Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle ch 201-204 + Tsubasa/xxxHolic timeline/theories/hopeful-clarification

[meganbmoore]

Ch 201: OMG THE TWO PAGE SPLASH OF THE YOUNG VERSIONS OF THE CHARACTERS IS TO DIE FOR!!!! I think Clamp does these things to distract us from the insanity. Hrm…so, real!Syaoran “gave up” real!Sakura’s parents, and their relationships with her, to save real!Sakura. Am I reading this right that the penalty is that he give up his own parents (read: they died because of the choice) and his relationship with them?

Ch 202: Watanuki in Clow Reed’s jacket. *clings to hope that this whole bit is at least partly a cover story and Watanuki isn’t exactly who we think* And Yuuko saved Watanuki from Fei Wong Reed? So she’s been hiding him the whole time? Add’s to “dead parents is a cover” theory

Ch 203: EEE! Cloney splash! (Blood splatters on face mean Cloney, ok! Even before the whole outfit.) So, real!Syaoran possibly created Fai/Yuui, too? But didn’t all that take place before real!Syaoran was even born? Shouldn’t it be excluded from that? Ditto Kurogane’s parents, which should be when real!Syaoran was in diapers or so. I guess I can write it off as the whole “time passes differently between worlds” bit and say that, sure, Fai and Kurogane may be at least 10 years older than the Syaorans and Sakuras, but maybe they were technically born later because time passes more quickly in those worlds. But Mokona’s face at the head bonking! So cute! And real!Syaoran is all “What? You still like me?” (Yes, because rejecting you now would be like kicking a starving puppy.)

Ch 204: So, real!Sakura is still frozen in the ruins. This means (1) it was clone!Sakura that Cloney grew up with, and was in love with (which is what I’ve thought ever since the second clone reveal, but I think that, as far as we officially knew, clone!Sakura didn’t come to be until between the attack and Cloney arriving at Yuuko’s shop. This means that the right Sakuras grew up with the right Syaorans, and so my Tsubasa world is the way it’s supposed to be.) and (2) Fei Wong Reed lied about her body disintegrating when he cloned her. (Which also matches my theories! Joy!) Though now I’m confused! This implies that real!Syaoran knew that clone!Sakura wasn’t the real one! Or did he just figure it out during her reveal? Yeah, I’m going with that. (And I just realized he spent years thinking clone!Sakura was real!Sakura, and being in love with her because of that. Ouch. Well, it still counts as being faithful. Maybe it makes the whole “he is in love with her but she is in love with the clone” thing from before easier…) And flashbacks to the Sakuras telling the Syaorans that they can share birthdays!

And the most important part: CLONEY FOR REAL!!!! The question is: is he there to save real!Sakura, or has he made some sort of deal with Fei Wong Reed to get clone!Sakura back? Or is he there because Fei Wong Reed WAS telling the truth about real!Sakura, and that’s clone!Sakura’s body? Uhm…please don’t let it be the last one!
 
OK! Tsubasa/xxxHolic identities/relationships as I currently understand them:

real!Syaoran is the son of CCS!Syaoran/Sakura. CCS!Syaoran/Sakura sent him to Clow Country to meet real!Sakura.

After Fei Wong Reed’s seal attacks real!Sakura, real!Syaoran makes a wish to turn back time. This results in 2 more Syaorans.

The first is Watanuki, who was created as a separate being to live real!Syaoran’s life, only it’s a life of loss and loneliness thanks to the wish. He is effectively an alternate universe version of real!Syaoran. Numerous hints (delivered with a sledgehammer), though, are dropped that Watanuki somehow has much stronger ties to Clow Reed than real!Syaoran originally did, possibly because of Yuuko. Yuuko cannot help real!Syaoran, but she is able to take Watanuki under her protection, and keeps him hidden. Possible memory tampering.

The second is clone!Syaoran, the Syaoran we read about until Vol 16. Fei Wong Reed created clones of both Syaoran and Sakura and sent them back to a fake Clow Country to grow up together so he could send them on a quest that would help him reach his goals, and this is the cloning Fei Wong Reed mentioned when he said he created clone!Sakura for the quest, the beginning on the quest being when he put them in the fake Clow Country. This is the Syaoran and Sakura we’ve read about from the start. (Yes, I’m repeating myself there a bit, but can you blame me?)

There are also currently 2 timelines. The original, which was frozen and remains so, and the new timeline created by real!Syaoran’s wish. Apparently, both timelines still exist.

Fai/Yuui as twins may be a result of Syaoran’s wish to change time. If so, that would indicate that, originally, Fai wasn’t made an outcast because of being a twin, and thousands of people on that world wouldn’t have died because of the twins curse. (Or was that later revealed to be because of Ashura, not the twins? I can’t remember.) If the twins weren’t there originally, I’m betting it’s something Fei Wong Reed made sure happened.

I see now why people have been telling me to get these chapters read already.  Now that I'm caught up:  Thoughts and theories!  Let's have them!

Comments

[may-flyer.livejournal.com]

Haha. I suppose I'e already set out my basic theory of XXXHolic in your other post. That shows me for jumping the gun. XP

I also think that there must be a bigger connection between Watanuki and Clow than we've seen. CLAMP is driving the point home visually, and perhaps more importantly, Watanuki and Clow's stories are a thematic fit. Clow was so lonely that he created a whole pack of companions. Watanuki's journey has been about learning not to isolate himself.

The memory tampering with Watanuki is definite. The earring that Black Mokona wears is full of his memories. He sold them to Yuuko to help Syaoran in some unspecified way.

The memory tampering was probably for the best, since those crazy dark spirits were attracted to Watanuki because he was so messed up in his old life. His body remembered his self-hatred for a long time even after he came into Yuuko's employ and began to change. I think there's a pretty straightforward correlation between Watanuki's old condition and real-world clinical depression, since Yuuko implied that it was in his blood, and it wasn't something he could instantly banish just because he wanted to be happy.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

It isn't so much "was there memory tampering?" as it is "what kind of tampering was there?"

[may-flyer.livejournal.com]

I think Watanuki only remembers the things that aren't tied to his role as alternate!Syaoran. Real!Syaoran can't see spirits, never worked at the shop, and isn't friends with Doumeki and Himawari. Those are things that belong to Watanuki alone, so those are the things that stay in his mind.

I'm probably totally wrong.

[rhap-chan.livejournal.com]

This is the best summary ever. You cleared things up for ME. My only theory is that it wasn't (any) Syaoran's fault that Kurogane and Fai's lives turned out the way they did. I think it's definitely FWR manipulation.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I think it's possiblethat his wish made it possible for FWR to manipulate their lives, but Ithink it's all FWR's fault. Really, i think they're just piling the angst on the boy to make sure we all like him in time for our Cloney to come back and fight him. What do you want to bet there will be a "only one of you can have his Sakura back" from FWR? (Can the universe really handle a Syaoran who loses his Sakura? I mean, look what keeps happening...)

[rhap-chan.livejournal.com]

I can't imagine what would happen if FWR told them they could only have one. "Then I'll go back in time and-- wait a second."

Oh CLAMP.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

At some point, the joke that the point of the whole thing is to maintain a proper Syaoran:Sakura ratio of 1:1 stopped being at much of a joke...

[rhap-chan.livejournal.com]

Yeah.

I like Syaoran. Both of them. And I understand why they're doing this even though it's stupid and yet I have to stop and think.......

...do they have anything in their minds EVER besides Sakura? Really?

CCS!Syaoran is so much more fleshed out. It makes me sad.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Well, in both their cases, it can be argued that she's the single greatest constant in their lives. real!Syaoran gave up his life to stay with and try to save her (and you have to wonder if his parents are a part of that) and Cloney had nothing before her. In both cases, she seems to be their only friend, and much of how they see themselves is from her. In Cloney's case, I also think that the petal he grabbed when her soul disappeared was a part of her soul that became his soul. 9I admit, that is my favorite Syaoran/Sakura pairing, but I agree that the CCS versions are more fleshed out. And 11, which creates a huge mental block with me and shipping type things.)

[rhap-chan.livejournal.com]

You've got a good point. I just wish we did really have more to them, besides their connection to Sakura. Because when Tsubasa initially started I thought it would be CCS!Syao/Sakura older, easier to ship, easier to see as real people, and I got disappointed. Ah, well. What do you do.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I think the only real problem I have is that we still don't know real!Sakura that well, and she's the basis for everything. Most of what we know of her is her as a little kid. Granted, clone!Sakura started out rather one note and empty, but with her, Clamp had the luxury of time to develop her into her own character and let us get to know her. With real!Sakura, they don't have the luxury of volumes of buildup to the main plot. She doesn't show up until the main plot is well underway, and I don't see them being willing or able to take a volume or two off just to let us get to know her as a teen. Sure, she's cute as a button (I think it's a rule for Sakuras), and we can assume she's like clone!Sakura was once she got going, but it'd be nice to just highlight her some.

[artillie.livejournal.com]

Nothing intelligent to say, as I'm a little behind on Tsubasa and the whole thing is getting really WTF, man. Here's hoping CLAMP doesn't pull an X on us before it all ends. Also, every time you wrote "Cloney," I read "Clooney" and pictured George Clooney as Syaoran.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Cloney and real!Syaoran are cuter than Clloney!

You know...in that cute young somewhat-brotherish way. They want to be squished.

[artillie.livejournal.com]

I see Clooney as more of a Kurogane, anyway? I mean, if we were casting American actors in the part. I'm sure there are loads of gruff Japanese men (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toshir%C5%8D_Mifune) who would make better Kuroganes.

[sora-blue.livejournal.com]

I have no theories. I place it all in the hands of CLAMP and lap up whatever they give me.

That being said, I cannot wait to see some C!Shao R!Shao ass-kicking, but why do I worry that C!Shao is going to die?

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I believe that, in the end, it will all be revealed to be an epic battle about WHO GETS HIS SAKURA!

(And do we really think Cloney wants to live if he can't have his Sakura?)