#best xxxholic character for me

[rainbow-taishi]

Butterfly

[starcurtain]

hihi sorry to rant in your inbox but i hate when people use aven's line about jade that says her kindness comes with a price to make their relationship seem worse than it is. while the ipc is. well. the ipc i dont thinl it would benefit her to harm him like theyre both stonehearts AND hes her subordinate. personally i think the price he mentions is like, testing him like she did in her social media post with the ores. it certainly would be less incongruous with her want to guide those that come after her..

I think that people really struggle with Jade. They took one look at her dommy mommy appearance and her status as one of the top three in the Stonehearts and they just want her to be unrepentant evil soooo bad.

Don't get me wrong, she is definitely a master manipulator and she definitely has a specific personal goal she's working toward using the IPC as her vehicle to do so. Her overall idea of creating an endless vortex of desires that can't ever be sufficiently met is very Voracity-coded and not really the kind of idea a very well-adjusted person would be espousing. We have no idea how loyal she really is to the IPC's goal of aiding Preservation against Destruction in the War of the Aeons.

But she's also, over and over again, been painted as having "True Neutral" moral alignment in-game. She's literally xxxHolic's Ichihara Yuuko with a bad case of capitalism: She always demands a price, but never asks more than is fair.

It's literally Fullmetal Alchemist's first law of alchemy: Human kind can not gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost.

All of Jade's exchanges are equivalent and none of her customers enter into a bargain without understanding the price they are paying. In fact, she won't even let Firefly try to make a deal at all without doing her research in advance to truly realize the extent of what she is asking for. Jade is inherently an honest businesswoman.

The issue is that greed is all-encompassing. The ability to have any wish granted is a temptation that virtually no one can escape in the end.

Therefore, I think the best way to understand Jade is as the Honkai Star Rail equivalent of Mephistopheles. In the legend of Faust, the eponymous Dr. Faust longs for more in his life--he is endlessly pursuing knowledge and power, but has hit the limits of his own ability. He meets the devil, Mephistopheles, who agrees to enter into a pact with him: Mephistopheles will fulfill all Faust's wishes while Faust is still alive, but then Faust's soul will belong to the devil when he dies. The deal is fairly presented. The terms are not unclear: If Faust agrees to the bargain, he knows what will happen to his soul in the end.

Mephistopheles doesn't trick him or force his hand when it comes to this bargain. Faust could say no. He could resist. But he doesn't. He agrees, because human greed and pride are simply that overpowering. He thinks he's smarter than the devil; unlike the thousands of others who have come before and suffered damnation for their deals with the devil, Faust thinks he is different, better than others, more deserving... The actual temptation doesn't come from the devil. It comes from human hubris.

Like Mephistopheles, like the serpent in the Garden of Eden, Jade merely presents the choice--it's humanity's endless desire that leads to the downfall.

It's a snake and an apple and a contract for a reasonnnnnn, Jade haters.

So, I don't think that Jade represents any danger to anyone who can resist temptation. Firefly walks away from Jade's exchange entirely unscathed. Trailblazer isn't pressed into surrender.

But Aventurine?

To be honest, I think his relationship with her is a bit more complicated.

Aventurine likes Jade. She did him a solid when he was at his lowest in life. His character stories make it clear that he views her as, essentially, someone "safe" in the IPC, unlike other Stonehearts.

But... I do agree that Aventurine approaches Jade more cautiously than he approaches others. And I think that probably stems from a couple of different factors:

Jade has positioned herself as Aventurine's "pseudo-mother," and Aventurine responds to her as if she, indeed, a mother figure he has to obey. He is more respectful of her than anyone else we see him interact with in the game--Diamond and Opal get called by name, but Jade is always "Ma'am." Which is very close to "Mama;" this is not an accidentttttt. When Jade disrupts his banter with Topaz, Aventurine immediately does as he is told, hands over his room card, and simmers down. Even in joking social media posts, when Jade asks Aventurine to do something (judge the uncut jade stones she sent him), he does it even when she rejects his high demand for profit sharing.

But:

2. Jade actually failed Aventurine's moral litmus test. From the beginning of his adulthood flashbacks, we see Aventurine explicitly troubled by the fact that his human dignity was denied and that a market value was assigned to his existence. And not even a high value. He was sold for pennies. It's the ultimate mortification, and we can tell it is still bothering him to this day because even "future" Aventurine brings up the sting of that bone-deep insult during Aventurine's long walk through Penacony. In response to the indignity, Kakavasha gave his original master a moral test: Kakavasha says that he'll go willingly into the hellscape of the death maze if his master will give him 30 copper Tanba, just half his market value. His master refuses, demonstrating that he does not view Kakavasha as a human being, worthy of any respect. By refusing this tiny, insignificant request, the master exhibits his utter moral depravity, from which there is no return. In response, Kakavasha ultimately kills him and takes the 30 copper coins he asked for (nothing more, nothing less) from his corpse.

When Kakavasha meets Jade, he then makes the exact same demand: He wants 30 copper coins and exactly 30 copper coins. At this point, it is very clear that--to Kakavasha--the coins are emblematic of his value as a human being. (I promise you, somewhere in his apartment right now are the 30 bloody coins he took from his master's cold corpse.) His freedom, his dignity, his worth... All of these things hinge on being able to acquire the original 60 Tanba coins. Thus, those who refuse his requests for the coins also symbolically refuse his request for basic respect, his request to be seen as an equal human being who deserves to not be reduced to mere pennies on a bill of sale.

And Jade refuses this request. She treats the demand for Tanbas like a paltry sum and instead ignores the specificity of the request to give a general "We'll give you riches beyond your imagine, more than you could have ever thought to want." But that isn't what he asked for. She stepped over the request he actually made in order to supplant her ideas, on her terms. Kakavasha made the tiniest, most easily completed request in the world, and in failing to actually just respect what he personally wished for, Jade demonstrated that she ultimately will not really respect him.

Just like his slave master, Aventurine represents a value on a page to Jade. For this reason, even if she extends pseudo-maternal behavior to Aventurine and he laps it up like a starved kitten drinks up milk, we see that he remains more cautious toward her than he does to any other female character in the game. Aventurine comes across as more comfortable talking to Acheron than he sounds when he talks to Jade... Because in failing the most basic and seemingly meaningless test, Jade revealed exactly to what extent Kakavasha can--and cannot--trust her.

Does Jade actually mean Aventurine any harm? No, I really don't think so, and you're right, those who claim that she does are really over-exaggerating Jade's negative traits, mostly because they've almost universally got a strong anti-IPC agenda and hate everything from the IPC except Aventurine on principle. Everything in Jade's character stories points to her honestly wanting to develop the hidden talents of others, to "polish" rough cut stones into true gems, and to see her fledglings thrive. Kakavasha is someone she picked up out of the dirt and dusted off. If he excels, that means her faith was well-placed, her judgment was correct, and her team as a whole excels.

It's exactly like a business owner who takes great pride in producing a fantastic product. Only when the product succeeds can the business itself succeed.

But business owners see their products as objects, not equals.

Jade is a fairly neutral figure and I think she wants to see Aventurine grow and achieve greatness. But at the end of the day, their relationship is very predicated on the notion of investment (Jade puts up the original capital to make Aventurine great, and he repays her faith in him by generating wealth for the IPC). It is clear she just can't be trusted to value Aventurine as a person above a means of profit--and Aventurine knows (and accepts) that too.

[tomoyoo]

Is it possible to read xxxholic without being overtaken by hopelessness?? Can there ever be a happy ending, at least for watanuki?? you're the resident expert, please help...

Hiii I was incredibly busy today tut

I will take this very seriously, I think the only way to keep your sanity is to make peace with the sadness! Basically xxxHolic is a pretty fun yet bittersweet story, and it’s shaped by it's concept of inevitability: not fate, but that every event has choices that preceded it.. Even if the choices were the right ones, the consequence isn’t necessarily the perfect outcome, and the characters have to live with that because it was the best they could do. Sorry if this is vague, think of the birth of Watanuki; that alone was the continuation of a string of choices Clow, Yuuko, his parents, Fey Wang and Syaoran made.

It’s so interesting that Clamp started Rou with Watanuki on a bad slump and made that the memorable image of his adult self. But that isn’t always the case right? There are days when he wakes up early and when days he feels like doing stuff; he has many hobbies and friends who love him, and enjoys his job too. Watanuki does try his best to live a fulfilling life! His healing process is a bit of a realistic shock because it’s not linear and there’s things he'll just never get over, I find that all very touching.

Living with constant pains, depression, and loss doesn’t erase the fun and loving we can give and experience, that's an important part of xxxholic to me. All you can do is carry on with a hopeful heart ❤️

Sorry if this is so scattered….. I think the ending implies he'll stay like that until 'something' changes, so in a way there’s no ending unless he’s satisfied.

[exalted-dawn]

Fictional Woman Poll

OoooooOOOOOoooo LOVE me this game >:]

Rules: Make a poll of your favorite female characters (no limits - as many or as little as you want) and see which your followers like the most!

I was tagged by @rosella-writes so take a smattering of some of my fav canonical ladies lolol (rip to all the wonderful ladies living in my head it is not your turn LOL)

Hate to pit bad bitches against one another but:

THERE WASNT ENOUGH FUCKING SPOTS 😩 and before anyone comes at me, YES I count Commander Shepard and F!Robin as their own characters and I will DIE on that hill 😤

For this, ima tag @oxygenforthewicked @kiastirling @nirikeehan @theluckywizard @thebookworm0001

[voidsentprinces]

My full experience of anime is thus: My brother has a friend who use to come by with anime on VHS. The first exposure I got to anime proper was when he brought over a couple episodes of SLAYERS, next, obviously, Channel 10 ran Pokemon from Episode 1 to Episode 46 before inexplicably just restarting from the beginning all over again. Dragonball Z and Sailor Moon fought on Channel 5 during the afternoons. But Dragonball Z like...jumped around a lot. It did the Saiyan Saga, the Fake Namrk Saga, skipped the Freiza Saga and the Cell Saga and did reruns of parts of the Buu Saga. Then they stopped airing both and aired Cardcapture Sakura for a while there. Then they stopped airing all three. Then they eventually brought Pokemon to the WB on Channel 5 and Yu-Gi-Oh! Hit along with it. But, like Pokemon before it. Yu-Gi-Oh! Only ran from Episode 1 until JUST before Seto and Yugi fought to duel Pegasus. Then my family got DirecTV which opened up Cartoon Network to me and thus granted me access to .hack//SIGN which sometimes ran either before or after Samurai Jack and Courage the Cowardly Dog. From there I gained access to the Buu Saga of Dragonball Z which always just reset back to the beginning of the Saga when it got done airing. Then eventually Adult Swim hit and introduced me to Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, Big O, Inuyasha, and SUPER MILK-CHAN. Then at random intervals Toonami stopped airing Adult Swim and starting airing the English dub of Naruto. And I got tired of waiting for them to dub new episodes, so I began the search online for Naruto episodes English subbed online on YOUTUBE at the time. Back when they split an episode in 3 - 6 videos and movies into 10 - 12 parters.

Toonami also eventually introduced me to Blood+, Bleach, and my all time love of my teenage life...Eureka SeveN. It also introduced me to Neon Genesis Evangelion and FLCL. You can blame FLCL and Super Milk-chan for rewiring my fucking brain. And unfortunately, anime youtube also introduced me to Elfen Lied which rewired my brain in a different way. Paranoia Agent on Adult Swim also made me fall in love with the late Satoshi Kon's work. Spirited Away hit America around the same time and caught on like fire causes me to go knee deep into that. But also there was 4kids Food Fighters and One Piece. Which...turned me off to One Piece cause that censored, puritan, chaste run of One Piece was...it was something.

And the rest is history...especially after Eureka SeveN that got me to want to absorb more long form narrative that was both SUPER bittersweet but super cathartic to see through to the end. Some people get super into Tolkien and Lord of the Rings. Some people get into Shakespeare. Eureka SeveN is what got me into long form narrative epics. Which hundreds of moving parts and a large cast of characters.

And then, as if the universe sensed that. A kid who use to live near me sold his Playstation to me for $20 along with--Final Fantasy VII. My first and only Final Fantasy really. I tried FFVIII years later but it never clicked, never picked up IX or X or X-2. Then Playstation 2 happened...and with it? Kingdom motherfucking Hearts and then the best game ever made, Kingdom Hearts 2.

Bounced between xXxHoLiC, D.Gray Man, The World God Only Knows, Deadman Wonderland, and eventually Berserk. And then from joined Final Fantasy XIV circa 2018. Susanoo subsequently killed my GPU but I eventually got a new one and joined proper during the dying days of Stormblood when Shadowbringers hype was going FUCKING STRONG.

Good times.

[fandomrouletteburrito]

Thinking about how in Tsubasa after reading the entire story how it changes how you feel about all the arcs. Spoilers for the ending and Nirai Kanai and xxxHolic below

There is no happiness in the way the arcs end especially once they reach Tokyo end, there is a sense of completeness but never like: ah yes we are happy now.

The best they get is a sense of satisfaction at having reached the goal and saving people but you know the final goal could potentially take decades and is seemingly endless and that is daunting for the cast.

And once shit starts hitting the fan theres nothing but tragedy after tragedy, the loss of Syaoran, Fai’s near death, Sakura’s loneliness and powerlessness, Kurogane’s anxiety for the other shoe to drop, the ENTIRETY OF CELES, knowing theyre all trying to cope as best as they can but every world they’ve visited since Tokyo has only faced a massacre in Clone!Syaoran’s wake and how traumatizing it is and the pain of knowing he would never do it if he was in control. Not to mention Clone!Syaoran’s inner conflict of knowing deep down he loves Sakura but despite the soul he made it takes losing her WATCHING her DIE to finally bring him to the front however briefly it is.

And in the final end, Clone!Sakura and Clone!Syaoran remain in a state of limbo, kind of dead if we’re being brutally honest.

Like Tsubasa isn’t a story of a happy ending, it’s literally just coping with tragedy and loss. And I think this is what makes me love it so much, that yes all four survived but the cost was two main characters. Its not a satisfying ending, its just tragic, after suffering so much and setting everything right and even being able to live in the original timeline, the two beings that helped them survive this long don’t get to be in this happy ending. Syaoran sacrified his parents, his childhood, his freedom, his time, his chance at a normal life and he still doesn’t get to be with his Sakura all the time. Clone! Syaoran himself said there was a timeline where Sakura and Syaorn can never be together and the knowledge that there was going to be an even worse timeline is so horrific after all that suffering…

And if we want to get into Nirai Kanai, I think this is the only part of Tsubasa I outright sobbed, the cruelty of Syaoran SEEING Clone!Syaoran or his father and needing to FIGHT him and him STAYING DEAD, was so painful. How much Syaoran didn’t want to do it but he had no choice. Not to mention Watanuki had to do the same with Yuuko to help Syaoran(they really do be the same person huh?)

[therandomtapes]

Last week, in the middle of a pretty trash week in general we learned that Sakurai Atsushi, lead singer of legendary Japanese rock band Buck-Tick passed away on Saturday October 16th.

I'm not sure how much I've spoken about them on here.

I found them in late 1998. When I got that X/1999 fansub in Brooklyn where I first heard X-Japan, it sent me down a rabbit hole. I would find out the fandom and the country were reeling from the passing of X's guitarist hide earlier that year, in Spring, and I would find a stream of a tribute album. Hide tribute spirits.

This is where I first heard Buck-Tick. Their cover of "doubt" left me wanting more.

I would then learn that they had been around since 1983 (i was 3).

(this is from 87)

They evolved through many eras, from new wave to goth (?) to cyberpunk to rock'n'roll to a combination of all eras. Their influence can be felt even in modern visual kei. They are probably the band that made everyone in that scene wanna have at least one jazzy swing type song on their albums. Hell, Acchan's the reason Kyo is Kyo. Sakurai's look inspired many anime character designs (and I'm pretty sure Benimaru Nikaido from King of Fighters is based on 80s Buck-Tick....yes...they ALL had that hair).

In fact, a lot of their music was in anime (especially if said anime was about vampires. It always amused me that during the era where Acchan looked like a vampire, B-T were the band you called if you needed a theme song for your vampire anime.) Nightwalker, XXXHolic, Trinity Blood, and the very best one, the one that is actually scary, SHIKI!!

If you're not up on vis kei, you probably still have heard of him since he and Imai were in SCHWEIN with Raymond Watts from Pig and Sacha Konietzko from KMFDM.

He also had a band called The Mortal which did a pretty amazing Siouxsie cover.

I recommend Buck-Tick and the Mortal's entire catalog, most of which is on streaming now. I should make a bloody playlist.

I will add the playlist to this post later.

R.I.P. Sakurai Atsushi

one of the greatest vocalists ever, and condolences to the band.

I cannot stress enough how awful I feel for those guys.

This band was together for THREE FUCKING DECADES. No lineup changes.

Atsushi and Imai had the kind of vocal interplay you only get if you're basically best friends.

It's a terrible loss.

. . . and, . . . . no.

I can't end the post like this.

It's too sad.

This band brought too much joy to end the post like this.

I am leaving you with the saga of the paper mache head people.

in the 80s, for the album Seventh Heaven (an album I might actually like better than Sexual XXXX, I can't decide), B-T did videos for quite a few songs (they did PVs for pretty much every song on Sexual XXXX), and 3 of them feature Atsushi having nightmares about/seeing people with large fake paper mache heads. Then in the video for In Heaven they are playing a show for them.

They had something I think is crucial to every band now and forever: WEIRD ASS MUSIC VIDEOS.

You think it was jus the 80s?

no no no

check out UTA

Just your average performance video? No. They dressed up like rock icons, with ridiculous wigs.

This is what I'm talking about. Joy, kids.

Atsushi and Buck-Tick brought JOY, dammit.

enjoy.

I'll post a playlist later, I guess.

Atsushi Sakurai, rest in power you legend!

[completeoveranalysis]

Hello, french anon here. For so many years, I have told you that I needed your wisdom and guidance to finally understand trc's ending. At last, we are finally starting to get to the confusion of all confusions. But I am slowly realising that my confusion was partly due to the fact that I know NOTHING about ccs (or any other Clamp's works) and had never seen these characters before. Having trc being my first Clamp's work was in insight, not really the best I suppose ¯\_(. . )_/¯

Also, over the years I have developed a deep hatred of all time shenanigans, because it LITERRALY cause me terrible headaches to try to understand it (is it the autism? the adhd? Am I just stupid? Mystery), so i've avoided going other this arc again. Hope with your explanations i will finally have closure.

Good luck!

~ French Anon

Thank you French Anon! I SINCERELY hope I can make any sense of it whatsoever once we get there. The Confusion is definitely not any reflection on you though - if a manga is infamous for being deliberately difficult to understand, you can never be faulted for not being able to do it on the first try. Or the second. Or ever.

And it IS a limitation of Tsubasa that it's written this way. You can't go to anyone and say, "Hey, maybe you should read Tsubasa! You might like it!" when you have to follow it up with the disclaimer of, "Oh, but wait, have you read Cardcaptor Sakura? You should probably read all of that first - and specifically the manga, and not the anime. Also you have to read xxxHolic at the same time otherwise the plotline of Tsubasa won't make sense. Oh and it would be even clearer if you had also read some other of CLAMP's works, specifically their longest ones, which are much harder to find these days. Read as much of those as possible before even starting Tsubasa."

Like I LOVE Tsubasa dearly and I genuinely think it's the greatest manga I've ever read, but I also think you should NOT have a list of required reading you have to get through in order to understand a book you're reading for fun in your free time.

So no wonder it was confusing! Definitely not a failing on your part at ALL.

[acewithapaintbrush]

20 Questions for fic writers

Thanks for the tag @captaincravatthecapricious

How many works do you have on Ao3?

33

2. What's your total Ao3 word count?

282,261 (woah...)

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Currently mostly One Piece, Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Encanto, Owl House and some others occasionally

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

A Place for Crows (to rest their feet) - Encanto (

I'll brick by brick rebuilt us - Encanto

A Perfect Storm - One Piece

There were Rats in the Palace - Encanto

To the dark I said pour (and forgot to say when) - Rise of the TMNT

5. Do you respond to comments?

Yes! I appreciate getting comments so so much and I wanna show that by responding

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

This is a hard one cause four come to mind that are super angsty but ultimately I think it is Let the world come at you (Rottmnt). That one's just bleak

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I guess The devil throws stones at us (One Piece). That one was just a lot of fun and I got lots of comments about how funny the ending is so I'll take my readers word for it

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I did once but that was mostly funny. A single sentence, something like "This story is horse shit" for the second to last chapter of a 19 chapter fic which was like... Well, you read pretty far for it all to be horse shit, didn't you??

9. Do you write smut?

I haven't yet, but I really want to... 👀

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you have written?

I do occasionally and the craziest one is definitely by far my Rottmnt/Ghost Files crossover. Man, that was a real trip but also so much fun. I had a lot of fun writing the Ghoul Boys and their shenanigans!

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I have been asked a few times but no one ever actually did it I think? Or they just never told me about it

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No but I am certainly very open to the idea 👀

14. What's your all time favorite ship?

Well ZoLu (One Piece) will probably always be number 1! I just love their dynamic so much, but not just romantic, also platonic. I'm actually much much more interested in platonic relationships! The team as family stuff. The straw hat pirates come to mind. Or the TMNT brothers being the best brothers. Platonic is my one true love!

15. What is a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

There is a Donatello angst fic that I have been writing on and off for what feels like an eternity. I have written myself into a corner somehow and I really hope I get myself out of that but I doubt I will any time soon...

16. What are your writing strengths?

I think I write emotions and internal stuff a character is going through quite well. I have also been told quite a few times that my characterizations are spot on which is always nice to hear cause that's the most important thing for me

17. What are you writing weaknesses?

Ugh don't get me started on fight scenes omg. When a lot of action is going on I have a hard time putting that stuff into words... I'm better at dialogue and feelings and stuff

18. Thoughts of writing dialogue in another language in fics?

Well, if it's done well??? Sure why not. I have been guilty of using some Japanese (One Piece) or Spanish (Encanto) words in my works, never full sentences though

19. First Fandom you wrote for?

First published fic was Stargate Atlantis. First fic written in a notepad for my eyes only? xxxHolic.

20. Favorite fic you have written?

For Encanto obviously A Place for Crows, it's so special to me. For Rise of the TMNT I'd say Casey Jones' Gambit

For One Piece it's probably the latest one Til Salvation Breaks Through. I had a blast writing this one because it challenged me quite a bit and I could let loose a little bit

******************

Not gonna tag anyone, everyone who wants to take a trip down memory lane, be my guest!

[meimi-haneoka]

Hello, Cinzia! How are you doing? I have two things I wanted to talk to you about but first let me start by saying thank you for your translation correction posts! I have a habit of reading both translated and original Japanese versions side by side for comparison and my lord… the amount of errors the official translated version had is astounding. So thank you for having the fandom's back on that!

Okay so the first thing I wanted to talk about is the fandom's (understandable) disappointment over the conclusion chapter. But I have a theory on why this might feel disappointing. You see, I also happened to come from the Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire fandom and right now it has been 13 years since the release of the last book and everyone has been waiting patiently for it. In the mean time, the fandom has come up with A LOT (and I mean A LOT!!) of theories on how the characters are going to develop and eventually how the books are going to end. This is fun because it keeps the fandom alive. But the biggest con is that the theories are so wildly out there now that everyone deep down knows no one's gonna be satisfied with the ending the author will give us because we have extrapolated too much in this past decade. While we in the CCS fandom didn't have to wait that long, I still think a lot of us had come up with theories while waiting for the next release and maybe because we were basing them our past experiences with Tsubasa and xxxHolic, we assumed that was road to go. Personally, I loved the ending Clamp gave us. I always love a little open ending because then we get take that ending to our little sandbox and make our own stories. But best of all, if the story hasn't ended, IT MEANS WE HAVE A CHANCE TO SEE THEM AGAIN IN THE FUTURE :D!!! Isn't that exciting?? You're absolutely right about how the ending isn't going to please everyone. Because that's literature! The creators of The Matrix once said that art is never stagnant. People will come back to it years later and find something new to relate to and have a newfound love for it!

For my second thing I wanted to share!! As someone who grew up with CCS and now coming back to Clear Card as an adult who has gone through Life™️, I realize how much easier it was for me to pick up on the darker undertones of Clear Card. KAITO WAS NOT OKAY FROM THE TIME HE WAS INTRODUCED!! Like that boy had 10 different alarm bells ringing every time he spoke. And the thing that made me realize that is something from my own life experience. Akiho's past as an abused child is also very easy to pick up on and not something you need to read between the lines. Like it was RIGHT THERE! So idk why people deny that they had miserable lives. Kaito isn't a villain per se. He's an antihero. And even if he was (let's just say it for the sake of it), Clamp's villains are never one dimensional and the same goes for Kaito too. He just needed help. But coming back to my main point, I wonder if Clamp had intentionally gave us a more mature theme for Clear Card, knowing that most of their readers are going to be adults who grew up with the original CCS. The idea of "everything that I can and can't do make me who I am" is so IMPORTANT to remember!! The feeling of lack of self worth haunts all of us. There are many things that Sakura can't do either and that's okay because she has help. AND IT'S IMPORTANT TO ASK FOR HELP!! We cannot do everything on our own (looking at Kaito) and that's okay! This is how Syaoran shows his love too. He knows he is limited (as we all are) but there are things he can do to help Sakura. We always have to remember that because life isn't easy to go through alone. (knocks on Kaito's head)

I'm looking forward to future stories revolving our favorite gang. I wonder if Akiho will travel to meet Eriol some time too. Anyway, I feel like I have taken too much of your time. Thank you for everything you've done for the fandom and if you choose to reply to this message then thank you for that too! Have a nice day :D

Omg hello new follower!! Where were you hiding all this time?? 😂😂 I LOVED receiving your ask and it brightened my day, thank you very much!! See, people, this is someone who gets it 👍 (as I know all my affectionate readers do!! I just need to show off all of you because, among the sea of complaints, the fandom needs to see that there are ALSO lots of people out there who understood Clear Card correctly, and it's not a nonsense story to everyone like they think it is).

Your first point is absolutely logical and I also think that's one of the reasons why the "final" chapter wasn't going to satisfy each and everyone in the fandom: that was just plain impossible from the get go, but adding all that you so cleverly explained here, yeah it was just bound to happen all the more. I still think, though, that if you paid attention, understood the story and the characters correctly along the way, the theories that you as a fan could've think of weren't going to be that far from what actually happened. I managed to foresee a lots of events (some more precisely, some less precisely, some I did completely accidentally) and that's not because I have powers or because I paid CLAMP for it 😂😂 but just because I "listened" to what the story, or rather, what CLAMP were trying to tell me through the story. I picked up the signs and for the most part didn't let them trick me with the red herrings, and even when I made theories I always kept quite "flexible" in case canon didn't go that way (there's also plenty of stuff that didn't go as I thought). The only thing I was always sure about is that this would have had a happy ending. For the all the characters. And yes, open endings can be a present to the fandom, especially the creative one! Moreover, it's an easy way to get back into the series later, in case they want to continue it.

And for the second point....oooh, I know. I KNOW. God, it's always been so clear, especially when they started to show his past as a kid and the fact that he fed himself energetic bars as a "meal"? Or when they said that everything tasted the same to him? That's beyond messed up for a kid and it was immediately clear that he had enormous problems behind that smily mask that he was showing to everyone. Those are clear symptom of depression and god only knows the degree of abandonment Kaito lived in, in his childhood. The fact that he was literally snapped up by an Association of criminals doesn't mean that they intended to raise him or that they were interested in his wellbeing.

The people who deny that Akiho and Kaito had a childhood made of abuse only do so because if they didn't, then they would feel forced to feel empathy and pity for them (lest they appear as insensitive), and they don't want to, because they had already decided they were obnoxious, malicious and unwanted characters a long time ago. Cause their background of abuse is very very clear, especially for Akiho. It's spelled out clearly multiple times. They couldn't go further than what they did because it would've been too jarring for a story like CCS (and I've seen the disturbed comments of a part of the JP fandom, already as it is).

So yeah, Kaito is an antihero at best, or a "reluctant villain", a trope I have seen once in a post on instagram. It fitted him completely. He villainized himself towards everyone else (Sakura & Co.) in order to achieve his only goal, even if that wasn't really in his nature. But he did, for Akiho's sake.

And yes yes yes to all the rest that you've said!! One of the most important lessons we got from Clear Card is that it's important to ask for help when you need it, that you shouldn't take everything on your shoulder......and if you notice that a friend is struggling, don't ignore them but extend a helping hand, cause they probably don't have the strength to ask for help.

I also really hope that we can see our favorite gang in the future, and I keep in my heart a little hope to see Akiho/Kaito/Momo in Holic too!!

Thank you so much for this ask and I hope you'll enjoy the rest of my posts!! 😁❤️

[existingtm]

Pandora Heart anime was great, sad it got discontinued, it was made in prime time anime/manga era y'know, the music composer, Yuki Kajiura made amazing music for it and she's my fave, fr she made music for my best favorite animes which has similar themes to Pandora Heart: Tsubasa Chronicle and PMMM, which are media that should be appreciated more due to how insanely creative they are

ESPECIALLY Tsubasa Chronicle, it has a really crazy plot and the CLAMP multiverse of madness lore is crazy, I'm saying this cuz my first anime ever is Sakura Cardcaptor which tied a deep relationship with Tsubasa Chronicle since the characters are of parallel universes, they look the same and have the same names but lead completely different lives. They also tied with another favorite, XXXholic which got the same vibes as Pandora Heart if you ask me

The 2000s was great

Yeah, I give the anime some shit for throwing away the plot near the end, but it really is an excellent work otherwise. Yuki Kajiura is a fantastic musician and it's no wonder MochiJun works with her

Tsubasa Chronicles has been on my plan-to-read list for a while now. I started PMMM but haven't watched past the first episode yet. It's always looked interesting to me

Also, hello?? I didn't know that thing about parallel universes! Cardcaptor Sakura and xxxHOLiC are also on my list, so I'll have to keep that in mind. Is there a particular watch order you'd recommend?

[spurious]

K and w

Ship asks!!

K - What character has your favorite development arc/the best development arc?

Oooh this is weirdly tough! In SGA I’m fascinated by Rodney’s development but also the writers ignore it at will SO. I love Syaoran’s character arc in CCS, and Watanuki in xxxHolic.

W - A trope which you are virtually certain to hate in any fandom.

Honestly most things I’ll end up liking if in the hands of a capable writer, but. I just cannot get into A/B/O. All the complex stuff with the different roles and the “science” of it…it does absolutely nothing for me. Relatedly I usually don’t go in for mpreg but I will relax that boundary for the right writer and/or ancillary tropes.

[iheartsyaosaku]

Clear card pros and cons (that i can remember i need to reread it again)

Pros:

SYAOSAKU DATING ‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥

idk more content around our fave characters (though not as much but take it as you will)

The wierd ass technology update all of a sudden everyone has iphones (minus syaoran)

It picked up from the og ending where syaoran comes back from hong kong

SYAOSAKU DATING 🥹🥹🥹

SYAOSAKU WENT ON A DATE ‼️‼️

Unlocked sakura new swag (at the cost of ending her cardcaptor retirement…)

(Anime only) english dub actors of trc syaosaku voice ccscc syaosaku i thought that was pretty cool (syaoran sounds like maybe he went through puberty a little too early but thats okay)

(Anime only) SYAORAN SPEAKS FRENCH IN THE ENGLISH DUB

cute art style

Maybe just me but sometimes i get a little emotional seeing sakura in her daily life in middle school because its like !! Wow i remember when you were in 4th grade and now you’re in 7th grade im so proud of you sakura 🥹

Momo (new mascot to make marketable plushie off of)

(Anime only) MEILING COMEBACK ‼️

THE SYAOSAKU SONG HOSHI NO TEGAMI 😭😭😭😭😭 BEST SONG EVERRRR WTF SYAORANS SINGING VOICE IS SO!:?:)/$/? THEYRE SUCH A GOOD DUET

SYAOSAKU DATING. Btw. Theyre a couple. Theyre dating and theyre in love.

Cons:

KAITO.

New characters who happen to be mediocre

Akiho is literally just a carbon copy of sakura who is just sad (they refused to touch on the different aspects of her like reading books, singing and from kong kong only very rarely)

Kaito fucking sucks literally worst ccs of all time and THATS A LOT saying theres literal PEDOS in the fucking show but theyre all background characters but they can also piss off

Tbf i got confused along the way

Too many plot holes

Syaosaku angst

Syaosaku couldnt touch for a while 😔

Anyway why did yelan do that (referring to point above)

Some shit does not make sense

Tsubasa/xxxholic references (this is for you oomf)

Syaoran???? Is part of the “im keeping things from sakura” gang???? And it sucks so bad (yes it got resolved in the later half BUT IT STILL SUCKED)

TOO MANY THINGS KEPT FROM SAKURA JUST TELL HER DAMN

pushes most characters from the og manga aside to focus on akiho and that man 🙄🙄🙄

Clamp forces us to care about them but in reality we really do not gaf

(In reference to point above) Clamp sees that and pushes the nostalgia tactics/references sometimes and its lowkey tiring

The part where the syao/saku/tomo were reminiscing that fuck ass teacher made me ill i genuinely wanted to kms

Still hasnt gotten rid of their p*do ass shit thanks clamp very cool (sarcasm)

Did i mention that the og characters were pushed back? Because they really were

Akiho felt more of the main character of this story instead of sakura

Tbh not much happened in the entirety of this manga ESPECIALLY considering time shenanigans

Im still mad that syaoran hid stuff from sakura tbh

HOW CAN I FORGET THE UGLY ASS “YUNAAKI IS SIMILAR TO SYAOSAKU” PARALLELS AND HOW BADLY IT PISSES ME OFF

syaosaku dont look but theres an ugly bitch trying to be like you (yunaaki)

Yunaaki becoming borderline canon despite it being a toxic and p*dophilic ship

Kaito still exists in this fucking story and got a somewhat happy ending (befriending syaoran dont piss me the fuck off)

COMPARING KAITO TO SYAORAN KYS @ CLAMP

Kero/tomoyo/yue/nakuru/spinnel basically everyone magically involved is pushed back basically useless until the final act (i think i mentioned the character pushback before)

Still major plotholes

Yamazaki tells the truth now

Touya got whitewashed

Akiho still has too many similarities to sakura it still pisses me off. Why cant they make her her own character

My girl sakura developed anxiety

MY BOY SYAORAN DEVELOPED DEPRESSION

angsty ass middle schoolers

Didnt like the scene where sakuras grandad was basically throwing shade at syaoran comparing his romance with sakura to … sakura’s fuckass dad grooming her mom. What

Syaoran calmed down a bit i miss when he was chaotic af but whatever #middleschoolerthings

Season 2 is taking forever to release good lord

[foolishmortal]

#9 in the professor’s wife for the fanfiction ask, please! (i reread it at least three times a year, it’s a comfort work for sure) 💕💕💕💕💕

(for this fic writer's prompt)

9) In your xxx fic, what’s your favourite scene that you wrote?

Honestly hilarious that in this case xxx is a neat placeholderfor xxxHolic!

So, backstory (which you can skip to read bolded answer at the end):

It was spring of my 3rd year in engineering school, and the class load was absolutely brutal. Regular xxxHolic updates were among the few things that kept my exhausted depressed brain looking forward to the next week. (thanks to whoever was doing the scanlations on mangafox - i owe you several bottles of scotch) My absolutely lunatic weekday schedule was: 1-6pm: class and lab Dinner w/ my roommates, the only nice thing during the day 8pm - 3am: homework, projects, studying, post-lab work Sleep from 3am - 9am Work until lunch

And then the last chapter of holic came out, and my tired and dramatic ass literally took to my bed and cried. XD I had so many hopes and theories for the series, and I was not in a place for CLAMP's fuckery.

So I was possessed by a strange angry fugue state while writing this fic, fueling me to write it all in 6-8 weeks. And the ONLY way to squeeze in writing time was to borrow against my sleep schedule, so I legit wrote this in 3 hr blocks from 3am - 6am every day, until I finished. Never had that kind of wild inspiration and drive before or since. So what I am trying to say here is, I do not remember writing this fic, and my memory of what it contains is hazy at best. (I do NOT remember writing the sentient shop chapter at ALL. I think that probably manifested from me reading "-And He Built a Crooked House-" by Heinlen the previous month). My actual answer: From what I remember, my favorite scene in the fic that I cherish to pieces is this little exchange here in Chapter 8:

Himawari followed his nod slowly. "Y-es. They've been together for many years." Her eyes twinkled. "You could say they were high-school sweethearts."

"We most certainly were not!" Watanuki protested. Himawari's shoulders were shaking in barely repressed laughter.

"Yes we were," Doumeki said, suddenly poking his annoying face into the room. "You were just too stupid to notice."

"Well excuse me for not picking up on our whirlwind teenage romance," Watanuki shot back.

"It's fine," Doumeki replied matter-of-factly. "Stop eavesdropping and help me put out the futons."

I love the dynamics between them in this scene. I really love the "everyone knows but them" trope and enjoy fun ensemble fics in general, which is why I was a painfully shy, voracious lurker in XMFC fandom back when it exploded onto the scene on LJ, then AO3.

The trio's easy familiarity in this scene recalls their high school friendship, but matured now that all the characters have established themselves as adults and gained a lot more self-awareness, emotional intelligence, and found their own individual happiness.

Anyway .. that was a lot of words. Hope this satisfies your ask!

[skellietoonz]

true story: on my 18th birthday me and my two best friends from high school got together and tried to make our own fan dub of the xxxHolic Rou OAV

I wound up playing most of the characters and I tried to mimic Todd Haberkorn's Watanuki but it wound up sounding vaguely Peter Griffin-ish

[completeoveranalysis]

[8]

Oho! ding ding ding! So it IS “reality itself that is unravelling because of Evil Wolverine” that the chapter title was referring to. 

I know they’re implying that this covers any inconsistencies in Ashura’s intentions and actions, but I actually disagree. I think it makes for a stronger and more complex character if all the inconsistencies are on purpose and all add to the tapestry of elaborate emotion he was trying to enact as best he could. 

But still! I guess Clamp have give us an Official Handwave(tm) that we can apply to literally any plot hole that might occur. Not that I would expect one from CLAMP, since they’re SO tight with their plotting and their continuity, but I guess things get messy when time travel is involved, so this is a nice catch-all. 

ALSO I have just had a sudden brainwave from a similar sentiment that came up in xxxHolic. Let me find it. 

HMMM. 

How interesting that it’s coming from two different angles at once, and caused by both sides.