Syaoran (Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle)
Encyclopedia
is a fictional character
appearing as one of the protagonist
s from Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle
, a manga
series written and illustrated by Clamp
. In Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, Syaoran is introduced as young archeologist who is in love with Sakura
, his childhood friend and the princess from the Kingdom of Clow. When Sakura's memories are scattered throughout parallel dimensions
, Syaoran goes on a quest to recover them, giving all of Sakura's memories involving him as a payment to travel. Across the series, Syaoran is revealed to be a clone from another teenager created by Fei-Wang Reed, the sorcerer who caused Sakura to lose her memories. As a seal from his original self placed on the clone's body breaks, Syaoran becomes one of the series' antagonist
s, moving according to Fei-Wang's will. He has also been featured in other Clamp works including the manga xxxHolic, and the drama CD series Holistuba.
Syaoran's character was based on Syaoran Li, a character from Clamp's Cardcaptor Sakura
manga. The character has been well-received by readers from the series, placing high in various popularity polls from Tsubasa and manga and anime series in general. He also received positive comments by publications from manga and anime who pointed his role in the series and his relationship with Sakura. Syaoran's role as an antagonist has also received positive comments and various writers started giving nicknames to differentiate him from his original self often calling him evil.
and his Star System
in which characters from previous series are reused in other works. Syaoran was based on Syaoran Li, a character from Cardcaptor Sakura
, another series written by Clamp. Syaoran and Sakura were chosen to be the series' protagonist because their Cardcaptor Sakura counterparts had a "happy ending
", but Clamp pointed they would have to go throughout the series to get their "own happy ending". As in the manga's start, Syaoran's character was already meant to go through development, the addition of the characters of Fai D. Flowright and Kurogane was to have side characters who would be much older than he was. In early versions from the manga, Syaoran was to be portrayed as a mechanic rather than an archaeologist, with Fujitaka also being the one who taught him machines. This also influenced in his design, which had him wearing a cap, a different outfit as well as an enormous adjustable spanner
. After events of the Oto country, Clamp's editor for Tsubasa, Kiichiro Sugawara, wondered if "anything good ever happen[s] to Syaoran"; Clamp commented that their publishing company, Kodansha
, had received lots of demands from readers for Syaoran to become "stronger" and advised Clamp "to let him have good experiences once in a while".
In the animated adaptations from Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle Syaoran has been voiced by Miyu Irino
in Japanese, and by Jason Liebrecht
in English. Irino remarks that ever since the introduction of the original Syaoran who he also voiced, he sometimes had issues voicing both characters, so tried to do both characters with care. Fellow voice actress Yui Makino
also pointed Irino's role, commenting it was the most difficult from all the casting due to portraying the two Syaorans.
It is eventually revealed that Syaoran is a clone of another teenager, created by the sorcerer Fei-Wang Reed in order to find Sakura's feathers no matter who he kills in the process. The original Syaoran managed to place some of his "heart
" within the clone's right eye, which allowed him to develop a personality of his own. After the seal breaks, Syaoran loses all his emotions and is used by Fei-Wang to collect feathers throughout dimensions on his own, betraying all of his friends. He becomes ignorant of any type of pain, which makes him ruthless and a strong opponent. Before leaving them, he devours Fai's left eye to gain his own magic powers which grow stronger every time he uses them. When fighting his original self, Syaoran destroys Sakura's soul who, revealed as another clone, asks him to recover his heart just before disappearing. Despite being shocked by this, Syaoran is once again emotionless when the original Syaoran, Kurogane and Fai go to fight against Fei-Wang. In the course of the battle, Syaoran betrays Fei-Wang to help his original self kill him. When Fei-Wang tries to kill the original Syaoran, the clone intervenes and is impaled by his sword. As his body is about to be destroyed, Syaoran apologizes to all his friends, including the original Syaoran, leaving only the eye he took from Fai.
Yūko later rebuilds Syaoran's body alongside Sakura's using the remnants they left after their apparent deaths. As neither could properly die, Yūko grants them a wish to be reborn as normal humans, which Syaoran accepts as Sakura tells him she wishes to stay with him. As both grow up as normal humans, the two are able to meet and live together. He and Sakura have a son who is revealed to be the original Syaoran, creating a time paradox. As they realize that all the previous events would be repeated and in the end their son would not be able to save the original Sakura, the two seal themselves inside a glass tube, which remains hidden in Yūko's shop. Being reborn as a descendant from the sorcerer Clow Reed, Syaoran and Sakura, after breaking free from the tube, use their new powers to help their friends defeat Fei-Wang. However, as their creator dies, Syaoran and Sakura vanish, leaving two feathers that merge within their originals selves' bodies.
Syaoran also appears in other adaptations from Tsubasa including its animated film The Princess in the Birdcage Kingdom
in which he still travels with Sakura, Fai, Kurogane and Mokona across dimensions. He is also a playable character in the two Nintendo DS
video games from Tsubasa. In the drama CD series, The Matinée of the Palace, Syaoran's group perform a play that reenacts the series' story while searching for one of Sakura's feathers. Outside Tsubasa, Syaoran also makes various appearances in Clamp's manga xxxHolic which shows some events happening in Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle. He does not appear in the animated adaptions of xxxHolic until the original video animation
s series xxxHolic Shunmuki in which he appears in the Dream World to confront the original Syaoran. In the spin-off drama CD series Holitsuba Gakuen, Syaoran is featured as a new student in the fictional school "Holitsuba" that features characters from Tsubasa and xxxHolic. While sharing various traits from his Tsubasa persona like his relationship with Sakura, he is also portrayed as the identical twin from the original Syaoran.
, Syaoran placed first among all the characters in Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle. He was also featured in high places in other polls, which included best groups and best scenes from the series. In March 2010, Syaoran was ranked twenty-third best male anime character of the 2000's by the Japanese magazine Newtype
. In the Animage
s Anime Grand Prix poll from 2006, he was voted as the twelfth most popular male anime character. In the year, he remained as the fourteenth most popular male character. In the Animedia "2006 Animedia Character Awards", Syaoran appeared in various categories including "Strongest Character Award", "Best Newcomer Award", "Most Heroic Character Award" and "MVP (Most Valuable Player) Award", with his highest place being the "Best Newcomer Award" as third. Various types of merchandising have been made based on Syaoran's appearance including plush, keychains and patches. In the 2007 Seiyu Awards
, Miyu Irino
was a nominee in the category "Best New Actor" for his portrayal as Syaoran, but lost to Tetsuya Kakihara
and Masakazu Morita
.
When watching the animated adaptation of Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, Japanese singer Maaya Sakamoto
felt that Syaoran's straightforward feelings and strength to protect Sakura were very touching. Therefore, within "Kazemachi Jet", the ending theme of second season of the anime, she tried to capture the image of Syaoran growing from his "naive" self into a young man as a result of experiencing the repetition of meetings and partings over his journey and Syaoran continuing to try to protect his loved one in spite of the mishaps along the way. When writing "Saigo no Kajitsu", Sakamoto described Syaoran's fate as sad due to how he becomes the antagonist from his friends and the fact it is revealed he was a clone. Singer Kinya Kotani also described a sad feeling in Syaoran's strength, noting he had both forwarding-facing and backward-facing characteristics.
Publications for manga, anime and other media have commented on Syaoran's character and role in the series. He received mainly positive responses with Ed Sizemore from Comics Worth Reading labelling him as "the perfect young hero" due to his seriousness, while points given due to his care for Sakura. Although Carl Kimlinger found various differences between Syaoran and his Cardcaptor Sakura counterpart, he still found the traits from the former appealing. Similarly, Michael Aronson from Manga Life found that while the character behaves different from Syaoran Li and considerably older, it helps the reader who has not read previous Clamp series understand it, pointing that some crossover characters only share the names and designs. The plot twist regarding Syaoran's being a clone and his fight against his original self has been regarded as a "a titanic clash". Following this, Syaoran has been labelled as "evil Syaoran" as well as "Syaoran's evil clone". The development from such twist has said to have a "potential real upset" as Syaoran is revealed to have been created by the series' main antagonist, Fei-Wang Reed. On the other hand, the relationship between both Syaorans has also been found confusing for some readers to understand, while other opinions pointed how while there was confusion in this scene, such event ends well executed, pointing also to the bond both have regarding their eyes. His actions since such twist have been regarded by Sakura Eries from Mania Entertainment as disturbing due to its violent acts while at the same time, Syaoran has been labelled as "an agent of destruction" due to how he ignores seemingly mortal wounds and encounters various opponents in a single manga volume. Moreover, Eries commented that she felt "cheated" following the revelations regarding Syaoran's and Sakura's true nature as it changed the readers' view on them.
Syaoran's and Sakura's initial relationship has been found by Mania Entertainment's Megan Lavey as a "pretty simple love story", while liking their personalities. Similarly, IGN
's Jeff Harris pointed Syaoran's interesting role due to how he sacrifices his relationship with Sakura, while also sacrificing his life to recover her memories. Active Anime's Christopher Seaman found such romantic relationships between them as one of the most mature parts of the series, and it helped balance the other fantastic themes which added more variety to the series' audience. Kimlinger similarly pointed such relationship as one of the series' parts, which made up for some issues found in the anime adaptation. Jason Liebrecht
's role as Syaoran's English voice has been noted to be better than Irino's work by Kimlinger, who, nevertheless, praised both performances due to how Syaoran's emotions are played.
Character (arts)
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
appearing as one of the protagonist
Protagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
s from Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle
Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle
is a shōnen manga series written and illustrated by the manga artist group Clamp. It takes place in the same fictional universe as many of Clamp's other manga series, most notably xxxHolic. The plot follows how Sakura, the princess of the Kingdom of Clow, loses her soul and how Syaoran, a young...
, a manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
series written and illustrated by Clamp
Clamp (manga artists)
, is an all-female Japanese manga artist group that formed in the mid 1980s. Many of the group's manga series are often adapted into anime after release. It consists of their leader , who provides much of the storyline and screenplay for all their works and adaptations of those works respectively ,...
. In Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, Syaoran is introduced as young archeologist who is in love with Sakura
Sakura (Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle)
, also known as , is a fictional character and one of the protagonists from Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, a manga series written and illustrated by Clamp. In the series, Sakura is a princess from the Kingdom of Clow who has her memories separated from her body to parallel dimensions...
, his childhood friend and the princess from the Kingdom of Clow. When Sakura's memories are scattered throughout parallel dimensions
Parallel universe (fiction)
A parallel universe or alternative reality is a hypothetical self-contained separate reality coexisting with one's own. A specific group of parallel universes is called a "multiverse", although this term can also be used to describe the possible parallel universes that constitute reality...
, Syaoran goes on a quest to recover them, giving all of Sakura's memories involving him as a payment to travel. Across the series, Syaoran is revealed to be a clone from another teenager created by Fei-Wang Reed, the sorcerer who caused Sakura to lose her memories. As a seal from his original self placed on the clone's body breaks, Syaoran becomes one of the series' antagonist
Antagonist
An antagonist is a character, group of characters, or institution, that represents the opposition against which the protagonist must contend...
s, moving according to Fei-Wang's will. He has also been featured in other Clamp works including the manga xxxHolic, and the drama CD series Holistuba.
Syaoran's character was based on Syaoran Li, a character from Clamp's Cardcaptor Sakura
Cardcaptor Sakura
, abbreviated as CCS and also known as Cardcaptors, is a Japanese shōjo manga series written and illustrated by the manga artist group Clamp. The manga was originally serialized monthly in Nakayoshi from the May 1996 until the June 2000 issue, and later published in 12 tankōbon volumes by Kodansha...
manga. The character has been well-received by readers from the series, placing high in various popularity polls from Tsubasa and manga and anime series in general. He also received positive comments by publications from manga and anime who pointed his role in the series and his relationship with Sakura. Syaoran's role as an antagonist has also received positive comments and various writers started giving nicknames to differentiate him from his original self often calling him evil.
Creation and conception
Syaoran was designed by Clamp using the ideas of the manga author Osamu TezukaOsamu Tezuka
was a Japanese cartoonist, manga artist, animator, producer, activist and medical doctor, although he never practiced medicine. Born in Osaka Prefecture, he is best known as the creator of Astro Boy, Kimba the White Lion and Black Jack...
and his Star System
Osamu Tezuka's Star System
Over the course of his career, Osamu Tezuka reused the same characters in different roles in different stories. The way that Tezuka used the characters in his "star system" can be seen as somewhat analoguous to a film director frequently casting members of a regular "stable" of actors in different...
in which characters from previous series are reused in other works. Syaoran was based on Syaoran Li, a character from Cardcaptor Sakura
Cardcaptor Sakura
, abbreviated as CCS and also known as Cardcaptors, is a Japanese shōjo manga series written and illustrated by the manga artist group Clamp. The manga was originally serialized monthly in Nakayoshi from the May 1996 until the June 2000 issue, and later published in 12 tankōbon volumes by Kodansha...
, another series written by Clamp. Syaoran and Sakura were chosen to be the series' protagonist because their Cardcaptor Sakura counterparts had a "happy ending
Happy ending
A happy ending is an ending of the plot of a work of fiction in which almost everything turns out for the best for the protagonists, their sidekicks, and almost everyone except the villains....
", but Clamp pointed they would have to go throughout the series to get their "own happy ending". As in the manga's start, Syaoran's character was already meant to go through development, the addition of the characters of Fai D. Flowright and Kurogane was to have side characters who would be much older than he was. In early versions from the manga, Syaoran was to be portrayed as a mechanic rather than an archaeologist, with Fujitaka also being the one who taught him machines. This also influenced in his design, which had him wearing a cap, a different outfit as well as an enormous adjustable spanner
Adjustable spanner
An adjustable spanner or adjustable wrench is a spanner with a "jaw" of adjustable width, allowing it to be used with different sizes of fastener head rather than just one faster, as with a conventional fixed spanner...
. After events of the Oto country, Clamp's editor for Tsubasa, Kiichiro Sugawara, wondered if "anything good ever happen[s] to Syaoran"; Clamp commented that their publishing company, Kodansha
Kodansha
, the largest Japanese publisher, produces the manga magazines Nakayoshi, Afternoon, Evening, and Weekly Shonen Magazine, as well as more literary magazines such as Gunzō, Shūkan Gendai, and the Japanese dictionary Nihongo Daijiten. The company has its headquarters in Bunkyō, Tokyo...
, had received lots of demands from readers for Syaoran to become "stronger" and advised Clamp "to let him have good experiences once in a while".
In the animated adaptations from Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle Syaoran has been voiced by Miyu Irino
Miyu Irino
is a Japanese voice actor born in Tokyo.He is a good friend of voice actor Mamoru Miyano. He is nicknamed "Miyu-Miyu" by CLAMP members....
in Japanese, and by Jason Liebrecht
Jason Liebrecht
Ernest Jason Liebrecht is an American actor and voice actor who works for anime series at Funimation Entertainment, ADV Films, New Generation Pictures, and OkraTron 5000...
in English. Irino remarks that ever since the introduction of the original Syaoran who he also voiced, he sometimes had issues voicing both characters, so tried to do both characters with care. Fellow voice actress Yui Makino
Yui Makino
is a Japanese voice actor, actress, singer and pianist. She is best known for her work in the anime Tsubasa Chronicle and Aria. She can speak basic English. She is well known as a nice, caring, polite and a down-to-earth person, according to her fans. Her fans sometimes call her "Yucchi",...
also pointed Irino's role, commenting it was the most difficult from all the casting due to portraying the two Syaorans.
Appearances
Syaoran is introduced in Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle as a young archaeologist who often visits the Kingdom of Clow, and is in love with his childhood friend Sakura, the kingdom's country. He is the adopted son of the late archeologist Fujitaka, who found him in the street at a young age, and had no memories of his past. He often accompanied his father on expeditions, and following his death, he started living alone while continuing his job. After Sakura's memories are scattered throughout dimension in the form of feathers, Syaoran meets the witch Yūko Ichihara, who gives him and his other clients Fai D. Flowright and Kurogane, the creature Mokona Modoki which is able to transport them to different dimensions. Syaoran pays Yūko with all of Sakura's memories that involved him for the use of Mokona. Nevertheless, throughout the journey he starts bonding with Sakura again, while also forming friendships with his companions Fai, Kurogane and Mokona. Syaoran specializes in a hand-to-hand style primarily focused on kicks as taught by hunter Seishirō during his childhood as he had problems distinguishing the distance from people attacking him as he was blind from his right eye. He later trains with Kurogane to remove his weakness by training while blindfolded. He is also taught swordsmanship by Kurogane in order to become a stronger fighter, and he gains , a sword with magical properties that allow it to create fire.It is eventually revealed that Syaoran is a clone of another teenager, created by the sorcerer Fei-Wang Reed in order to find Sakura's feathers no matter who he kills in the process. The original Syaoran managed to place some of his "heart
Heart (symbol)
The heart has long been used as a symbol to refer to the spiritual, emotional, moral, and in the past, also intellectual core of a human being...
" within the clone's right eye, which allowed him to develop a personality of his own. After the seal breaks, Syaoran loses all his emotions and is used by Fei-Wang to collect feathers throughout dimensions on his own, betraying all of his friends. He becomes ignorant of any type of pain, which makes him ruthless and a strong opponent. Before leaving them, he devours Fai's left eye to gain his own magic powers which grow stronger every time he uses them. When fighting his original self, Syaoran destroys Sakura's soul who, revealed as another clone, asks him to recover his heart just before disappearing. Despite being shocked by this, Syaoran is once again emotionless when the original Syaoran, Kurogane and Fai go to fight against Fei-Wang. In the course of the battle, Syaoran betrays Fei-Wang to help his original self kill him. When Fei-Wang tries to kill the original Syaoran, the clone intervenes and is impaled by his sword. As his body is about to be destroyed, Syaoran apologizes to all his friends, including the original Syaoran, leaving only the eye he took from Fai.
Yūko later rebuilds Syaoran's body alongside Sakura's using the remnants they left after their apparent deaths. As neither could properly die, Yūko grants them a wish to be reborn as normal humans, which Syaoran accepts as Sakura tells him she wishes to stay with him. As both grow up as normal humans, the two are able to meet and live together. He and Sakura have a son who is revealed to be the original Syaoran, creating a time paradox. As they realize that all the previous events would be repeated and in the end their son would not be able to save the original Sakura, the two seal themselves inside a glass tube, which remains hidden in Yūko's shop. Being reborn as a descendant from the sorcerer Clow Reed, Syaoran and Sakura, after breaking free from the tube, use their new powers to help their friends defeat Fei-Wang. However, as their creator dies, Syaoran and Sakura vanish, leaving two feathers that merge within their originals selves' bodies.
Syaoran also appears in other adaptations from Tsubasa including its animated film The Princess in the Birdcage Kingdom
The Princess in the Birdcage Kingdom
#, known officially as Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle the Movie: The Princess in the Birdcage Kingdom, is an animated short film based on the Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle manga by the group Clamp...
in which he still travels with Sakura, Fai, Kurogane and Mokona across dimensions. He is also a playable character in the two Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
video games from Tsubasa. In the drama CD series, The Matinée of the Palace, Syaoran's group perform a play that reenacts the series' story while searching for one of Sakura's feathers. Outside Tsubasa, Syaoran also makes various appearances in Clamp's manga xxxHolic which shows some events happening in Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle. He does not appear in the animated adaptions of xxxHolic until the original video animation
Original video animation
, abbreviated as media , are animated films and series made specially for release in home-video formats. The term originated in relation to Japanese animation...
s series xxxHolic Shunmuki in which he appears in the Dream World to confront the original Syaoran. In the spin-off drama CD series Holitsuba Gakuen, Syaoran is featured as a new student in the fictional school "Holitsuba" that features characters from Tsubasa and xxxHolic. While sharing various traits from his Tsubasa persona like his relationship with Sakura, he is also portrayed as the identical twin from the original Syaoran.
Reception
Syaoran's character has well-received by Japanese readers of the series. In two popularity polls held by Weekly Shōnen MagazineWeekly Shonen Magazine
, also known as Shōnen Magazine, is a shōnen manga magazine published by Kodansha, first published on 17 March 1959. Despite some unusual censorship policies , it's mainly read by an older audience, with a large portion of its readership falling under the male high school or college...
, Syaoran placed first among all the characters in Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle. He was also featured in high places in other polls, which included best groups and best scenes from the series. In March 2010, Syaoran was ranked twenty-third best male anime character of the 2000's by the Japanese magazine Newtype
Newtype (magazine)
is a monthly magazine publication originating from Japan, covering anime and manga . It was launched by publishing company Kadokawa Shoten on March 8, 1985 with its April issue, and has since seen regular release on the 10th of every month in its home country...
. In the Animage
Animage
is a Japanese anime and entertainment magazine which Tokuma Shoten began publishing in July 1978. Hayao Miyazaki's internationally renowned manga, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, was serialized in Animage from 1982 through 1994...
s Anime Grand Prix poll from 2006, he was voted as the twelfth most popular male anime character. In the year, he remained as the fourteenth most popular male character. In the Animedia "2006 Animedia Character Awards", Syaoran appeared in various categories including "Strongest Character Award", "Best Newcomer Award", "Most Heroic Character Award" and "MVP (Most Valuable Player) Award", with his highest place being the "Best Newcomer Award" as third. Various types of merchandising have been made based on Syaoran's appearance including plush, keychains and patches. In the 2007 Seiyu Awards
Seiyu Awards
The are award ceremonies for the recognition of voice acting talent for outstanding performance in anime and other media in Japan...
, Miyu Irino
Miyu Irino
is a Japanese voice actor born in Tokyo.He is a good friend of voice actor Mamoru Miyano. He is nicknamed "Miyu-Miyu" by CLAMP members....
was a nominee in the category "Best New Actor" for his portrayal as Syaoran, but lost to Tetsuya Kakihara
Tetsuya Kakihara
is a Japanese voice actor who is affiliated with 81 Produce . Until the age of 18, he resided abroad in Düsseldorf, Germany.He is currently affiliated with "Kiramune" in 2010, a music label by Bandai Visual Co., Ltd...
and Masakazu Morita
Masakazu Morita
is a seiyū and actor born in Tokyo, Japan. He currently works for Aoni Production. He is also the host of the radio show, Bleach B-Station. Morita is perhaps best known for his roles as Ichigo Kurosaki , Tidus , Auel Neider , Pegasus Seiya , Troy Bolton is a seiyū and actor born in Tokyo, Japan....
.
When watching the animated adaptation of Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, Japanese singer Maaya Sakamoto
Maaya Sakamoto
is a Japanese singer-songwriter, actress, and voice actress. She made her debut as a voice actress in 1992 as the voice of Chifuru in the anime series Little Twins, but is more well known for her role as Hitomi Kanzaki in the hit anime series The Vision of Escaflowne...
felt that Syaoran's straightforward feelings and strength to protect Sakura were very touching. Therefore, within "Kazemachi Jet", the ending theme of second season of the anime, she tried to capture the image of Syaoran growing from his "naive" self into a young man as a result of experiencing the repetition of meetings and partings over his journey and Syaoran continuing to try to protect his loved one in spite of the mishaps along the way. When writing "Saigo no Kajitsu", Sakamoto described Syaoran's fate as sad due to how he becomes the antagonist from his friends and the fact it is revealed he was a clone. Singer Kinya Kotani also described a sad feeling in Syaoran's strength, noting he had both forwarding-facing and backward-facing characteristics.
Publications for manga, anime and other media have commented on Syaoran's character and role in the series. He received mainly positive responses with Ed Sizemore from Comics Worth Reading labelling him as "the perfect young hero" due to his seriousness, while points given due to his care for Sakura. Although Carl Kimlinger found various differences between Syaoran and his Cardcaptor Sakura counterpart, he still found the traits from the former appealing. Similarly, Michael Aronson from Manga Life found that while the character behaves different from Syaoran Li and considerably older, it helps the reader who has not read previous Clamp series understand it, pointing that some crossover characters only share the names and designs. The plot twist regarding Syaoran's being a clone and his fight against his original self has been regarded as a "a titanic clash". Following this, Syaoran has been labelled as "evil Syaoran" as well as "Syaoran's evil clone". The development from such twist has said to have a "potential real upset" as Syaoran is revealed to have been created by the series' main antagonist, Fei-Wang Reed. On the other hand, the relationship between both Syaorans has also been found confusing for some readers to understand, while other opinions pointed how while there was confusion in this scene, such event ends well executed, pointing also to the bond both have regarding their eyes. His actions since such twist have been regarded by Sakura Eries from Mania Entertainment as disturbing due to its violent acts while at the same time, Syaoran has been labelled as "an agent of destruction" due to how he ignores seemingly mortal wounds and encounters various opponents in a single manga volume. Moreover, Eries commented that she felt "cheated" following the revelations regarding Syaoran's and Sakura's true nature as it changed the readers' view on them.
Syaoran's and Sakura's initial relationship has been found by Mania Entertainment's Megan Lavey as a "pretty simple love story", while liking their personalities. Similarly, IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
's Jeff Harris pointed Syaoran's interesting role due to how he sacrifices his relationship with Sakura, while also sacrificing his life to recover her memories. Active Anime's Christopher Seaman found such romantic relationships between them as one of the most mature parts of the series, and it helped balance the other fantastic themes which added more variety to the series' audience. Kimlinger similarly pointed such relationship as one of the series' parts, which made up for some issues found in the anime adaptation. Jason Liebrecht
Jason Liebrecht
Ernest Jason Liebrecht is an American actor and voice actor who works for anime series at Funimation Entertainment, ADV Films, New Generation Pictures, and OkraTron 5000...
's role as Syaoran's English voice has been noted to be better than Irino's work by Kimlinger, who, nevertheless, praised both performances due to how Syaoran's emotions are played.