Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, Vol. 5

The story concludes the tale of the princess and the children being led into the castle. It moves on to the new world of Obi where everyone seems the same and life is hospitality, at least at first. A transitional book, not one of the best but I'm sure it's coming.

The first half of this volume deals with the conclusion of the arc begun in volume 4 as the mystery of the missing children is solved with Sakura as an active participant, the culprit turns out not to be who it appeared, and the villain of the situation receives his or her just desserts. The second half finds the gang in a moment of, for them, relative peace as they reach their next destination and take jobs - Kurogane and Syaoran working as demon hunters while Fai runs a cafe with help from Sakura in hopes of picking up gossip that might help the cause. This volume solidifies the group dynamics as Fai starts comparing them to a nuclear family by drawing cutesy pictures of Kurogane and Syaoran as father and son puppies and himself and Sakura as mommy and daughter kitties. Obviously there's alot more to him that we're nowhere near finding out yet, but for now he's a riot and it's alot of fun waiting to see what comes out of his mouth next and how far he's going to push Kurogane. The strange thing is, Fai isn't all that far off the mark. Kurogane has started becoming a fatherly/brotherly mentor to Syaoran, and at times Fai has started acting as an almost maternal/sisterly figure quick to offer physical comfort and always seeming to know the right thing to say to the kids when it counts. In their own, odd way, they really are becoming a family of sorts.

I'M OBSESSED WITH THIS SERIES!!!!!!!!!!!! Umm, yeah, that might be over-doing it, but......not by much. @.@ Yeah, i Mokona rocks my socks, Kurogane's funny, Syaoran is somewhat oblivious *yep....* and Fai's a little bit TOO optimistic. I love the side-conversations with Mokona and Kurogane and Fai. All in all.......*What's the 'all in all......' again?**I don't know make something up!!!* ...ducks are cool.

As the story goes, the mystery involving Princess Emerald (Emeraude in magic Knights...?) is resolved (I won't tell you who's stealing the kiddies, for those who still want to read it)and the three heros, including that white pork bun Mokona, are transported to the next dimension. Its noted in the back that this one was made to resemble the cultural/technological revolution in japan after the war. Its also kind of reminiscent to Chobits (or maybe thats just me). And as always, there is something wrong with a dimension. This one has mosters called Oni that come out of walls and whatnot. Kurogane and Syaoran become Oni hunters for money and meet with a couple of characters that you might know from X/1999. Fai, meanwhile, opens a cafe to get information about the new country and thats about where they leave off. Also, Kurogane is warming up to Syaoran slightly. SLIGHTLY. You also find out that Syaoran is blind inone eye, as Kuragane (i love him) points out. As far as the product, the illustrations are awesome (but you can only expect that from CLAMP) and the script is interesting and doesn't get monotanous (or have to explain things over and over again.... You know what I mean). I highly recommend this series,especially if you read CLAMP before because their characters often come up with different roles in this series (its so exciting when you find one you know!). Also, I guess you are supposed to read xxxHolic as a complement to this, as events in either one cross over with the other. I have xxxHolic vol. 3 and think that is cool as well, but this has more adventure and "action" where as the other has a stationary setting to it. overall, it was very good, but get the volumes before this first. Don't go out of order (i don't care if you like this cover better... you won't really know what's going on!)