Tsubasa Reservoir
Talking about Tsubasa Reservoir is much more difficult than its calmer counterpart. If XXXholic is about a quiet acceptance of fate and small changes through ones own power, Tsubasa is a raw denial and forceful change by any means necessary. There's a lot more moving parts in Tsubasa compared to XXXholic, and it's very possible i missed some details in my reading.
Tsubasa Reservoir primarily follows a party of 5. Syaoran and Sakura are from the kingdom of clow. (familiar names). Syaoran is just a normal resident of the kingdom. He's an archeologist investigating some ruins with his adoptive father. He travels the world a lot in search of artifacts and to learn. Sakura is the princess of the kingdom. She's got a lot of hidden magical power in her, and other than that, she is just a normal girl. It's clear from the beginning that Syaoran and Sakura are in love with each other. Although that love will come with great pain.
At the beginning of Tsubasa Reservoir, Sakura loses her memories in the form of feathers with great magical energy. They scattered throughout the many dimensions, and it's up to Syaoran and some others to get them back. Syaoran, with Sakura in hand, goes to meet the space-time witch Yuko. Who was waiting for them alongside their future companions Fai and Kurogane, as well as her magical creation mokona. Fai is a magician and a pretty powerful one at that. Although he mostly takes a backseat for most of the story, providing comfort in the way of jokes and simply being around. Kurogane is a ninja. He's extremely powerful and extremely crude. He enjoys fighting and hates losing at anything. When introduced, he full-on refused to help in any way. Then there's mokona. Little mokona. I adore mokona. They're funny, cute, and provide a balance to the group that's desperately needed after the hectic events that happen. This party is fantastic. There's a lot to learn about them and a lot of dynamics that get slowly revealed.
The story will follow a pattern of the party going to new worlds, finding a feather, and slowly learning and growing alongside each other. Unlike in XXXholic, where it's unknown if we're heading towards a particular goal, it's rather obvious in Tsubasa. Gather feathers, make Sakura awake, and remember more. When put this way, it seems simple, but each and every world the party visits reveals a much larger scheme happening in the background. Something inevitable and ominous.
XXXholic is about finding worth in yourself, and Tsubasa Reservoir is about finding worth in others. Learning to rely on the people around you. Learning that each and every meeting is not a coincidence and that those meetings have caused change in the person's meeting. Both yourself and them. It doesn't have to be something major. Sometimes simply knowing you have somebody waiting for you is enough to drastically change your decisions. Sometimes meeting somebody unexpected can change what you decide to do in the future. Nothing is coincidence. When you have those meetings, you have a greater resolve to change something. To grasp it and force it how you want to. No matter the price.
This hardly scratches the surface of Tsubasa Reservoir. There's a ton more i could talk about, but my goal is to get you, dear reader, interested and to read this manga and its counterpart yourself. Like i said in XXXholic, to call this a great clamp manga isn't saying much. Clamp makes great manga. That's all there is to it.
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