#MOKONA WHY

[completeoveranalysis]

[17]

MOKONA TOO?

MOKONA?

WHY MOKONA TOO?

PLEASE HOW MUCH MUST WE SUFFER

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[tsubasaclones]

i spent way too much time on this for an idea that basically boils down to “hehe i could make them grimwalkers” but that’s the curse of letting your brainrots cross over

[surpriserose]

Characters who break my heart btw 🥺

[chomesuke]

my blue badger plushie ominously watches over my room, staring with his creepy eyes. I love him.

[meimi-haneoka]

Report of CLAMP's Twitter Space - April 1st, 2024 (part concerning Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card)

As it was quite predictable, CLAMP sensei opened a Twitter Space on April 1st to celebrate this important and special day, which they consider their "birthday" as a creative group. ✨

It is also the birthday of quite a number of characters in their works, but it's hilarious they mentioned later in this Space how April 1st is actually only CCS!Sakura's and TRC!Sakura's birthday, as all the other characters have "ambiguous" situations going on. 😂 I'll delve into this part later.

You will find the full report under the cut, since the post became considerably long once again - it was inevitable since they kept bringing Sakura things up and the Space was almost 50 minutes long! 😅I also wanted to feature as many info as possible, and where I could, I wanted to translate their conversations directly rather than making a summary of it.

CLAMP celebrated April 1st going to a beloved cafè in Kyoto (they later revealed in their IG stories it's called Mont and there's always a cute dog there), spending some nice relaxing time drinking something all four together. That's when they got the idea to open a Space to celebrate with their fans too. CLAMP reiterated several times during the Space how grateful they are for being able to do a creative job like this, even after 35 years. A job none of them really imagined when they were little, as "to become a mangaka" wasn't a specific dream any of them really had.

And then, Ohkawa introduced the part of the Space where they talked about CCS Clear Card, starting by the mention of the release of volume 16 (which happened precisely on April 1st)!

Ohkawa: A serialization that lasted 7 years and a half, isn't it? Mokona: So long, right? Ohkawa: Yeah, quite long! Satsuki: Elementary schoolers have already graduated by now. Ohkawa: Yeah, the readers who were in the first year when the serialization started have graduated elementary school long ago. We had decided that Sakura would start middle school when Clear Card Arc began, and readers of her same age reached adulthood by now. Satsuki & Mokona: Ah, it's true! Ohkawa: They've stayed with us for long time, right? And now the final volume is out. *they all applaude* Mokona: It's quite a happy end, isn't it? Ohkawa: Uh? Mokona: a happy, happy, happy end. 🥰 Ohkawa: 😨...you mean, an APPEALING end, right? (Nekoi echoing her: right?) (note: happy and appealing start with the same pronounce in Japanese) Nekoi: 😅(to Mokona) What are you talking about? Ohkawa: What do you mean, Mokona? 🙃 *Mokona laughs nervously* Nekoi: Is that your headcanon or something? Ohkawa: Is this okay to say? Nekoi: Or rather, is this your conspiracy? 😂

Of course they all joked like this because they wanted to avoid spoiling how the story ended 😂 Ohkawa thanked all the readers for sticking with this story for such a long time. Long time after Sakura Card Arc, when the right opportunity came, they were able to draw this "Clear Card Arc". In that regard, Ohkawa mused that she can't even recall why the previous arc is called "Sakura Card Arc", despite no one actually calls those cards as "Sakura Cards" in the story itself (she said the characters do call them "Sakura's Cards", but not "Sakura Cards"), and Mokona seemed to agree with her, but here sensei was simply forgetting that it was Tomoyo herself the one who named them that way in volume 7 😅(in the beginning she wanted to call them "Sakura-chan Cards", then she settled for "Sakura Cards"....unforgettable Sakura's comment: "It sounds like the name of a credit card..." 😂) It was long ago, we can forgive them. 😉And they made sure to repeat the same thing with Clear Card Arc, since in this story NO ONE ever calls those as "Clear Cards" but actually just "transparent cards" or "new cards". 😂

Ohkawa added that middle schooler Sakura grew up a bit more in the last part of the story, and people who have already read the last chapter can understand what she means by that. She also said that she'd like to leave a more in-depth talk for another time, when they get the right opportunity, but the biggest reason why they decided to open this Space was to talk about unknown "behind the scenes" trivia that the fans could ask about using the hashtag of "CLAMP day" and those of the campaigns organized by Kodansha (in particular, the one to win the big A4 size clear bookmark). She also said that she wanted to give this opportunity to Satsuki and Nekoi to say something about Clear Card since the last time they all talked together, they didn't get the chance. Ohkawa also brought up the last CLAMP Kanbukai podcast, where she talked about the trivia of Fujitaka's iron kettle and that shocked both her colleagues, cause they didn't know about that detail! 😆

Ohkawa: The story I'm about to tell you is something me and Mokona know very well, since there's a precise reason behind this trivia. In Clear Card Arc there's a "key character" called Akiho. Akiho's last name is "Shinomoto" and that was decided ever since the very beginning, but her first name was originally Sairi! Her full name was Sairi Shinomoto. Mokona: It gives off a different vibe, right? Ohkawa: Indeed. I had already decided the kanji for it and all, but at some point, before we even started to draw chapter 1, whenever I talked to Mokona...(to Mokona) please explain what happened. Mokona: Whenever I tried to write the hiragana for あいお (aio) in our conversations on Line, the autocorrect on my phone would change it to 秋穂 (Akiho). (Note: another reading of the kanji in Akiho's name is indeed Ai'o) Whenever I tried to write those hiragana characters, the autocorrect would change it to akiho once the message got sent, and I was like "what's that akiho?? I didn't want to write that". I couldn't understand, because it's not like I had ever used that word with other people (note: she means the autocorrect didn't learn it from other conversations). Ohkawa: The first 2-3 times it happened I was just perplexed, but then as this "akiho, akiho, akiho" kept happening every time, I just asked her "Mokona, are you doing this on purpose??" and she was like "no, not at all!" 😂 She told me "Look what (the phone) converts this into!", but when we tried to do the same on our phones, it didn't come out to any of us! Mokona: But I did show it to you, right? That it came out like that to me. Ohkawa: Yeah, you did! I found it strange cause she said she doesn't even have any friend who's called Akiho-chan, she even tried to recall if there was a character of any series that's called like that... Mokona: Right, but I didn't know any! 😅 Ohkawa: So we started to think about it...Akiho seemed like a really cute name, it combines the characters of "autumn" (秋) with the ear of rice (穂), we pondered about it for 0.02 seconds and then I said "Let's use 'Akiho' for her name". And that's how she became Akiho Shinomoto. Satsuki: You thought that the ear of rice was a nice "opposite pole" to Sakura's spring. Nekoi: What were Sairi-chan's kanji? Ohkawa: Well, it doesn't really matter now but initially, I had designed for her name to bear a kanji only for the "ri" part, and leave the "Sai" part in hiragana. In CCSakura all the characters have their name either in hiragana or kanji, and there isn't any character who's got a name that mixes both. So I thought to do that for her. Ohkawa: Speaking of Sairi-chan, it's a good moment to mention that there's this morning drama show on NHK starting right today, called "Tiger with Wings" where Sairi Ito is starring. I really love her as an actress and I think Sairi is a really cute name, so I had decided for Akiho's name to originally be Sairi, just like hers. It's not like I created the "Akiho" character in Sairi Ito's image, but I just thought that Sairi was a really good name and there was a time when I thought that it would be better for her to have a name closer to Sakura's one, so I had initially decided for that one. But thanks to Mokona's fated intervention, she became Akiho.

Many fans who were listening started to try to type "aio" on their phones and uploaded the screenshots of how their autocorrect would suggest "Akiho" as a conversion! Ohkawa and Mokona looked at the screenshots and commented that the same result can be obtained both on an iOS phone and on a Mac computer. Mokona felt relieved that it wasn't just happening to her! 😆 Ohkawa: It might be that Mokona-san unilaterally changed her name for us, but...😆 Mokona: it's not like I was scheming for it or anything! 😆 A fan also brought up the fact that in the prefecture of Yamaguchi there's an onsen facility called "Aio Onsen" written with the same kanji of Akiho's name, and CLAMP were quite surprised to find that out.

Ohkawa: If you look at the story you'll know what I'm talking about, but in the finale Akiho reveals her true name as a 'final move', and I did think in the past that the spoiler about her true name would show through the fact that we gave her an autumnal name, but Mokona writing that 'Akiho' all those times was just so guided by fate, to the point it shocked us. And it came from writing something trivial like "Yo!" (note: Mokona wrote "ai" as a colloquial way to say "yo", "hi!") 😆 Mokona: It seems like it's quite an unusual name but don't worry, it's not like I was scheming for it! 😅

Then, Ohkawa asked Nekoi and Satsuki if there was a particular scene or part of the story they liked or if they had a fun episode to tell about...while she was waiting for their answers, she said they received lots of praises for the cover of volume 16, with many comments saying how beautiful it is, and for them it's already enough if people can even just look at the cover on the internet.

Ohkawa: By the way, you said the tone used for Kaito-san after his eyes changed was quite bothersome to you, right? Nekoi: Yeah, because I kept forgetting it! Satsuki: I wonder if people will notice...his eyes are so tiny, right? Ohkawa: Were his eyes huge, before? Satsuki: No, I mean, when turned into a tankobon his eyes look so tiny... Ohkawa: Ah, I see, I see. Nekoi: it's because we're used to see it on a screen. Ohkawa: Lots of stuff happened to Kaito-san in volume 15, and....lots of stuff happened to his eyes too, as a result. Because of that, we added a tone finish to his eyes, and it would make me happy if people noticed it. Mokona: There's quite a non-human feel to his eyes, now. Ohkawa: Indeed, indeed.

Ohkawa then asked Satsuki for her own tidbit about Clear Card, and she mentioned a color spread she really liked was the one of chapter 55, with Sakura and Akiho seemingly springing out of water, each on a side of the spread. Satsuki commented it's "a pose quite common in our artworks". Ohkawa recognized it and said the spread was actually two pieces drawn separately (as it's quite deducible by how the spread is composed). Satsuki added that in general all the art of the last volume is quite cute.

Ohkawa: What about you, Mokona? Mokona: As for me.... As you know, right in the middle of the play written by Naoko-chan, they end up in the world of the book. Well, it's not like they really go to another world. When we reach the part of Syaoran's action, both Sakura's POV and Syaoran's POV progress simultaneously...and I think if this were a video, there would be a way to portray it smoothly, but when we were working on it, Nanase told me "I want you to find a way to portray it that is fitting for a manga". So when I've got down to draw the storyboard, I've arranged the panels in a way that was quite understandable to me, but I started to have doubts whether people would be able to get easily what was going on...💦 I could understand it completely because I knew the story, but what about somebody who was seeing it for the first time...? Would it be okay...? I was quite worried about that. Ohkawa: Ooh, I see. I think somehow they were able to understand it.

After this, Ohkawa mentioned Motoko Kumai (Syaoran's, Sumomo, Nataku's VA)'s quote-retweet of their announcement of the Space, where she wished them a happy CLAMP day and said all of the meetings with those characters are a treasure to her. She added "Thank you for pouring your heart in everything you do". It was very funny to hear Ohkawa say "I wasn't the right person to read this, I get embarrassed with these praises! 😳But no, really, thank you very much." ✨

Ohkawa then said "We've been told by Kodansha that they've never had a single manga that continued for two volumes after the end was announced...well, this is our volume 16 that was extended twice 😁"

Ohkawa: I say this every single time, but in my heart, this was the story where Sakura-chan acted as a proper main character, till the very end. I think this is the story Sakura painted for herself, following her own feelings. Sorry, but this is how I feel. Of course I think it's possible to not see it this way and you're absolutely entitled to it, but we think our Sakura-chan really did her best. Mokona: She truly did. Ohkawa: Also, we got lots of comments saying that Touya used too many cheats 😆But I would like to remind everyone that Touya was a "cheater" since long time ago. Mokona: Despite not appearing often, we stacked on him many strong points. Ohkawa: He was really a cheater all along. (note: of course here with "cheater" they're meaning his abilities that allow him to do unexpected and powerful things in the plot, in order to help Sakura at the most convenient moment) I'm talking about Clow Card Arc right now (note: this is a part concerning Sakura Card Arc, actually), but to have a magical power that allows you to transfer all of it to a magical being created by Clow is already a cheat to begin with. Satsuki: he can also see (non-living beings). Ohkawa: Sakura-chan was refusing to do so, but she's also someone who can see them.

While looking at the hashtags, I can't understand if this was Nekoi's personal comment or the comment of a fan, but she said "It's good that it wasn't Touya the one finding the Cards", mocking the way he would've said the incantation to capture the Cards, and Ohkawa replied "Well, he would probably be 'Cardcaptor Touya' now. But he was an high schooler! Feels a bit off..." and Nekoi along with Satsuki mused even more on the possibility of him having a transformation scene like shoujo heroines or if he would just go capturing cards in his school uniform 😂 Mokona: I don't really think Tomoyo would put that much effort in creating costumes for anyone other than Sakura-chan 😂 Ohkawa: Yeah, Tomoyo wouldn't make a costume for him. Therefore, despite it would be quite troublesome because I don't really think Yukito is particularly skilled in sewing, what I can think of is that he would make for him some kind of awkward outfits that don't even look like cosplay costumes. Satsuki: He'll make them by himself. Ohkawa: Well, it's not like Touya would make them... Nekoi & Mokona: There's no reason for him to do it, after all. Ohkawa: He wouldn't be doing this with a serious spirit. Nekoi: So he wouldn't feel a particular reason to change clothes. Mokona: What if he wants to hide his face? What do you think? Ohkawa: Ah, you mean a mask? Nekoi: Well, it's not like Sakura-chan herself had ever any eyewitnesses, after all... Nekoi: He gives me the vibe of someone who would go and capture cards swiftly like he just dropped an item...and hey ho! It would end immediately like a yonkoma (note: four panel manga)! Mokona: He might just pay attention to not get his school uniform dirty. Ohkawa: Then, if Sakura was in Touya's place, she would just go like "Oh, I think I've heard a noise" Satsuki: "There's some rustling" Ohkawa: But I don't think Touya would try so desperately to hide it from her, like she did with him! 😁

Then, Ohkawa tried to bring the topic back to the theme of the day, Clear Card and the release of volume 16.

Ohkawa: it was the first time we happened to draw again for one of our series after almost 20 years. Of course there's been a change in the design, it was impossible for us to keep it the same. I'd be happy if you could enjoy nonetheless. Moreover, at the end of the story, the front and the back of all the Cards changed. We were able to show the back of the Cards when the special chapter was published on Nakayoshi, after the story was over, but as for the front of the Cards themselves, we have just shown a peek. Mokona: Right, and just a few of them. Ohkawa: Truth to be told, we have modified all of the Cards in their manga version. (to Mokona) It was hard, right? Mokona: Yes. Ohkawa: Mokona has rewritten all of their names, too. Because the design is different. Mokona: Yeah. I had colored them too. I thought I would die. Ohkawa: Nekoi and Satsuki worked really hard on them too. Despite that, the truth is we have no opportunity to show the new designs of all the Cards in their manga version! Mokona: It would be good if we could show somewhere the colored version of even just one Card... Nekoi: Since we worked so hard...

Many people in the "CLAMP Day" hashtag suggested for them to show them at the CLAMP exhibition of this summer. Then, back on the topic of volume 16:

Ohkawa: I know there might be people who won't think in that way about volume 16, and everything we're talking about might be a spoiler for others, but I personally think that both Sakura-chan and Syaoran-kun matured little by little during this last volume, and I'd be happy for you to see it. Eriol ended up being that kind of character, as usual... (note: she impersonated him saying something, but unfortunately I can't really understand that line) Mokona: Beside him, the "camera" of the story focused properly on all the other characters, including the Kinomoto family. Ohkawa: This is something I wanted to do since long time ago, but...Fujitaka himself didn't have any powers, and although he didn't understand very well what was going on, he trusted Sakura-chan and in the end told her something like "I knew you were going out of the house at night!" 😁 I'm really glad we could draw that scene for him. I've always wanted to portray at least once what the characters of the "parents generation" did inside the story, it's not like Fujitaka-san was spacing out in a corner oblivious to everything...and I'm glad I could portray that in the story. Satsuki: He's collected lots of suspicious books too, right? Ohkawa: Yes. There's something I asked my three colleagues to depict long time ago, and it's connected to what happens in the end. Akiho-chan in the end says something like "I want to aim for a job like this in the future!", but not only that, she also looks for rare books while travelling to many countries around the world. The first time I wanted to portray what kind of rare books she would be collecting was in a scene of long time ago, when the girls visit Fujitaka's library. I asked to please put an homage to Cthulhu over there. Mokona: It's true! Please look for it! If I remember correctly, they were some kind of grimoires that appear in the Cthulhu mythos. We have included them clearly so please everyone, have fun looking for them! Ohkawa: We have intended all of those as homages, so I'd be happy if you could look at them. (note: the chapter they're talking about is the 26th one)

Mokona: It looks like something terrible is going to come out at any moment from a corner of Dad's library....💦 Ohkawa: Yeah. But Fujitaka is like "any kind of book is welcome here!", even with books like those ones. Ohkawa: And then, there's the matter of the chocomint. There have been questions like "why do you keep bringing chocomint up?" before. Among CLAMP, the ones liking chocomint are Nekoi and Satsuki. Mokona, what about you? Mokona: I've recently started to be able to eat the chocomint ice cream from Häagen-Dazs. Ohkawa: You didn't really like it before, right? Mokona: Yes. People from the "chocomint side" will probably think it's pretty mild tasting, but...😅 Ohkawa: As for me, I can't really eat it. 😅But I feel like when a person you love eats it so eagerly, you can't help but wanting to try it too. That's the reason why we employed chocomint in the story. Maybe people who like chocomint will disagree with me, but to me it's quite a divisive kind of food, you either love it or hate it. Mokona: Its color is so overwhelmingly cute too. I always end up wishing to eat it. Ohkawa: Are you like "ugh! This was a mistake" or "well this is quite good" when you actually try it? Mokona: If I do my best, I can eat it till the end. Ohkawa: Well, we have Lilie, an older character appearing in the story, whose person she fell in love with started to like chocomint precisely because she likes it too. That's something that can happen too, right? Mokona: Indeed. For Syaoran it was the same. Ohkawa: Uhm, right, didn't Syaoran dislike it? Nekoi: Yes, but when he tried it he actually started to like it. Mokona: He could eat it because it was something Sakura made for him! Ohkawa: Isn't that amazing? Mokona: It is ����

After this, CLAMP started to read some messages from the fans, and also mentioned that the word "Sakura-chan" ended up trending on Twitter. Ohkawa: We have realized it today for the first time, but among our characters, Sakura-chan is the only one whose birthday is TRULY on April 1st! Satsuki: The double Sakura-chan, right? Ohkawa: Right. First of all, I'm not sure we can consider as a 'birth day' what happened to the existence of xxxHolic's Watanuki. Then we have the birthday of Tsubasa's Syaoran, which was decided deliberately by princess Sakura, so even in his case it's ambiguous. Another one is Seishirou from Tokyo Babylon, and in his case the birthday is a lie. So that leaves us basically with just Cardcaptor Sakura's Sakura and Tsubasa's Sakura as the only characters who are truly born on April 1st? Mokona: In the case of Sakura from Tsubasa, I wonder if we should consider her calendar the same as ours. Ohkawa: Ah, right!! Because she lives in another country, right? Mokona: And another world too.

After reading some more messages, Ohkawa said that she's very happy even just with fans of the old Clow Card and Sakura Card Arc loving the new arc too, but what makes her the happiest is to know there are people who have discovered the CCSakura series thanks to Clear Card Arc, and will keep treasuring it from now on. They also mused over the fact that they've been in activity as authors for more than half their lives and the time they've spent working together is far longer than the time they've lived at their parent's home. All four of them are extremely grateful for being able to do this artistic job as a creative group for such a long time.

Taking the opportunity of a fan mentioning the CLAMP Exhibition in July, Ohkawa gave a warm suggestion to try to visit the exhibition if possible, because judging by the current condition of their original artworks and the difficulties they're having moving them around, they don't think there is going to be another opportunity to do this again in the future. 💦

Then, a fan sent them a particular question: "Do you have plans for another arc of Sakura and Syaoran from CCS? Maybe about their wedding?" Ohkawa: Hum, in my idea it'd be best for everyone to imagine Sakura and Syaoran's wedding in their own hearts, but if there's the possibility of a continuation after the events of the last volume, we will certainly let you know.

The person asked about an xxxHolic continuation too, which of course Ohkawa re-confirmed (they're currently preparing everything to resume the serialization) and asked us to wait just a bit more for the announcement from the editorial team of Young Magazine!

After some more messages from the fans, CLAMP gave their final greetings on such an important day!

Nekoi: We only have you to thank for reaching this anniversary on this day. Thank you very much. (they all clap their hands) There will be lots of things to enjoy ahead, and I invite all of you to gaze at the pink color of Tokyo Tower. Ohkawa: It seems we'll be able to watch it from Youtube too, so please don't miss the chance. Satsuki: I want to thank everyone for your support. Just as Nekoi mentioned, we have plans for more things ahead, there's the return of xxxHolic too, and...I wonder if there'll be a new work too? Ohkawa: (laughs) Well, more than anything, there's the Clear Card anime adaptation too. I think it will take some more time but surely, without fail, the announcement from Kodansha will come, so please stay tuned. Mokona: This one volume marks the end of Sakura's story. (note: the term Mokona uses, 区切り, seems to not be a "definitive end", but rather seems to be indicating more a point of "break", a "delimitation", a "place to stop"; there's still a marked sense of "end" - whether it's just to an arc or the entire story is not clear, so I chose that translation but I wanted to point out the other nuances in the term). I am extremely grateful to everyone who watched over Sakura-chan's growth and even those who grew up along with her! We look forward to your continued support. Also, I would like to add something that is probably a bit off topic, but there are also some anime projects we have created character designs for. Ohkawa: Oh, right, of course!! That's very important. Mokona, I knew I could count on you, thanks for reminding me. Netflix announced the "The Grimm Variations" series, then Code Geass, which we've been making character designs for long time, will have a new series: "Rozé of the Recapture". Moreover, the new season of the Vanguard D anime series was announced too. Please watch those too. 🙏 And then, as a leader, this is my turn for the final greetings. I truly feel like you've been watching over us in many, many ways for the past 35 years. Whether you've liked us before and now you're taking your distance from us, or on the contrary you weren't interested in us before but now you're following us, please know all of you are still very precious to me. If you stopped reading our works, it's all right. I hope we can be reunited with you again one day through another work that you'd feel like you want to read. For the moment, I would like to thank all of you from the bottom of my heart for all of your efforts, your strength and lots of energy that allowed us to carry Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card Arc to the final act. I'm sure Tokyo Tower will shine with a bright pink color tonight! Please make sure to listen to our podcasts, and to other Spaces we'll open when we can. Thank you very much! ✨🙏

[clamptrash]

My controversial but absolutely correct opinion:

tsubasa/holic Mokona’s are hairless.

My proof:

1) A pork bun?

Very specifically NOT furry.

2) Only male characters react poorly to them. Why?

Well, have you ever had a hairless rat? They sure feel like living nutsacks, a fact EVERY male around me hated.

I, too, would feel personally attacked having a cute little sentient nutsack wiggling into my clothes while I was questioning my heterosexuality for the first time.

[the-corvus-luna]

Sakura Kinomoto's first Magic Circle, which is Clow Reed's Magic Circle as depicted on the Clow Card Fortune Telling Guide.

A brilliant six pointed Sun being protected by the Moon, meaning this magic has a tendency to be masculine since its Clow Reed's.

That's why when the Sakura Card's come into existence, Sakura's magical circle also changes since she's using her own magic to power the cards.

Similar to Syaoran's, this Circle also indicates the proper cardinal directions, starting from the topmost going around clockwise.

北、東、南、西 - North, East, South, West

Now for the fun stuffs,

We have the mashin/rune god symbols depicted:

Rayearth: NW, Windam: North, Selece: SE

Water and Fire are on opposite sides while Wind is North. Maybe the first card that Sakura used was intended, or maybe it's a coincidence...

But as a wise woman once quoted, "There is no such thing as coincidence."

Well, here's Yuuko Ichihara's circle too. Western zodiac is displayed around the Cephiro mashin/runegod sigils... featuring one that's not in MKR thats honestly just a stylized infinite symbol.

The beautiful iconography of the moon cycle in the center, featuring a full moon for the element or water and a new moon for the element of wind. Even magatama are featured.

While Clow Reed's Circle is very Western/Chinese influenced and Yuuko Ichihara's is very Western/Japanese influenced, they still prefer to refer to the elements using the 'Cephiro Sigils' as opposed to Alchemical Symbolism.

... also Fai D. Fluorite's staff is featured... or at least a similar design?

D?

D.

Look really closely at the bottom of Clow Reed's Circle....

D...

Clow Reed potentially was a part of The Magic Association and maybe even stole their secrets, hence why he's been able to do inhuman feats while being shockingly human.

Dies?... He'll just fracture his soul in 2 parts just to put the association off of his trail.

It's not too crazy to jump to that logic either since he knows of Cephiro (and True Mokona too) and the magic they have access to, including whatever training the magic association put him through.

I think the main question is, was the Clow Card's actually made by him or did he steal it from the magic association? Do the cards attach themselves to their most powerful user, meaning they had another owner and another name in the past?

[myrfing]

big old catchup on lv93 area/quests

i would like 2 tuch it. also wuk lamat give you a banana bread.

i can quench it. so that's what your teacher tasked you with LAUGHHHHHHHHHH SHE LITERALLY GAVE YOU A QUEST TO MAKE FRIENDS HELP ME. also I couldn't find alisaie on the footpath down despite circling the area dozens of times and it's bothering me forever. if you know what she ways on the way to see the graveyard a at proof let me know .

:] gourd slab. it's just a gourd. thank you. this guy is my favorite of the giants just chiseling

Punished Japan Writing

LEADEN? come on. you've taken heavier loads. i cant say that

no way.

NEW CONLANG :DDDD can't want to see its rules...also lol gourd autotranslate echo cheat. i like how often he is simply not saying anything this expac. it is in his nature. also

why if it isnt the heart of shadowbringers it's good to see you here

YOU ARE SOO FUCKING CUTE mokona ass creature. this dungeon is beautiful btw

💪>:D uncharacteristic but cute

GUYS ITS OK. how sweet to have giants on the onset bid us to live though

bakool ja 2 balls disaster

erenville's maplestory cursor.

alisaie to be honest sometimes i think some people just need to die

why not egg boy

I really wish trust trials weren't a thing. lmfao. i want to do these fights with other people and not bots but whatever. the "I have to keep in tone with the story" compulsion controls me like a puppet

you two really just sat around out here trying to out-bitch each other I need you so bad

i couldn't help myself

i wish they hadn't revealed solution nine (?) to keep the red herring of "are they talking about amaurot" more alive

? STOP DRINKING IT

there's a leve about this too (enamored)

dude.

ohhhhhhhhh. i love so much npcs you introduce to the adventurer trade. come be a fuckass gig worker with me. say hi to the vath deftarm if you meet him

baby. i like how it just scuttles away.

SO FUCKING TRUE MURFURLUR SWEEP you and gourd are one of soul

weeee

yeah that is how he sleeps still. the shoes on the bed bother me so much dude they should've given us feet in dawntrail no matter what at the cost of anything (levitation)

wuk: (YELLS OVER THE CITY)

wuk: :3

gourd: :)

I Will Carry U Onto The Ship

it's nice that she's putting some thought into it but it's still very Baby's First Concept of War and Peace. not just her but well most of the game so far really

[kamuishiro]

not including tokyo revelations or shunraiki!

[completeoveranalysis]

[19]

This is also the funniest way this could have gone. Naturally Watanuki feels bad for the way it all went but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ You can only help someone so far, and only if they want it. 

Very fun to me that Watanuki just devolves into “Well if I ring the doorbell enough times maybe she’ll change her mind”.

On the one hand Watanuki gets a pass for being a fictional character that we know has good intentions, because this would be harassment otherwise. 

On the other hand he is so desperate to help someone. He is clinging to the idea that he might be able to grant her wish - even though it’s not even technically a wish he is granting, but fixing a fundamental fear that is haunting her. 

He won’t let this go because he’s just lost so much, he needs it all to matter, so he can do a good job on behalf of all the people he just lost. 

He is putting too much on himself, but yes I absolutely want to see where this goes. 

… but not now! Apparently that was the end of the chapter. 

Excuse me time to retire to the wailing room. 

[rayshippouuchiha]

No One’s Here To Sleep by mokona-pyuh

Summary: In which Shukaku doesn't take kindly to the Akatsuki trying to rip him from Gaara, panics, snags both of their souls and sends them across dimensions to a new body. Crack-ish. Gaara-reborn-as-Skull.

Link: fanfiction.net/s/12692779/1/

  

Highly rec! I think even if you didn’t know one of the series, or the characters, it would be pretty easy to understand what’s going on and why it’s so funny. They give you enough background for that with descriptions that are on point and succinct.

!!!!!

[dimensional-bitch]

Anyone else remember that time Syaoran got taken down by a coconut and Kurogane lost his shpadoinkle over it? Cuz I do.

The relationship between master and disciple exists in a space that is separate from, and largely opaque to outsiders, no matter how intimately they may be intertwined otherwise. There are many unspoken cues, shared secrets, and games played with their deeper meaning understood only by the closed pair. Fai understands this on a visceral level, has had all of the intricacies paraded in front of him daily, and would never dream to question it normally, but-

"Did you really need to bean him with a grapefruit before he's finished breakfast, Kuro-sama?"

___________________________

The training of a disciple necessitates patience, unwavering temperance, and a keen eye to judge skill progression. The advancement of the disciple's skills is the shared burden of both master and disciple, the nurturing of wisdom an ordeal in need of their cooperation, and the union of these an obstacle insurmountable except through mutual struggle. In all activities these truths must be remembered, for it is not only the responsibility of the disciple to learn, but also of the master to teach.

"You can thank Syaoran and Kuro-sama for the smoothies. I had only asked them to slice up some bananas, but why stop at slicing when your sword has a puree function? Hahaha..."

Of course, mutual struggle must be accompanied by instruction in the fine art of restraint.

"Just watch out for woodchips, someone also pureed most of the china cabinets while fruit was flying at their head."

___________________________

A disciple should be kept pure of corrupting influences during training, lest they fall into vulgar and degrading habits unbecoming a future master. In the event of such behavioral tainting, a master must seek first and foremost to remove the source before endeavoring to rehabilitate the injurious behavior.

"Get back here or I will slit you from gullet to gizzard!"

"Kyaah~! Mokona was only trying to help Syaoran's training!"

"Mokona, that's really not the salad Kuro-sama wanted to toss..."

[magicalgirlagency]

Who do think are the best (and cutest) Magicsl Girl mascots?

Kururun, Tropical Rouge PreCure (being cute and doing fuckall);

Kaichou/President, Houkago no Pleiades (just a tiny alien blob with a young human girl acting as their translator);

Stringbean, The Owl House (is a snake-like chimera that looks like a Dratini!);

The Pixies, Winx Club (we could use more humanoid-looking partners, like fae or gnomes);

Kero-chan/Keroberos, CardCaptor Sakura (can alternate between cuddly critter and majestic beast);

Amaru, LoliRock (same reasons as Kero-chan);

Lion, Steven Universe (more MG series should just go bonkers and give its MCs exotic and potentially deadly mascots);

Simba, Magical Fairy Persia (wanna have an exotic but deadly pet at home? Easy: Just transform them into a tiny and chunky critter!);

Masha, Tokyo MewMew (fuzzy little Pac-man creature that was sweetly named after the MC's boyfriend);

Chuchu, Revolutionary Girl Utena (Anthy sequel WHEN, Ikuhara?!);

Rabirin, Healin' Good PreCure (knows the importance of not sacrificing your mental health for someone who isn't worth your time);

Posi and Nega, Magical Angel Creamy Mami (why have one mascot when you can have two?);

Luna and Artemis, Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon (they're seemingly normal cats in the original series, but are plush toys in the live action version!);

Li'l Kyuubey/Mokyuu, Magia Record (the only Incubator that doesn't give you the urge to commit animal cruelty on sight);

Puppycat, Bee & Puppycat (cranky, childish and a tsundere);

Tikki, Miraculous Ladybug (deserves to be in a better series. Ditto for all of the other Kwamis);

Mokona, Magical Knight Rayearth (CLAMP's answer to Nintendo's Kirby: A cuddly critter of an unknown species with mysterious God-like powers);

Fuwa, StarTwinkle PreCure (should've stayed as a ball of fluff throughout the whole series).

[tawus]

What’s ur take on Gojo’s cock in general?

Like I know it’s lengthy from reading the Infidelity smut scenes, but how long is it precisely~~~??? 👀

(I think you mentioned it before but then I forgot in either one of ur other asks or in the story. 🤔)

How thiccc is it? 2 1/2 inches? 2 3/4 inches? Veins~~~~? 😏

I’m obviously asking this bc of the NSFW Pre-workout Gojo figure that I showed you. 😌

(Ngl that cock, on the figure, looks like it could be 6.5 inches. 🫣🫠🤫)

You know I’d actually sent a screenshot of your dick-related questions to a friend with the caption: ‘Mokona asking real questions’ lmao

Oh lord Gojo’s dick – the amount of discussions that transpired on the subject over my time in this fandom…

First of all, girl that dick on the figurine looks about 10-11 inches if I’m honest. I’ll explain why. A very closed friend of mine (it wasn’t me I promise) was feeling horny and purchased a 9 inch dildo, not yet having the full comprehension what each inch would feel like inside of her. Well the dildo came (pun not intended) and the damn thing was so huge that only its head fit inside her and hurt and burned like a bitch (I promise I’m talking about a friend’s experience here). And this friend’s vagina isn’t especially tight either. She once had a dick so big it hurt her at first and bruised her – but even that dick was about 7-8 inches. The dick on the figurine I believe is about 10-11 inches based on its proportion to his body, if you look at that full body shot where half his appendage is protruding as big as his 3rd leg, not to mention the extreme girth which also adds to its monstrous size.

Now lemme make something clear: as much as I fictionally glorify the big dick – irl it hurts and Gojo’s does especially. It’s just impossible to take him in without proper prep. Often it takes him all of his self-control to not push into you in one go, since although feeling your warm wetness envelop him is a feeling he’s addicted to and always craving – it’s just not worth seeing you in pain over it. (Note that we’re not talking about Infidelity Gojo here, who might want to hurt his lover in this way at times)

Following on from that, the lube thing becomes an essential and a habit: there’s a bottle in the glove compartment of your car, there’s a little bottle even in your purse (at his insistence) which you toss from one purse to another together with your other essentials such as your wallet and car keys whenever you change purses, Satoru’s fingernails are always trimmed to be able to prep you no matter the setting or place, and here and there someone will notice Gojo’s tongue absentmindedly playing inside his mouth – that strong tongue which has learned to draw even Egyptian hieroglyphs in your pussy since licking you was so necessary for him to be able to fit himself in. There are all of these minute, almost invisible to other people details which have become a part of your and his routine.

Btw over on my discord server we used to have scientifically important discussions about his size as well, with the general consensus resting on 9-10 inches with an impressive length, the utmost beauty of his organ (because everything about Gojo Satoru is immaculate – that’s why he’s Gojo Satoru), and less girthiness than Toji, who just has the fattest dick you’ve ever seen even with his lesser inches. I’d taken some pics during those discussions for visualisation

[majokkid]

A Land of Will

Cephiro is the primary setting of Magic Knight Rayearth. It is, as the second season of the anime reveals, a planet located somewhere in the depths of space.

Cephiro is a world separate from Earth and, according to the manga, was created by Mokona after witnessing the devastation and war on Earth. Cephiro can turn almost any person's wishes and desires, even subconscious ones, into reality, hence why it is also referred to as "The Land of the Will". By pure Volition alone, one can create illusions, forge magical weapons, summon beasts, and even manipulate the landscape and weather. Because of this, Cephiro is an ideal location for any magical hero to hone their astral abilities.

While the Magic Knights were originally summoned to Cephiro by an outside force, they could eventually travel there and back to Earth by their own power and you can as well! Once you have prepared your physical and aetheric body for astral work, envision yourself being engulfed and sucked in by a blinding white light. As the light fades, let the landscape of Cephiro come into view as you free fall from the sky: feel the warm sun and cool air on your skin and as you pass through the clouds, notice the vast sea disappearing over the horizon; the floating crystalline mountains; and the forests and volcanoes dotting the main islands. Pick a place to land and direct your aetheric body towards it—maybe summon a flying beast or vehicle to help you to your desired location.

When you land, your possibilities are endless! While the landscape of Cephiro is constantly being shaped by the Volition of its inhabitants, take note of the landmarks around the main islands that have stood the test of time.

If you want to forge magical weapons or tools, head for the Spring of Eterna nestled in the Forest of Silence where the legendary ore Escudo can be found. When viewing the spring from the side, it just looks like a glowing blue line extending horizontally over the ground but from above, one can see its calm waters. When you plunge into the spring, you will end up in a dark pit in which you must face illusions of your deepest fears before obtaining your Escudo. The Forest of Silence itself provides its own set of challenges, particularly that one cannot use magic there. Your troubles will be worthwhile, however, because with Escudo you can create evolving weapons that react to your desires.

Of course, you can just choose to explore the land and practice your aetheric and magical abilities to your heart’s content!

This post is part of my Magi Praxis series. If you have any suggestions for future topics, or you have attempted anything I have shared and want you share your experiences, please send me a message! I am always happy to go back and provide further explanation as well. ☆

[meimi-haneoka]

Report of CLAMP’s Twitter Space ~ May 5th, 2023 (part concerning Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card)

On May 5th, CLAMP opened two Twitter Spaces, one as a late celebration of Ohkawa's birthday and one as an "afterparty", dedicating this second one both to the Holic stage play and Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card. Actually, the mentions of Sakura-related stuff started already in the first Space, so I'm going to write the report starting from that one!

The first mention of anything CCS related is past halfway the first Space, when a question from a fan prompted CLAMP to talk about their current favorite Sakura costumes! (It seems one of them - I think it was Mokona - was about to speak about a certain costume and Ohkawa interrupted her, laughing: "That's too soon!! That's a spoiler! 😂" what a tease!) For Satsuki, her favorite costume is the classic cat one with the apron, from Clow Card Arc (side note, it seems she still had a strained back and that's also the reason why they couldn't celebrate with a Space on the actual day of Ohkawa's birthday), while for Nekoi it's the costume with shorts and diamond shapes all over it from the Clow Card Arc (when she had to sneak into a museum). For Mokona it's the bat-themed coat she had designed for the manga chapter (Sakura Card Arc) when Sakura went out with a fever, and she wore over her pajama this coat Tomoyo made her to keep her warm. Lastly, for Ohkawa it's the costume from volume 3 / the Clear Card anime OP, even though she knows it's one of the most complex ones (but she loves that it mixes both cuteness and a more mature vibe)! If she had to choose a simpler one, then it would be the classic Clow Card anime OP! Mokona also mentioned the fan favorite frog costume from Clear Card Arc, which it seems got a very slight criticism by Ohkawa because it looked too "childish", but Mokona was glad that in the end they used it anyway. Ohkawa actually explained that what she meant was more how it looked too "simple" and more reminiscing of a raincoat than a proper costume. And this is when the first interesting info comes!

A fan indicated the costume of chapter 36/37 of Clear Card as one of their favorite, and Ohkawa confirmed that they got a lot of praises for that....and then...

Ohkawa: This will become slightly spoilerish, but there is actually a reason why Sakura didn't wear (officially) this costume yet! 😉 Please stay tuned!

A few minutes later, a fan asked Ohkawa about what is usually “the driving force” that pushes her forward when she’s writing her stories. Ohkawa replied: “The end. The end is what’s most important to me. Even in Clear Card Arc’s case, the only reason why I’m doing it is because of the finale, that I decided right away and came to me like a spark. When that doesn’t happen, I get bored halfway through. To be honest, with Clear Card Arc it’s not even exactly the finale. There’s a certain event I wanted to write for it at all costs. If it wasn’t for that, I would’ve never given the OK to restart ‘CCSakura’ once again.” Nekoi: “So for the sake of the end, the story spun on itself and started once again.”

Another fan asked right after if there was any highlight they are looking forward to for the sequel of the Clear Card anime, and here CLAMP confirmed that the cast of voice actors will of course be the same! So they said that’s certainly a highlight. They also mentioned how the peak of the story will come all in the part that’s going to be portrayed in the anime from now on, so all of that is another highlight in itself. Ohkawa looks forward to hear Sakura Tange as Sakura once again. Then, talking about the source material for a moment: Ohkawa: “It took a long time, and we’ve been told that the story is kinda boring, but please trust me. They tell me I take long time to reveal all the “tricks” beneath the story but there’s a reason for that. Just wait a little more~ 😊”

Mokona mentioned that she personally looks forward to see how the director (Asaka, I guess) will portray the world inside the book where the kids go to halfway though the play (She’s talking about Clockland, of course 😊). They also wondered how they will portray the Mirror Card and the important role she will have in the later part of the story, Ohkawa in particular said Mirror has always been a very special Card (it’s one of the only 3 who can speak).

This is the content for the first Space! Only a few minutes later, CLAMP opened one more Space to focus on the Holic stage play and to talk about Sakura. Skipping to the Sakura content, a fan asked if Meiling is going to appear in the sequel of the Clear Card anime, since they liked her relationship with Syaoran, particularly the scene where they fought together. Ohkawa: “She won’t probably join a battle, but of course she’s going to appear!” (everyone clapped their hands) Mokona: “The funny thing is, when we started working on the Clear Card manga, I was wondering why Meiling didn’t appear...and then I remembered she was an anime-only character!!😂I had my memories messed up!”

Following that, Ohkawa announced something we were all hoping for as if it were nothing of importance 😂 Ohkawa: “This is something no one cares about, and I know they haven’t announced it for the new anime adaptation yet, but the script writer will be me, Nanase Ohkawa” (everyone clapped) Ohkawa: “It’s really nothing important” Mokona: “It is, instead! Thank you very much!” Mokona: “You’ll be working again with that director…” Ohkawa: “Yep, it’s real. I said I would’ve never written any more anime scripts, all on my own…” Mokona: “But since we’re rooting for you…! 😂” Ohkawa: “I’m saying this just to laugh a bit, but when I write the anime scripts, I enter my ‘nursing care mode’, I just can’t do anything else, I’ll be causing lots of trouble to the other CLAMP members who will have to take care of me...I’ll have to do this job alone, it’s a solo trip! 😅” Mokona: “The Costume design…” Ohkawa: “That’s going to be yours, who else? (to the audience) Mokona-san is going to be in charge of that.”

SO we got three important confirmations (+ the seiyuu cast one in the first Space) for the new anime sequel in the matter of a few minutes!! 😂And all of them are “spoilers”, meaning that none of this has been announced through official channels 😂But they were pretty expected...Ohkawa later in the Space said that she’s perfectly aware that Kodansha will probably get mad at her later for doing that! She said “They’re going to kick my as* right after Golden Week….but it’s okay!” 😆

After this, CLAMP were kind enough to read my message of deep appreciation for the story (Mokona said she wants to go to Italy! I wish conventions planners in Italy could take the hint…! 😂), and Ohkawa made me laugh as usual with her comments about Kaito:

Ohkawa: “This person...doesn’t think something like ‘come on, grow a pair and do the right thing!!’ towards Kaito?” Mokona: “Ah, I think it’s because she actually loves him a lot, at least that’s what it looks like! 😁” Ohkawa: “I see, I’m really grateful then 😁” Mokona: “Kaito-san should really stop messing around, though 😆”

Mokona then remembered that back when the old Sakura anime was airing, they had 2 manga serializations + the anime series to work on at the same time, and her blunt comment was “it was hell, back then”. Ohkawa: “I’m sure there are people out there who would’ve wanted somebody else as scriptwriter...sorry about that, but it’s going to be me! 😅 Actually, I haven’t even asked permission to anyone to announce these things, after all, isn’t it taken for granted at this point? Only me can do it” Mokona: “You’ve been doing this since the beginning, after all”

Ohkawa explained that there are several not-so-small differences between the anime and manga storylines, so the fact that she’s the only one writing the scripts makes everything simpler. She brought up a thing that many fans are interested in, the fact that Nadeshiko’s pendant watch from the manga is actually a key in the anime. If somebody else were to take over at this point, they wouldn’t know how to deal with that difference, because they wouldn’t know why the change was made in the first place. But since Ohkawa is taking care of it, it’s all right! Mokona said that she’s really curious to know what’s going on with Nadeshiko’s key in the anime, and what would be the developments from that. Ohkawa: “You have to trust Sakura-chan for that, not me!” Mokona: “But I believe in your storytelling skills! 😆”

Mokona then said that since the anime and manga storylines end up mixing up in her head, she’s refraining from watching the anime till everything is over. She brought up the example of Meiling of earlier on, and Ohkawa took the chance to express how wonderful the anime adaptation is and how much Meiling is loved by the fans, despite not being present in the manga.

Surprisingly enough, they also mentioned how fastly the season changed in the latest part of the story, jumping suddenly to winter. Satsuki pointed out that for most of the story the season didn’t change at all, and that the seasons actually reflect the situation of the story. When Satsuki said that, I realized it’s really true. And thanks to this comment, I think I might have understood even better why there’s a swallow coming to little wintery Kaito in the color page of chapter 62. Swallows announce the spring, after all… A fan asked a question about the handwritten text that appears in Cardcaptor Sakura, whether it’s Mokona’s real handwriting or it was created that way specifically for the manga (particularly, some kana have a little swirl that makes them cuter). Mokona confirmed that it was created specifically for the manga: in the old series she used to make it more round and cuter, but for Clear Card Arc she realized that a text like that impaired the readability, so she used more straight lines (though in the comedy parts she still tried to make it more rounded, but she admitted that there aren’t that many comedy parts in Clear Card 😅). Another fan sent a message saying they really love Lilie and would like to live with a person like her and Ohkawa was really curious to know what kind of person they thought she is, and what it is they like about her. Mokona: “Maybe she likes her assertiveness, which is very reminiscing of Akiho.”

That was for CLAMP an opportunity to talk about magicians in CLAMP world and how strong magic can distort their personality quite a bit! Mokona wondered if even Lilie is affected by this peculiarity in CLAMP world, since it is a thing (she remembered Momo talked about it in the manga), and in the end they decided to not reveal clearly whether her personality is distorted or not to not spoil the volume-only readers, because it became clear only in the chapter published last month, but invited them to guess the correct answer with a hint: “She became Nadeshiko’s friend, after all”. 😁 They also said that Lilie’s “pushy” nature is an interesting and nice trait of her. That lead CLAMP to make a list of their characters who are considered magicians:

Clow Reed – Yuuko – Fay – Syaoran (CCS) – Yuna D. Kaito – Sakura Kinomoto – Watanuki

and those who haven’t their personality “messed up” are Sakura, Syaoran, Watanuki (they say he’s on the edge, though 😆) and Ohkawa was surprised to find out that it’s almost half of them! Mokona also mentioned King Ashura from Celes country, but Ohkawa reminded her that his powers had severely messed up his personality. Then someone reminded them of Fei Wang, and of course he’s one whose personality was distorted greatly by magic, Mokona commented that the distortion went as far as it could go with him 😅

Ohkawa went further with the topic, telling a fun trivia about powerful magicians with distorted personality. She established that all people with very strong magic powers bear a burden on themselves. Supposed someone were to ask them to act properly in a situation without messing around, they’re people who don’t understand how to do that. They end up thinking 'what a bother, though'. Some of them, among that confusion, make up their own rules and become people like Clow Reed. Others just keep thinking 'it’s a bother, just a bother' and eventually end up thinking 'I don’t give a damn about it': those are the people like Fay or Yuna D. Kaito. 😆

Ohkawa: “Those two had a completely different life, though. Because Kaito had Akiho. So I guess for him it’s a bit different. But if someone were to tell him ‘You, sit down there’ he’d be like ‘Damn, I don’t want to sit down, I want to go back home’. Kaito wouldn’t just ‘sit down’. 😆Fay neither!” Mokona: “Those two are really similar” Ohkawa: “Yet they’ve lead a completely different life. My bad, but in my story Kaito became all ‘what a bore this, what a bore that’ 😅” Mokona: “I guess that can’t be helped for him, because he was severely abused and faced very rough life situations” Ohkawa: “Yeah, that’s right” Mokona: “Fay had Sakura-hime with him, so I wish those parts of him could be tamed for what it’s possible, much like it happened for Kaito with Akiho” Ohkawa: “That would be good, although I don’t know if those parts can ever settle down 😅” Mokona: “Yeah, after all, no one knows what goes through the minds of those magicians 😆”

A fan pointed out that Seishirou could be also included in the list of magicians, but Ohkawa explained he’s more of a shaman than an actual magician and those two shouldn’t be mixed up. It seems the kind of magic they summon is different.

The Space was supposed to end, but then Ohkawa had the sudden idea to ask her colleagues what’s the Card (from any arc) they would want to use the most! For Mokona it’s Fly or Flight (because she’d like to fly like a drone to somewhere, at least once 😆), for Ohkawa it’s Mirror from Clow Card Arc (because she always wanted to have a twin!! No one realized that, sensei), for Satsuki is Create and for Nekoi it’s Lucid (because she’d want to hide in uncomfortable moments 😆).

CLAMP also ended up mentioning, in their chat about the Cards, that it’s sad the Flight Card disappeared, due to its closeness to Sakura and the fact that it’s almost as if this Card had feelings of its own, even more than the old Fly Card.

Ohkawa, throughout the Space, reiterated her request to the fans to keep reading Clear Card’s story till the very end, even if right now they’re thinking ‘I would’ve wanted it to be more like this, instead’ or ‘This isn’t the kind of story I like’. She said in an earlier part of the Space that she’s aware there might be some parts difficult to understand, but that this is at the very core Sakura’s story. For her, as Cardcaptor Sakura’s writer, what makes Sakura the protagonist of this story is the fact that she’s the one deciding what to do within the story. That’s what a main character is for her, even when the “camera” of the storytelling is aiming at someone who’s not the protagonist. She talked to the volume-only readers, saying “If you keep reading and see what Sakura has decided in the next volume, I think you’ll realize just how much she’s grown up”. Mokona agreed, saying that Sakura has always chosen for herself, even in the past arcs.

Ohkawa: “In Cardcaptor Sakura’s story, Sakura always chooses how to take action, so I think it’s ok for me to variate a little bit what kind of main character she’s going to be. My partners Mokona, Nekoi and Sacchan are drawing this story with lots of care, so I’d like for you to keep reading it. Right now volume 14 is out, and when you’ll read it, I’m sure many of you will think ‘Kaito, you…!!! 💢’ 😂” Mokona: “They’re going to feel the same way Momo is feeling 😂”

And here sensei switched to another very important topic.

Ohkawa: “Apparently, the translation abroad is completely different” Mokona: “I guess it’s very difficult to convey the right meaning of some complex words” Ohkawa: “I’ve been told once ‘I just can’t translate it like this’ by the person who’s in charge of the translation. I think it’s great that they still want to try their best with a script like this one.” Ohkawa: “It’s just, you know...I can’t ask people who don’t understand Japanese to read it in our language. Therefore, I’m really grateful that they’re uploading those versions on Youtube, despite the translation being different. Especially with CCSakura right now, if the translation is different, it will end up conveying a different meaning (to the story) 😅(note: her tone right now suggests she’s uncomfortable about this) But still, I’m grateful they’re delivering the chapters to the whole world.” “I’m aware there’s someone (else) who’s writing blog posts about the translation because they feel uncomfortable about those differences, and if you can just look at those, I think it’s already enough. For example, something that really surprised me is how the word わからずや (wakarazuya) cannot be translated properly. (note: she’s referring to the ‘insult’ Momo yells after Kaito before he’s engulfed by the book at the end of chapter 70, and that Lilie mutters in chapter 72). It seems like there isn’t a word to express it. This is really a subtlety, though… There seem to be many words that aren’t perfectly translatable into English. Like 頑張れ！(ganbare!)” Satsuki: “よろしく (yoroshiku) too.” Ohkawa: “That’s right. Or 仕事 (shigoto).” Mokona: “Since the culture is different too, they have to look for a word that’s got the closest meaning to that one.” Ohkawa: “I think the people in charge are really doing their best, but when I’ve heard of (how they translated that word), I didn’t really feel good about it.” (Mokona: “yes, it’s true”). Mokona: “Even the official translation can be wrong! It’s totally understandable” Ohkawa: “I know. I guess translating わからずや is really difficult, but I think you’ll still able to understand it if you consider the feelings of that character in that moment.” Nekoi: “It's more like ‘blockhead’ ” Ohkawa: “When re-translating the word they chose back (in our language), I felt like it got translated into something closer to 馬鹿 (baka).” (note: the ENG used "dolt" which indeed got more of a "stupid" nuance) Mokona: “Ah, that’s not what she meant…” Ohkawa: “And to us, 馬鹿 means something completely different”. (Mokona agrees)

Ohkawa: “Even so, I think it’s still worth uploading the chapters officially on Youtube, so please keep checking them out. At the same time, I’m really grateful to those who point out where (the translation) got it wrong.” Mokona: “There’s really a language barrier!” Ohkawa continued saying that she’s often told by translators that it’s difficult to understand what’s the subject (of a sentence) in her writing. She brought as an example how, to this day, Yue still doesn’t have a personal pronoun he uses to refer to himself, so that makes difficult to establish the subject when he talks. Mokona wondered how the translations abroad are dealing with translating how non-human characters are referring to themselves, when in Japanese they don’t use pronouns such as “ore” or “watashi”. Ohkawa guessed that probably in foreign languages it doesn’t really matter. Despite being really grateful to all the people who are translating her work with care, she expressed lots of interest on this topic and would also like to talk to them freely about this matter, because it’s true that there are parts that are translated differently (note: or wrong, the word used can indicate both).

She extended her gratitude also to people who give their comments and impressions about every single chapter, reading them on Nakayoshi or Youtube, even when those comments are really harsh towards them and their work. Ohkawa: “I’m also very grateful to those who tackle the translation differences every month, saying things like ‘This is not right’ or ‘This is not what they’re actually saying!’” Mokona: “We could call it ‘collective knowledge’, or rather, we could really say this world is built by what everyone is saying, in a collective effort” Ohkawa: “It’s my fault, but since Momo’s wording is a bit difficult to translate, she might have been misunderstood (abroad).”

Changing topic slightly, but always staying in the CCSakura area, Ohkawa reiterated how this is Sakura’s story, and she would like us to read it till the end to witness how Sakura figured out what she can do for someone she’s just met (like Akiho), coming from a position of someone who’s always been protected and guarded by other people till now. She wants us to see how much she’s grown up going through that process. Ohkawa: “Mokona praised a lot the conversation between Sakura and Akiho in the script I’ve written for the latest chapter, which hasn’t been published into volume format yet, so I can’t say much about it…. All four of us are taking good care of portraying properly how both Sakura and Akiho will do what they can, each in their own way, so I really want you to see it.”

While repeating the fact that Ohkawa will be the one writing the scripts for the sequel of the anime, Mokona commented that she really doesn’t think anyone but her can do it. Ohkawa said “I know this myself, but if you’ll end up saying 'This is not ‘Sakura’!' because of the direction it’ll take in the future, well...sorry about that”. She saw some fans commenting in the hashtag that they were happy and relieved that she’s at the script writing again, and Mokona said the same. She was very grateful.

Ohkawa: “Sakura-chan will always be the same Sakura-chan (you’ve known till now). Cardcaptor Sakura is the story of the main character Sakura who will choose for herself what to do within the story.” Mokona: “Please watch carefully Sakura’s choice ❤️”. Ohkawa: “Really...Someone might end up telling Kaito 'Ugh, Kaito, sit down there!' (in reference to the magicians discussion earlier on) 😂” Mokona: “I really think that will happen! 😂 I think so too about him” Ohkawa: “And Syaoran...Syaoran will still have a little role! He really did his best, till now.” Mokona: “It’ll be good if he can get to have a say in this” Ohkawa: “I think he will. Really, everyone is doing their best, so...I really hope you’ll stick around to see it.” In response to a fan comment, saying how they like Sakura’s character because she is who she is, they said “We have no intention to betray that. That’s what makes her the main character and betraying the main character is not okay”. Satsuki mused that Sakura-chan was still an elementary schooler till the other day, she’s worked hard and she’s grown up so much now.

At this point they finally started wrapping the Space up with one last birthday wish for Ohkawa from each CLAMP member, while she jokingly (?) asked everyone to write again “Happy Birthday” in the hashtag. 😂 Mokona wished her the best with the imminent work on the anime scripts (judging by her words, she’ll start as soon as the scripts for the manga will be over), which she could already predict it’ll be a difficult job, even more so than the first time around. Satsuki also wished her to take care of her health since she’ll be very busy from now on, and that she hopes to be able to drink some delicious drinks with her soon. Nekoi expressed her love for her “boss” telling her that she still keeps a hat she got from Ohkawa when they weren’t professional mangaka yet ❤️ Ohkawa: “Do you love me?” Nekoi: “I do, a lot ❤️” Ohkawa: “Thank youuuu! 😂” The last message of course was from the boss herself. She mentioned the end of Clear Card which is imminent, and again invited everyone to watch the story unfolding till the end. She was talking with Nekoi earlier about how even Eriol and Syaoran were really hated while the old arcs were still ongoing: apparently back then, dozens of fans told Kumai-san (Syaoran’s VA) that they hated her because her character was being mean to Sakura! 😂Mokona sounded really apologetic towards Kumai-san and how hard it was on her back then, but she was grateful that she could endure and shake all of that off with a smile😅 Ohkawa said that the same thing happened to Eriol, both for the anime and manga versions, for how he caused trouble (to Sakura) 😆And it’s not over! Ohkawa continued saying that even Nakuru received her good share of hate because she was standing between Touya and Yukito 😂 Mokona yelled her “indignation”, because ‘Nakuru is such a good kid!!’ 😂 and expressed her wish to see more affectionate scenes between her and Yukito, since now they get along as good friends. All things considered, Ohkawa expressed her hope everyone can wait for the end to see things change. Of course, she’s well conscious there’s no 100% guarantee that people won’t hate Clear Card even after it’ll be over, and she’s ok with that. She defined herself a “selfish writer”. 😆 Mokona asked everyone to have a little bit more of patience (implying it’ll be worth it).

“Whether you laugh or cry, whether you want it or not, soon it’ll be over, so please read it till the end” ❤️