Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle Voulme 19

Rejoicing at Tsubasa!!!

Finally I am going to blog about manga. I amuse myself with all my anime posts because I proclaim to love mangas more. However, due to pesky people demanding I pay my bills first instead of filling my bookcases with mangas, I haven’t had anything new to say. One manga that is exempt from the bills first/buy online/Christmas present rule is Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle!!!! So while out Christmas shopping for others, I treated myself to volume 19!!!!

Spoilers for Tsubasa volume 19...

Perhaps not the happiest treats ever...but a treat for me :O

I really love this entire series. Actually, I love anything CLAMP ever does, but Tsubasa will probably go down in history as my favorite manga series ever (sorry Fushigi Yuugi!) I would love Del Rey Manga a little bit more if they issued Tsubasa in a TIMELIER manner as I have issues with reading mangas online (but long live fan subs!).

NO! NO MORE WAITING!

Tsubasa started off with a little hearted concept (well, light hearted for CLAMP anyway…). Sure Sakura lost her memories and some of the countries weren’t QUITE safe, but the group had each other. Fai tried to keep things fun and Kurogane never really meant all the yelling and threats. Sakura and Mokona made a cute little team and while Syaoran was always determined to complete his mission, he was able to enjoy the company of others, cross dress a little, and get slightly drunk.

Despite the mood, the art work is always breathtaking.

Then CLAMP slowly started to turn the series down a dark road. The seeds were planted long ago however and it is fun going back and reading into all the small details. Y was involved, so it was clear all was not what it appeared to be. Kurogane caught on fast that Fai was hiding something (or a lot of somethings). The group slowly realized that things were going too specifically and of course there was the tube containing the Real Syaoran. That was sorta the giant clue that things were not going to end with finding the feathers without tears or injury.

Okay.. a lot of tears (notice Kurogane worrying for Fai!)

Despite any other tough moments in prior countries, the real turning point for this series was Acid Tokyo. Syaoran lost control of his growing heart and turned into the soulless machine he was meant to be. Fai, after claiming he did not want to grow attached to these people, risks Ashura finding him by using his powers. It ends with Fai losing an eye and becoming a vampire, Syaoran leaving to seek out the other feathers, Sakura in tears, Real Syaoran bleeding and Kurogane knowing he has a huge mess to clean up and Fai now hates his guts. The good times were clearly over and will remain that way until the end of the series (because I have faith that CLAMP will not let this series end RG Veda style).

Yes...I will have faith!!!

Volume 18 grew even darker. Our once happy family group was now a foursome (fivesome?) who barely talked to each other. Fai was deeply hurt that Kurogane let him live and was trying to hurt their (subtle) relationship. Sakura isn’t even LOOKING at Real Syaoran and Mokona is just so sad about his little family being in pieces. Add in the fact that Yuuko implied in XXXholics the worlds are in chaos due to the actions…and Tsubasa is quickly turning depressing.

Not a huge fan of battle scenes...but CLAMP does them well.

So with volume 19, everything hits the fan. Well, not so much hits the fan as gets hit by a mac truck…but still.

Author hates mac trucks now...

We learn the reason Sakura has been acting standoffish lately. She has always felt guilty about not being able to help as much as the others. She feels as if this should only be her mission. Now she is going to take on responsibility for Syaoran‘s actions. She is also hiding from the group that she has regained her premonition powers. She now wants to leave the group for three reasons: she feels as if the mission is only hers (thus she should be the only one at risk), she wants to stop Syaoran from doing more harm, and she wants to stop Fai from killing everyone.

:( You are losing some of your cuteness Sakura!

But brave and determined are still very cute!

My poor Fai. Anyone who knows me KNOWS Fai is my favorite characters of all time and I highly support Fai x Kurogane. He has been suffering this entire series, but he has been hiding behind a happy fake smile. Everything was “okay” while he wore that fake smile, but now that has been taken from him. Everything that could have gone wrong from him has. Ashura is waking up now. He had to use magic numerous times. People know he cares about them. He lost his eye/half his magic resulting him killing Sakura. My Fai needs a hug.

No, I just make all this yaoi stuff up in my head...

SO WHY AREN’T YOU GIVING HIM ONE KUROGANE?! I know CLAMP will deny their relationship up and down a wall just like they do with every other series…but Fai and Kurogane are together. Not just because I am a crazy yaoi fan girl who sees only what she wants to see, but because they are. Anyone who reads this series can see that they care for each other and that Fai not talking to Kurogane really REALLY bothers Kurogane would not waste his time trying to say “encouraging” things to Fai if he did not care about him!

I can not force the blind to see!

With that said..HUGS PLEASE!! Fai truly needs one. Of course…Fai has not really been in a touchy feely mood lately, so I suppose grabbing his arm might have counted as a hug verses physical contact. That and Kurogane is special in the love department. He is showing it the best way he can. Sometimes that means not stabbing Fai. I think Kurogane being “level headed” during the EVENT was pretty restrained for him.

That is a Kurogane hug.

Even Fai knows it!

BUT WHY FAI?! WHY?!! This entire series should have been about Sakura and Syaoran having it hard. Okay, so you and Kurogane could have had sad little back stories. Kurogane had his parents killed. You are allowed a sad event too…but everything about you is sad and fated and it makes me love you even more! Now you have killed…SAKURA! You are mad at Kurogane and aren’t feeling too close to this Syaoran right now…and you are destined to KILL Sakura. This is much too cruel, even for CLAMP (well, had they finished X/1999 we would truly understand how cruel they could get).

My eyes can not handle the sadness!!!!!

:(....just :(

I know sometimes I get upset at series when things just MAGICALLY fall into place and we are supposed to believe this was meant to happen. But this is not the case with Tsubasa. It has been building up and the small details really do matter. So while it might come out of left field that Sakura was killed by Fai, it wasn’t. Fei Wong Reed has been behind everything since the very beginning and probably even before then (Yuuko too to an extent but her reasons seem more helpful and away to counter Reed). So while it just seems like a magical coincidence that Fai killed Sakura, it truly is not. The only way for Sakura to be more powerful than Fai was to have Syaoran steal half his power. Syaoran HAD to mess up the previous country so Sakura would feel compelled to win the prize money (thus the two Chi’s would appear at the same time). Syaoran HAD to lose control of his heart in a country with little to no medicine and the only way to save Fai were the two vampires that HAPPENED to be there. Reed had to go WAY back many years ago (or only a few based on time differences) and affect Fai first with the promise of freedom and the curse. So…we can conclude every single thing that has ever happened to Fai is all Reed’s fault and his life sucks. Thus he needs to have the big strong Kurogane in his life.

Reed is one of the most methodical villains ever!

And he better ****ing die in the end or I will be pissed.

Something that caught my eye was the little container Yuuko has been holding. Back in volume 11 pf XXXholics I saw her holding it and I was like OH SNAP that is the thing Sakura and Syaoran were in the volume one. Obviously that was meant foreshadowing of the end of the series like most mangas/anime do, but I am most intrigued that it is tiny TINY object. Of course..in a manga world where universes can be anything and everything it should not be a surprise. I was just picturing something much larger in my mind.

Tube in Tsubasa Volume One is the exact same one Yuuko is holding now.

We can’t forget Syaoran in all of this. Well, the real Syaoran. Or this Syaoran. The other one is off in other countries destroying lands and killing cattle. Real Syaoran is just a sad little outcast in this group despite the fact he has watched their every move and probably cares for them very deeply in his own way. They had a family unit going on and to add in a “twin” of one of the original members isn’t the same thing. They want THEIR Syaoran and he knows it. I am not sure WHAT he feels for Sakura, romantically or not. While it might be nice if Sakura was a little more..talkative to him, I can see where she is coming from. Because HER Syaoran was a stranger to begin with; this new Syaoran is even MORE of a stranger. She lost the one of the stable people in her life without even a chance to say goodbye. It must be hard to see his face every day and know he is the “wrong one”. That still doesn’t stop me from feeling bad for this Syaoran.

Poor Syaoran is trying so hard.

No matter WHICH one he is, he is always trying to help her.

And it turns out she was not ignoring him after all.

Did I mention that this was a really, REALLY crappy volume for Fai? Ashura is awake and is out to get him. He killed his beloved Princess. Oh and her body got sent to HIS WORLD, the one place he does not want to be. Knowing Yuuko, he will probably have to pay a price to be allowed to go back there as his original wish was not to return there. He has to live with the guilty that he “killed” Sakura and all those other people (and you know…that person in the tower. In case someone reading it does not know who that person is yet). Yes I know I am talking a lot about Fai but a lot has happened to him! He needs to be talked about and properly loved. Of course, he is only in for a world of hurt.

Because he does not have a lot on his mind right now...let's deal with this TOO!

MORE PROOF!!!!

Speaking of hurt, Tsubasa (and XXXHolics) is very interesting with the whole payment method. Yes, sometimes I am just screaming at Yuuko to just HELP them..but I realize she can’t. Partly due to whatever she is and she is not directly allowed to interfere with people’s lives, but this is also about sacrifices. A lot of anime series have people just GIVEN the object they need to succeed. Nope, CLAMP is going to make you earn them. So far Kurogane has gotten off pretty easily with only losing his father’s sword as payment. The others….not so much. Sakura has lost her memories of Syaoran, the use of one of her legs, her luck…and her “life”. Fai has lost his ability to control magic with his tattoo and he lost his staff. I was going to list his eye…but realized that it was just another suck thing that happened to Fai rather than something he gave up. Regardless, while it makes me sad to see these people suffering, it shows their determination and will to get what they want. And Watanuki is really leading the pact with walking around with a broken body anyway…

As long as the future includes all of you alive, I am okay with it.

Truly I do not know what is keeping me from reading the rest of this series online. The knowledge that it will take another good THREE YEARS for Del Rey Manga to get me the last volume would be a good enough reason…but I can’t do it! I NEED THE BOOK IN MY HAND. :( Please…I need to know if my Fai is going to be okay!