Tsubasa 26

CLAMP – Del Rey – 2010 – 28 volumes

Okay, so I’m riding the good vibes from last volume, where we got information in the form of an easy-to-process flashback and a fun story that recalls good things from Cardcaptor Sakura. We’ve… still got some of that going on in this volume, but it’s getting hard to follow again. Which isn’t important, because a big chunk of the ending is an elaborate and surprisingly epic fight scene.

Once again, my questions are answered. Watanuki’s situation is explained in great detail. It makes me angry to see it here, rather than in XxXholic. Why wasn’t that explained in the series where he was the main character? Because Syaoran is better than him? The original? Likely because it was more relevant to the plot of Tsubasa, but the fact that the explanation wasn’t suitable for XxXholic makes it pretty poor. What I found most interesting was the language Fei Wang used to describe Watanuki. He called him an anomaly in space and time. Interesting because of what he became and the role he now fulfills.

We learn… just what happened to time, and why, though the explanation is still a little tenuous and hard to grasp. Why was that point frozen while everything else was allowed to move? Why wasn’t it turned back as well, so that Syaoran could just step in? Was it a safeguard? I guess?

There’s a whole lot of melodrama here, piled on from the last volume, concerning the future of the relationship between Fai, Kurogane, and Syaoran. I’m not sure who Syaoran thought he was kidding, but that was a lot of needless suspense.

The fight was… simultaneously boring and amazing. As nice as CLAMP art is, and they do draw some amazing pages, the fight itself relies too much on big panels and flashy shounen manga explosions. It doesn’t really matter who’s hitting what or what magic’s being used. There’s just a fight. Parts do look impressive, though, and I do like the climax of the story hinging on Syaoran’s fight with his opponent here. There were some crazy pseudo-X-type panels towards the end of Syaoran’s fight, plus a great fake-out. A REALLY GREAT fake out. Never let it be said that this fight doesn’t end spectacularly. It’s probably my favorite thing in Tsubasa so far. Even better, it’s completely wordless, which makes the impact that much greater. We don’t really need characters yelling and protesting. We can see what’s going on.

I’m… not sure how the ending can stretch out into two more volumes. Let’s see how this goes.