Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle: Volume 16

by CLAMP, 184 pages

I won't spoil the details for anyone who may actually take the dive into the series, but the state of things at the end of this volume is far from what it was at the beginning.

So. We know Syaoran hasn't been entirely himself lately. But it seems Syaoran hasn't been entirely himself for a very long time. Knowing this, and seeing things coming undone disastrously, Fai does something desperate and foolish. We see Syaoran in the past do something selfless...and Syaoran in the present do something truly awful. And Kurogane may be about to do something just as foolish and desperate as Fai in the form of a new bargain with the space-time witch. What will she ask from him in return this time? And what of poor, confused Sakura, who wakens from her underwater dream, but only just long enough to take in the chaos around her before she's pulled back into the usual healing unconsciousness that comes with the return of a memory feather?

The villains in Tsubasa are shadowy, cold, behind-the-scenes manipulators. And they're frighteningly patient. We know very little about them or how they're connected to the protagonists or even what it is they want. Some of it is power-grabbing. Some of it is something more inscrutably sinister. But I get the feeling the writers have known from the beginning, and I love that. It means I can let go and enjoy the story for where it is right now.

I recognize a few of the players, good and bad, from other CLAMP titles, but not all of those relationships transfer to this one, so it adds depth and flavor to the mystery to have seen them before, but it doesn't really help you figure out what's going on here--which is good, as people who haven't read other CLAMP titles will not be too terribly more in the dark than the rest of us (and I've only read a few of their other titles, so I know I'm missing a lot of subtext, too). I couldn't put this volume down. I've reread it about three times. It's moving and dramatic and pretty to look at (even when horrible things are happening). I can't wait to get my hands on the next book!