#yunaaki

[meimi-haneoka]

Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card Special Chapter: Comments and Analysis

WELCOME BACK, CCS FAAAAAAAAAAAANSSS!!!!!

Oh my god 3 months went already by from that December 1st and chapter 80, didn't they?? Feels like yesterday 🙈But we're finally here, finally ready for the release of the definitive, last SPECIAL CHAPTER of Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card!!!! After this, no more CCS for at least a while!!

Why do you see me so euphoric?? WELL, THERE IS MORE THAN ONE VERY GOOD REASON 😂 But let's not jump the gun and let's introduce this post properly: this time around, I won't be posting pictures to "illustrate" the analysis/commentary, because this special chapter was treated differently from the other ones. It didn't get, in fact, a free release on CLAMP's Youtube channel, in any language, and wasn't even uploaded for digital purchase on Comic Days like all the rest of the chapters. The only way to obtain it was via the April issue of Nakayoshi, either with the physical or digital version. Since it is clear to me their intention to keep this gem of a special chapter away from the internet jungle, and since lately I used only the screenshots from Youtube to illustrate my analysis, this time around I won't be posting anything (aside from the color page, which was released by the official account themselves).

AND! I won't be mixing analysis and summary, because I have already conveniently prepared some screenshots with a detailed summary of the chapter for the people who were curious to know, but didn't get to see the chapter yet or did see it but couldn't read Japanese. I have already posted these screenshots on my Twitter account, and I'll put them here too under the cut (please don't repost them around or in other social media), so you can immediately get a broad view on the content of the chapter (I don't have to point out translation mistakes, haha 😅), and then, afterwards, I'll write my commentary. And there is SO MUCH to say!!

But before starting, we can't break the tradition right at the LAST ROUND of our chapter commentaries, right?? So off we go, with the GIF OF THE MONTH!!

Yes, I think this is the GIF that can represent this chapter the most. 😂

The Color Page

This special chapter is composed of 33 pages, and of course I can't avoid starting my commentary precisely from the color page!!

I admit it, I hoped for a color spread with the four main characters of Clear Card (hence, including Kaito and Akiho too), but since the other two appeared with their own color page just in chapter 79, we'll gladly take this single color page with SyaoSaku too!! ❤️ The JP text reads "We've been together till now, and we will always be! Featuring a long-awaited special chapter!!" Syaosaku look absolutely adorable....and so, so happy!! Looking at us, from a wreath made of cherry blossoms, of course dressed in their image colors pink and green, in a "pair look"...I think their shiny smiles conquered the hearts of the entire fandom (saw many comments about it) and it is certainly a perfect introduction to a chapter that is, indeed, completely made of this happy, leisurely, warm atmosphere. I feel like it tastes even better, after all the anxiety they made us go through, right? I'm pretty sure that was CLAMP's goal all along, giving us this little reward after all the hard situations they've put their characters through. This color page looks like Sakura and Syaoran are saying "goodbye" to us, holding their hands in a lover's hold, but seeing them so cute and happy definitely soothes the sad feeling 🥲 Until we meet again...hopefully!

Letters From Around The World

But it's when the chapter starts that we get our first surprise: the time skip is of one entire year!!! We left our little heroes at the end of the first year of Tomoeda Middle school, ready to go in spring break and then start the second year...here, Sakura says she's in her spring break of the next year, ready to become a 9th grader!!! I almost couldn't believe they actually went that far, I knew from CLAMP's podcast that there was a timeskip, but I expected just some months! Although....I have to say the characters don't look that different, Mokona said she made them a tiny bit older and she kept true to that, because it's barely visible! 🤭 But if you compare them with how they looked at the middle of the story, of course the difference is visible.

I was so happy to see that the chapter started right away with a letter from Akiho: a letter or a videocall was definitely among the type of content I wanted to see in this chapter, because of course I still was quite preoccupied about the difficult journey Akiho and Kaito embarked on, so I wanted to see how they were faring. The amount of letters Sakura accumulated over the span of this year tells me that they moved around quite a lot, and she had always something to share with her "long-distance sister" 🤭 Kero praising Akiho's skills and even feeling some sort of "reverence" for her insane talent to find all the crazy and rare books was so funny and nice!! 😂Sakura is adorable, feeling all proud about the talent of her "sister" 🤭 Loved that they actually mentioned the place where Akiho and Kaito are currently at!! (cause they didn't reveal where they'd go first, in chapter 80, and I guess we'll never know). I appreciated SO SO much that they let us see that Akiho didn't drop, but actually continued to practice her sewing skills like she was doing before everything went down the drain with the Alice in Clockland play: moreover, finding out later that this skill is also helping her greatly with the true ambition of her life made me incredibly satisfied. How cute of her to send outfits for Kero and Suppy, even from far away??

I was quite surprised to find out that Akiho sends all the rare books to Eriol, and then laughed my as* off at Kero saying he's selling them off (the way Kero phrases it in JP makes it look a QUITE shady activity 😂). This shows there's a continued collaboration between the "group" in England and YunaAki, and it's very nice. They're not only "taking" support from Eriol, Akiho also does return the favor, providing Eriol with the books he needs.

And then....got really emotional to know that Kaito wrote a letter to Sakura, back when they left one year ago 🥲 I DID feel like some kind of acknowledgement or apology from Kaito to Sakura was missing from chapter 80 (but honestly, with everything they had to explain, where they could fit that?) and so this little mention completely fixed that sense of "he made a mess and barely managed to apologize to Akiho before leaving". Kaito isn't an ass*ole so of course he would've done something like that, and a letter seems perfect for an introvert boy of few words like him. I imagine the letter wasn't really long either. The little moon on the sealing wax...❤️The fact that Sakura is storing that single letter together with Akiho's letters in a specific box makes me almost cry. She cares for those two so, so much! 😭 Sakura wishes to receive more letters from Kaito and I really hope he will open up to her along the way, because he could benefit ENORMOUSLY from her advices and perspective! Also THANK YOU CLAMP for giving us a little "still" of those two next to eachother from the moment when they were leaving Tomoeda, with the suitcases and all 🥲that last faraway shot of all four of them together in chapter 80 was so great, but I wanted to see them like this too!

The SyaoSaku Date

Aaaaaand then we get to the long awaited, craved, coveted SYAOSAKU DATE!!! 🤣 I can't count how many people I've seen wishing for this....to be honest I was going to be ok with any kind of sweet moment between the two, but gotta admit that a carefree afternoon watching a stage play and then taking refreshment at a café gives this sense of normal, complete fun that was missing a bit for them. They are dressed in a very fancy way (loved that Sakura isn't wearing her usual long one-pieces but something different, with puff shorts! A sign of her growing up?) and even though they're not exactly wearing a "pair look" (too corny, maybe?), they are well matching eachother's outfits. And of course we find out that Tomoyo made Sakura's cute outfit and even the decorations on Syaoran's collar! The fact she was the one asking Syaoran to wear them at the date is kinda funny, like some sort of guidance into looking like a couple, thanks to the matching decorations! Tomoyo really takes care of everything....yes....everything. 🥲 The mention of Sakura's wedding dress of course made me go "OH MY GOD" and made me realize that if Tomoyo is already mentioning that.......we aren't *that* far away from that day (I always imagined SyaoSaku marrying early, since they're soulmates and got together so young!! 😆). Truly an emotional, sweet moment that was reinforced by Tomoyo's tender expression in the flashback. Her resolution to devote herself to learn to design even normal everyday outfits, or date outfits, everything that could accompany her dear Sakura everyday, reminded me that Tomoyo found her very own way to be with Sakura, and she's perfectly content with that. Tomoyo's happiness is seeing Sakura happy, and she will do anything to achieve that. ✨

Syaoran and Kaito's Friendship

And then my blushy blushy Sakura changes topic and suddenly throws me on the floor in a fit of laughter, because seeing Syaoran's confused look while he was trying to make sense of the pictures Kaito sent him on his phone WAS HONESTLY PRICELESS. 😆 My god, how long have I wished to see them like this? Moving their timid steps into a friendship (since their girlfriends are like sisters and Sakura literally saved Kaito's derriere), being their awkward dorky selves...they surprisingly get along so well and Syaoran doesn't seem to hold resentment towards him, which is GREAT for me!! He's learning from Sakura to just let go of hard feelings, when you've found out the person who acted in an oppositive way was just in a very desperate situation and had actually no ill intentions. And that makes me incredibly happy. Kaito needs all the support he can get, to make the right decisions in his life, and I can totally see him finding a particular connection with Syaoran, due to how they're both moon boys, who would give their life for the person they love. I think precisely for this, precisely because Syaoran can understand to a degree Kaito's situation and behavior, he wouldn't feel judged and would feel more free to establish a connection with him. I was k*lled with laughter and endearment when I saw that Syaoran felt confused, but still tried to understand Kaito's peculiar way of communicating with him 😂 And guess what? I think he doesn't realize it, but he's totally starting to get it! 😂The way our wolfie boy snaps that picture IMMEDIATELY as the cat passes by, and how he only framed the ear, really shows how in the end he's speaking "the same language" as Kaito 😂 Seeing Sakura so excitedly think to herself that the two became such good friends made me scream "SAME SAKURA-CHAN, SAME!!!" 😂 All in all, seeing these two having such a relaxed, comfortable date talking about their friends and stuff that happened lately made me completely feel that one year that elapsed, and now they act totally like a couple that's been dating for quite some time. 😊 Ooooh thank you sensei, really. Thank you so much for this scene. 🙏

The Moon Is Really Beautiful, Right?

BUT! The real reason why CLAMP will always have my heart and my gratitude is hidden in the next scene. 😂

Oh my god, the screams I've belted out when I saw them. And when I've read THAT. But let's go in order, let's go in order and not jump the gun! We're in Germany, Akiho and Kaito now seem to be living in an apartment in a nice building! They're still talking in keigo, and still calling eachother "Akiho-san" and "Kaito-san". 😊

Kaito SMILES genuinely at the picture Syaoran sent him!! And answers, to an observant Akiho, that he's having fun!! 😭HIM! The one who couldn't understand what was fun in interacting with others!!! He looks honestly so radiant and happy, a sign that his mental recovery is going strong. And that he's slowly expanding his "trusted people" network. 🥲🙏Also, he looks younger than ever!!! 😂

It made me INCREDIBLY HAPPY to see that Akiho didn't drop the "hobby" she had started in chapter 26 (ages ago!!), remember this scene?

I remember how much I loved to know she had started learning how to do this, because together with my friends, at the time, we all thought this could easily become her aspiration in life......and guess what?? CLAMP confirmed she wants to take on a job revolving around books and book repairing!! This is all canon!! T___T oh my happy tears.... There's a sense of pride in seeing that this journey for Akiho isn't only revolving around finding the cure for Kaito's shortened lifespan (which hurt his body terribly) and restarting his "stopped time", or finding Momo and the Alice in Clockland book, but she's also got the mental resolution to do something for herself, for what she wants to do in life, something that is completely disconnected from Kaito. Again, I cannot reiterate enough how this girl doesn't have an unhealthy codependent relationship with Kaito, and she's completely capable of thinking about her own future, aspirations and wishes. She wants him with her, and she could never live happily without him, but the love of her life isn't the only thing that exists for her. It is incredibly satisfying to see her working hard for her own future, where she'll be able to contribute (especially financially) to their livelihood. I can see Kaito helping her and assisting her with that. The other day I was dreaming away with my friends about Kaito and Akiho managing a "book cafè" together somewhere, how impossibly sweet that would be?

Seeing this volitive, ambitious, strong-willed Akiho once again filled my heart immensely. And I wasn't the only one, apparently.....

Oh god, you have no idea of the SHRIEKS I belted out when I saw Kaito saying "the moon is really beautiful, right?" in full daylight. Like. It is absolutely unmistakable at this point what kind of love he feels for her, and while I always knew, I'm sure the character took his own sweet time and personal introspection to reach that conclusion. If you remember, I've always said it and reiterated it at the end of chapter 80: Kaito won't understand things overnight, it will take a long time. And one year, at that age, is enough of a long time to come to terms with one's feelings and understanding what exactly they mean. They lived all that time together as two "equals", no more butler/boss bullsh*t, so they had even more opportunities to see eachother's true colors. And Kaito couldn't help but fall even more in love with Akiho, to the point that seeing her working so excitedly for her future made him gently overflow with that feeling....and said that sweet quote of Natsume Soseki that we all know, by now, what it means. I think the mere fact that what made his heart explode was seeing her so independent and strong, is a good sign that Kaito's love for her is the healthy and supportive kind, too. He doesn't love her and feels attracted to her soul because she's a weaker, younger, malleable being that he can dominate (as a toxic relationship would portray), but at the contrary, because she's free and strong and wonderful on her own. The more he sees her shining, the more that feeling grows. Throughout this scene, he looks at her and talks to her in such an intensely sweet way, you can totally see he's smitten with her.

The most popular reply to someone who confesses with "the moon is beautiful" is the equivalent of "I could die for you/I can die happy now", in Japanese. And Kaito had been unconsciously replying that way, with his actions, the whole damn time during the serialization of Clear Card. But since he took it way too literally, things were really heading to tragedy. Nobody wanted him to die for real, and yet, subconsciously, that was the only way he had found to give outlet to an enormous amount of feels that he couldn't express (because it wasn't appropriate, and nobody would ever love him, and he only caused her pain, and he had to let go of Akiho anyway at the end of it).

So considering all of THAT, this "I love you very much" he said now (he added とても, "very", like Akiho did ❤️) in this way, makes me think even more "yes, you finally understood what was the best way to convey it!" and therefore, it represents another character development for our moon boy. 🥲

There's debate over whether he had already understood what Akiho had meant, in chapter 48. I stand firmly by my convinction that, even if he was informed of the Japanese folklore tale around it, he quickly dismissed it as "no, she's meaning it literally for the moon", since he couldn't really believe that anyone would ever take interest in him, and was sure he would've always been alone. Otherwise, if he really understood and believed that Akiho was in love with him, I don't think he could've ever said that "I thought you didn't need me to be happy". It doesn't make sense. But everything that happened at the fake moon, and all her angry tears, and all her resolution to find a way to cure him, made him finally see that she really meant it in that way. ❤️So his own acceptance and introspection could finally start, and....it brought to this. ❤️ If you want to know more about the popular phrase "the moon is beautiful, right?", I invite you to check my first Clear Card Trivia post, focused on the literary and musical references portrayed throughout this story!

And LOL, I couldn't help but noticing several things in how this scene played out: first, he immediately "runs away" blabbering about the breakfast being ready, a very similar way to how he "ran away" in chapter 52 when Akiho could see right through him and was trying to express her support and feelings to him. This is definitely an indication (taking into consideration also how he acted when he was little) that the reason why Kaito walked away back then, slamming the door, had a sprinkle of embarrassment embedded in it, too. Yeah. I mean, look at the face he's making here, just before he notices, puzzled, that his hand is shaking:

He's smiling so tenderly, among the pain he's feeling because of his poor health. He even laughs! He's happy he heard that! But he just couldn't stay hearing any longer, back then. Now, in this scene of the special chapter, he literally throws "the bomb" and runs away without hearing her answer or reaction 😂😂😂this is definitely embarrassment, and I'd like to think there's even a hint of teasing streak that I've always seen between the lines in his personality. It came out particularly with Syaoran and Momo, but Akiho isn't excluded from this dynamic! 😂

And excuse me, but Akiho's reaction literally made me roll on the floor laughing!! 😂The poor girl is probably so used to live abroad, and Japanese folklore isn't probably coming up immediately in her mind anymore, despite it's a phrase SHE used HERSELF back then! 😂Or maybe it's because she didn't really expect it from him, and so she took a moment to connect the dots. Either way, it was extremely funny! And I can't absolutely avoid pointing out how our girl isn't blushing like mad anymore, but just slightly.... I mean. It must have been quite clear to her too, by now, that her feelings were in some kind "reciprocated", be it for what Sakura said back at the fake moon, his decision to go back to her, and his decision to reveal his true name, hence giving her his most vulnerable part of himself... This isn't a shock for her, and she probably waited patiently, patiently, for him to finally say something like this. So maybe, more than embarrassed, she's surprised that the day finally came! 🥲 Goodness. This really puts all my worries to rest, Akiho will truly be happy. And it makes total sense that CLAMP made him say this now, and not at the end of chapter 80. As I said, more time was needed. This entire scene leaves me with a sweet, soft, comfortable feeling, and it's totally how I've always imagined their relationship to be. Also....no more of that "he loves her as a daughter/sister" crap, not canon-wise at least. 😊

One last thing I have to point out about this scene, which curiously reconnects everything together, is that recently CLAMP have announced the themes to which their upcoming exhibition will revolve around: among them, there's LOVE (of course!), and among the decorations surrounding the featured character on the key visual (Sakura, for now, but there's at least another one coming!) there are a couple of birds too. Birds are, in this sense, a symbol of love in CLAMP's language. I couldn't really help but noticing all the birds flying outside the window next to Akiho, the moment Kaito says that "the moon is really beautiful, right?". Basically, CLAMP were trying to scream it all over the place, however they could. 😂

"Momo-san?!"

It was so nice to see Yukito and Kero-chan gossiping about Touya right in his face, with the complete intention to tease him 😂in that sense, Yukito really seems like a sweet and harmless character, but don't be fooled! His teasing power is over 9000!! 😂Touya's killing glare made me crack up! He's so done for, now that both Kero and Yukito can tease him in the open! 😂😂😂

But please, please, let me scream about MOMO!!! Oh my god I would've never accepted a special chapter that didn't feature her!! Aaaaahhh I'm so glad to see that she's fine 🥲 The conversation between her and Sakura made clear to me that she isn't that free to move how I imagined her to be. Certainly, she decides where to go and who the book stays with (and when to leave), but the impartiality imposed on her role doesn't allow her to act freely like she wants, unless she pays a price. And she decided to pay a price, not to see Akiho and Kaito, but to go and thank Sakura herself first. Because, as her "those kids" suggests, she of course still feels some kind of maternal instinct towards them, and as any mother would do, she wants to thank Sakura from the bottom of her heart for having helped and saved those two. Even her body language (the position of her hands) portrays that. And excuse me, but I A B S O L U T E L Y loved how CLAMP clarified once and for all, addressing directly the complaints of their own fandom, that Sakura wasn't forcingly dragged into a matter that wasn't related to her. Everything she did, she decided to do it because she felt it touched her personally. From the moment she became Akiho's friend and came to care for her, everything that happened and everything that she was involved with was related to her too. This wasn't "somebody else's business" anymore. Because Akiho is one of her most beloved friends, no matter how "fast" that happened. Some relationships bloom almost immediately, because the connection is just that strong. And so, this turned into just another expression of "your happiness is my happiness", with Sakura acting according to what her heart suggested. As Kaito is Akiho's most beloved person, Sakura couldn't help but care for him too, because doing so would've made her friend happy, in a wonderful "circulation of love".

Special mention for the scene with pregnant Lilie, oh my god I didn't really expect this either. How long ago I wrote that Tumblr post about cosmos flowers and the origin of Akiho's name? A couple of weeks ago? It's like CLAMP answered my curiosity, with this scene. I still keep my interpretation in my heart, but I also love the logic "it is a flower that keeps the same name in many countries". Of course. "Wherever you'll go, you'll always be your unique self". (And now I want to cry, mama's heart is so big😭) The way Lilie keeps her hands over her womb made me tear up. The ring isn't there anymore, a sign that she probably already gave it to Momo (understandably, since once Akiho would be born, she wouldn't really have much time left). The baby bump isn't that noticeable, probably because she's at the beginning of her pregnancy. Who knows if she kept seeing little Kaito while she was pregnant. 🥲Who knows if in the scene where she's telling him about how wonderful it is to have something you love, especially a person, she was already pregnant with Akiho. 🥲

Momo and Sakura's final words made me understand that Momo cannot go back to Akiho and Kaito till the circumstances and the moment is right. Whether it depends on Akiho's wish, or the right cosmic arrangement, it's surely not in the short term. Especially considering the limited scope of Momo's agency. It cannot come from Momo (unless she pays a huge price), it needs to come from them, strongly enough. I also want to think that, again as an acquired mother figure, Momo wants those two to find their own way, identity and figure out their relationship on their own, without her interference. I'm sure she's keeping an eye on them from faraway, though. 🥲Even though this still feels bittersweet because I wanted to see them reuniting in canon so badly, it gave me lots of hope for the future. Momo is just waiting for the right moment, and she'll be ready to embrace them when the time is right. Maybe, who knows, we'll see that reunion in another series or in a special publication in the future?

The End

And then....the final scene 🥲NOW it is finally clear what Ohkawa meant in that one Twitter Space, when she mentioned that there was a reason why they never featured Sakura's birthday!!! THEY NEEDED TO KEEP THE EXCLUSIVITY FOR THIS!! 😂 I'm so glad they did, really...it's so sweet to see her reaching 14 years old (the "standard age" of many shoujo heroines! 😂) and seeing Syaoran giving her a present, with that strikingly sweet smile full of love...but most importantly....the breathtaking final double spread 🥲🥲🥲🥲 The way she pulls his hand close to her chest, to her heart, while saying that Syaoran will be forever and ever her most important and special person.....really, this chapter is meant to k*ll us all with feels!🥲and I love how CLAMP keep finding ways to portray their physical displays of affection without resorting to the classic, most wanted (but also probably considered not appropriate yet) "kiss". The very final page is a direct parallel of a page from chapter one, where Sakura was going to school alone and looked back down the street to admire the cherry blossoms in full bloom.

Now, she's not alone anymore, but actually hugging the love of her life on her special day! Really, what a wonderful and fulfilling way to give the final touch to this amazing story! 🥲 Her very last line also contributed to this. Sakura leaves us again, 24 years after the first ending, with words of positivity for the future, and love for her important people. This wraps everything up nicely, but it still keeps things quite "open-ended", hopefully in the eventuality to return to this wonderful series in the future. Sakura is growing up, as CLAMP wished, and it might be possible to see her dealing with more "grown-up" situations, magic and non-magic wise. But one thing is for sure, her relationship with her loved ones will always take top priority. ❤️

Well well well, we came to the end of this looooooong commentary for this special chapter too. I can't help but thank once again all of you who followed my posts all these years, and commented with your POVs on the story.

As I've said multiple times, Cardcaptor Sakura gave me so much ever since I was a kid, and this sequel was no exception. This special chapter, in particular, overflowed with things I wanted to see, and I'm sure I'm not the only one thinking so. I once again want to congratulate CLAMP for wrapping everything up nicely, and thank them from the bottom of my heart for these almost 8 years of emotional journey. 🙏

See you around with my other tumblr posts, and let's look forward to the release of volume 16 on April 1st, and hopefully, news about the anime sequel of Clear Card!!

#cardcaptor sakura #card captor sakura #clear card arc #ccsakura #ccs spoilers #sakura kinomoto #syaoran li #akiho shinomoto #yuna d. kaito #syaosaku #yunaaki #special chapter #translation differences #how come this post is so freaking long even without translation differences? #well dammit I had A LOT TO SAY #and even some itches to scratch #aaaah the satisfaction #😊so happy

[lightaflametoburnmethrough]

Celebrating the anniversary of episode 8 which aired on February 25, 2018.

This episode marked Kaito’s first appearance as well as the first YunaAki interaction in the anime.

This is also the scene that stole my ❤️ for these two and I have been rooting for their happiness ever since 🥰

#when he said the right words (you’ve never once troubled me) i instantly knew his love for her was the real thing 🥰 #shinomoto akiho #yuna d. kaito #yunaaki #akiyuna #🕰️🌾

[muthaz-rapapa]

Losing not one but two children she's known for years.

Losing that young boy she contracted with not because he went crazy for power but because he did everything out of love for an innocent girl who was abused to the point that she was almost beyond saving.

It's too hard knowing how hopeless Momo must've felt about this plan, how much she must've hated its outcome yet couldn't do anything to go against it because one, if she actually did have control over the book she guarded, she would've been too powerful. That's why limiters have been put in place to prevent her from breaking the rules lest she wrecked the world for the sake of her own bias. Otherwise, Akiho and Kaito never would've gone through all that suffering in the first place because Momo wouldn't have allowed it to happen.

And two, because in the end, she had no choice to but to agree with Kaito that they were always going to put Akiho's safety before anything else. Akiho didn't have anything to defend herself from that artifact planted inside her. So the only method they could grab that was within their reach was to switch Akiho out and have someone take her place, eventually losing Kaito.

Then, Akiho wakes up with a whole new history inserted into her head, absolutely no clue about what they both did to preserve her life and enjoying a superficial "happy ending".

Akiho doesn't remember the precious bunny who's been with her since she was just a baby. She doesn't even remember there used to be a person she loved very much, more than anything in the world.

It's no wonder why Momo is not shown by Akiho's side despite there being nothing to stop her from doing so. She likely chose to stay by Kaito, not just to protect him while he's probably in a coma but also because she can't bear to look at Akiho who is only half her true self.

This is not her Akiho. This is not the Akiho that Momo knows. The Akiho who despite all the unfair treatment she received, still found the strength to overcome her pain and keep her pure heart and compassion.

This Akiho is just her surface personality but her real substance is hidden somewhere until the spell of this "happy ending" wears off.

So Momo has to wait, has to wait for all the fail-safes they put in place to activate. The ones that can finally lead Akiho to remember her true past, her love and the only person who can ever make her feel that way.

But there was no telling when that might happen. By the looks of it, weeks have already passed since the Exchange was carried out. Maybe even one or two months by the time Record played this message Momo left in that room. So there's a possibility it could've taken even longer if they weren't so lucky that Sakura managed to talk with Lilie in a dream and sensed the remains of the leftover card shortly afterwards.

Still, this is the only time Momo is shown post-Exchange and it isn't even her real self. It's a recording of her and she still doesn't show up after its playback is done.

She is still patiently, loyally, waiting by Kaito''s side somewhere. She will not go to Akiho, she's waiting for Akiho to come to them. No matter how long it takes or how painful it is to wait for that day to come, Momo chose to believe in Akiho. That Akiho will eventually go to reclaim her true self.

Honestly, it goes without saying that this "happy ending" was never going to last either. The clues (including Kaito's pocket watch) that got left behind and the discrepancies (like the pain in Akiho's heart when she felt like there was something missing, that essentially being her muscle memory that wasn't affected by the rewrite) would have triggered its undoing.

It's been proven before that spells can be broken (Kaito's silencing spell, the two "Alice"s remembering who they really are in Clockland) so this is just another case of that.

Moreover, narratively, this "ending" is very incomplete and leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Because even though everybody and their dog can attest with confidence that Akiho will never be mistreated in the Kinomoto household, the care she's receiving is based more on principle than anything. A principle that is based on the rewrite of their actual memories.

It's akin to showing warm hospitality to a guest and less like true familial love that runs deeper.

Akiho deserves that. Not this façade where she's constantly being viewed as part of a twin set with another person. She deserves to be acknowledged as her own separate individual.

After all she's been through, she should be with people who not only know and accept her entire past but truly comprehend from a similar place how hard it was for her to survive it. People who will know the right words to say specifically to her, who understand how hard it's always going to be for her to remember...but something she's never going to forget because those scars are a part of her. Her sorrow, loneliness, all those darker sides that also make her who she is today.

Nobody else but Kaito and Momo know that Akiho.

And that's why she can never be happy with just "being happy", just being safe with half herself.

No one can be complete by denying the less than perfect aspects of themselves.

You must embrace every part of you to know how whole you really are.

That said, I can understand why Kaito went as far as he did.

With what few ways there were available for him to make use in his situation, too.

It would've been enough to switch his watch for the artifact and then put Akiho in a non-magical family. It didn't have to be the Kinomoto family. He didn't have to alter everyone's memories to make them believe Akiho was born as Sakura's twin.

Another kind family would've been just a good as long as they could provide Akiho with a normal life.

But as spells can break under any circumstances, he wasn't willing to risk that chance of Akiho being in danger again, especially when he wasn't going to be there to protect her.

Should the rewrite become undone somehow, Akiho's clan and the Association will remember who it really was they planted the artifact in and come after Akiho to reclaim her. Possibly even retry the experiment again on her since they failed the first time because Kaito foiled their plans.

That's why he installed her in the Kinomoto house where there would be sufficient protection should that occur. Where there was at least one person (Sakura) who was capable and willing to defend Akiho no matter what.

Nothing about his plan was ever impulsive. Impulsive does not include forethought. Impulsive is acting on the spur of the moment, on reckless behavior or emotions that overtake logical thinking.

Everything he did, he did it meticulously so that there would be no weak spots where Akiho's safety was concerned.

Nobody else could've accomplished this task but him.

Taking Akiho under his protection to escape from a society that sees them as nothing more than tools. Needing to constantly fend off attacks from those magicians, always having guns aimed at his back while on the run. Having to hide all these terrible truths from Akiho for years so that she could grow up in comfort and security and learn to smile without worrying.

Throwing a giant net and luring a young and powerful yet dangerously untrained magician into his trap despite being outnumbered by her group, despite his health rapidly failing him the more he used time magic, and STILL managing to outsmart every single one of them and succeed in his goal.

All for the sake of saving Akiho who means more to him than anything, including his very own existence.

Nobody loves her more than he does so nobody would've been able to go as far as he did for her either. Nobody could've given their everything for her like he did.

That is why only Kaito could ever save Akiho.

#i've been thinking about Momo a lot lately and it led to this #...it made me realize that what makes us feel old isn't aging but sadness #momo #shinamoto akiho #yuna d. kaito #yunaaki #🕰️🌾🐇

[aliceinclockland]

yuna d. kaito is the type of guy that lets his girl sit on a public transportation vehicle rather than sitting down himself, and akiho will be the same towards her man—

like i can picture them have a little playful fight on "who gets to sit first" and be pda, but not too pda, but they won't be like... shy abt showing affection towards each other like clear card syaosaku at the start of the arc

look i am BAD at words but i do hope my point gets across. like they are NOT ashamed of showing that they care abt each other even in public but they are not overly pda you know...?

#yunaaki #yunaaki when #on my way to work and im flooded with clear card inside my head #have mercy on my soul

[moplayspoke]

I think what kind of baffles me about the whole YunaAki ship and how it’s considered controversial now because Kaito is her butler/older.

This is based on a generalized assumption that Kaito is an adult. Is he generally assumed to be older than the main cast? Yes. But height alone is not definitive proof. Height in the CLAMP world is so inconsistent and ridiculous it should never be used as a basis for age.

Not to mention, nowhere in the manga or anime series does it mention that Kaito is an adult or over 18.

Does he buy food, make food, and clean on his own? Yes. But so does Syaoran in the original CCS manga when he was still a child. In this world it’s totally normal for children to live on their own in their own flat. And in Clear Card both manga and anime, he comes back to… once again, live on his own in his own flat.

Let’s also go back to the fact that Sakura’s brother and Yukito were both towers in the original anime and they were still in HIGH SCHOOL.

Another argument might be “well, Kaito doesn’t go to any school” —how do you know? Again, it doesn’t mention anywhere any of these details because they are all assumed.

We know Touya and Yukito now go to college (18+) because it was mentioned that they do. And they never changed height.

Both Kaito and Akiho are considered foreigners from England; Kaito could also very much be a self study student which would make SENSE given the magical clan they come from and how underground they are.

Until you have confirmation from CLAMP about ages, you don’t really know and are just assuming the worst based on western norms. Stop comparing the real universe to fictional ones where the rules consistently misalign between both.

#yunaaki

[ccsthemovie2]

whatever happens at this point i dont even care that much anymore i just hope it's funny. i think kaito should get scrambled by time reforms into a kid even younger than akiho and clamp can be like See? And The Haters Complained . i REALLY want some kind of See, The Haters Complained But We Fixed It non-fix i think itd be so SO funny

#clear card spoilers ////// #talky #blink once for yes dont for no was SO funny. unintentionally #i need this series to end a. with yuekitouya intact and yuekito not forced to recombine #and b. without pulling some ACTUALLYYY nadeshiko sought out fujitaka to have magic babies on purpose #the rest is watever i cant even get mad at yunaaki canon anymore #like i doubt theyre gonna onscreen kiss let me just pretend theyre simply Very Close or watever. exploits your plausible denial

[cosmosincrystals]

username vote

cosmosincrystals

or

crystalsincosmos

*whispers* read the tags xD

#i put a thread on my priv but the only clear card consumers there are me riley kuma and cinzia #good god help me #before i make ANOTHER alt to secure the other one #yunaaki's real names deserves to be a username #tyvm

[syaosakureal]

Clear card pros and cons (that i can remember i need to reread it again)

Pros:

SYAOSAKU DATING ‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥

idk more content around our fave characters (though not as much but take it as you will)

The wierd ass technology update all of a sudden everyone has iphones (minus syaoran)

It picked up from the og ending where syaoran comes back from hong kong

SYAOSAKU DATING 🥹🥹🥹

SYAOSAKU WENT ON A DATE ‼️‼️

Unlocked sakura new swag (at the cost of ending her cardcaptor retirement…)

(Anime only) english dub actors of trc syaosaku voice ccscc syaosaku i thought that was pretty cool (syaoran sounds like maybe he went through puberty a little too early but thats okay)

(Anime only) SYAORAN SPEAKS FRENCH IN THE ENGLISH DUB

cute art style

Maybe just me but sometimes i get a little emotional seeing sakura in her daily life in middle school because its like !! Wow i remember when you were in 4th grade and now you’re in 7th grade im so proud of you sakura 🥹

Momo (new mascot to make marketable plushie off of)

(Anime only) MEILING COMEBACK ‼️

THE SYAOSAKU SONG HOSHI NO TEGAMI 😭😭😭😭😭 BEST SONG EVERRRR WTF SYAORANS SINGING VOICE IS SO!:?:)/$/? THEYRE SUCH A GOOD DUET

SYAOSAKU DATING. Btw. Theyre a couple. Theyre dating and theyre in love.

Cons:

KAITO.

New characters who happen to be mediocre

Akiho is literally just a carbon copy of sakura who is just sad (they refused to touch on the different aspects of her like reading books, singing and from kong kong only very rarely)

Kaito fucking sucks literally worst ccs of all time and THATS A LOT saying theres literal PEDOS in the fucking show but theyre all background characters but they can also piss off

Tbf i got confused along the way

Too many plot holes

Syaosaku angst

Syaosaku couldnt touch for a while 😔

Anyway why did yelan do that (referring to point above)

Some shit does not make sense

Tsubasa/xxxholic references (this is for you oomf)

Syaoran???? Is part of the “im keeping things from sakura” gang???? And it sucks so bad (yes it got resolved in the later half BUT IT STILL SUCKED)

TOO MANY THINGS KEPT FROM SAKURA JUST TELL HER DAMN

pushes most characters from the og manga aside to focus on akiho and that man 🙄🙄🙄

Clamp forces us to care about them but in reality we really do not gaf

(In reference to point above) Clamp sees that and pushes the nostalgia tactics/references sometimes and its lowkey tiring

The part where the syao/saku/tomo were reminiscing that fuck ass teacher made me ill i genuinely wanted to kms

Still hasnt gotten rid of their p*do ass shit thanks clamp very cool (sarcasm)

Did i mention that the og characters were pushed back? Because they really were

Akiho felt more of the main character of this story instead of sakura

Tbh not much happened in the entirety of this manga ESPECIALLY considering time shenanigans

Im still mad that syaoran hid stuff from sakura tbh

HOW CAN I FORGET THE UGLY ASS “YUNAAKI IS SIMILAR TO SYAOSAKU” PARALLELS AND HOW BADLY IT PISSES ME OFF

syaosaku dont look but theres an ugly bitch trying to be like you (yunaaki)

Yunaaki becoming borderline canon despite it being a toxic and p*dophilic ship

Kaito still exists in this fucking story and got a somewhat happy ending (befriending syaoran dont piss me the fuck off)

COMPARING KAITO TO SYAORAN KYS @ CLAMP

Kero/tomoyo/yue/nakuru/spinnel basically everyone magically involved is pushed back basically useless until the final act (i think i mentioned the character pushback before)

Still major plotholes

Yamazaki tells the truth now

Touya got whitewashed

Akiho still has too many similarities to sakura it still pisses me off. Why cant they make her her own character

My girl sakura developed anxiety

MY BOY SYAORAN DEVELOPED DEPRESSION

angsty ass middle schoolers

Didnt like the scene where sakuras grandad was basically throwing shade at syaoran comparing his romance with sakura to … sakura’s fuckass dad grooming her mom. What

Syaoran calmed down a bit i miss when he was chaotic af but whatever #middleschoolerthings

Season 2 is taking forever to release good lord

#thats about it i can think for now #if i remember i’ll probably add more idk #clear card spoilers #thoughts

[crystalsincosmos]

HI

aliceinclockland alt part 2 because i am INDECISIVE AS FUCK.

anyways yunaaki >>>>

[meimi-haneoka]

Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card Chapter 78: Comments + JP-ENG translation differences

Hello hello!! End of the month, just witnessed Harvest Moon high in the sky (the last Supermoon of 2023!), and we're back like clockwork with another chapter of Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card!! I have to say the release of Clear Card chapters have often coincided with a Supermoon and I find that so funny, as well as fitting....the moon is such a big element in this arc!

And as we have seen in this arc, the moon is also a messenger of love, and there's so much of it in this chapter....feelings, conflicting emotions, but most importantly, talks of happiness. This chapter wrecked me with emotions even more than the previous one, as we finally got the Kaito/Akiho moment of "discussion" that we waited for so long....where the focal point of the entire arc is: how far can we push ourselves to make our loved ones happy? Is it right for us to arbitrarily decide for their happiness? Along the years, I've seen countless of complains for how the events of the story were unfolding, for how some characters did absolutely the hell they wanted and made decisions for others, but as I knew perfectly well, a story is something in constant development and the goal wasn't to show how helpless people are or how it was right for others to act in that way, quite the contrary. And we'll see with full force what that means in this chapter of the climax, which is surprisingly BIG (36 pages long).

I also have to (unfortunately) report a quite annoying translation mistake in the English version that can confuse people and trick them to believe that Sakura remembered about a certain someone. Along with the usual nuances and such.

BUT FIRST!!

Hehe, you know what's coming, right?

Akiho went THIS close to go full Greta Thunberg on a certain someone!!! 😂 Let's find out WHO it is under the cut!!

The Color Page

Our Sakura this month takes the color spread with one of the most beautiful portrayal of our little magician: dressed in a very elegant layered white dress with jewels, head covered by a white veil, immersed by half in a pond, she looks halfway between a bride and a priestess! And yes, I can already hear you screaming "Tsubasa!!1!1!!!!" because she vaguely reminds of little Sakura-hime at the reservoir....😆 But I think what really makes the atmosphere of this color page "magical" is the presence of countless spheres of light, which seem to be emerging from crystal water lilies and converge in a huge sphere, which really looks like the moon....just to go back to the incipit of this blog post, right? 😂 After observing this color page, I couldn't help but being reminded of the spheres of light that were featured in the color pages of chapter 52 and 63 (with respectively, Kaito and SyaoSaku). Back in my post of chapter 63 I had made an analysis about what the common thread between those two color pages could be, and especially the significance of those spheres of light. If they really are representing the feelings of love for your dearest person, then I'd like to think that here Sakura is being represented as a "fairy" fostering and releasing that love in the open, to help and save the people dear to her. Which is totally the image I'm getting not only from this chapter, but ever since we started to see what happened in the "re-written world". Sakura is literally a messenger of love. And I love that for her. ❤️

The editorial text in the JP version is referencing what Sakura told Akiho back in chapter 49, right after her "sister" shared with her the recount of her night walk with Kaito: "To me, you’re someone I want to see happy forever. Because you're my friend, and someone really precious to me"

"Blink To Say Yes"

The chapter starts with me making amends to Kaito for the nth time, asking for his forgiveness for doubting his intentions and emotional state way over what was due: as the dragon keeps flying away, Sakura grabs Akiho's hand and starts going after the creature, of course followed by Syaoran, Kero and Yue. Akiho (poor girl, still with a tear in her eye) notices with shock that the "portal" to the fake moon is completely disintegrating, revealing the real moon behind it. Flying side-by-side to the dragon, Sakura realizes that the creature got finally out of that place to avoid that Akiho would put herself in danger: in fact, with the portal disappearing like that, she might have been trapped inside that space forever! Sooo as usual, Kaito's actions are skillfully framed by CLAMP in a way that will make you misunderstand him and think he's being irrational or getting on everyone's nerves on purpose, but no, he was actually just putting Akiho's safety first, as usual. ❤️ I know there were some interpretations of him precisely doing this, but I thought it wasn't the case because Sakura broke the spell inside the fake moon, removing the pressure and all, so I couldn't see what danger he needed to protect her from: in fact, the looming danger was a different one, and it was well symbolized by those "bzzz" sounds and effects near the entrance when Akiho was getting in. I had noticed them but dismissed them as the instability of Touya's time magic. I should've known better! 😆 Sorry, Kaito. I know that the only one who can make you do anything at all is only Akiho! Therefore I'm still laughing at how Sakura tried to convince him to get out for half an hour, when all Akiho needed was to move an inch forward 😆😆😆 I also think that what she told him, the fact that she was sure to be in front of "her most important person", changed things for Kaito. His reaction was tangible, despite being hidden behind the eyes of a dragon. And therefore I'm still partially peeved and heartbroken at him, because before hearing that from her (and seeing her putting herself in danger), he was fully planning on staying inside that space forever. He was refusing to come out, knowing very well that the portal would've disappeared at any minute, eliminating any chance of saving him. How dare you.

Well. We were saying that Sakura realized the dragon's intentions right away, and we see her shouting, with a face halfway between shocked and fired-up, "This means she's important to you, too!" (good job ENG translation for not messing this up, I guess. I was worried). Damn right, Sakura. She must be so confused by this person dragon's behavior. It is all so crystal clear to her. It's not only in her head, all the signs keep confirming to her that he really does consider Akiho very important, even now, immutably. The time he spent in that cage didn't change anything for him (and that, if anything, makes everything even more heartbreaking because of how agonizing that must have been). Sakura just can't understand why this person is acting like this, since he truly does care about Akiho. Refusing to go back to her. None of the people around her behave in this way and for her it must be something very new to deal with - and this reminds me of what a blessing we had to get these new characters in this arc, so different from what she's used to, who sometimes pushed her beyond her comfort zone, hence expanding her experience and making her grow up.

Akiho seems encouraged by Sakura's firm statement, so she takes the matter in her hands and shouts to the dragon to please have a talk with her. She shuts her eyes tight, as if being desperate for him to listen to her.

And that's it. That's all it takes for Kaito to be ol' good Kaito and stop immediately at Akiho's request, looking intently at her. As if he's saying "I'm at your service". I've said it countless times in my blog posts, how Kaito is someone who really would do whatever he wants and listens to no reason, but when it comes to Akiho, he really cannot deny anything to her. Akiho sighs in relief at seeing him stopping, and she starts talking to him, so tiny in front of such a giant (is he supposed to look scary? To me he really isn't, he's quite cute) creature. Akiho is well aware, from the countless books she's read till now, that the ones who can have conversations with dragons are almost entirely people with marvelous capabilities (the ENG went for "strange powers" for this, I don't think it fits). She's got no magical powers, but she quickly comes up with a clever way of "communicating": blink your eyes to say 'yes', do nothing and stay like that to say 'no'. And so she immediately starts, because she needs to know, she needs to understand. It's her goddam*ed right to do so, and Kaito knows this very well, hence why he's not denying her the opportunity. Akiho fires the first question: "Are you the one who re-wrote the world?" Kaito blinks, admitting it. I can see a streak of sadness in his eyes as he opens them again. This doesn't make any good to Akiho, who looks pretty sad as well, at hearing that. It's like having one fear, and seeing it confirmed. But she goes on, explaining how the world she's living in right now is warm and caring, full of people who support her and dote on her as if she were one of their family. While she states this, we can see Tomoyo following the events from the tablet with a concerned face, and Touya looking more and more worn out by the time magic he's being keeping up, sustained by Ruby Moon and Spinel Sun.

Akiho is very intuitive, so it's easy to guess where the question is leading: "Did you rewrite it because I never had this, before? And for that, were you the one who erased any trace of you from inside of me?" The ENG version here adds a "Did you do it to bring me happiness?" which is not incorrect, of course, but it doesn't exist in the JP text, and as usual it's used to spoon-feed the readers as if they couldn't get there on their own (and to probably fill a bubble with something).

Kaito cannot lie to the burning question, and he blinks his eyes. We see appearing a "crease" next to his eye, a clever way from Mokona to show us that he's growing more and more distressed. The pain of remembering how her clan abused her, how they got there because of something he said, the pain that resulted from the decision he made when he was just a kid. And the next question is even more burning.

"Did I wish for it?"

Kaito does nothing, confirming he now understands that in fact, Akiho never asked for this. Never. And the girl herself confirms: "I don't remember (you), but I know. I would never wish for a happiness that did not include you". Kaito listens intently to her. I just can't imagine how it must feel to not remember a single thing about someone, and yet feeling all that love pouring out of you. Simply out of instincts.

I Want My Most Important Person Back

Then, with a very (very) resolute face, Akiho turns to her dear Sakura, and affirms: (JP) "Sakura-san. I want to bring my most important person back". Here it is again, the famous term that we CCS fans all know well, the code for "the person I love", that keeps being changed in the ENG translation to a less recognizable "favorite person", which I'm still not sure conveys the same meaning. Sakura agrees with a pleased smile, she's totally ready to do anything to give her true happiness back to her "sister". Then, she turns to Dragon Kaito, and here we start with the "parallels" that will enrich this chapter of many many additional emotions.

Yes❤️ it's a parallel with Lilie, from chapter 72. Same expression and all. Precisely from when she was telling her the words that Sakura is going to relay to Kaito now: "What is happiness, to you?".

And here I have to introduce probably the worst mess of a translation mistake of this chapter, that will surely confuse people and make them believe things that actually arent' true:

ENG: "Someone asked me that once, too. In a dream. But, try as I might...I couldn't remember who it was. Not until she crossed time and dreams to see me. I think she did that for this moment. And...I think that's why she left me this card in the end, too"

JP: "These are words I've heard in a dream. I can't really remember who said them, no matter how hard I try, but...that person crossed time and dreams in order to come to see me. It was surely for this moment. And...this last Card remained, too...was for this very moment, right?"

I sincerely have no idea how they could mess up and make Sakura say that she actually remembers about Lilie, after she came to see her. Lilie had been so clear about it, in chapter 72, that the Forbidden Magic would've made Sakura forget as soon as she exited the dream, and so it happened, indeed. Why making her basically say that she remembered, afterwards? This is against the script! Moreover, not happy with messing that up, they even made Sakura say that the last Clear Card remained was left by Lilie herself! That's nonsense, that's not what the JP text says! Momo told her that there were some Clear Cards that were protected by her with a spell and they were waiting for Sakura to call them up, that's HOW the Clear Card that we're going to see now is able to be here. Not because Lilie gave it to Sakura. And before anyone points out "yes, but the one who paid for that spell with her ring was Lilie", I have to remind you that Sakura is not supposed to know that. Momo never told her WHO paid that price. So basically this is a mess-up on all fronts. But let's go back to our story because the emotional moments are just escalating. Before Sakura mentions the Card, we can see for a moment Lilie's reflection in the Dragon's eyes. A clear sign that Kaito understood perfectly who Sakura was talking about! And I think it's so beautiful that Sakura, always listening to her intuition (remember how she wasn't very good at this, before? That she dismissed her intuition, and Syaoran told her that his mother taught him not to?), understands that THIS is the moment to get this question out, because here she basically posed this question to Kaito. And this will help him decide in a few pages.

Proceeding forward, we can finally meet the big absentee ever since Sakura secured it back in chapter 33: the Rewind Card!!! One of the most beloved Cards, obviously for its appearance that was based on Syaoran and its cuteness! This card is the last one that still had to appear and that never showed up in Clockland, a sign that Kaito wasn't able to put his hands on it and "drag it" into the fictional world created with Momo's magic. It's the last Card that was waiting to be called by Sakura. And so she does! Syaoran is quite surprised and provides a "Spiderman meme" moment when he realizes that the Card looks just like him! 😂 Sakura explains to him that Record was able to record this Card as well, so that's how she knew of its existence (and not because Lilie gave it to her, once again!!!).

It's time. Sakura announces to the Dragon that she's going to bring him back to "himself". Our girl does so because she wants to implicitly give him the chance to have a say in this. She doesn't really "ask", but it's like she's implicitly doing it, because she wants to make sure that this is something he wants too.

In fact, in a very emotional moment, he and Akiho exchange again a long stare. It's like a silent conversation is going on between them. The dragon is depicted with a painful expression, while Akiho is staring at him firmly and determined. He's still, to the very end, thinking he does not deserve to go back to his human real form and go back to her. But she's unwavering, and uncompromising. She wants him back, and she's going to have him back. Because, after all, under a pile of self-loathing and pain, this is what he wants too. This is his happiness. So, with a very suffering expression, he blinks his eyes one more time to say "go ahead". In his condition, this must have costed him a lot of effort. You know who they reminded me of, in this scene?

Yeah, them. I've been saying it for long time, agreeing with other friends affirming the same in their own posts, how I could see a clear parallel between Clone SyaoSaku from TRC and YunaAki in Clear Card. They didn't exactly go through the same things, but their experiences often overlapped. And this in particular is overlapping really well. As I wrote already in my Twitter thread, he's given a chance to go back, but he's crushed by guilt. He doesn't think he deserves it. But she stares FIRMLY at him, pulling him towards life, a life with her. And he closes his eyes, and caves in. Because in the end, this is what he wants too. To be with her.

So Sakura proceeds. She says that she doesn't know who the Dragon is, but the pocket watch does. And as said pocket watch levitates in the air from Akiho's hands towards the Rewind Card, Sakura explains that it does know him because it used to "weave time" together with him. And so, combining the Card with the watch, Sakura activates Rewind on Kaito, exactly as I expected!

And the moment is absolutely emotional, as we finally see again after 8 long chapters (and relative months), our dear Kaito's face!!! The way the Rewind Card "works" on him is also quite spectacular, from a visual POV, since the pocket watch seemingly "enters" the dragon and frees Kaito from within. The fact is, we don't see the pocket watch after he changed back, so now I'm wondering: did it stay inside of him???

But, whoops, something didn't quite go alright. The black wings of the dragon stick to Kaito's back. Kero observes him and wonders with Yue if he's been a creature like them this whole time, but fear not, Yue dissolves the doubt right away: he thinks he's a regular human magician (the kanji says 魔術師, magician, while the furigana reads ひと, person), it's just that the spell that was active on him (the "Seal of D", as we know) was probably so damn powerful that even borrowing the pocket watch's power (as said in the JP version) wasn't enough for Rewind to bring him completely back to his appearance. Well, you want my opinion? Those wings look FANTASTIC on him and I absolutely want him to keep them!!! (maybe with a little spell he can conceal them when it's not convenient?) 😂❤️ He looks like a dark angel and it's amazing.

Don't Decide My Happiness On My Behalf

But the real, heartwrenching emotional moment starts here. This is also the moment when I started emitting all kinds of inhuman sounds, so I'm grateful I'm not one of those people doing a live reaction on youtube or something because this would be the end of my reputation on the internet 😂😂😂😂

Akiho and Kaito, finally in his original human form, exchange a long stare, again. His face is showing perfectly how he's absolutely heartbroken at what he realized he caused to her. It's guilt adding over guilt. And as she finally looks at the face of the person her heart knows is the one she loves, she can't stop the tears from forming again in her eyes, while she poses the only REAL question that she probably wanted to ask all along:

"Why?"

And as I always do with pivotal moments, I'm going to continue with the direct translation from the JP text, because the ENG added something ("why did you leave me?", which contributes to convey Akiho's feelings and possibly makes this even more romantic) that wasn't there in the original, and I have to be impartial.

Akiho, JP: "Why did you choose to disappear....from the rewritten world?"

I wanted to put the JP version here also because an important verb is missing from the ENG version: choose. Akiho is questioning Kaito about his choice. Because yes, this wasn't a result of a whim, Kaito chose to disappear from her life. And now he has to answer for that. Akiho's face is twisted in pain, as if she's trying to control the tears that now profusely fall from her eyes, and contain an immesurable grief in realizing that her most beloved person chose to remove himself quite definitively from her life.

His reply, though, proceeded to shatter my heart even further, cause it's exactly what I expected and have been saying this whole time.

Kaito, JP: "Because I thought I wasn't necessary to your happiness"

This is the only line we'll hear from Kaito in this chapter. For the rest of it, he'll listen in silence, giving space to Akiho and trying to elaborate. Besides, I want to point out that for the first time ever, he uses "ore" as a personal pronoun while talking to Akiho, and he's also seemingly dropped the use of keigo, the polite speech that he used with basically everyone before. Signifying that he's finally being honest and open, he's being his true self.

In his reply, there's all the self-loathing and hurt and pain he's been experiencing till now. Not recently, but ever since he was a baby. Remember that this boy grew up completely devoid of love in his life, completely abandoned to himself, exploited for his powers by a congregation of criminals. Kaito is, himself, a victim of abuse too, and I would want the CCS readers to acknowledge that more. Because if we have to wonder how we came to this situation, well, this is how. This is the damage that growing up in that kind of environment can cause to people. And we don't have to go that far because, if we remove the "magic" factor from the Association, we can find environments of that kind even in our daily real life. Growing up in that environment didn't stop Kaito from developing attachment to a person. From developing love for them. But, as he grew up not knowing what his self-worth was, being used as a commodity by other people, he's been convinced this whole time that he was nothing to her. That when he managed to accomplish his goal, he wouldn't need to be there because she didn't need him anymore. And I know, I can hear you, "How is it possible that he didn't notice how Akiho looked at him and how she loved him?" That's precisely because of his mental condition that prevented him from seeing or even believing what he was seeing. Kaito thought that he was born alone, and he'd die alone. That no one would ever be able to love him. That's why. And it's heartbreaking that someone would live their life like that.

With such a condition, Kaito's intentions were good but he went down a twisted path to make them true, completely missing the right way to go about it. Akiho doesn't know anything about this, but the heartwrenching scene that follows is something that's absolutely in her right to say. It is something I anticipated so so much.

Akiho, JP (lit.): "Please don't decide my happiness for me! Even if it's you! Please don't tear up and throw away my most important person!!"

Sadness and anger are mixed with Akiho's tears while she pours out all of her pain. I wanted to feature the literal translation of the JP text because I think the verb used, 破り捨ててしまう, depicts a very heartwrenching scene in my head. It is a verb that it's akin to when you tear up a piece of paper and discard it in the trash.

This is literally what Kaito did with his existence, when he went through with his plan.

So Akiho here is not only scolding him because he dared depriving her life of her most important person (and she doesn't care if it's he himself, he's not allowed to do that), but also BECAUSE HE DISREGARDED HIS OWN LIFE IN DOING SO. He's treated himself as a disposable object. And Akiho can't stand that. She loves him so much, despite not remembering a single thing about him, that she can't stand the thought of him hating himself to that point. I think, the way the ENG translation portrayed it, focuses too much on Akiho scolding Kaito for not having the right to remove himself from her life, and completely misses the other, implied, darker part of her line.

Akiho is understandably wrecked and she would want to scold Kaito more, but as she says herself, she doesn't even know what name to call him with. He erased so much from her that she isn't even allowed the luxury to remember his name. But I think this scene here might actually be a foreshadowing for him to reveal his true name to her later, so I'm waiting in anticipation for this (I've been actually waiting ever since chapter 51!). In the meantime, to break a little the drama with a funny moment, I think she wanted to call him baka, but as she doesn't even know his name, she can't do that! 😂what do you think???

And as I always say, Eriol suddenly opens the communication with Sakura to bring bad news! 😂Kaho is exhausted and can't hold the time stopped much longer (furthermore, it seems even Eriol is participating to keep the spell up), so he informs Sakura of that and she thanks him with a worried face. Syaoran looks up and notices that a hole is appearing in the stopped environment, signifying that the time magic is wearing off. So Sakura turns to Akiho and asks her what she wants to do from now. Notice that "from now" well, cause it's very symbolic: it's as if Sakura is saying "other people chose for you till now, but now you're given the chance to finally decide by yourself". With a painful face, eyes drowned in tears, Akiho ponders for a moment and then says that she's been really, really happy to be part of Sakura's family, but if that's not real, then she wants to go back, no matter how much hardships and pain is awaiting ahead. Please register how difficult it must have been for Akiho to wish that. Because right now, she's got all she wanted, love, a warm family, friends and even her most important person is here with her. But the fact is, this arrangement was created by someone with magic, it's not real, it's not how things naturally came to be. Moreover, no matter how strong her love can be, she still doesn't remember anything about her most important person and all she experienced with him, and that is something that is eating her soul away, because she recognizes that she lost something invaluable. So she's willing to let go of all this comfort to go back to the life she had before, WELL KNOWING (because Kaito confirmed it to her earlier) that in her previous life there will also be a lot of pain awaiting her. Moreover, she adds that if there's anything she'll be able to change, then she wants to do that with her own strength (again, a detail that's missing from the ENG translation). And then, turning to Kaito with a very assertive face: "Together with my most important person".

Kaito at this point can only stare in shock at her. Because I'm sure that he thought that after making her cry and suffer this much, she wouldn't have wanted anything to do with him anymore. But, as Kaito hopefully will have all the time to find out, this girl's feelings are no joke. It's no flimsy crush. This is the type of love that binds you to your soulmate forever, and gives you the strength to forgive them when they make you suffer, if you can recognize that their heart was in the right place. Akiho wants to grasp control of her life, wants to be the one to completely make decisions from now on, but she also wants Kaito with her, not only by her side but also participating to those life decisions. She doesn't want to cut him off.

Sakura, with the sweetest smile ever, tells her (JP)"If you two will be together....everything will surely be alright". And here I have to point out two things in the ENG translation: that single "together" that sounds a bit overcautious, not specifying who's together, when in the JP text it's clear she's referring to those two (because the context comes from the panel right before), and then the choice to translate Sakura's iconic invincible spell with "I'm sure it'll work out". That's not how the English speaking fandom knows Sakura's invincible spell as, and from what I've been told, it's not even how it's been translated previously! So this makes pretty difficult for the English speaking fans to recognize that she's uttering her invincible spell here!

Especially cause, look what a wonderful and touching parallel they have done...

The one you can see above is coming from Volume 5 of the old manga, and it's the very first time Sakura uttered the invincible spell, releasing the Light and Dark Cards from inside herself. This parallel, where you can see that Mokona sensei strived to redraw the spread exactly as she did back then, really gives off a feeling of "coming full circle", especially cause when you put them one beside the other it's so easy to see how much Sakura grew since then. Back then, Sakura told those words to herself to comfort herself in a moment of panic. Now, Sakura is telling these same words to a beloved person in a critical situation, to encourage her that if she'll be with her most important person, everything is going to be alright, no matter what awaits ahead. It also reminded me of the comforting words that Yukito told Sakura back in volume 12 of the old manga, the night before Sakura ran to the bus stop to give Syaoran her teddy bear. Yukito told her that as long as both she and her most important person wished to see one another again, it would be fine. I can kinda sense that Sakura wanted to comfort Akiho in the same way, that as long as she and Kaito stay together, they can overcome anything ahead. And I found that absolutely wonderful.

Unfortunately, the awesome moment full of courage and love is interrupted because Syaoran notices the time magic has given up and the arrows start attacking them again, as expected. We see a very worrisome panel with Eriol crouching to the ground next to a passed out Kaho (poor Kaho!!!!), while he hold his staff and sends a remote protective spell to shield the kids from the oncoming attack.

Without wasting time, Kaito grabs Akiho and holds her tight in a protective embrace, curling his beautiful black wings on her to shield her, while she's still shocked (and with tears in her eyes). I have no shame in admitting that THIS panel turned my screams in ultrasounds and it's become my favorite one of the chapter!! Especially cause here we have that magician who couldn't even bring himself to touch his beloved Akiho's head to comfort her, now finally not hesitating anymore and holding her in a very tight embrace to protect her (still giving all of himself for her, I guess it's just his way to love her). The situation is dire: Syaoran activates his Fuuka Shourai to fight the arrows off, while Kero and Yue shoot their own attacks, because the arrows just keep coming at them non-stop. Kero tells Sakura that they're going to take care of the attacks, and Yue says that she's the only one at this point who can change radically the situation. Then, Syaoran, our brave hero, says that he will absolutely protect what Sakura wants to protect (I didn't like the ENG phrasing, at all!! "Whatever it is that you want to protect" sounds so dismissing towards Akiho and Kaito?? Is it only me having a bias at this point?), so he urges her to focus on what she can do (to change this situation)!! I found this moment very exciting....everyone is placing their hope in Sakura and they're gonna do what they can to protect everyone, Akiho and Kaito included (and Kaito took personally care of protecting Akiho by himself).

Sakura is left wondering what to do. "To turn things back to normal, then I should use Rewind one more time" but she expresses doubt at it being enough to complete the task, so she wonders what else she needs to do, while the final page shows in her hands both the Time Card and the Rewind Card!

Aaaaaaand this is how the chapter ends, we finally reached the bottom oh my gosh!! 😂 This chapter was so long but also so full of emotions, I really wanted to touch all the important topics and parallels that have been portrayed in these 36 pages. I know the post became infinite, but I wouldn't feel right to know that I left something interesting out.

I am so damn proud of my Akiho girl. Her assertive discussion with Kaito, tinted with a touch of anger, was exactly what I wanted and expected from her. Because she's sweet, yes, but also got a strong personality. And once you get her fired-up, she's not going to stop. She's a bulldozer. I mean, haven't you seen what she did in chapter 52/53 and 58 with Kaito?? She's definitely not afraid to confront people thanks to her strong nature. This finally elevates her character development in this arc. I'm also grateful to Sakura and her empathy, once again, because it's so beautiful to witness what she's doing for these people. And she's so wonderful that even her loved ones are helping her in this quest, because they all trust her and recognize that this is a way to make her happy too. I'm absolutely thrilled to have Kaito back, finally. And my heart bled for him when he gave that single answer to Akiho.

Despite seeming like we're almost at the end of the run, there are still some important matters to fix and explain, especially in regard to the magical artifacts, and how things will be once Sakura effectively manages to "go back". Will they remember, first of all? And will the situation be exactly like before? Because then, Akiho will have the artifact inside herself once again and they'll have to do something about that too. Also, Kaito's lifespan was pretty bad by the start of the Alice in Clockland play, so of course one has to wonder what they'll do about that too. I also expect one more YunaAki moment because we haven't really heard Kaito's version of the facts, the origin of his quest to save Akiho and how that turned into a "I'm going to give her a happy life too", which absolutely seems beyond what he would need to do if what moved him was only guilt for what he caused to her. Of course it's not only that. And I also expect to hear his apologies to Akiho, of course! ❤️ But gradually, because he must be a confused, hurting mess right now. Whatever else CLAMP sensei will decide to give us regarding those two, I'll take it as a blessed present. We're slowly but inexorably going towards the finale. I really can't wait to read the next chapter, which is expected by Halloween on October 31st! And as a YunaAki fan I can't avoid remembering that even chapter 48, when Akiho confessed covertly to Kaito, came on the day of Halloween of 2020! Will we get a real, spelled out confession exactly 3 years later???

As usual, I await your comments here or in my inbox, see you at the end of this month!!

#cardcaptor sakura #card captor sakura #clear card arc #ccsakura #ccs spoilers #sakura card captor #chapter 78 #translation differences #yuna d. kaito #akiho shinomoto #sakura kinomoto #syaoran li #yunaaki

[lightaflametoburnmethrough]

A Study of Love Analysis #5: The Strongest Emotion

“if love was a color, what would it be?”

I kept asking myself variations of this question since ch 68 came out. In fact, maybe I’ve always been asking ever since ch 66.

If love were a shape, what form would it take? When you want to express love without words, how would you do so?

It was chapter 66, the beginning of volume 14, that started filling in those answers. 

1) Love as creation

Prior to vol 14, we entered Clockland… but what we saw wasn’t anything that was native to that world. The Clear Cards that came to life, they are just guests invited into this country. They are not original characters of the story itself because they are magic born from another person (Sakura) who isn’t the author of “Alice in Clockland”.

So who is the author? It’s Kaito, of course.

It can only be him. Momo confirmed it herself when she asked him, as far back as ch 31 (vol 7), “will this story have a happy ending?” and she confirmed it again in ch 60 with the line “The story that you prepared for the two Alices, Sakura and Akiho”.”

“Alice in Clockland” is a story created by Kaito. And therefore, the world within it is created by him, too.

Moreover, it is a reflection of himself. A statement of his feelings for Akiho in the most beautiful, poetic way.

First of all, he made Akiho the most important person in Clockland. Its sovereign, the Red Queen.

Among all the white roses in the garden we see later, Akiho is noticeably the only one addressed with the title of “Red”.

The sole red rose among all the white roses. The only one.

Next, the first thing we see upon “officially” entering Clockland is the Queen’s magnificent castle.

This castle, unlike the Cards, is a product of Clockland. And since it’s a part of Clockland, the world Kaito has given to Akiho, then the castle is also his gift to her. To show how highly he regards her in his eyes.

Following that, it’s the walk through that rose garden, which is described by Alice (Sakura) as “a place that seems to hold a very important feeling to someone.”

Because this rose garden draws from Kaito’s very memories of the place where he used to have conversations with Lilie as a child. Lilie, the first person who ever approached and treated him like a human being instead of a tool to be used by magicians.

But more than that, it was the place where he and Akiho first met. The day that he took her away from her toxic clan and gave her a new life where she could be happy started here. The place where their journey began, where their story began.

And that’s when you realize “Alice in Clockland” is a story about them, about Akiho and Kaito. Not a fictional Alice and definitely not Sakura, who only came into its most recent chapters when Akiho arrived in Japan and they became friends.

The book that has been titled as such is a magical one guarded by Momo. Kaito is Momo’s contractor and therefore, the current and true owner of the White Book. The White Book has been “lent” to Akiho, who has named it “Alice in Clockland” because she wished it so.

The book also records all the events of the owner(s’) life…so it stands to reason that its contents revolve around the time Akiho and Kaito spent with each other, of the memories they share together.

With Alice’s (Sakura’s) entrance into Clockland, the world adapts to include her memories as well since Kaito has assigned the role of heroine to her…but even this addition doesn’t nullify the significance of the sceneries the Red Queen (Akiho) takes Alice through.

The botanical garden where Akiho originally took Kaito for an outing (ch 53) before he wound back time to avoid a confrontation with Sakura and Syaoran. The fact that this garden shows up as another important place, more specifically called a “place of memories” with the three “characters” present there. It means it holds a great significance to Kaito, too.

Just like the rose garden from before.

Because it is a place he shared moments with Akiho, even if she doesn’t recall it because of the rewind.

Remember. After their midnight stroll in ch 48, Akiho told Sakura the very next day (ch 49) that Kaito remembered everything about their time traveling together. 

“Even down to the smallest things that anyone would easily forget, he remembers them. Every single one.”

Because for Kaito, his greatest treasure is the time he was able to spend by Akiho’s side. Nothing means more to him than her. Nothing is of greater value than every second they are together.

So even if Akiho has no recollection of the day they went to the botanical garden, he does and it stays within his heart as something immeasurably precious.

Thus, it manifests in the world that reflects that heart. In Clockland.

Finally, the gondola through the library.

This is a scenery that reflects Akiho more than the other two because she is the one who loves books the most. They were her only friends before Kaito came along, before she made new ones in Japan, so naturally they occupy a very important place in her heart.

It explains why the shelves are so tall and expansive and goes on as far as their eyes could see. This library is much bigger and grander than all the places Alice (Sakura) has been led through before.

Did Kaito create this as well? For Akiho because he knows how much books mean to her? Or was this picture influenced by Akiho herself?

It’s never explicitly confirmed…but when the Red Queen went on to explain that books were “records” of many things and Alice (Sakura) asked what her favorite book was, she replied “the book I love most is Alice in Clockland.”

“Alice in Clockland”...the story Kaito gave to Akiho. The story about their life together, their time together.

Which leads us to…

2) Love as the constant

Even though the two girls have their roles to play upon entering Clockland, and thus the memories of their true selves were subdued, something in them is always inclining them to remember who they are.

But there is a difference between Akiho and Sakura. 

Sakura is closely being monitored by Kaito to make sure that she doesn’t remember who she is as that will cause her to stray off the path he needs “Alice” to take to fulfill this story (aka his plan to save Akiho).

However, for Akiho, there is none of that pressure that Sakura feels when she’s on the edge of recalling something. 

When Alice (Sakura) asks her if she’s the Red Queen, Akiho responds that she doesn’t know…but what she does know, what she does remember is that there is someone very special to her.

Someone so special that she can’t forget them, even in another world where she has assumed another identity.

Akiho doesn’t remember her own name or who she herself  is…but she remembers “Alice in Clockland”. She remembers this special person (特別 な ひと).

The manner in which Akiho lifts her veil aside so effortlessly... there is multiple symbolism at play here.

She isn’t in pain nor does she wince like Sakura does the closer she gets back to her true self. Why is that?

Because even in Clockland, even though she’s been made the Red Queen by Kaito, he absolutely refuses to change what fundamentally makes Akiho who she is.

He is soft on Akiho in the way he isn’t towards anyone else because he doesn’t have a love for anyone else like he does for her.

All the important aspects of Akiho, he chose to leave them relatively untouched by his magic. Akiho’s fondness for books, her memory of “Alice in Clockland”  ...and unknowingly to Kaito, the greatest love she has only for him.

It is like Akiho is brushing aside the dust of his spell on her as she lifts the veil. The veil that obscured her sight isn't the least bit heavy against her hand. It is lifted without resistance, without difficulty.

Because Kaito made it so. He made it so that this world, this Clockland, can never force or hurt Akiho in any way.

Clockland is a world where Akiho is the most important person. This world embraces and protects her from any harm. 

Even when Sakura was told that this world will move as she wished, it won’t go against the creator’s (Kaito’s) law that nothing in it is allowed to defy Akiho. Not his desperation to save her, not even the veil (his magic) covering her face.

Because if she wishes for something, he can’t ever go against her either. He loves her too much to do that.

And that’s how Akiho gradually but surely remembers. How everything becomes more and more clear in her eyes.

Because she never forgot what is important to her in the first place. She’s always had it, she never lost it. She could never lose it because

“I am me because of this person. This person who is like no other in the world. This person who gave me the most precious feeling that I won’t ever forget. This precious feeling is me, the most important part of me.”

“I am Akiho because I had Kaito-san by my side. I am Akiho because he was always there for me. I am Akiho because I love Yuna D. Kaito.”

It’s because Akiho could see this clearly, because she could see her love for Kaito clearly, that she had no trouble seeing Sakura for who she truly is, too.

“I remembered because of my love for him…and so, I remember you, too. You are also someone dear to me, dear to Akiho. You’re not me. You’re not really Alice either. You’re my wonderful friend, Sakura-san.”

That is the extent of Akiho and Kaito’s unbreakable connection to each other, of how deeply they affect one another.

“Alice in Clockland” is the crystallization of Kaito’s love for Akiho. 

And she reciprocates by cherishing this gift he has given her.  She is telling him “I love you, too. This story you’ve written for me is my greatest treasure because YOU gave it to me. It’s the bond we share, the most important part of me that I won’t ever let go.”

A love that won’t waver and stands against all the currents and storms that hit them. Love that is a constant and won’t ever diminish, not even in the face of magic.

Finally,

3) Love as a formidable force

Now that Sakura has regained her memory and Syaoran has arrived on the scene, Kaito faces the final obstacles to the completion of this story. His plan to save Akiho.

However, Kaito is not bothered by the undoing of his disguise nor is he in any way deterred by this interference standing in his way.

He remains determined, perhaps even a deadly sort of calm in spite of his time running out. Even with his life more than halfway depleted because of too many rewinds.

He isn’t afraid of those trying to defy him because he will definitely use everything in his power to defy them back. Defy Syaoran a way to take them out of the book just like he defied the Association and Akiho’s clan attempts to retrieve Akiho as the artifact.

Kaito will not lose to these two precisely because his love is no less than theirs. It is his deep love for Akiho, his strongest desire to save Akiho, that he withstood even his own weaknesses. 

The painful loneliness he’s always felt since he was a child.

The crushing guilt of accidentally dooming Akiho to her fate.

The fear of dying and leaving the one he loves most forever.

All those things are trifles before what’s most important to him.

The salvation of Akiho’s soul. The preservation of her life and her happiness.

True love has no labels. It knows no borders that can’t be overcome. It is not defined by gender, age, race, what a person has or doesn’t have, what a person deserves or doesn’t.

Therefore, it is also incorrect to say this is about good vs evil because it isn’t. There’s not even a good vs evil here because this love being presented is one that stands ABOVE basic concepts such as good and evil.

This isn’t about who’s right or who’s wrong.

This is about fighting to not lose what’s important.

This is about saving the lives of people struggling to survive.

Kaito won’t give in to the bitter end. Even if he were to break into a million pieces, he will see this plan through.

And it’s a given that Syaoran won’t succeed in taking the girls out of Clockland. Not before Sakura does what Kaito needs her to do anyway and that’s to save Akiho.

The cover of a book won’t close before the story is done telling its tale. There won’t be a curtain call before the play is finished.

Because that’s how a story is properly done. It ends with an ending. A happy ending.

And because Kaito is the person who wishes for that happy ending more than anyone, he will get what he wants. He will fight harder than everyone there, down to his very last breath, all for the sake of seeing Akiho live to see the next day.

And Akiho also won’t settle for just that either. She won’t allow anything to take Kaito, her greatest happiness, away from her. 

She may not possess magic like the rest of them do…but they are all standing in her world. Clockland, the world given to her by Kaito. The world that belongs to her is at her command.

Akiho has a love as strong as any of theirs. A love that allowed her to be the first one, between her and Sakura, to break the spell of a magician with the rank of D despite not having any powers herself. An unyielding and unwavering love that even Yuna D. Kaito is no match for.

If Akiho, the Queen of Clockland, the actual main character of “Alice in Clockland” does not wish for a tragedy, then it WILL NOT happen.

Why?

Because love is a miracle. Love is the strongest magic in the world.

#cardcaptor sakura clear card hen #shinomoto akiho #yuna d. kaito #yunaaki #akiyuna #🕰️🌾🐇

[muthaz-rapapa]

The signs were there going far back as vol 3, ch 13 but where I really think the idea of Kaito wishing to leave Akiho in the care of the Kinomoto family cemented in my head...was vol 9, ch 40 when he attended class visitation day. He had two aims when he went.

One, in hopes that Sakura would generate the card he needed.

Two, to see what kind of person Fujitaka was.

I've always thought he wanted to make sure the only parental member of Sakura's family was someone he could entrust Akiho, his most important person, to. And that night when Akiho told him about her day, his comment about Fujitaka was indicative that Sakura's father had his approval.

And that was confirmed as of ch 70 with the success of the exchange and Kaito rewriting everyone's memories to make it appear that Akiho was born to the Kinomoto family.

But there was also vol 12, ch 55 where he stopped time when Sakura turned her attention away from him. Nobody could hear him but he started talking about how Akiho was so happy with her new friends, her new life here in Tomoeda.

And that, too, was indicative of the intention he harbored all along.

"She's happy here with you (Sakura and co). As long as she's happy, it will be fine. Even if I'm not here anymore, I know you (Sakura and co) will be able to take good care of her in my place."

Finally, vol 12, ch 58. When Akiho stood up to Kaito about him not wishing for her to worry about anything but herself.

"I want you to think of yourself foremost. More than anything, more than anyone."

He's basically saying "Please choose the happiness you can have with that family (the Kinomotos). Please forget about me. When this is over, you can have a normal life, the life you truly deserve, away from all these dangers of magic."

Kaito really believed that if everything went according to plan, Akiho would naturally choose to keep this reality he rewrote for her.

However, it is a very fragile world. In his haste to transfer the book inside Akiho over to himself and throw the European magicians' off her trail, he left many loose threads that will undo his (admittedly very sloppy) handiwork.

Namely, the pocket watch he had exchanged that is now in Akiho's possession.

Everybody knows she's going to question where this watch came from and then eventually realize who it belonged to, who that person was to her, how important that person was to her and ultimately, lead her to find a way to get him back.

But also, Akiho has not been presented with the "choice" yet that Kaito said was hers. She has not voiced her decision regarding how she wants to live her life yet.

And that's what's going to happen after she remembers Kaito.

Because one very important thing to keep in mind is that only the memories were written with the power of Momo's book, not people's lives. You may be able to mess with people's heads, make them believe something, but you can't mess the records that are already established.

And the mind has been shown to be capable of many extraordinary things, including outright defying magic, so remembering what truly happened is definitely not impossible either.

Akiho being a member of the Kinomoto family and Sakura's twin is indeed false information in a similar way that Yukito's grandparents never existed.

Like the veil Kaito put over the two "Alice"s' eyes in Clockland, it is a superficial spell that won't completely block them from seeing the truth. Akiho has lifted that veil before, with her own hands, without any assistance and remembered him. She will do it again. This "dream" she's living in now (as someone else's twin) is just a thought in the brain. It's not the actual reality she lived.

What was real for Yukito was the time he spent with Touya and Sakura. Those events actually took place and cannot be erased from his identity as Yukito.

The same goes for Akiho. All those years, those times, those moments she spent with Kaito and Momo, those were real.

Not this fabricated life where she was inserted as Sakura's fake twin.

There is nothing substantial about this existence. Because it has never been real and therefore, has never been a part of the real Akiho.

And what the real Akiho wants most, to think of most, is Kaito. Always him.

The person she loves most. The person most important to her.

He told her not to think of him, essentially to forget him and live a (false) happy life.

But she's not going to do that. She'll keep thinking and thinking and thinking about who's missing in her life until she gets him back. She'll keep saying:

"This is wrong! This isn't what I want! None of this is as I remembered! This isn't the real me! I want the real me! I want the only person who knows the real me!"

The false reality that Kaito weaved will be torn apart and returned to normal.

Time will rewind to before he was consumed by the book.

And he will be saved from his fate and rewarded for his efforts to save Akiho with everything he deserves. To be together with the person he loves most.

Akiho's love saved him and will continue to save him. It was always meant to be that way.

#yuna d. kaito #shinomoto akiho #yunaaki #akiyuna

[aliceinclockland]

rereading some clear card chapters makes me realize that i want someone to look at me the way yuna d. kaito looks at akiho whenever she's there with him

#yuna d. kaito i swear to god #you better give akiho a worry-less life #or momo will lose her shit #cardcaptor sakura clear card #cardcaptor sakura clear card arc #clear card arc #clear card #literally why is almost everything in the prompt reminds me of yunaaki #yuna d. kaito

[meimi-haneoka]

#card captor sakura #cardcaptor sakura #clear card arc #ccsakura #akiho shinomoto #yuna d. kaito #yunaaki #akiyuna #cosmos & crystals #my fanart #my fanarts #this works both as a celebration for the special chapter and for Kaito's birthday #I feel proud of myself for getting out of this slump #no one can take the love I have for these two away from me #no one

[meimi-haneoka]

Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card Chapter 77: Comments + JP-ENG translation differences

Welcome back, once again, for my (endless) analysis post about the most recent chapter of Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card! This month we're here a tiny bit earlier due to Nakayoshi coming out on September 1st instead of the 3rd like every month, thus bringing forward the release of the chapter on Comic Days and CLAMP's Youtube channel of a couple of days! And boooooy, did I cry with this chapter! I think it's no surprise for anyone, right? 😂 after all, my preferences are very transparent and finally CLAMP-sensei gave me a crumble (more like an entire piece) of happiness in this chapter (immediately flooded with a surge of frustration, hahaha! When I say that they have fun torturing us, Kaito/Akiho fans....) Another puzzle piece in the enigma of Sakura's foretelling dreams also went to its right place, and we got more references of events and feelings that were expressed many, many chapters ago.

Let's not waste time and see what wrecked me this month and, most importantly, if we had any translation mistakes! (Spoilers, there are! Do you think we'd be safe from them, when there's a huge Kaito/Akiho scene?) But, wait, hold on! We're missing my usual silly "gif of the month" corner!! 😂

(don't be fooled by the appearances, this is Kaito 😂)

Aaaaand we proceed under the cut with the analysis of the color page and further!

The Color Page

Hahahahah, my god, sensei really is messing with my sanity starting from the color page, here... I've been asking forever for a Kaito/Akiho color page where they could finally be featured together and have all the attention on them, but no! They decided to troll me even further by featuring Akiho in chapter 76 and Kaito in chapter 77! 😂 YES, back-to-back, but STILL separated! 😂😂😂 I guess I'll have to live with this torture till the end.... Aaaaah, and what a color page we have for Kaito, here.... First of all, I have to say I'm mesmerized by the beautiful blue color spanning from the starry night sky to the clear waters below. Huge crystals are surrounding the main scene, emerging from the waters, but the real protagonists of this color page are undoubtedly two: the giant silver Moon on the background, and.....him, our great absentee for 7 chapters now - Yuna D. Kaito. Whoever knows me can well imagine what effect this color page had on me, especially after I had enough time to pause and consider his portrayal here, especially in relation to the content of the chapter. First of all, the JP text over it is the infamous threat the Association made to him and the words Sakura has been partially hearing in her dreams since long time ago: "If the Seal of D activates, you won't be able to come back". Standing outside the water, we see him dressed in his Association robes, giving his back to us. But reflected in the water, we can see him wearing his typical butler outfit, the one he always wore ever since he arrived in Japan with Akiho. And here, he's fully facing us. If I can dare giving an interpretation of this portrayal of Kaito (which is clearly meant to be interpreted figuratively, since the reflection doesn't correspond not only for the outfit, but also for the mismatch between back/front of Kaito), I'd daresay this is a clear representation of the duality living inside of Kaito right now, and the endless contrast originating from it. Inside Kaito there are two parts of him, constantly in conflict, and this conflict is mainly the reason why we got to this point in the story. Kaito really does have a hard time letting go of the past in the Association, which for better or for worse shaped him and gave him all the hidden traumas that contributed to his distorted, immature view of certain life matters. And he's got a hard time not because he enjoyed being one of them, not at all. We could see it clearly, he never enjoyed being a part of the Association, let alone felt like he belonged to it. But it's all he's ever known from a very young age till he decided to save Akiho, and the way he grew up in that den of criminals influenced him, making him feel like he really is a delinquent like the rest of them, undeserving of love and compassion. I can think immediately of one comment he made in chapter 67, that reveals clearly this mindset: in Clockland, when Momo told him "it's useless, even if you disguise yourself as the next head of the Li clan, it (your true nature) shows anyway" his sarcastic reply was "what, my wickedness?". Now that we know that he never really intended to cause intentionally any harm to anyone with his plan, but actually took care in ensuring that everyone would be safe, happy and minimally inconvenienced, his comment shows even more in what a distorted way he sees himself. This is the part of him that still thinks he's better off alone, undeserving of the bond with Akiho, especially for what he inadvertedly caused to her. Now that I think about it, those crystals emerging from the water really do remind me of the crystals storing the memories of the "characters" in Clockland, again from chapter 67.

But, inside Kaito there's also the "new him" (or should we say the real him?), how he changed after making that fateful decision, after interacting with Akiho and creating a bond with her along the years (even if he tried to fight it and ignore it, uselessly, for so long). It's the part of him that learned what's good in interacting with others, and what it means to have someone you love dearly and would do anything for. That part of him is represented here by the reflection in the water. And it's really no surprise that the two parts of him are facing opposite directions, a very nice representation of how they're in contrast with eachother, pulling him in different "directions". I take the "butler" part of Kaito facing us as a symbol of that being the part of himself he really wants to be, the true self, but is currently submerged under the traumas and skewed convictions about himself that his past self (represented by the Kaito in the Association robe) experienced. If Kaito wants to take another chance at life, a happy, worth living one, he needs to let go of the past and help the part of him that's underwater emerging and claiming it fully. That's what Momo has been praying he would realize all along. That he would notice, and accept, the part of him that learned what love means through his bond with Akiho. Of course, this color page affected me emotionally in a strong way, and I also missed seeing Kaito's face, so I really really love it.

The Aura of a Gentle Moon

Soooo, we left our kids in a pretty problematic situation last time, right? An attack, in the guise of a shower of arrows, was coming down on them, and the chapter starts exactly with something I imagined could've happened: the connection with the group waiting at Yukito's home is re-established, and they see the attack in live streaming! 😱

Sakura uses swiftly her Shield Card, and oh-la-la, what do we have here? A new design??? Must be because she used it with the Dream wand! 😀.....wait, then should we assume that maybe even the "wrong" design of the Sword Card was....intentional?? 😮

...Unfortunately for Sakura, the incoming attack effortlessly bypasses Shield, aiming at them once again! ...Thank god the group at Yukito's home is watching, since this allows Touya to....stop time!! Yesssss, it seems Kaito's re-writing of their reality didn't remove Touya's new ability, which shows it's truly innate in him! Touya's magic is effective in stopping the incoming attack, and exactly as it happened when the Squids+Association tried to attack Kaito back in chapter 33, we have someone who takes the chance of the stopped time to destroy the "arrows": Eriol, working remotely from the comfort of his home in England! Kero and Suppy are hilariously shocked, and Touya affirms he "just started being able to (stop time) all of the sudden" (JP), this pushes Nakuru to frantically ask Eriol if he knew (he says he had no idea) and then to Yukito (and he says "Yes! He told me it's just for a short while, though" and not "for a minute" like the ENG translation said, why do they have to make stuff up all the time????). Touya explains that it's just for 2 seconds, and he uses a word (体感で, taikan de) that expresses a feeling on the body: he's basically saying that what the human perceives of his time-freezing powers corresponds to 2 seconds. This is basically the same power he developed anew at the beginning of the Clear Card Arc, therefore I'm inclined to believe that this ability never left him, even with the re-writing of their world: as the general idea that I always had (judging by the words the character used), Momo's forbidden magic only changes the memories and some limited physical elements (the so-called "discrepancies"), but doesn't remove things that are rooted in people, like magic and, you guessed it, feelings. Now this leaves me wondering what happened to Yukito's pact with the Tsukimine Shrine, and his acquired Moon powers: judging from what we see afterwards, he doesn't seem to have them anymore, probably because that isn't an innate characteristic, but was something acquired with a contract.

In fact, since Touya's time-freezing powers last too short to be able to do anything concretely, Kaho steps in with a beautiful new Moon Bell!!! She explains that her Moon magic gets stronger when the moon is out, so she's going to support Touya's time-freezing magic, but she warns everyone that it's not going to last long. I really appreciated that CLAMP gave a more active role to Kaho, since she's been pretty much in a passive-listening role for the whole manga, so this is really nice to see! Especially cause sensei gave her a new, shiny Moon Bell! ✨ Talking to my friends, we also mentioned that it's nice to see this collaboration "between ex-partners", without any jealousy, any cold shoulder, it's really in tune with the rest of the story!

But it's time to go back to explanations, because Eriol continues saying that the volley that was fired at Sakura and Syaoran was designed to hit automatically the one who would've broken the spell that was hidden behind the fake moon: as I expected (and hoped), this is not a direct attack from the Squids+Association at Sakura, but something that was left in place before, and activated automatically. I still don't think a direct confrontation would be fitting for the thematics of this story, especially now that they made clear that Sakura's power is not enough to beat them (Shield couldn't fend off the attack). Tomoyo correctly guesses that once the time starts moving again, the attacks will resume. Nakuru just says "well, you can just break them with a bit of effort like you did just now, right?" but Eriol warns her that things aren't as easy as they seem: of course that's his intention, but those arrows don't have any will of their own, because they were designed to keep incessantly attacking the person who broke the spell inside the fake moon (not general "invaders" like the ENG translation said). Basically this jutsu is already out of the original casters' (plural, Eriol knows they're many) will. The plushie guardians reflect on the fact that if they don't do anything about the source of this spell while time is still frozen, the arrows will keep attacking the kids out there. Akiho's anxiety, hearing that, understandably increases, but I can also see a desire to intervene in some way, from her.

In front of the fake moon, Syaoran and Sakura recognize Eriol's magic circle and understand that he came to their rescue, and seeing how everything is frozen in time around them, Syaoran wonders if Sakura did this. Of course she answers she didn't, but that's when she surprises us saying that she can feel her brother's "vibe" in there, so she believes this is all his doing. You can really see how Sakura's abilities keep growing and get refined more and more, since now she's also capable of recognizing Touya's magic (something she didn't seem to be feeling, before). And that's not all, she's able to feel Kaho's aura too, defining it a "gentle moon presence" (Kaho's powers have been defined "gentle moon powers" by Momo, before). Syaoran (or Sakura, here it's really hard to understand who talked) says that some other spell might activate soon, so they need to take the dragon out while they can (how rude, ENG translation!! "That thing"??? These kids aren't crude like you guys).

Sakura dispels the Shield Card and turns to talk to the dragon again, for this task that will reveal to be harder than she thought. Sakura's やっぱり gets translated in ENG as "Of course", but that's not what it means: she's saying that just as she thought, she's sure she knows him.

This panel kinda made me smile because, while I was talking to a friend last night, we joked about Sakura putting Kaito to trial 😂 She looks very serious here, and let me tell you, the vibe she gives off in this entire scene makes me think she starts to be a bit annoyed with him too 😂

And then, sensei decided to give a good squeeze to my heart, featuring some memories of Akiho back in chapter 49 😭that chapter is one of my favorite ones because it featured a rare Kaito, smiling genuinely and happily. What we saw back then, while Akiho was telling Sakura of her walk in the garden with Kaito, were panels with the flashbacks of that walk, while here we can see how Akiho looked like while she was recounting those events to her friend (understandably, since this is something the Record Card recorded, while what we saw back then was the memories in Akiho's heart). Akiho looks really really in love, in these panels.

Unfortunately, this beautiful moment is stained by an imprecise and incomplete translation in English, which of course irritated me greatly because damn, you can really see how, as soon as things turn about Akiho and Kaito, the quality of the translation suddenly drops, almost as if there were a bias. This is so unfair. Particularly because this scene had already been translated, and paradoxically it sounded better how they did it in chapter 49. Why changing it, why not using those same words? Anyway, I'm going to put both versions here so you can see the difference.

ENG: "We went for a walk last night. Out in the garden. Although I'm afraid I did most of the talking. Still...ever since our travels brought us to Japan...he's remembered everything. I treasure every moment I've spent with -san. I only hope he feels the same about the time he's spent with me."

JP: "We had a walk in the garden of our house. I did most of the talking, but... -san remembered it all. About the many countries we visited together, and our days here in Japan too. I treasure every single moment I've spent with -san, none excluded, so I hope it's the same for him. It doesn't need to be every moment, as long as he holds one dear"

Can you see how many concepts are missing from the ENG translation, how much has been skipped and summarized? The absurd thing is that a lot of what I've put in the JP paragraph comes from the original translation in ENG they did for chapter 49. Miraculously, they had done a very good job with that scene. So why? Why changing it now when she's saying exactly the same words, in this flashback (minus Kaito's name, of course)? It's completely missing the dualism between Akiho's "I cherish every single moment with him" (that 一つ残らず, "not even one left out", left a big impression on me ever since ch. 49) and "it's not necessary he treasures every single moment with me, even just one is fine" which had moved me so much back in ch. 49 because it revealed how Akiho is not loving Kaito out of an egoistic and greedy love, exactly like all the other characters in CCS. She doesn't demand to be reciprocated. She's content with knowing that she's got a tiny place in his heart. You might argue "why are you so hung up on this, especially since it's a repetition of an old scene", but here I tell you, the fans' memory is short and if we don't focus on the representation of the feelings of the characters in a shoujo manga, then what are we supposed to do? And those feelings should be portrayed and represented at best by the translations too.

The Hikikomori Dragon

Anyway. Moving on. Sakura affirms that despite his name and appearance had been erased from the records of the Record Card, the fact that Akiho had a very important person to her wasn't erased. While she passionately affirms so, we can see more flashbacks of Akiho (like the night-time talk she had with Kaito in chapter 61, and the double date).

Well, I tried to move on, but the fact is that once again I have to facepalm at the ENG translation, because apparently they really don't want to let Sakura say that Kaito looked at Akiho with lots of care and affectionate feelings. Yeah, remember the missed とても大切に that I complained about in last chapter? Sakura said it again, but they were capable of messing it up even this time.

ENG: "She was so happy when she spoke of you...and you took such good care of her. You are the one thing Akiho-chan never wanted to lose"

JP: "Akiho-chan was so happy when she spoke of you. And you, who looked at her with such care/affection, are the one she didn't want to lose."

I get quite peeved at how they managed again to not let Sakura say clearly that she could read in Kaito's affectionate stare towards Akiho how much she was important to him (I won't repeat the explanation of what 大切に means, please check the post of chapter 76). They steered it towards "you took good care of her" but this is not what Sakura was talking about. His job as her butler, or the fact that he took care of her isn't absolutely the topic, here. This is about how your feelings towards someone shine through your eyes. And it's a very important part because what Sakura is trying to tell Kaito here is "Even if you tried to erase it all, the fact that you were important for Akiho stayed, and I know you also considered her important by the way you looked at her and the impression it left on me. So get your sh*t together" What Sakura said here was so straightforward and powerful that I can't help but feel she backed Kaito into a corner (and I have to admit, I also thought "Stop right there Sakura, you're talking too much, these are things that Akiho is supposed to say to Kaito, not you"). However, I don't really like how the phrasing of the ENG translation reeks of "let's steer this towards the parental role he had towards her" because omg this is really not it. Kaito was never a parental figure for Akiho, let alone her legal guardian (what happened in chapter 40 should have cleared that enough already). And even if they were referring to his job as a butler, again, this is really not what Sakura is talking about, here. Aside from the fact that she shouldn't even remember about how he took care of her (she doesn't remember anything about him, only what she recovered from Record and those are still fragmented memories). I'm afraid they're digging their own grave, if they insist in going in this direction and sabotaging their lines in this way. Aside from the fact that it looks more and more deliberate.

But let's move on because the most emotional moment is yet to come. Sakura then asks the fatidic question (JP because I don't like how they phrased it in ENG): JP: "The reason why you won't move even though I have dispelled the magic that kept you trapped....is because you don't want to come out?"

The dragon closes his eyes and slightly bends his head forward, as if nodding. How wonderful, Mokona-sensei, and her ability to make a dragon that can't talk, got limited movement and almost no expression look so expressive. And this is not even the peak of his expressivity. Sakura understands his "reply", but while holding the precious pocket watch, she answers that she made a promise to Akiho, which is to try to bring him back. So she knows what she needs to do. There's only one person who can turn things around.

Sakura, through her earcuff, calls Kero and Yue and asks them to come at the "moon", bringing Akiho along with them. I really loved how self-confident Sakura looks here, how she's got the situation under control. The guardians change into their full forms at once and Nakuru eagerly asks Eriol what she and Suppy should do in the meantime. He tells them to protect Touya, the "performer of the time magic". I loved how every single person of Sakura's entourage is involved in this, by now. Everyone wants to do their part, out of their own will. I think it's simply beautiful. They do it because they support Sakura, but also because they sincerely want to help Akiho, who's currently the one who's got the world crumbling under her feet the most, out of this situation. You don't need to be tightly involved with someone to want to help them. And so Kero tells Akiho to go, and she's absolutely not scared or unsure, but actually is oozing determination from every pore.

Back at the fake moon, the kids start realizing the environment around them is getting unstable: Syaoran explains that this is because magicians who are capable of manipulating time magic are just a handful to begin with, and then it's also necessary a huge amount of power to make it work. Touya and Kaho are doing their best, but the spell is already starting to crack. In this tense situation where there's need for time magic, Syaoran apologizes to Sakura because he isn't capable of using time magic yet. I've seen this specific line creating surprise and confusion in lots of the fans I've seen on my TL on Twitter, but things make sense: Syaoran using time magic is a thing of the anime only, as he only ever used the Time Clow Card (and Sakura Card, in ep. 14 of the Clear Card anime), while this card doesn't exist in the manga. We'll see how this line will be treated in the anime adaptation, especially considering the presence of the Time Card. Sakura, always being the loving girlfriend she is, reassures him that the mere fact he's there with her allows her to do her very best in this situation (there, they managed to sneak in a SyaoSaku moment too!). This is something she said in the old arcs too, especially at the end of the battle with Eriol, how the mere presence of Syaoran reassures her and gives her courage....it's so lovely to see it reiterated here!

And now my readers we enter the "core" of this chapter, the one that really wrecked me over (both in a happy and sad way), with the arrival of Akiho flying on Kero's back!! How cute!! This is one of those depictions you thought you'd never see, and yet!! Akiho immediately asks the two friends if they're hurt anywhere, but Sakura reassures her and thanks her for coming here (her good manners and kindness make me smile everytime...they're doing all of this for Akiho, and yet, she thanks her for coming, because she feels involved in this almost as much as her!) With the help of the Mirror Sakura Card, Sakura makes a third copy of Flight, and gives it to Akiho.

You're My Most Important Person

And here, the pages of the chapter leave to Mokona-sensei's skills the task to tell us, wordlessly, about the first reunion in forever in several months between Kaito and Akiho.

Sakura gently leads Akiho at the entrance of the fake moon, and the girl makes eye-contact with him. The dragon. The one we know actually being Kaito.

The dragon looks at her almost longingly, and the expected tears in Akiho's eyes pour out copiously, like a river in flood. The emotions are too powerful to be able to contain them. Especially because, when Sakura checks on her to make sure she's ok (seeing her crying like that all of the sudden alarmed her), Akiho answers that she doesn't even know why the tears are flowing from her eyes like that. This is all instinctive and on impulse, those tears come from something that's deep, deep inside. The mind doesn't remember, but the heart (and body) does. This concept that we've come to know especially in works like Tsubasa, and that became so iconic for CLAMP, is reiterated even in this arc of Cardcaptor Sakura.

Akiho might not remember anything, she might not know why those tears keep coming out, and yet....

JP, lit.: "This pain is telling me that...my most important person is right in front of me"

She knows. She recognized him by the pain that's crushing her heart. An insufferable pain she's been feeling all along, ever since he activated that damn forbidden magic and gave her that perfect, lovely life. A pain left by his absence, which only gets amplified now that he's in front of her. And what to say about the words she chose? As if her heart started leading her on its own, and couldn't wait any longer. We all know this is the CCS code for "The person I love the most is right in front of me". And, contrarily to the ENG translation that kept on the "safe side" translating it literally (couldn't have expected any different), the Spanish translation made her say almost precisely "the person I love the most". Basically, we could say Akiho confessed her feelings there and then, without filters, earnestly. So typical of her.

And Kaito's reaction, omg...I have to say that in my shrieking session while I was "reading" (more like trying to make out the pages among the tears), the part that wrecked me the most was seeing his eyes glistening at hearing that he's Akiho's most important person. God. How long he's wished to hear that, with such a powerful reaction? Kaito, the stoic Kaito, the one who always wore a smiling mask, the one who used to stop his hand to prevent any contact, any connection with her, is now on the verge of letting his emotion take a hold of him, moving him to tears. Because the person he's given all of himself for, just said that she loves him. As I also exposed in my analysis of the color page, Kaito thought all this time that he was undeserving of all of this, for many many reasons. Therefore, hearing her baring her heart to him and telling him with clear words what he means to her is something incredibly powerful to him. Remember when Sakura was talking to him before? She almost spilled the entire thing there, saying that "Akiho had someone very important", but he only looked at her, seemingly not having any reaction. It almost seems to me as if he wasn't believing her. Because, as soon as he heard those words from Akiho herself, his reaction was VERY different.

Sakura takes the watch out of her pocket, giving it back to Akiho. She seems to know that this item is extremely important and can give strength to Akiho for her mission. Especially because, as she informs her friend, the dragon doesn't want to come out of there. Akiho takes the pocket watch and clutches it tightly, while resolutely affirming that she's going inside, because there's something she needs to ask him, no matter what. Again, the ENG translation treated this part superficially and left behind that "no matter what" that indicated how hellbent Akiho is on this. And in my opinion it was very important to keep it, not only because it contributes to shake off that "passive" unjustified reputation she's got, but also because only someone assertive like her can hope to turn Kaito around. And, poor Akiho, I can only imagine what my girl wants to ask him. "Why? Why did you do this?" Imagine if she manages to make him that question, later on. He wasn't able to answer when Momo made that question in chapter 51, but now he'll be forced to realize it. But, in my opinion, this isn't the only thing she'll ask. Because yes, seeing all of them joining forces to bring him back is wonderful and all, but all of this got no meaning if Kaito himself doesn't want to come back. And I'm sure he wants to, but he has to realize it, first. And I absolutely cannot envision Akiho imposing on him her desire to have him back. Leaving aside the fact that there are still a couple of problematics to fix (shortened lifespan? Artifact?), the most important thing in this moment is that everyone knows where their heart is and what they want. Because they need to learn to do things correctly. And no one will decide someone else's happiness on their behalf in this manga, ever again.

Alas, as soon as Akiho moves to enter the fake moon, the dragon violently takes off and exits, soaring in the skies of Tomoeda.

(the chapter is special, so forgive me for the use of a second gif 😂) My reaction was way more......violent than the one above when I've seen the last page of this chapter, but one thing is for sure: Kaito/the Dragon literally ran away 😂 I mean, to see a hilarious side to the situation, Sakura and Syaoran have spent god knows how long to try to convince him to get out of there, and Akiho just had to move a step forward to prompt him to get out 😂😂😂😂 I've been saying it forever, the power this girl got over him...! 😂😂😂 Now, I've seen many people trying to give their interpretation of the reason why he had such a reaction, and I've seen many interpreting it as him not wanting for her to get inside such a dangerous place. Well, my interpretation is a bit different, and it's based on 3 aspects. First, Sakura successfully broke the spell inside the fake moon, the cage and clock parts completely disappeared, and the environment inside doesn't seem warped anymore (Sakura and Syaoran found the exit immediately), so I'm inclined to believe there isn't any more danger inside that space. The "jagged" parts we see near the entrance are just because the space surrounding them is becoming unstable, due to the time magic starting to wear off. So I don't see an immediate danger inside the fake moon for Akiho that would prompt Kaito to get out. Second, if it were only to protect her, he would've exited and stopped right outside the fake moon. Alas, we saw very well that he's heading far from them, and doesn't have intention to stop. Or to hear her out. So this leads me to point n. 3..... He's just heard Akiho baring her feelings like that, and he heard her saying she wants to ask him something, no matter what. God, that must've been terrifying for him. Especially cause I expect his guilt increased exponentially, if he's starting to realize that he royally f*cked up, with his activation of the forbidden magic. This is....simply too much for him to bear. Do you have a hard time seeing him like that, so fragile, so emotional? Then I should probably remind you that this is almost a precise re-enactment of the dynamic that occurred in that infamous scene of chapter 52 (the pudding one. Yea. You know, that one.). Akiho opens up, speaks her feelings for him out, he interrupts her and runs away with an excuse. He's just like that. It is very hard for him to deal with feelings. Doesn't he remind you of Syaoran? Get ready, because I feel like we're about to witness a game of tag in the skies of Tomoeda. 😂

Also, I can't forget mentioning an important thing: the circle is closing more and more, cause we finally see happening a scene that Sakura saw in her dreams in chapter 2, the very beginning of this journey! As usual, what we see in the beginning of a CLAMP manga defines its ending (as the end of a CLAMP story is always decided right at the beginning).

That goes without saying, I literally cannot wait for next chapter, especially to see how many seconds Akiho will let pass before bolting after Kaito, helped by Flight (we know that Card can be very very speedy! 😂)

This chapter was a storm of feelings for me, so I'll go resting now and make a list of all the songs I had imagined for this finale, and that indeed turned out to be so fitting! I'll dump them on my twitter account in the next days 😂 Chapter 78 is expected for October 1st on CLAMP's YT channel (CLAMP haven't taken a break ever since chapter 65, they really are holding out till the end).

Well, we've reached the end of this post, so as usual, I await for your comments and asks in my inbox! See you!!

#cardcaptor sakura #card captor sakura #clear card arc #sakura card captor #ccsakura #ccs spoilers #translation differences #chapter 77 #syaosaku #yunaaki #yuna d. kaito #akiho shinomoto #sakura kinomoto #syaoran li