nenena: (Default)
nenena ([personal profile] nenena) wrote2007-07-07 10:42 pm

(*sigh*)

Dammit, CLAMP, you really are determined to make the ending of Tsubasa Chronicle impossible for me to understand without also having read the entirety of xxxHolic, aren't you?

But I don't want to read xxxHolic. I read the first two volumes back in 2004, and was bored to tears by it. So I dropped it cold. And yes, I understand that Tsubasa occassionally crosses over with xxxHolic, but up until volume 18-ish, these crossovers were done in completely innocuous, you-can-totally-ignore-this-if-you-want-to way. Like Yuuko's Valentine's Day gifts. Not exactly essential to the plot of Tsubasa, but kind of fun for fans who are reading both series to recognize.

But noooooo, now you had to go and make the crossover material essential reading.

I don't want to have to read a manga series that I don't like in order to be able to follow the ending of a manga series that I *do* like. I thought that manga usually didn't indulge in this infuriating crossover muckity muck.

[identity profile] broccoman.livejournal.com 2007-07-08 04:50 am (UTC)(link)
I'm wondering how many other manga series follow the comic "Let's see if we can get someone to buy Blue Beetle" pattern. Thinking it's probably done rarely, but it's been done before.

[identity profile] tigersilver.livejournal.com 2007-07-08 05:04 am (UTC)(link)
But, but, but (sputter)CLAMP's all about cross-over! You can't read CLAMP without falling over it constantly. It's a CLAMPy thing...Now me, I got into xxxholic totally and have held off on Tsubasa. I totally glomp xxxholic, but I'm scared, cause they have a habit of not ending things (Drug, X) and I don't want to get stuck again. Especially if they're getting sticky like that with the crossovers...but good luck to you.. maybe you can buy the later xxxholic volumes on Ebay cheap? Just what you need to figure it out, maybe.
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[identity profile] nenena.livejournal.com 2007-07-08 05:16 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah, the thing about CLAMP's series is that even though they crossover a lot, they don't cross over in essential ways. For example, you can read Man of Many Faces and Clamp Campus Detectives individually. It's more fun if you read them both, but it's not essential. Which makes the intertwining of the end of Tsubasa and xxxHolic annoying, because now I *have* to read both.

Tsubasa is definitely going to end, though. It's at a point now where there's no way that it could possibly not end. So you should pick it up, it's worth it. ;)

Yeah, I'm browsing amazon.co.jp for used copies of xxxHolic. They have them as cheap as 50 yen, so it's pretty sweet.

[identity profile] peachyindeed.livejournal.com 2007-07-08 03:09 pm (UTC)(link)
This is why I didn't want to get caught up in Tsubasa. I've always assumed my unfamiliarity with CCS and most other CLAMP titles would leave me lost. It took a friend months to get me to read the first few volumes of Tsubasa. Now that I'm hooked... I'm screwed?!

[identity profile] atelierjoh.livejournal.com 2007-07-08 05:26 pm (UTC)(link)
Hehe, funny, I've been keeping up with xxxholic and avoiding Tsubasa like the plague.
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[identity profile] nenena.livejournal.com 2007-07-08 11:26 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, as long as you read xxxHolic, you're not screwed. ;)

The thing about Tsubasa is that you don't *need* to have familiarity with series like CCS in order to enjoy it - it stands on its own. Of course, if you've read CCS, you get the extra level of squee when you recognize AU versions of the CCS characters in Tsubasa. But it's not neccessary. And I definitely haven't read every CLAMP series, so, for example, I didn't recognize most of the Angelic Layer characters when they kept appearing. But it didn't hurt my ability to follow the story. After the I read a couple volumes I started looking up things on Wikipedia (the Tsubasa article is excellent), and it was like, huh, I guess that character was from Angelic Layer!
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[identity profile] nenena.livejournal.com 2007-07-08 11:27 pm (UTC)(link)
If we could merge our brains together then we would have super-manga powers! And then I wouldn't have to read xxxHolic. ;)

[identity profile] atelierjoh.livejournal.com 2007-07-09 04:57 pm (UTC)(link)
Yes, it'll be like the Wonder Twins, only without the Freudian overtones!