Ask John: Is Tsubasa Chronicle CLAMP’s Masterwork?

Question:
After watching the first volume of Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, I have to admit I wasn’t all that impressed, despite claims about it allegedly being CLAMP’s finest work. I’m sorry, but compared to Cardcaptor Sakura, Magic Knight Rayearth and especially X, Tsubasa just didn’t measure up. I even liked lesser works Chobits and Angelic Layer more. Am I alone in that opinion, or do more learned experts (like yourself) feel the same way?

Answer:
I don’t know that any of America’s “learned experts” on anime have tried to directly compare Tsubasa with CLAMP’s other titles, so I’m not sure that there is a sentiment among America’s highest profile anime critics that I can refer to. I suspect, though, that Tsubasa would not be the title that most American anime critics cite as “CLAMP’s finest work.” The majority opinion of Tsubasa seems to be positive, but I get the impression that effusive praise for the series may come primarily from die-hard CLAMP devotees who adore Tsubasa not for its artistic and literary strengths, but rather because it’s the current summation of the “CLAMP universe.”

Anime News Network’s DVD reviewer Bamboo Dong calls the first DVD volume of the Tsubasa anime “simple.” “It doesn’t bother stealing tidbits from other shows. It doesn’t bother to send out its scouts to see what worked or didn’t worked for all the other shows,” she writes in her review. “It doesn’t try to be funny, it doesn’t try to be preachy, it doesn’t try to be enlightening, it just tells the simple story of some guys looking for some damned feathers.” Similarly, Anime on DVD’s Chris Beveridge says of the first DVD volume, “At its core there is a great simple storyline” that has, “Sweeping vistas, beautiful music and a sense of power and importance to all of it.” These two authorities liked the show, but obviously didn’t think that it was a brilliant masterpiece.

Rather than think of a “simple” show as unique, I think of a show that doesn’t especially excel in any area as mediocre. I tend to like CLAMP’s work and the anime based on it, but I read the first translated volume of Tsubasa manga and watched the first half-dozen or so episodes of the first television series and the theatrical movie and found all of it rather uninteresting. At least in its early stages, the Tsubasa story does little to develop its characters beyond their initial characteristics. The changes in setting only seem to prevent the series from developing roots and establishing an impact on viewers. I thought that the series felt superficial and bland. It’s not especially dynamic looking, nor is the TV anime especially well animated. The music sounds recycled from previous Yuki Kajiura compositions. The action conveys no tension or excitement. My opinion of the Tsubasa anime, based on the amount of it that I watched, is that it’s an innocuous, unexceptional anime.

However, the relative simplicity of the show may explain its success. In terms of its total amount of anime, Tsubasa is one of CLAMP’s most successful titles. With two television series, a motion picture, and an upcoming OVA series, Card Captor Sakura is the only CLAMP creation having more anime than Tsubasa. As Chris Beveridge said in his summary of the first Tsubasa DVD, “It’s easy to say that this is accessible to anyone unfamiliar with the characters.” In my opinion, Tsubasa has less identity and weaker intrinsic narrative characteristics than other CLAMP titles like X, Rayearth, Chobits, Angelic Layer, and Card Captor Sakura. But that banality may be, in fact, precisely why the series is able to attract such a large audience. As Bamboo Dong wrote, “What makes Tsubasa work so well is that it presents itself like a standard fantasy series. It doesn’t try to be outrageously creative or novel, it doesn’t try to beat viewers over the head with any kind of message, it simply aims to entertain.” While that lack of ambition made the story uninteresting for me, the fact that the Tsubasa story doesn’t especially feel like a conventional anime may make it more accessible and appealing for casual and mainstream viewers, and viewers who don’t enjoy the clich&eacute and conventions of typical anime.

As is the case with any anime, there are proponents and opponents of the Tsubasa anime. Considering the success of the show, more viewers seem to be the former than the latter. But I do have the impression that the consensus opinion among a sample selection of America’s highest profile anime critics is that the Tsubasa anime may be good, but it’s definitely not the highlight of the CLAMP canon. I suspect that claims that Tsubasa Chronicle is CLAMP’s best work may come from overzealous fans, or may be errorneously phrased statements based on the popularity of the title instead of its literary and artistic qualities.