So today I’ll be reviewing a manga. Yes, the manga, not the anime. This is a story drawn by the mangaka group called CLAMP who also drew stories like Card Captor Sakura, XXX Holic, Chobbits and Code Geass. This manga was published for the first time on May of 2003 and it wasn’t until October of 2009 that it was finished. With all the fame that a sequel to Card Captor Sakura implied, it was in April of 2005 that the tv series was released… And here’s why my review is only for the manga, the broadcast of the series ended in November of 2006, almost three years before the manga was finished.

Those of you who have some information on the anime will say, “Oh, but the anime had two OVAs”. Yes, the anime did, in fact, have two OVAs. But the last one was published in May of 2009, five months before the manga was completed. So, as I said, the anime series still need to be finished.

So, as I said before, Tsubasa takes place after CCS, it’s a sequel. The thing is that even though the story is a sequel to CCS it’s happening in a completely different dimension. How, then, do this two stories intertwine? The answer is simple, Clow Reed. Apparently, after sealing Keroberos and Yue inside the Clow book, the most powerful magician of all did not die. Instead, he travelled to a different dimension and met with Yuuko Ichihara, does the name ring a bell? Yes, Yuuko is the witch that owns the store where Watanuki works in XXX Holic.

As you can see, the story is a kind of crossover between several of the stories created by CLAMP. But Clow isn’t the main character of the story. Just like CCS, in Tsubasa, Clow is but the reason why the story actually takes place. By a simple wish of a moment and because of his extraordinary power he accidentally creates the villain of the story.

What’s actually interesting about this story is the difference with all the stories I have ever seen or read. Our two main characters are actually Syaoran and Sakura, but they’re not the same characters as in CCS though the original Sakura does make an appearance towards the end of the story.

Anyway, Sakura loses her memories and in order to get the back, Syaoran travels through the dimensions looking for the feather-like memories with the help of three other companions apart from Sakura; Kurogane, Fye and Mokona.

One of the things I love about it, though I must admit I got sort of angry about it at first, is the surprises. First thing you need to keep in mind, that even though you think your reading thing in a chronological order, you’re not. And that, my dear friends, is AWESOME.

The best way to read this story is to read CCS for a little background information, and after that read Tsubasa and XXXHolic at the same time. Otherwise it’s kind of difficult to understand. Anyway, it’s not really necessary to do it. But if you want to completely understand it, you should.

Another interesting fact is that CLAMP just started publishing a sequel to TSUBASA RESERvoir CHRoNiCLE it’s called Tsubasa World Chronicle: Nirai Kanai-hen. Enjoy it!

I guess I’ll leave it at that. Until next time, I sign out…

P.S.: My favourite characters here, are Mokona and Fye… 😛

Luna von Schmilinsky