“To be able to use all your might on someone else’s behalf, that’s a wonderful strength as well.” –Syaoran
Tsubasa Chronicle is an action, adventure, fantasy, magic, romance, supernatural, and shounen anime. It was originally released in April 2005 by Bee Train with 26 episodes. It has a second season, movies, and OVAs.
General Rating: 7.6/10
My Rating: 10/10
Tsubasa Chronicle is an anime that fits my tastes in every way. In fact, if someone were to ask me to describe what the typical anime I enjoy looks like, I would pretty much be describing Tsubasa Chronicle. However, I did not watch this anime until 2018, much later in my otaku years, due to it never being talked about much and causing me to not have much interest in it. Tsubasa is a dear anime to one of my close friends and her love for it is what made me be drawn to see it. And I am glad I did because it is one of the most beautiful masterpieces of an anime I have ever seen.
After an event that causes Syaoran's childhood friend and love Princess Sakura's memories to materialize as wings and split into multiple dimensions, Syaoran attempts to save her life and restore her memory by traveling through the different dimensions to collect Sakura's feathers. By entering this quest and being given the ability to travel between dimensions, Syaoran is forced to sacrifice what is most important to him. He is joined by the exiled knight Kurogane who seeks to return to his world, a runaway magician calling himself Fay who wants never to return to his own world, and a cute white rabbit-like magical creature called Mokona. They each have very different goals but their quests have all merged into one.
Story: Tsubasa's story is one of my favorites because it features an unlikely group of friends, heartbreaking romance, and so many different worldlines to become involved in. Tsubasa's story is very unique and has become one of my favorite things about the anime. There are so many different worldlines involved in Tsubasa where the characters are constantly changing and adapting to their everchanging situation that it is impossible for the anime to have a dull moment.
Characters: Tsubasa has a unique cast of characters, each from their own world with different backgrounds and abilities. They are a group unlikely to have come together under other circumstances, but each of their strong desires to travel between dimensions has led them together. This makes for a very interesting cast of characters, and they suit the anime well in my opinion. They each have something to contribute to the group, personality and ability wise, which is mandatory in an anime like this.
Soundtrack: Tsubasa has an amazing soundtrack. It takes my breath away. In fact, I remember hearing goosebumps from the Tsubasa soundtrack on occasion. It has beautiful openings that get you hyped for the anime, and endings that make you can't wait to watch more.
Art: Tsubasa has outstanding art and character designs. It has correlations to Cardcaptor Sakura, especially with Sakura and Syaoran. However, even still, there is a very remarkable difference between the art styles of Carcaptor versus Tsubasa, and each style fits its own anime to a T.
Despite still being a fairly popular anime, at least in the 2000s, Tsubasa does not seem to get as much recognition as I believe it should. Fans of animes like Cardcaptor Sakura, Inuyasha, Kobato, D.N.Angel, Akatsuki no Yona, Amnesia, Full Moon, or the Fate franchise will definitely love this anime and should give it a watch!
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