Region 2 DVD: pub: Revelation Films. FUN73002. 1 DVD 130 minutes 5 episodes plus extras. Price: £15.99 (UK).

check out website: www.revfilms.com and www.funimation.com/tsubasa

Well, after the slightly shaky start of vol 1, we're still following the quest of Syaoran on his journey to find the feathers of Sakura's shattered fragmented memory, which has been scattered across parallel worlds. With the first episode, we are greeted with the finale to the episodes in vol 1. With Syaoran dueling Shogo's with their Kudan, Syaoran efforts boosts Masayoshi's confidence leading to the revelation of the location of the feather in an unexpected place. Cue argy-bargy battle, fighting and resolution. With the memory fragment restored the group travel onto a new world.



We are then thrown into a Japanese feudal world. Almost immediately, Syaoran upsets the local lord's son. They are helped though by Cyunyan, a young local girl who calms the situation. She notices they are not local and think they are government inspectors come to help. The Tyrannical Lord is using a powerful source to increase his magical powers. You guessed it. It's one of the feathers the group is looking for. Unfortunately, the castle he resides in is protected by a magical shield as is the town, thus keeping out the real government officials, the Mitteishu.

We get to learn that Cyunyan's mother was also a powerful practitioner of the same magic as the tyrannical lord and it was he himself who killed her to gain rule of the town. The town's folk are desperate to overthrow the lord but having lost many men in the first attempt, they see little way of achieving this.

The first volume was a bit of a disappointment. The search for the first two feathers and the world they found them on felt a bit simplistic. OK, you could play 'find the CLAMP cameo appearance' but even this is a bit sparse. It did leave you with the feeling that it would end up being a series of gang arrive, find a hint of where the feather and fight for feather. There wasn't enough back-story or character development for my liking. Most of the boxes were ticked. Good animation and effects, good music, interesting characters and back-stories. It just felt though it was just going through the motions.

This disc barring the first episode shows more promise. Everything feels more connected. We get more in the way of background, especially as most of the stories take four or more episodes to find the feather(s) you would at least expect this. The 'gang' feels more of a unit with a lot more humour especially between Fai and Kurogane. The main characters play off each other more. It's also good to see Sakura's no longer comatose and taking a more active role in the story.

I think one the real disadvantages of this series is the fact it is CLAMP. This leads to high expectations especially with the cameos. Taken in isolation, it's looking as though it could develop into an enjoyable series. Altogether after seeing this second volume, it's not half-bad. It's a lot better than the first disc but also leaves you hanging in the middle of a story arc. So you'll just have to wait till the next disc. The story of the feudal world is a lot more enjoyable with a villain who does look as if he has the ability to hurt the gang, just don't expect too much an you'll probably enjoy it.

Phil Jones