Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle
Tokyo Revelations: The Magician's Message
Light flashes and the sky warps as Mokona brings Syaoran, Sakura, Faye and Kurogane to their next world after their escape from the land of Recourt in Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle Episode 43.
Mokona confronts Faye on the use of his magic that they had all assumed he had given up. Faye explains that the kind of magic he used in Recourt was based on sound and was a different kind of magic than the one he had given up. Kurogane looks at him very suspiciously.
 Syaoran meanwhile is concerned over his lack of memory concerning the battle in Episode 42 where unknown to him, the other Syaoran took control of his body. Mokona asks him if he's okay. Kurogane now looks at Faye and Syaoran and says to himself how now both of them have mysterious pasts.
Faye then decides to see where they are and runs up to the top of the building where they landed. Much to everyone's surprise, the city they're in is in complete ruins. The begin to explore the land on foot with Kurogane carrying the sleeping Sakura.
 Elsewhere, Sakura's spirit is floating in a huge pool of water. Suddenly a voice commands her to wake up. Sakura asks who it is but there is no response.
Back in reality, Syaoran discovers a rock that has been smoothed by some unknown force. Suddenly acid rain begins to fall from the sky and they all run towards the only untouched building in the area for shelter. As they get inside however they're horrified to see piles upon piles of dead bloody bodies all over the area. Syaoran decides to go check out the building with Mokona and leaves Kurogane and Faye with the sleeping Sakura.
 No sooner have he and Mokona left the a swarm of arrows are fired at them from up above. Syaoran does his best to dodge them but is eventually speared right through his left leg with one. A group of mysterious figures appear on the floor above and begin to talk about Syaoran. One proclaims how cool his fighting was while another says that he is an intruder and this is no time to act so lax. Another asks their leader who reveals himself to be Kamui what they should do. Kamui simply takes the initiative and fires an arrow at Syaoran.
 Luckily for Syaoran, Kurogane arrives and deflects the arrow with a rock. He then commands Mokona to give him his sword. Mokona opens his mouth and expels Kurogane's sword from his body. It flies through the air and lands right in Kurogane's hand. He and Kamui then fight to an almost standstill both suffering strong blows from each other. Eventually Kurogane manages to blast Kamui into the ceiling. Surprisingly Kamui simply lands gracefully on the ground.
Syaoran wonders what exactly Kamui is as a normal person would have been seriously injured after suffering such an attack. Suddenly Kamui's eyes glow a bright gold and then revert back to their normal colours.
 Kamui then sighs and announces that he'll leave the intruders' fate up to his team. He then leaves to go "underground".
The team all reveal themselves to be members of the Dragons of Earth from CLAMP's series, X/1999 though are now known as people from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building. Faye carries Sakura out into the open and joins Syaoran, Mokona and Kurogane. Faye asks the Dragons for help for Syaoran's leg. They all agree to help as they feel that if Kamui didn't want to kill them they can't be all that bad.
As they're led upstairs they discover that there are whole families also living in the building who seem to rely on the the Dragons for protection as the building is under constant attack from people after the water in the basement which seems to be one of two main sources of water left in the Country of Tokyo. The other being a source of water under Tokyo Tower, here referred to as simply "The Tower".
 As Sakura continues to sleep, her soul still floats in some water elsewhere as a voice continually tells her to wake up.
Later that night as Syaoran and Mokona sleep besides Sakura, Kurogane confronts Faye over why he really used magic in the last world. Faye tries to joke it off but Kurogane is determined to get an answer and reminds Faye that when they were fighting for their lives in Koriyo (back in Episode 9 of Season One) he had said that he is on the run from someone and that if he uses his magic he could be found. Faye laughs at how good Kurogane's memory is but Kurogane still doesn't buy this fun friendly act and tells Faye that he knows he's putting up a front so he doesn't involve himself in those around him and so it's hard for people to get to know the real him but when he saved their lives recently with magic he involved himself and he can't deny that.
 Suddenly they're both interrupted by two of the Dragons who ask to speak to them both. Faye, still being "happy" welcomes them but Kurogane stands up and firmly grabs his arm and tells him that he's not dropping this subject and promises to continue this conversation at a later date. Kurogane tells the two Dragons that Syaoran and Sakura are sleeping and that they should talk outside. All alone, Faye collapses against a window and tells himself how hard this all is in a drastic change of character.
 The next morning Faye joins Mokona, Syaoran and the Dragons of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building on a hunt for food. Faye explains to everyone that Kurogane is back house sitting Sakura to make sure she's okay.
Eventually they stop at a break in the road and wait. Suddenly a giant worm erupts out of the ground. The group fires several arrows at it but it refuses to be defeated. Faye takes aim and fires an arrow from his crossbow that brings it down immediately. Syaoran asks what that thing is and he is told that that worm is a mutant caused by the acid rain and that right now, it's a source of food. Mokona panics as apparently someone had called him a "mutant" recently and is worried that someone will eat him.
 Suddenly another group of people arrive. Syaoran is told that they're the people from The Tower (or the Dragons of Heaven in X/1999!). The leader, Fuma greets them. Suddenly Kamui leaps forward and attacks him. Fuma blocks him and asks if he's okay as he appears a lot slower than normal. Faye suspects it's because of his fight with Kurogane earlier.
Back in the dream scape, Sakura wakes up in the dream and realises for the first time that she's underwater! The voice, now more urgent than ever, tells her that if she doesn't wake up she will be stuck in the dream. Sakura gazes in amazement at a bright glowing object under the water.
 Elsewhere, the other Syaoran twitches his hand. In the desert Syaoran senses this and is then suddenly taken over by the other Syaoran who says out loud that he must find "it". Faye sees this change in personality for the first time and looks very concerned as to what's going on. Suddenly as quickly as it happened, Syaoran returns to normal, completely oblivious as to what just happened.
Suddenly Karen, one of the Dragons of the Tower gets a report that The Tower is under attack. Sorata, Arashi, Karen and the others all leave with Fuma to go protect their own water.
In Tokyo (our world) Larg, the black Mokona senses something. Yuko realises what it is; the other Syaoran is awakening.
Elsewhere, the other Syaoran finally fully awakens, breaks the seal on his containment and completely destroys what is holding him. Fay Wang Reed's assistant, Xing-Huo sees this and tells him that she will help him escape but sending him to another dimension. When asked why she simply says that "The dream must end".
Sakura meanwhile has found that she is unable to awaken and is completely swallowed up by the bright light. In the real world, Kurogane sees her body struggle and then cease to move. Upon inspection he is shocked to see that she has stopped breathing!
In the desert, Mokona senses Sakura's feather which has suddenly become active and tells Syaoran that it has been under the building the whole time. Kamui hears this and points his crossbow at Syaoran. Faye steps in front of him and explains that what they're after isn't water but something that's precious to Sakura.
Back in our Tokyo, Yuko dressed in the same clothes she wore when originally greeting Syaoran, Faye and Kurogane waits in the rain as the other Syaoran appears in her shop's front yard.
My Original Impression
Friday 23rd November 2007
Well last weekend my Tsubasa #21 manga arrived in the mail and with it the first Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle Tokyo Revelation DVD! What did I think of the first episode? In short I LOVED IT!!!
The animation was beyond what I had expected for a direct to DVD release. In fact it rivalled if not exceeded the animation of the Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle theatrical movie that was released a few years back! Simply breathtaking in almost every way from the fluid action scenes to the beautiful backgrounds (those skies!). Everything was really very well done.
The voice acting was also spot on which confirms what I've long suspected that Production I.G. must have very good voice directors. These are the same voices that were used in the tv series but for some reason I couldn't stand several of them (especially Sakura) but here (and also in the movie which was also made by Production I.G.) all the mains have so much more range and emotion with some standouts being Syaoran and Faye both of which never really "wowed" me in the series but shone as exceptional here.
The script was also spot on though it was written by Okawa (a member of CLAMP) so I wouldn't have expected anything less. Having just read Tsubasa #15 which starts the Tokyo arc I was constantly surprised with how closely the script stuck with the manga. The direction also was heavily influenced by the manga with lots of shots looking like they were lifted right from the page. Kurogane grabbing Faye, Faye collapsing, the rounded stone and Kurogane and Kamui's fight are several examples of such influence.
God, I loved this so much. What else is there to talk about?
The music! I've always loved the composer from the anime series and she returns here with about a 95% new instrumental score (something I wasn't expecting). Again she really shines though unlike the series which used her tracks and just threw them behind scenes, here it looks like she composed the music for the action on screen as all the music fits flawlessly!
The opening credits are INSPIRED. I never would have expected the magical circles to be used in such a way but they work very well go with Yui's Syncronicity perfectly!
The ending credits have got to be one of the best ending credits I've seen. Period. Not only is the song so much more mature than what we've come to know from Tsubasa's ending themes but the on screen animation is PERFECT! The panning shots of the gang (where's Mokona though?) look like they were drawn by CLAMP themselves (they even use the clothes they're wearing on the box that came with it!) and the Dragons of Heaven and Earth all standing together is so powerful I almost forgot who the main characters of the show really were!
Overall I give this 10 out of 10!
This was so much more than I expected. I can't wait until January when the next DVD comes out!
Today's Crossovers
Coming Soon
<-- Opening Credits -- Tokyo Revelations Main -- The Boy's Right Eye -->
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