Another disc, another series out of the way – although in this case there's more waiting in the wings, so don't expect much in the way of closure. It seems as though Syaoran's quest has become a game – literally – but the intrusion into the game of an old mentor has serious implications…
What They Say
The quest to free a girl from the darkness of no memory is not a game, but sometimes the players compete unknowingly. While Sakura's feathers may hold the magic of peaceful memory, in the wrong hands that power can be warped, opening doors better left alone ... Reshaping reality into dreams and dreams into reality. Syaoran and Kurogane race to defend their friends, as one wearing a face out of the past seeks to open the floodgates to immortality. What was once damaged must be destroyed before the final act, as four heroes, once strangers, continue on their quest for peace.
Episodes Comprise
23 -" The Fading Life
24 -" Blade of a Desprate Fight
25 -" The Ultimate Game
26 -" The Last Wish
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:
Video is presented in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen, and is another good-looking release – colours are nice & bright and backgrounds well-detailed. There were no obvious encoding problems.
Packaging:
No packaging was provided with our review copy.
Menu:
Menus are a simple static affair - the main screen sports an image of Sakura being carried by Syaoran, both looking very happy. 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 settings seen in this volume and includes more production artwork, and a CLAMP Cameos feature, which this volume focuses on bad-guy Seishiro Sakurazuka - originally from Tokyo Babylon.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review will contain spoilers)
Seishiro pays a visit to the gang's restaurant, looking for the Demon Hunters that he knows are based there - up in Sumomo & Kotoko's tower, Sumomo is instantly aware of what's happened and lets Syaoran know, while back at the restaurant Fai is aware that Seishiro presents a danger. Just not how much. Seishiro states his reason for visiting clearly enough: he wants to eliminate Syaoran and Kurogane, and if he has to kill Fai along the way, then so be it. While Syaoran and Kurogane race to get back to the restaurant, Fai's left to deal with Seishiro himself, but is unprepared for just how powerful he is...
We're still in the Land of Outo for the first three episodes on this disc, which turns out in a lot of ways to be the show's main arc, with Seishiro presenting a real threat (or at least, appearing to) and a number of plot points raised by the confrontation being left hanging for the second season to deal with. Shame we don't know if that will be getting a UK release or not yet. Seishiro's appearance last volume was something of a mystery – we didn't know who he was, but Syaoran clearly did, and the circumstances of their past meeting are explored here. He may have been the man who originally taught Syaoran to fight, but that doesn't necessarily make him a good guy – he has a particular aim in life, a goal he wants to reach, and he's not about to let anyone stand in his way, no matter their past connections.
The problem, both for Seishiro and for Syaoran and the others, is that there's more to the Land of Outo than they realise. The clues have been there to see, if they'd been paying attention – the almost-robotic staff at City Hall, the demon that conveniently only attack Hunters while leaving the civilian populace alone, and more besides – and both sides have been drawn into this little world (this little, artificial world) without fully realising what it is.
I twigged onto what was happening about 15 minutes before the show revealed its little plot twist, and once you know what's going on things just click into place and the arc makes a lot more sense – things that you couldn't quite understand suddenly did, but at the same time some good things that had happened were undone as what you thought was reality turned out to be something else. Still, the Otou arc is the best of the series so far, even if it did drag a little in places, and adds a little spice and competition to what has so far been a simple feather hunt.
The season closes out with a single-episode story that allows Sakura the chance to get another feather back, as well as shortcut the whole process of searching for the rest, should she choose to do so. Their latest destination is not the happiest of places - an almost desert world, where the inhabitants on the ground scrabble to eke an existence from the earth while their god lives in a temple in the sky. It wasn't always like this - just over a year ago, the god had promised to grant one wish - any wish - to the first person to enter the temple, only for the temple guards to kill all those who made the attempt, leaving only the least able left alive. With Mokona sensing the presence of one of Sakura's feathers, it's fairly clear where it's likely to be: the temple. It's also possible that the god would be able to return Sakura's memories, if that was to be the wish of the first person to reach the temple, and so Syaoran and the others begin the long climb. But there are those who are determined to see them fail...
This is a trip back to what Tsubasa has been doing for most of the season – it's almost as though they realised they needed to fill an additional episode, and couldn't come up with anything better, and as such it runs pretty much to plan: a cryptic message from Yuko at the beginning, some interference by some characters who have ast on the fringes of the series without ever getting involved, and some hints to darker things yet to come, but those are all incidental to the main story: climbing the tower to the temple, in order for Sakura's wish to be granted. Which sounds very Tower of Druaga-esque, when you look at it – only without the humour. As a way of closing out this season, it works quite well as there are a few plot threads planted for future exploration, but otherwise it's not a particularly remarkable episode.
In summary:
This volume of Tsubasa is a bit like the series in minature – plenty of promise, a few flashes when it uses that promise to its full extent, but a lot of the time it's just going on its way without doing anything special or spectacular, and given the high regard I hold some of the characters in from their CCS days, that's a real disappointment. It's enjoyable enough for what it does, especially during the Otou episodes, but it could have been so much better.
Features
Japanese 2.0 Language, English 5.1 Language, English Subtitles, Character Guide, World Guide, Faces in the Crowd: Cameos for the Clamp Universe, Actor Commentary (Ep26), 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.
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