Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle Vol 1-3
Sooo...in xXxHoLic, I complain about how much it crosses over with Tsubasa...but now that I'm reading Tsubasa, i want to complain about how little crossing over there is with xXxHoLic. Does that make me a hypocrite? I think it's because there's so much Tsubasa in xXxHoLic that it seems weird that there's so little xXxHoLic in Tsubasa, and because, while it makes no sense whatsoever for Yuuko to be fixated on one set of customers, it makes perfect sense for the Tsubasa crew to keep in contact with their benefactress.
The setup for Tsubasa is either really straightforward or unnecessarily complex...I'm not sure which. The leads are Sakura, a princess of a dsert kingdom, and Syaoran, her childhood friend. Syaoran and Sakura are alternate reality versions of the leads of Cardcaptor Sakura(of which I've read and liked a little bit, but haven't really looked into.) While at ruins Syaoran is excavating, Sakura steps on a relief with strange markings, setting off a disaster in the country, and causing Sakura to fall into a coma. Yukito, advisor to Sakura's brother, King Toya, tells Syaoran that Sakura's wings(effectively, her soul) have taken flight and have been scattered across worlds, and he sends Syaoran and Sakura to Yuuko, the Space Time Witch, the only one who can help them. On another world, Fai D. Flowright, a magician, wants to leave his world and never return, while on another, a swordsman named Kurogane is exiled by his princess, Tomoya, who hopes his journeys will teach him a better appreciation for life. All three men want the same thing-to travel to different worlds-for different reasons. Fai to avoid his home, Kurogane to find it, and Syaoran to gather Sakura's feathers. Individually, none can pay the pricerequired for Yuuko to be able to grant them the ability, but together they can. In exchange for Kurogane's sword, Fai's control over his magic and Syaoran's past relationship with Sakura(each the most importantthing there is to their respective oners),Yuuko gives them Mokona, a small animal that can detect feathers and transport them between dimension.
Basically, the whole thing is an excuse for Clamp to play with any genre they want and have alternate reality versions oftheir past worlds and characters. The first world our heroes land on is a nod to the gaming manga and anime where everyone has talent or fighter-*insert force/object/killer pet* with alternate versions of X/1999's Sorata and Arashi, hil the second is a tangent on their Legend of Chun-Hyang manga(incidentally, changing Chun-Hyang to Ch'unyan? Don't know if it was Clamp or Del Rey that did that, but it was kinda annoying.) It's rather rambly in a normal shonen action-quest way, it's just that it takes longer for most shonen to get this rambly.
I like it, but, just like the first few volumes of xXxHoLic, it kinda annoys me. Part of the problem is so very, very much emphasis on how Sad and Tragic Syaoran and Sakura's love story is. Don't get me wrong, the whole "I travel worlds to restore my True Love, even though the price I paid to do so is that she will never remember our past together" thing? ALL! FOR! THAT! But you know, I'd get how sad and tragic and angsty it all is WITHOUT constantly being reminded of it with Syaoran's reactions and Fai and Kurogane regularly talking about it in the background. Plus, while I like them, Syaoran and Sakura are kinda...bland. Sakura I'll let slide, what with her just coming out of a coma with all her life and memories scattered across worlds. Syaoran? Well, I like him, I do, and I'm all for extreme monomania in romantic heroes, but...I like there to be a little more to them than extreme monomania...just some sign that he isn't JUST the boy who loves Sakura, but that there's more to him than that. I can get into their story jus fine, I just feel no attachment to the characters.
In constrast, I latched onto Fai and Kurogane almost immediately. I suspect part of that is because Clamp expected me to be at least somewhat attached to Syaoran and Sakura already, but being brand new, Fai and Kurogan got more development right off the bat. I freely confess that Kurogane, the homicidal nut with a serious Princess complex(Obsessive commitment even after she banishes him from their world? Now that's what I call a complex!) is my favorite. I like them big, dumb, gruff, and homicidal with swords and I feel no shame in admitting that. I definately need to get or make myself a Kurogane icon.
Also, I think the art in xXxHoLic kinda spoiled me...I like Tsubasa's art(magically extending limbs aside) but it just doesn't compare, imo.
Final analysis: I like but am not in love with it. I have, however, been promised vampire twins, clones, eye fetishes and people crawling over mountains of bodies(please note that I know no details surrounding such promised things, and it should stay that way...I also feel I should be told of more crack headed my way, in equally non-specific detail) and so I shall keep reading. I feel one should not pass on the opportunity to experience vampire twins. Just like girls raised by pigeons who fall in love with emotastic boys who live in Snowy Emo Fortresses of Solitude atop Mt. Fuji should not be passed on.