Sakura, Syaoran, and many other characters from CLAMP's mangas and animes are back in a brand new series: Tsubasa -RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE- (manga) and Tsubasa Chronicle (anime). However, they are not the same as you remember. Sakura is the princess of a peaceful, desert country while Syaoran is her childhood friend and the head of an archaeological dig that took his father's life. Instead of Tomoeda, Japan, they now live in the desert country of Clow with a mysterious ruin that Syaoran is excavating. One thing that hasn't changed, though, is their relationship and their hesitation of declaring their love for each other. However, that all changes when the ruins Syaoran is excavating calls upon a mysterious power within Sakura that has the potential of changing the world. Though Syaoran manages to save Sakura, her feathers which contains her memories all the way from the moment she was born are scattered into many different dimensions.
Comments
It has some serious pacing issues, and lack of transparency in the plot. There's the 'conflict' point laid out initially, but all the connections that form a plot web around that goal are floating motes, disparate and separate to initial sight, and take a long time in getting there as far as making those links.
The inner arcs created by the very fashion of the show do not help matters -- tho the novelty is fine in the first few episodes, it loses its, ermm, novelty . .. . quite quickly.
That, and (despite some good animation) there are an inordinant amount of slow panning motionless gazes. I understand it to an extent but . .. this is a bit much, and there's so much work that could be done with the pacing anyway it's hard to see why these have to be so common and long, emphasizing the slow pace this show has in spite of itself.
Talking of pacing and transparancy -- there are a couple episodes that really stood out where you have to ask yourself "Wait, did I miss an episode here?" -- this is not the rarest thing for anime, and much more common in shonen features, but it bugs me. Tho, to be fair, the entire thing that is the serial publication tends to bug me if it isn't a comedy. Something with a clear and definite plot constantly being written on a set schedule by someone who hasn't themselves even begun to think of an ending bothers me -- largely due to the sheer amount of filler material you often get just to have the series be cancelled/the author stop (or even die) 10 years in and only 5 steps into that mile-long sprint of a determined story. -- off topic tho'.
Also - seriously, way too many flashbacks (especially the repetition, each is shown at least twice).Prequels exist. Make one if you want.
That said, the music is awesome, and most the reason I watched to the end instead of just skipping ahead to the last third or so of the show. The plot, if yous trip it out of all the episodes and piece it together, is also interesting, and I had to finish.