Okay, so I don’t know why I’m still blogging this show, even though I’m SO not the target audience. I really am a terrible manga reader: as an example, I’ve tried for a year now to get through the Bokura no, and even though it’s one very big heap of awesomeness, I’m still stuck around chapter 30. I’m not sure why it is, but I completely lack the dicipline for that.
In any case, this episode sure showed why the Tsubasa Manga has been rumoured to be so ridiculously complicated: the sakura we’ve seen thus far wasn’t the real Sakura, but simply a clone. A second Sakura (another clone) for some strange reason turns out to be inside the Japan country, but before she can do anything she gets kidnapped by the guy from the Piffle and Jade world.
At the moment, I really don’t take the Tsubasa series seriously anymore, mostly because I just have seen way too little of the real Syaoran to make up for all of the angst he seems to be going through. And on top of that, this only seems to be the beginning of the string of far-fetched plot twists that’s about to come. Though I do have to give this show credit where it’s due: this episode really looked awesome in terms of visuals, but most importantly, I really appreciate the GUTS of this show to kill off one of its main characters. Even though Sakura was instantly replaced by yet another clone, the two of them remain different characters. These experimental bits are things that I can appreciate in a way, but PLEASE: in the next OVA, make Sakura actually DO something. I had a bit of hope in the third episode of Tokyo Revelations, but it’s starting to get really dull to see her still in the role of damsel in distress. Especially with how ridiculously powerful fake Syaoran has become, I really hope that she’s going to something different other than sitting around waiting to be rescued or god-moding herself out of trouble.
My biggest fear right now is that xxxHolic is going to take over these ridiculously complicated plot twists from Tsubasa Chronicle, and this episode… well… came with a really weird revelation: Watanuki gave away his memory in return from the information of Fei Wong’s location. Oh god, I knew that it was strange that we’ve never heard of Watanuki’s parents, but to think that he was that involved with the story still baffles me a bit. I know that the xxxHolic anime stripped away all of the Tsubasa references (which was a good thing, IMO), but did he in the manga ever wonder why he couldn’t remember his parents’ names, or tell how he spent his childhood? And really, another thing I’m wondering: how the heck does a child like that know how to think so far ahead, predicting that years into the future there would be a point in which his alter ego would need to know the location of some evil overlord? Couldn’t he have done so at any point in time? Especially considering how the real Syaoran only managed to break free because of a whimsical action of one of Fei Wong’s servants, there would have been a pretty big chance for the guy to just waste away his memories that way. And another thing… wasn’t Syaoran locked inside of Fei Wong’s dimension? If he was conscious the entire time, then why didn’t he also know where he was?
I can only hope that the second episode of xxxHolic will be about xxxHolic, rather than it becoming a back-up manga for Tsubasa. I loved xxxHolic because of its unique take on modern folklore and the interesting topics it addressed, not for some kid who is going to help save the world from the evil Fei Wong.
Rating: (Enjoyable)
Lots of far-fetched plot twists with lots of pretty graphics. I have a lot to whine about this series, but somehow it remains compelling.
