Tsubasa Vol. 15

Rating T+ Genre manga Publisher Del Rey External Links Offiicial Tsubasa Website

If you've read one volume of Tsubasa, you've read them all. This is thanks to the manga's cyclical story, one clearly designed to last as long as there's still money in it. As far as long-running manga goes, Tsubasa is not bad. It's not all that spectacular either.

Way back in the first volume, the pattern was set up. Syaoran and his group of somewhat accidental companions -- a samurai-type named Kurogane and a former magic user named Fai -- travel from world to world, searching for feathers. These feathers are chunks of Princess Sakura's memories. If they don't find the feathers, Sakura will die.

Basically, this means our band of heroes goes from world to world, each of which is full of cameos appearances from other CLAMP creations. They find feathers and go on to the next world.

The only thing that really makes Tsubasa interesting is the deal Syaoran, Kurogane, and Fai had to make to be able to travel to different dimensions. They each had to give up the one thing that was most valuable to him. Kurogane lost his powerful sword. Fai lost his magic. And Syaoran had to give up one of Sakura's feathers, the one that contains all of her memories about him. It is this element, Syaoran fighting to save Sakura even though she will never remember him, that makes the first few volumes of Tsubasa interesting. We see Sakura gaining back memories and in all of them, Syaoran is cut out.

There's a problem, though. Pretty soon this interesting element is buried beneath seemingly endless repetition of the same cyclical pattern. World. Quest. Feather. New world.

In volume 15, our heroes find themselves in a burned husk that was once Tokyo. Acid rain has destroyed almost all the buildings, created giant poisonous worms, and poisoned all water above ground. There's a big fight between our heroes and some of the natives at the beginning of the volume. This soon resolves, though, and Syaoran and company continue their quest for the feather. Throughout everything, Sakura is unconscious. At one point she stops breathing and a local priestess announces that her soul is asleep.

Fans of the Tsubasa series will enjoy this new volume. There's some twists and turns and some character development, especially for Fai. For those who haven't read the series, it's worth a try. Obviously, though, you wouldn't start with volume 15.