Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle
Episode #3
The Katana that Dispells Demons
This episode is interesting and really gives us a clue as to what the animators will be doing with the series. On one hand it features a lot of scenes from the manga, sometimes even recreating some panels in anime form. On the other hand, it takes great creative liberties with the rest of the episode making it kind of a half-filler which focuses on Kurogane (my personal fave character) yet still driving the story forward (though admitedly at a bit of a slower pace).
This episode also shows us that while one episode may look like it skipped something from the manga, the content will most likely be moved to a later episode to help the flow of the animated format (in this case the appearance of two X/1999 characters).
Episode 3 picks up where the cliffhanger from last episode left us, with Shougo and Syaoran about to fight and with both their Kudans primed for battle. There are some quick energy blasts from both sides, the pressure of which forces the gang to ruffle their feathers and Masayoshi to summon his own Kudan for protection from the blast (which is basically a copy of himself). The fighting is interupted by approaching police sirens and the two gangs quickly retreat, leaving Syaoran, Fay, Kurogane, Sakura, Mokona and Masayoshi by themselves. As quickly as he can, Syaoran returns Sakura's first feather to her which immediately warms her body and saves her life.
Before they can talk at length about the events that have transpired, two people, Sorata and Arashi (alternate versions of characters from one of CLAMP's other works, X/1999) walk up to them and offer them a place to stay.
Sorata explains that they owe Yuko, the Dimensional Witch for something and that his wife Arashi knew they were coming due to her psychic powers.
When they're alone, Mokona tells Fay and Syaoran that he sensed another one of Sakura's feather in the fight at the begining of the episode. While this si big news, they all decide it's time for sleep. Syaoran dreams of times past with Sakura and Kurogane remembers how he was exiled from his world by Princess Tomoyo. It's also revealed in this flashback that Tomoyo placed a curse on Kurogane which will reduce his power every time he kills someone. At the end of his dream, a giant blue dragon appears before him. And now we have a commercial break.
The next day, the guys leave Sakura in Arashi's care and head out into Hansin in search of her second feather in brand new clothes supplied by Sorata. As they're walking around, Kurogane sees Tomoyo (!) and chases after her, planning to get her to reverse the curse. Syaorana and Fay follow Mokona to an Okonomiyaki restaurant for lunch which funnily enough has alternates og Toya and Yukito working there. Syaoran and Fay talk about alternate people in different dimensions ammong about 10 minutes of recap fottage from the previous two episodes.
Kurogane meanwhile, has failed in his attempt to find Tomoyo, but is confronted by one of the gangs from before who challenge him to a fight. Since he gave his sword to Yuko, he is unarmed and is quickly losing the fight against a giant Kudan.
Just when it looks like he's done for, he remember's Princess Tomoyo which motivates him to summon his very own Kudan, the blue dragaon from his dream!
The dragon transforms into a giant blue sword which Kurogane instantly wields and makes quick work of the other guy's Kudan.
Later that night, Kurogane shines his new sword/Kudan and funnily enough, doesn't tell the others what happened. Mokona and Fay make humorous comments and they all go to bed again. Syaoran decides to wait up all night overlooking Sakura until Kurogane, very roughly, tells him to go to sleep. Syaoran takes this as Kurogane being kind and agrees that it's a good idea and he'll do just that.
While everyone's sleeping, a mysterious blue glow appears in the room and Sakura wakes up and slowly looks over at Syaoran with an empty, blank look on her face.
My Original Impression
Monday, April 25, 2005
Sorry about the 2 day late posting, I was out all night Saturday and all day Sunday and internet was too slow this morning. Anyway, wow, was Episode 3 cool!
I noticed several things while watching this episode, one being that they seem to be downplaying a lot of the cutsie factor and amping up the action and epicness (if that's not a word, it is now) of the story. There's still pleanty of characterisation (EVERYTHING dialogue wise from the manga featuring our main characters is in here) but some small subtle cutie nods have been left out. i.e. less longing looks from Syaoran.
The transition from the manga has also brought other changes besides the "feel". While all the plot points are included, several of them have been resorted in a different order. Sorata and Arashi, for example, while they are in the anime, appear after the group meet the two kudan gangs and Sakura, while she gets her first feather back as soon as they enter Hanshin in the manga, has to wait until after Rayearth battles the water kudan (apparently Sakura is slower at dying in the anime... just kidding!)
To fit with the episodic storytelling of the average anime series, this episode was a single character developement episode (i.e. mainly focuses on one character while the main story continues in the background) featuring Kurogane. Several changes were made to accomodate this. One of which being the inclusion of a Tomoyo in the anime Hanshin dimension! Speaking of which, it's worth noting that Kurogane's attitude towards her is subtly different in the anime. In the manga he seemed to be annoyed that Princess Tomoyo sent him away but still maintained a sense of honor and respect towards her. In the anime, Kurogane seems to be on a revenge trip. At times it seems like he would take out Tomoyo if he had the chance! This adds an extra element to the story and doesn't seem to change anything major.... yet. It'll be curious to see where this goes.
Anyway, Kurogane chases after "Tomoyo" which seperates him from the others and leads him to battle the fat guy and discover he has a kudan of his own, straight out of Magic Knights Rayearth!
I'm begining to think 25 minutes isn't long enough for this show. I guess that's what we get for knowing the story before hand via the manga. It'll be interesting what happens when the anime will overtake the manga storyline. Can't wait!
p.s. Still no Miyuki!
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