Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.0

Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE: Season One Blu-ray Movie Review

Mr. Universes.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 6, 2011

You lovers of cult television series (and you know who you are) might recall the old Jerry O’Connell-John Rhys Davies series Sliders, where our intrepid heroes kept “sliding” into alternate universes, each with their own peculiarities, sometimes banal, sometimes downright dangerous. Somewhat similar in tone and content to Quantum Leap (not to mention the old Irwin Allen Time Tunnel series), Sliders never really shot into the stratosphere of the Nielsen ratings system, despite having crept through five seasons on two networks, and may have in fact been hobbled by not having had an outrageous budget to recreate all those alternate universes, each of which looked suspiciously like either Vancouver, B.C. or the San Fernando Valley, circa 1995-2000. That problem at least is avoided by Tsubasa, a shonen anime dressed up with an alternate universe tunic that is at least able to ably create a number of intriguing new worlds with virtually every episode, courtesy of pen and paper, without having to worry too much about draining the production coffers. Tsubasa is known by a number of its own alternate universe titles, including Tsubasa Chronicles and the annoyingly typographied Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE (which perhaps should carry the soubriquet Hey, your caps lock is malfunctioning). Like so many adaptations of mangas, both by Tsubasa’s CLAMP and many other enterprises, the need for some sort of coherent through line often trumps more expedient needs like pacing, characterization and dramatic flow, and as a result Tsubasa is a decidedly mixed bag that will be pleasant if not exceptional to those with at least a passing knowledge of some of these characters, while being positively head scratching to newcomers to this (or even an alternate) universe.

Several of Tsubasa’s characters are holdovers from previous CLAMP enterprises, including the main hero of this outing, Syaoran, a young boy-man following in his father’s archeological footsteps by helping to unearth a mysterious ancient ruin. Syaoran’s putative girlfriend, Princess Sakura, gets sucked into a sort of magic circle in the depths of this ruin, whereupon her soul is fragmented into various feather-like pieces, each with its own memory attached, all of which are scattered to the infinite corners of multiple universes. Syaoran’s task is to then reclaim these feathers of Sakura’s memories and restore them to her, hopefully saving her now extremely endangered life. To aid him in his task, Syaoran enlists the aid of an Interdimensional Witch, who transports Syaoran around and also hooks him up with two aides-de-camp, Kurogane and Fai. The bulk of Tsubasa, indeed much like the Sliders series of yore, then entails our heroes traipsing from alternate universe to alternate universe in search of Sukura’s “soul feathers,” in order to help her reclaim her life. Unfortunately, there’s a trade-off: while each of the universe-hoppers has his own reason for wanting to journey, the Witch extracts a payment of sorts from each of them, and Syaoran’s is that no matter how many feathers he finds and restores to Sakura, she will never remember him or their burgeoning love affair. So sad, so very, very sad.

There are both pluses and minuses to Tsubasa, but on the whole, the minuses perhaps slightly outweigh the pluses. On the positive side of the equation, the multiple universe aspect means that Tsubasa is an ever-changing enterprise which is able to consistently surprise with any number of new takes on its basic premise. Syaoran, Kurogane and Fai travel to any number of different worlds, and the fact that this is an animated series means that those worlds can be as outlandish and creative as an artist can imagine, making Tsubasa frequently very fanciful and enjoyable. On the minus side, the manifold characters, many of whom seem to pop in for no other reason than that they’re part of the CLAMP universe, makes this show at times positively difficult to follow. It’s the anime analog of those old DC and Marvel “specials” where The Silver Surfer would interact with The Fantastic Four, or Batman suddenly showed up in Metropolis to aid Superman. Even more of an issue, though, is this series’ absolutely lugubrious pace. Tsubasa, for all its multiple universe traversing, is one of the most patently slow animes in recent memory, and that slowness just sucks the life out of the show over and over again.

Though the multiple universe angle is arguably the strongest element of Tsubasa, and is generally well handled from a writing standpoint, one has to wonder about the actual animation, which seems to have been dashed off in a virtual Eastern Hanna-Barbera assembly line fashion. Whole sequences pass by with nary a movement from individuals in the frame, and while some of the backgrounds are passingly pretty, there’s nothing to rave about in terms of detail or even imagination, at least some of the time. The character designs also seem positively generic, lending a sort of bland overlay to a series that really wants to be something unique, but which is never able to quite rise to the occasion.

The good news here is that FUNimation is releasing a catalog title under a new S.A.V.E. (Super Amazing Value) Edition rubric, and the absolutely bargain basement price point may convince both longtime fans and those curious about the show to check it out. Tsubasa is never a groundbreaking series in any sense of the word, but it has its passing charms, and the basic multiple universe premise is fun and occasionally invigorating. What Tsubasa really needed, though, was a design aesthetic that matched the fanciful aspect of some of the locales it visits. It could have also benefited from a much stronger story editor who might have pared this show down to its core principles and given the series a much more visceral sense of momentum.

Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE: Season One Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicles' new S.A.V.E. Edition appears to be the same AVC encoded 1080p transfer (in 1.78:1) featured on the previous Blu-ray release. This is one of the most oddly unimaginative looking animes in recent memory, especially considering the multiple universe aspect of the storyline. The best thing about this transfer is the often gorgeous color palette which utilizes everything from appealing pastels to really robust primary tones. Otherwise, this is a fairly lackluster looking series that really doesn't benefit very much from this high definition presentation. The overall image is distressingly soft, and though this sort of thing usually doesn't bother me at all, there's fairly consistent banding in evidence throughout several episodes. As befits its 2005 genesis, this series simply has the look of an upconverted presentation. It's not hideous by any means, but it certainly fall well short of the standard that we've come to expect from current anime releases.

Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE: Season One Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

As is FUNimation's wont, we have a pretty nimble English dub, presented here in an excellent lossless Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mix. The original Japanese language track is offered in a standard Dolby Digital 2.0 presentation. Purists of course are going to want to stick with the Japanese track, but there is such an extreme difference between these two tracks that I strongly recommend even those with an aversion to English dubs at least check out the English language track on this Blu-ray set. First of all, the lossless presentation immediately ups the low end considerably, and I do mean considerably. This is one of the most bass heavy tracks in recent memory, almost to the point of causing air pressure changes in the room as various pulsing music pounds out of the subwoofer. But the surround aspect is also artfully handled, with very good discrete channelization utilized for a variety of sound effects and score. Dialogue is also sharp and precise. The Japanese language track is fine as far as it goes, but it sounds so narrow and (especially) compressed in comparison to the English track that it's hard to stick with it for very long.

Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE: Season One Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Episode 26 The Last Wish Commentary. Accessible only through the main episode submenu, this features Colleen Cinkenbeard, Director of the English language dub, along with Monica Rial, who voices Sakura. They talk about everything from auditions through casting and actually dubbing the episodes. Unfortunately, Rial has perhaps the most annoyingly sing-song voice imaginable, making this a bit of a chore to sit through.
• Cast Auditions audio only auditions of read-throughs for:
  Syoaran (1:27), Sakura (00:57), Kurogane (1:05), Fai (3:01), Mokona (00:48), and Yuko (1:38).
• Faces in the Crowd offers text based backgrounds on a lot of the supporting characters who come from other Clamp projects. This is actually an invaluable supplement to those new to the Clamp universe(s).
• Character Guide does the same text only service for the main characters of the series.
• World Guide. This text feature provides background information on some of the locations the characters visit.
• Textless Opening Song "Blaze" (HD; 1:42)
• Textless Closing Song "Loop" (HD; 1:31)

Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE: Season One Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Tsubasa is simply too generic for its own good, despite an ostensibly interesting premise. It's not a horrible anime by any stretch but it takes a certain amount of patience to make it through this first half of season one. The show is at its best when the heroes are visiting unusual, unexpected worlds. Otherwise, both the storylines and the design aspects tend to get bogged down in a strong sense of déjà vu. The plus side to this particular release is the very inviting budget pricing, which might coax some otherwise on the shelf to check it out.