You know what this episode reminds me of? That one episode of Touka Gettan: the Lost Episode of Yami to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito. The Tsubasa Chronicle cast drops by, they have nothing to do with the story, and at the end they just say goodbye and leave again to go back to their own story when there don’t seem to be any feathers here (or whatever they’re searching for at this point in the story, since Sakura was absent and all…). At the start of this series, when I found out that this kind of an episode would pop up I was very afraid that they would hog up all the screentime, but this was a really good episode, which made them more than Clamp’s usual cameos, and yet didn’t overdo it.
On top of that, the few revelations that their visit brought was interesting. It was a nice way to hint at Ioryogi’s original form. Who knew that he was his world’s Kurogane. I never realized that they had the same voice actor, and exactly for that reason. I also love the way in which Fye wished Ioryogi good luck with Kobato. He clearly seemed to know what was up with her.
In any case, this episode skips about a month and a half forward to Valentine. Predictable, but at this point I don’t care. For me, this show has reached the point where the creators can stuff their characters in any sort of setting, and make it utterly enjoyable. The valentine episode also was surprisingly good for the romance in this series, without going too obvious. You can see that Kiyokazu has grown a lot closer to Kobato during the past months that weren’t shown, and the valentine’s episode wasn’t used as a cheap knock-off getting the two of them together. Speaking of which: I very much approve of series that keep track of their own time: that’s an awesome way of showing the development between the characters, and making it less sudden.
And that ending was very powerful. That’s some great build-up there: this moment was bound to come: Kobato was bound to run short on time because of how easily distracted she can be. As a kid at heart, she constantly needed to be pushed by Ioryogi and yet you can see that she genuinely wants to go to some place. We have no idea why, all we know is that it’s something very important for her and that she’ll never have any more chances after the deadline passes. With four episodes left, I hope she gets there.
strong>Rating: ** (Excellent)
ED: Really weird place for a new ED, but better than the first one and a solid ballad.
SPOILER (!!!)
It actually takes place after the whole series ends, because (long story short) Sayoran, Kuro, Fai, and Mokona have to keep traveling to keep the worlds intact after Fei Wong ruined the time and space continuum. Sakura chose to stay in Clow Country to wait for Sayoran.
ANYWAY I loved seeing them again. I kinda wished they would’ve stayed longer so that we could have seen the Tsubasa group interact with Kobatos world a little more (how adorable would it have been for them to go to the kindergarten?). I’m not that shocked that Fai figured out everything within one day. The Magician always knows whats going on (gotta love Fai!). And I thought that Kuro and Ioroyogi had the same voice too…
And you have to love the Kobato/Kiyokazu shipness going on. It melts the heart…
BTW, Gin, the silver rabbit animal thing with the eyepatch, has the same voice actor as Fai. xD
(Though Fai reminded me WAY too much of Italy in term of voice acting in this episode…)
ONE word: WOW!
I was expecting cheap filler with Tsubasa characters cameo overload but I was wrong. I was very skeptical especially with Tsubasa cast. Like Queenie says Fay, Kurogane, Syaoran, and Mokona left Clow Country starting new journey of their own but not for Sakura’ feathers anymore.
As for sow good are Madhouse with Tsbuasa cameo? I’d say they did well…maybe several errors not worth mention since Tsuabsa storyline has finished. At least they did a lot better than BEETrain.
Anyway, I’m interested in Kobato even more than ever. I liked how Fay noticed right away that Kobabto is special. Of course he is a magician but I noticed how he looked at Kobato’ head…especially hat part. Kobato always uses something on her head. Bunch of us (Kobato fans)theorizes lot things….maybe it is her payment for her unnamed wish or she is an alien.
I really love ED part. I really like how they put artbook scans of Kobato. It is pretty!
Can’t wait for next episode.
I also hope they could stay a bit longer, so funny when Fye kept making fun of Ioryogi, lol!!!Totally love the way they animate the travel to another dimension moment, very captivating with all the glowing sapphire light, thump up!
WOW…I suprise that they can add TRC crossover to affect with some of main story(about Kobato’s desire ,her secret and her feeling too) It make development for her character more.
So I’m glad that It didn’t turn out to be fanservice crossover like the most.but turn to be very genuine crossover. Kobato rocks again!!
And The scene that Kurogane and Ioryogi talk each other.It make me laugh too. very good seiyuu joke haha+
and plus. Romantic scene in valentine’s day It’s cute in it own way. I like it.
I love CLAMP because they crossover characters soo much that they almost never let any of them die 🙂 Even if this is a filler
Kurogane got skinner and more wrinkles,
Mokona got even chubbier (prob ate those swords again)
and Syaoran/Tsubasa is just weird to me for some reason (missing Sakura too much 🙂 )
I’m so planning to go and watch this when I get at home! :]
Hace bastante tiempo que soy fanático del buen anime, asà que artÃculos como este son bien venidos y consientes de un valor incalculable.
Saludos.