Tsubasa Chronicles and xxxHolic strikes again!! *major spoilers*

Once again, Tsubasa Chronicles brings a whole new twist to the story, and xxxHolic is providing the explanation (which I am still trying to understand).

The true events that happened when Shaoran first arrived in Clow Country. The identity of Kimihiro Watanuki etc. All these revealed in a few chapters of Tsubasa and 1 chapter of xxxHolic.

Spoilers Ahead:










Shaoran was sent to Clow Country because his mother (Sakura from CCS) had prophesised that someone in Clow Country will need his protection. That person is Sakura of Tsubasa Chronicles. He would remain in Clow Country for seven days and he will then be teleported back to his own world.

On the seventh day, Fei Wong Reed attempts to capture Sakura during the cleansing ritual. Shaoran reaches out to her and tries to save her, but he hesitated when he remembered that he wasn't supposed to touch Sakura during the cleansing ritual. That moment's hesitation gave Fei Wong Reed enough time to place the Seal of Death on Sakura. "That moment's hesitation has decided your path from there on." said Fei Wong Reed. Shaoran attacks Fei Wong Reed in anger, but was defeated. He was then teleported back to his world as his time was up. Using his last bit of strength, he stopped the magic and he ended up in Yuuko's store. Shaoran's father (Li Shaoran from CCS) paid a price to save Shaoran.

As Shaoran awakens, he wishes to go back to Clow Country to find a way to remove the Seal of Death. His price was that he would not be able to return to his own world because there was no one in Clow Country capable of using dimension magic. Shaoran agrees, and thus, gives up all the happiness he has in his own world. When he returned to Clow Country, he realises that only he and Sakura's mother could see the Seal of Death. They kept the seal a secret from everyone else, even Sakura.

Seven years later, Shaoran still continues searching for a way to remove the Seal of Death. When Sakura comes to visit him, he invites him to her birthday party and leaves. Shaoran notices that the seal was almost fully grown and would kill Sakura anytime soon.

On the night of Sakura's birthday, the seal activated. Sakura's mother quickly stops time, giving Shaoran a few seconds to save Sakura. In that time, Shaoran made a wish to Yuuko. He wanted to go back in time, back to the moment where Fei Wong Reed placed the Seal of Death on Sakura. Shaoran was told that this wish was a heavy one. He would haev to bear the burden of the lives he would change by going back in time, especially the lives of those who know about the Seal of Death. The price of that wish was Shaoran's relationship with the people in his world.

Watanuki was created to fill the time Shaoran turned back (this part I don't get, I'm just repeating what they said in the manga) and take Shaoran's place in all of Shaoran's relationship. In other words, Watanuki is another Shaoran. Fei Wong Reed tells Shaoran that this will cause a lot of pain to Shaoran's parents and Watanuki. But Yuuko appears and says that the future has not yet been decided.

In xxxHolic, Yuuko explains that Watanuki is "something that was not supposed to exist". His parents (Shaoran's parents) had wished that Watanuki would be given a new name and a new face. Until now, even Watanuki doesn't know what his real name is, nor does he know who his parents are (he had paid this price to know the whereabouts of Sakura from TC when her soul and body was split apart). This fact also means that even Fei Wong Reed cannot control Watanuki because to control someone, one has to know both that person's name and birthdate. However, even if Watanuki doesn't know, Yuuko points out that Watanuki is still, in a way, aware that "he isn't supposed to exist".









SPOILER END

Phew... CLAMP sure knows how to keep making your head spin. I wonder how much they really know about the occult. And how much they believe that coincidences do not exist.

After reading several of their works and listening to the opinion of others, I can see their main problem. They're talented when it comes to plot twists and unique storylines, but they're terrible at presenting them (like in Tsubasa Chronicles, RG Veda, xxxHolic and X/1999). In contrast, when they do present it nicely, their storylines seem to lack major twists (like Cardcaptor Sakura and Chobits). If they can unify both, they might be another one of the legendary mangakas.