Tsubasa Character Guide
Manga Book Review
Tsubasa is hard to describe, because it's kind of like "Crisis on Infinite Earths" in that it attempts to tie together the entire line of CLAMP universes into one cohesive whole.
However, this makes it an excellent starting point for anyone wishing to embrace the characters and concepts of CLAMP lore, as just about everyone is represented at some point in the series.
 To help make sense of it all, we gladly present the Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE Character Guide, Spanning the first seven graphic novels, this thrilling guide includes intriguing details about the characters, worlds, and mysteries of Tsubasa, including info on the popular crossover CLAMP characters that always seem to appear in the Tsubasa universe! It also features a brand-new Tsubasa short story, an interview with CLAMP writer Ageha Ohkawa, games and quizzes, a fan section, pre-production artwork, and more.
And yes, I know I'm dating myself by even mentioning "Crisis on Infinite Earths", but hey, I'm proving my comic-book street-cred.
Reviewed by Brian Cirulnick, April 2011
Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicles
Anime DVD Review
If you were a fan of Chobits or Cardcaptor Sakura, Tsubasa is one of the new animes that Clamp has out. If you've never heard of Clamp or you've never checked out their other animes/mangas like XXXHolic, Clover, Magic Knight RayEarth, Tokyo Babylon, Legend of Chun Hyang, or one of my favorites, Legal Drug, now is the time to start checking these girls out. Tsubasa is perfect for new comers; it gives you a great taste of the Clamp universe and gets you hooked without you even knowing.
 I don't even know how to begin describing Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicles. It's a strange little anime that just slowly and softly invades your life. Before you know it, you are wondering when the next DVD is coming out, not that you are impatiently waiting for it but you would like to see it when it comes out. Might as well start at the beginning, I guess:
At first, I thought, "Great, an anime that I get more bang for my buck." Our main character, Syaoran, is a young archeologist whose best friend happens to be the princess of the Clow Country, Sakura. Think young Indiana Jones being friends with Cardcaptor Sakura. As he explores the ruins that he is excavating, he finds a strange symbol. Out of nowhere, Sakura appears in front of him and wings sprout from her back. Something pulls her into the walls of the ruins and Syaoran rescues her in the nick of time. Unfortunately, her wings scatter into individual feathers and disappear into different dimensions. The High Priest of Clow Country realizes what happened and sends them to Yuko, the Dimensional Witch. He hopes that she will be able to help Syaoran and Sakura travel through all the dimensions that the feathers have scatter into because without them, Sakura has no soul, no memories.
 To pay Yuko for giving them the power to travel to different dimensions, Syaoran agrees that even if they retrieve all of Sakura's feathers, she will not remember who he is. Yuko has thrown two of her other clients in on the deal; she claims that everyone is asking for the same thing so they might as well all travel together. Kurogane, a rough tough ninja, wants to go back to the dimension that he was banished from. Fay D. Flourite, a powerful magician, wants to go to any other dimension except the one that he was originally from. Basically, she only has one Mokona Modoki, a little white fluffy rabbit looking thing that travels between dimensions, and she can't control which dimension that they end up in, so she bunched them up together to get everyone's request fulfilled.
So you must be wondering where the "more bang for my buck" is coming from, right? Guess where all the different dimensions that Syaoran, Sakura, Kurogane, Fay, and Mokona come from? That's right: Clamp universe! Yuko is originally from XXXHolic. Chi and Sumomo from Chobits pops up a few times. I think all the people from Cardcaptor Sakura shows up. Our heroes drop into Chun Hyang's dimension for a good few episodes as well as dropping into Magic Knight RayEarth's Princess Emeraude's dimension for a good old fashion Victorian ghost hunt.
 If that isn't enough, they eventually travel to Piffle World, which reminds me a lot of the world of The Jetsons. If you have never heard of The Jetsons (God, I'm oldÖ), think Futurama but cuter and more kid friendly. Tsubasa is THE gateway to all things Clamp! Even if you don't get what you want in one dimension, the next dimension that Mokona drop these guys into might have what you are looking for. Romance, danger, adventure, Victorian, futuristic, comedy, Goth, little maid outfits, cute, beautiful, cool, fantastic, kimonos, ninjas, robots, and anything else you can think of. Where else but Tsubasa can you get one story with so many taste tests of Clamp's other titles?
I think of Tsubasa as the soup base in hot pot. Throw some veggies or meat into there and still the soup is there. Throw some Clover or Chobits or XXXHolic into Tsubasa and Tsubasa is still its own story. You might not notice the soup while you are enjoying the veggies and meats, but what you really get to enjoy and what you really end up loving and missing is the soup: Tsubasa.
Reviewed by Carolyn Whu, March 2009
Below: Scenes from Tsubasa Tokyo Revelations.
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