#I think we came close in Recourt but we didn't actually see them

[completeoveranalysis]

[3]

So, the time loop will immediately leave the narrative once we get inside the building.

I have to say Evil Wolverine REALLY is inefficient with his time magic. If one area is frozen in time but another area is in a constantly repeating timeloop for arbitrary reasons with no other obstacles to keep people from accessing it?

Like why BOTHER Evil Wolverine? 

What was the timeloop even for if you could also just freeze time if you wanted? 

The excess of this man!

Though if anything it is another signifier of the suffering he is happy and willing to put people through for literally NO REASON as long as he gets what he wants eventually. These people lived out the same fraction of a day WHO KNOWS how many times, living a cursed existence that wasn't really living, for... no apparent reason! And yet he was thrilled when he saw Lava Lamp do something he percieved as being the same level of ruthlessness that he applies to every other living organism in existence, as if anyone else has any level of choice at all in the matter.

But I DO love Lava Lamp with his hood up! I don’t think we ever saw this in Syaoran's original outfit! And Hoods + Desert is a nice visual callback to Acid Tokyo, which is exactly when the Lava Lamp/Syaoran plotpoint kicked off in the first place, so it’s a nice little note to tie it all together again here at the end. 

Also that last side panel on the left there? Where we see Lava Lamp’s hand, but the shadow it casts is being distorted by the angle of the building? GREAT imagery. They didn’t NEED to do that, but it’s a fantastic way to bring back all the distorted shadow imagery that haunted Syaoran from the very beginning of the manga - an imagery that in itself was hinting at Lava Lamp, his presence in the plot, and how Syaoran was created as an imperfect and twisted version of who Lava Lamp originally was. And NOW it’s a reminder that Syaoran (who WAS imperfect and out of balance, haunting the plot like Lava Lamp did) is still lurking ahead somewhere in the plotline, and we don’t know how that will resolve just yet. 

Bringing it all back together as subtly as possible!