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REVIEW: Tsubasa, RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE GN 25

the Sakura-Syaoran childhood dialogue is simple and heartfelt, and most of the crazy magical-clone stuff has already been covered anyway.

Syaoran must go back to Clow! He must protect Sakura! He promised her! That kind of deep-seated devotion is what elevates a series from typical save-the-world sorcery to something with genuine weight to it.

Over the years, Tsubasa has reached its epic scale by revealing layer upon layer of carefully planned story, often with the use of flashbacks.

What kind of parents send a seven-year-old child to a different dimension? It's like sending a seven-year-old child to a different country alone.

What kind of parents? Exactly the kind of parents Syaoran's are, which is dealt with in subsequent volumes.

Typical 7-year-old boys don't go throwing their lives away for the girl they just met. This whole flashback was a bit of wallbanger for me.

vashfanatic wrote:

Typical 7-year-old boys don't go throwing their lives away for the girl they just met. This whole flashback was a bit of wallbanger for me.

When has Syaoran, in any of CLAMP's universes, or any 7-year olds in any CLAMP story, every been typical? It's a shame some don't understand this. Syaoran was a very sweet kid, and Sakura has always been the sort of girl people around her become attached to. How could you not want to save her? Besides all that, what's wrong with the love at first sight sort of thing? Syaoran and Sakura are THE Clamp couple. Of course Syaoran, in any form, is going to want to save her.

As to Syaoran's parents being bad parents, it seemed a bit harsh but Syaoran (again, whatever CLAMP story you're going by) has always been a very mature kid for his age and apparently still grows up in a family that apparently takes responsibility for various magical things that happen in the world. Even if I didn't understand all the way what was happening with the scene at the time, it seemed like his parents didn't have much of a choice. Don't forget too that in CCS Syaoran's family sent him to Japan, by himself at the age of 10, to collect the Clow Cards. This kid can take care of himself.

...you're actually proving my point that in general CLAMP doesn't know how little kids think. Sakura and Syaoran in all their incarnations are basically adults shrunk down into little children's bodies.

What kind of parents send a seven-year-old child to a different dimension?

S&S are adults in kid bodies because they aren't your average, sheltered, modern kiddies - who would probably perish before the end of the first volume, being unprepared to cope with what awaits them in your average CLAMP story. Not that that wouldn't be its own sort of fun...

Does anyone read CLAMP for "typical" little kids? I go in knowing that pretty much every last character is going to be atypical, marked in some way by destiny, bloodline, or luck/circumstance. S&S aren't characters in a slice-of-life school setting, after all. Might as well complain about how CLAMP characters are all so darn good-looking, when the vast majority should have pleasing yet average appearances that reflect that of the general population. I'd argue that "atypical children" is as much a part of the CLAMP model as those stick limbs that defy anatomical good sense. S&S are adults in kid bodies because they aren't your average, sheltered, modern kiddies - who would probably perish before the end of the first volume, being unprepared to cope with what awaits them in your average CLAMP story. Not that that wouldn't be its own sort of fun...

It's exactly what, and quite possibly the only thing, Syaoran's parents can do for him. You have to take into account that the entire future of the space-time universe relies on their family and their magical roots...I won't delve any further, seeing as how it would be a spoiler.

Boy, are you people in for another mind-screw once Chapter 223 rolls along

The whole idea is unbelievably contrived and it is cute for cuteness' sake. What kind of parents send a seven-year-old child to a different dimension?

It's like sending a seven-year-old child to a different country alone.

Not mention that the said seven-year-old child is ok with risking not seeing his parents anymore, because he considers it his duty to help a girl he got to know one week ago

Besides, Syaoran's level of maturity at the age of seven is so outstanding that it is pushing the suspension of disbelief too far.
After this flashback Syaoran's determination and devotion seems even more artificial than ever before, IMO.