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This week's Tsubasa - Chapter 186
Spontaneous human combustion! AWESOME!!!
Recap: Our Heroes are stuck in a time loop.
Sakura is dead.
Fay would apparently rather smack Kurogane around than make out with him. Oh well.
Anywhoo.
More pages wasted as the time loop repeats again. Mokono says that it's "sad" that no matter what the people in the village do, tomorrow will never come. Fay responds that maybe, just maybe, it would also be sad if time continued as normal, though. "Hypothetically. If something terrible happened, just after the point of reset..."
The villagers talk to Our Heroes again. Kurogane observes that although the things that the villagers are saying don't change, there IS something different today. Mokona looks around and observes, "You're right. There are less people around this time."
That's right. For some reason, the perpetual crowd in the background of these scenes is decreasing in numbers.
And then, finally, something happens. So remember how when Our Heroes first arrived in Clow Country, a friendly villager mentioned that there was a "festival" tomorrow, and stupid passive Syaoran never thought to ask a follow-up question about that? Yeah, so. THIS time (which is the THIRD TIME, mind you), when the same villager mentions the "festival" coming up tomorrow, Syaoran finally rubs two brain cells together and asks,
"What festival?"
To which the villager responds, "It's the festival to celebrate Princess Sakura's birthday!"
Uh-oh.
Syaoran asks, "How old will the princess be?"
The apple-seller's son answers, "She'll be seven years old!"
Oh crap.
Fay, who we can always rely on to be Captain Obvious, states, "So we're stuck in Clow Country's past."
Mokona, temporarily taking over the role of Having Brain Cells from Syaoran, asks, "If we go to the castle, can we meet Princess Sakura?"
"She's not at the castle," the apple-seller's son answers. "Before her birthday she goes to the ruins for purification. So she's at the ruins."
(*headdesk*) I called it, but I can't feel proud for calling it. I mean, DUH.
Upon hearing this, Syaoran gets all angsty and teary-faced and clenched-fisted, and mumbles, "Sakura... At that time... So she really did..."
And Mokona's all like, "She 'really did' what?"
But Syaoran doesn't get a chance to answer because at that moment the apple seller SPONTANEOUSLY COMBUSTS HOLY SHIT!
Well, actually it's more like she very rapidly dissolves into a pile of steaming goo. And her son DOESN'T EVEN NOTICE. He keeps babbling on, continuing his side of the repeated conversation.
And then all of the people in the village start spontaneously combusting.
Holy shit!
Okay, the scene that follows is unbelievably creepy. The little boy keeps talking even as all of the villagers start dissolving into puddles of goo - most of them still smiling as they melt. Mokona freaks out. "What's going on? What's going on?! Mokono-tachi didn't do anything!!"
But Syaoran answers calmly, "Yes we did. When we arrived here, we changed the flow of time." Which would explain why the number of people in the background have been decreasing in each repeat. Because they've been MELTING.
Kurogane, surrounded by melting people, asks, "So are these people still living?"
Fay answers grimly, "Well, there's no kind of illusion that can look like this."
Mokono says, "So because WE came here it's our fault that everyone is ending up like this?!"
And then the chapter ends.
Clow Country mass genocide! Fun times!
Anyway, this chapter brought up at least one glaring inconsistency: The ruins. Look, it's been years since I read the first chapter of Tsubasa, but if I recall correctly, hadn't the ruins JUST been excavated at that time? Or had only been excavated for less than a year, or something. Yet in this version of Clow Country, seven years in the past, the ruins are fully exposed and excavated. And the villagers mentioned that Sakura was in the ruins being "purified," although if I recall correctly, in the first chapter of the manga it was stated that she had never been to the ruins before.
But I could be wrong about that, because, like I said, it's been years.
Or maybe they're in an alternate version of Clow Country...?
One thing that really intrigued me about this chapter was Syaoran's cut-off comment about how Sakura "really did" something "at that time."
So far in this series, we have delved deeply into the backstory of every single major character except real!Syaoran. We still have no idea where he came from or what his life was like before FWR imprisoned him. The only thing we know is that he has some sort of connection with Watanuki. So I'm thinking that this comment of his - about how Sakura "did" something when she turned seven years old - may tie into an eventual revelation about Syaoran's past. Maybe this has something to do with the moment that he fell into FWR's clutches? I don't know. All I know is that real!Syaoran looked to be about seven years old when he was imprisoned, we know that FWR has been in Clow Country all along, and we know that Sakura has the power to cross dimensions. So. This looks like the set-up for a flashback revelation to me.
If it turns out that real!Sakura and real!Syaoran had some sort of childhood encounter, that would explain a lot about the fact that real!Syaoran is now in love with real!Sakura. It still does not resolve, however:
1. The fact that real!Sakura fell in love with clone!Syaoran, or
2. The fact that clone!Syaoran fell in love with real!Sakura.
But if it turns out that Sakura was at the ruins when she was seven years old, and if it turns out that whatever happened at that time is incredibly important to the overall Tsubasa plot, then maybe this isn't an alternative version of Clow Country, and I'm just remembering the first chapter of Tsubasa wrong?
Maybe real!Syaoran came from an alternative version of Clow Country, and that's the version that Our Heroes are stuck in now.
Oh well. Only fourteen more chapters to go.
Recap: Our Heroes are stuck in a time loop.
Sakura is dead.
Fay would apparently rather smack Kurogane around than make out with him. Oh well.
Anywhoo.
More pages wasted as the time loop repeats again. Mokono says that it's "sad" that no matter what the people in the village do, tomorrow will never come. Fay responds that maybe, just maybe, it would also be sad if time continued as normal, though. "Hypothetically. If something terrible happened, just after the point of reset..."
The villagers talk to Our Heroes again. Kurogane observes that although the things that the villagers are saying don't change, there IS something different today. Mokona looks around and observes, "You're right. There are less people around this time."
That's right. For some reason, the perpetual crowd in the background of these scenes is decreasing in numbers.
And then, finally, something happens. So remember how when Our Heroes first arrived in Clow Country, a friendly villager mentioned that there was a "festival" tomorrow, and stupid passive Syaoran never thought to ask a follow-up question about that? Yeah, so. THIS time (which is the THIRD TIME, mind you), when the same villager mentions the "festival" coming up tomorrow, Syaoran finally rubs two brain cells together and asks,
"What festival?"
To which the villager responds, "It's the festival to celebrate Princess Sakura's birthday!"
Uh-oh.
Syaoran asks, "How old will the princess be?"
The apple-seller's son answers, "She'll be seven years old!"
Oh crap.
Fay, who we can always rely on to be Captain Obvious, states, "So we're stuck in Clow Country's past."
Mokona, temporarily taking over the role of Having Brain Cells from Syaoran, asks, "If we go to the castle, can we meet Princess Sakura?"
"She's not at the castle," the apple-seller's son answers. "Before her birthday she goes to the ruins for purification. So she's at the ruins."
(*headdesk*) I called it, but I can't feel proud for calling it. I mean, DUH.
Upon hearing this, Syaoran gets all angsty and teary-faced and clenched-fisted, and mumbles, "Sakura... At that time... So she really did..."
And Mokona's all like, "She 'really did' what?"
But Syaoran doesn't get a chance to answer because at that moment the apple seller SPONTANEOUSLY COMBUSTS HOLY SHIT!
Well, actually it's more like she very rapidly dissolves into a pile of steaming goo. And her son DOESN'T EVEN NOTICE. He keeps babbling on, continuing his side of the repeated conversation.
And then all of the people in the village start spontaneously combusting.
Holy shit!
Okay, the scene that follows is unbelievably creepy. The little boy keeps talking even as all of the villagers start dissolving into puddles of goo - most of them still smiling as they melt. Mokona freaks out. "What's going on? What's going on?! Mokono-tachi didn't do anything!!"
But Syaoran answers calmly, "Yes we did. When we arrived here, we changed the flow of time." Which would explain why the number of people in the background have been decreasing in each repeat. Because they've been MELTING.
Kurogane, surrounded by melting people, asks, "So are these people still living?"
Fay answers grimly, "Well, there's no kind of illusion that can look like this."
Mokono says, "So because WE came here it's our fault that everyone is ending up like this?!"
And then the chapter ends.
Clow Country mass genocide! Fun times!
Anyway, this chapter brought up at least one glaring inconsistency: The ruins. Look, it's been years since I read the first chapter of Tsubasa, but if I recall correctly, hadn't the ruins JUST been excavated at that time? Or had only been excavated for less than a year, or something. Yet in this version of Clow Country, seven years in the past, the ruins are fully exposed and excavated. And the villagers mentioned that Sakura was in the ruins being "purified," although if I recall correctly, in the first chapter of the manga it was stated that she had never been to the ruins before.
But I could be wrong about that, because, like I said, it's been years.
Or maybe they're in an alternate version of Clow Country...?
One thing that really intrigued me about this chapter was Syaoran's cut-off comment about how Sakura "really did" something "at that time."
So far in this series, we have delved deeply into the backstory of every single major character except real!Syaoran. We still have no idea where he came from or what his life was like before FWR imprisoned him. The only thing we know is that he has some sort of connection with Watanuki. So I'm thinking that this comment of his - about how Sakura "did" something when she turned seven years old - may tie into an eventual revelation about Syaoran's past. Maybe this has something to do with the moment that he fell into FWR's clutches? I don't know. All I know is that real!Syaoran looked to be about seven years old when he was imprisoned, we know that FWR has been in Clow Country all along, and we know that Sakura has the power to cross dimensions. So. This looks like the set-up for a flashback revelation to me.
If it turns out that real!Sakura and real!Syaoran had some sort of childhood encounter, that would explain a lot about the fact that real!Syaoran is now in love with real!Sakura. It still does not resolve, however:
1. The fact that real!Sakura fell in love with clone!Syaoran, or
2. The fact that clone!Syaoran fell in love with real!Sakura.
But if it turns out that Sakura was at the ruins when she was seven years old, and if it turns out that whatever happened at that time is incredibly important to the overall Tsubasa plot, then maybe this isn't an alternative version of Clow Country, and I'm just remembering the first chapter of Tsubasa wrong?
Maybe real!Syaoran came from an alternative version of Clow Country, and that's the version that Our Heroes are stuck in now.
Oh well. Only fourteen more chapters to go.