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The
Series:
Originally scheduled for early 2009, FUNimation may have
been a little late releasing Season One of Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle on
Blu-ray, but it was worth the wait. Created
by Clamp, a studio that has produced several well-received series
including X, Magic
Knight Rayearth, and Chobits,
the show features a few inside jokes that fans of
their work will enjoy as well as a sprawling dimension travel story
that's both
interesting and exciting. The HD
presentation is an improvement over the earlier releases, though the
lack of a
lossless Japanese soundtrack is an unfortunate omission.
Syaoran is the adopted son of an archeologist who has spent
his life working to understand the ruins in the country of Clow. Since he was a young age the boy was best
friends with the country's princess, an attractive lady named Sakura. Together they grew up and after Syaoran's
father died the young man continued his adopted parent's work. Visiting the ruins one evening, Sakura is
attracted
to an odd pattern etched into the floor.
Falling into a trance, she rises up into the air and sprouts
gossamer
wings. Fearing that she'll float away
forever, Syaoran leaps up and grabs the princess destroying the wings
in the
process. The feathers from the wings fly
off in different directions and disappear.
Consulting with Sakura's brother, now the king, and his court
adviser it
is determined that the unconscious lady is in dire trouble. The feathers that were lost represent all of
Sakura's memories, and without them she would surely die.
The problem is that they've been transported
to different dimensions and are not anywhere in Clow.
Deeply in love with Sakura, Syaoran vows to do whatever it
takes to get her memories back. So the
court magician transports the young man He and his love to the
Dimensional
Witch, Yūko. She has the power to let
him travel between dimensions, but at a price.
There are two other travelers who arrive at Yuko's at the
same time, Kurogane, a powerful warrior who was banished from his home
world
and wants to return, and Fay D. Flourite, a mild mannered magician who
is
running from a powerful mage that he imprisoned. All
three have reasons to travel the
dimensions and so Yuko sends them off together, but only after claiming
the
thing that each person prizes most. For
Kurogane it is his sword, for Fay, it's the mysterious tattoo on his
back, but
Syaoran has to give up something even more precious:
the bond between he and Sakura. Even
after she gets all of her memories back,
the young girl will remember nothing of her past with Syaoran. He'll always be just a helpful stranger to
her.
Yuko gives the group an egg-shaped rabbit-like creature, Mokona,
who can sense when Sakura's feathers are near and can also transport
the gang
to another world once a memory has been found.
Additionally Mokona can contact the Dimensional Witch if need be. Together they all travel across the
dimensions searching for magical feathers and helping the people they
encounter
along the way.
One of the things that I enjoyed about this series is the
dimensional hopping. Each time they land
in a new world they have to get used to the way that place works. Some allow magic, in others people have
innate abilities that they don't in the 'normal' world.
In addition, they discover people in need in
each new place they visit and helping them always leads to the
discovery of a
feather. It's interesting to see how
each world works and the problems that the locals face.
If you're not enamored of one world, in a few
episodes they'll be someplace else which keeps the series feeling fresh.
Having said that, there were a few aspects of the show that
grew thin after a while. Syaoran's
constant exclamations of "I will do this!" and "I will get it done!"
were
tiresome after a while. This isn't a
fighting show, but it has the same philosophy that sheer will power
will always
triumph that is pretty ridiculous.
Syaoran is also too noble, self-sacrificing, and egoless. While the idea of someone saving their love
at the cost of loosing that love is touching, they take it just a bit
too far.
Mokona was included mainly as a comic relief (and presumably
so they could license the look and crank out countless Mokona stuffed
dolls)
but comes across as irritating. The
ultra-high pitched voice is grating and none of 'his' jokes are funny. Anytime he does anything remotely helpful
(draws a picture, teases Kurogane) he proclaims "That's one of Mokona's
108
Secret Skills!" Are you laughing? I didn't think so. If
that's not enough, the rodent refers to
himself in third person too.
The character designs are rather simple and in a few cases
the proportions are oddly off. Sometimes
Sakura will be standing still and her forearm will be way too long or
Kurogane's neck will look like it's stretched.
These weren't terribly common, but it did occur several times
and was
pretty strange.
The characters never really get fleshed out as much as I
would have liked, but they are fun to watch.
Kurogane's constant desire to fight is a cute running gag and
Fey's
almost drug-induced calm makes for interesting viewing especially
during fight
scenes.
The
Blu-ray:
This set presents the 26 episodes from the first season on three
Blu-ray discs, which come in a pair of standard-width case. The two cases are housed in an illustrated
slipcase.
Audio:
With this release viewers have the choice between the
original Japanese track in stereo (DD 2.0) or a fuller lossless Dolby
TrueHD
5.1 English dub. Arrgh, I hate that the
Japanese track isn't lossless too, but that's probably not FUNimation's
fault. In any case I alternated between
tracks and found that I enjoyed the dub just a bit more.
The Japanese track sounded more 'natural' but
the English audio is more dynamic and exciting during the battle
sequences,
which are not as often as your typical anime show.
It also is a more immersive experience,
putting the viewer in the middle of the action.
The English voice actors do a decent job bringing their
characters to
life too. I just wish there was a 5.1
lossless Japanese track.
Video:
The 1.78:1 MPEG-4 AVC encoded anamorphic image is an
improvement over the SD version. The
colors are a tad brighter in HD and the blacks are nice and solid. The image, like the SD release, is a bit on
the soft side but that's probably the look the creators were going for. Digitally things look nice too.
The aliasing that is present on the DVDs is
largely gone on these Blu-rays but banding is still a slight problem. Overall this is a nice improvement over the
show's DVD counterpart with only minor problems to mar the presentation.
Extras:
This set ports over all of the extras from the DVD season
set release. There is a cast commentary
to episodes 26, which is a typical anime commentary tracks where
everyone
sounds like they're having fun but little information is offered. There's also audio-only cast auditions for
the English cast, which are fun, and character and world guides. The set is rounded out with a textless
opening and closing as well as a series of trailers.
Final Thoughts:
I was originally planning on watching a few episodes and
then updating my review of the DVD release, but I ended up going
through the
whole series a second time. It's a fun
show that is worth repeated viewings.
No, it's not prefect, but the problem are minor and the show
seems to
fly by. The stories are often fun and
though there's a section or two where things slow down it's nice to
know that
the group will soon be in another world and different predicament. This is an above-average series that is worth
checking out especially on Blu-ray. Recommended. |
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