is a 2005 Japanese animated action fantasy short film based on the Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle manga written and illustrated by manga artist group CLAMP. The short film was directed by Itsuro Kawasaki, co-written by Junichi Fujisaku and Midori Goto, and was produced by Production I.G. The film premiered in Japanese theaters on August 20, 2005 in conjunction with xxxHolic: A Midsummer Night's Dream, another Production I.G animated film and based on CLAMP manga. Set between the two seasons of the anime series Tsubasa by Bee Train, the film continues Syaoran's group's journey to find Sakura's "feathers" (memories) in different worlds. On the journey they arrive at the Country of Birdcages, which contains one of Sakura's feathers.
The Tsubasa and xxxHolic films were conceived by Kodansha, the Japanese publisher of both manga. After convincing Production I.G to develop them, Kodansha director hired Junichi Fujisaku to write the Tsubasa film. Like the TV series, Yuki Kajiura was the score's composer and the producer was Tetsuya Nakatake. In North America The Princess in the Birdcage Kingdom was licensed by Funimation Entertainment, who released it with A Midsummer Night's Dream and episodes of the Tsubasa anime.
The film received a mixed response from manga and anime publications and other media; although its animation and pacing were praised, its length was criticized as only ten minutes longer than the TV episodes.
Plot
In their continuing journey to find the feathers which are the fragments of Princess Sakura's lost memory, Syaoran, Kurogane, Fai D. Flowright, Mokona Modoki and Sakura move through time and space. They visit the Country of Birdcages, an apparently-peaceful country where people and birds live together; each person has a companion bird. When they arrive Syaoran, Princess Sakura and Mokona are separated from Kurogane and Fai, who are confronted by the King's warriors and captured. Syaoran, Sakura and Mokona meet Koruri, who introduces them to her princess (an alternate version of Princess Tomoyo). Tomoyo tells Syaoran's group that the king (her uncle) oppresses the country's citizens, seizing their birds and planning to seal the country with a key. They are attacked by the king's bird-like soldier, who easily defeats Syaoran and Tomoyo's commander and kidnaps Princess Tomoyo and Mokona.
Syaoran, Princess Sakura, Koruri and the commander infiltrate the king's castle to rescue Tomoyo. The king unleashes Dodo, an enormous bird. Fai, Kurogane and Mokona escape from their cages, and are confronted by Dodo's offspring. They rejoin Syaoran's group, and climb to the castle's upper floors to stop the king. Princess Sakura gives Syaoran a ring which she had received from Princess Tomoyo; Syaoran confronts Dodo, realizing that the ring is composed of all the citizens' birds. Princess Tomoyo's bird Lei-Fan helps Syaoran fight Dodo, who is carrying the king. Tomoyo tells Syaoran to use the ring to fight the king and Syaoran, surrounded by fire, launches himself to destroy Dodo. He knocks out the king, whose body transforms into a bird and leaves one of Princess Sakura's feathers behind. Because of the ring the country remains trapped in darkness, and Syaoran's group asks Dimensional Witch Yuko Ichihara for help. Princess Tomoyo gives Yūko her bell, sacrificing the relationship between the citizens and the birds in exchange for a key which frees the country from its darkness.