Yukito, the kingdom's high priest, that her memories are gone, and she will remain uncouncious until they are returned to her. The feathers that flew away are those memories. The problem is that the feathers flew into various other realities, so Shaoran is sent to Yuuko, the demension witch, to travel between realities to find Sakura's missing memories. At the same time, two others from different realities also arrive at Yuuko's place (they become his companions). Kurogane, a (seemingly) powerful fighter whose goal is to become stronger, so Tomoyo, the ruler of his world, sent him to Yuuko in order to make him more powerful. There is also Fai (someone may have spelled it differently), a more mysterious person. He went to Yuuko himself because he doesn't want to go back to his world for some reason (though not mention, the reason has something to do with Ashura). Yuuko tells them that they should all travel together to seek their goals, and gives them Mokona, who has the ability to send them to other worlds. Here's the kicker: In order to travel to other worlds, they must first surrender something important of theirs to Yuuko. Kurogane and Fai give away a sword and tattoo respectively (not sure what their importance is yet), Shaoran had to give up his relationship with Sakura, meaning that she would forget about him when her memory is returned. Seeing as she would die if her memories would not returned, Shaoran excepted that fate in order to save her.
Here is where the amalgamation thing works out. It is explained that in each reality, they may encounter people they know, but they may be completely different. Due to that, various CLAMP characters appear, but they may be nothing like they were in their original mangas/animes. This works because if you were thinking something like "Mixing xx with xx would be really stupid/not make sense," they can just change either of the characters around (alternate reality and all), allowing for almost any mix of characters without detracting from the fact that there's a story going on. Rayearth and Celes have appeared as spirits granting power to Shaoran and Kurogane (in that world, many people seem to have such spirits). I'm still waiting for some of my favorite CLAMP characters to appear sometime (Rayearth and Celes satisfied me a lot though).
The art, while nice, seems to lack detail (a lot of animes now do this), and it doesn't look very CLAMPish at times, but you can still recognize your favorite characters right away. The animation is nice and fluid, even though I didn't see much high-action yet that would show how far the animation budget went. The music works (I guess) for this kind of show, but it sounds decidedly different from other CLAMP anime soundtracks. Also, I know people are going to have issues with voice actors. It's no big deal. I heard compliants like: "Sakura and Shaoran have different voices! Oh No!" Considering they're in like grade school in CCS, and they're (what looks like) young adults in this, it's fine with me. I will have to admit that I do miss Mokona's old "puu" from the MKR series (this voice actor doesn't "puu" very well, I guess they were trying to go for the voice, since it talks in this one).
All around, I like this show alot, mostly because I'm a CLAMP fan, but it's hard not to be one. I may be sounding weird, but I feel that this show smacks of MKR a lot. you may think I'm weird, but consider the story and circumstances (3 unknown people appear together in an alternate world and being told they have to complete a long, tough journey together (And thye have Mokona with them). They also (as it seems) aquire powers of fire, water, and wind (along with the 3 mashin to go with them). I do think Rayearth when I watch this, they just use guys instead, and use multiple worlds instead of just one). Anyway, this series is probably being fansubbed now (I wouldn't really know, I watch them straight off TV). Definately a show worth watching.