Tsubasa: Tokyo Revelations

Tsubasa Chronicle's anime experience has been a very rocky one. In spite of staying true to the manga to an extent, the original TV series was shameless in it's amateur art styl, jilted animation, and wholly uneven pacing. Fans got a brief look at something amazing when the short movie came out and wondered, "what if Production I.G. did the canon story of Tsubasa?" Wonder no more. Tsubasa Chronicle: Tokyo Revelations is quite literally a godsend, not only for the poor souls that suffered through the uninspired Bee Train adaptation, but also those (myself included) who felt the artwork and pacing for the manga chapters the OVAcovers were way off-balance. For the revelations at hand, no one delivers the goods better. First thing fans are going to recognize is the art style, which is much more defined and fluid than the TV series. The fight scenes are seamless and perfect in nearly every way, and backgrounds are fleshed out wonderfully. Moreso, the series' shining point, the OST, is abundant here. Unlike the TV series, however, the OVA uses Yuki Kajiura's compositions minimally and saves the big pieces for dramatic effect. For me, the OST just got better. Also, I adore the melancholy OP. Of course, Tsubasa has a story and, in this case, one Bee Train decided to ignore completely due to the dark nature of the titular revelations. Production I.G. did not sway. Though some minor plot points are rearranged, everything flows and follows the manga as if you were watching a full-color, audio-enhanced slideshow of the chapter panels. Though these chapters suffer themselves from pacing, the OVA makes things clearer and much less muddled than the manga. Still, too much happens at once and the OVA faults in not giving each revelation enough due reaction with all that's going on. Naturally, characters also take some turns as this is the manga's turning point. And wow, what changes they are! Really, going any further would risk massive spoiler territory, but the OVA crams a series' worth of character development into these 3 episodes. Phenomenal is an understatement, and the way the seiyuu handle these changes is nothing short of vocal mastery. It is easily the high point of this already excellent OVA. When everything comes together, it's definitely something worth appreciating, and one can only hope that more Tsubasa anime will follow from Production I.G. It is very much enjoyable, but it won't leave a serious impact on you. The only thing I really took from this was "this is Tsubasa done right", but for me that is enough to warrant a high enjoyment rating. Overall, Tsubasa Chronicle: Tokyo Revelations gets a 9. Best anime adaption of the series to date, and excels beyond the manga in delivering the goods in a way that isn't horribly confusing.

Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles was a great series in and of itself. It was portrayed in the anime in a very hit or miss fashion with the quality and editting. The way Bee Train hurt Tsubasa is the equivalent of what 4kids does to anime here. Be that as it may, we're not talking about the original 2 seasons, i'm here to recommend to you. Tsubasa Chronicle: Tokyo Revelations This OAV is astounding. The characters have more development then they did throughout the first two seasons. The art style was more defined, more "Mature" in the scope that Tsubasa truely is. Syaoran simply looked taller, more definedand slender, like a cross between Kurogane and Fai, the way a main characters body should look. Following the manga pretty much to a T, the "Revelations" that are discovered and exposed in the dreary acid rain filled town that once was Tokyo, were mind blowing to me. Each character went through something big in just 3 episodes, and the best part is it didn't feel rushed. My enjoyment with these OAV's was through the roof. Seeing the characters for who they really are. It is indeed a must see if you love anything about Tsubasa.

Let me start off by saying I am among a minority of critics that feels the Anime series is a work of misunderstood genius and I'm probably the only one who's tired of the Bee Train haterz because OCD CLAMP fans can't stand anything that's different from the Manga. That's not to say I don't recognize the flaws in Bee Train's TV anime series, but nothing is with out it's flaws. With Tokyo Revelations being picked up by Production I.G from BEE TRAIN I wasn't sure what to really expect. That being said I've always been a long Tsubasa fan more so becauseI've enjoyed the story telling by CLAMP. Tokyo Revelations I had mixed feelings going into, on the one hand I was delighted to see another anime adaption, on the other hand I wasn't particularly looking forward to Production I.G's new Gothic style. But still I wanted to see if Tokyo was worth the hype and for the most part it is. Tokyo was very strange, dark and an extreme departure from the campy and brighter anime series broadcasted by NHK sure enough to please the OCD CLAMP fans. I want to talk about Nanase (or Aghea) Okawa's writing, which I found to be exceptional quality for her. Mostly I've known Okawa's screenwriting skills for my guilty pleasure series Cardcaptor Sakura. Okawa brought out the strong writing that really attracted me to Tsubasa and held me as I read the Manga. I haven't read since the end of the Ashura Arc (having already seen the Dangerous Race I didn't really want to read it again) anyway Okawa probably brought out the strongest story telling so far of any Tsubasa anime adaption, which something the series writer, Hiroyuki Kawasaki, couldn't quite accomplish but still managed in spirit. The dramatic and somber story telling was done in a very stylistic way that I wasn't expecting really. The writing was action packed and dramatic with out being dark and mopey like other pseudo-Goth animes like Boogiepop or Serial Experiments Lain. This also includes giving the much left out Sakura more of a central role and a pretty kick-ass story arc later, whereas in all earlier volumes of the manga and anime she has been the classical damsel in distress. The awakening of the Clones was beyond strange yes, and even a little confusing but again Okawa wrote that in a sense that it was almost like watching a thriller as opposed to a fantasy. A highly unusual departure and downright scary it blew me away, it was intense and highly packed full emotion. Overall you may be blown aback unless you just simply like this stuff to begin with. The new art and character designs is to be expected with a new studio taking over the production, as such I'm not a fan of the psudo-Gothic style of anime, so naturally, I can't say I particularly liked Yoko Kikuchi's new designs. I did not care for the new animation style, I do want to say that director Shunsuke Tada was at least able to keep it balanced. He didn't allow it to become overly saturated with blacks and shadows and dull unexpressive character designs and animation as most directors in this style do. He allowed enough darkness to show a different style and allowed the tone and mood to be set to get us in the new world and not hit us over the head with it. Tada has an easy style that is again often missed by most in this kind of Genre so my hat is off to him for keeping a relatively easy story line, and decent animation style. But he dropped the ball in the Music Department overall. Music wise you'll notice 98% of the music is from the TV series slightly altered. It's almost appalling that a production company of I.G's status can't make a slightly more original, original soundtrack. I'm certainly glad they have been keeping Yuki Kajiura on as Composer since she was previously brought in under Koichi Mashimo's direction. Whether simply Kajiura was too busy to write new material I don't know but this is one of the reason I find Koichi Mashimo and his company Bee Train to be above the par with most. All I can say is if you are looking forward to another potentially great score, you'll be rather disappointed as I probably heard 5 new musical pieces including the opening theme and closing theme. It's almost silly people have complained about repetitive music in the TV series when it's equally obvious in this OAV Series. However, the opening theme song Synchronicity once again shows off the immense talent Yui Makino has especially when she's working with Kajiura and Maaya Sakamoto delivers a pleasant and well crafted ending theme. Both Kajiura and Sakamoto are talented writers, and both can do wonders if they are given the chance. With the up and coming OAD's I really hope Tada get's his act together and starts having Kajiura write some newer compositions. OAV or no OAV if you have a sequel make some new music, if BEE TRAIN could do it for their small 4 OAV series .hack//Liminality, surely a company like Production I.G can do it too. (especially the way CLAMP fans have been making IG into a Mecca). Overall Revelations is worthy of a checkout and a full watch. How much, is up to you. I am happy to say it wasn't a waste of my time and I will look forward anything new I.G. brings to the Tsubasa Universe.

Tsubasa Chronicle: Tokyo Revelations did what the rest of the anime series failed to do: be interesting. While the art style is more or less the same, it is obvious in the first few minutes that it has been supplemented with greater detail, some additional special effects here and there, and the animation seems to move more smoothly and remain more "active", versus the all-too-boring and sluggish feel of Tsubasa Chronicle and Tsubasa Chronicle 2nd Season. Story: 8 - Very Good We all know the story of Tsubasa Chronicle from the manga, because chances are, if you are not a manga reader, you have not seen thisOVA, and if you are not a manga reader, you stumbled upon it through recommendation or pure curiosity. My point is, I'm not going to get into the story here because I'm sure 90% of the people reading this know it more or less. It has a very good story for CLAMP material if you consider the manga and forget the abomination of an anime exists. Art: 9 - Great The art was very well done, but could have been better. I wasn't seeing anything in the art here that I haven't seen in other OVA productions before, nothing that really sets it apart and goes the extra mile. But it's definitely up there in the quality department. It's great. Sound: 9 - Great Good music, nice sound effects. The sound and music in this series does a good job in setting the mood and keeping it in check at the right moments, and changing when it should change. It's not extremely repetitive which is always good, and is nice to listen to. It's great, but at the same time there are a lot of OVAs out there which more or less match this series in terms of quality and the amount of effort (seemingly) put in. But it is very nice. Character: 7 - Good I won't go there since I'm assuming you all know who the characters are and how they were developed in the manga, and further in this OVA. Character development in this show is pretty good, each character has a back-story that can be identified. However, overall, I don't find these characters all that interesting (except for Fai and Kurogane), or at least, as interesting as they could be. They tend to be repetitive in their actions, and become somewhat predictable. Not that this is a bad thing, it's simply not as interesting as compared to if they were to develop more to a point where their personality itself changed. That isn't the case in this series, after the initial character development, every is pretty much just static. It's not a bad thing, as I said, but it's not all that brilliant either. It's good the way it works out though, I suppose. Enjoyment: 7 - Good This OVA was enjoyable, but nothing on a grandeur epic scale. Maybe it's because I knew exactly what was going to happen, or maybe it's because this particular arc in the story is only interesting closer to the middle and end. In any case, it was decent, and there were some parts I really did enjoy and was pleased with. Overall: 8 - Very Good This is a very good OVA for the typical Tsubasa Chronicle fan. You will not regret watching it, but you won't necessarily think it's the greatest thing since pie either. But heck, it's Tsubasa Chronicle, and you know you can't wait to see Kurogane open a can of whoop ass. It's definitely worth the watch, however if you are new to the series, I suggest you read the manga at least up to this arc first, or you will be lost, and if you do decide to read-back later to fill in the empty spots, you will just spoil it for yourself. So pick up Tsubasa RESERVOIR Chronicle and read it, and then supplement it with this wonderful OVA. The Menclave release comes highly recommended.

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