This episode started up another one of the arcs, after the countless fillers that preceeded. That, or we have a two-episode filler arc here. After all, all of the events that happened were just enough for one more episode. Then again, the Outo-arc also had a few surprises left.
I’m wondering where Tsubasa Chronicle is going. The bad guys seem to have given up on directing the destinations for our heroes. This probably means that they’re preparing for something big, but what could it be. The fourth episode showed hints that they’ve given up the methods they used in the previous episode, so we might be in for a couple of twists in the future. After all, the show even has a third season, so something has to happen.
Anyway, the episode was once again light, but still enjoyable. This time, Sakura, Mokona and Syaoran are separated from Kurogane and Syaoran. Both parties end up with two rivalling parties. One is a group of traveling circus artists, and the other seems to be the owner of a japanese-like temple. Both parties value a god, which has its own statue. One of battle and misfortune and one of the night and the underworld (interesting note: Fye didn’t know what an underworld means). Both parties have leaders, and guess what? Yes, they’re secretly in love with each other. At the end of the episode, both statues lighted up, the sky split open, Sakura fainted and Mokona noticed another feather.
The comedy didn’t come from Fye and Kurogane, this time. They were like spectators to everything. No, the funny moments came from Syaoran, with Sakura helping him a bit. He was just thrown in such embarrassing situations. For example, the group of travelling circus artists he ended up with consists only of women. Men aren’t allowed. First of all, all of the women get all giddly over him (thank god he’s not a pervert or anything) and second of all, he has to crossdress in order to be able to stay. I especially loved the scene at which he first arrived in his girl’s costume. Especially Sakura’s reaction was too cute. ^^;
Anyway, we recieved another couple of subtle hints about the main plot. First of all, Sakura isn’t the only one with amnesia, as Syaoran also seems to be troubled by this. It’s probably the same day when he lost his eye. Something happened, when he was young that poked out his eye and made him lose his memory. When, why, how and where this happened remains a mystery. Korogane also comes from the Japan-Country. The temple he wound up in really made him nostalgic. This only shows how much he wants to be with Tomoyo again. Fye’s world also seems to have a god called Ashura (one of the two gods, the one the circus artists worship). He’s also been more serious than ever in one episode, instead of his usual playful and cheerful mood. This can suggest three things:
1: It’s an error of the creators. He’s supposed to be cheerful, but they kindof forgot.
2: This world is making him nostalgic as well. He just tries to hide this, instead of Kurogane.
3: The last episode still haunts his mind.
4: He’s unconciously beginning to see that it’s no use to conceal his feelings, or he’s getting less and less motivation to do this.
Okay, four things. Who cares? In any case, the episode was enjoyable, but nothing really more. It wasn’t anything outstanding, or something.
This is a new manga arc, although in the manga Piffle came after it, and a brief three-chapter arc just before it; this episode seemed inferior to the manga, as it changed it somewhat, and I’m not sure if Syaoran’s amnesia cropped up in the manga at all. Also, next episode seems to show an Evil Sakura, which didn’t happen at all original; if anything, she does little in this arc.
It’s best just to disregard the bad guys – I’m serious when I say it seems CLAMP has forgotten they exist. In the next world after this one, we should learn more about the soldiers who attacked Clow in episode one, but they do not seem to have links to Fei Wong and his assistant, and the world after that has too many great characters for Fei Wong to even make a cameo.
It’s true that the manga hasn’t finished yet, has it? I’m forseeing bad things.
The anime’s indeed a bloody mess. So many things don’t seem right at all. I’m also wondering what will happen in order to extend this arc. I mean, nothing so far has happened in order to make it resolve in more than one episode. I don’t know what’s up with the creators. When they should be taking things easy and stalling time in order to not catch up with the manga, they suddenly increase the pacing by a factor 3.
I think the manga is going to last forever, or as long as CLAMP can extract money from it.
This arc basically features two worlds – one shown in this episode, and the same land in the distant past. Most of the arc’s events take place in the past, and so the future is altered; it has a slight bearing on the main plot regarding the villains, but nothing that noticably changes anything in the way the series progresses. In fact, I can think of little that actually happens in this arc that will take more than a few episodes to resolve, because even in the manga it seems like a brief visit. The next arc from the manga, however, is quite a long one, focusing on a young Kurogane clone in another world.