Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle Vol 18

[meganbmoore]

Those of you who were here (which is still most of you) when I binged on scans a few months back will most likely recall that this is the part where my brain ceases all ability to function and all that really comes out is “ASKDGFL AAAAANNNNGGGGSSSTTTT!!!! Most perfectest angst ever known and all other angst pales in comparison!!!”

This is the one with the Goth Loli Sakura. And the chessgame. And the guys draped in chains. With Sakura holding the end of the chains. Yes, Clamp. Brain is obediently ceasing function now.

We also have real!Syaoran doing the Dramatic Touching And Protecting And Realizing He Isn’t The One She Sees First. And real!Syaoran pining over Sakura because he’s in love with her (as we and he currently understand things) while Sakura pines over clone!Syaoran, who is currently off ruining worlds and real!Syaoran is getting blamed for it!

It…I…this angstfest is my favorite part of the whole series (including the parts to come.) Does that make me a bad person?

There’s also Kurogane doing the whole “nonono, don’t worry, we like you for you” thing, complete with hair tousling. Though, I seem to remember that the scans also had a bit of “but enough staring longingly at the princess because you aren’t the one she wants” mixed in. And, of course, real!Syaoran is all “but she doesn’t want me! She only wants hhhiiiimmmmm!!!” through the pep talk. That scene goes marvelously with his whole “RAWR! No one hints that I serve my princess by anything but my own free will! I kill!” bit.

And somewhere in there, Yuuko made this whole speech about “who cares if powerful forces manipulated you into joining forces! You are family forever and ever!”

And…and…it’s all 1000 times better knowing what’s coming…

And…err…I seem to prefer Eagle when he’s being a morally shady guy running an illegal gladiator-type ring as a mafia head to when he’s kinda noble and angsty. Go figure. I think Lantis is possibly even more reserved and angsty but in a less brooding and staring way than in Magic Knight Rayearth. I blame this on the apparent lack of a Hikaru in his life. When he finds his Hikaru, I hope she’s a bit more age appropriate.

To attempt to show that I do still have a functioning brain:

1) At one point, Syaoran comments on wanting to get something back, but knowing it may never come back to him. I wonder if he means Sakura’s love.
2) I continue to wonder what the two sets of brothers are looking for. I suspect the Kotori is Fuuma and Seishirou’s sister, and Hokuto is Kamui and Subaru’s sister.
3) What is coming. I cannot wait to read it again.
4) I vaguely recall wondering if Yuuko and Clow were Sakura’s parents when I first read this volume. (A theory! If it exists for Tsubasa/xxxHolic I have probably had it!)

Also [spoilers through recent chapters] I think there may actually be support for my “the petal from Sakura’s soul that clone!Syaoran grabbed gave him a soul” theory. At one point in this volume, Sakura said that the goal was to return clone!Syaoran’s heart to him.

Please use the spoiler code for anything after Vol 18.

Comments

[swanjun.livejournal.com]

Do you mean when real!Syaoran says, "Even if the heart never returns to where it was..."? I originally thought was a reference to Sakura's love for him, but now I think he's talking about Sakura's quest, which she declared to be returning clone!Syaoran's heart to him. So, even if her quest should fail, he will still be by her side.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

It's right after Sakura declares she wants to return Cloney's heart to him and they're all saying they're going with her. I can't recall what the scanslations said, but in Del Rey's translation, real!Syaoran says "There is something I want to get back. It may never come back. But still..." and then Sakura notices he's staring at her.

ETA: But yeah, I think the core isthat he's basically saying that it doesn't matter who she loves or if she cares about him or what her goal is, he's staying with her.

[badtzphoto.livejournal.com]

"I blame this on the apparent lack of a Hikaru in his life. When he finds his Hikaru, I hope she’s a bit more age appropriate."
:) - very funny.

That reminds me that I should read this again...

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Heh. In general, I'm not big on "epic and destined from the second we meet," but it works for me with Clamp. With Hikaru/Lantis, I'm torn between being in full support and "OMG NO SHE IS TOO YOUNG FOR YOU STOP!"

Therefore, I have decided that he can just cool his heels until she at least gets old enough that she understands such things. She's a bit behind in that area and still embrcing the "all love is the same and I love everyone" mindset, and hasn't really learned about different kinds of love yet.

[badtzphoto.livejournal.com]

> "all love is the same and I love everyone" mindset

That is totally Hikaru. I guess the open ended works in that case - let readers decide or maybe there'll be a sequel ;)

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I'm sure she'll figure it out in a year or two. After which, their only problem will be the bit where the top of her head only just reaches his ribcage.

[kakkobean.livejournal.com]

SO. MUCH. ANGST.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

It...it's so beautiful. With angst, I tend to bounce off of it really hard, or embrace it for all it's worth.

[badtzphoto.livejournal.com]

wahahahaha

[swanjun.livejournal.com]

Ah, okay. I'd forgotten that bit.

[desdenova.livejournal.com]

I am with you on preferring Mafia!Eagle to Heroic!Eagle from MKR.

Re: 1) (spoiler for the most recent chapters) I think he is referring to Original!Sakura--why which I mean the Sakura who he has been talking about in the recent chapters--who is probably dead. Or at least mostly-dead.

3) Me too! With print-quality art!

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Heroic!Eagle was kinda...mopey? It was like "yes, you are sympathetic and I can pretty much get where you're coming from, but I kinda think you should get over yourself before you unitetionally destroy the world. Now shoo, your boyfriend's angst is more fun."

[spoiler for recent chapters]I think he means her, too, but he thinks clone!Sakura is her at this point in time. And as we later learn, clone!Sakura's behavior to him has at least as much to do with her knowing she isn't the one she loves as it does with clone!Syaoran being the one she wants. Really, I'll be eternally thrilled at Clamp's 1:1 ratio of Syaorans and Sakuras, but I wish it was easier to talk about...

As far as real!Sakura goes, I actually think she's alive (and possibly is Himawari, or Himawari is a part of her, just like I think Kohane is part of clone!Sakura). The only reason we have to think she's dead is that FWR said her body disintegrated. But, you know, for one thing, that's FWR, for another, I think she did it deliberately to foil his plans. I think clone!Sakura deliberately removed her soul from his power, too.

[sora-blue.livejournal.com]

Most important question on my mind: What is up with CLAMP taking breaks to "gather data"?

Does this actually mean they have to stop and read the previous volumes to remember WTF they have told us? I think so. Yes.

...do you want a copy of vol 24 in Japanese? (It would be a bribe because I haven't started that fanfic yet...)

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

LOL. That's ok. i've read it in scans.

[sora-blue.livejournal.com]

I hadn't read it in Japanese before I left LA--I bought it, but didn't get to it. So about halfway through it on the train to Osaka, I realize the deja vu isn't from seeing the scans.

Thus, I curse CLAMP for their many many "data gathering" breaks that meant no volume 25 when I was there.

[chikapus.livejournal.com]

Pfff you think Volume 18 is an angst fest? Just you wait.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

OMG EPIC MOMENT OF SHONEN SCREAMING ABGST!!!

I have read through CH 200. You know what bit I'm talking about. But just because I'm reading it for the second time, it doesn't mean my overwhelming love is diminished.

[desdenova.livejournal.com]

[spoilers up to most-recent chapter (200? 201?)]

Dude, there are too many Sakuras. For clarity: First!Sakura = from vol. 1, childhood friends w/ Clone!Syaoran. Clone!Sakura = made from Sakura1, went on the journey. Original!Sakura = Sakura from recent flashback chapters, childhood friends with Real!Syaoran. (Yes, I know I have one too many Sakuras in there to maintain Sakura-Syaoran parity.)

I disagree that Syaoran thinks Clone!Sakura is Original!Sakura. He thinks she is First!Sakura. We've been told the relationship between First!Sakura and Clone!Sakura, but how Original!Sakura and First!Sakura are related is yet to be revealed.

FWR keeps saying stuff implying that Syaoran's goal is the same as his, which is what makes me think that Original!Sakura must be dead, in some sense. It may only be that her life was "rewound" somehow, so that she has the same body and soul, but different memories (and thus for all intents and purposes Original!Sakura no longer exists except in Syaoran's memory). In which case, Syaoran's goal must be to restore her original memories, the ones from her first time through ages 7-14.

Agh, I am confused, so I'm giving up now.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

spoilers through ch 200 (201 raws are out, but I don't think scans are) I'm pretty sure that when FWR replaced real!Syaoran with clone!Syaoran, he did the same with the Sakuras, and that the clones grew up together. When FWR talked about replacing real!Sakura when he set his plan in motion, we assumed he meant in Vol 1 when clone!Syaoran went to Yuuko. But now we know that he put a seal on the original Sakura, and interfered with the world when time was turned back for real!Syaoran. What was supposed to happen (as of CH 200) was that Syaoran was going to go back to Clow Country exactly as it had been when he first got there, only he would stop FWR from putting the seal on Sakura. But FWR interferes and replaces him with clone!Syaoran. This is things as we understand them when real!Syaoran shows up and explains them to us. He knew that the Clow Country we knew the whole time was fake, but kept quiet about it, and when clone!Sakura being a clone was revealed, we thought the interference FWR mentioned was when he attacked her at the beginning of the series. But now that we know he apparently created a fake Clow Country for clone!Syaoran to grow up in, I think it makes more sense that he did it because he had just tried to clone real!Sakura and lost her, so the one clone!Syaoran grew up with was clone!Sakura (with real!Syaoran thinking it was real!Sakura the whole time).

Oh, Clamp...

[desdenova.livejournal.com]

You're right, that does make more sense! I didn't even think of that!

I'd say I can't believe I'm reading something where *that* is the most sensible explanation (at the moment), except...I can.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Clamp only gave it to us in bits and pieces, and doesn't go "but when you apply this information to this information from ages ago..." to help us out. They just throw things at us and expect us to keep up. Or they hope we're too distracted to think about it much.