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.
Then it sucks to be you, because xxHOLIC manga actually IS becoming the backup to Tsubasa.
Heh. This is the place where I stopped reading the manga. It just became so goddamn frustrating to remember who is who’s clone, what impact do they have on the plot, and just what’s the main plot was about anyway. I only remember getting this annoyed watching lost (dropped that too :)). It’s that feeling that the creators have no idea where they’re going with the story. I’ll probably pick it up when the story will get finished. The manga didn’t end yet, right?
I’d say it is getting close to wrapping up.. but the mind games are going to continue till the end. ^^
Yeah I just can’t believe that clamp truly knew where they were going when they started this. It’s just far too needlessly complicated. That doesn’t mean it had to be ‘defeat a bad guy get a feather’ simple but it just went too far.
Gah! Thanks for reminding me that I need to still watch episode 1. ^_^;;;;
Actually, all of your questions are being answered as we speak in the manga. Don’t get me wrong, the manga’s plot twists are CRAZY but once you figure out who’s who, it all makes sense.
Tsubasa Chronicles has becomes very confusing and all the angst is very annoying. I don’t think you have seen the other confusing ‘twist’ in the tale that made me drop attempting to figure this out. Unfortunately that other twist involves xxxholic.
The first time I watched it, it was a show with a good story and some light moments. Right now it has too many twists that does not give it an intricate storyline, but one that gives me a headache. It also lacks any light moments and is always very moody.
When xxxholic crosses with Tsubasa Chronicles, it is reduced to a side story of Tsubasa Chronicles. Unfortunately that is where xxxholic has been for sometime now.
if you pay attention you would know that the sakura, who was taked away was the body, not another clone! the soul is now dead! and yes! in one chapter watanuki realized that he can’t remember his parents name!
there are not two Sakura clones, the one that died was her soul, which she spilt from her body. Only her soul died not her body, which was what was kidnapped. I believe that Syaoran said it in the previous episode. I think the problem with people who watched the anime first is that they were used to a simple formula, from the anime, never mind that was the whole it got canceled in the first place. Because the Tsubasa Chronicle had a little habit of removing plot relevant themes, and rearranging, erasing and adding in the visited worlds. So that might also be a cause for your confusion, as Bee-Train tried to simply something that very simple at all. Just a little heads up though Sakura’s wings were never in a positive light in the manga, there is a reason for this. So a little word of advice is to erase what you learned about Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles from the Bee-Train anime, because its wrong.
chan: yeah, the more I think about it, the more I realize that Bee-Train was really planning to go with its own storyline for the third season (understandable, since the manga was nowhere near finished at that point) they planned, only CLAMP didn’t like it and they were pulled off the project. It’s therefore pretty confusing to figure out what was part of the original TC, and what was the part that Bee-Train had in mind.
You want answers, I have some.
Sorry to break all the hate here but I see Tsubasa and xxxHolic great works by CLAMP. One of the greatests. Now, I have explanation based on manga and from here on out are spoilers so beware.
CLAMP planned that xxxHolic and Tsubasa will become venues to link all of their creatins together (thus the crossovers/AU’s and mentions from other series) and lately, sad to agree, xxxHolic have become a back-up for Tsubasa. What you can’t understand in Tsubasa is explained further in xxxHolic and vice versa BECAUSE Yuuko is the center of it all! Recent manga chapters reveal Fei Wong Reed’s plan regarding the feathers & the clones.
And yes, in the xxxHolic manga chapters 143, 144 & 157, he did realize that he’s forgetting and he seemed to dwell more into the Dream World.
Now, why is he THAT involved with the group that he even gave up his memories so that Syaoran etc can find Fei Wong? Because it is explained in Tsubasa Chapter 203 & xxxHolic Chapter 157.
And about Syaoran not knowing Fei Wong’s location. It is pretty simple. He’s been kidnapped and trapped in a place that’s in another world/dimension and Fei Wong’s female assistant was the one who brought Syaoran to Yuuko. So it’s pretty simple why he can’t remember. ~,~
And I agree with above comment. ERASE EVERY ASSUMPTION you’ve learned (especially the fillers after Rekord Country) from watching the happy happy anime Bee Train. I’m not saying Production IG was better in animating xxxHolic (because important references were erased) but at least the latter production showed the dark side that CLAMP wanted to convey.
oh and another thing because it seems as though you have not read xxxholic either. Watanuki did wonder why he remember his parents’ faces, but because it was directly linked to Tsuabasa it was removed. Syaoran and Sakura are a lot older than they look, and in the CLAMP universe there is something called a dreamseer. These are people who can see the future in their dreams, we’ve already met at least three of them…all Sakuras, Princess Tomoyo, and Kurogane’s mother. One of their powers also involves the ability to speak to people telepathically across worlds if need be. Also dreamseers are not allowed to tell people the future of that they saw if they want to change it, other dreamseers are okay thaough. Because if they tell you then that future will become unavoidable. Syaoran also was held captive only because he was paying a price to Yuko in order to protect Watanuki from Fay Wong Reed, the price was time, which once it was used up, he no longer had any reason to stay inside of the jail. Once it was paid he easily broke out of the barrier himself, he knew exactly where he was he just couldn’t transfer to other worlds, which is what the servant, because Bee-Train never explained it but in the CLAMP universe there are very few people who have the ability to tranfer to other worlds on their own, and even of those people can do it more than once.
Also Fay Wong Reed was behind the whole angel wing incident in xxxholic, and the reason why he didn’t kill Syaoran was because he couldn’t. “The Dream must End”, is the phrase uttered by most of the Dreamseers, Yuko, or the characters that know what’s going on, even Fay Wong Reed’s servant said the same thing. What’s its pertaining to is what Fai was talking about to Syaoran in this OAD about how Fay Reed was sacrificed the lives of many people, both artificial and real, for his ambition to bring one person back to life. That’s why his servant betrayed him.
And I want to clarify one of the comments above about:
“there are not two Sakura clones”
There is one Sakura clone and one original Sakura. Both Sakura’s body and soul have been cloned as stated by Fei Wong Reed. He also said in a conversation with Kyle that the original Sakura ‘broke down’ because it was complicated to clone both body and soul.
Also big spoiler about Watanuki in the OAD 2:
“Syaoran to Watanuki: You have to do what you think is right…because you are the other me.”
further explained in the manga chapters I gave above.
I don’t really think that Bee Train’s TC is at fault here. I mean, even though it was heavily fillerized, it stayed rather faithful to the manga plot, except, of course, for the 2nd season’s ending, which was original anime story and had absolutely NOTHING to do with the manga (it got fixed in Tokyo Revelations OADs though). I watched the anime first (both Bee Train’s series and Tokyo Revelations) and then read the manga from the very beginning. I didn’t really catch any significant differences in the main plot, maybe except for one world that was wholly omitted in the anime.
The real problem with the anime is the fact that they, for some reasons, omitted two worlds that should be between Tokyo Revelations and Shunraiki, in which EXTREMELY IMPORTANT things happened/were revealed, so there’s absolutely no way for people who don’t read the mangs to not feel confused. I hope that the future OADs (if there will be any) will cover the omitted material, because it’s simply too awesome to be left out like that.
As for the plot twists, they seem crazy at first, but, as it’s been said in one of the comments above, they’re actually not that complicated and it’s really all starting to make sense later.
I AGREE WITH ABOVE COMMENT VERY MUCH ABOUT OMMITED WORLDS.
Shunraiki was a great OAV adaptation OF NIHON ARC. No matter how great it was, it cannot deny the fact that Infinity Arc (shown wy Sakura was unconscious) and Celes Arc (Fai’s past and curses) were ommited. AT LEAST CELES ARC EXISTED IN FLASHBACK and mentioned in the beginning. D:
And I’m not saying Bee Train wasn’t faithful with the manga. They were MUCH faithful with the manga and I have no qualms about the fillers. It’s just the assumptions one can get, the plot that as been simplified, is what I have a problem with.
I myself am pissed off that they skipped over Infinity arc, because it was my favorite arc (those bastards). Though the Bee-Train anime was faithful in content that was original to Tsubasa, they tended to over simplify, and water down the story so that it could be enjoyable for a younger audience. Though CLAMP didn’t help matters by allowing two different animation companies to animate their works, which were supposed to be linked in story. So end result is understandable confusion from anime only watchers who didn’t expect this to happen. CLAMP should have probably stopped Bee-Train from season one, or just payed more attention to adaptation itself, as Bee-Train made it obvious that they were going to make the anime for a younger audience, and I don’t think junior would have been in favor of seeing cute rabbits things, sacrifice the heroes to the tornado, wrecking havoc in their village.
Fortunately Tsubasa references in XXXholic aren’t enough to mar the story, in other words you can go on reading XXXholic without touching the inanity that is Tsubasa Resevoir which continues to grow more and more contrived with each new revelation or plot twist.
actually you can’t do that anymore. The only way to truly understand xxxholic is to read Tsubasa and vice versa. Its been that way for 30 or so chapters. The plot twists also make sense if you pay attention.
Hey psgels!
As an avid avid fan of xxxHolic and a sewhag intrigued one of TRC, I have come to rescue you from your confusions! Hooray!
Going to the episode first: it certainly was mucho eyecandy- the fight scene was epic and the magical fights awesome. On the other hand the constant repition of sakura flowers and cliché characters really nagged me. Syaoran really needs to stop acting all heroic and get some flaws. Clone!Syaoran on the other hand is my favorite character in the whole TRC series. His later complex character development really makes up for his boringness at the begginning of the second half. But they released a mJor spoiler in this episode early, which pissed me off more than anything. Heck, Watanuki didn’t even know that he is the other Syaoran in the manga yet. Grr!
Onto xxxHolic manga, sadly what you fear is true – it is becoming/is a backup for Trc- by don’t worry, because it focuses on Yuuko and Watanuki rather than Syaoran and his group. In fact it’s much more interesting (it still was before but we have many mysteries solved now) and we really dive into the sort of relationship Watsnuki and Yuuko have formed and Yuuko’s role in both the TRC world and her shop. However it’s true that as of recently for the past thirty chapters you need to read both mangas to truly get a sense of what’s going on. But TRC is about to end very very very soon (and sadly xxxholic as it’s the sister project) so I guess they are tying up all the loose ends for a big climax/finale.
And yes, this is where TRC gets incredibly complex- almost mind wrecking because there’s the issue of clones. Dual existances. And most confusing are the TIME PARADOXES. Gah! But it’s CLAMP so i forgive them 🙂
Anyway, read the manga as you will be confused by what’s happening…
Everyone keeps telling you to read the manga and then, they give you confusing and contradicting explanations. XD
Basically, whether you care to read it or not, the manga is better. People who read the manga don’t get as lost in confusion or go as crazy about the flaws with the series. The anime made things confusing for the majority of the fans.
Tsubasa/Holic are Japanese manga series and the American fans are getting so mad at them. However, the Japanese fans seem surpressed enough. (I visit Japanese blogs and sites as well)
Now, to clear up even more about my biggest idols, CLAMP intended Holic and Tsubasa to be one series. Ohkawa thought up the idea to make two stories and it went from there. While many people in America find it difficult to need to catch up in both series to understand it all, Japanese fans read MUCH faster and can finish both series (or at least one and a half) in a day. Trust me. I’ve seen it happen. Even the non-otaku (who basically read popular shoujo/shounen based on their gender only) do this.
I don’t want to be all biased-sounding at all, but unfortunately for Americans (or any foreign readers/watchers), Japanese fans are the center of it all and they think much differently. This is why other fans get frustrated when they are unheard…