Tsubasa Chronicles: Nendaiki Torikago no Kuni no Himegimi

Information of Anime

Continuing on the search for Sakura's feathers, Syaoran, Kurogane, Fai, & Sakura enter a world where people have a bird for a companion.  Strangely enough, everyone is living inside a large bird cage.  With the group separate from entering to the world, a boy named Koruri mistaken Syaoran & Sakura for "bodyguards".  Taking them to Princess Tomoyo, Syaoran & Sakura learn that the princess is hiding with the villagers from the king who plans to turn the world into darkness.

Storyline (CONTAINS SPOILERS)

Below is a summary of the storyline I've seen.  This section does contain some spoilers.  If you haven't seen the series yet & don't want to be spoiled, skip this section.  If you want to know the story & want to see how I viewed it, read on.

Because Princess Tomoyo lost her voice from the king due to strange powers he possessed, Syaoran & Sakura are sure that the kings has one of Sakura's feathers.  Even with Kurogane & Fai getting locked in a bird cage inside the king's castle, they are sure about the king's powers as well.  During the convention between Princess Tomoyo & Sakura, the princess gives Sakura a ring that later plays a major role in the plot as the Princess gets caught afterwards.  The ring is need for the king to unleash darkness to the world.  To save the princess, Syaoran & Sakura along with a couple of others secretly enter the castle.  Later, Kurogane & Fai break out as the king is perform the ritual for darkness.  To stop the king, Syaoran takes the ring & rides on Princess Tomoyo's bird to stop the king.  After an aerial battle & Syaoran using the ring's power to bring light to the world, he defeats the king & obtains Sakura's feathers.

With the world still in darknesses, Syaoran contacts Yûko & makes a trade.  Giving up Princess Tomoyo's wind chime that calls for her bird, Yûko gives them a key that is from the xxxHOLIC: A Midsummer Night's Dream movie.  With the key, the world is restored & the bird companions fly away.  In the end, Syaoran & the crew leave the current world for a new world.

My Personal Review

Tsubasa Chronicles: Nendaiki Torikago no Kuni no Himegimi is basically a add-on to the xxxHOLIC movie.  Although it's like a side story, it still involves getting Sakura's feather & a feather did get obtained.  If you started watching the TV series before this one, you may have some slight disappointments about the movie.

Animation

The drawings are very different from the TV series.  Aside from the clothing & colours, the body is done differently.  Not only that, they don't have that CLAMP feel to it.  After watching the xxxHOLIC movie, the drawings were changed dramatically.  There are no long legs or arms or thin bodies.  It's pretty much a balance body.  Even the faces look a bit different.

The backgrounds are pretty good.  More 3DCGs here than the TV series & a lot of soft & colourful colours.  It really brings life to the movie like living artwork.

The animation movements are very smooth & realistic.  Very fluid as well.

Sound

The sound effect doesn't have a very dark touch.  But it doesn't make light of the situations in the movie.  The sounds in the fights are very crisp & clear.  Sometimes it can put you right into the action.

The voices are the same ones from the TV series, which is a good sign since you don't need to re-adapt.

The music is surprisingly the same one from the TV series.  I was hoping for the movie to have a totally new soundtrack, but most of it is recycled from the TV series.  The opening theme song wasn't good for me since I can't get use to the lead singer of Kinya's style.  The ending theme is pretty good in my view.

Story

The story is simple.  Personally, I thought this would make a good TV episode instead of the a movie add-on due to it's length.  Because of the key from the xxxHOLIC movie, the Tsubasa movie must be added on to the xxxHOLIC movie.  However, it's interesting to mention about Syaoran's character here.

Unlike his TV counterpart, Syaoran here isn't an owning machine.  In the TV series, he virtually owns everyone without major problems.  In the movie, he's almost totally weak.  He misses his kicks & gets hit easily.  I'm starting to like his TV version now when I see this & I wasn't too happy about the TV one since he was overpowered.

The ending is good, but not the best.  Although it ended up the loose ends, I felt it was a little too quick.  Probably because of the time length.  As expected, it wasn't a complete ending since all of Sakura's feathers haven't been collected.  It wasn't a bad ending, but I was too happy about it.

As for it tying to the xxxHOLIC: A Midsummer Night's Dream movie, it doesn't really have a huge impact on it.  It was basically trading for it with Yûko to fix the bird world.  Because of this linkage, Tsubasa acts as an add-on to the xxxHOLIC movie.  Personally, I think the trade can be easily taken out & replaced with a different story element such as using the rings to fix things.

Overall Conclusion

Tsubasa Chronicles: Nendaiki Torikago no Kuni no Himegimi  isn't too good as a movie.  Luckily, it's just an add-on to the xxxHOLIC movie.  Personally, I strongly feel that it would do better as an TV episode instead.  However, CLAMP & Tsubasa fans shouldn't be turned away from this negative comment.  It's still an enjoyable anime to watch.  However, you need background about this series before going into it or else you will get lost easily as it takes place in the middle of the series.

Tsubasa Chronicles: Nendaili Torikago no Kuni no Himegimi receives a 7.5/10 from me.  The story is very good, but it would do better as a TV episode instead.  Its linkage to the xxxHOLIC is weak & not necessary really since it can be easily rewritten.