#But the real centreframe is his face

[completeoveranalysis]

[1]

OH OK THE COVER IS FULL OF BLOOD

Let's put it under a read more, just in case:

Splash text:

These days smeared with regret and shame Believe only in that time That will one day come

In which we have a soft, gentle, thoughtful Syaoran posing like he’s on the cover of a photo shoot; head gently resting on his hands, which are folded on top of the hilt of his sword; lips almost frowning thoughtfully as he gazes at the camera. 

And then there’s the blood. 

Which is just SO much worse now that he (probably?) has his soul back now. He’s committed untold horrors and will never be free of the shed blood that taints him wherever he goes. But he’s also back! Ish? Maybe? 

We have him back and he’s gone after Sakura, but he’s still here wearing an (absolutely incredible) outfit still marked with the bat wings of Evil Wolverine’s dominion. The splash text at least seems to hint that he might be just getting through this, holding out for the hopeful pivotal moment where it all becomes ok again.

Which is wild to say the least.

Would love to know more about what’s going on with him!

[completeoveranalysis]

[1]

Chapter 82 aka Symbolic sad boi hours!

I dearly love the design of the fan, and especially the little string coming off the end that is a perfect match for the one on the end of Lava Lamp’s sword. 

I want to say the flowers might be lotus this time? So could be about attaining enlightenment or spiritual reawakening - mirroring Watanuki’s steps into his final stages of character growth at the end of the story, and maybe even his learning the final bits of his personality that he isn’t currently aware of. Or that’s my rough guess anyway. 

I’m sure the outfit itself has meaning I couldn’t attempt to decipher on my own, but I DO adore that it’s very much got the same type of imagery that Yuuko has been using the last few chapters - with the fabric using a pattern identical to the very real things elsewhere in the frame, but overlapping and just off enough that you notice that it’s an imitation instead. Here it’s the birds, both around Watanuki and on the garment - especially with the one almost in centreframe looking directly at another one, which is just an imperfect mirror image in the fabric (Which in itself is a great callback to the idea of duality and twins, but we’ll set that aside for now). I like the one on his shoulder even more, with the wings of the bird behind him ALMOST looking like it extends into the material of the garment itself, but that too is just an illusion made by the pattern... OR IS IT?

The pattern of the wing even goes OVER the detail on his collar, which it wouldn’t do if it was part of the design of the clothing, but it DOES end where the fabric ends, showing that it really is.

It ALMOST makes it look like the garment is reflective, working like a mirror - but that’s not it either, because the bird’s face isn’t looking directly back, but off in a different direction, and the bird behind Watanuki is not at the right angle to be reflected on the front of his clothes. 

It’s honestly stunning to look at, deliberately misleading with no clear answer that really rises to the surface. It’s all overlapping layers of reality - things that are and aren’t real existing so closely together that they might as well be one and the same, slightly off in places but completely in line with each other in others. Does the difference really even matter, or is it just a matter of perspective? How much of reality itself is just a matter of perspective, and does any of THAT matter either?

I - OOPS

I am having the sudden memory that I might have the colour version of this saved somewhere on my computer. Let’s look for it. 

OH HERE WE GO