Tsubasa Vol. #5 (of 6)

By: Bryan Morton
Review Date: Monday, August 11, 2008
Release Date: Monday, July 21, 2008

Tsubasa takes a volume off to do some running on the spot, and ends up feeling more like a generic Shonen Jump show than the mission to rescue Sakura's memories that it's meant to be.  Bah.

What They Say
The heroic quest to reclaim Sakura's shattered memory has been one where the past meets the future in the present... As Syaoran and his companions become further enmeshed in the most recent stop along their journey, their fate is no longer wholly their own. The balance skewed by their very presence, a demon has been born. And as this new threat rises, Syaoran, Kurogane and Fai must unite with the locals. Yet Sakura may have discovered the solution in a place no one thought to seek...

As the paths of every life mingle in the dimension between dimensions, when a foe wears the face of an ally, an ally can wait in the guise of a monster.

Episodes Comprise
19 – Resolution to Live
20 – The Afternoon Piano
21 – The Demon's True Face
22 – Indelible Memory

The Review!

Audio:
Two audio tracks this time around, with Japanese 2.0 and English 5.1 tracks being provided - I listened to the Japanese track for this review. Audio comes across as clean & clear, particularly the background music (another excellent soundtrack by Yuki Kajiura), although there's not too much direction apparent in the dialog. There were no obvious problems.

Video:
Two audio tracks this time around, with Japanese 2.0 and English 5.1 tracks being provided - I listened to the Japanese track for this review. Audio comes across as clean & clear, particularly the background music (another excellent soundtrack by Yuki Kajiura), although there's not too much direction apparent in the dialog. There were no obvious problems.
 
Packaging:
No packaging was provided with our review copy.

Menu:
Menus are a simple static affair - the main screen sports an image of Kurogane and Fai in a ready-for-action pose. Options are provided for Play All, direct access to each episode, language setup and extras. With no transition animations to sit through, it's all pleasingly quick and easy to use.

Extras:
There's a good selection of extras this time out - along with the usual creditless versions of the opening and closing sequences, there's a character guide (which helps get those alternate-universe characterisations out of the head) which includes production lineart, a World Guide that explains the setting and includes more production artwork, and a CLAMP Cameos feature, which this volume focuses on Sumomo and Kotoko - originally from Chobits.

Content: (please note that content portions of a review will contain spoilers)
Syaoran and the others are settling into the routine of life in the land of Outo - running the restaurant on one hand, killing demons on the other, and earning their way.  The constant battling against the demons is beginning to take its toll, through injuries and broken equipment, meaning Kuro and Fai aren't getting on as well as they should.  Syaoran has his own problems, though, in the form of young demon hunter Ryuou, who's determined to prove he's the strongest kid around - and Syaoran sounds like just the sort of person he can prove himself against.

Meanwhile, it seems that the demon threat in the land of Outo is growing - more demons, and more powerful ones at that, are appearing and the locals are beginning to get nervous.  Oruha, the musician that Sakura met last episode, claims to have information about the new type of demon, and offers to share her information with Kurogane and the others: this new demon doesn't appear like a demon at all, rather it appears to be human, with a power previously unknown in Outo.  Could that power be coming from one of Sakura's feathers..?

Talk about your show that's stuck in a rut.  After four discs of reasonably enjoyable world-hopping, this disc sees Syaoran and the others become firmly rooted in the land of Otou, with an accompanying shift in focus to things demon-related.  While fighting has always been a part of Tsubasa, until now it's always been incidental, with the characters being the main attraction. These episodes flip that the other way around – while the characters still get some attention, suddenly it's all about either the fights themselves, or Syaoran's ability to fight, as he discovers the urge to be stronger that I've always found to be one of the most annoying personality traits in anime.  That's something that doesn't really do much for enjoyment of the volume.

The search for Sakura's feathers also takes a back seat – across these four episodes there's only passing mention made of the search that's meant to be the gang's reason for travelling in the first place.  They've just become so settled in doing what they enjoy doing – Sakura and Fai at the restaurant, the others with their demon-killing exploits – that there's only lip-service being paid to what should be the show's main quest.  The appearance of Seishiro, former mentor of Syaoran and possibly augmenting his power with one of Sakura's feathers, does hold out the possibility for the show returning to its usual track, but it doesn't happen on this volume.

Another criticism is the growing cast of fringe characters – Syaoran and Kurogane are slowing building an army of Demon Hunter friends and allies, but their brief appearances mean that they're nearly impossible to keep track of, and are never around for long enough for you to ever get a handle on what they're like, with the possible exception of Ryuou.  Some of these characters are apparently imported from other CLAMP properties – I'm not enough of a CLAMP fan to be able to spot all the sources, and that may be spoiling the fun for me a little.  It's possible that if you're more familiar with where these characters are coming from, you'll get more out of this arc that I have been.

It's a shame that we're in this rut, too – I love the lead characters and I want to love the show as a result, it's just not going in the direction that I want it to go in.  Where that happens, disappointment soon follows.

In summary:
This volume is really a case of "going nowhere slowly", and I had a hard time working up the enthusiasm to watch it.  There's so much potential in Tsubasa, from both its setting and characters, that seeing it get stuck in a rut like this is hugely frustrating.  This is the weakest volume of the series so far – the next volume will have a lot to do to get the story back on track.

Features
Japanese 2.0 Language, English 5.1 Language, English Subtitles, Character Guide, World Guide, Faces in the Crowd: Cameos for the Clamp Universe, Textless Songs

Review Equipment
Toshiba 37X3030DB 37" widescreen HDTV; Sony PS3 Blu-ray player (via HDMI, upscaled to 1080p); Acoustic Solutions DS-222 5.1 speaker system.