![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle Chapter 161 (spoiler-free)
Last chapter before hiatus. It ended on kind of a cliffhangar, but honestly... Everything that *I* was curious about (namely, what happened in Fay's past) has already been answered. So now it's just a question of whether Fay dies in an implosion of bloody angst and woe, or whether he lives on in a perpetual cloud of bloody angst and woe. As Fay is my favorite character, I probably should care about the answer to that question. Since CLAMP's writing has sucked for the past three volumes, however... I don't.
Also, CLAMP: Way to ignore previously established character traits in order to favor certain Plot Devices. I.E.:
1. Fay is not dumb. He is not oblivious. There is no way in hell that he couldn't have figured out [SPOILER REVELATION] before Asura-Ou actually had to tell him. I mean, Asura-Ou had been dropping anvil-sized hints for at least a decade (juding by how much the freckled girl had aged when she appeared again), so how could Fay NOT have figured it out?! Fay's dumb-guy act is supposed to be just that: an act. He's not actually supposed to be that dumb... Unless, of course, it is necessary for CLAMP to have him be dumb in order to serve a Plot Contrivance.
2. The Smackdown of the Century. I'm sorry, as much as I love the idea of an all-out Fay vs. Kurogane brawl, it's still too hard to suspend my disbelief, and believe that Kurogane could actually hold his own against Fay for more than ten or so seconds. It shouldn't be a fair fight. It's been established that Kurogane is ridiculously outmatched by Fay; I mean, the fight should have been over in an instant. Either Fay is holding back (although he doesn't look like he's holding back), or CLAMP once again just ignores what they've previously established in order to write a really long, drawn-out fight scene that will, if my guess is correct, last for at least the next six chapters.
3. Syaoran reduced to a complete non-entity, again through the Power of Plot Contrivance. Boo. If CLAMP didn't want him to interfere with the dramatic Smackdown of the Century, then why didn't they just have him, I dunno, run off and look for Sakura or something? But no, instead he has to lie on the floor and mumble like a crazy person while other characters actually get to do interesting things. And Mokona is suffering from, I dunno, sympathy-uselessness, or something.
On the other hand, I will be thoroughly amused and entertained if the big dramatic Fay-versus-Kurogane fight ends the same way that the big dramatic Syaoran-versus-Seishiro fight ended back in volume 08. Mokona FTW! I would also accept this ending to the Fay-versus-Kurogane fight. That would be most acceptable. So would Fay getting kicked in the face, but one can only hope. Especially with Syaoran down for the count, it does not seem likely that anybody will be getting kicked in the face anytime soon, no matter how much he or she might deserve it.
One more thing: How in the hell are certain people getting these chapters so early? Volume 34 of Shounen Magazine wasn't supposed to be available to the Japanese public until 6 a.m. this morning. And yet certain people are posting (inaccurately translated and incomplete) spoilers on certain forums a whole week before the chapter is made public. Is someone who is actually working for Kodansha leaking the info, or what?
Also, CLAMP: Way to ignore previously established character traits in order to favor certain Plot Devices. I.E.:
1. Fay is not dumb. He is not oblivious. There is no way in hell that he couldn't have figured out [SPOILER REVELATION] before Asura-Ou actually had to tell him. I mean, Asura-Ou had been dropping anvil-sized hints for at least a decade (juding by how much the freckled girl had aged when she appeared again), so how could Fay NOT have figured it out?! Fay's dumb-guy act is supposed to be just that: an act. He's not actually supposed to be that dumb... Unless, of course, it is necessary for CLAMP to have him be dumb in order to serve a Plot Contrivance.
2. The Smackdown of the Century. I'm sorry, as much as I love the idea of an all-out Fay vs. Kurogane brawl, it's still too hard to suspend my disbelief, and believe that Kurogane could actually hold his own against Fay for more than ten or so seconds. It shouldn't be a fair fight. It's been established that Kurogane is ridiculously outmatched by Fay; I mean, the fight should have been over in an instant. Either Fay is holding back (although he doesn't look like he's holding back), or CLAMP once again just ignores what they've previously established in order to write a really long, drawn-out fight scene that will, if my guess is correct, last for at least the next six chapters.
3. Syaoran reduced to a complete non-entity, again through the Power of Plot Contrivance. Boo. If CLAMP didn't want him to interfere with the dramatic Smackdown of the Century, then why didn't they just have him, I dunno, run off and look for Sakura or something? But no, instead he has to lie on the floor and mumble like a crazy person while other characters actually get to do interesting things. And Mokona is suffering from, I dunno, sympathy-uselessness, or something.
On the other hand, I will be thoroughly amused and entertained if the big dramatic Fay-versus-Kurogane fight ends the same way that the big dramatic Syaoran-versus-Seishiro fight ended back in volume 08. Mokona FTW! I would also accept this ending to the Fay-versus-Kurogane fight. That would be most acceptable. So would Fay getting kicked in the face, but one can only hope. Especially with Syaoran down for the count, it does not seem likely that anybody will be getting kicked in the face anytime soon, no matter how much he or she might deserve it.
One more thing: How in the hell are certain people getting these chapters so early? Volume 34 of Shounen Magazine wasn't supposed to be available to the Japanese public until 6 a.m. this morning. And yet certain people are posting (inaccurately translated and incomplete) spoilers on certain forums a whole week before the chapter is made public. Is someone who is actually working for Kodansha leaking the info, or what?
no subject
no subject
Your explanation makes way too much sense.