Subbed / Tsubasa Chronicle

Short Summary:
Our heroes arrive on a desolate planet where a local woman tells of a temple in the sky. Their god spoke and said that he would grant one wish to whoever could reach inside the shrine, but all attempts so far have been thwarted by black foot soldiers who are apparently defending the place. Mokona senses a feather, so Syaoran and company set out, fighting the black guards, which Syaoran identifies as the same ones who attacked Clow Country before their journey began. Syaoran and Sakura are eventually separated from Fye and Kurogane, who volunteer to be left behind to fight their opponents. The two enter the main chamber, where Syaoran lets Sakura have the wish while he battles one last enemy. Sakura wishes for the lives of all the people who died trying to get to the shrine. They are all revived, and Sakura still gets her feather back. Having accomplished their mission, the four (plus Mokona) depart again to the next step on their long journey.

This episode has its ups and downs, but ends on a fairly good note. The plot isn’t terribly original, but it’s executed well and that’s what really counts. The quality of the fight scenes went up a notch, though the animation towards the end is a bit iffy. This is a completely unique story to the anime, since the producers probably didn’t want to start the next arc and then leave it hanging for half a year. The only thing that carries over from the manga is the letter that Yuuko sends.
Halfway through the episode, as soon as they got separated, I thought that they were going to end it on a small cliffhanger. Instead of Syaoran and Sakura being reunited with Fye and Kurogane before they leave, I thought that they would keep them separate and just let Mokona transport them all to the next world. Then they could skip the bunny world and arrive straight at Sharano country, where the group is separated anyway. But alas, that’s not now it happened (for better or worse).
But like I said, I’m pretty happy with the ending as it is. We have hints of darker things to come with the Syaoran-like figure in the tube inside of Fei Wong Reed’s lair. There are plenty of unanswered questions, and our heroes continue on their journey to find Sakura’s feathers. I found the Mokona preview spot to be a nice touch – a good way to close it all out.

Final Thoughts: Like its last episode, Tsubasa Chronicle is a series with plenty of ups and downs. It was highly anticipated when it debuted in April, but the first few episodes disappointed a lot of people. However, it starts to hit the right notes once it gets to the Outo arc late in the teens and that continues fairly strongly through the end of the first 26 episodes. And the saga isn’t done yet: from Sharano to Piffle, there’s many more countries to explore and lots of characters to meet. Look forward to the return of Tsubasa Chronicle next April!

21 Comments

  1. I have read the scanlated manga up to recent chapters by Be With You Scans and they still haven’t covered who the mysterious Syaoran look-alike is. I believe that this figure is Syaoran’s other half, due to the fact that he looks exactly like him and also the fact that Syaoran cannot see out of his right eye, while this figure’s left eye is clearly covered. It could be that at one point they plan on deceiving Sakura with this ‘other’ Syaoran, saying he is the one that is missing within her memories.

    Kira Takuto
    Reply

  9. go download in animesuki anyway. i didnt know u have tsubasa chronicle here ;D. hmm the next season it will be in april i think. u said hmm the first few episodes dissapointed a lot of people. hmmm….my opinion episode 1 was really good like final fantasy u know. one mage,warrior ect..but after they need to give their precious stuff i was dissapointed. oh well. i just really like the flashback so sad ;( lol

    AznSoulBoy
    Reply

  11. too sad that Funimation was already licensed this anime series and one of a fansub distributor of TRC gave a ceased & deceist order. And I don’t know if we could get more new episodes of TRC next year, but thankfully I’d finally got all 26 eps of the 1st season before the Funimation got their license. So screw that Funimation. (mad)

    animetv
    Reply

  13. i thought this ep was funny. especially the rentry XD. im curious to know if theyll build something on the fye-ashura front.
    and to the responce of getting the sub for season 2, im pretty sure that you can as FUNimation only lisenced season 1 😉

    SailorYue
    Reply

  14. Well, actually the anime disappointed me a little. Especially from the art. The design is too shoujo IMO, very contrast when compared to the manga. But do you know? Fans speculate that the Syaoran in the tube is really the “real Syaoran” because he is in many way are superior.

    Hope they continue this series soon, I couldn’t wait when they reach the world where people from X/1999 reside!

    Show Spoiler ▼

    Eriol
    Reply

  15. Lately I’ve started to hate Funmation and as time goes by my hatred grows ever stronger. It reminds me of the way ADV was behaving before their big downfall-ie-screw anyone and everybody.

    zrdb
    Reply

  19. “Well, actually the anime disappointed me a little. Especially from the art. The design is too shoujo”

    Oh what a crime! Gaps, a CLAMP anime too shoujo, how will we ever surive?

    Alex
    Reply

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