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Review for complete series



Tsubasa is in a way a love letter to all of CLAMP's other works. I went into this having read almost all - definitely all relevant - series by CLAMP, so I can't say for sure, but I think this series is only half as fun if you haven't read the other works (preferably all). If you enjoy Easter Eggs and cameos, Tsubasa is an absolute treat.

For the longest time, Tsubasa was the longest manga series I owned; anything beyond 10 volumes makes me think twice as I find that most lengthy series just drag unnecessarily. However, it was impossible for me to say no to Tsubasa, Sakura and Syaoran from Cardcaptor Sakura have been long-time favourite manga characters of mine, not to mention that I am generally very fond of CLAMP and all their big and small crossovers. Reading a story that combines almost their entire bibliography and with Sakura and Syaoran as the main characters was too good to say no to. It should also be mentioned that this series is heavily interwoven with xxxHolic's plot and should best be read alongside each other.

This Syaoran and Sakura are not the same from Cardcaptor Sakura (although the original Sakura makes a cameo). In essence, this is a story about travelling between dimensions - the same person can exist in different versions of themselves in different universes. Sakura and Syaoran travel between the different worlds - all very different - and meet characters and elements from all across CLAMP's other works. In fact, some characters appear more than once to highlight how the same being can exist and lead a different life in different worlds. It's really fun to see the characters from other stories living different lives, some are funny and some are bittersweet. CLAMP has killed off a fair amount of its characters in other works so it's nice to see some of them leading happier and peaceful lives.

In addition to meeting a whole lot of known characters, there are also a couple of Tsubasa original characters such as Fay and Kurogane who accompany Sakura and Syaoran on their travels. I've grown to love Fay and Kurogane almost as much as I love the other two - so while Tsubasa is very much a homage to other CLAMP works, it's also a very character-driven story with both Fay and Kurogane having intricate and deep personalities. I also have to express my apologies to Kurogane - I always expected not to like him because I'm not very fond of brawns-over-brains type of characters, but I was very wrong about him; great character, smart as well a strong and just a really great guy.

Being a work of CLAMP, it's almost needless to say that the art is beautiful. That being said, this is more of a shounen-esque series which also shows in the art with the somewhat oddly length limbs and a greater focus on action, weapons and muscles. I prefer shoujo art, but the facial art is much the same as other CLAMP works so I can absolutely live with that.

A downside of Tsubasa is plain and simple that it gets confusing. There are time skips, world switching, doubles across different series (xxxHolic) and rather vague motivations from the villain's side. At some point, I just decided to go with the flow rather than trying to make sense of every detail. There's a bit of a loose end, though I wouldn't exactly call it a band ending either. Now that they are working on a sequel, it'll be interesting to see where things will lead to next.

Either way, an absolute gem if you like CLAMP and crossovers, and Sakura, Syaoran, Fay and Kurogane are just a great team of characters - to be fair, Mokona is as much part of the team and deserves a mention too. Finally, I just love these characters.