Title: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE: TSUBASA
Volume: 1 (of 6+)
Creator: CLAMP
Format: Unflipped
Original Publisher: Kodansha Ltd.
US Publisher: Del Rey
Release Date: 4/1/04
Pages: 208
ISBN: 0345470575
MSRP: $10.95
Genre: N/A
Rated: T (Ages 13+)
Description: SAKURA AND SYAORAN RETURN!
But they’re not the people you know. Sakura is the princess of Clow—and possessor of a mysterious, misunderstood power that promises to change the world. Syaoran is her childhood friend and leader of the archaeological dig that took his father’s life. They reside in an alternate reality . . . where whatever you least expect can happen—and does. When Sakura ventures to the dig site to declare her love for Syaoran, a puzzling symbol is uncovered—which triggers a remarkable quest. Now Syaoran embarks upon a desperate journey through other worlds—all in the name of saving Sakura.
Contains Chapitres 1-5:
- Honorifics
- Chapitre 1: The World of Beginnings
- Chapitre 2: The Price of Memory
- Chapitre 3: The Wings of Hitsuzen
- Chapitre 4: The Strength to Fight
- Chapitre 5: The Instant of Awakening
- Letter from the Editor
- About the Creators
- Past Works
- Dramatis Personae
- Translation Notes
- Preview of xxxHOLIC
- Preview of Tsubasa Volume 2
Review:
Cover: As you must know, this title was one of the first four titles that launched the Del Rey Manga line, and with its release, we have yet another company who will surely be promising with its future releases based on these first four volumes.
The cover of Tsubasa is a masterpiece. It almost is identical to the original Japanese volume. The front has the volume number on the left upper corner, followed by the series title next to it. I prefer Del Rey’s version of the series title rather then the original as it stands out more. Under the series title we have the mangaka in white text. The bottom of the cover, extending from the right side, is a little red bar which has a small blurb stating that this series is “new from the creators of Chobits.” The main image on the front cover is the same as the original. It has Syaoran protecting a distressed Sakura. The image is a little bit better from the original as there is more of a darker contrast to it, bringing the characters emotions more out from the expressions they are showing.
The spine is well done as well. From top to bottom we have the Del Rey logo, done in Japanese katakana, an image of Sakura taken from the front cover, the series title, the volume number, the mangakas, and the Del Rey logo again, this time done to their traditional logo used on all of their other releases.
The back cover has a background image taken from one of the panels from the manga itself, except it is done in green and black, with one of Sakura’s memories swirling around it. The top of the back cover we have a heading which states “Sakura and Syaoran return,” relating to the return of these characters to the manga world (they were originally in the manga and anime series Cardcaptor Sakura). Below that we have a summary of the volume.
As a whole, this cover was done very well. I enjoy looking at it, and sometimes that is hard to say for certain series. Del Rey did a great job for the cover for one of their first manga volumes, which is impressive for it being one of their first.
Artwork: The artwork from Tsubasa is an exact transfer from the original version. A lot of people have complained about this title having grainy artwork or to rigged, when this is how it exactly looks in the original Japanese volume.
CLAMP’s artwork always impresses me. If the story lacks, the artwork will always bring up a positive.
Translation: The translation is very accurate to the original. I had no problems at all with it. They even left “chapitre” as “chapitre” and did not change it to “chapter.” Honorifics are left intact and no name changes were made at all. SFX were also left in the original form, which means that the artwork suffered no damage from the translation.
Extras: Tsubasa V.01 comes with plenty of extras to keep everyone happy. First thing it comes with is the colored pages that were included in the original release in its weekly anthology serialization, as well as the Special Edition volumes. The color pages are quite nice and it is cool to be able to own a reasonably inexpensive manga volume, which in volume format in Japan, the Special Editions can cost you a pretty penny.
Del Rey also included quite a few of their own unique extras which were very pleasing to me. Before the actual content of this volume begins, we are introduced to a page explaining what “honorifics” is and what the prefixes mean attached to the ends of characters names.
Another addition Del Rey added was a short essay on one of CLAMP’s past works, Cardcaptor Sakura, which is a nice little piece which can be very helpful in understanding a little bit more about CLAMP, as well as the story of Tsubasa.
Next we have another original addition by Del Rey, which clues the readers on characters in this volume that appear in some of CLAMP’s other works. Tsubasa is one of CLAMP’s titles that deals with major crossovers between the “CLAMP Universe,” so this section can come quite in handy when trying to find out which characters come from which series (I myself am a big CLAMP fan because of the whole crossover fetish CLAMP has with putting old characters in newer series). There are a few characters that were not pointed out, but I am sure you can figure it out once you buy this volume, or if you have it already then you know what I mean. One note though that would have been nice to add is that Miyuki-chan is in the Tsubasa series, but can easily be overlooked. She shows up in this volume running around the background, as well as a few other volumes of the series. It is a little like “Where’s Waldo?” Can you find Miyuki-Chan?
We also have some translation notes that were added by Del Rey, so the readers can get to know a little bit more about certain topics or words that are brought up and wouldn’t be understood by the typical reader.
Since Tsubasa crosses xxxHOLIC in V.01, Del Rey decided to do a mini preview for xxxHOLIC, to try and seduce its readers into buying the other series. Nice couple of pages to get people to want to buy it.
Last, Del Rey decided to put in a preview of V.02 of Tsubasa, but the only thing is that it is entirely in Japanese.
The extras were very overwhelming and a very nice addition. They were also very helpful at times, and I hope to see future volumes with material just like this, maybe even better.
Content (Warning: May Contain Spoilers): Where do I start with this series. Well first it is a CLAMP series. It is also one of their newest series. But what makes this title stand out against CLAMP’s other works is that it is a crossover series that spans across every series they have ever made. CLAMP is known for its art and its crossovers, and when they decided to make a series that crosses all of their series boundaries, there was no way I was going to miss out on it.
RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE: TSUBASA, or Tsubasa for short, begins with two characters, Syaoran and Sakura from the Cardcaptor Sakura series, in a very close love relationship. Both characters are in love, but can not be in love because they are from totally different classes of society. One night, Sakura becomes entranced and ends up in a coma. Her memories are removed from her soul, and Syaoran decides to go on a quest to find Sakura’s lost memories.
Syaoran is brought to the Galaxy Witch, aka Yuko from xxxHOLIC, where she tells Syaoran that he can find Sakura’s memories, but their would be a price to pay; he could find all of her memories except for the memory that Sakura had of him. Syaoran agrees, but before he leaves on his quest, two more people arrive, Kurogane, a warrior trying to return to his own world, and Fai D. Florite, a magician not wanting to return to his own world. The three of them, as well as Makona their guardian, from Magic Knights Rayearth, are transported to a new world, the Hanshin Republic, where they are left to find the first part of Sakura’s memories.
In the Hanshin Republic they run into many other CLAMP Characters such as Sorata and Arashi from X/1999, and Rayearth and Sang Yung from Magic Knights Rayearth I and II.
By the end of the first volume we are left with out characters in a dire situation. I will not say much more as I want some of this to be a surprise.
As far as V.01 of the series go, it starts off slow with introductions, and then begins to pick up towards the later part of the volume. It was a very enjoyable read for me, but if you are expecting for a lot of action, don’t expect it until V.02.
Objectionable Content:
- Language: No
- Violence: Yes
- Nudity: No
- Sexual Situations: No
Score:
- Cover: 10/10
- Artwork: 10/10
- Translation: 10/10
- Extras: 9/10
- Content: 9/10
Overall: 10/10
Original Review Date: 6/18/04
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