This year I finished reading all Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicles manga.
This Japanese manga series was written by the female manga artist group called Clamp in the early 2000s. There are 28 volumes in the original edition, I read the compilation version so there were 10 Omnibus version books in total. It takes place in the same fictional universe created by Clamp ie; Cardcaptor Sakura, xxxHolics, Chobits, Clover, Clamp School Detectives, Angelic Layer, and many more. So if you are familiar with Clamp's works over the years, this would be an amazing universe to be in because you can see all these beloved characters from different comics in this one series. Tsubasa was conceived when these four Clamp artists wanted to create a manga series that connected all their previous works and decided to take the main character from Cardcaptor Sakura to lead the story.
When I was in school, I was obsessed with Cardcaptor Sakura. Then in the uni, I continued with Chobits and Clover, and I read some of xxxHolic and the Tsubasa series but didn't finish it. This year, I found that I could borrow the series from Perpustakaan Kuala Lumpur so I decided to end my 2023 book goal by finishing up the manga from my old favorite series.
Note: Tsubasa has taken a much more serious tone than Cardcaptor Sakura. So please don't expect to read a fun heart-warming comic like CCS because this one is pretty serious.
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The Plot:
It follows Sakura, the princess of the Kingdom of Clow.
She loses all her memories and they are scattered all through multiple universes. She has to collect all her memories again to survive, with help from Syaoran, her childhood friend, a young archeologist working at a ruin in the kingdom. As she is dying, Syaoran asks for help from the dimensional witch, Yuko (from xxxHolic) to help him save Sakura's life.
Yuko is also visited by two others with their own wish: Kurogane, a ninja banished from his world, and Fai Flowright, a magician who wishes to run from his world. So to grant their wishes for the ability to travel across multiple universes, each needs to pay for the price. Kurogane offers his sword, Fai offers the tattoo that holds his magical power, and Syaoran, not having anything to offer to the witch, has to exchange all of Sakura's memories that involve him. So when he gets the first memory and passes it to Sakura, she wakes up and she doesn't know who he is. Even though they've been secretly in love with each other all their lives.
So the four of them travel across multiple universes in search of the lost memories. There were many universes throughout the series, it made me feel like reading a sci-fi, horror, or fantasy, back in historic-Japan, or a futuristic one, a mystery detective or a vampiric world, all according to where they landed in finding Sakura's memory. Oh yes, these memories are in the form of magical feathers that hold several supernatural powers according to where they are landed. It's really hard to explain in detail.
Slowly throughout their adventure, they grow closer and attached to one another.
Then the plot thickens and it gets really hard to explain because it involves cloning and soul separation from the body, back to the future, then changing the future, hiding in the dream world, battling in space and time, and getting stuck in the same cycle. As I said, it is really complicated :F It has a lot of action (perhaps not even my genre, but it was intriguing).
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But I'm so amazed. This was a series on multi-verse, created by a group of female Japanese mangaka in the early 2000s compiling all their characters from different mangas in one series, and it is heavy with complicated plot.
I cried reading some of it.
- The love story. I mean, being in love with someone who forgets who you are and sacrificing his own life to save her but not being able to tell her anything. Tsk. Then slowly falling in love again with the same person, but then the person you fall in love with is not the real person?
- The bonding. Then the four of them become like a real-tight family, a bunch of people that didn't even match characteristically but formed a bond that can't be broken. I was so touched by some of the sacrifices that they had to make for one another. I think the main theme of this whole series is 'sacrifice' sebab each of them sacrifices themselves for the other then everyone terhutang hidup with one another (like a huge sacrifice).
- "Nothing in this world is a coincidence. Everything is hitsuzen."
I cried, weyh. Power power.
I don't think I've ever cried over manga.
But this was impressive and the timing is good. I'm glad I read this in my 30s, imagine if I read this in my teens, I don't think I can appreciate the seriousness.
Kudos to Clamp, for making me cry, for reusing my favorite characters in an alternate universe, and for giving me a chance to see them grow up and have adventures together (even though it was a painful one), but my childhood memories were revisited and completed nicely. I can close the chapter now with a smile.
5 stars .𖥔 ݁ ˖
Note: I donated the Tsubasa manga that I have to the library, plus the Vol. 6 & 8 Omnibus versions are not available there.
Cover appreciation:
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