Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles Volume 23-current chapters

Remember when I said I was going to blog Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle every week until I was caught up with the current chapters? Yeah I lied.

Come, experience the craziness that is Tsubasa.

But I didn’t mean to lie. It was my intention to blog each volume until I either got caught up with the current chapters or the series ended. But then chapter 223 came out and my brain exploded all over the place.

Seriously I walked away from the computer screen with a splitting headache that lasted all day. I kept thinking how is this possible over and over again. I tried to make sense of what happened and it really didn’t work.

So I don’t think I can blog the next 5 or so volumes and pretend to not know what is going on. It will slip or be greatly implied in my writing and I will feel like scum for spoiling things for people. Or I will just be too focused on this big blinding factor and not talk about whatever volume I am on.

That being said I am just going to talk about this huge massive X_X moment that involves the entire manga series and why the heck this is all happening. So if you don’t want spoilers that lead up until chapter 223 of Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle do not click read more. But if you are sharing in my massive headache read on!

Cute picture is cute!

I will be special and give a little bit of back story that leads up to the WTF moment. Or as the case may be the material that comes after the WTF moment.

Why must you be so brave until the very end?!

When we last saw our heroes Syaoran and clone Syaoran were fighting over Sakura’s feather. Sakura was all boohooing that she didn’t need her feathers anymore and that she wants the boys to stop fighting. The end result of this fight is that Sakura dies. She is stabbed trying to keep both boys from killing the other. Sakura turns to the real Syaoran and says that the one he wants to protect isn’t her. Then she dissolves into flower petals and is no more. Clone Syaoran is slightly pissed off and Kyle appears and takes Sakura’s body with him. Through a side conversation Fei Wong Reed explains how he cloned Sakura for the purpose of having her body gather information about the different dimensions and crap. Now it gets slightly complicated as the original body of Sakura died so as of right now Fei Wong Reed has Sakura’s clone body. Wait a minute, all will be explained.

I will take the ring!!!

After Kurogane is explained what the hell is going on (because Fai and Syaoran knew from the start that clone Sakura was a clone) Syaoran explains that he is going to save clone Sakura and his Sakura. The price to travel to the place where clone Sakura’s body is has been paid by Watanuki (the price being his memories of his parents). And it turns out that Fei Wong Reed has been in Clow Country from day one!

My poor Fai.

After everyone spends some time thinking about how much they loved clone Sakura and Kurogane gets his sword back the three travelers go to Clow Country, during the cut off time. Syaoran realizes it is the day of Sakura’s 7th birthday. Something significant happened on this day and the time keeps repeating itself. Our heroes keep reliving the same day over and over again until they find a way to break the pattern.

Syaoran always takes the blame on himself.

Then our heroes make it down into the ruins, close to the area where clone Sakura was zapped through the first time. There Syaoran tells his tale of woe to Fai, Kurogane, and Mokona.

The only innocent time they will get to experience.

When real Syaoran was 7 years old his parents told him that there was a Sakura who needed his protection. He was told he had 7 days to help her and he would return on her birthday. So Syaoran travels to Clow Country as Sakura is going through her purification ceremony crap. So for 7 days they can’t touch but that doesn’t bother them. They become fast friends. One could say that Syaoran falls in love with Sakura as she reminds him of his mother, who is also named Sakura and looks just like her. Syaoran also reveals he looks just like his father. Fast forward to Sakura’s birthday and Fei Wong Reed attacks Sakura. Syaoran hesitates and does not save Sakura in time. Fei Wong Reed lays a curse upon Sakura and she will die on her 16th birthday.

A moment of hesitation changes the entire universe...but I am sure Fei Wong had a back-up plan.

Syaoran is injured trying to save Sakura. He is sent to Yuuko to recover. He wishes to go back to Clow Country and find a way to save Sakura. His price will be the fact he will never return home to see his parents again. So off he goes and he spends the next 9 years with Sakura and loving her. Only a select few number of people know of her curse and try to stop it. But on her 16th birthday she dies anyway. Or she is moments from dying. Her mother (in this time period) has lived and has the ability to stop the flow of time just for a second. There Syaoran makes his wish to go back in time and grab Sakura’s hand when he had the chance. Fei Wong Reed appears and
cackles!

Syaoran is Syaoran no matter what...

Yuuko appears and tells Syaoran that if he goes through with this wish the lives of Sakura’s parents will be affected. That Syaoran himself will be captive and unable to do anything to help the outcome. Basically everything is going to fall apart and it will all be his fault. But he wishes it anyway and goes back in time to when he and Sakura were 7. There Fei Wong is waiting. He explains to Syaoran that since he has wished form something taboo a space has been created where he once existed. Watanuki is created to take over that space instead. Yuuko gets a hold of Watanuki and protects him from Fei Wong’s influence. Then Syaoran is taken and locked up in Fei Wong’s lair. Clone Syaoran is created and goes and lives with clone Sakura until volume 1. Oh and Sakura’s mom goes splat, Sakura’s dad becomes clone Syaoran dad, and Clow Reed becomes clone Sakura’s dad. None of which matters as they are all dead.

I swear we are getting up to the WTF moment. I promise!!

Kurogane likes to give out love taps.

So after this sad tale Syaoran tells Fai and Kurogane he is no better than Fei Wong as they both wish for the same thing: to bring someone back to life. Just that Fei Wong waited for Syaoran’s wish to mess with the space time continuum and laws of reality. Syaoran tells his two friends that his wish caused the universe to be turned upside down. Fai might not have been born with a twin had Syaoran not made that wish nor would Kurogane’s parents had to die. But his companions do not care about all that. Especially Fai as he made the same exact wish. So as it stands Syaoran is the cause of all this drama. Not on purpose of course but whatever.

Waiting all this time for her prince to save her.

Our crew makes it to the spot where the real Sakura is frozen as a 7 year old. Fei Wong appears and smirks as his grand master plan is almost upon us. Clone Syaoran arrives to fight with Syaoran and Fei Wong makes his little minions attack Fai and Kurogane. So it is fighting time blah blah. It then appears that clone Syaoran kills Syaoran. Fei Wong is like bring me his body slave boy. So he does and BAM Syaoran is still alive and together with the clone Syaoran they throw open the space where Fei Wong is. Fei Wong is pissed off and goes to stab Syaoran but clone Syaoran throws himself in the way. Everyone is in shock that clone Syaoran was able to make such a sacrifice. Clone Syaoran says that he wanted to know what came next, when clone Sakura said he loved him. He then apologizes to all his friends and dies in a similar fashion to clone Sakura. Fai gets his eye back but is sad he lost his friend. They then kill Fei Wong but it turns out it was Kyle all along. Fei Wong was in the background holding clone Sakura’s body. Time begins to move and Syaoran runs to grab young Sakura’s hand. However everything gets crazy as Mokona senses a feather.

Clone Syaoran got his heart too late....

TADA Acid Tokyo is the ancient country of Clow. And the feather that Sakura left to guard the water, yeah it is still in the water right now. That is why the real Sakura was protected by the water on her first 7th birthday. Anyway the feather goes into clone Sakura’s body. At the same time Syaoran manages to grab the real Sakura’s hand. Fei Wong cackles more as now Syaoran’s wish has been granted. Both clone and real Sakura glow and turn into one being, the real Sakura. Fei Reed says now that Syaoran’s wish has been granted so can his. And his wish is bring someone back to life that was on the verge of death as well.

Seriously?! Yuuko?

It turns out that person is Yuuko. You know, the person Fei Wong has hated this entire series? Yeah that Yuuko. Clow Reed had tried to bring save her life but had failed (or merely wanted her to live and didn’t really want to mess up the world with his wish). Fei Wong promised that he would do so and went about with this horrible plan. Before Yuuko is transported to Clow with everyone else she explains what the tube was at the beginning of volume 1. In that tube we saw a Sakura and a Syaoran. It turns out not to be the real or clone versions as Yuuko states these beings have been in the tube watching all these events take place, so neither of their precious people would disappear. Yuuko says their time is now allowed to move forward and they are released from the tube.

I would say something...but just wait...

TADA! It is real Syaoran and Sakura’s parents. Who look just like real Syaoran and real Sakura. They briefly appear in the dream world to Watanuki and tell their precious person (AKA SON) not to disappear. Momma Sakura explains that she knew that this was all to come as another Sakura (CCS) gave her her magic wand and told her all would be okay.Then they appear in Clow Country and rescue real Syaoran and real Sakura’s body. They then using their awesome power to start rebuilding all the worlds that Fei Wong is destroying. Fai is going WTF because if they are that powerful that they can rebuild the entire universe he should have been able to sense their existence. Fei Wong gets all pissy, wanting to know why Father Syaoran is able to use Clow Reed’s power. Yuuko says that is because Clow gave it to him.

Can't she just explain things better? So things won't be so confusing later?!

Then Yuuko appears back in the dream world. Clone Syaoran materializes in the dream world and Yuuko explains that since he is a created being he cannot disappear. Then clone Sakura poofs on the scene too. Clone Sakura wakes up and there is a slight dramatic moment. Then Yuuko explains all that stuff about her nearly dying and Clow tried to save her life. She then explains to Sakura and Syaoran that they can be reborn again and their prices have already been paid for. Clone Syaoran’s by Clow Reed and clone Sakura by Yuuko’s. She explains even though they are going to be reborn that they will have all their memories of this life and that they will again move forward to this moment (this moment being Fei Wong destroying the world). If they decide to be reborn the past and future will be affected but they will be together again one day. Clone Syaoran starts mumbling about how he has sinned so much and doesn’t deserve this second chance. Clone Sakura takes his hand and says she will bear the sin with him, just so long as she can live with him. Yuuko considers that a yes on the wish and sends them on their way to be reborn, but not before clone Sakura finally tells clone Syaoran she loves him.

A little bit late but at least it was said.

Do we have all that down? Because after this is when it stops making sense. And as farfetched as this all sounds I am following the story up to this point. Here, let us create a time line of what has happened so far in this series.

-7 year old Syaoran is told by Daddy Syaoran and Momma Sakura that he has to go save a Sakura in another dimension.

-7 year old Syaoran grows close to Sakura but fails to save her. A curse is inflicted on Sakura.

-16 year old Syaoran watches 16 year old Sakura dies. Fei Wong grants Syaoran’s wish to save his Sakura. Both Syaoran and Sakura are cloned and Watanuki is born. Clone Sakura and clone Syaoran live in a slightly different version of Clow as real Syaoran can only watch.

-Fai is made Fei Wong’s pawn. Even though Fai is older than everyone else this event has to take place after Syaoran’s wish. Also time flows different in each dimension.

-Kurogane’s parents are killed. It is unclear what Fei Wong had in store for Kurogane but it doesn’t matter as Tomoyo stopped it.

-Real Syaoran and Watanuki’s parents make a wish to protect their sons and are placed in that tube. Watanuki thinks his parents died to save him so it is unclear if that is a false memory or not.

-Watanuki made a deal to have his memories erased to save some version of Sakura and Syaoran in the future.

-Clow Reed dies in Clow country as he was playing the part of clone Sakura’s father.

-Clone Sakura and clone Syaoran begin their journey as clone Sakura loses her feathers.

-Fai knows all along what is going on and fails to stop anything.

-Clone Syaoran’s heart breaks and real Syaoran escapes his prison. Fai loses his eye.

-Clone Sakura chooses to split her body and soul rather than let Syaoran die.

-Clone Sakura dies and tells Syaoran to go back to his real Sakura.

-The team goes to Clow country 7 years in the past when real Sakura first gets cursed.

-Clone Syaoran dies protecting Syaoran.

- Syaoran’s parents, mommy Sakura and daddy Syaoran appear to save real Sakura, real
Syaoran, and the entire universe.

-Clone Syaoran and clone Sakura are allowed to be reborn by the price paid by Clow and Yuuko, Clow being the father that clone Sakura knows.

Okay, now that all makes sense to me. Even the fact that CCS is a different person than these three Sakuras and her wands was also a payment in all this junk. Also the fact that daddy Syaoran is the one who has Clow Reed’s power and not CCS Sakura is okay with me. Rules can be bent a little bit. For a while I thought that real Syaoran was the son of CCS Sakura and CCS Syaoran. That is not the case.

This just in: you suck.

So despite this being confusing and everyone being a clone or a look alike somehow this makes sense. I am even willing to buy the fact that Clow is built on the ancient city of Acid Tokyo and that real Sakura at age 7 was protected by a feather clone Sakura has yet to leave.

I am willing to buy all this because Yuuko explains that the worlds have been torn apart by Syaoran’s wish. That his wish to bring someone back to life has broken all the rules of the world and the past and future are one big mess and both can affect the present now. It is almost one of those things you buy and believe because magic is involved and it is so illogical it has to make sense.

:( Clearly they were not important enough for more screen time.

Chapter 222 rolls around and suddenly it hits you like a freight train. Or at least it should. You might be temporarily blinded by the fact that MKR’s main heroines FINALLY make an appearance. I had been begging for Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu to make their appearance. Of course they only get like 5 whole pages where as other less worthy CLAMP characters get entire volumes…but maybe I am being slightly ungrateful.

A happy reunion that was fated to happen either in the past or future........

The point is in chapter 222 clone Sakura is walking around with her MKR pals as they are on a school trip. Down the path walks clone Syaoran and it is all magical. Since they have been reborn with their memories intact they recognize each other immediately. They embrace and it is all cherry blossoms and love. No kiss for some reason but there is love.

Clone Sakura, clone Syaoran, and a baby...OH CRAP!!!

THEN THE WTF MOMENT! Chapter 223, the chapter that made my head explode. We fast forward to sometime in the future. Clone Sakura has just given birth to a baby. Then everyone knows. Everyone friggin knows what is about to come out of clone Sakura’s mouth as she shows off the new baby to clone Syaoran. Let me bust out clone Sakura’s exact words here.

And this is your brain on Tsubasa. X_X

“ After all….he is both our child…and also…one with the same existence as yourself”.
As in she just gave birth to the real Syaoran. The Syaoran that the clone Syaoran was based on.

Exactly. That is EXACTLY what Yuuko meant!!!

…………………………….
………………………………………
………………………………………………..

Do you see that? That is my eye twitching out of control and my mind unable to handle this information. Let me repeat that again. Clone Syaoran is the father to the person he was cloned from.

Must not think....

Oh but it gets better. Or worse. Clone Syaoran and clone Sakura are the ones who tell their son, real Syaoran to go and protect real Sakura. You know, the real Sakura in which clone Sakura is based on. They are sending their son to go be with a version of his mother.

Oh hi son! It's almost time for you to go make me exist.

……………………………………..

My…my mind can’t handle much more….

On the one hand that means the number of Sakuras and Syaorans in this series just got cut down a little bit. The tube Syaoran and Sakura are actually the clones. The parents that just appeared out of nowhere to protect the real Syaoran are not only mommy and daddy but the clones. So in that once sense it makes everything not seem SO wtf.

But...in the end it is cute?!

But then I think about the entire situation again and I am not really that grateful at all.

But Tenchi, what about the whole the past and future are all messed up and this the present is crazy theory? What about magic explaining everything? Can’t you just go with the flow?

NO!

There is a limit to how much I am willing to buy! I cannot and will not accept that clone Syaoran and clone Sakura sent their son on an adventure that would result in clone Syaoran and clone Sakura being created! To make this possible someone had to exist as real Syaoran’s parents to begin with to start this entire process down this road. You can’t send your son into a future to make sure you are born for this all to happen. You can’t pull a reverse Terminator on me!

Forget space time continuum! This is grandfather paradox, parallel universe, Novikov self-consistency principle, alternate timelines, and restricted action resolution times 100 and on crack. A serious amount of crack.

The very thought that father is a clone of his son makes me dizzy. The thought of a son in love with the real version of his momma makes me think I should be ill. And the fact that this all happened within 5 minutes of each other makes me pass out and die.

The only ONLY way I will be okay with any of this is if it is explained later down the line that real Syaoran was the son of Yuuko and Clow Reed. In that scenario he will be worthy of Clow Reed’s powers. It will also allow for real Syaoran to be cloned and for there not to be with almost incest related future. Clone Sakura and clone Syaoran will be similar to Watanuki. Watanuki was created to fill the void in this wish and become a son to clone Syaoran and clone Sakura. Clone Sakura and clone Syaoran can be the parents to real Syaoran since Clow Reed and Yuuko are both “dead” due to trying to make real Syaoran’s wish possible.

If and only if that is the case I will be satisfied! Otherwise my brain will still be in a state of explosion and WTFness. Seriously, clone Syaoran is father to the real one?! X_X My mind still can’t compute this information.

But you know what…I still love you Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicles. I love how almost all of this was explained from the start yet it wasn’t. You can read back and all the clues were there. That is what makes this series fun. Well, until you start thinking about being the father of someone you are cloned of. Then it becomes fun and MOG wtf at the same time.

Oh and yay for Fai and Kurogane true love proof!

So don’t let me down CLAMP. You better explain this with the time you got left. And I swear to God if Watanuki ends up being Fei Wong or Clow Reed I will scream. Then it will be game over man.