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meimi-haneoka · 5 months

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Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card Chapter 80 (FINAL): Comments + JP-ENG translation differences

CCS Faaaans!!! Welcome to our last (?) monthly appointment with the analysis, commentary and list of translation differences for THE FINAL chapter of Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card!!! 🥹🥹🥹

Aaaaaah, I can't believe that after seven years and a half of serialization, we're finally here!!

I still remember the strong emotions I felt when I had seen the pages of Nakayoshi for chapter 1 in advance, back in June 2016....it seemed like a miracle, to me. Like a "mirage". And back then I still didn't know just HOW MUCH of a precious miracle this sequel would've become to me!

So it's with shaky hands and a trembling, emotional heart that I write this post to you...I hope you can excuse the length of it (maybe take a break in between?), I'll do my best to highlight the translation differences (unfortunately we definitely got some for this finale, one in particular made me quite mad) so you can spot them immediately among the sea of words and feels I will inevitably pour into my writing...

The "Beaver Moon" was big and shiny just a few days ago, and like all the full moons at the end of the month, it brought us a chapter, a very special finale for this series.

And as I usually do, I really cannot skip this silly moment that accompanied me for so many commentary posts, so here you go, my dear readers, the last Gif Of The Month!!!

I had already decided that, no matter the content of the chapter, I would've used this, because it is my intention to give my congratulations to CLAMP for reaching the end of this wonderful story and also thank them for giving me a multitude of emotions over the years. I've been happy, angry, excited, teary-eyed, frustrated, confused, hopeful, in pain, in love. I'll always be grateful to them for changing their mind and deciding to give us a sequel of this beloved series, after so many years of dreaming of it, and for making me fall in love with the new characters, none excluded!

So, off we go, under the cut for this commentary of the finale!!

The Color Page

Oh my heart 😭😭😭 I really wondered if they would go for it, if they would shoot us with feels right from the first pages and they did, they paid homage to the color page of chapter 50 of the old manga!! ❤️ We can see the same bluebirds that were featured back then, still holding in their little beaks lots of ribbons coming from the pink roses bouquet that Sakura is preciously holding... And that also made me realize that these are the same birds that were featured last month for Akiho and Kaito's color page too!!! ✨ They definitely, definitely wanted us to get the message that all of them will be truly happy from now on. ❤️I actually appreciate even more that Mokona-sensei took care in including those birds for the color page of Akiho/Kaito too.

Back in the old manga, CLAMP had given a comment for the illustration of chapter 50, saying that it was created that way to give a sense of looking forward to the future, and the absence of the Star Wand here was a precise request from Ohkawa to Mokona, because Sakura would've tried her best from now on, without necessarily relying on her magic.

Here, in chapter 80, we can somehow see the same theme but Sakura isn't proceeding "forward" towards a specific direction, it seems more like she's floating comfortably, assisted by her loyal Flight Card, embellished for the occasion (it makes it look kind of "upgraded", right?). I get a sense of Sakura feeling way more comfortable with her natural gift than she's ever been.

The blue sky, the ribbons, the bluebirds, the bouquet of pink flowers, the presence of a flying Card, Sakura's bare feet and her beautiful smile are definitely elements common to both illustrations.

Here Sakura wears a longer outfit, more elegant, which of course makes her look more grown up, as it should!

The editorial text on this last page doesn't carry words of thanks like in the color page of the final chapter of the old manga (those this time around were printed directly on the cover of Nakayoshi), but actually "My invincible spell is....'Everything is surely going to be alright' "! I think it was a very nice choice to feature the Invincible Spell in the front page of this final chapter. ✨

Between this and the absolutely divine Sakura on the cover of Nakayoshi, I can feel my heart softening and filling up with lots of hope and comfort, helping me to cope with the imminent "loss" that I'm going to experience.

BUT! It's not time to let us be caught by those mischievous feelings that want us to cry at all costs, and so we're gonna proceed for the actual chapter!!

The Books In Fujitaka's Library

The final chapter starts with Sakura chatting with Eriol and Kaho in a videocall over the phone!! The thing that immediately stands out is that Sakura is still wearing the full-winter uniform, so it's apparent right from the first panel that rather than turning back, the events are proceeding forward from where we left them, exactly as Sakura wished.

It's still winter, spring is almost here and we're almost towards the end of the 1st year of middle school for Sakura & co.

Another thing that I, as a foreigner, couldn't help but doing is calculating what time should've been for Eriol and Kaho, since they live in Europe like me! 😂😂😂 Having followers and friends all over the world, it's just normal for me. Well, if this is early morning, it should be night for the Europeans, so maybe that background at the window should be black?? 😂😆 Who knows if sensei will fix it, in the tankobon?

But enough with the silly things, let's see what Sakura is discussing with these two.

The very first thing we hear is quite shocking: Sakura slept four entire days to recuperate from the insane fatigue after the last battle!!

When I've heard that, my immediate thought was going towards all kinds of realistic, very practical issues like "did they keep her hydrated, in these four days? What about the bladder? 😱" but come on, way crazier things happened in this finale and this is the last thing we should worry about 😂

Eriol sweetly says that everyone waited impatiently for Sakura to wake up (I can imagine that!! Syaoran and Akiho must have died of anxiety). In Japanese, his sentence is somehow left trailing off, it gives me the impression that he wanted her to know that she's cared for, but in a very polite manner and avoiding to make her feel guilty for it. Sakura, as the good girl she is, tries to apologize for making them worry, apologies that Eriol doesn't need, so she ends up thanking both him and Kaho for what they did for her (and we can see Kaho peeking in the videocall! I'm glad she recovered too! As usual she's wearing nice outfits, the transparent veil over the skirt is interesting!).

Kaho, with her usual "maternal" aura, says that seeing her in good shape and hearing her cheerful voice over the phone is more than enough to her, which makes Sakura happy.

Eriol then proceeds to ask a question about the books he saw flying away at full speed after Sakura removed all the spells and the graphics from the artifact (the huge book), which then transformed into said smaller books: he wants to know where they ended up to, and lo and behold, they're nowhere other than in Fujitaka's library, in the basement of Sakura's house! 😱

So we can see a flashback depicting a scene right after Sakura woke up (she's still in her PJs), and her father shows her a pile of ancient-looking books sitting on his desk and on the floor.

Yes, those are all the magical books that Akiho had read and (unknowingly) engraved on herself, which were about to crush her soul. There's really a lot of them, so I don't have a hard time believing that she was really on the verge of losing her soul forever.

As Fujitaka tries to explain himself, it seems Sakura worked so hard and in the end those books ended up landing right at their house!

And then, in a very moving scene, we see Fujitaka being just so happy because finally, after so many years (since 4th grade) of just watching over his daughter going through several hurdles and not being able to be helpful in any concrete way (because he didn't have magical powers, and even when magic was passed onto him, he didn't know how to use it), NOW he can finally be of assistance to her.

He then tells her not to worry, because he already got several "weird" books in his collection (hell we knew, the Cthulhu books were surely a surprise 😂), and that anything goes where it's supposed to go, when its due time comes. He believes these books, too, will reach their new fated destination one day, so until then, he will take care of them. ✨

By the way, you all saw it, right?? YES, it's there again. Fay's tattoo on that book! 😂CLAMP REALLY wanted us to see it, didn't they?

Is this insistence in featuring elements coming from Tsubasa a sign of something in the future...? Or are they just messing with us....?

I bet even this book one day will find its way to Celes country, to have that tattoo used in the way we all know.

Anyway, I REALLY loved this scene because it just shows CLAMP's firm intention to involve *all* the main and side characters in this collective effort to help Sakura solving Akiho and Kaito's situation (Fujitaka was indeed the one missing from the support group!).

It's just so good to know that a tiny frustration that Fujitaka expressed in this arc (how he couldn't be of help to his own daughter) was finally put to rest too, with this new task he took upon himself.

I strongly believe that Sakura, once again guided by her infallible instinct and empathy, subconsciously wished those books into her father's library, because she just knew that her father would be the perfect person to guard them and keep them safe for the time due.

The Cards

Back to the present, Eriol comments that Sakura's father is really dependable, and she can only warmly agree!

But Sakura's got questions of her own, for Eriol. She asks what happened to the transparent cards (note: even this time, Sakura keeps calling them with the japanese term 透明, "transparent", and never calls those cards クリアカード, the English term that gives name to the arc).

Eriol gives his own explanation: the transparent Cards were probably bound into the book of the guardian Sakura met (and not "befriended" like the ENG wrote), and as such, they became magical power used to activate the "forbidden magic".

About the newly created Remind and Blank Cards, Eriol guesses that the last magic that Sakura summoned thanks to those two Cards was so "violent" (the term used 凄烈 means "violent, intense, fierce") that it ended up exhausting completely the Cards' magical power.

Sakura says "so...they're gone", confirming that yes, even those two disappeared after being used.

Eriol asks about the Cards Sakura had from before, our dear Sakura Cards, and she releases them in the room to show to Eriol their current appearance: it seems like they have taken up some elements from the transparent cards, mixing up their designs! They look really cool and empowered, like this! Eriol attempts to explain this occurence as an influence of the fact that Sakura used some of them with her new Dream Staff, hence why their new appearance!

It seems like she'll be able to use all of them with that staff from now on, so this is a first hint to something that will be referenced in a stronger way in a few pages.....

Kaho gets closer to Eriol's computer and says "Don't worry, I can see they still love you all the same, Sakura-chan, there's no problem about it!" and then she spots Flight among the deck. Sakura confirms happily that it's still here and Eriol says "it's a testament to its perseverance!".

And then, Sakura wants to talk to Eriol about Akiho and Kaito too......but we're not allowed to hear it yet, because we only see Sakura nodding and "uh-uh"-ing at the phone and then Kero warns her that she's going to be late for school, so our girl hurriedly hangs up with her friends abroad.

Her dear small glutton guardian tells her to not push herself since she barely woke up yesterday, and when Sakura goes to pick the pin she wants to use today in the jewelry box (it's the pin Yukito gave her as a present in chapter 1!), she picks up the Star Key. And here, unfortunately, I have to point out the first concrete translation difference of this chapter in a scene that many were waiting for:

ENG: "This key....I wonder if it'll leave someday, too. To go to where it should be, to the side of the person it chooses to be with"

JP: "This key, too...I wonder if one day it'll go...to the side of the person it should be with"

Now, what irritates me here is that in their usual need to embellish the translation, they added an unnecessary "the person it chooses to be with", which is something they made up because there's no mention of the verb "choosing" or anything like that in Japanese, and so it makes it seem like the key will one day just go away on its own, on its own volition.

Now, this is a VERY important scene because we all know what this is foreshadowing, the transition of the Star Wand from Sakura Kinomoto to the Reborn Sakura Clone in Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle through a dream, that cameo that made us scream all over the world in 2009. That scene was accompanied by a very beautiful and mature speech by Sakura Kinomoto herself, a sign that this "handover" was totally a well pondered choice of Sakura herself, not the key's.

The translation of this scene here in Clear Card tampers with the understanding of the events we got from Tsubasa and it really makes me wonder if the translator knows of this reference at all.....

Continuing on, Sakura goes downstairs and meets Touya having breakfast (and omg Kero goes to him!!! I still can't get used to these two interacting in the open), as usual Touya teases her calling her "monster", to which Sakura stiffens, but she shakes it off to thank her brother, to which he answers "no snacks for four days"!

Sakura at that point gets angry asking why, but he diverts her attention pointing out that she's gonna be late, so the girl bolts out of the door......not hearing her brother saying "that's the amount of days you haven't woken up, you silly!" (and Kero goes along with it).

Now, the ENG translation here interpreted this as a "payback", like Touya isn't going to make her snacks for 4 more days as a "payback" for making him worry like that, and initially I interpreted it like that too. But as I checked the Spanish translation, they interpreted it differently, as if Touya wasn't talking about the snacks that he won't prepare for the next 4 days, but actually the ones Sakura didn't eat during the period in which she was sleeping, and I think they're right because Touya calls Sakura "dummy, silly" so he might be referencing the fact that she misunderstood, here! Anyway, it's not a serious difference but I wanted to report it here anyway.

Sakura finds Syaoran out of her house waiting for her, and we see him all happy and embarrassed to go pick his girl up right outside her house to go to school together 🥰Syaoran got contacted yesterday from her (I don't know why in the ENG there's "last night", it's just "yesterday"), telling him that she was ok now, but of course that wasn't enough for our worrywart prince charming, so he's here this morning to escort her to school! Sakura can't avoid commenting "aw, you were worried about me!" and Syaoran honestly but embarassedly answers "that, and I wanted to see you as soon as possible". Omg these two...flirting like crazy in front of the audience even in the finale!! 😂(well of course!!). As one of my friends reminded me, this line was already said by Syaoran before, when he was revealing the whole truth about the Sakura Cards and was explaining to Sakura that he came back to Japan earlier than scheduled also because he wanted to see her sooner.

After a good dose of blushing which is always good for the health in the early morning, Sakura thanks Syaoran not only for walking her to school, but also for all the rest that he's done. She's clearly referencing the events of 4 days ago, and Syaoran answers that if he helped her even just a little, then he's happy. This vague reference to the events of 4 days ago seems lost in the ENG, as Syaoran casually answers that he's happy if he can help her sometimes (?). 少しでも means "even just a little", not "sometimes".

On the way to school, Sakura says that she already contacted everyone to say that she woke up and to thank them, but she seems to be wanting to go thanking Yukito directly at his house later, also because Nakuru and Suppi are there! As Syaoran adds, Sakura can see Tomoyo and Akiho later at school. Sakura says "...yes" with a slightly sad face because she already knows something about one of them.....

We switch to Yukito's house for the last look at our "snow bunny", still in Nakuru's company (when are they going back to England???) and wondering what kind of sweets should he offer to Sakura today, while Nakuru is hellbent on finally having Sakura call her "Nakuru-chan" today (I told you, she's like a 5 years old girl, she sees herself as a kid like Sakura 😂).

Then, turning suddenly serious, she says to Yukito: "Don't you dare doing anything else that requires a 'payment', understood?", which immediately made me realize that Nakuru remembers about Yukito's pact with the Tsukimine Shrine!! Then, they didn't just recover the memories strictly relating to Akiho!!!

Yukito, with a big smile, says "well...I can't promise you that" which understandably triggers in Nakuru a "Yukito, you're really stubborn!!" from the bottom of her heart! 😂

But there's a kitty sleeping on a cushion (or feigning to?), our dear Suppi who thinks to himself "All of you moon-aligned types are stubborn!!" and let me tell you, this arc showed us ALL the proofs of that! 😂(Yes, Kaito, we're looking at you! 😂😂😂).

Brand New World With You

Homeroom is starting in Sakura's class and Tomoyo makes sure that Sakura will take it easy since this is her first day back at school.

The teacher comes in, and she's already got a news for everyone (and here my heart already knew what it was): Akiho Shinomoto will be transferring away in one month! (Yes! it's Shinomoto again!)

The class is shocked, as Tomoyo is, but Sakura smiles and doesn't look surprised at all...

At lunch, everyone is so sad about Akiho transferring and Chiharu expresses how much she'll miss her, but also Naoko who loses a precious advisor for her scripts and a great actress since she wanted to cast her for the next play, seeing how wonderful she was in "Alice in Clockland". Tomoyo says that the chorus club will miss her too, and Yamazaki comments that Akiho lived in Hong Kong before transferring to Japan, so he asks her if she's still going abroad, even this time around. Akiho confirms, and then remembers that she needs to go to the teacher's room. Sakura insists to accompany her even if Akiho knows the way by now (and here we have a sweet, nostalgic recall to the same scene of the first chapter Akiho appeared in, chapter 7! Even the lines are almost the same). Of course, Sakura insisted because she wants to have a private chat with her....on their way there, she says she heard from Eriol that morning that she would be transferring abroad, but she would like to ask the reason why to Akiho herself.

Akiho says that, after all that happened, that same night she talked to Eriol (she calls him "Hiiragizawa-san" ❤️) for the first time.

He told her that he would be supporting her in any choice or anything she'd want to do from now on (the "anything I would choose" is missing from the ENG translation), and support her even with Kaito's circumstances.

Akiho was told by Eriol that Kaito kept hurting himself the more he used time magic, and that he shouldn't have been in a good condition after messing even with the "forbidden magic"....but apparently, Sakura managed to work a little miracle when she used Rewind on him.

When Sakura brought Kaito back to his original appearance, the pocket watch she used was almost completely repaired and its time stopped, and thanks to that, Kaito's time is stopped too.

I had already noticed that Kaito's life seems to be strictly connected to that pocket watch, as the more damage he took on his body, the more the watch broke. Sooooo in this scene we have some important information:

1- Eriol mentions the time magic Kaito used, how he kept using it and also the effect it would have on him, so it's legit to think that even him recovered the memories of the unrewritten timeline, not only the stuff strictly concerning Akiho.

2- Kaito's life is in a halted state (reminds you of someone?) and this means that his life is not flowing like other people's: he won't age, but his physical condition won't also get worse, as Sakura infers right after. The ENG translation suggests that Kaito won't be feeling any pain at all, but that's not the case: Sakura uses the words もっと辛かったり痛かったり, "more in pain and have a rough time (than this)", so he's still going to feel not so well from time to time, but at least his condition won't get worse than this.

Akiho confirms, and explains that because of this, they're going to look for a magic that will be able to heal Kaito and, in addition to that, a magic that would be able to make his stopped time move forward again. This won't certainly take short time and it won't be easy....but Akiho smiles beautifully while saying that she's sure that there is a book that carries those spells she's looking for.

And then....with a sad smile, she says there's another reason.

And here my heart sinked because I wanted to see her so badly and I got the confirmation she wasn't with them.......😭

I'm talking about Momo, of course, and Akiho agrees with me because the other reason they'll travel around is that she wants to see her beloved Momo and even the "Alice in Clockland" book.

This indeed sounds a lot like the resolutions of the characters of Tsubasa in their own finale, but after all, we've been saying for long time that Kaito and Akiho had many situations paralleling those of the SyaoSaku in TRC.

Akiho, with the most radiant and beautiful smile she's ever had, says that she's sure she'll find so many other books she's never read, beside the ones she'll be looking for.

"Because now I can go wherever I want, whenever I want, all by my own volition. Together with Kaito-san"

Sakura points out that books are, indeed, really special and important to her.

And really, Akiho's smile on this beatiful spread was enough to heal my heart from the disappointment of knowing that Momo wasn't with them, because Akiho really looks happy to start this journey with Kaito...she feels free for the first time ever.

No more clan dictating where she should go or what she should read, at her own expense at that, but also the situation between her and her beloved Kaito found its solution, with her stating loud and clear that even if he's her most important person and he did all of that for her, she's the only one who can decide her own happiness and change her own life. Akiho is finally free from all constraints, both from evil and from love, and honestly it's so comforting to see her so confident and happy.

My True Name Is....

And talking about Kaito, we switch to the Shinomoto mansion, where we see him in bed (he's still recovering - also we see his room for the first time!) and Akiho is telling him of how her friends took the news of her transferring abroad.

She was happy to hear that they're going to miss her, I bet this was the first time that people took any interest in her, so much to get to the point of saying "I'll miss you".....which totally explains why she's glad to hear that. She finally made true friends, here in Tomoeda.

Kaito is pleased to see her happy.

Akiho says that she's going to prepare dinner (my heart got warm thinking that now it's her the one cooking for him and he doesn't protest or anything) and she's going to make the no-fry croquettes that Sakura taught her (remember??? They had dedicated a chapter to that, and they were so important because Akiho learned them precisely for Kaito).

But Kaito kind of "interrupts" her, saying the thing WE ALL were waiting for him to say:

Kaito, JP (lit.): "I'm sorry. For having thought (all that plan) on my own and decided things without your permission. Even though I know that you're someone perfectly capable of writing her own chosen future on her own blank book"

Oooooooh. The feeling of puzzle pieces going to their right place, the sense of accomplishment, the satisfaction in reading these words from him. HE FINALLY UNDERSTOOD. And it took almost k*lling himself and causing to the very person he was trying to make happy an indescribable grief, to come to this point.

What a lack of self-esteem and underlying depression can do.

But thankfully, they all managed to save things at last minute and now he's learned his lesson. So the first thing he does when he's able to, is apologizing to Akiho. But not only that.

Akiho says Kaito's name, probably wanting to answer something in return, but he interrupts her again, saying something I've been dying to hear him say (lately I expressed here and on Twitter my wish to see precisely this scene in the finale):

"That's my alias"

Akiho is shocked at hearing that, and he says, with a serious face, "Can I tell you my true name?"

At this point, I was hollering, I won't really hide it or anything.

If you're CLAMP fans, you probably know how IMPORTANT and VITAL is an information like one's true name, especially for a magician. Yuuko in Holic said that if you give someone your true name, they can take your soul.

And I'm 100% sure that even Akiho knows how important true names are in the magic world, this is something that Momo already mentioned in one of the Drama CDs but here she confirms it herself, saying hesitantly: "Are you sure I should be hearing something so important?"

With the next thing Kaito says, I was almost calling an ambulance.

Heh, I know, this is me, what can I do? Their story got me by the throat and coming to this point is such an achievement, for me. 😅

"I want you to know it"

That あなた between brackets is so powerful. "You, above all".

In that "you" there's all the things he's not saying aloud, how unique and important she is to him. How much he trusts her with the most vulnerable part of himself. How much he's willing to give his entire soul, his everything to her, but this time in the correct way, without damaging anyone.

Akiho must be noticing all of this, because Mokona doesn't allow us to see her face, only her closed hand rising up, but from her ".....okay" I'm sure here she was quite touched.

So Kaito finally proceeds to reveal this secret that everyone was wondering about ever since chapter 51:

"Cristaux. That's my true name".

Cristaux is written with the katakana クリスト (pronounced kurisuto) which has already been misunderstood by many for "Christ" 😂, but thankfully CLAMP have put in the furigana the correct spelling in romaji.

Cristaux is a french word used to indicate crystals. Yes, plural.

So our crazy magician was named after crystals at his birth.

Of course, of course. Isn't crystals the overwhelming theme of this arc, after all? CLAMP made sure to feature some in many many color illustration they've done.

Also, while talking to a friend, I realized that now we might understand a bit better why Kaito made a very pensive face, disguised as Syaoran, when Sakura pointed out in Clockland (ch. 66) that the castle of the Queen had foundations made of crystal........

As usual with CLAMP, we've had the solution to the mystery under our nose the whole time! 😂This feels like Tsubasa 2.0, for real! 😂

It is surely an inusual name, but I mean, it seems many of the names CLAMP choose for their characters aren't that common, after all.

With this reveal, Kaito decided to start anew with Akiho, this time around from a basis of honesty and trust. He's never going to put up masks with her ever again (and even though it's confirmed they still talk in keigo to one another -which is something I've always imagined-, we've seen him using his true pronoun "ore" with her in chapter 78). This is the perfect foundation for a relationship based on communication and trust. Bravo Kaito, you did your homeworks.

Akiho places a hand over her chest, as if the precious name entered her heart, and says something that made me completely melt:

"I've written it on the most important page of my book. So I can never forget it".

This line makes me particularly emotional not only because it sounds SO SWEET, on the verge of flirting, but also because it seems to me like a callback to something that was said in a sadder situation.

Back in chapter 35, when Sakura ended up trapped into Akiho's artifact, she experienced Akiho's past on her skin. The day of the magic ceremony that turned Akiho into an artifact, some people from the clan/Association said "let's engrave all the magical books we can find into this girl's body, so she can never forget them. Just like a blank book".

Back then, these horrible words were used to abuse a poor child, but that child today turned them into the power to choose for herself.

She appropriates the same "book" analogy to turn it into a way for her to choose on her own. Kaito's name is a precious information that she chooses to write on her heart so she can never forget it.

It is a way for her to cope and have a catharsis for her trauma.

I honestly keep getting such wonderful messages from the story of these two characters, and I'll never thank CLAMP enough for creating them.

Kaito smiles softly at Akiho's words.

Then we go back to Sakura, Syaoran and Tomoyo, the "fab 3" who are going back home together, and we get some more information: it seems Eriol called Syaoran too (man, this guy called half the world to give explanations left and right 😂) and told him that he's going to buy Akiho and Kaito's house and look after it for them.

Sakura is really glad to hear that because it means that Akiho's huge collection of books will be safe and guarded in its library.

Tomoyo asks what they're going to do about Akiho's room at the Kinomoto house: in fact, if you look at the first panel of this chapter, you'll see that the additional portion that sprouted on Kinomoto house is still there: this means that Sakura gave everyone back their memories, but that magic didn't affect the discrepancies that arised from the rewriting of their world, hence why Akiho's room is still there.

Sakura talked about it with her dad and they decided they're gonna leave it untouched, as it is, so Akiho can always go back to it at any time. Did I cry at this? Yes, a little, because this is a sign that the Kinomotos will still keep considering her one of the family even if she'll be away, even if she'll have her life with Kaito, and I couldn't ask for anything better, for my sweet Akiho. It is so important for her to keep the bonds she created over time and know that now she's also got a network of people there for her. A second family where to turn to.

Sakura's having a real hard time accepting that Akiho will go away, and her smile becomes sad, before hugging Tomoyo and crying out "But I'll still miss her so much!!" 🥹poor Sakura 🥹I know, it's always so sad when someone that important to you leaves...

You'll Be Together Forever!!

One month passes by, and we can see some sakura flowers starting to bloom, this means we're at the end of March (and so we were in February before, just like I imagined). School year must be over pretty soon.

It's the big day, the day of departure for Akiho and Kaito, and Sakura+Syaoran went to see them off. Have you spotted it, on Sakura's scarf? Yes, that's the pin shaped like a teddy bear, the same Kaho gave her as a present and that she was wearing in the OG manga during the run at the bus stop to tell her feelings to Syaoran!

Akiho thanks Sakura for coming so early in the morning, and Sakura says she absolutely wanted to be there to see them off, actually she apologizes for making them delay their departure due to this meeting. Akiho is dressed with a cute outfit that is very remiscent of the one she's wearing in the color page of chapter 79.

A little separated from them to give their privacy, we see Kaito and his big suitcase, standing next to Syaoran. OMG it's so inusual to see them like that!!

Then, Kaito says "Time magic....I can teach it to you, if you ever want to use it". Syaoran is very surprised to hear that, and Kaito says that when he was still in the dragon form, he heard him apologizing to Sakura for not being able to use that magic because he hadn't learned it yet, remember?? 🥹

And Kaito just offered himself as a teacher, surely as a way to thank him for everything he's done to save him and Akiho.

But not only that: in a very sweet panel, he says he knows Syaoran won't use it in an inappropriate way, and I can totally hear that implied "as opposed to me". Oh yes I hear it loud and clear by the way this is phrased in Japanese. 😁

Then, he happily takes out his phone and asks him to exchange contact numbers, because they can be convenient for any occurrence! I feel like that was a good idea because they're surrounded by magic matters so much, it's always good to be able to count on the experience and knowledge of other magicians.

We see Syaoran being a bit perplexed at the request, but then reluctanctly (?) takes out his phone 😂oh lord his reaction is so funny....and this is also another proof that the characters remember what happened before, because Syaoran could have this reaction only for that reason 😂😂😂

While looking at them interacting so funnily, Akiho takes the chance to get closer to Sakura and whisper a very important information to her (it came!!! it came for her too!! I KNEW IT!! It's not WHAT I imagined but I've been saying forever that this would come 😂):

Akiho, JP & ENG: "My real name...is Cosmos"

What you guys can't see if you're reading the ENG version or any other language, is the duality of Akiho's true name here.

It's actually written in Japanese kanji, but the furigana that tells how to pronounce it are katakana for "Cosmos".

So it's like this:

Japanese name: 秋桜 (pronounced Akizakura, it's how Cosmos are called in Japanese)

Furigana (reading): コスモス (Cosmos)

It's not uncommon to find the Cosmos flowers being called directly with their katakana spelling, in Japanese.

All of this makes total sense for Akiho because her favorite flower is a specific type of Cosmos, the Chocolate Cosmos! They say they really smell like chocolate! So, just like Sakura, she's got the same name of her favorite flower.

But this duality of her name also allows Akiho to say what she's about to say:

Akiho, JP: "When we met for the first time, I was happy to learn I had one same character in my name as yours!"

I'm glad to see that more or less all the foreign translations did their best to explain the trick of the kanji, adding an explanation in the bubbles (they were big enough, thankfully). The ENG for example talked about "sharing a name" but Akiho here is meaning more "sharing a character" of the japanese name.

Sakura is of course really honored and happy to hear that, and thanks her for sharing such an important detail about herself.

And now, hahaha.....comes the part where I laughed SO, so much, because while to some it might sound strange for Akiho to do something like this, to me it isn't strange at all! Cause she's like that, her personality is far stronger than most think...

Our little mischievous Akiho here reveals to Sakura, still whispering, that she isn't going to share her real name with Kaito yet, because she's still a bit upset with him!! 😂😂😂

Oh lord, Akiho....oh dear....you have all the right to still be a bit upset, make him work hard to get such an important information from you!! 😂 I can't believe right now we have Kaito basically in Akiho's hands while Akiho, the one who seemed the most in love out of the two, is actually still withholding that from him! 😂😂😂 aaaaahhh trust CLAMP to always give you something interesting....this is totally in line with how I perceived her personality. 🤭I loved it!

Kaito needs to be really, really careful from now on! She's not gonna take any crap from him! 😂

And now I have to warn you because precisely as we reach the very last line Sakura will say in this arc, there is going to be another translation mistake, which I consider far worse than the other one I pointed out. I think getting it wrong precisely at the most important emotional point ruined a job that wasn't overall so bad, with this chapter (compared to others....).

Sakura, smiling, supports Akiho's idea, saying "Sounds good!", and then, utters the very last line of the arc:

ENG: "After all, we have a long future together ahead of us!"

JP: "After all, you'll be together forever from now on!"

I think you can easily guess why this translation mistake irritated me so much. I've checked the other translations and the Spanish one, the one I trust the most, agrees with me, just like the French one.

This translation is a failure for two reasons:

it failed to convey the fact that Sakura here is using almost exactly the same words she used in the OG manga at the end of volume 12, when she ran into Syaoran's arms, saying that they would be together forever from that moment on. I think iconic lines like these should be translated in the way the readers know them from the previous work, otherwise it's useless. You don't get the reference. In Japanese, back in volume 12 of the OG manga, it was "kore kara wa zutto issho da yo!" while here it is "kore kara wa zutto issho nandakara". And there is a reason for that.

this translation inexplicably made it about all of them, when Sakura was talking specifically about Akiho and Kaito instead. That "nandakara" at the end suggests that this sentence is strictly related to the one that came right before, "sounds good", as an answer to Akiho's plan to withhold her true name from Kaito for a while. Sakura here is simply saying that Akiho's idea sounds ok to her because those two will be together forever from now on, so she'll have all the time of this world to tell him eventually her true name, when she feels ready. Also, in Sakura's words, there's a deeper meaning: it's the last wish of happiness for those two, which comes from her own lived experience. At the end of volume 12 we saw Sakura uttering those same words, in her happiest moment of reunion with Syaoran...Sakura knows that happiness, the happiness of reuniting and be able to stay all the time with the person you love the most. This is the same thing she's wishing for those two right now, with these words. To be together forever and savor that same happiness she's living herself everyday. But if the translation makes it about all four of them, or even just about Sakura and Akiho, this underlying message, this last parallel between the two pairs is completely gone. Also, what's the sense in saying "we have a long future together ahead" if Kaito and Akiho are leaving?? It doesn't make sense to me. They once again managed to remove any hint of Kaito and Akiho being destined to be together for life, and bent the phrase to include everyone, just because they could. I find that quite disrespectful in my opinion.

Anyway, if you made it this far in reading the post, you now know how that line should actually be. I feel so embittered and disappointed that this happened precisely at the end...

But this time, as opposed to the OG manga, there's one more page to bring this arc to a closure: we can see the back of the new empowered Sakura Card (on the Card there's a mix of both the Star circle and the Dream circle), and the text reads:

JP, lit.: "When all the Cards are gathered, that's the beginning that comes from an end. A beginning to move on"

You have surely recognized it , this is exactly the same page that appeared at the very beginning of this arc, it's just that back then we had a Sakura Card's back, a more unsettling background, and lots of blank cards floating. Right now we have the back of the empowered Sakura Cards, a more serene background and instead of the blank cards, we have cherry blossom petals! ❤️

But most importantly, the sentence slightly changed too, communicating to all the readers that from the end of all the tribulations that our characters went through in this Clear Card Arc, they finally managed to move onto a happier life.

I think it's very beautiful how CLAMP decided to conclude this story, with a message of hope that not all endings are necessarily something bad, but they can simply hide behind them the beginning of something new and more positive.

Lord knows how much I needed to be reminded of this, in this moment of my life.

And surely this is also true for the end of this beloved series for many people around the world: after 7 years and half it's so hard to say goodbye to such a beloved story, but CLAMP want to give us one last present before saying goodbye to it for an indefinite period!

On the right side of the Japanese last page (this was not translated in the ENG one) we find the announcement that the April issue of Nakayoshi on sale on March 1st 2024 will bring us a special chapter of Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card! Precisely one month before the release of volume 16! There's no info about how long it's gonna be, but anything is strongly welcome to say goodbye in a more gradual way...I wonder what it'll be about? This can be literally anything!! I would love for them to feature a situation in the future, rather than in the past....

Beware, because I've heard that Anime News Network translated this as a "special arc" in their news and that caused a ruckus...I've already tried to warn people on Twitter that's not correct, "tokubetsuhen" is the same term they used for the special short chapters they have published till now.

And so...it ends. We've reached the end!! Omg! I still can't register it fully....🙈

I will write some short additional comments about the chapter here but you'll have to wait for another, separate post to have my impressions and commentary on the entire Clear Card Arc.

I just want to say that this finale didn't feature everything I hoped/wanted to see, but other things were definitely granted.

It's just impossible to make everyone happy so I completely understand that.

And even though I'm truly disappointed about Momo and the choice to make her leave her two kids like that, I feel overall this disappointment doesn't stain my appreciation for this finale.

The things I wanted to see and got, the general happy and relaxed atmosphere, seeing all four of them so friendly with eachother, Sakura's final blessing with those words are enough to make me feel still quite satisfied with the finale.

Also, this feels so much more open than the OG manga. A lot more open. There are tons of elements one could grasp to in case they wanted to make a spin-off, or feature some of these plot threads as a cameo in another work. Akiho and Kaito's situation in particular, with their travels around the world, seems to be screaming "you'll see us again soon". I don't know if I'm just delusional but I've seen so many people saying the same.

And I have to say that despite my first choice was for Akiho and Kaito to stay in Tomoeda, they gave me enough good reasons to justify them departing again. I did, in fact, predict that an eventual resume of their travels could be plot related (if they had to continue escaping the Squids' radar or if they had to find a way to fix Kaito's situation).

Plus, Akiho seems so happy and free. How can I rebel against that, when they depict her so happy of her choice?

Also, nice of Eriol to step up and help those two. He's the other poweful and experienced magician who can put at their service all of his knowledge.

And then, Kaito's character development. Even here, I felt like I would've wanted him to say more, but then I remembered that Ohkawa in a Space long time ago had already said "I would want the readers, once it's over, to re-read this trying to understand 'why this character acted in this way?' " and it was clear that she was referring to Kaito. So, not exposing in detail Kaito's heart and the motivations that brought him to this point is totally intentional. She wants us to get there on our own. After all, she gave us another huge hint in this chapter, by making him reveal his true name to Akiho. I can only be grateful for that, especially for how he worded it.

Cristaux and Cosmos...while I'm really happy they have the same initials, I'm still trying to get used to those new names! 😂even though I know they'll keep using their aliases so it's not a big problem, we'll keep calling them Kaito and Akiho!

(And yes, I'm a bit disappointed that Akiho's true name isn't Alice! 😂)

It was nice to see SyaoSaku blushing and flirting in this finale, especially now that Touya gave his blessing to Syaoran, he can go pick her up for school when he wants!! 😂 I'm sure we'll get more SyaoSaku fluff in the special chapter, as this finale was mostly used to wrap up other stuff.

As I said, I adored the few panels of interaction between the two Moon Boys, Akiho's mischievous prank to Kaito....yes, I still have lots to be grateful for, in this finale.

I think this post just won the record for the longest one, so let me just take this space really quick before wrapping up to thank all of you who have read my posts, shared them, supported me, chatted with me about the story, and overall contributed with interesting discussions in this little personal corner. I would've never imagined, not even in my wildest dreams, that the existence and content of this blog one day would've reached even CLAMP, and this will stay as one of my biggest gratifications, especially cause they seemed to appreciate the effort. I just wish their story was treated better by some official translations.

I tried to do whatever I could to spread warnings about heavy translation mistakes, in addition to my interpretation of the story as I was reading it and analyzing it, since I've seen it helped many people understanding the story better and coming to terms with frustrations they had about it.

Clear Card Arc is undoubtedly more complex and requires a lot more of attention than the OG manga.

But I'm positive that re-reading everything in one go might help A LOT in that regard, maybe keeping my translation posts beside you....so I urge everyone to re-read the story when you have time, because it's worth it. Really.

That said, I'm not going anywhere for the foreseeable future: of course I'll comment the special chapter, but I also have in store the "Clear Card Trivia" series of posts, a post with the timeline of the events and a master post about my own review of the entire Clear Card Arc. And then, there's the season 2 of the anime too! You can bet I'll be here to comment on it every week!!

In the meantime, I want to thank all of you again for your patience, for reading me till now, and I also want to thank once again CLAMP-sensei for the wonderful sequel they brought to us in these past 7 years. ありがとうございます 🙏

See you soon!!

#card captor sakura #cardcaptor sakura #clear card arc #ccsakura #ccs spoilers #clamp #sakura card captor #sakura kinomoto #syaoran li #akiho shinomoto #yuna d. kaito #chapter 80 #translation differences

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lilover131 · 2 years

Text

Clear Card Chapter 61 Analysis

Here we go again! Another chapter, and seemingly like always, I have more and more questions! CLAMP, CUT ME SOME SLACK HERE!!

We also got 3 whole panels of Syaoran, which is not enough, but I’ll honestly take it at this point. Lmao! But we do get some juicy Kaito development, and I’m living for it! My full thoughts on this chapter are under the cut due to length and spoilers!

I feel like this cover page is a perfect choice for CLAMP since introducing us officially to Lillie (I say officially since we now know her name), and seeing as what goes on later in this chapter, it is also fitting to have both mothers on the cover. I absolutely love the dress designs and it only just now occurred to me seeing this image that both Nadeshiko and Lillie have flower names! They are wearing dresses designed after their respective flowers, and I can never get over just how creative Mokona-sensei is with her designs. Seriously, no matter how hard I try to design an outfit myself, it always looks so bland in comparison (which also makes me realize I have no sense of fashion), but Mokona is just never lacking in genius. Just amazing.

The chapter itself starts off with another Cloaked Figure dream, and it seems Sakura is pressing more and more for answers each time she has these. They don’t seem to really startle her anymore or cause her distress. In fact, she only seems to become more calm and calculating with her questions, and it really shows how she’s grown. She even starts to answer a bit of her own questions while she goes. She knows that at some point she will meet this cloaked figure, and as part of her outfit changes for a brief moment (just the sleeve showing as to not spoil for us her official Alice costume), she also identifies that she will meet the cloaked figure while wearing this particular outfit.

Although it doesn’t tell us much at first glance, I think might be confirming that the moment we see that sleeve again, it will be when the plot really gets turned on its head, and it seems more and more likely that this play will be the center of this major event. Surprisingly, the cloaked figure actually lowers part of their cloak to speak, but of course not enough to reveal who they really are. And naturally, with it being a manga, we cannot identify the voice of who is speaking to determine this either, but the words stated are quite alarming. They state that when they meet, it will be “the beginning of the end”. What’s alarming about this is that we don’t know where the ‘end’ leads to. Because this is Cardcaptor Sakura, I’m sure it will have a happy ending overall, but what will they go through first to achieve that happy ending this time? This is also a callback to the very first words in Clear Card, which were “When all the cards have gathered together, it is not the end, but rather, the beginning. The beginning of the end”.

Because this line specifically mentions ‘when the cards have gathered together’, this leads me to believe that for sure we have at least three parties involved, which would unsurprisingly be Sakura (with the Clear Cards of course), Syaoran (with the Sakura cards), and Kaito (who currently has Mirror).

The dream ends when Sakura wakes up, appearing to have fallen asleep at the dining room table while practicing her lines for the Twin Alices play. Her father is there with a blanket and tells her that he understands that she’s working hard but to not push herself. Sakura of course understands and appreciates the sentiment, but she states that she simply wants to do her best since Akiho is working so hard herself. Syaoran has also mentioned wanting to do his best in his roles since everyone is doing their best, so it seems that they are motivating each other all around for this play!

Sakura looks to the table where her mother’s picture always is and asks her father what she was like. It’s natural for Sakura to be curious about her mother as a person when she never really knew her, and I’m sure she’s even had this conversation before but still wants to know more (as any child would). I have to say, the way Fujitaka talks about her doesn’t really say much about how she actually was as a person, but it shows a lot about how much he loved her. He really seems to adore her and sees her as an angel fallen from heaven who gave him the most precious gifts that anyone could give a person. It’s honestly so pure, it makes me even more sad that Nadeshiko passed away. I can’t imagine how Fujitaka felt when he loved someone that much, who showed him so much love in return, and then lost them.

The scene changes to Akiho, who had fallen asleep doing the same thing Sakura was. And just like Fujitaka was doing for Sakura, Kaito is standing nearby with a blanket for Akiho. The same words are spoken to Akiho, asking her not to push herself, and she responds in exactly the same manner as Sakura by stating that she wants to work hard since Sakura is working so hard. However, Kaito’s reaction to this is a bit different than Fujitaka’s, and he seems to show a bit more concern before his hand seems to one again reach out unconsciously (Cinzia fondly calls this action ‘the hand’ -insert trademark-. Hahahaha).

I think this might be the third time in about 4 chapters that he has done this, so the mask he’s been wearing is most definitely starting to break. Kaito’s true feelings cannot stay buried much longer, and this consistent action of his hand reaching out to Akiho is proof of this. But time and time again, he keeps fighting himself and pulling the hand (-insert trademark-) back before putting the mask back up and simply telling her that she will do wonderfully. Now, I can’t help but wonder why he looked so serious when Akiho was simply talking about doing her best, and I can only assume that it is because he knows that this play is likely going to be ruined by what happens next; that maybe her hard work will go to waste. Or maybe he is just hoping to live long enough to see it and still feels like he had so much to say to her before he’s gone. There are honestly so many different things that could be going through his head right now, but it’s increasingly more obvious how much he cares about her.

Akiho glances backwards at an empty spot, as if looking for something, and Kaito picks up on this before asking her what she was looking for. She says that she wanted to see a photo, but then finds it strange as she never had any photos of her mother to begin with. It seems after observation that this is perhaps a result of the synchronization going on between her and Sakura. Kaito’s face looks a bit grim when she says this, perhaps because he realizes the synchronization is getting stronger, but also it is a reminder of Lillie being gone.

Poor Akiho mentions how her parents never left her a single photo, which is certainly sad on its own, but then she tells a story from her childhood that just makes everything about her life seem so...much...worse. She tells us how her mother was the strongest magician in her clan and could see the future in dreams as well as perform just about any spell with ease, and that her father was the second strongest. It’s nice to hear her officially talking about this, because it shows that she really is aware of the magical world in its entirety. The clan was thrilled when her parents got engaged, but only because of their hopes for the production of a exceptionally gifted magical child. Akiho, as we know, was born without magic, but she tragically tells us more about her parents demise by stating that it was an accident in which they died to protect her.

So…I can’t even imagine losing both of my parents at the same time, let alone at that young an age, but to also know that they died protecting me? I feel like that would make any child feel unworthy of such an immense sacrifice, despite it really showing how much they were loved. But to make things even worse, she recalled a time, back when she was old enough to understand words, that her clan frequently spoke of how unfortunate it was that Lillie could not forsee her own demise and that since she left behind a child with no power, it would have been better if Akiho’s parents never met at all. So this poor child who likely already felt unworthy of her parents sacrifice, was overhearing her own family say with her right there that she was better off not being born due to her lack of magic and the loss of their two strongest magicians. I did not think I could hate this family any more than I already did, but they just went up to Fei Wang Reed level of hate in my book (and that’s a lot of hate). The emotional abuse here is just so incredibly fucked up, and it’s honestly the darkest story to enter CCS thus far.

What also angers me so much is how they stated that Lillie did not forsee her own demise, when in reality, she very likely (like 99.9% based on what she said in the last chapter) did know that she would not live much longer. What these fuckers don’t understand (pardon my language, but this clan makes my blood boil), is that if there was no other way, Lillie would make this decision every single time because her love for her daughter is that strong. But as we’ve seen before, the clan doesn’t understand love at all. They couldn’t possibly understand how a magicless child could be loved so unconditionally.

As I am fuming about this, it seems Kaito shares that feeling of anger, and for the first time, we see him clench his fists as he fights to restrain himself from speaking out. But eventually, it becomes too much, and he has a bit of an outburst (a rather extreme one for Kaito). He tells Akiho that this is not true, and that even though she can’t use magic, there are things she can do that those fools could never dream of doing. The English translation uses the word ‘fools’, which I absolutely love in this context, and though the original Japanese doesn’t translate exactly to that, @meimi-haneoka with her glorious translation notes has confirmed that the feelings behind it are still there. Because we know that Kaito is actually a bit more rude and sassy than he allows anyone to see (as Cinzia calls his ‘Ore’ side), I translated this in my mind as “AKIHO, DON’T LISTEN TO THOSE FUCKING IDIOTS, THEY DON’T KNOW WHAT THEY’RE TALKING ABOUT!”. XDDDD

Akiho seems a bit surprised by the rude language Kaito uses (which is really tame, but far different from his usual polite façade), and he recovers quickly, realizing he lost control of himself once again and apologizes for his rudeness. I honestly love this side of Kaito and want to see a lot more of it, but he’s so damn stubborn that he won’t let his true self come out! Come on, I want the sassy Kaito who speaks his mind, regardless of how one might feel about what he’s saying! Akiho shakes her head at his apology and then thanks him. It must have felt good to actually have someone stick up for her for once and tell her that she means something, regardless of whether she has magic or not.

She changes the subject a bit and speaks of how she asked over and over again what her parents were like, but that she was only ever told that they both loved chocolate mint. And because she too loves chocolate mint, this makes her feel like she has a connection to her parents. This is really sweet, but I also am even more furious thinking that the clan couldn’t even bother to divulge more information to her about her own parents other than this one thing.

But....

CLAMP. I have questions…

In chapter 36, when the whole chocolate mint thing was introduced, Nadeshiko mentioned that Lillie had told her the one she loved most did not like chocolate mint. In fact, it wasn’t just said once but twice. Lillie was also travelling the world with the one she loved most, which we can only assume must be Akiho’s father. Initially, I thought “Okay, this has to be a translation error, because Kodansha fucks up all the time”, but I was incredibly surprised to hear from Cinzia that this was actually not a translation error.

Now, I can’t rule out this not being a continuity error on CLAMP’s part (I spent 10 years on a story myself and know how hard it is to keep continuity with some things when you’ve been writing for that long), but CLAMP has always done a really good job of keeping things consistent, so I have a hard time believing that this is an error. It’s especially hard to believe considering how much focus they have put on the chocolate mint topic in particular. The subject of chocolate mint has always come across as CLAMP’s subtle way of drawing connections to some characters, but it’s hard to say exactly which connection in particular they want us to pay attention to.

So, if we go based on the idea that this was not a mistake, then why would Akiho say this?

When I thought about it, I remembered who she had gotten this information from. Her clan had told her this, and honestly what the fuck do they really know about Lillie and Akidad personally? So after discussion with some friends on discord, we came to a bit of a shared conclusion that the clan might have thought Akidad liked chocolate mint, but that he didn’t actually like it at all. In chapter 36, it was mentioned that Syaoran doesn’t like chocolate mint either, but he seemed disappointed when Sakura didn’t make him any. Tomoyo pointed out that even if he didn’t like the flavor, if it was made by Sakura, he would have eaten it. I think the same idea would have applied to Akidad. Although he wouldn’t actually like it, he likely pretended to or at least ate it because he loved how happy it made Lillie. And as a result of seeing this, the clan might be lead to believe he actually liked chocolate mint. This is an idea I can get behind that is both heartwarming but also shows how absolutely disconnected the clan is from the feelings of their own members.

While Akiho expresses her happiness in having this supposed connection to her parents (or at least one of them), Kaito can’t help but see her mother, and this is the first time we see him making a direct comparison between Akiho and Lillie. Of course we already knew they resembled each other quite a bit, but it’s refreshing to see if finally come from Kaito.

However, he starts to think back on that moment where he was asked to review Akiho for magical power and how he had described her as being like a blank book. I had thought for quite some time that he might have felt guilt over his description of her, because it seemed clear that the clan got the idea to turn her into a tool as a result of these words. It appears this theory was correct, but it is even more tragic when we find out that Kaito had only described her in such a way because he thought that with her having no magic and her parents being gone, that they would simply exile her and allow her to live a normal life. This shows how he had actually intended kindness and wanted her to have a good and happy life, but she was robbed of this because of his words. This brings a lot more context to why he might be doing all of this.

I mentioned before that I felt the magic Kaito wanted to do was to bring back a life or change a specific moment in time, but this chapter has now I feel shown plausible motives for both of those reasons. I could see him wanting to bring back Akiho’s parents so Akiho can live with a happy family, but I can also see him wanting to go back to that moment and change what he stated in a way that would ensure Akiho had a better life than being used as a tool. He clearly has guilt over he situation and even very openly blames himself as the reason that Akiho is on the verge of losing her soul. This is absolutely heartbreaking, and Kaito desperately needs someone to tell him that he is not responsible for the choices of others. Yes, our words are powerful and impact the world around us, but our words do not completely control the actions of others, and this was a choice made by the clan, not him.

Kaito tells Akiho that he has a feeling that she and her mother have a lot in common, which rather proves to me that Kaito has probably not ever told Akiho that he knew her mother well. If she knew after all, I’m sure she would have asked him all sorts of questions about her. I hope he can tell her more about her someday.

The scene changes to show Fujitaka stating the same thing to Sakura; that she too is a lot like her mother. Fujitaka tells Sakura not to stay up too late, and right after leaving the room, Sakura creates two cards rather abruptly. Immediately, after she creates them, she calls Syaoran, and we FINALLY get our first Syaoran appearance in like 3 months (thank god, I would’ve lost it if we went another full chapter without even one panel of him). Sakura apologizes for calling him so late, but he tells her he was already up (undoubtedly practicing his own part in the play), and she tells him how she believes she created two new cards in a dream. Syaoran asks about the details of these two new cards, and Sakura smiles and responds that they are very kind. The last page shows the two cards, which show what appear to be card versions of Touya (CHOICE) and Fujitaka (KINDNESS). I believe the Touya one stemmed from the conversation she had with him recently about choosing her own future and the Fujitaka one clearly from the kindness her father always shows her every day. I’m not sure what kind of ability these cards would have or if they have any significance at all later on, but it’ll be interesting to find out!

I’m hoping this is the last chapter of the ‘calm before the storm’ and that we’ll actually have some escalation in the next chapter, but we shall see! Until next month!

#cardcaptor sakura #clear card #manga #chapter 61 #spoilers #analysis #chrissy talks a lot #sakura #akiho #kaito #lillie #fujitaka #nadeshiko #syaoran #akidad #chocolate mint

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noa-ciharu · 2 years

Note

tsubasa for the ask meme!

I'll have to include side characters as otherwise we have, like... total 4 (and a half, must not forget Mokona) Oh boy here we go:

Blorbo: oke I love them all obviously, but there's special place for Fai. When I first watched TRC anime when I was 15 i was like are we so lucky to have such beautiful main character?? Not side one for 2-3 eps but main?? God bless. And his style is just 👌. Ofc that all came at cost of angst, cuz God forbid we have stunning guy without angst. It's like that idea of love ar first sight but it's blorbo at first sight. For Kurogane it was "this guy is too pretty... which is pretty suspicious" at first sight. Ofc that's just a beginning, don't even get me started on his complexity and development. He went through such bs life and is like, one of the top 5 most tragic clamp characters (which says a lot, it's clamp duh) but has such kind heart and - okay I have to stop at some point 🥺

Skrunkly: Fai Sakura and Sayoran! I remember that one scene in Outo when she wore that rly cute maid outfit and they both were so shy and cute around each other and someone teased them. My heart melted like aww. Ofc there were many many moments before shit went down but that one is 🥰

Scrimblo bimblo: this is hard to answer cuz all other chars are from other series actually. But let's say Ashura (both) and Yasha since I don't see much RG veda stuff as much as CCS, xxxHolic, TB/X ect. Also Mokona since she's one of the crew technically (probs cuz she's not human). Also let's add infinity crew which is never talked about because we TRC fans simply dont talk about infinity angst and double divorce.

Glup shitto: like all my favs from other clamp series: Yuuko, Watanuki, Kamui and Subaru, Sorata and Arashi in first arc, Tomoyo, Yuki and Touya (married in every universe oh at least they're angst free 🥺), Seishirou (I'll never let him live down with that cringe moments in Outo and Nihon neither should you guys), Kenddapa and Souma, Ashura, Eagle, Chii (she does nothing rly in trc but too cute not to include) ect...

Poor little meow meow: Fai ofc he's poor little meow meow he even identifies as a cat (black one to the boot, oh the irony). I think it's pretty self-explanatory why. Also ofc Kurogane, Sayoran and Sakura with all that happened in their pasts and during the series. Especially that one arc about Kuro's past, it was tragic but what got me was when Sayoran had thay blank look on his face and tears were rolling down his face. Ofc in Outo too when he thought Fai was eaten alive by those demons... only afterward you know why he was so shocked...

Horse plinko: as someone who actually loves to torments characters to witness complexity of human nature in fiction, I'll say none of them. TRC is like a slow therapy of ups and downs, of finding indenitity and in order for that to happen and scars to start healing you must revisit your past and places where pain lies, thus allegory of dimension travell. To learn self value and that suffering in silence makes those who love you suffer as well. To reconstruct destructive beliefs of self and worldview you had into something healthier. To accept that you matter to those around you; what a true sacrifice should look like, what strength is. And oh so many more. Clamp could have easily killed or left traumatized in the end, any of them, but the point was process of healing. So I feel that traumatizing and providing further hurt with no comfort would feel really off in context of TRC, especially post Nihon arc. That sounded too deep for a meme ask so to answer: Subaru

Eeby debby: Kyle and all that crew. As for main ones, they've been in Acid Tokyo, superhell would be a holiday vacation in comparison.

Send me a fandom and I'll tell you my:

#asks #tsubasa reservoir chronicle #trc #clamp #thanks for ask 💕

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clowite · 3 years

Note

What's your favorite thing about each of your friends?

Everyone???? B-because, um, that's a lot of people!

But I'll try my best!

Syaoran-kun worries about everyone, even when nobody asks him to! He cares so deeply about everyone and everything. Every person he meets leaves a mark on him just as much as he leaves a mark on them.

Kurogane-san knows when to step in, but never treats anyone like a child. He lets people figure things out for themselves, but does his best to make sure nobody gets hurt. We have met deities who treat people with less respect than he does, even when he tries to be all gruff about it.

Fai-san has such ambition to try new things! Even before things happened in that world he came from, he was always living life as if there were always new things to explore, new things to fall in love with. New recipes to try, new technology to tinker with, new people to meet! There's always a new experience waiting to happen!

Moko-chan is so funny! Of course, um, Mokona-chan has many other qualities, like Moko-chan's 108 secret techniques, but those aren't secrets I can just write on my blog (even if they are super special)! When we first met- or, when I first woke up along the journey, I used to be worried that Moko-chan was pushing too hard on the jabs with Kurogane-san- but it turned out Moko-chan knew what Moko-chan was doing all along. Is that another technique! Oh, gosh.

Tomoyo-chan is so creative! I don't know how she does it! Every time I hear word of her, she's invented new things, or designed new outfits, or thought up elaborate schemes of weddings galore! It's embarrassing sometimes, having all that attention on me, but her creativity is a magic of its own!

Yuuko-san has such wit and intuition! Sometimes, I can't tell if I'm being taken advantage of in a situation, and I think of how Yuuko-san would do it. She always has quips to reply to people with, or knows what people want before they even ask for it, or knows just what to say. How can she know what balances out the universe from her shop? Was it a learned skill or is it a type of magic I don't know?

Watanuki-kun's best quality is..

Chii-chan was so.. umm.. innocent, but not naïve. She just assumed the best of everyone, like it was beyond her that someone wasn't a naturally good person.

Chitose-san is another creative type! Did you know Outo Country was apparently a virtual world? I didn't find out until much later. That's amazing, everything felt so real!

Yukito-kun is so.. tolerant. Um. There's a lot I could write here, but my favorite quality is how he can occupy Touya's time so he stops pestering me instead! I'm not going to terrorize Clow once I become High Priestess! But I might terrorize him just because I can!!!!

Masayoshi-kun was so kind. I didn't know him very much, but he stopped into the cafe a few times. He always had such nice things to say about all the other demon hunters, even if he doubted his own skills a lot. I think he was in a different country, too, but I don't remember..

Chu-nyan-chan had such a spark for a personality! She knew she was being treated unfairly, she knew she had to speak up, and it didn't matter if she was alone in her passion.

Ryuou-kun was so passionate. He seemed to act on impulse, but he went at it with his whole heart, even if it was just becoming someone's friend.

Yuzuriha-chan was similarly passionate. Um, I never admitted this before, but I'm glad we met in Outo Country. Later on, I had to use a gun, and I just tried to emulate how confident she was in using it, shooting at the demons. If I had known the demons of Outo weren't real, I may have taken up a weapon to learn to defend myself back then. I think Yuzuriha-chan would have been a great guide!

Um, speaking of guide..

Subaru-san was so gentle. I remember his voice in my dreams, back in that awful place. I think he helped wake me up- and I'm still nervous to think about what would have happened if I had just slept through it all.

I don't know Kamui-san very well, but he helped Fai-san and Kurogane-san. For that, I consider him a friend.

I've been told Fuuma-san has helped my friends out in the past, as well, but I don't know him well enough to have an opinion. I know one day he might come to Clow, and I'll be sure to greet him appropriately when he arrives.

Fai-kun tried so hard. I hear him sometimes, grieving. I don't know how to help, yet. I don't know if I'll ever be able to. I'm going to try my best, as I always do. He deserves it, if nothing else. They both do.

Umm.

Did I forget anyone?

#long post cw #velosarahptor #Thank you for asking!

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ccsthemovie2 · 4 years

Note

Character-Clow Reed

(avril lavingne voice) WHYD YOU HAVE TO GO AND MAKE THINGS SO CLOWMPLICATEEEED I SEE THE WAY YOURE ACTING LIKE YOURE SOMEBODY ELSE GETS ME FRUSTRATED- ok jokes aside LETS GOOOOO

Why I like them:

for all my angry yelling and kicking and complaining you may be surprised to learn that clow(riol) is one of my favorite parts of ccs!

i think that having the Mystery and Legend of a long-dead wizard that hangs over sakura’s head at the start get light shed on it more and more so that we can see he’s just a person makes the world of ccs feel small and personal. it really stabilizes the heart of the series, what i love most about ccs- that it’s a story about individuals and the choices they make. the magic itself all traces back to one man and the way he felt it was right to act and to treat other people. i think he’s a fascinating character and a very very good choice of central figure.

Why I don’t:

THAT SAID, AAAAAGHHHHH HE IS HORRIBLE HE IS JUST A TERRIBLE LITTLE MAN I HATE HIM I HATE HIM SOOOO MUCH. even putting aside everything he* pulls as eriol, just the things he does as clow reed make me SO upset....LYING ABOUT HIS DEATH??? ELABORATE SETUP TO PRETEND KERO AND YUE HAVE A CHOICE IN THE MATTER OF CHOOSING THE NEW CARD MASTER BUT ACTUALLY KNOWING ALL ALONG AND HAVING A SPECIAL MAGIC ITEM MADE TO SEE THAT IT GETS DONE??? BREEZING INTO A TOWN TO STEAL A FORTUNE TELLER’S BUSINESS, GETTING HER NICE AND KATE BEATON NEMESIS.PNG’D, AND THEN IGNORING HER FOREVER??? it’s bad!! *(it’s complicated,) ive said this jokingly before but i think he just doesnt even think about other people having agency, that he’s not trampling but Guiding and Helping. i think part of his controlfreakiness is also a deep fear that he’s not enough, that he can’t keep a friend on his own merits so he’s gotta get his claws sunk in as much as possible, whether by emotionally living rent free in people’s heads or magical dependance. and that’s not a uniquely horrible belief, yknow, i think it’s very human and normal, but the problem is no one can criticize him. not with the amount of control he has over the people he surrounds himself with, the fact that he can physically shut down kero and yue any time he likes, etc. it’s not that power inherently Makes You Evil, it’s that power made it harder for people to say “hey stop that”, and if no ones telling him to stop then he must be doing fine!

Favorite episode (scene if movie):

GENUINE TIE BETWEEN THE BACK TO THE PAST EP OF THE ANIME AND THE SAKURA SEES THE TRUTH SCENE IN MANGA. i think both of them are great- the tightly controlled dreamy guided tour where she sees just what he wants her to see, AND sakura outpowering him and seeing the reality of his lies. in the manga when sakura sees him gives gentle headkisses to kero and yue before putting them to bed and eriol+fujitaka-ing i go AUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH ....... THEY LOVE SOMEONE WHO IS TERRIBLE AAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUU MY HEART. i headcanon that’s when he mind-messed with them, too, i think he had to touch them to do it and that was how.

Favorite season/movie:

bold answer but im going to say the implications left behind in the clow card arc of Why Do Cards Act Like That/Have Those Specialties. what about clow made him want to make a voice-stealing card, a small-object-moving-card, a body-swap card, etc? it’s good questions.

Favorite line:

in the mokona book when they say he said dogs dont have owners they have housemates, bc that explains SOOOOO much abt him and how he treated kero and yue lololol. if you think being a pet owner and a roomate are the same you’re gonna treat your roomates, uhhhm, bad.

also if eriol counts its him in the wonderland ep like YOU DONT KNOW IF IM NOT THE KINDA PERSON TO PRETEND TO BE A CAT and I THINK YOU AND LI ARE SO DUMB I HAVE TO BITE MY TONGUE CONSTANTLY TO NOT INSULT YOU and BUT I CANT ACT LIKE THIS OR KERO AND YUE WILL KNOW IM CLOW. so like. was clow just like that then.

Favorite outfit:

uh his regular clothes are cool. theres an illustration on him in this cool coat with like a sun pin on it too. whenever i draw him in something frilly i have a huge brain. cant deny the guy has style and aesthetics. sakura’s first staff, look at it!! the style it has!!!

OTP:

im neutral-positive on clowyuuko cuz i havent holic’d since high school. you can refer to the answer i gave abt yue for clowyue thoughts (tl;dr: [touches ground] “something terrible happened here” ). madoushi is just kate beaton nemesis comic.

i think it would be funny if albus dumbledore was his ex.

Brotp

yuuko again i guess? and him and all his creations. headcanon territory even though that’s actually the next question but you asked for my thoughts so here they are: i think of him as trying to be a sort of fun camp counselor or teacher type for kero+yue and the cards- specifically a role with an authority behind it, but without the same sort of responsibility that a parent would have. or, i guess, lacking an unconditional love, always an undertone of you having to prove yourself. someone who you go to to learn from, but if he likes can also go “no no im just like you, now let’s have fun!”. it’s hard to explain, but there’s a difference.

what i’m trying to get at here is i think it’s significant that the only creations he has that we see him truly ‘raise’, (going by the info+lack of it we have, anyway, i fill in the blank for myself that kero and yue and the cards all showed up full of knowledge, fully formed, CLAMP DO NOT INTERACT!!!!!), were the mokonas, with yuuko. it was another person’s influence that brought a parental attitude in, it’s not something he ever wanted to be. there’s also a healthy dose of “yue textually had a crush on clow and i will not, no way, let you make that any more unfortunate than that already is”, i’ll admit, but i think that’s just a puzzle piece of the whole theory here. i think it would also be funny if he knew people like tolkein (eriol’s a tolkeinverse name if i remember correctly) and c.s. lewis (side note, i find the fact that clow is an actively practicing christian really funny), but i dont want to think too deeply about that sort of realworld mix, yknow.

Head Canon:

i think pranks were highly encouraged in his house and none of the clow cards are being intentionally destructive, just acting in ways that were totally normal at home, and are genuinely shocked to learn that people will get seriously injured without clow there to cushion their damage.

Unpopular opinion:

evil

A wish:

i wanna know what his pre-story days were like, his life with the cards, his life BEFORE the cards,

An oh-god-please-dont-ever-happen:

^ same the above but i find it out from clamp

5 words to best describe them:

did you know? clow sucks

My nickname for them:

clown, :kingboo: (discord emoji of him with a 🚫 over it), “the bastard jester himself” (which is, or at least was, in comedian-podcaster stephen buckleys twitter bio and i think it abt clow frequently, sorry stephen buckley), king of living rent free in people’s heads

#ask

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chiiwifruit · 4 years

Text

TCM Day 17: FLUFF

Mokona dropped them in the middle of a downpour.

The group gasped as the deluge of water hit, soaking them instantly. The world around them was green - green grass, green leaves, and green water. It wasn’t too dissimilar to the world where they met the fluffy fox people, except much wetter.

“There!” Fai pointed to a tree with broad leaves and the group sprinted toward it. The leaves blocked most of the rain as they huddled against the tree’s broad trunk.

Syaoran wrung the water from his shirt while Fai did the same with his hair, which reached his shoulders now. Mokona, perched on Kurogane’s shoulder, shook water from her ears. No one was wearing clothes loose enough for her to take shelter in.

“Well, at least it’s not cold,” Fai commented. The air was warm, and even the rain was cool rather than cold.

Kurogane grunted. He was soaked to the skin and wasn’t in the mood to be grateful that it wasn’t worse.

After the perfect weather in Nirai Kanai, it was a bit of a shock. The group stayed under the tree to wait out the rain, but the sky grew darker under thick cloud cover, and thunder cracked in the distance. With dismay, they realized that this was the beginning of a storm, and it wasn’t going to let up anytime soon.

As they waited and wondered what to do, a man passed by carrying a lantern and using a broad leaf in lieu of an umbrella. His back and chest were bare, layer in lean muscle covered with dark skin. He paused at the sight of the travelers and raised an eyebrow at them.

“Hello,” Syaoran said.

“Hello,” the man replied. He didn’t say anything else, just stood there and scratched his head. The group waited for him to leave, but he continued to stare. “You lost?” he finally asked.

“Yes,” Syaoran said.

The man sighed. “Well, come along then.” He started walking. The group took their cues from him and pulled the long stemmed, broad leaves off the tree to shield them from the rain. They trotted to keep up, as the man was fast despite being short.

Rather than a village, he brought them to a house at the base of a large cliff. His house was so covered in greenery that they couldn’t even see it until he brushed some trailing vines aside and opened the door. “Well, come in then,” he said, gesturing for them to go ahead. “I’ll pick some tea herbs and be right along.” And then he vanished into the greenery around the side of the house.

As the most distrustful, Kurogane wasn’t keen on going into a stranger’s house in the middle of nowhere. But the rain continued to pound down, and Syaoran started to shiver. He couldn’t let the boy be cold, so he ventured into the house, keeping an eye open for any trouble.

The others followed him in. It seemed the man lived alone, as there was no sign that anyone else lived in this little house in the middle of nowhere. And he joined them soon enough, a clump of leafy herbs in hand.

“I suppose you can stay here until the storm passes,” he said, eyeing them as he took a kettle down from a hook in the wall. “So long as you don’t make trouble. I got nothing worth stealing, you hear?”

“We don’t steal,” Fai said, cheerfully forgetting that one time in Lecourt.

The man hmphed and tapped his foot while he waited for the tea to boil.

“Is there anyone else nearby?” Syaoran asked when the silence began to wear on him.

The man jerked a shoulder. “There’s a village that a-ways,” he said, stabbing his finger to the left. “A few hours’ walk. Maybe you’ll go there next.”

“You don’t live there?” Kurogane asked. There weren’t enough seats at the table, so he remained standing. He looked relaxed, but he was ready in case of danger.

“Nah.”

“Why not?” Syaoran asked.

“Don’t like ‘em.”

Silence descended, broken in short order by the shrill whistle of the kettle. The man poured out the tea in beautiful ceramic mugs and passed them to his guests.

“Oh, lovely,” Fai said, admiring the bold red flower on his.

That actually got a smile from their host. “Thanks. I make ‘em.”

That got appreciative comments from Syaoran and Fai. The man waved them off, blushing. “Spare room’s through there,” he said, rubbing his nose to hide his embarrassment. “Isn’t much room, but don’t mess it up.”

“We won’t. Thanks, um...?”

“Name’s Will. I’ll be around if you need anything.”

“Thank you, Will.”

As they had clearly been dismissed, the group filed into the spare room with their tea. As Will said, there wasn’t much room, just enough for each of them to lay side-by-side with Mokona snuggled wherever she felt like it. For now they sat in a circle. They weren’t sure what Will had made of Mokona, as she’d been in full view perched on Kurogane’s shoulder. But she hadn’t moved or spoken while they were in the room with him, and he hadn’t given them an extra mug, so maybe he hadn’t noticed her at all. Or he assumed she was a pet.

“Mokona will get everyone dry clothes!” Mokona announced now that they were alone. Without further warning, she spit out some spare outfits she kept in storage for the guys, who changed into them gratefully.

“Thanks, Mokona,” Syaoran said, pulling a dry shirt over his head. He offered Mokona his mug of tea. “Here, want to try some?”

Mokona took a cautious sip. “Oh, it’s spicy!” she said in surprise.

“Yeah. It’s good, though,” Syaoran agreed. Mokona climbed into his lap and settled in, and they took turns sipping from Syaoran’s mug until the tea was all gone.

Fai and Kurogane sat close together while Kurogane tried to towel off Fai’s hair with his discarded wet shirt, since it had never occurred to them to store towels wherever Mokona sent things. Fai kept complaining that Kurogane was being too rough, but let Kurogane do it. Once Fai’s blond hair had stopped dripping and was just damp, Kurogane tried to comb out the tangles he had put into it.

Syaoran had to smother a laugh at the look on Fai’s face as he endured the combing.

While they waited for the storm to stop, they napped on the floor. They had to lie close together, so it was a warm, comforting pile. The rain continued on until the next morning, when sunlight finally began to stream in the window.

Will was kind enough to feed them before sending them on their way, and pointed out the track that would lead them to the village. “Should take about three or four hours to get there, depending on how fast you walk,” he said, leaning on his hoe. Now that they didn’t have to squint through the rain, they could see that he had a tidy little vegetable and herb garden down the side of his house, along with a few chickens pecking at the grass. “Take care now.”

“We will. Thank you for everything,” Syaoran said.

Will grunted, but watched them go. Strange travelers for sure, he thought. But he hoped they found what they were looking for, just like he did. And once they were out of sight, he turned back to his garden.

#TsubasaChronicleMonth #Tsubasa reservoir chronicle #kurogane #li syaoran #li tsubasa #fai #mage fai d fluorite #mokona #mokona modoki #clamp #my writing #Real!Syaoran #implied KuroFai #fanfiction #fanfic #TRC fanfic

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fizzingwizard · 4 years

Text

Lately I’ve been obsessively playing Sims 4. I have a habit of ignoring it for months, then binge playing in a week. Especially if a new expansion pack comes out. I just got University and it’s... kinda meh so far. But I think I’m just in the wrong mood for it. A few years ago when I was all nostalgic for uni I’d have eaten it up, I think. Maybe I’ll be feeling it more another time. Am happy to finally have in-the-wall showers though! That alone was worth $40, lmao.

Another thing to factor in... when I sent my Sim to the university, they asked me to pick my course load and I gave her 3 classes plus an elective. Almost gave her four, but then was like, “I should wait till I know how much free time she’ll have.” So... when I was in college, I maxed out on course credits every semester and then took electives for 0 credits on top of that. It was hard - especially junior year - but I did it. I really wasn’t expecting my Sim to struggle with just 4 classes, but I failed to take into account how rapidly Sims get tired. They can’t pull all-nighters the same way I could when I was 20, lol. And things like eating and going to the toilet take an hour lol. My Sim’s always late to class because even though she has a bicycle, half the time she just doesn’t use it, and the other half she’s prompted to leave for class too late to make it on time. I started just putting her in front of the building once I knew where her classes were held xP

So, that is, I think I made going to uni unnecessarily difficult for my Sim, and therefore made it less fun for me. She spends all her time in class, studying, or doing homework - there’s no time at all for anything else. I feel burnt out and I’m not even a student anymore x’D

Also her clingy boyfriend who’s supposed to be freelancing at their apartment in San Myshuno keeps randomly popping up or begging her for dates. The first day alone he showed up and sent four different invites. Like, omg, dude. Chill - he has none. He has both the Romantic and the Jealous trait though so I guess he can’t help it. He was an NPC that happened to take my fancy so I snagged him. I like him for the most part but boy is he an annoying boyfriend!

OK, but the real reason I started obsessing over Sims again wasn’t for University, but for Realms of Magic. I love the magic packs in the Sims and was hoping for something Harry Potter-esque. It’s... well, it’s okay. The world is kind of pretty, but not very interactive, and the magic-user Sims who show up there are all really normal looking. At least the three Sages are more interesting but... they show up at my spellcaster Sim’s house in Sulani to do normal things, dressed in ridiculous yet normal outfits (at least that makes them seem like wizards trying and failing to pass as muggles though, lol).

But yeah, I was hoping for more. I reached Virtuoso really fast. Dueling was mostly the same graphics every time. There was nothing I could do to improve my chances of winning, like learn a specific powerful spell or potion... Even leveling up doesn’t really help - what helps is getting enough Talent points to buy a spellcaster perk that gives you an advantage in duels. But that just means leveling up and leveling up and leveling up. So you do the same three or four interactions over and over again. Even potion making was a bust because they give you free samples of the potions when you learn them, and then you can use the duplication spell on them, and then you can get the perk that ensures they’ll be successful, so... why even bother making them!

Mostly what I would have liked is a much larger range of spells. Especially practical ones. The spell my Virtuoso level spellcaster uses the most? Scruberoo. So no one in his household ever needs to take showers, lol. But Scruberoo doesn’t work on laundry :/ They are using a washtub because they’re semi-off-the-grid so it’d be a nice way to speed things up. But sometimes the washtub glitches or something? and doesn’t result in clean clothes even if the water had been replaced first. In that case, I let my spellcaster Zipzap the thing lol. Because it makes me happy.

I also wish spells could be extended. Like, my Sim has a big garden, so when I want to use Floralial, I have to individually select each plant, pick magic, pick spells, and then pick Floralial... it’s dull.

All that being said... I still enjoy Realms of Magic. Since making my sim a Spellcaster, I’ve played him a lot. I love Practical Magic. I love that after making my Sim’s cat his familiar, she now sparkles as she prances around :D I find it charming that I can make a cauldron-full of chili out of thin air. (Now I know how the Weasleys kept themselves fed.) I love the new magical decor (clothing is so-so). The other magic seems fun but since my Sim is a good guy, I don’t get to use them much. Sims in Sulani sometimes just show up in your house and make themselves at home, and one time a guy got stuck in a pathfinding mishap, so to get him out I had my Spellcaster Morphiate him into a dead fish or something. But then I couldn’t move the dead fish... Somehow when he returned to normal, he was able to get out of the house though. Anyway, I’m planning to make an evil spellcaster so I can go around gleefully Inferniating everyone.

But the best part of all is Transportalate or whatever it’s called. I know with cheats you can just click and teleport, but he does this on his own, sometimes over stupidly small distances, and it comes with cool lighting effects. Me gusta. I love knowing that if his bladder bar’s in the red, he won’t pee himself on his way to the toilet because he’ll get there instantaneously, not in 15 Sim minutes X’D Am just wishing I could give this ability to my Nightcrawler Sim without making him a spellcaster.

My spellcaster is my Fai Sim, btw. =D And Mokona is his familiar (a white cat). The looks on Syaoran, Sakura, and Kurogane’s faces when he Scruberoos them all are priceless. (I’d use the Delicioso spell more too but Fai has level 10 in Cooking, Baking, and Gourmet Cooking X’D)

#sims #sims 4

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crystalrequiem · 5 years

Text

The Voice that Urged Orpheus

[Part 1/6(?)] [TRC] Summary: Kurogane tries to grapple with how attractive Fai is, fails to propose marriage, and is generally a gay disaster.

Tags: Kuro/Fai, Canon Universe, Post-Canon,

Warnings: suggestive thoughts (nothing graphic), overly sappy feelings, Kurogane’s unique combination of emotional intelligence and social incapability. [Part 1] - [Part 2]

Hello friends. It’s been a while since I posted Fic here. I will probably try to get this up on AO3 all in one piece? but I’m a creature that craves validation so it’s up here first piecemeal i guess. As a hint of this thing’s intended trajectory, its joke title is “5 times Kurogane sat consumed with lust for the evening and 1 time he got to do something about it” So-- maybe eventually some citrusy content of whichever flavor... >_>

Tomoyo did this to torment him, he thinks.

Gliding through the room easy as a fish in water, the Mage makes himself at home as the life of the party. However stilted the his usual attempts at Japanese, with Mokona here to translate he runs circles around the courtiers and their linguistic games. He acts every bit the part of the charming prince he should have been in a kinder life—darting from conversation to conversation, quick with an easy smile and a cutting joke, still managing to keep a careful eye on Syaoran.

Watching Fai smile honest and free of the weight of worry still seems to Kurogane like a miracle, but it doesn’t ruin him. On its own, it doesn’t drive him to hide away on the sidelines, hand clenched tight around his artificial wrist as he struggles to keep his own thoughts in check. No. The real torture derives from the indecent spill of Fai’s hair—a delicately ornamented, flowing stream of gold that traces his pale neck down to a blue silk collar worn just a little too loose. It’s the way he moves in that thing—ridiculous sleeves so long they nearly brush the floor, but somehow he hasn’t lost an ounce of grace. It’s—

The sight of Fai in nearly any garment of Nihon would still have struck him—his traitorous, possessive mind all too willing to catch on thoughts of the mage in his clothes and in his land—but Tomoyo had gone to lengths to make it worse. The cut and drape of what she made for Fai would advertise their relationship on its own, but she’d once again seen fit to embroider the black moon at his chest. Standard for any shinobi under her command, but Fai is not, and with Kurogane’s status as it is… It’s safe to assume every single person here knows what kind of item they are. Just thinking about it is enough to drive a man to distraction.

As if on cue, the mage catches his eye across the crowd and grants him a quiet smile. For an instant, he forgets how to breathe. Fai’s stupid grin can send his heart stuttering in his chest on a good day, but looking like that—

Kurogane growls and turns away. He hopes to whatever god still listens that his face doesn’t reflect the sorts of things running through his head. The fingers wrapped around his metal wrist grip tight enough to hurt, if he’d had any nerves.

“Blue really is his color.”

He has long believed that Tomoyo possesses an extra special sense for his embarrassment.

“Did you need something, your highness?” He grits. Her bell-like peals of laughter fill the shadowed alcove at his expense.

“Who can say? Maybe I just wanted to visit with my favorite subject.” He doesn’t bother granting her a response. He’s almost glad for her distraction, however ill-intentioned it may be. At least it gives him a chance to collect himself. “How much longer do you think you can stay this time?” Kurogane shrugs in answer.

“Same as usual. Just until the Manjuu says we need to move again. Maybe another day or two I’d guess.” He starts to relax, the heat in his veins cooling ever so slowly, until Tomoyo adds with a pout,

“Not enough time for a wedding then.”

“Princess,” he chokes, mortally affronted as she laughs harder. He tries to tune her out, but keeping his cool presents a serious challenge while he can’t help imagining…

He doesn’t know what exact moment he’d decided he needed Fai at his side always. Maybe as early as Yama? Maybe something in him knew even before that. Either way, his vision of the future rings empty without Fai there to meet it with him, whatever form that might take. Co-caretakers for the kids, battle companions, friends or paramours—whatever Fai deigns to give him, he wants. It’s only somehow in all of that… he’s never really thought about something like a wedding. He really could ask, couldn’t he? Would Fai want that?

He tunes back in to reality and finds Tomoyo staring, all quiet acceptance and expectation. She likes to tease, but in this he senses no joke. She means it—wants him to know that she does. The court in Nihon accepts male lovers easily enough, but he has never heard of a marriage between them. She means to offer him that: the possibility of tradition shattered beneath the weight of the imperial throne.

“You are my dearest and oldest friend. When your sojourn ends for good, I will make sure this is a land you want to return to.” Tomoyo flashes a gentle smile, fleeting between the narrow gap of fan and hair. “The court could use some new ways of thinking.” She murmurs as she looks away, back towards the party and the majority of the court. As usual, her political shrewdness surpasses him. He should have realized she had more reason to parade Fai about than to tease her favorite former protector.

“Princess Tomoyo, I—” He doesn’t know how to answer her, but he doesn’t get the chance to try. She only shakes her head and stares past him, her eyes locked to something over his shoulder.

“Fai! How are you finding the party?” She chirrups, holding her fan a little higher to hide her expression, which is far too self-satisfied. Kurogane freezes like a child caught sneaking sweets.

“Perfectly well, thank you, your highness.” With his thoughts running rampant, Fai’s presence burns like a brand in his awareness. He shuts his eyes and tries not to think too hard about the crescent moons embroidered starkly on that damnable outfit, or exactly what he wants them to mean.

Unfortunately Fai doesn’t understand what ails him and mistakes his attempt at control for annoyance. “Alright there, Kuro-Grumpy?” He teases, voice colored by a fleck of genuine concern as he brushes his fingers against the base of Kurogane’s neck. Tomoyo laughs at the way he stiffens. She knows exactly what she’s done and isn’t at all sorry.

“I’m sure he is,” she teases, coquettish as she gathers her train in one hand. “I’d best leave you two be. Doubtless you have much to talk about.”

Doubtless, his thoughts echo, indignant. He marks her for a traitor as she leaves him be with only Fai and his racing mind for company. He tries to use his feelings of annoyance to strip this buzzing hyper-awareness away… to little effect.

“…Kuro?” He lets the silence linger too long, and the mage grows worried. Kurogane huffs and his gaze falls back on Fai at last.

He’s standing far too close, he thinks as his vision floods with the man he loves most. Too close and too beautiful and waiting too long for him to respond. He tries to find an answer to Fai’s concern and forgets how to use words. Struck stupid by the sight of his magician all he can manage is a hoarse,

“Hello.”

“Hello,” Fai echoes warily, expression warring between amusement and apprehension. “Is everything okay?”

Kurogane catches Fai’s gaze and the rest of the world seems to fade from view, drowned by perfect blue. Blue now—not the stubborn amber of blood-lust or the jarring blot of onyx in an uncertain world—just blue. Bright and alive and still here with him after everything and damn it… he wants Fai by his side for all the hues that might follow.

“What’s wrong?” the mage grows more anxious with each second of silence and starts to draw his hand away, already turning to try to determine what threat has Kurogane unsettled. This won’t do. He catches the hand before it can retreat and keeps Fai’s attention, even as his feelings dam his throat closed. He closes his eyes and tries to find a way to explain what he wants, but the words just don’t come.

You look nice, is banal and, hey, marry me? Seems like a bad thing to spring on someone unexpected at a party. I love you so much, it hurts, is true, but sounds like an accusation and not one he means to levy. He doesn’t regret any part of this. Not for a single instant.

He takes his usual route and settles for action when words fail him—cradles Fai’s captured hand with his own and presses his lips to the center of Fai’s palm.

He looks the way he does every time Kurogane manages to demonstrate some degree of the depths of his feelings: as though the floor has fallen beneath his feet and he has no ground to stand on.

“Oh,” the mage murmurs, backlit by a low light that bounces subtly off the silk of his clothes and the shining gold of his hair. Kurogane wants little more than to pull him deeper into shadow and kiss him until everything he struggles to say coalesces without words.

He doesn’t look away as he shifts their positions to let Fai’s shaking fingers linger over the shape of his jaw. He keeps his hold on Fai’s wrist gentle—tries to provide an anchor to reality as the blonde’s thoughts race behind his eyes. “…Kuro? I’m not…sure this is the time or place for—whatever this is.”

He’s not wrong, but he also makes no move to pull away. Kurogane sighs and closes his eyes, tries to block out the vision that captivates him even as he leans into Fai’s touch. He can’t do more than that with the party still buzzing, barely concealed behind the thin veneer of privacy the alcove affords. He has to say something. He can’t leave it be—not now with his mind so locked on the idea of forever.

“I—Fai. When all this is over, do you, maybe—”

He almost says it then. He doesn’t’ even know the words on the tip of his tongue—they spill forth organically, easily for once in his life and he’s going to say something, even if he doesn’t quite know what. So of course that’s when the kids find them.

“Aha! Mokona’s super secret technique, Finding Mommy and Daddy!” the blasted bun’s cheery announcement treads roughshod over his every nerve. Probably Fai’s too if he had to guess; the mage jerks back as if he’s been burned, his awful fake smile plastered back into place. “Oh no! Did we interrupt?”

…we…?

Kurogane takes a deep breath and dares to turn around. Sure enough, there stand both Syaoran and Mokona. The Manjuu is perfectly chipper but Syaoran at least has the good grace to look embarrassed.

“S-sorry!” he stutters, face a burning red. “I didn’t know you were—uh…. We’ll just go over here, and—”

Fai comes to their rescue as usual. All too used to acting despite his feelings, he casts off embarrassment like a shroud and bustles forth to reassure the kid.

“Nothing to worry about!” he crows, “We were just about to head back in to the fray.” He glides closer to Syaoran and blocks the lingering electricity in the air with distance. Every motion still so damnably graceful—Kurogane feels further doomed with every breath. He crosses his empty arms and leans into the wall, watching his love retreat.

“Ask me later?” Fai mouths as he rushes away, the corners of his eyes soft with apology. Kurogane huffs and musters something like a smile to reassure him.

“Sure,” he mouths back, though he still doesn’t really know what he wants to say.

…this is going to be a thing, isn’t it? He can just feel it.

#TRC #tsubasa reservoir chronicle #Kurogane #Kurofai #fanfic

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hydrokinesis890clampverse · 6 years

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Tsubember Update : Finally the Moment You have all been Waiting for...~

The prompts for Tsubember~

**Note** as you all know Tsubember will be all of the month of December to comemerate our appreciation for Tsubasa Chronicle. Cardcaptor Sakrua and xxxholic will also be tied in as they are all directly linked thanks to Clow Reed.

Day 1 : Something to comemorate our favourite group.

Day 2 : Free Day (post whatever you please)

Day 3 : Most memorable story arc of Tsubasa Chronicle.

Beginning of Sakura Week

Day 4 : Moment you started to love Sakrua (Princess Tsubasa, Clone, or Sakrua Kinimoto)

Day 5 : Sakura and your favourite of her companions - Cannon love interest excluded. Can be from CCS aswell.(Cannon/Cosplay/Fanart)

Day 6 : Favourite Sakura Outfit. (Cannon/Cosplay/Fanart)

Day 7 : Sakura interactions with either one or the other Cardcaptor Sakrua or xxxholic.

Day 8 : Cardcaptor Sakura Day (Anything Related/Pretty Generic)

Day 9 : Freey Day! Post what ever you want from which ever of the three you want. (TRC, CCS, Holic)

Day 10 : Fave non-main characters of Cardcaptor Sakrua

Beginning of Syaoran Appreciation Week

Day 11 : Tsubasa and his clone. (Either Father or same age? Still father) xD

Day 12 : Syaoran focusing on a task. (CCS included)

Day 13 : Syaoran and Kimihiro

Day 14 : Syaoran and your fave companion (CCS included).

Day 15 : Syaoran and Sakura (CCS included)

Day 16 : Free Day! Post anything from any of the 3.

Day 17 : Yuuko Appreciation Day

Beginning of Kurogane Week

Day 18 : Kurogane and Fai

Day 19 : Kurogane and Mokona

Day 20 : Kurogane and Tomoyo

Day 21 : Kurogane’s strongest development in character.

Dayr 22 : Kurogane’s family (cannon or future headconnonish) *snickers at last thought*

Day 23 : Free Day! Post Whatever you want!

Day 24 : Kimihiro Appreciation Day

Beginning of Fai Appreciation Week

Day 25 : Fai in his home climate (since its Christmas Day and its freaking cold in the winter her in the North).

Day 26: Kitty Fair Fai

Day 27 : Fai in xxxHolic and/or CCS

Day 28: Fai encountering Kero and Yue

Day 29 : Fai and Yui

Day 30 : Toya and Yukito, Yue and Kero, Ruby and Soopy Appreciation Day.

Day 31 : Clow Reed Appreciation Day.

!!!!!!!!!!HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!

Anyway sorry that this took so long to post (^^) There was so much to take into consideration on types of prompts and characters. I wasn’t able to cover nearly ¼ of it. Next year things should be a bit more shaken up with more variety. (*^*)

Anyway hope to see you guys participate in Tsubember :D It’s going to be great!! Just try to remember the #Tsubember tags during December so that we can all see them :D

Note: None of this is limited to cannon unless specified. Fanart (aslong as proper credit is given, and link to the source **proper permission from the artist is definitely best**) is fine, especially since it helps artists get more recognition. This is also not limited to GIFs, photos, or videos. There can be anything that you think of that is appropriate :D. Also you don’t have to go with the days like a rule book, its just a guide line for if we can’t think of anything to post.

#tsubember #Tsubasa RESERVOIR CHRONICLE #tsubasa chronicle #xxxholic #cardcaptor sakura #sakura #clone syaoran #clone sakura #CLAMP #watanuki kimihiro #clow reed #sakura x syaoran #december #appreciation #appreciation month #1st tsubember ever XD

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mysticdragon3md3 · 7 years

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Time for my post-WonFes2017summer picks. ^_^ (Also including some figures that were announced a little before WonFes.)

My definite buys:

For me, the heart-stopping surprises were Nendoroid Taikogane Sadamune and Nendoroid Lina. I mean, seriously?! *O* Sada-chan was on my WonFes wishlist, but I didn’t think there was a real chance of seeing him! And Lina---! That was completely out of no where! Slayers was one of my oldest fandoms, and I didn’t think anyone even knew that series anymore! On top of that, the Volks booth at AX2017, less than a month ago, made it seem like Volks had all the rights to make Lina figures. Though I would have preferred her TV series outfit, her movie outfit has pretty versatile pants that might be good on other Nendoroids. And hey, if she paves the way for a Nendoroid Zel, then I’ve got no complaints. Regardless, a Nendoroid Lina Inverse is a dream come true. *o* The way I felt when I saw these 2 Nendoroids is exactly how I should feel about all the figures I preorder (instead of wasting my money on lukewarm buys).

Casual version Yuri was also a surprise. Not the “take my breath away”, "I can't wait to buy this" type of surprise, but more just surprised how much Good Smile Company is milking Yuri on Ice. I guess it makes sense, with the fanbase so rabid. But a whole other Nendoroid only really makes sense in terms of the characters’ different skating outfits. This isn’t a skating outfit! But somehow they knew they could get away with this, AND an upcoming coach outfit version for Victor! LOL ^o^ ...But I can’t really complain. I love versatile wardrobe for my Nendoroid collection in general. Now I don't have to get that Nendoroid Yuki Nagato Disappearance version for her own similar coat. ^-^

And of course I'm obligated to get the maiko version of Kyoko Sakura. She's my least favorite of the Holy Quintet, but I love wafuku, I'm a completionist, and I am getting the rest of this upcoming PMMM maiko set. I'm sure they'll make her look beautiful. Anyway, I kind of liked Kyoko from the Rebellion movie. ^_^

Figma Joker didn't premier at WonFes, but he was displayed there, while his preorder was just opening. So, let's count him. I NEED THIS FIGMA SO MUCH. Regardless that I had just decided to drop collecting Figma, since I prefer chibi Nendoroids... But this Figma, I'd have no regrets getting. ^o^ Joker's costume is just so cool! I've always loved black trench coats, often drew them on character illustrations, and almost bought Nendoroid/Figma Kirito just because of his black trench coat (even though I don't watch SAO). But now that I'm totally in the Persona 5 fandom, I'm so glad that there's now a black trench coat'ed figure for a character I already love.

Next are figures I might buy, but not quite sure yet:

I haven't watched "Welcome to the Ballroom" yet, but if Tatara Fujita's scruffy-haired character design is any indication, he might be the earnest, sincere, cinnamon roll type that's one of my favorites. *.* If I get into this series late, and it turns out I'll love it, then I'll really regret missing this preorder window. But even besides that, his tux is so versatile and nice, I might want to get him just to add to my Nendoroid collection's overall wardrobe.

I kind of dropped off of watching "New Game" for some reason, even though it's got all the moe and "slice of life" that I love. o_o? But before I forgot about it, Hifumi was one of my favorites. ^.^! So socially awkward and exuberant through text messages...She's just so relatable! ^u^ And so adorably shy! If I was following this series closely, I'd HAVE TO have this Nendoroid. But I'm not so sure now.

Kasen Kanesada has nice character design, but I really have to lay off the Touken Ranbu Nendoroids. Originally, I wanted only the Date-gumi Nendoroids. But before Orange Rouge was created, we had to support all the male figures we could, until they got the hint. In other words, I bought all of the first few Touken Ranbu Nendoroids, and now it's ballooned into this huge chunk of my collection. x_x; Even though they have such nice character designs, I really have to stop now! @w@! Also, I'd normally collect all the hakama I could, but I've already got some from 2 other TouRabu Nendoroids and 2 more TouRabu Nendoroid Co-de. I should really stop now. ...But I do like wafuku...

This chibi Lelouch is an Ichiban Kuji / Kyun-Chara from Banpresto. I don't really have any feeling about this Code Black costume design, but I'm just so desperate for a chibi Lelouch to match my Chibi-Arts C.C., I'd probably buy this figure if I came across it.

Next group is made of figures I really shouldn’t buy, but they’re very tempting:

A few days ago, I saw Nendoroid Tomo Kunagisa, and though I have no idea what "The Beheading Cycle: The Blue Savant and the Nonsense Bearer" is, I began to seriously think about preordering her. She's got multi-shaded blue hair! *o* It's got hints of greeen and indigo... I'm a sucker for pastel hair and cool colors (vs warm colors), but most of the pastel-haired Nendoroids I already bought are lavender or pink haired. I'd _love_ more blue-haired Nendoroids, especially with multiple blue-ish hues like Tomo. Plus, she's just so cute! Look at her little bare feet! She comes with down AND braided hair...Her coat is cute...She holds a little flower accessory...And she even comes with a seated pose!

But if I get Tomo, I'd have to get Ii-chan, from the same series. I say that as a completionist, but honestly, his casual hoodie sweatshirt and jeans would be a great addition to my overall Nendoroids' wardrobe. And I'd no longer have to consider geting an Osomatsu-san Nendoroid, just for the same type of outfit. That'd be a relief, because I'm not really a fan of those Osomatsu character designs. But if I'm in for Tomo, then I'd be in for Ii-chan too, and that sounds like a lot of money for a series I know nothing about and characters I don't know enough to have attachment to. o_o;

Then there's the Arthur Pendragon Nendoroid. I'm not really a Fate Stay Night fan, let alone, a Fate Grand Order, or whatever spinoffs are going on with that series now. But that Arthur Pendragon has a nice character design! I really like his hair, going off into different directions. And that armor could turn out pretty cool once it's painted too. Previously, I've gotten Nendoroid Annelotte just because of her intricate armor, even though I wasn't into her series. So why not Arthur Pendragon? Like her, he could be a beauty piece. And maybe it'd be nice to have a Western styled warrior next to my Touken Ranbu Nendoroids. He'd either fit right in or make an interesting contrast. It would just seem unfair if I didn't get him, while I was willing to get all those TouRabu Nendoroids---But I'm supposed to be saving money!!! I have to stick to my rule of not buying from series/characters I don't know! For once, I need to TRY adhering to that rule! ;o;

The Code Geass figures are pretty self-explainatory, given that it's one of my favorite series and CLAMP's Mokona Appapa is one of my favorite illustrators. ^_^ But still, static scale figures are soooooooooo expensive. And that Lelouch/Suzaku figure looks super expensive! x_x; I can't get that.

And lastly, there are the figures I’ve decided not to buy:

Some of these figures used to be on my wishlist when they were first announced, but I've decided against them by now. The rest are just minor interests worth noting, but I never intended to buy.

Originally, I was going to get Figma Utena, Figma Umi Ryuuzaki, Figma Fuu Hououji, and Nendoroid Ariel. But I got Figma Hikaru Shidou a while ago, and though I love that character, I just can't really get excited about scale figures. But it's not just that: I have to save money, especially when I know there are so many Nendoroids I want. x_x; And of course, Racing Mikus are just fanciful dreams that I will never actually purchase. Racing Mikus are too expensive! Otherwise, I would have also gotten that knight themed Racing Miku, in addition to this year's green butterfly fairy Racing Miku!

And Ariel, though not a scale figure, just didn't turn out as cute as I had hoped. When I first saw her figure announcements, I very weakly committed to considering her preorder, because I wanted to try turning my other Nendoroid characters into mermaids/mermen. But looking at her waist joint close up, I'm not sure it would align well with the Nendoroid Co-de Fundoshi, Nendoroid Aoba Seragaki's alternate body, etc. And let's face it: I have to cut more out of my figure spending. And realistically, I'm not fanatical about Disney. I have to drop Ariel. If I really want a mermaid Nendoroid, I should make a tail accessory, even as jsut a cloth sleeve to slip over a Nendoroid's legs. I *make* figure accessories for aritst alley, for goodness sakes! I shouldn't have to rely on Nendoroid Ariel for my Nendoroid mermaid/merman figure photography.

Juzumaru is pretty, but his costume design really isn't doing it for me. He's just an honorable mention because I like Touken Ranbu and he's voiced by Hikaru Midorikawa, and old favorite seiyuu.

Ryu Mustang is also an honorable mention. I have no intention of buying him either. He's just worth noting because FMA is cool. ^_^

When I originally saw the Magical Mirai 5th Anniversary Miku's unpainted prototype, I'll admit that big top hat was intriguing. But Do I really need it? I can make that. I already have made smaller top hats for my Nendoroids and Chibi-Arts before. I was not expecting this Magical Mirai Miku to look so good after painting. *_* All the cool colors I love, different hues blending together in her hair, and that cool backdrop of playing cards flying around behind her. It's just really pretty! ^-^ But still, another unnecessary expense.

Nendoroid Wonder Woman isn't really a figure I ever seriously considered for the sake of AmeriComi. I just happened to be thinking lately about cobbling together a custom Nendoroid that looks like me, in the same way Nendo Stories did. But looking through the entire Good Smile Company Nendoroid catalog, it seems like Wonder Woman's hair is the closest thing to resembling mine.

And lastly, Casual version Oikawa Toru. No. I am not bringing a Nendoroid Oikawa into my house! He lost whatever slim chance he had, when the Iwaizumi Nendoroid perorders closed. I might have accepted bringing Oikawa into my collection if I had an Iwaizumi to beat him up. But that's done. So get out of here, Trashykawa! Don’t come in here with your goddamned versatile school uniform that would look great on so many of my other Nendoroids… Just stop it already! ;w;

Lastly, though I like Touken Ranbu, I'm not interested enough in figures from their butai stage show musicals. I might consider the costumes as beauty pieces, if they were Nendoroids. But Nendoroid Petites are something I’m saving my wallet from. At least that’s one thing I can alleviate my wallet from buying. Thankfully. Thank goodness. WonFes is already kicking my wallet’s butt, as it is… x_x;

#figure collecting #wishlists #wonder festival 2017 summer #wonfes2017summer #wallet dying

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meimi-haneoka · 2 years

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Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card Chapter 64: Comments + JP-ENG translation differences

End of the month, it's time for another blog post about the latest chapter of Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card!!

This month we deal with a very important chapter, the 64th: as the last chapter of the future volume 13, it was expected to be particularly wild and with a tremendous cliffhanger, and I have to say that on my end it has respected those two qualities quite nicely!!

It started with a super unexpected surprise, and it ended with the promise for a quite turbulent volume 14 (possibly the last one?). On the translation side, we didn’t have anything major this month scratch that there's actually one that might cause major confusion, and alas there are several parts that need to be clarified in order to not misunderstand the characters.

Before starting, of course, we'll give a little space to our regular feature, the GIF OF THE MONTH:

Hold on tight, cause we're about to get (some) answers in this chapter! Under the cut!

The color page

Rejoice, SyaoSaku fans! You've not only been blessed with a wonderful double color page last month, where our two lovebirds wore very nice outfits, but this month as well CLAMP decided to break any unspoken rule about the color pages (once again) and propose once more Sakura and Syaoran, this time in their outfits for the play!

Of course they had to be shown sooner or later, since CLAMP are always very attentive in showing the colors of the most important outfits, and I believe in the next chapters the attention will be shifted somewhere else, so I bet it was now or never!

The background text in the JP version reads:

Alice in Clockland The performance begins!!!

Everything screams that yes, we're finally, officially in the climax!

Very serious expressions for our two kids (Syaoran got way too much in character 😆), along with the omnipresent gears and clocks. I didn't expect Sakura's costume to be black and white, the presence of light blue is very limited so it's kinda hard to tell it's an Alice dress...but I guess we have a peculiar Alice here. I also didn't expect so much gold and gray for Syaoran! All in all, another stunning illustration with our power couple!

And now, onto the chapter itself!

Come on, Alice, let’s go

We start exactly from where we left last time, with the play continuing (no, we didn’t end up in a different world yet) and we immediately find out that Syaoran is on stage out of his own will!!

My son, what got into you?? 😂 Kidding aside, Tomoyo is reminiscing of when Syaoran told her himself the reasons for changing his mind (I guess only fools don’t change it): first, because he could see that Naoko would’ve preferred for the cat to actually appear on stage and not only as an image voiced over. Then, it would’ve made things easier for his classmates too, who wouldn’t need to spend their efforts in animating an image of a cat, and could’ve used that energy in other more fitting parts of the preparations. In fact, here we find our first slight difference in translation:

ENG: “And I think it’d be a bigger help to everyone else, too” JP: “We could use everyone’s efforts on many other different things”

By the way, Syaoran sounds so casual and colloquial in this scene, I’m not sure it fits his personality of a serious kid (too serious for his own good). I get a bit of dissonance and I can’t help but raise my eyebrows at the tone they decided him to have.

Anyway, last but not least…being on stage would’ve allowed Syaoran to always stay by Alice/Sakura’s side, should something ever happen. Tomoyo is reminiscing of this convo in backstage and I love her serious expression, cause she seems to have understood this isn’t a normal play…..in fact, Naoko praises her for the outstanding costumes she has produced, and here Tomoyo breaks the fourth wall by saying it’s the first time for her to dwell so much on the design of the costumes, as she gets the feeling “Alice in Clockland” is very….special. I say she broke the fourth wall because this is basically Mokona-sensei speaking through Tomoyo, as she’s really had a hard time coming up with the designs of the costumes for the two Alice of this play (as revealed by Mokona and Ohkawa themselves during a Twitter Space some months ago). She produced lots of drafts and Ohkawa kept rejecting them!

Now, I have to once again point out how the ENG translation makes Tomoyo sound as if she never put too much thought into her designs, something that sounds really offensive towards a character who worked so hard until now to make her most beloved person happy and protected through her costumes. No, it’s just that this time it was particularly difficult for her.

ENG: “I don’t think I’ve ever put so much thought into costume design before…” JP: “This is the first time I’ve been troubled this much with a (costume) design….”

Please, don’t do dirty to our Tomoyo-chan, K-USA. Moving on~

Kero and Suppy are watching the play hidden between the trees, with the yellow beast commenting on how “the brat sure is showing off” (well, he did put on a very cool act which feels so not Syaoran 😆), and Suppy wondering if it was Sakura who asked him to come on stage to keep the situation checked for anything out of place….which Kero agrees with, since all the involved parties are gathered here (In the ENG it’s “the gang” while Kero calls them “the actors” in Japanese), and they can even feel a faint aura of magic. They know something is about to come up, and Nakuru touches Yukito’s shoulder to signal silently that he needs to be prepared.

The play proceeds, I cackled so hard at Touya’s slightly irritated face when seeing Syaoran STILL showing off all his coolness on stage 😂 The Cat introduces himself to Alice, and I’m not sure why they decided to translate “Are you the Cat?” into “Was…was that you all along?”, but anyway….

The Cat tells Alice that he will only show her the way, but the one who will decide what to do and what not, where to go and where not, will be only her. And once she decided….that will shape her world. Pause pause pause. Take a step back, get out of the story for one moment and try to appreciate the message CLAMP is sending through this scene. I think it’s really beautiful.

In the play, all the choices Alice will make will shape the world she’s going to see. The analogy is perfectly applicable in real life too, as all the choices we make, all the steps we take in this or that direction, the things we DO and even those we DON’T do, shape OUR world. And you can be perfectly sure that even from now on, the outcome of this climax will be decided by all the parties actively playing in it.

The song starts playing again in the background, as the choir calls and encourages Alice to go on her journey, and there’s a difference in translation in the latter part of the song that makes it probably hard to understand what really happened there. So from this part of the lyrics on out:

ENG “The story of her choice… A story all for her… And the cat that will lead the way to her dreams.. Alice… Oh, Alice… Carry on. But know… You can never go back” JP “The story Alice will choose A story (made) for Alice The [Cat] will guide her And Alice's wish will be waiting for her ahead Alice... Come on, Alice.... Go forward.... And YOU CAN'T GO BACK ANYMORE”

You see, I’m not really sure if it’s clear enough in the ENG version because they translated the lyrics in a way that includes the last “You can’t go back anymore” as part of the song, but it isn’t like that. In a very creepy way worthy of the best horror movie, the Ominous Voice™ decided to intrude on the song at the worst possible moment. The proof is in that “Omae” (rude way to say “you”) that’s still unchanged. They would never use that in the song. This is the Ominous Voice™ Sakura is hearing, not the kids singing the song.

Translation issues aside, I was discussing with some friends that maybe we’re giving a more negative meaning to this “You can’t go back anymore” than necessary. Because if you think about it, plain and simple, this is really what happens once you make decisions for the sake of your wish. Maybe it’s just a general statement (but we remember how they portrayed it in the anime and it is undoubtedly creepy).

The Red Queen

Guided by the Cat, Alice finds her. The other main character of this play.

We see her from behind first, and you can really tell Mokona is pushing hard on the ominous and creepy flavour of this play. Not to mention, the gears that decorate the background in this scene are straight up the same gears that appeared in Sakura’s dreams ever since the beginning. Try comparing them. The mysterious person asks her why she’s here, and Alice can only realize that being here is making her heart ache.

The other person, played by Akiho, introduces herself as the Queen of this land, but when Alice asks her what’s her name, Akiho hesitates again. Yes, I don’t think this is part of the script. Because Akiho looks really pensive (and even a bit creepy here) when she gets to that part, and this is the second time it happens. Used to interpreting Clamp’s art language, I really think something is up with Akiho’s name. They never show her eyes when she hesitates. Yeah. But please can we take a second to appreciate how absolutely stunning Akiho looks in this outfit? Heels, a dark veil covering mysteriously her face, a big rose decorating her head, a victorian dress….she’s simply amazing in this dark-ish attire they dressed her in. It’s so uncommon to see her like that, and yet I find it totally fitting for her, as let’s be honest, darkness is part of her heart too. For what she went through in her childhood, and those memories will never go away. Those scars will heal, but they will always leave a mark on her. This is what makes Akiho, too, the person she is. And she’s perfectly fine like that. ….aaand let’s not go over the fact that her dress looks a tad too much similar to the one Sakura-hime wore when everything went to hell in TRC in the Tokyo Arc. Let’s not even consider that her veil really looks like a mourning veil (with her loved one being so close to his death). Or the fact that the gear decoration on the bodice is suspiciously similar to the gear decoration on her artifact dress. Nah. We won’t see those things and just proceed forward, rejoicing in the short but appreciated appearance of our Akiho.

Alice introduces herself to the Red Queen, and reaches her on top of the stairs, Cat following her shortly behind. The background in this scene seemingly changes, but as Sakura is reaching Akiho at the door shaped like a clock, the two literally disappear.

On the Other Side

That’s it, guys. The moment we all were waiting for. Let’s get the ball rolling.

And here I have, unfortunately, to point out a translation that I didn’t like at all: Syaoran, shocked, in the ENG version says “She’s gone!”, while in the JP version there isn’t a clear subject (with only the verb “disappeared”), but it really would make more sense if he said “THEY disappeared”, including Akiho too. Come on now, I get that Sakura is his girlfriend and all, but it’s really so offensive to Syaoran’s character to make him worry only about her and discard anyone else that was with her. As a dear friend on a Discord server rightfully said, “we don’t want people to assume that’s the kind of story this is”. It’s awful, to be honest. This is not what CCS is about and yes, even a slight line like this can contribute to warping things in an unwanted direction (as if they haven’t been doing the same with Kaito since day 1).

The gang in the audience doesn’t lose time, and Yukito activates his Moon Shrine powers immediately, seemingly summoning Yue (we can see his wings) and engulfing the entire school under his protective night barrier. His eyes turn into those of Yue too. As he does that, Touya blows all of us away with a single spell:

JP: “Oh, Time. Stop.”

Yes, my friends. Touya used his super secret new power and it’s time magic. Time magic! Let that sink in for a moment…

Time stops for everyone, unaware of anything, save for Suppy and Kero, and Yukito warns Syaoran right away: (yeah, another translation difference)

ENG: “We can’t keep time frozen forever out here, you know!” JP: “Our side (we) can only stop time for a short while”

Why. What happened here, that Yukito is sounding so f*cking rude to Syaoran??? Yeah, Yuki is warning Syaoran to hurry up and go because time won’t remain frozen for too long. But he’s doing it in an infinitely kinder way than what the ENG blurted out here. I just can’t see Yukito like this. And no, it’s not an effect of half-transforming into Yue, as his speech tone didn’t change into Yue’s one. It’s still Yukito, just a bit more confident. Moreover, he’s using the “this side/that side” that’s been used by Kaito all along. The “separation” between the two sides of this ordeal, that needs to be overcome at the end of the story, to spread the message of love and understanding that Cardcaptor Sakura always stood proudly for. Moreover, it is a way for Yukito to imply that he knows “that side” (Kaito) can stop time for longer, but they (“this side”) can only do this much.

Continuing with the chapter, Touya rudely (Yes, he’s being rude 😆) tells Syaoran to hurry up and go through the “portal”, and Syaoran yells “I’ll bring her back without fail!” (I think here it might be more forgivable to say “her” and not “them” even though we have no subject in JP, because Syaoran is making a promise to Touya with something that is very much related to him, his sister). Syaoran goes and the portal closes on itself, as Yukito informs us. I have to say, this scene reminded me HUGELY of the agitated moments at the end of the first chapter of TRC, where Syaoran left for another dimension in order to save Sakura-hime, and Touyuki creating together “an opening” for him to go saving her…. Also, I loved how big brother Touya put aside his natural competition with Syaoran, to entrust his precious sister to him. It was already shown in episode 09 of the Clear Card anime, and here his behavior coherently makes no exception. He knows Syaoran loves Sakura more than his own life and he’s dead serious when he makes a promise like that.

Nakuru funnily says that stopping time is quite a cheat, but Touya tells us how things actually are. And to do that, he’s reminiscing a talk he had with his mother, some time ago (apparently, from the outfit and what she says, it’s the same day she appeared to Fujitaka and told him the story of her and Lilie). They talked about Sakura getting involved in something strange again, her powers growing at worrying speed, and how she can now see things she couldn’t see before, because apparently her own fear of ghosts and such put a cap on the development of such capability. In my opinion, this is something Sakura did at a subconscious level, though. There was no conscious effort (especially cause before the Clow Book, she didn’t know she possessed powers). Well, now that “lid” has definitely popped off, because of her huge amount of powers. And if those powers grow uncontrollably any more than this, Sakura won’t be able to govern them anymore. Touya knows their mother has been worrying about this ever since Sakura was born. So they discuss the new ability he’s developed lately: of course Nadeshiko already knows about it, which is the ability to stop time for about 2 seconds. (Note: in the ENG version they failed to understand that the line correctly translated “You can stop time” was actually said by Nadeshiko, not Touya!! Nadeshiko was merely finishing off her son’s phrase, that’s all. She isn’t saying that she can stop time, it doesn’t make sense! As I always say, when in doubt look at the multiple layers of the story, the peculiar shape of the bubble is right there to indicate that it’s Nadeshiko speaking. Just as you can well recognize when Sakura or Syaoran are acting and when they’re actually speaking normally, since CLAMP took care in using different fonts for that. I’ll never get tired to say it, you can’t read and translate Clear Card properly taking in consideration only the script)

Touya asks her mother if he could use that power should anything happen to his sister. Nadeshiko, ENG: “Yes, in her time of need. But don’t do it alone.” Nadeshiko, JP: “You’ll be able to use it for an important moment. Together with another magic power”

And that’s when we find out that when Yukito puts an entire area under the protection of his barrier, Touya’s minimal powers get enhanced greatly and he can stop time for a longer while. Isn’t this just the power couple moment I guess Touyuki fans were waiting for? 😁 It’s very lovely to think that the power of one of them can amplify the other’s….I want to believe that it’s possible thanks to their great connection and feelings they have for eachother. Nakuru is surprised but can confirm that she can feel both their powers being greatly amplified by eachother (a nuance that was totally lost in the ENG translation), but that’s when Kero completely blows his cover by yelling “SO IT IS A CHEAT!” 😂😂😂 Touya tells both Suppy and Kero to come out cause he’s known about them all along, and explains that this isn’t simply a “cheat”, they’ve been training very hard to achieve that! And this, my friends, is probably one of the scenes people were looking forward to the most, cause it was weird that they kept pretending to not know, when everything was already out in the open at the end of the previous arc! 😂 Now Touya can officially be part of the magic discussions too, if they want, and we can see how his “relationship” with the guardian beast will be! 😆

The chapter ends with a huge cliffhanger about what will happen now that the group of the “veterans” (I call them like that) has been separated, and how could we close this chapter without a translation difference?

Yukito, ENG: “Besides, it seems we can only help her on this side of the door” Yukito, ENG: “It’s all up to the Cat now” Touya, ENG: “I’m sure we didn’t stop him, after all”

Yukito, JP: "But since it seems we cannot do anything at all 'to the other side' (Kaito)..." Yukito, JP: "If the Cat won't do his best...." Touya, JP: "We won't be able to stop him".

Touya and Yukito are using the nai to + darou form here, indicating “if this doesn’t happen, then…” in future tense. To be fair, though, the Spanish translation follows the ENG interpretation, while the French one interpreted it like me. So you have both interpretations here and can keep in consideration both of them.

Syaoran needs to absolutely work his best in order to stop Kaito, because both Yukito and Touya are well aware that they cannot do that. And it’s not only a matter of mere amount of magic. I’ve always had the impression that Touya somehow knows what’s tormenting Kaito and making him act like this, so that’s why he hasn’t taken more drastic measures earlier. In view of this, both of them know they do not hold the key necessary to stop Kaito. But Syaoran might have what it takes to start destroying the walls Kaito is using to barricade himself. Understanding. A small, first step into helping him. Cause then, we all know who will be the one giving him the final blow.

This is it guys, from next chapter (the first of the future volume 14) we’ll hopefully be on the other side. Or we’ll get more flashbacks in order to collect all the puzzle pieces missing from the new character’s backstories. Regardless, we’ll proceed forward, towards the end of Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card, hopefully answering all the questions still up in the air. Surprisingly enough, we won’t even get a break! Chapter 65 will be out as normal schedule on August 1st / July 31st for the western fandom. The schedule is as follows:

July 31st, on Bookwalker, if things get back to normal, cause this month they’re super late (digital, ENG) August 1st, on Clamp-fans and Comic-days (digital, JP and other languages) August 3rd, on Nakayoshi (paper and digital, JP) I cannot wait to see who will be on the next color page. My bet: Akiho and Kaito! These two need a long overdue color spread together! And we need to see the color of their outfits!

Thank you for reading this commentary post and see you next time!!

#Card Captor Sakura #cardcaptor sakura #Clear card arc #CLAMP #ccsakura #ccs spoilers #chapter 64 #syaosaku #translation differences

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