Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle
Episode #9
Bewitching Woman
A kind of important milestone happens in this episode; the first communication and trade with Yuko and the guys from xxxHolic! This becomes a regular event in Tsubasa Chronicle where the gang need some help from Yuko and are required to trade something for her assistance. More often than not, Yuko gives them a magical item that is very strange and mysterious for Tsubasa Chronicle viewers though has a lot of history for people who watch the xxxHolic anime. You don't need to watch both series to understand the story, but you will get more information about the Mokonas, the magical items that are traded and Clow Reed if you do.
This episode starts with the last few minutes of Episode 8 with a mysterious voice freeing Sakura and Syaoran from the castle. We then get the title screen and a beautifully rendered exterior shot of the villiage which seems to be covered in a force field of some kind. Three mystery characters observe this and speculate on why they can't enter.
Back at the house, Chun notices that Sakura is acting a lot like her deceased mother but before she can talk to anyone about it they decide to contact Yuko to ask for help in getting past the castle's force field.
This is really cool as Yuko asks the obvious question, why can't Fay use magic? Turns out the tatoo that he gave Yuko in Episode 2 controlled his magic somehow and even though he can still use magic, he won't without the tatoo.
Anyway, Fay trades his magic staff for a wierd ball which Syaoran throws at the castles field which shatters! Syaoran, Fay, Mokona and Kurogane enter the castle and leave Sakura and Chun behind to wait for them. Chun is upset about this but accepts it with comforting by Sakura.
After walking around lost in the enchanted halls of the castle, the boys come to the conclusion that the halls are enchanted! Fay senses a powerful force on the other side of the wall and they bust through to find a magical woman called Kishimu.
Kishimu, after a fair bit of talking refuses to let them pass and uses her magical Hijitsu to create a giant battle field with floating pink acid bubbles.
Syaoran soon gets hit on his wrist and one of his ankles and it becomes apparent that if they don't leave soon they will all die. Kurogane and Fay quickly decide that Syaoran should go on ahead while they try and defeat Kishimu. Kurogane breaks a poll in half which they use to sling Syaoran up throw the ceiling where Fay had detected the magic was at it's weakest. As Syaoran is slung up at the ceiling he spins around and performs one of his kicks which shatters a small part of the ceiling which he (and Mokona who was in his shirt) escape through.
Outside the castle, Sorata and Arashi have motivated the villiages into storming the castle. As they prepare, Chun tells Sakura that she wants to go with them, but Sakura, again acting like Chun's mother tells her that she has something else that she must do. Chun doesn't understand what is going on but agrees to listen to her.
Back in the castle, Fay and Kurogane are fighting for their lives as Syaoran and Mokona walk through more hallways in search of the evil magician and Sakura's feather. Instead they find the evil guy's son who appears to have been beefed up by his father's Hijitsu so much that he can even make a Hell of a dent in the wall. It's a stand off and a "To Be Continued".
My Original Impression
Saturday, June 04, 2005
Something I've realised while watching the anime is that I get the same feeling watching it that I do within the last 5 minutes of an episode of 24. The "You've only got a few minutes left! Hurry up!" kind of feeling. However, I get this feeling about halfway through an episode of Tsubasa.
After about 15 minutes of just dialogue, the viewer starts to realise that there won't be enough time for them to get Sakura's feather, defeat the bad guys and travel to another world. Hell, when the second half of the episode is MORE talking even in the "action scenes" there's not enough time for them to even meet the bad guys! It's strange because the still images in the manga of Kurogane and Fay's fight scene felt faster than the moving, animated version. :( The anime seems to being going for over-the-top dramatic poses and cliched plots (ala a certain girls dead mother coming back to talk to her daughter next week) rather than just telling the damn story.
I don't mind that it strays from the manga really. It's just that in this case, every time they stray seems to slow down the pace for little cliched character moments that seem to do nothing to advance the plot or character development.
The music was great however and the animation A+. Plus it was a little faster paced than last weeks but still, again, not much happened besides them entering the castle and a trade sequence with Yuko (great to see her again and made me realise that they never gave Yuko an apple in the anime Hanshin arc!)
Still no sign of Miyuki.
Next ep looks to be good. I'd say it feels like the last ep of this arc but who knows? They may drag it out further.
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