#vol 161

[1]

AND IT’S ON. THE BATTLE OF THE HUSBANDS. This is essentially the climax of Fai and Kurogane’s entire plotline so far AND the fruition of Fai’s entire mission as presented to him by Evil Wolverine. The thing he’s been mentally grappling with since he was a child, ie that he would have to kill this man if he got in the way (regardless of how close they became), is finally happening. Fai’s entire wish and purpose is on the line and he’s going for it. 

THANKFULLY Kurogane seems every bit as logical about this situation as my heart has been hoping for, and even though he shatters Fai’s spell the bottom panel presents his as going for Ashura. 

This puts my entire soul at rest because it means (or implies) that Kurogane has figured out the core of this encounter while Fai has not; Ashura wants them to kill each other for his amusement (or his mystery goals, whatever) and Fai has fallen for it. Though this is not speaking ill of Fai - his entire life and existence IS on the line here, and Ashura has wrapped his entire soul into a web and made him dance to the exact tune he wanted. Kurogane is too clever (and too reserved) to fall for the same manipulation. He knows Ashura is manipulating them (let alone whatever is happening to Lava Lamp) and goes for him instead.

Ashura is not worried. He just smiles happily knowing that it won’t work (yet) and Fai attacks again. 

Because Fai is out to kill and it’s both extremely cool and extremely horrifying at the same time. 

All he ever wanted to do was save people (his brother, the town with the avalanche, and Celes overall), and now he’s being twisted into murder all over again, even though if he wins it means he will also die not too soon later.

Chapitre 161 - Smiling Wizardy

The splash text reads “The fates of two worlds ... by the two boys”. 

In which we have Watanuki and Lava Lamp and their MYSTERY CONNECTION taking the sole focus. CLAMP keep dropping hints about these two but without any connecting details that are concrete enough to properly play with, but you better believe the Sakura tree is significant in some way. Am I hoping the connection is more to do with Sakura (who they’ve both met now) than Literally Anyone (who has already technically killed a Syaoran in a Sakura tree already)? YOU BET. Am I certain? NOT AT ALL. 

But that aside, the image presents them almost as two sides of the same coin; two halves of the same image, just as xxxholic and Tsubasa are two halves of the same interconnected story. They get one diagonal half of the image each but they don’t visually overlap with each other - just as they don’t overlap in either manga yet. They haven’t properly met on screen, though their connection is deep enough for Lava Lamp to heavily contribute to Watanuki’s survival and be consistently worried about his well being. He KNOWS things, and here we see him deeply concerned and looking down out of frame. There is a plethora of terrible things he’s dealing with, and really, he’s young enough that it’s a tragedy from start to finish. 

By contrast Watanuki is (perhaps intentionally) ignorant of all these things, and so looks skyward with a more gentle awareness. He could be seeing something (as he has that power) but it’s not as concrete as the truths Lava Lamp is plagued with. He hasn’t figured it out yet, so he’s still visibly calm and much more relaxed than the cramped hand posture Lava Lamp has. I suspect memory shenanigans, but then again maybe it’s also something to do with his “not quite existing” status. Who knows where he came from, or which timeline, or why he ended up here. 

[3]

OOF. 

This brings back what I mentioned a little earlier, where despite (or maybe even in defiance of) his entire past, all Fai wants to do with his magic is help people. He goes for the healing magic and to his utter horror finds he can’t learn it. All he’s suited to is destruction, just like his home country always told him. 

Meanwhile my dislike of Ashura grows. Even though I know he’s going to do something to make Fai feel better, I’m sure it benefits him that Fai can’t learn healing and only brings destruction - because that’s what he wanted him for all along. 

I HATE HIM FOR HOW SWEET THIS IS. 

Were he anyone else this would be a LOVELY moment. If Fujitaka pulled this out? Incredible. Wonderful. Touching. But Ashura is none of those things and it’s infuriating how he’s just so GOOD at seeming GOOD. 

Fai developed a chronic need to always smile and make people feel better out of the desperate fear that he only exists to hurt them - until what we’re left with is a Fai who smiles falsely and emptily in almost every situation, because he’s always stuck in the place where he knows he’s only bad for people. 

And this too was Ashura’s influence. 

[2]

Oh man I love this too. If you have a version of Tsubasa where you can REALLY see the details on these pages they are just. so gorgeous. All the action is wonderful to look at and all the expressions tug at my heart. It’s so good. 

I love that we see this from Fai’s perspective here too, and everything about the shot FEELS different. From Kurogane’s POV it was clear that Fai was not the target at all. If anything he was huddled in shock and pain, because he is every bit the victim of what’s happening to him at Ashura’s hands. Meanwhile for Fai it looks like Kurogane is coming right for him. Kurogane’s details are also distorted because Fai’s lost sight of who he is in this moment -he can’t see the expressions of the man he knows, all he sees is the fear and the danger of his attack while everything at stake (all his memories and his entire life up to this point) hang in the balance around him. The difference is striking and beautiful and really well thought out, and I love that we get BOTH. BOTH Kurogane and Fai are the characters we’re rooting for here, we’re meant to relate and connect to BOTH of them, so we get both of their perspectives, and the difference only makes it all the more tragic. 

And I will admit I was disappointed that we slipped back into another flashback now, if purely because everything about this scene is just SO WELL DONE, but I’m eager to see what their content is nonetheless. 

[8]

TIME FOR THE WORST KEPT SECRET IN ALL OF CELES HERE WE GO. 

SHOCK US, ASHURA. 

Oh uh... but with less blood than that maybe...? 

Ok another cut. DRAMATIC FINALE HERE WE GO:

[7]

I cannot get over how deliberately uncaring and unhurried Ashura is in here. It’s a clear contrast to Fai and (I hope) building towards the very obvious difference between them. Fai cares. Ashura very clearly does not. It’s a very nice contrast but in scenes like this he essentially becomes a meme of himself. 

Guards: People are dying!

Fai: I’ll go and help!

Ashura: .... oh.... oh no.... oh well. 

Fai: People are still dying!

Ashura: That’s... *checks smudged writing on his hand* rad? That’s rad for sure, right?

I wonder who could possibly have something to do with these mysterious murders I guess we will never know  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Ashura gets one of THOSE panels and I’m glad his true nature is finally leaking out enough that Past!Fai can finally (hopefully) catch onto how terrible this garbage king is. 

And... Oh no it’s gore time, so the next page is under the cut. 

[6]

OOP. I don’t like this turn of events. 

But interesting that Fai manages to knock down Kurogane with the symbol of the false freedom he never had and never will. Ooh, also some of you wonderful people (hi fieldofclover & redring91!) have pointed out that it’s also mixing with the phoenix/dragon imagery associated with Fai and Kurogane respectively, and I love that too. Especially because it means Fai is using it against him right now.

Meanwhile Lava Lamp looks like he’s still alive and this good! 

LIVING: CONFIRMED. 

Apart from the body they found in the valley. 

This is something I would LOVE to get other people’s input on. 

Here’s a better picture of it, with all the blood badly edited out to make it easier to look at:

I think you’re definitely right in that the sleek stylistic lines of the robe are similar to that of Clow Reed and Ichihara. It’s the kind of robe that CLAMP give to their “Important Magic Figure (tm)”, so there’s definitely a similar look to all three of them. 

I’m not sure that Ashura is borrowing either of their designs, though. While I love the idea that his “butterfly” form would be a terrible murdering asshole, I think the design on his cloak more closely resembles Fai’s Tattoo:

It’s not exact, but the Wings seem visible for sure. This is probably in part due to the fact that the tattoo is from Ashura in the first place - but also, when it comes to Fai, the phoenix motif suits him perfect. Not so much Ashura, so I think the Phoenix is unique to Fai himself. 

So I would suggest Ashura’s style is something similar in style to the others but unique to himself. He has Wings, but I would say he’s meant to be a butterfly or a phoenix. There are other things that have wings though (as Evil Wolverine would be thrilled to point out), and I’m looking forward to seeing what the wing motif might mean for Ashura moving forward. 

It’s possible that it might just be “importance” and “power” in general, with the added implication of his tattoo on Fai imprisoning him within his web of influence. Then again there have been many parallels between Evil Wolverine and Ashura in the last few chapters, so the wings could also be another subtle sign that he’s the same kind of person at his core