Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE Manga Vol. 17

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SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Yuuko-san arranges all of the wishes to allow the water to be restored under Tocho and Fai’s life will be saved. However, Fai will become a vampire and Kurogane will be the only source of food that can keep Fai alive. Should Fai regain his stolen eye, he would be able to purge himself of the vampire changes. Fai doesn’t want to do this, but Kurogane and Kamui make it happen. Fuuma arrives with the people from the Tokyo Tower and he has one of Sakura’s feather’s in a special case, meaning Mokona can’t sense it. He wishes for his people to be allowed to live at Tocho in exchange for the feather. Sakura agrees to this even though it means not regaining those memories.

Yuuko-san sends jars of water through Mokona to fill the reservoir under Tocho (see xxxHOLiC Volume 10 for where the water came from). To everyone’s amazement, the water that came out of the jars exceeds what they should hold and the reservoir is filled. Yuuko-san has to conclude all the payments and she requires an object on this world. It is a dangerous journey and she’s going to send Kurogane to do it to pay for his wish, but Sakura insists on making the payment as she’s been asleep the whole time.

Sakura takes the dangerous journey alone (part of the price) and is attacked by giant worms. She manages to kill them but is injured in the process. She’s injured again trying to climb up a cliff. Despite the hardships, she reaches her objective. Meanwhile, Yuuko-san has Mokona go to sleep so she can speak to Fai in private. They discuss the situation and his relationship with Kurogane and the others, but when Fai learns of what Sakura is doing, he’s not pleased. Elsewhere, Kurogane and Syaoran discuss Syaoran’s captivity and the fact that Syaoran-clone likely won’t return. As such, they need a plan of what to do once Sakura returns.

Back with Sakura, she’s attacked by a couple of giant cobras and somehow manages to defeat them. She retrieves the item Yuuko-san wanted, an egg of some sort. We learn that her motivation for doing this dangerous quest was to hopefully return Syaoran-clone’s soul to him. She begins the arduous journey back, her compass and transport destroyed. However, she receives help from the spirits of those who’ve passed on who point the way back for her. Meanwhile, Fai confronts Kurogane on allowing Sakura to go alone. As they discuss the matter, a bloodied and battered Sakura shows up and ends up collapsing in Fai’s arms.

Thoughts/Review: Re-reading this for the first time in ages, I was reminded of why I enjoyed the OVA which covers the Acid Tokyo arc so much. While CLAMP does their best to follow Sakura’s journey and the dangerous battles therein, the visuals of the anime really brought

That aside, I remember when I read this the first time being surprised that CLAMP decided to turn Fai into a vampire. Granted this would excite the Fai x Kurogane yaoi fangirls (and boys too I guess) as Fai would be forced to live on Kurogane’s blood, but still, it surprised me.

I liked seeing Sakura go on the quest. Granted, this means the end of the happy-go-lucky Sakura, but that’s OK. The egg she retrieved goes back into the xxxHOLiC story just as the water bottles from xxxHOLiC came into this story. Granted, knowing this does not help with the story at hand, but it is nice just the same.

So in the end, all of the characters are changed. Syaoran is a different person and in fact the real Syaoran. Sakura is now steeled in her heart. Fai becomes a vampire. Kurogane is Kurogane, yet revealed to be someone who cares a great deal about all his companions, including the annoying Fai.