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• OH GOD THE LAST CHAPTER! After all these freakin' twists and WTF moments and everything else, THIS IS HOW IT ENDS?!
  • More particularly, what the smeg is up with the feather? Why does Syaoran absorb it? What exactly did they pay?
  • They paid their lives, or soul in the astral plane, got unexisted as a result or possibly paid their soul-jars.
    • THANK GOD THERE WAS AN EPILOGUE. Okay, apparently, the feathers are the clones' souls and the payment was that Syaoran had to keep moving through worlds while Watanuki is stuck in one (ie Yuuko's shop) and now Syaoran will go out to find new bodies for the soul inside him and Sakura.
    • The revelation of R!Syaoran and R!Sakura's real names in the aforementioned Epilogue (Tsubasa): with R!Sakura I had a suspicion (dating back a couple of months before the last chapter) that this was going to be the case [not that I particularly minded; I figured that it would have been neat to be named after the time/space-transcending magical power you were born in possession of (what I thought the word "Tsubasa" referred to in the Title)]. But R!Syaoran having that same name (to me at least) smells of Writer Cop Out (I deemed this to be disingenuous, though this is probably not the correct word for this sentiment); I mean, Clamp could not have come up with something more creative and original for R!Syaoran? Lame
    • It's not a lack of originality, it's very subtle symbolism. They're both Wings. You can't fly unless you have two of them, which means no matter what happens, they'll always be together in the end.
    • Watanuki and Syaoran Jr. are the same person, though (up until age 7 anyway), so they have the same real name. Meaning Watanuki's real name is also Tsubasa. Meaning there are three "wings". And I dunno about you, but I've never seen a three-winged bird.
    • Actually, it was explicitly mentioned that Watanuki is his real name, at least that was said in the first chapters, unless they retcon it later
    • Considering that "Watanuki Kimihiro" basically means "leftover parts decoy", the fact that it is his "real" name is more a reflection of how it is the only name that reflects what he is himself, rather than what he is space filler for (also, he didn't KNOW his real name. Amnesia. You are who you think of yourself... Legally speaking, he was born Li Tsubasa, and in most senses I can think of, it is his real real name.
• No. No. Chapter 223. How is this supposed to explain anything? C!Shaoran is R!Shaoran's father in what must be the most clusterfucked time loop in history? Doesn't this make C!Shaoran the clone of his son, who himself is practically a clone of his own father? No amount of precognition could prepare one for this, short of omnipotence. And yet Yuko is still going around looking like, "Ah, everything I've planned for is coming together" when she's supposed to be nothing more than an undead witch. Which leads to a whole other set of Just Bugs Me. It's official. There's no point to trying to make sense of this series, because it just does not make any sense at all.
  • Well, technically, Yuko isn't going around at all anymore. But yes, I'm calling shenanigans on this, and praying for the One True Mokona to smite all these confusing nuts.
• Warning: the things that bug me are spoilerific.
  • After all is said and done, how are the Card Captor Sakura edition Syaoran and Sakura going to handle the legal aspects of settling things? All evidence legally points to them having one kid. Even if EVERYTHING is optimal, how will they deal with suddenly having triplets/twins? Its not like the county clerk will believe the "clone and time travel duplicate produced by a dimension-crossing evil overlord" thing when they apply for modified taxes due to one or two more dependents.
    • They're all going to die anyway. They'll have one again in the end.
  • I can understand why "Syaoran" refused to tell Yuuko his real name, but why did he persist in hiding it from Princess Sakura, who he was in love with?
    • Is "Syaoran"'s real name Watanuki, or is that also a pseudonym?
    • Pseudonym. Kimihiro = prophet. Watanuki = Written as April 1st, which is Sakura's birthday among other things. Watanuki means padded clothes, and refers to removing the padding from clothes on April 1st and making a substitute to protect the owner (generally a child) from evil.
  • What, exactly, is happening? I think I have an idea, but any time I try to summarize in my mind I start getting these headaches.
    • Relatedly, how is the feather thing related to whatever it was Fei Wong Reed was doing in the original timeline? He seemed to be doing fine without having her build up "physical memories" before "Syaoran" borked the time-space continuum.
    • Let's see if I can do this: Fei Wong Reed wants to bring someone Back From The Dead, so this is probably a case of Love Makes You Evil. Of course, resurrection is a big no-no in the CLAMP multiverse, so he needs Sakura's power (and possibly souls from the Card Captor Sakura and xxxHolic universe) to do it. He created clone!Sakura and clone!Syaoran to gather Sakura's feathers after he caused them to be scattered in various worlds in order to power the ritual/device/whatever that will bring back the aforementioned dead person while he held the real ones prisoner. Yuuko is trying to stop him for some reason, which probably means doing what he's trying to do will hurt the multiverse somehow or he's an evil bastard who will abuse the power. The Tsubasa gang wants to stop him in order to (a) rescue the real Princess Sakura, (b) get revenge for murdering Kurogane's mother, and (c) because he's really evil. And something about Syaoran making a selfish wish and causing this whole mess. And a whole lot of other confusing stuff. I probably missed some stuff so someone might want to expand or add stuff.
    • What confuses me most and is not in your summary is that In "Syaoran"'s flashback, to the point in the initial timeline that is presumably the same point as the "creation of Clone Sakura" point in the new modified timeline, Fei Wong Reed is quite clearly doing something very different to Sakura. No feathers are involved, no clones, just draining her or something. So, what's changed? How? Why? Why exactly did he need a Clone Sakura all of a sudden, if the original worked fine in the original timeline and he didn't seem to make any modifications to the clone? And what, exactly, was the purpose of the feathers? If everyone in the group was planned to be his puppet, why bother the pretense of them doing it for themselves- why not just make them all loyal to him outright?

    • Wait, I thought he only made the Clone!Sakura when they went into the ruins in, what, the first volume?
    • I think he needed the clones because having pawns that knew what was actually going on would get in the way. Having clones with no memory of him probably suits his purpose much better than sending out someone who probably quite wants to kill him. Also, if I am not mistaken, the Feather-memories really are unnecessary, except as his own personal Plot Device to get them traveling.
    • This just in, he wanted them to travel for a specific reason also- to get them to go to Acid Tokyo, which is the past of the Country of Clow.
    • My impression was that the whole business in Syaoran's flashback was all designed to get Syaoran to wish to turn back time, thus creating all manner of potential disturbances in the timeline and destablizing the multiverse, which appears to be necessary to his ridiculously complicated plan for gaining the ability to bring back the dead.
  • So, did the actions of Our Heroes create the Clow Country in some sort of Stable Time Loop, did they merely alter the past so that two formerly separate worlds are now linked by time, are they in an alternate Clow, did they change things retroactively, and we only see the post-change universe that didn't, from a certain perspective, really happen until they got to Tokyo, or what? Mokona dammit, this bloody thing was complex enough without time travel!
    • Well, I could be wrong, but they're in an alternate Clow anyway. At the beginning of the manga, we have Fujitaka as Adventurer Archaeologist and Clow Reed as King of Clow (deceased). But that's been revealed to be some sort of world that Asschin created for the clones (maybe?), because Fujitaka and Nadeshiko are the actual monarchs of Clow (or were, rather). So yes, something screwy's going on. Apparently, we have no choice but to wait for Clamp to reveal things in their own sweet time. Dammit.
  • On a related note, how are "the names similar"? "Tokyo" and "Clow" have practically nothing in common other than an "o" sound.
    • Looking at the Japanese raws, the exact phrasing is 'namae no hibiki'. 'Hibiki' is 'echo', so it's more like it's saying the names are echoes of each other, which still doesn't make much sense, but slightly more than 'similar'.
• On a less spoilerific note why doesn't anyone care about the destruction of Hanshin Castle?
  • Presumably with all the kudans running around, everything gets destroyed on a regular basis? Maybe Hanshin Castle is from IKEA, so they can just rebuild it every time the turf battles knock it down.
  • Shougo does berate Primera for wrecking up the castle in her fight with Fai, though probably not nearly as much as he should have. And then he goes on to wreck a bit of it up in his fight with Syaoran anyway.
• So Yuuko is the one Fei Wong is trying to bring back from the dead? Since when was she dead? And why Yuuko? Does he just want to prove that he can do it?
  • Hopefully we'll find out in the next chapter. I think what Asschin meant is that Clow once tried to bring Yuuko back from the dead and failed, so he put her 'outside time and space'. And now Asschin's trying to pull her back out, for whatever reason. Damn you and your Mind Screw, Clamp!! *Shakes fist*
    • The way things are going, I really doubt we'll be anything but more confused. The Big Reveal is just making a bigger mess of things.
  • The way I see it Asschin was afraid that Yuuko was *going* to die, rather then actually being dead, so he screwed up time and space to save her.
• So, why are mom and pop physically the same age as their son, exactly, aside from the impossibility of visualizing mom as anything but a loli?
  • Read 217. Kinomoto Sakura as an adult has womanly charms.
  • 218, Mokona pointed out that CCS!Sakura and CCS!Syaoran look identical to TRC!Sakura and TRC!Syaoran, down to the clothes, so it must be important. We'll probably get an explanation soon, but it probably won't make much sense.
  • It was said right in 216 that turning back their time was part of their price, hence why Mom and Dad are the same age.
• Are Mom!Sakura and Dad!Syaoran the ones from CCS, or a completely different pair that got help from CCS!Sakura? Clear that up already, CLAMP! And if they aren't, then who are they?
  • Probably a completely different pair. I'm getting the feeling that it was an Authors Saving Throw, so that CCS!Sakura, and CCS!Syaoran are actually just living in peace in their universe and didn't die or get caught up in these shenanigans.
  • Parents!Sakura & Syaoran are the Sakura and Syaoran from CCS. The evidence is that CCS!Sakura gave Yuuko the wand from CCS as part of her "price".
    • Which was revealed in Chapter 217 to have been given to Mama!Sakura from CCS!Sakura in a dream. So, it's either face-value, CCS!Sakura helping out a fellow Sakura in her time of need, or some symbolic dream CCS!Sakura had. Either way, Yuuko having CCS!Sakura's wand isn't conclusive.
• The sudden Darker And Edgier Cerebus Syndrome. What. The. Fuck. Man?!
  • It was always darker and edgier; we just didn't know it. The darkness creeped in slowly, inexorably. The very beginning in Clow country set up for the link to Acid Tokyo and Fei Wong's insidious machinations to, er, save Yuko's life; Yuko's relevance to the story was hinted at by her regular appearances; the darkness began showing up with the Rekort arc and that thing in the jungle with the bunny-people, and hints as to the true nature of Cloney began VERY early on with the shots of Syaoran Jr in his stasis tube. On the xxxHoLic side, we had a shot of Mom!Sakura and Syaoran Sr.'s tube early on as well (and Watanuki's existence issues were hinted at LONG before things turned really dark). It was never sudden, simply lurking just beneath the surface.
    • But that's not fair. I didn't read through fifteen volumes because I wanted Darker And Edgier, I did it for the opposite. And even then it's still overdone. Sakura got a pipe through her leg for no reason.
    • If you want predictable, happy stories that don't veer suddenly towards Angst Alley near the end of the second act, why in Mokona's name are you reading works by CLAMP?
    • They were expecting it to be more like the series the main characters originally came from, perhaps? It's not like CLAMP never does happy and angst-free.
• Did CLAMP plan all this? or was it just one big Chris Carter job, but with pretty pictures?
• So, do inter-dimensional analogues share genotypes as well as souls and phenotypes? Syaoran Jr.'s ability to produce offspring without horrible genetic conditions depends on the answer, as is the burning question of if he is literally his own son or not.
• Nicknames. How do I refer to the Syaorans? Syaoran Jr. doesn't work anymore, since he's also the source material. Syaoran Prime doesn't work because he's also the son of a Syaoran, a second if you look at it from a conventional temporal perspective irrespective of reincarnation. Original Syaoran doesn't work either, because that should refer to the Syaoran from CCS who is not involved at all besides some possible offscreen stuff helping his wife giving her analog some encouragement. And I can't refer to him as "Syaoran", because that could refer to any of the three. I can't even use "Protagonist Syaoran", because the father/clone/thing started out the protagonist. Cloney can't refer to the reincarnation father, but father doesn't work either since from his own perspective he could be seen as a son of his own son. This series has literally reached the point where the English language is insufficient to describe it.
  • Needless to say, it passed the point where the human mind was sufficient to understand it months, if not years, ago.
  • I think I've got it. You have Father!Syaoran, Clone!Syaoran and Real!Syaoran. Clone is the clone of Real, who is the son of Father, who is Clone. Real>Clone>Father.
    • Wait, what?
    • "Wait, what?" just about sums up the series as a whole, really...
    • Don't forget that R!Syaoran's name isn't really Syaoran.
    • And we don't know the real name. And despite the fact that he isn't actually a Syaoran, he's the "Real Syaoran". So he isn't a real Syaoran, but he is Real Syaoran. This is why proper references are a mite difficult to work out.
• Fridge logic: didn't C!Syaoran trade his relationship with (C?)Sakura? But that apparently didn't mean anything because he gets happily preincarnated and married and has babies ever after anyway...
  • He traded the relationship he had then. Yuko never said anything about a new relationship formed again over the course of their adventures.
    • Which is why she commented afterwards that she was getting soft- she left that loophole in intentionally. Most likely as a part of The Plan.
• So, are Clow's Great Plan and Yuko's Great Plan one and the same? If so, why doesn't Ass-Chin, who seems to have known them, know enough about it to defeat it? If Yuko made the plan up herself, how did Clow's actions mesh with it so well (Syaoran Jr.'s initial departure from his world was only possible because CCS Sakura had the Wand, which she had due to Clow. And clow was in the rebooted Clow Kingdom. Etc.)? How the fuck were they able to plan in such infinitesimal detail?
• If everything could have been concluded by undoing the reality warp that undied Yuko, why didn't she just make her Deal With The Devil that she would work for x years in exchange for having died when she was supposed to, or even at the conclusion of the work? It would probably have been a much shorter period of indentured servitude to hitsuzen.
• xxxHoLic question, because that one lacks a just bugs me page and its easier this way. Who, exactly, did Yuko and Watanuki make their contracts to work the shop in exchange for a wish with, if in both cases the shop was unmanned at the time they made the deal, and they were the one to man it afterwards? Did they make a Faustian bargain with themselves from a week in the future?
• This one might belong in the CCS page, but only you tropers may understand this. At the very end of Cardcaptor Sakura, Eriol(aka Clow's half-reincarnation) is explaining his reason for attacking Sakura and forcing her to create the Sakura Cards when he mentions that there were "some things I couldn't predict". This apparently refers to Syaoran and Sakura coming to love each other, as well as Touya and Yukito. They may be alternate characters, but seriously, Clow knew that not one, but two versions of Syaoran and Sakura would come to love each other over the course of TRC. Three, if you count by bodies and not souls (the clones, the reals, and the reincarnations). It was indeed inevitable, in fact due to all the stable time loops everything in the manga has been inevitable up until chapter 226. So HOW THE HELL did he ever even consider Sakura/Yue!? I know it doesn't (yet) matter whether the CCS pair actually get together, have kids, etc, since all that matters is that the Star Wand was created, but when there's that many pairs you would think he could at least take a reasonable guess as to who Sakura would ultimately end up with.
  • He may have set up the Tsubasa gambit after the CCS gambit (then not had enough time to correct his earlier plans), and Eriol lacks the full memories of Clow, so its understandable if he didn't retain the knowledge of the later plans and planned corrections.
  • Actually, I think that the thing he didn't predict was that Yue would love someone else more than his new mistress(AKA Sakura) not that Sakura and Yue would fall in love with each other.
• Why couldn't this series have just stayed the lighthearted, jolly adventuring tomfoolery with some dark elements but a relatively straightforward Gotta Catch Em All plot like it started?
  • Because that would defeat the entire purpose of trope-subversion and genre-deconstruction. And wouldn't be nearly meaninglessly symbolic or "deep" enough for CLAMP.
• Does anyone remember the dimension that Clow Reed was king in? You know, the one where Toya is king in the very beginning of the series. What happened to them? Did they disappear when the clones disappeared? Did the dimension implode when the Stable Time Loop imploded? Seems to me that the implosion/destruction/disappearance of an entire dimension, through the actions of several people, would cause them to pay a heavy price, even if the dimension wasn't supposed to exist in the first place. Or, at least, the acknowledgment of someone out there that the dimension existed. It bothers me that it just...vanishes. Really, what happened to that entire world?
  • It's kind of implied the world returned to the way it was before everything started. Fujitaka and Nadeshiko are the King and Queen, so Touya is presumably still a prince, while Yukito is the apprentice of Nadeshiko. No idea of what happened to Clow though, as he wasn't from that dimension originally.
• So, when exactly was the switch made for each of the clones?
  • "Syaoran" was when male Tsubasa did the wish to reverse time. No idea on "Sakura"
• What, exactly, happened in the reservoir when the Tsubasas were seven in the initial timeline- a kidnapping? Murder? Spontaneous death?
  • Stable Time Loop. There was no "first time"... I think
  • There was a first time, though- when Male Tsubasa made the wish to go back in time, borking the entire space-time continuum and granting Ass-chin free reign with regards to cloning.
    • Yeah... Tsubasa kinda uses all tropes about Time Travel that there are and then some more. At the same time. Trying to make any sense of it would earn you a Nobel Prize or something.
• On a similar note, why did female Tsubasa's memories explode out like that- did Fei Wong leave a bomb of some sort in her?
• Why did Fei Wong need Sakura/Tsubasa, and to mess with her/them so much, to revive/preserve Yuko anyway? "physical memories", what?
  • It needed to be Sakura because of the Stable Time Loop. No idea how that's connected to Yuuko.
• If the feathers were actually the clones' reincarnations' souls, why did female Tsubasa release them? And why did they give Sakura Tsubasa's memories if they were actually Sakura and Syaoran's souls?
• Where did Fei Wong Reed come from, anyway? Was he a manifestation of Clow's reality warp? A relative of Clow's also in love with Yuko? Some random schmo who had an unfortunate hobby and a knack for Xanatos Roulette?
• How the fuck did all the Xanatos Roulette players (CCS Sakura, Yuko, the two Reeds, male Tsubasa, Fei) plan everything out so well? This isn't wheels within wheels like most Thirty Xanatos Pileups, its wheels within wheels within wheels within R'lyeh as drawn by M.C. Escher on LSD!
  • I agree, but then there's that little invincible spell that CCS Sakura always says, the gist being, "I'm sure everything will be all right." Yuko does almost the same thing, saying she believes in the children and what they would do. The male Tsubasa, if he's anything like his clone/father, which he is, simply decides to do something and then does it. It's not so much planning as it is determination and faith to see things through. Fei Wang Reed on the other hand...