Reviews for Tsubasa Tokyo Revelations (8.83) 3h71g

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This review is based on the R3 OVA fansubs (AonE) and will possibly be edited if/when it's available in R1.  

Tsubasa Tokyo Revelations is essentially CHRoNiCLEs arc from eps 43-52, retold (or actually, adapted directly from the manga), but with an OVA budget. As such, it's trimmer, prettier, more coherent, and absolutely an excellent ending to the series. If you enjoyed CHRoNiCLES, you'll really enjoy Revelations; if you're new to the series, this is a great way to see the end from the beginning, so I recommend it highly with that warning in mind.

ANIMATION: This is how the TV series should have been done. Excellent backgrounds by the same people who backgrounded Ghost In The Shell TV and Jin-Roh, the Wolf Brigade (Bihou Co Ltd). Impressive 2D animation by Bee Train, a subsidary of Production IG, the same people who did the Tsubasa movie (Birdcage Kingdom), with stupendous 3D by the same people who did Ghost In The Shell TV and Seirei no Moribito (done by Makoto Endo). It's a glorious riot of animation, CLAMP style, with brio and elan, thin twiggy characters and blobby monsters, but maybe two notches better than CHRoNiCles. Some slight uses of cinematics (blur, forced perspective) but for the most part, it's just wicked good normal animation. Don't look for a clinic on filmmaking, but it's as good as standard animation gets. The rating for this is a 9, losing points only for originalty and gee-wiz.

SOUND: No question this is one strong OVA series in the sound department. Overall sound by Techno Sound is strong, as you would expect from the company that sound produced such shows as Mnemosyne, Samurai Champloo, Ai Yori Aoshi (TV), Fullmetal Alchemist, Black Cat (TV) and MS Gundam 00. Nice wide soundstage, great foley, good to great seyuu from the same people who voice the same characters in Card Captor Sakura, xxxHolic, Magic Night Rayearth, Chobits, etc. In fact, this whole series (and the OVA) seem to be a tramp thru some of the best CLAMP series, with cameo appearances by more than 5 characters. In particular, I love the voice acting of Sayaka Ohara as Yuuko and Tetsu Inada as Kurogane. I also love the way this series weaves into xxxHolic, so if you like that series, you'll enjoy this one too. Sound is expansive and immersive, and does everything it should do without errors. Opening Theme is "Synchronicity" by Yui Makino and the Ending Theme is"さいごの果実 (Saigo no Kajitsu)" by Maaya Sakamoto, and both are effective for mood and tone.

Sound is not "unusual" but it's almost at the top of the game.  This gets a 8 from me, and maybe higher once I see the R1 discs.

STORY: Backstory is: Syaoran, a boy who wants to become an archeologist, and Sakura, a princess, are childhood friends with a close relationship. One night, Sakura lost all her memories as a result of a conspiracy to obtain her powers. In order to regain her memory, Syaoran seeks help from a witch/shaman, Yuuko. Yuuko tells Syaoran that he has to travel from one alternate reality to another to collect fragments of Sakura's memory. However, even if Sakura regains her memory, she will have no recollection of Syaoran. Travelling together with them is Kurogane, a warrior who was exiled from his country, and Fye, a magician who wants to escape from his King. With the help of a magical creature, Mokona, they set off on an exciting journey through time and space. Essentially it's a road show, in neon colors.

Tokyo Revelations starts at TRC's ep 42 and in the manga they replace/supplement eps 43-52. As Sakura, Shaoran, Fai, and Kurogane continues their travel across many worlds, the other "Shaoran" wakes up. The Tsubasa Tokyo Revelations reveals Fei Wong Reed's intention, and the mystery to Shaoran's left eye. This OVA series is very satisfying as a stand-alone, but it's also excellent as a substitute for the end of the TV series. In short, it's an improvement on the original, and as such gets an 8.  It stays close to the manga storyline, but adds some nice humorous touches.

CHARACTER: excellent character development for a short OVA series. It helps greatly to know the characters from before, but there are many CLAMP  "in-jokes" and cameo appearances that will add value. The character design by Yoko Kikuchi (Noir, ./hack, El Cazador, Birdcage Kingdom) based on orig character design by Minako Shiba (D.Grayman, Madlax, Noir) and the manga. The rest of the characters are either influenced by or dropped in from such CLAMP series as Chobits, Magic Knight Rayearth and Card Captor Sakura, with xxxHolic TV connections also, as well as others (X-TV) and Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE (TV). If you like them, you'll like this, which gets 9 points here.

VALUE AND ENJOYMENT: This is one of the year's best OVA series, and deserves a place in your collection. I enjoyed the series a lot, even though I had to wait almost 5 months for the complete series ( the first one came out November 2007: Majutsushi no Dengon, followed by Jan 2008 for Shōnen no Migime and March 2008 for Himegimi no Mita Yume).

It's worth your time and can give you an appreciation of the series from which it came, and may lead to you giving that series a look, too. 8 points for Value, and 9 for Enjoyment.

CONCLUSION: Got Tsubasa? Get your own copy of this OVA series as soon as you can, but don't borrow mine, it's got a treasured place in my collection.