TSUBASA: RESERVOIR CHRONICLE VOLUME 12
January 19th 2009 00:48
Category: Graphic Novels/Comics
Publisher: 2008 Tanoshimi
Story & Art by: CLAMP (Ageha Ohkawa – story/script/graphic novel design, Mokona – cover illustration/manga illustration, Tsubaki Nekoi – art direction & Satsuki Igarashi – graphic assistance).
Translated & Adapted by: William Flanagan
Lettering: Dana Hayward
Cost: £6.99
Now this particular work by the doyens of manga, CLAMP, is regarded as one of their most popular, if not the most popular work that they have produced in the long and still continuing career. As with so many other manga that has been produced down through the years this particular series Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle has also been translated onto the small screen becoming a very popular anime series as a result, at the moment I have yet to see anything of the anime and I was rather surprised to find copies of the manga just sitting there all on their lonesome on the shelves at my local library. Someone on the staff down their must think manga and anime are cool, because I keep coming across these things which in turn makes things a whole lot easier than having to track down manga or anime DVDs on the web or through various other connections.
The premise behind this story focuses on a somewhat tragic romance between Sayoran and the Princess of Clow; (which apparently rhymes with Snow) Sakura. Now Sayoran is a young archaeologist who along with his father is investigating a series of ruins in the Country of Clow, during his time there with his father he meets the young princess of this country and two of them fall in love, a budding romance beginning to bloom. Unfortunately for the pair of them just as they begin to think that things are looking very bright tragedy strikes Sakura. Now only having the tools of anime trailers and wikipedia to go by apparently this tragedy consists of a magical attack upon the young princess which sees her loose all of her memories, they are scattered literally to the vast corners of the multiverse and in order to prevent her from dying all of her memories need to be gathered and returned to her. Conveniently each memory takes the form of a feather, thus all the various feathers need to be collected.
Thus begins a quest of truly epic proportion as Sayoran and Sakura travel the dimensions in order to regather all the lost feathers that symbolise Sakura’s stolen memories. To achieve this ability of hoping through the various worlds and dimensions a time-space witch known as Yukio agrees to help the two, fans of CLAMP will recognise Yukio as being one of the protagonists in the manga and anime series known as xxxHolic, apparently both Tsubasa and xxxHolic enjoy regular crossovers and there is two anime features which cover this particular aspect of the two. So with the aid of Yukio our two star crossed lovers embark on their journey but before they do Yukio warns Sayoran that they may succeed in their objective but there is a price too pay, namely that Sakura will never remember that she had fallen in love with the young archaeologist in the very beginning. That memory will be forever lost.
CLAMP has been very clever in establishing their story in such a manner, by making this not only a mixture of romance and adventure spanning the countless dimensions they have given themselves quite a lot of space and time in which to manoeuvre. Let’s face it they can effectively work with whatever settings they feel they want in regards to having the protagonists retrieve the many feather of Sakura’s stolen memories. Science Fiction, historical drama, magical realism can all be employed, and even the various other worlds and settings of other CLAMP manga can be employed either in whole or in part. This particular volume is a case in point being set in the dimension known as Piffle World, home to the Piffle Corporation which is a feature in various other CLAMP manga, including the tournament manga Angelic Layer.
Here in Piffle World Sayoran and his comrades; Fai, Kurogane, Sakura and Mokona, who acts as the groups contact with Yukio, discover that the feather they are looking for in this world is the grand prize in a Dragonfly race being sponsored by the Piffle Corporation. The inhabitants of Piffle World believe that the feather is some source of limitless energy, an eternal battery if you will, that could be employed by the races winner to either power their dragonfly or some other mode of transport. Dragonflies are aerial craft which are used to compete in races which seems to be one of the most popular spectator sports in Piffle World, sort of like an aerial version of Formula One racing. Naturally the Fab Five aren’t daunted by the dangers involved and set themselves to the task of competing in this rather exotic and high stakes race.
When the story commences the five comrades are already in the throes of the race with Fai having already been one of the first casualties in the opening stages. Still Kurogane, Sakura and Sayoran are still in the thick of it and determined to cross the winning line and get the final prize, they also are aware that someone either involved in the race itself or an outside party is actively engaged in sabotaging the race and preventing them from winning. Thrilling and dangerous stuff, but despite these risks no one is giving up and packing it in.
As usual with any CLAMP production that artwork is visually stunning and the various worlds filled with all manner of beautiful or kawai (cute) people, in fact you almost get to wondering if there is actually anyone in any of the CLAMP mangaverse is either ordinary or ugly. This fact aside the various locales are truly exotic and in the case of Piffle World, where the drama in this volume occurs, it looks almost like a cross between Fritz Lang’s Metropolis and Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. It works quite well as you get the impression that it’s the kind of place that would enjoy a high octane sport such as Dragonfly racing. When you reach the end of the story there is a little side story, this one involving Kurogane’s fascination for a manga called Maganyan which has a ninja story that he has become a fan of, it seems that in each world they have so far travelled to has had its own incarnation of Maganyan and thus via various means Kurogane has been able to keep tabs on his favourite story. Following after this there is a glossary of various terms used in the story that you may not understand and want to get a grip on; I know I certainly was curious about a few things so this proved most handy.
Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle 12 is good fun entertaining reading, well worth taking the time out to get your hands on either by buying or if at all possible borrowing from you local library.
Story & Art by: CLAMP (Ageha Ohkawa – story/script/graphic novel design, Mokona – cover illustration/manga illustration, Tsubaki Nekoi – art direction & Satsuki Igarashi – graphic assistance).
Translated & Adapted by: William Flanagan
Lettering: Dana Hayward
Cost: £6.99
Now this particular work by the doyens of manga, CLAMP, is regarded as one of their most popular, if not the most popular work that they have produced in the long and still continuing career. As with so many other manga that has been produced down through the years this particular series Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle has also been translated onto the small screen becoming a very popular anime series as a result, at the moment I have yet to see anything of the anime and I was rather surprised to find copies of the manga just sitting there all on their lonesome on the shelves at my local library. Someone on the staff down their must think manga and anime are cool, because I keep coming across these things which in turn makes things a whole lot easier than having to track down manga or anime DVDs on the web or through various other connections.
CLAMP has been very clever in establishing their story in such a manner, by making this not only a mixture of romance and adventure spanning the countless dimensions they have given themselves quite a lot of space and time in which to manoeuvre. Let’s face it they can effectively work with whatever settings they feel they want in regards to having the protagonists retrieve the many feather of Sakura’s stolen memories. Science Fiction, historical drama, magical realism can all be employed, and even the various other worlds and settings of other CLAMP manga can be employed either in whole or in part. This particular volume is a case in point being set in the dimension known as Piffle World, home to the Piffle Corporation which is a feature in various other CLAMP manga, including the tournament manga Angelic Layer.
Here in Piffle World Sayoran and his comrades; Fai, Kurogane, Sakura and Mokona, who acts as the groups contact with Yukio, discover that the feather they are looking for in this world is the grand prize in a Dragonfly race being sponsored by the Piffle Corporation. The inhabitants of Piffle World believe that the feather is some source of limitless energy, an eternal battery if you will, that could be employed by the races winner to either power their dragonfly or some other mode of transport. Dragonflies are aerial craft which are used to compete in races which seems to be one of the most popular spectator sports in Piffle World, sort of like an aerial version of Formula One racing. Naturally the Fab Five aren’t daunted by the dangers involved and set themselves to the task of competing in this rather exotic and high stakes race.
When the story commences the five comrades are already in the throes of the race with Fai having already been one of the first casualties in the opening stages. Still Kurogane, Sakura and Sayoran are still in the thick of it and determined to cross the winning line and get the final prize, they also are aware that someone either involved in the race itself or an outside party is actively engaged in sabotaging the race and preventing them from winning. Thrilling and dangerous stuff, but despite these risks no one is giving up and packing it in.
As usual with any CLAMP production that artwork is visually stunning and the various worlds filled with all manner of beautiful or kawai (cute) people, in fact you almost get to wondering if there is actually anyone in any of the CLAMP mangaverse is either ordinary or ugly. This fact aside the various locales are truly exotic and in the case of Piffle World, where the drama in this volume occurs, it looks almost like a cross between Fritz Lang’s Metropolis and Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. It works quite well as you get the impression that it’s the kind of place that would enjoy a high octane sport such as Dragonfly racing. When you reach the end of the story there is a little side story, this one involving Kurogane’s fascination for a manga called Maganyan which has a ninja story that he has become a fan of, it seems that in each world they have so far travelled to has had its own incarnation of Maganyan and thus via various means Kurogane has been able to keep tabs on his favourite story. Following after this there is a glossary of various terms used in the story that you may not understand and want to get a grip on; I know I certainly was curious about a few things so this proved most handy.
Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle 12 is good fun entertaining reading, well worth taking the time out to get your hands on either by buying or if at all possible borrowing from you local library.
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