{Words of Songs} ~ for the translation of anime & game lyrics

I found scans of what appears to be the original storyboard for the second Tsubasa Chronicle opening sequence that was scrapped and replaced with its current inferior counterpart. The storyboard is a rough, black-and-white pencil sketch, but you should be able to see that it’s far more action-packed and powerful than what aired. I spent about five hours timing the sketches to the opening theme.

It’s somewhat difficult to interpret the scenes without the director’s footnotes, so here’s a summary:

-Syaoran walks through a desert with flames around him.
-Title card.
-Animated version of this gorgeous picture from the 2005 Tsubasa -RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE-/×××HOLiC calendar.
-Sakura holds a sphere with one of her feathers inside.
-Syaoran, Kurogane, and Fai riding on dragons, which was animated in the CLAMP IN WONDERLAND 2 OVA and it also included them in the aforementioned calendar costumes.
-Sakura raises the sphere and the feather’s light shatters it and the surrounding place.
-Brief childhood scenes of Kurogane (with his mother and father), Fai (with Ashura), Syaoran (with Fujitaka), and Sakura (with Toya and Yukito).
-Syaoran grabs a sparkle of light and the dragon ride scene continues.
-The scene cuts away to the three riding into battle on the dragons. This was also animated in the CLAMP IN WONDERLAND 2 OVA.
-Mokona’s wings unwrap Sakura as she raises a hand toward the sky.
-Brief shots of each character turning toward each other.
-Individual battle scenes for Kurogane (with a sword), Fai (with staff on chains), and Syaoran (with dual tonfas and a sword). Very similar poses were animated in the CLAMP IN WONDERLAND 2 OVA.
-Syaoran reaches out, as if trying to grasp something. Another hand reaches for him, which belongs to another Syaoran.
-The two Syaorans face each other inversed and spin away from view in a yin-yang symbol. This is also copied from a manga picture.

In case if you’ve forgotten what the real opening looks like, here it is for comparison: