3/5 First season is great, but series dies in the second
  by Tallin (U.S.)
Before you consider sinking serious money into this, you should know a few things first. I hate to have to downgrade my review to 3 stars, because the first 20 or so episodes of the series are wonderful, following the manga pretty closely. Then you get to the part where they deviate from that and it's okay but very cliched. The ending of the first season is a letdown. Too many easy answers.
But the worst is what the animating company, Bee Train, did to the second season, ruining the series as a whole. I must warn the buyer that if you get into this, be aware that the second season utterly ruins what should have been an anime masterpiece. Then, to top it off, the ending is contrived and a cliffhanger. On top of that the viewer is told that there will be more 'adventures together' coming soon. But Clamp announced that they will not allow Bee Train to continue destroying Tsubasa so they have pulled the plug entirely.
There will not, as of this date, be a Season 3. And if you read the manga through the now 20 or so volumes, there needs to be. There's so much story left to tell!
The end of Season 2 at 52 episodes had people in an uproar in japan. Take a look at the reviews on Amazon japan. You don't need to be able to read them to see the one and two star slams against this series.
I have seen the second season and I say buyer beware. Bee Train should be disbanded and never allowed to ruin another anime again. They made this into a bad kiddie series, they completely wimp out on the deeper parts of the story. Some of the episodes seem more like the Smurfs than anything else. So hokey it leaves you sick with disgust. Why did they do this? This is so heartbreaking because as any fan of Tsubasa knows, this story is probably, along with xxxHolic, one of Clamp's best works and to have it utterly wrecked is a shame and now it is ruined forever as an anime.


5/5 Wonderful introduction to the world of anime
  by Jenine Wilson (Western, MA)
Outside of watching Yu-Gi-Oh! and Pokemon with my son I really haven't watched any anime for myself. However, when I discovered that the manga of Tsubasa that I had just started reading was also an anime I was determined to check it out. After getting past the initial sticker shock for anime in general I picked up this first volume. I wasn't at all disappointed, except perhaps by the fact that it ended.

The anime has presented an entirely different way of viewing these characters. Right from the opening credits I've loved everything about the anime. The music is great and everything is so colorful, a huge departure from the black and white panels of the manga (not that I don't enjoy the manga, I do, this is just so different!) Fai in particular has such a cute personality and I love the interactions between him, Kurogane and Mokono. It seems a wonderful balance between humor and drama and I'm really looking forward to watching more of this series!

5/5 Great because it doesn't try to be
  by Sisi Herrera (Dallas, TX)
First of all, I love everything CLAMP has ever made, so there was no way I was going to miss this release. But I don't think I'm biased when I say that this is a good show for anyone to watch. Fans of the original manga might be disappointed by animation, which is about average and could have been better, but they'll still enjoy the creativity and beauty of the different worlds that Syaoran and his companions travel to. The characters are what really make Tsubasa worthwhile, and the English dub does an excellent job of bringing out their often hilarious personalities. My favorites are the voices of Tomoyo and Fay, who is voiced by fan-favorite Vic Mignogna (Edward in Fullmetal Alchemist).

The only downside to Tsubasa is that it's plot starts out rather predictable, but that gets better later on in this season. The simplicity of this series is actually what makes it appealing. The innocent love between the two leads is a bit corny, but at the same time oddly heartwarming. I haven't physically smiled at an anime romance in a while, so this was a real treat. (Note: this is not a romance anime! It's a shonen action series, but i mention this to show that it has something for everyone.)

If you have kids, this is also a good show to watch with them, because the action is bloodless and there are only a few swear words.

5/5 Better than the Original!
  by Bradley Stephenson (Tokyo, Japan)
This first DVD features the first whopping five episodes of the series (take that Region 2!) which introduces us to all the main characters and takes them on their first adventure to the world of Hanshin.

Having watched the series during it's original run on Japanese TV and being sorely disappointed with several of the voice actors (I'm looking at you Sakura, Fai and Kurogane!) I was looking forward to hearing the English actors and what they would do with their roles and man, not only was I pleasantly surprised... I was ECSTATIC!!! The English voice actors not only manage to match the characters but they also achieve something the Japanese actors couldn't: giving their characters personalities!

The Japanese Sakura has always been, for me, an example of one of the most boring portrayals of an anime character. The actress always came across as rather weak and wispy and this even includes the scenes before Sakura lost her features where she was supposed to be full of life. Fai and Kurogane's voice actors fit their roles but didn't seem to do much else with them. One might go so far as to say that they became almost stereotypes of themselves. It wasn't until I saw the amazing xxxHolic anime series did I consider that Bee Train's voice direction may have been to blame.

The same voice actress that portrayed Yuko in Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle portrayed her in the xxxHolic series and the difference in quality is shocking at times. In xxxHolic, Yuko is full of energy even when she's talking seriously. In Tsubasa she honestly seems bored at times. I also found some subtle differences in the way the different Mokona's were portrayed in the different series with black Mokona showing a lot more comedic range than the white one in Tsubasa who seemed to be on "just be cute all the time" mode.

Watching the English Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles is like watching an entirely new show! All the voices are so dynamic and have so much depth. It's like the characters from the manga have finally been given the voices we all expected! Sakura is now full of life and energy. She's no more the annoying high pitched "we have to love her just because" anime girl. Here she has a personality and is actually likeable, something the Japanese version never really made us feel they just beat us over the head every episode by having characters tell us she's so likeable and great.

Mokona is spot on and shows us all kinds of cuteness. Fai and Kurogane are both perfectly cast here, obviously due to their similarities to their Japanese counterparts but are so much more interesting to listen to. While I always liked the Japanese Syaoran, this version also seems to offer a greater emotional range.
The only voices I was a bit concerned about were Fay Wang Reed who just sounded so different than what I expected though he did grow on me by Episode 5 and Watanuki who sounded very unusual, mind you he only spoke one line.

The only really negative aspect of the dub I could find was the mispronounciations of some of the names. Kurogane's was particularily strange and Mokona is being over pronounced as "Moe-ko-na". Sakura also suffers as well, being pronounced as "Saaarrr-ku-ra" instead of the proper "Sa-ku-ra". Whether this was a deliberate choice of pronunciation or due to the voice actor's American or Canadian accents I'm not sure. It does detract from the enjoyment a little and I hope they correct this by the next volume.

Overall this is a great release though and those of you who found the Japanese version boring and painful to watch should definitely give the English one a go.

4/5 A Serious Review
  by Melissa Norvell (Oklahoma)
Those who read the manga may be a little dissapointed in the anime. Some scenes didn't go into a enough detail to be honest and the dialouge was toned down in places that it didn't need to be.

Those who buy this, do be warned that CLAMP was not happy with the second season and discontinued this series. Speculation is that there may be another animation company who will take it over (and I definitely hope so, Bee Train does the second season so little justice)

But to be honest, the first season is pretty good. The dub is also well-done, which I am thankful for being a hard core Tsubasa/CLAMP fan in general.

I'm pretty pleased with this to be honest, despite my half-hearted review. The music is amazing, as is the animation. The dialouge could use a little work, but that was my only complaint (aside from my biast opinion on Bee Train)

It's a fairly good anime, and if you hadn't read the manga, you may find it to your liking.

~Melissa

That was my first real review on something here...I just now realized that....