#There is also a fun inversion with Fai

[completeoveranalysis]

[9]

I was writing tags on the previous post and they got too big SO LET’S GO BACK TO THIS BRIEFLY. 

I think it’s fun that Syaoran is the one that asks if Clow Reed tried to resurrect Yuuko deliberately, knowing it was wrong. Since Syaoran is the one who was trying to save Sakura from the same fate from the beginning of the manga. 

It’s not quite on the same level but it’s a very interesting link in framing - a bit of a connection between Syaoran and Clow Reed, his ancestor. Both of them trying to save their special person from the brink of death, and what those wishes led to.

But also! The layer to it that’s like… Clow Reed didn’t mean to alter the universe, he just had a thought he couldn’t control. And that resonates with this Syaoran specifically since he ALSO had thoughts he couldn’t control - the clone programming was always pushing him towards the feathers beyond his ability to control it, to the point that it continued alone in his body even after his soul disappeared. Syaoran and Clow Reed BOTH had something uncontrollable within them that reacted to their emotions of grief and loss and caused great suffering in the universe - Clow Reed accidentally breaks the world, and Syaoran’s clone programming goes on killing sprees to retrieve the feathers. 

It’s a unique link between the two that is MIRRORED by Lava Lamp but comes out differently for him. Clow Reed and Syaoran didn’t INTEND for those consequences. Lava Lamp ends up in the same situation as both of them, hit with a sudden grief of someone they care about on the brink of death and tries desperately to save her - except he actually does consciously make the choice to trade the negative consequences to turn back time. Even if, you know, under duress.

Though in saying that, Lava Lamp has a fun parallel to each of them on his own as well. On one side side of the triangle Lava Lamp and Clow Reed’s wish (one intentional, one not) both resulted in someone being frozen in time. On the other side he has a different parallel to Syaoran’s wish at the START of Tsubasa, to save Sakura but pay a terrible price, where they both Chose that choice out of grief in the moment (though Clow did not).  

So it’s like a funky little Venn diagram of the horrible haunting cause and effect between intentional and unintentional choices, all focussed around these people in the same family.

[creasandart]

Hello 2020,

Alors dites moi tout, installez vous sur mon divan et parlez moi de vos résolutions pour cette nouvelle année. Certains diront ben c’est le début de l’année, comme l’an dernier et comme l’année qui précède l’année dernière, en somme c’est une année avec des mois, avec le 1er mois comme il y en aura d’autres qui se nomment Février, Mars, Avril ainsi de suite, comme les jours qui se suivront. Et d’autres ont déjà fini le bilan de leur année 2019 écoulée, et se sont armés de plein de nouvelles résolutions. Chacun vit une nouvelle année à sa façon, en fonction de son caractère, de son vécu et de ses aspirations. Alors pour 2020 je vous souhaite tout le bien que vous vous souhaitez et que vous souhaitez aux autres.

Aujourd’hui je vous amène découvrir un petit coin de bonheur situé non loin de la Rue Rambouillet dans le 12eme. Le Ground Control : ce lieu est atypique comme j’aime, venez comme vous êtes et kiffez. Il y a de la binouze, de la bouffe healthy, des boutiques charmantes, des transat confy et mon spot préféré c’est le spot Plantes pour tous que je vous invite a découvrir et a suivre sur Instagram pour transformer vos appartements en jungle et plein d’oxygène. J’y vais régulièrement me ressourcer.

J’ai ensuite pris la piste de la Rue Rambouillet en direction de Bercy. A l’aller ca roule tout seul, on est bien en sécurité avec les voitures séparées sur notre gauche.

Mais le retour c’est une vraie tannée, car ils n’ont pas délimité une piste claire pour le retour sur la Rue Rambouillet; ce qui fait qu’il faut serrer a fonds le trottoir ou prendre le risque de se prendre des coups de flash et de klaxons quand on prend un peu d’espace en milieu de route pour rouler en sécurité. Ce qui oblige beaucoup de cyclistes à reprendre la piste cyclable en sens inverse et je les comprends car je fais pareil ayant un vélo lourd difficile a manier et massif je n’ai pas le choix.

On se retrouve donc a se faire de la place sur une piste étroite conçue non pas en bidirectionnelle mais qui le devient pour la survie de tous.

Pas évident aussi de tourner à gauche en direction de Bercy niveau Ministère de l’économie obligée de se rabattre en plein milieu se signaler et ensuite calculer les voitures venant en face : une vraie galère. Mais ça ne fait que commencer car rebelotte si on veut récupérer la piste en direction du pont de Bercy il faut se signaler et bien prévoir le coup, car ca file dans tous les sens. Enfin je finis par le retour sur la piste en face de Bercy près de la station vélib’ qui d’ailleurs est en piteux état et mériterait un petit rafraichissement près des bornes vélib’.

Passés les crevasses sur cette piste, on se confronte encore à un raccordement hasardeux au niveau du feu vélo, car les voitures venant de derrière ne calculent jamais d’espace pour qu’on stationne comme eux au feu, et qu’on puisse ensuite rouler tout droit, vous le voyez aux images, j’ai eu beaucoup de mal a me frayer un chemin à cet endroit.

En résumé, parfois je me demande vraiment si les personnes qui font ces aménagements cyclables ont testé leurs pistes et ont remarqué ces grosses lacunes qui mettent les cyclistes en danger permanent. Je lis souvent sur les réseaux, plus on sera nombreux plus on sera en sécurité, ce qui n’est pas faux. Mais la Ville de Paris doit aussi mettre les moyens, et cibler ces endroits dangereux, mettre des agents qui regulent le trafic ou revoir ses infrastructures. Car la cohabitation sereine autos/vélos/trottinettes/scooter ect reste à travailler dans des conditions pareilles. Espérons que 2020 sera l’année des bonnes résolutions infrastructures pour tous les cyclistes et nouveaux cyclistes nés de la grève.

N’hésitez pas à me laisser en commentaire, les endroits cyclables dangereux ou a revoir que vous avez expérimenté dans vos trajets quotidiens. Et lançons sur Twitter le hashtag #pistearevoir avec vos photos, pour interpeller et obtenir un jour des pistes plus secured pour tous.

A bientôt.

Sentiments – Dawn Pics – Copyright (c) SB

Hello 2020,

So tell me everything, sit on my couch and tell me about your resolutions for this new year. Some will say well it is the beginning of the year, like last year and like the year which precedes last year, in short it is a year with months, with the 1st month as there will be others which are called February, March, April and so on, like the days that will follow. And others have already finished their balance sheet for the past year 2019, and have armed themselves with many new resolutions. Everyone lives a new year in their own way, depending on their character, their experience and their aspirations. So for 2020 I wish you all the good that you wish and that you wish for others.

Today I bring you to discover a little corner of happiness located not far from Rue Rambouillet in the 12th district. Ground Control : this place is atypical as I like, come as you are and enjoy. There is a lot of fun, healthy food, charming shops, cozy deckchairs and my favorite spot is Plantes pour tous spot that I invite you to discover and follow on Instagram to make your apartments like a jungle and full of oxygen. I go there regularly to recharge my batteries. I then took the track from Rue Rambouillet towards Bercy. On the way there it’s driving alone, we’re very safe with the cars on our left. But the return is a real hassle, because they did not define a track for the return on Rue Rambouillet which means that you have to tighten the sidewalk or take the risk of taking flash shots and horns when you take a little space in the middle of the road to drive safely. This forces many cyclists to take the cycle path in the opposite direction and I understand them because I do the same having a heavy bike difficult to handle and massive I have no choice. We therefore find ourselves making room on a narrow track designed not in two directions but which becomes so for everyone’s survival.

It’s also not easy to turn left in the direction of Bercy, at the level of the Ministry of the Economy, which is forced to fall back in the middle of the road, to signal and then calculate the cars coming opposite: a real hassle. But it has only just started because rebellious if we want to recover the track towards the bridge of Bercy it is necessary to signal and plan well, because it goes in all directions. Finally I finish by returning to the track in front of Bercy near the Vélib station, which is in poor condition and deserves a little refreshment near the Vélib terminals. After the crevasses on this track, we still face a hazardous connection at the level of the bicycle light, because the cars coming from behind never calculate space so that we park like them and that we can then drive straight ahead, you see it in the pictures, I had a lot of trouble making my way to this place.

In summary, sometimes I really wonder if the people who make these cycling facilities have tested their tracks and noticed these big gaps that put cyclists in permanent danger. I often read on the networks, the more we will be the more secure we will be, which is not untrue. But the City of Paris must also put the means, and target these dangerous places, put agents who regulate traffic or review its infrastructure. Because the serene coexistence of cars / bikes / scooters / scooter remains to work in similar conditions. Hopefully 2020 will be the year of good infrastructure resolutions for all cyclists and new cyclists born out of the strike.

Feel free to leave me a comment, the dangerous cycling places or to review that you have experienced in your daily journeys. And let’s launch on Twitter the hashtag #pistearevoir with your photos, to challenge and one day get more secure leads for everyone.

See you soon.

Feelings – Dawn Pics – Copyright (c) SB

  #PisteArevoir Hello 2020, Alors dites moi tout, installez vous sur mon divan et parlez moi de vos résolutions pour cette nouvelle année.

[completeoveranalysis]

[1]

Chapitre 183 - The World of Sand 

In which ARE YOU KIDDING ME? THIS IS INCREDIBLE. 

BLACK AND WHITE INVERSE COLOUR SAKURA AND SYAORANS? OHHHHH CLAMP ARE GENEROUS. CLAMP ARE GIVING.

Even just how each couple is wearing the colour opposite to their background, but also the opposite of the opposing pair.

And how the feathers are in the SAME but OPPOSITE part of the page for each side, showing that they are visual inversions of each other’s reality, but the feathers don’t look the same, and are shown at unique angles. Potentially they’re falling on one side but rising on the other. Potentially it’s the same for each, but its showing that neither story is complete without the perspective of the other. 

And how the small circles on the right are small and clearly defined against the background - perhaps falling water droplets, like the falling feathers around them? - while the ones on the left are fuzzy shiny orbs, like motes of air or magic rising through the sky. I think the implication of movement is a bit open to interpretation, you could go either way. IS one side falling and the other rising? Is the fate of that Sakura/Syaoran pair falling downward while the other rises? Is one falling to ALLOW the other to rise? Is one pair doomed by fate BECAUSE they are clones? Or are they drifting down and out of the narrative and into freedom, while the other pair takes up the fight in their stead? Is one background Black because their future is dark, or because they CAME from that darkness, as created tools of Evil Wolverine? Or is it their clothes that matter? Are they the light in the dark, the fragments of people who fought to change the future despite their origins? White clothing because they were initially empty and devoid of anything? Is the other background similarly white because it hasn’t been written yet - a future so undefined that no-one can tell what it will be when this is all over?

Are the circles actually heading in the same direction on both sides of the page, and the difference is how they are perceived? How one stands out against the darkness while the other needs help to be seen at all? The clones WERE the most visible throughout most of the story, and only through their existence did the other pair get the chance to enter the narrative again. 

I - oH fuck I forgot that this would be in colour and that I HAVE IT. PLEASE HOLD. WHERE IS IT. 

HERE IT IS! LOOK LOOK LOOK

EVEN THE SPLASH TEXT IS INVERTED

MIRROR IMAGES

And OH all that gorgeous golden ornamentation, the gem colours actually staying the same on both sides of the page. The clasp on Syaoran’s upper arm is the same symbol as on the previous cover, on Fai and Kurogane's clothing, which is a very fun connection that shows it wasn’t just an alternate world we didn’t see, but an intended shared thread of imagery for them all. 

The long pieces of jewellery that the Sakuras wear are gorgeous and delicate and intricate. It could be echoing the design of vines and natural growth - perhaps because she can communicate with spirits, and is in touch with the natural world, or perhaps because she is a desert flower herself, growing out of a literal world of sand but also blooming despite the extreme adversity, and blossoming out of pure determination. It also has visual echoes of imprisonment - it circles her neck not at a low level like a necklace, but high like a collar. It spreads across her like roots, holding her in place - or is it the opposite of that now? Is she, aware of her fate as she is, wearing Evil Wolverine’s designs like they're just a gown to be worn? Something she can’t take off but has learned to make work for her?

The Syaorans have a circular loop in the design of their coat around their necks as well - because they’ve been just as trapped in Evil Wolverine’s schemes. For the Syaoran on the right especially the loop around his neck has two circular gems visible that could echo the same shape as the goggles he used to wear, bringing in an element of the past that shaped who he is but at the same time was a design placed on him from birth, one that was all by someone else’s plan. 

AND THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THEM. The colour version lets you see the heterochromia in Syaoran's eyes on the right, showing which pair is which, and the DIFFERENCES in how they stand. (If they ARE in the pairs you would expect) Clone Sakura looks down, as if unfocussed, because she IS currently narratively dead. Or is she instead gazing at her hand, being held by Syaoran? She has wanted this so desperately and for so long. Does she look sad because she is currently dead, meaning they might never be actually together? Is she unfocussed because she has not yet had the chance to truly see that her sacrifice worked, and that Syaoran really has been restored? Either way, Syaoran holds her hand up in support, gently from below. 

The Syaoran on the left holds the other Sakura’s hand up close to his chest, hand clenched tight. This Sakura and Syaoran both look ahead - at where they are going? At what lies ahead for them both? Neither looks especially happy, but neither looks especially unhappy either. Lava Lamp has always been particularly unreadable, but the way he grasps her hand betrays how hard he’s been fighting for her. Sakura in turn looks just as unfocussed as her counterpart - and if Evil Wolverine is to be believed, it’s because she’s also dead. I DO NOT BELIEVE THIS THOUGH. She could potentially be in dreams, asleep for the entire plotline, held as a backup until they free her. She is not particularly aware that her hand is being held, and isn’t participating in the motion like the other Sakura seems to be, but she looks ahead all the same. Whatever they're looking at, they're clearly moving in a different direction entirely to their clone counterparts.

Meanwhile Clone Syaoran looks directly at the camera.

[completeoveranalysis]

[4]

~

Warning! This post contains spoilers up to chapter 170 of Tsubasa (and Chapter 71 of xxxHolic). Please skip this if you have not read that far.

Please also make no comments about what happens after that point in either manga.

~

I am physically restraining myself just from staring at every single panel with Tomoyo because they’re all endlessly gorgeous.

But that aside: THE CURSE

THE CURSE

It’s absolutely WILD to me that this scene is presented to us as purely comedic. Did the beginning of the series need it to be that way? Yes! It’s on the heels of bleak tragedy and a dying Sakura - bringing in the dazzlingly hilarious Tomoyo (I am utterly unbiased) and the indignant screaming Kurogane is such a fun way for them to play with some Shounen tropes, entertaining the audience and break up the tension. It’s all easy to digest and a great way to lighten the mood.

NEVERMIND the fact that we later find out the reason Kurogane is so strength obsessed is because his entirely family was brutally murdered and he watched it happen, as a child.

NEVERMIND the fact that Tomoyo has already seen what happens in Seresu and knows just what heartbreak will happen over the course of the journey she’s sending Kurogane on.

And NEVERMIND the fact that this curse is a deliberate move to try and prevent Kurogane from killing Ashura, so that Fai’s second curse won’t trigger and potentially end in tragedy.

Also with that all in mind it’s so JUICY that we can draw a straight line from this moment to the moment where Kurogane returns to Nihon and see exactly how deep and incredible his growth really was. This early version of Kurogane is so focussed on Fighting and Killing and Strength, because he’s stuck on the concept that those are the only way to prevent tragedy from taking away the ones you love.

And not only does he learn that the opposite is true, but Seresu ends with him doing the complete inversion of this ideal. He kills someone to save someone he loves and instead of him becoming stronger (like earlier Kurogane would have wanted) he GIVES UP HIS SWORD ARM.

HE GIVES UP ALL NOTIONS OF FIGHTING AND STRENGTH AND VIOLENCE TO KEEP FAI ALIVE.

AND HE DOES IT SWIFTLY AND WILLINGLY AND KNOWINGLY, REGRETTING NOT A SINGLE THING, BECAUSE IT MEANT KEEPING FAI IN THE FACE OF AN ENTIRE WORLD CLOSING IN AROUND THEM.

AND THAT’S STRONGER THAN FIGHT HE EVER COULD HAVE WON.

[completeoveranalysis]

[1]

We continue with Ashura’s manipulative shenanigans, hammering home the fact that every step he’d taken to encourage Fai to love and protect Celes was always with the intention that Fai would be forced to kill Ashura in the future. Which, again, is an act that openly uses Fai’s caring nature against him. It erases any hint that any of this was genuine and confirms that Fai was only here as Ashura’s pawn from the beginning. 

But on the plus side! It appears Fai managed to evacuate the non-murdered population of Celes out of the country. Because this is Tsubasa, I can’t be sure if this means he moved them to another country in this world or to another world altogether, but for the narrative purpose it hardly matters. Ashura can travel worlds too, so he would find other people to murder eventually. 

It’s a small detail they’ve thrown in but it changes a lot about how the narrative let’s us interpret Fai’s actions. In the previous chapters it was implied that perhaps Ashura had already killed everyone in the entire world. Luckily, this was not the case. But it also lets us reframe Fai’s motivation for sealing away Ashura. If everyone was already dead there would have been less urgency and Fai may have been sealing him away out of betrayal and guilt, knowing that he’d have to come back and kill Ashura eventually but not being ready for it. Now that we know that Fai managed to save the off screen population of the world it lends a lot more urgency to the fact that Ashura is free. Fai still may have been avoiding the fact he has to murder this father figure, but it was also done to protect everyone who’s still left to save. And now that he’s out? He has to be dealt with. It’s not a problem that can be run from anymore, and the only delay Fai could put on it is over. 

A bit of gore in the next page so it’s under the cut:

WELL. That’s certainly something. Ashura gets stronger from every person he murders (which is disturbing in this setting, but in hindsight this is exactly how RPGs work and I’m suddenly questioning everything). 

Of course as awful as it is, the neat comparison is that Ashura is now becoming the storyline inversion of Kurogane. Ashura gets stronger for every person he murders, while Kurogane loses power for every thing he kills. 

The natural extension of the comparison is that Ashura only wanted Fai for his abilities, to use Fai’s past (ie, the curse) against him fulfill Ashura’s own personal desires. Meanwhile Kurogane never needed to know Fai’s past at all and values him completely for who he is and nothing else. 

One of these people loves Fai, and it’s not Ashura. 

The Extra Fun level is that Fai has been set up his entire life to have to murder both of them. 

And now I really need the comparison to complete itself by Kurogane fighting Ashura directly to save Fai and making it come full circle. 

[completeoveranalysis]

[2]

I think I’m enjoying the chess rhetoric, but mostly because it has a nice vibe to it. I don't think it really means anything, as such. Like, that’s not what a checkmate technically is, and I know that, but the last thing you'll find me doing is picking apart the word choices for a fun concept so HECK YEAH CHECKMATE SURE LET'S DO IT. THE BUNNY SAYS SO, SO IT MUST BE REAL.

I'd kind of forgotten they hadn't properly realised this in the same way that we had already, so it's nice that they're giving some weight to what this means. We already have a grasp on the depressing implications of Lava Lamp having to watch Syaoran’s life for the entire decade (?) that he was trapped in there, but with Fai and Kurogane voicing this out loud it gives some breathing room to let the depressing idea become depressing reality.

The wording might not be an exact translation either but when Fai says "he lived through Syaoran-kun all the days of his life" it really hammers home that his whole life was just whatever Syaoran was doing. He didn't have anything else going on, or any input (most of the time), he just had to live it. And on the one hand, there have been some benefits to that. Learning Kurogane's sweet sweet dance moves, for one (and saving Watanuki's life, for another) but on the other hand, he's lived this entire journey and knows (and FEELS) every bit of closeness that this family has grown between them, but they don't know him at all. He's finally living the life he only got to watch before, but now he's an outsider in a way he never was before. Because he knows THEM, but they don't know who HE is. 

It's a really fascinating inversion of the fact that our original Syaoran was actually the clone. Because while he was technically an artificial person, he was more real to the dads, to us, and to Sakura. So while Lava Lamp is actually the "real" Syaoran, he's still the second place replacement and a stranger to (which are the qualities you might expect from a clone). 

Also look how SAD HE IS ABOUT IT. 

WHAT FUN.

GUYS SEE LOOK THERE IT IS. THAT'S WHAT I MEAN. 

He performed his role perfectly. He did the 'Syaoran' thing with the 'Syaoran' kicks and saved the ‘Syaoran’ battle, just like Syaoran used to. But when he looks to Sakura, she looks away. He's not her Syaoran, so she can't return his feelings, though he undoubtedly has them. 

Queue a thousand daggers in a thousand hearts.