I'm not the type of person who enjoys writing reviews or anything like that. However, this is the manga for me. My be-all and end-all for manga. I feel like many of CLAMP's manga have shaped me (such as Tokyo Babylon, X/1999, and xxxHOLiC), but Tsubasa shaped me most of all. Perhaps I am biased when I declare this my favourite manga, because I read it at the ripe age of 11 (which, in hindsight, was a bit of a yikes), but I can't help it - even when I find myself fixated by other anime/manga series, this manga will always hold the number 1 spot in my heart. This review will be split into different sections - art, characters, setting/worldbuilding, and plot. Pictures in the first section may be spoiler-ish, but they are out of context!
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ART
I first discovered CLAMP when my father gifted me a copy of Cardcaptor Sakura when I was 7. I always found their artstyle to be cute and gorgeous, which is one of the things that captivated me about TRC. Whether it is the coloured covers/official art
Or actual manga panels
It's always cute, detailed, and gorgeous!It can also be funny and comical at appropriate moments, like in the top left of the first page below or in the omake
The only thing I would warn you for is the proportions/height differences which can often be a tad... unrealistic. But that's just part of CLAMP's charm!
``# CHARACTERS This manga is based off the idea of travelling to multiple dimensions, so it's natural that there will be many, many characters introduced. A lot of them come from other manga by CLAMP, such as RG Veda, Tokyo Babylon, X/1999, CLAMP Campus Detectives, Magic Knight Rayearth and more!
The main cast is made up of Sakura, Syaoran, Kurogane, Fai, and Mokona. If you know Cardcaptor Sakura, you're probably familiar with the first two of those characters!
Firstly, let's talk about Sakura.
You might think she's your average shoujo girl - sweet, shy yet outgoing, a bit ditzy and clumsy, and really innocent. Well, you're not wrong. This may lead you to believe that she's weak or that she won't fight for what she believes in. This is where you're wrong. From the start, Sakura is shown to be a very headstrong girl, be it through (admittedly childish) arguments with her older brother or through her strong will when trying to get Syaoran to talk to her less formally. She displays her strengths in different ways to the others and sacrifices herself time and again for the people around her.I got a bit carried away with talking about Sakura, so I'll try and keep it shorter for the others! Next up is Syaoran.
Much like Sakura, he's sweet and innocent. However, he's a lot more introverted (though still friendly) and is very bookish and intelligent. He may seem like a weakling with his twig arms, but he learned how to fight from a young age, quickly developing that skill with Kurogane's help. As I said, I wanted to keep these short from now on, so I'll just say that he's best boy and move on.Now for Kurogane.
Your classic cool sexy ninja man. Gruff upon first meeting him, but an absolute softie at heart. You know the type - says he doesn't give a shit and absolutely will not get involved and then next thing you know, he's adopted the two kids.Penultimately, Fai!
Fai is a happy-go-lucky and seemingly carefree man. He's a natural troublemaker, constantly deciding to cause problems on purpose when it comes to Kurogane. However, the man is just a bit too happy, isn't he?And finally, Mokona!
Mokona is a cute little creature created by magic! She speaks in third person and has 108 "secret" abilities, the main one being the ability to transport the group throughout different dimensions. Despite being an artificially created being, Mokona has emotions and cares for all the members of the group very much.Be warned though, some of our main cast have some awfully depressing backstories - be prepared to shed some tears!
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SETTING/WORLDBUILDING
Many worlds are shown throughout TRC. All of them are very different, even if some are quite similar. Each world visited makes up an arc in the manga.
Now, it's a bit difficult to expand too much on worldbuilding when the story has them moving from one place to another to quickly, however, CLAMP manages to develop worlds enough to the point where the readers tend to enjoy each and every one of them, delighting in the different cultural and historical settings. For example, Piffle is a futuristic world that has things such as flying racing cars, known as dragonflies. There is also Hanshin Republic, a bustling modern metropolis that's located in that world's Asia.
All in all, CLAMP's worldbuilding and setting gets an A+ from me!
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PLOT
Obviously, this is the most important factor when deciding to read something. I don't want to spoil things so I won't go into detail, but I'll just say that the plot is something that I absolutely adore from this story.
However, there is a twist that many people dislike. I can understand why people dislike it, especially since it becomes very confusing later when some other elements are mixed into it, but overall, I enjoyed the twist, and hope that you will too despite it kinda not making sense later.
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In conclusion, I would definitely recommend this manga to everyone who enjoys something with action, adventure, magic/fantasy, the found family trope, and some mature themes.
Also, I don't know if any of you care, but CLAMP is a group of four women who are very accepting (if a bit fetishistic about it, but I take what I can get), so you'll find that there's no casual or blatant misogyny or homophobia!
Please give this series a chance! And, if you're like me, enjoy this with the anime soundtrack playing in the background - Kajiura Yuki is bae <3