First Impressions: Tsubasa Chronicle – 08

Short Summary: Sakura wakes up in the middle of the night after having a dream about the world she’s from. The next morning, the group decides what to do. Chun Hyang takes Syaoran, Sakura, and Mokona to see Sorata and Arashi. Sorata recounts what happened the last time they tried to assualt the castle (several of them were sucked into a vortex at the castle gates). Chun Hyang remembers that her mother was taken away into a similar vortex. When the group approaches the gate, Sakura reacts to the feather inside of the castle and floats into the vortex inside the opened gates. Syaoran, of course, goes in after her. They arrive in a desert area and are watched by Ryoshi. He rains fire and then rocks down on them, but they manage to avoid them. They end up in a cave area with a lot of strange beasts. Syaoran is ready to protect Sakura, but Sakura instead embraces and sympathizes with them. They find out that the beasts are warped forms of the men who were sucked into the vortex from the time Sorata led an attack. A light comes down and says a bunch of stuff about how Sakura is God’s favorite daughter. Syaoran and Sakura emerge from their temporary prison outside the castle where Chun Hyang and the others are waiting. Inside the castle, the Ryoban calls upon a witch.

This wasn’t in the manga, but I like the way they’re developing the story. Come to think of it, Sorata and Arashi never appeared in this world (as far as I can remember) in the manga. I like the God’s favorite daughter bit that they extended over from last episode, but their release from the vortex seemed a bit Deus Ex Machina (though I did miss a lot of what the light in the cave said, so maybe this will get cleared up when I see the sub). I’m looking forward to the next episode, where they will actually enter the castle. Hopefully they contact Yuuko and get her orb that lets them in (instead of some other method the writers came up with). I say this because I love the xxxHolic crossovers. xxxHolic Vol. 2 Chap. 6 & 7 and Vol. 3 Chap. 1 cover how Yuuko got the orb that she gave Syaoran’s group. It’s quite a good read, but then again, xxxHolic in general is quite a good read.