This was a rather interesting episode. It was very faithful to the manga arc but featured enough creative changes to keep those who know the manga interested and honestly suprised by the cliffhanger ending which ends with the earthquake like in the manga, but also includes a shocking situation with Sakura and a hidden love that I found unusual at first but very fitting.
I've noticed a
lot of people on certain Tsubasa and CLAMP forums and journals bitching about every tiny little thing that isn't the same as the manga. All I can say to these people is, "Get over it". Seriously, look at all the changes in Card Captor Sakura and that series still rocked. Hell, they even created Meilin entirely for the anime and the show actually got better because of this. Bee Train is probably making one of the most accurate manga to anime adaptions I've seen, however part of the reason the first season dragged so much was because of how close they were sticking to the original storyline.
Almost everyone will agree that the second season is leaps and bounds better than the first and while the improved animation is part of the reason, the script is another main reason. Piffle was done in
three episodes and it was a lot more enjoyable because of this. Look at some of the arcs in the first season, they were in some worlds for 5+ episodes sometimes which got boring very fast. This Ashura arc seems to be going for about 4 episodes which seems about right. Frankly I want the show to be enjoyable first before accuracy. This is why I love the fillers and creative changes in existing arcs. I'm reading the manga, I don't want to see the exact same thing on screen. I want to be suprised! Honestly, when I see a next week preview that features and original world, I'm so much more excited than I would be with a manga world adaption. Afterall, I know what's going to happen in the manga world.
I didn't get this feeling with this episode though. I've read
Tsubasa #8 where this episode happened and I was still suprised and entertained when watching this episode and I can't wait for next week!
This update was brought to you by Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles #10 out on the 25th of July 2006! Preorder Now!