Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, Vol. 18 [Paperback]

Clamp (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 22, 2008

A DEADLY GAME OF CHESS!

In the world of Infinity, Princess Sakura has become a Chess Master and the other travelers are her pieces. But the Mafia is running the game, and they don’t care if Sakura’s opponents break the rules or murder Sakura’s companions! Why is Sakura so determined to risk everything?

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 13 and up
  
• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Del Rey (July 22, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345504097
• ISBN-13: 978-0345504098
• Product Dimensions: 5 x 0.6 x 7.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #142,477 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

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A broken family, July 25, 2008

By 

Kellyannl (Bronx, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, Vol. 18 (Paperback)

In this volume of Tsubasa, the gang gratefully say goodbye to their AU Tokyo allies as Yuko finally explains to them that Fei Wang Reed is behind all of their problems. They have little time to deal with that, however, as they face the fallout of the Syaoran clone's rampaging and enter a vicious living chess game run by an AU version of Rayearth's Eagle Vision to earn money to help the clone's victims, with Sakura as Queen and the guys as her "pieces".

That is not to say, however, that everything is honkey dorey. Sakura and Fai increasingly cling to eachother and shut the others out to some extent, as Sakura tries to redefine her relationship with the real Syaoran and Fai tries to start coming to grips with his new biology and his guilt over what Kurogane is doing for him while becoming fiercely protective of the Princess in the wake of how the last volume ended - something that doesn't exactly have Kurogane jumping for joy as he's fully aware that Fai has to take care of himself first before he's in any condition to help him coparent the kids (and to their credit, both men understand that the real Syaoran has as much a connection with them as if he had been with them physically and is not responsible for the clone's actions) again. With Syaoran in a heap of misery over both the status of his relationship with Sakura and the damage his doppleganger has caused, Sakura deeply scarred by the recent events surrounding Syaoran and Fai, and Fai simply going through the motions purely out of love for the others rather than his own will, Kurogane is starting to learn that the meaning of true strength his AU Tomoyo spoke to him of might have nothing to do with a sword, but everything to do with keeping his unstable adoptive family together and emotionally whole - and starts mulling over the possible dilemma he might face himself if his promise to return home doesn't gell with his new commitment to Fai. And just when the gang needs every break they can get, a terrified Fai gets the long distance alarm call from his AU Chii that he's been dreading ever since volume 1...

A volume that partially returns the series to it's tournament-style roots without throwing any of the character development of the recent volumes out the window.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Intense, July 23, 2008

By 

Hakajin "Ecclectic Student" (GA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, Vol. 18 (Paperback)

Vol. 18 of "Tsubasa" begins with the gang learning more about their enemy and his plans from Yuuko. They have to make a big decision, but is it really their decision at all? Next, they enter the land of Infinity, where battles are fought for money on a giant chessboard. But how well Syaoran, Kurogane, and Fai fight depends upon the will of their chessmaster, Sakura.

This is one of the most emotionally intense volumes yet. There are no shocks like in vol. 17, but the mood is heavy. I enjoyed the metaphysical themes presented in the first part of the volume. I really wanted the group to move onto Celes, Fai's home, next, and I was disappointed that they went to Infinity instead. However, I quickly forgot about that once I started reading. The relationships between the characters got very intense here, especially with the real Syaoran trying to find his place within the group. I especially enjoyed the interactions between him and Kurogane. The facial expressions were very well drawn and reached me in a way they hadn't before. All of the characters are showing good development.

So, while vol. 18 doesn't have the shock value that vol. 17 had, it has more emotional depth. It's one of the best volumes yet.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, July 23, 2008

By 

Attila "book geek" (at my computer) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, Vol. 18 (Paperback)

This issue is amazing- after the intense shocks of the previous issue, it provides a nice way for the readers to come down from that high without it being boring or dull. A must-have in the series- the themes expressed in this series are deeper than I've yet encountered in a manga, and the five stars I've given here can be applied to the entire series, not just this issue.