Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, Volume 1 [Paperback]

Clamp (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 27, 2004

SAKURA AND SYAORAN RETURN!

But they’re not the people you know. Sakura is the princess of Clow—and possessor of a mysterious, misunderstood power that promises to change the world. Syaoran is her childhood friend and leader of the archaeological dig that took his father’s life. They reside in an alternate reality . . . where whatever you least expect can happen—and does. When Sakura ventures to the dig site to declare her love for Syaoran, a puzzling symbol is uncovered—which triggers a remarkable quest. Now Syaoran embarks upon a desperate journey through other worlds—all in the name of saving Sakura.

Includes special extras after the story!

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In the mythical land of Clow, the brilliant but romantically clueless teenager Syaoran is working on an archeological dig, while his friend Princess Sakura works up the courage to tell him she loves him. Unfortunately, just as she's about to, a mysterious symbol robs her of her memories and scatters them across countless parallel worlds. What follows next is no surprise: Syaoran vows to restore her memories and embarks on a quest, joined by a wizard, a ninja and a Pokémon-like creature. In this first volume, the motley group finds itself negotiating with an interdimensional witch and visiting the Hanshin Republic, a parallel world obsessed with Japan's perennially second-place baseball team. While Clamp (the Japanese collective of women manga creators) has pitched this workas a more sophisticated take on its source material (the Cardcaptor Sakura series), the art is stereotypical manga: lithe figures, occasionally confusing layouts and lots of cutesy chibi figures. Alas, the writing is equally confusing. Characters appear and disappear with great fanfare but little foundation, and if the dramatis personae "scorecard" in the back of the book is any indication, half of the central ragtag fellowship aren't even characters in the series. Still, Clamp taps into some story lines that are likely to pay off. Fans of Cardcaptor Sakura will enjoy this; everyone else will be left scratching their heads.
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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 13 and up
  
• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Del Rey (April 27, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345470575
• ISBN-13: 978-0345470577
• Product Dimensions: 5 x 0.6 x 7.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (53 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #212,412 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Clamp, stylized as CLAMP, is an all-female Japanese manga artist group that formed in the mid 1980s. Many of the group's manga series are often adapted into anime after release. It consists of their leader Nanase Ohkawa, who provides much of the storyline and screenplay for all their works and adaptations of those works respectively, and three artists whose roles shift for each series: Mokona, Tsubaki Nekoi, and Satsuki Igarashi. Almost 100 million Clamp tankōbon copies have been sold worldwide as of October 2007.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A fun read..., August 1, 2005

By 

Ramapajama (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, Volume 1 (Paperback)

I had heard about Tsubasa from a friend of mine, so I decided to pick up the first two volumes. I was immediately drawn to the artwork, which is of much higher quality than some manga I've read. Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE is essentially a fun story. It isn't ground breaking or anything. But it's a nice little story about three mismatched people in search of disparate goals. If you know anything about CLAMP's other works, I think you might get some of the references others might miss (seeing as to how it is a cross-over). Even without this knowledge, it's still entertaining.

DEL REY I think has done a good job. I liked the little section on Japanese honorifics in the beginning. I also liked how they "subtitled" the sound effects, rather than blanking out the Japanese and substituting them with English. I haven't read the Japanese version, but it seems like a good translation. At least, it isn't atrocious.

In sum: if you're looking for a manga that is visually pleasing and fun to read, pick this up. Especially if you like CLAMP's other works.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Amazing!, May 30, 2004

By 

The Lit Chick "a_sinning" (Alto, MI United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, Volume 1 (Paperback)

I wasn't exactly excited when this manga first came out, since I'm leery of crossovers of any kind. They usually mean that the people producing the crossover have run out of ideas and are just sticking their older, better characters into the story for lack of original material. Not to mention that I've become rather tired of CLAMP lately, having not been a fan of their newer series to date! Fortunately, TSUBASA turned out to be much better than I expected, crossovers and all. The artwork is different from older CLAMP works - it's more sketchy, and somehow slightly less detailed, but in a way that really appeals to me. It looks unique and adds to the feeling of the story itself. The book moved quickly and effortlessly, and the mood is mostly serious, but sometimes there are little touches of humor to lighten the mood (and it actually makes me laugh, something most jokes in manga seem unable to do). The crossover aspect is actually quite smooth and the crossovers don't seem "just tossed in", for the most part; they don't interrupt the story's flow.

If there's one nitpick I need to make about this manga, it's all in how Del Ray handled the release. It's a gorgeous book, but the paper quality is a little rough, which means that the quality of the images isn't so great. Large areas of black ink are especially problematic (some areas are darker than others or flecked with white where the ink doesn't seem to have stuck). Also, TSUBASA will set you back $10.95 instead of the seemingly universal $9.99 most people have grown used to. But these are small complaints, and really, the manga is worth the price and worth getting despite those issues.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ...another astounding piece of work by CLAMP, May 8, 2004

By 

"chris011190" (CA; USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, Volume 1 (Paperback)

wonderful story..its nice how CLAMP relates their work together somehow with other books. If you haven't read any of their previous works, I'd reccomend reading Card Captor Sakura, since Sakura is in this book, Magic Knight Rayearth may help a bit as well. It's not necessary to understand the storyline, but its a nice when you can compare how they changed some of the characters...the paper quality could be just a LITTLE better, but nevertheless its a great start off for Del Ray. The publishing price; 10.95 is a BIT expensive, since normal manga sells for 9.99 ea. But they do add on Japanese previews, and other notes at the end...so I guess that compensates in a way...