#vol 160

[completeoveranalysis]

[4]

We get a couple of things all at once here - including Miyuki! She’s existing happily in the background of the townspeople there, though this time her school uniform looks like it’s been thoughtfully adjusted to the colder climate. Thank goodness of that. 

But we also get confirmation that the “D” in Fai’s name is the wizard rank that magician circles all seem to use in different CLAMP works. I’d love to actually see more of these circles one day, but I suppose I’ll just live in hope. 

Meanwhile the townspeople are LOVELY and it’s heartbreaking, because by the time the Tsubasa family show up in Celes there’s no-one left. The only life Fai could sense was in the castle, so unless that was an illusion to draw him in, it means that things go very very badly for the population of this world in the future. 

But ignoring that for now, even when they’re enthusing their thanks at Fai he politely disengages, keeping himself at a distance from all the happiness and appreciation. Because of course he would. Just like when he meets the Tsubasa family, he doesn’t intend to form any connection with anyone because he doesn’t intend to live any longer than he has to. Also, I’m sure he feels like he doesn’t deserve any praise or appreciation even besides that, because the guilt he carries with him is essentially his entire personality at this point. 

ENTER: TINY NEW FRIEND. 

Fai’s line is heartbreakingly accurate because what reason would he ever have had to smile ever in his entire life? There was no reason at all for any second of happiness in his entire existence leading up to this point. 

I suspect the townspeople don’t know this about him. They don’t seem to know his name either (unless they were calling him “Wizard-sama” purely out of respect), but I’d love to know what they thought of him saying such sad things so casually. 

excuse me this child is the cutest thing in this entire world and all I want is for Fai to be happy

[completeoveranalysis]

[2]

The next ingredient in the horror show is, of course, Fai repeating the Life Goals he set up in the flash back we saw in the last chapter. His entire existence is centered around reviving his Twin, even if it means murder. Again, I’d been hoping that his resolved had changed over time, but he’s still stating it as fact. It’s his entire driving motivation. 

The difference is that in the flashback it was a soft, reaffirming moment. He was finding a way forward, choosing a goal to give his tortured life some meaning. Now it’s the opposite; Fai’s eyes are hidden from us entirely as he makes the statement, and he stands tall but alone. Instead of hugging a (seemingly) nurturing parental figure like he was in the flashback, now he clutches a corpse to him and both of their details are shrouded in shadow. This is the dark reality that he was manipulated into as a child - and yet, this is where his entire life has been leading. Confronting the enemy Evil Wolverine set him against all those years ago with his entire purpose and wish on the line. 

It’s exactly what Evil Wolverine wanted to happen; for Fai to murder Kurogane because he gets in the way. 

But not just Evil Wolverine. 

Ashura is LIVING for this. He’s so pleased with himself for setting up this encounter and playing them both like fiddles. They’re doing exactly what he wanted them to do, and now he’s just pointing Fai in the right direction. 

Fai is shaken to the core by the vivid truth of what it actually means. It’s not just him killing a faceless enemy, but personally murdering Kurogane. He’s visibly shaking just looking at him. 

Everything is pointing towards the worst encounter of all time - and we still haven’t even seen what the second curse is. 

CELES SURE IS ONE HELL OF A WORLD, HUH?

[completeoveranalysis]

[5]

These background guards continue to be absolute BEACONS of positivity and I adore them so so much. Fai makes the tiniest and smallest smile the world has ever seen and not only do they immediately notice but they ENTHUSIASTICALLY ENCOURAGE THIS TINY CHILD’S HAPPINESS. 

THEY ARE THE BEST. 

CELES IS THE BEST WORLD AND I WANT JUSTICE FOR WHAT ASHURA (probably) DID TO IT. 

I want to divert for a second into the short bit where the guards say that Ashura would be thrilled to see Fai laugh, and Fai doesn’t quite get it. On the one hand we have Fai who has never had an authority figure (let alone parental figure) care about his well being, or want to see him happy, or have any cause to react to his emotions at all beyond suffering - so it’s a foreign concept to Fai that doesn’t quite click. But I also want to talk about how Ashura is a consistently convincing actor in that even the guards at the bottom of the stairs believe that he’s a good and kind person who would be “so happy” to see Fai’s happiness. That’s what they know for a FACT. And we may know from a distance that Ashura is manipulative trashbag rubbing his greedy hands over every pawn he can get his hands, but no-one in his country seems to even suspect that he is anything less than genuine. 

But jumping back to the actual conversation being had, Ashura notes that Fai stopped the avalanche. 

I initially assumed that Ashura sent Fai to stop the avalanche, but no. Fai did that by himself. 

Fai has been given autonomy over his magic and his actions and he is actively going out and saving people’s lives, without any need of thanks, and didn’t think that Ashura would notice. Fai is such a PURELY GOOD SOUL that he didn’t even WANT Ashura to notice. I’m sure he would have been content if the townspeople hadn’t noticed his influence either. He’s just out there using his magic to save people. 

Despite everything his homeland did to him and tried to teach him, he’s going out there, exploring it himself, and choosing to prove them wrong.

But meanwhile can we talk about the fact that Ashura possibly also knew the avalanche was coming and made no effort to stop it. 

[completeoveranalysis]

[1]

WELL. LOOKS LIKE THE NIGHTMARE IS CONFIRMED. 

Not gonna lie, I was hoping it’d turn out that he was pointing his sword at Ashura instead, or that there was some enchantment he was going to break. BUT NOPE WE GET HEARTBREAK CENTRAL INSTEAD. FANTASTIC.

But with that being said, in terms of inter-character drama? This is delicious. This is every piece of character building in the entire manga coming to a head. If CLAMP pulled out of this too early it’d be unsatisfying, so the fact that we get to see every single facial expression of shock and hurt between then is the exact kind of detail that we deserve.

Even just the visual difference between them is clear and evocative; Kurogane stands filled with rage, face clouded with dark shadows, weapon stretching diagonally across most of the page. In the lower panel Fai is barely visible, only a small portion of his face is even in frame, and what we DO see is the pain of all his worst fears come true as he stares at the point of the sword. 

CLAMP are indulging us all with this entire scene and it’s the greatest thing I could have asked for.

[completeoveranalysis]

[3]

Ashura mentions his wish and, completely unsurprisingly, it seems like a Bad Thing (tm) that puts Fai on edge all over again. Fai really is having the worst collective day of his life - though that’s clearly debatable, considering we’ve seen exactly what his life has been like so far. 

Meanwhile more flashbacks! Young Fai vs. an avalanche maybe?

NOW THIS IS WHAT I LIKE TO SEE. Fai being given the space to use his powers for something GOOD and PROTECTIVE that will save people’s lives. 

This is a narrative I’d really want to see more of, though I’m not sure how much it would amount to considering where he ends up in the end. Still, after the terrible life he’s been given because of his powers, seeing Fai have the opportunity to reclaim his powers and use them for good things in defiance of everything his homeland set him up for is exactly what I want for him. 

OOP and here we get the fastforward explanation of what Chii’s purpose was - not just to preserve his twin’s body, but to hang around and watch over him and... I guess give him some company? Which seems a bit lonely and one sided as far as Chii’s concerned, but maybe she doesn’t mind so much? Inconclusive. Let’s just assume it’s sweet for now. 

The bit I LOVE is that, even as a child, he has moments of wondering about the future. He seems hopeful for a moment, considering what kind of people they might actually be, before reality comes crashing down and he reminds himself that it doesn’t matter. How can it? He’s not supposed to exist, so he doesn’t need to connect with them in any way. 

It’s such a good and juicy contrast to where he ends up down the line, where he tries his best not to care about them for the same reasons and fails so spectacularly. 

[completeoveranalysis]

[7]

Fai cuts past anything Ashura was actually saying and skips right to the core of the reason he’s here in the first place. And honestly I want to know this too. But how about that cruel reflection imagery CLAMP is using there, showing Fai as if he’s two people? Showing that Fai still carries around the image of his twin wherever he goes, never allowing himself to forget that everything he does is to switch places with the mirror image and become the lifeless reflection instead?

The reflected floor shows Ashura as well, because it’s showing both the things that loom over Fai here; his purpose to bring back his twin, and Ashura’s unnamed intention that hangs over him just as heavily. Fai is, in this image, boiling his purpose down to these two things. His existence doesn’t matter beyond these two things, and so he ignores any knowledge about smiling he might have just learned and instead asks about that secondary purpose instead. 

And the manipulative twat that Ashura is immediately leaps into blatantly twisting Fai’s feelings into something that Ashura can use against him. 

How heartbreaking is it that the greatest thing Fai can say about his own existence is that people don’t seem to mind that he’s there. That’s it. That’s the pinnacle of the happiest presence he deserves; being tolerated to exist. 

And yet this is exactly what Ashura wants; to make Fai feel indebted to these nice people so that he’ll do whatever Ashura asks of him. It’s child’s play for Ashura. 

I’m THRILLED that we finally get to see what Fai’s tattoo was supposed to be doing. AFTER ALL THIS TIME. 

I’m a little unsure how... stopping Fai’s magic from growing would help the situation they’re talking about. If Fai’s magic gets stronger surely that means he has less chance of finding someone stronger than his magic level and having to kill them? 

Maybe there’s a quirk in the wording I’m missing. 

But either way, Ashura is presenting Fai a solution to his problem that will also make him reliant on Ashura. This will not only limit Fai’s growth, but drive him to want to keep Ashura alive. 

Literally everything that comes out of this trash man’s mouth is another level of manipulation to drive Fai into being completely dependent on and obedient to Ashura and this isn’t even answering Fai’s question!

[completeoveranalysis]

There's also another layer to everything happening here. Because of what happend to Fai in Tokyo if Kurogane dies, Fai will soon die because of starving to death without his blood. So in this situration if he were to harm Kurogane, it's also harming his own well being, reaffirming his wish for his brother to take his place -VW

Oh shit that’s such a good point! 

One DELICIOUS layer to the whole thing in Acid Tokyo is that Kurogane complicated Fai’s plan extraordinarily by becoming his game. Fai needs to stick with Sakura to collect her feathers - and he needs to kill Kurogane if he interferes. But now Fai also needs Kurogane to stay alive. Those two things don’t cross over, and it’s definitely another Thing that tortured Fai in the moment that went completely unseen by first time readers. 

How can Fai kill Kurogane and still survive to see his brother resurrected if he dies in the process?

And now we know another reason why he ‘divorced’ Kurogane. Not only did he endanger Fai’s entire mission (and Sakura’s life) when he let her go out into the desert alone, he’s also finally becoming a danger to Fai’s entire purpose right at the moment when Fai no longer has any way of taking him out of the picture.

Fai is utterly screwed. 

[completeoveranalysis]

[6]

And this is the part where we can see beyond the veil of Ashura’s false image of a kind and caring king. He presents it as if it’s a good fact and IF Fai had been reassured by this, it might have been. But Fai withdraws into himself. He looks incredibly uncomfortable - as he should be. Ashura is essentially a magical predator, describing to him in detail how no matter where Fai tried to go Ashura would ALWAYS be able to find him. 

It’s a very strange thing to say to someone who just went to save a village. Instead of asking about the village, or Fai, or reaffirming it is a genuinely good thing to do, Ashura says that Fai can never escape from him. 

There are other implications too. That Ashura is only interested in Fai because of his magic. That the only reason Fai was rescued at all was because of his magic. That, if he didn’t have that magic, Ashura would no longer care where he was or come to find him. 

There is a very big “If” clause hanging over Ashura’s affection towards Fai, and it’s entirely dependent on how useful he is to Ashura. 

None of his affection is genuine or unique to Fai as a person. He could be a broom and it would just as good to Ashura. 

More, if Ashura could always find Fai due to his unique magic, he always could have come to rescue them. He didn’t have to wait until one of them was dead, or even until they were trapped in the hell prison. But he did. That’s the choice he made. 

I’m not sure how many of these implications are going through Fai’s mind in this moment, but even just a few of them are enough to be heartbreaking. Here in this new world is building a new existence where his life doesn’t HAVE to be suffering, but here he’s potentially learning that any value he might have as a person is all a facade (as far as Ashura is concerned). 

It’s such a vicious contrast to the two scenes that preceded it. The townspeople were genuinely thankful and the child really did want to see him happy. The guards are clearly concerned with his well being and are enthusiastic about his happiness - and instead of Fai being able to come and show this new level of personal growth to Ashura, Ashura makes him feel the way he looks on this page. It’s nothing close to what Fai deserves. But then, when has anything in his life been what Fai deserves?