Otaku/Writer rant (On TRC/XXXholic/CCS, i.e. CLAMP)

I've been following the online releases of Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles (TRC) and XXXholic. It's the kid in me, see, a die-hard fanatic of CardCaptor Sakura, who wants closure again. I thought I had that closure in The Sealed Card, but no, CLAMP just had to go and destroy that hanging but relatively happy ending for the sake of TRC and Holic. Now I am to find out that my favorite anime couple has two sons (supposedly only one) and that they were supposedly (although not really, I found out later) dead??? Their fates are yet to be revealed, and I hate CLAMP for doing this.

For the uninitiated: CLAMP is the group of mangaka (cartoonists) who created the series Card Captor Sakura (CCS), along with Magic Knight Rayearth, Angelic Layer, Chobits and a couple of other hit anime including the aforementioned TRC and Xxxholic.

For those who don't know the connection of TRC and Xxxholic to CCS: There are characters who look like CCS's Sakura and Syaoran in TRC, right? Well, for those who followed the anime, the Syaoran there was but a clone to the real "Syaoran" (his real name is yet to be revealed as well), who happens to be the son of CCS's Sakura and Syaoran. And as if things aren't fucked up as it is, CLAMP just had to throw in Watanuki Kimihiro of XXXholic and reveal that he is also the son of Sakura and Syaoran, an abnormality resulting from "Syaoran's" decision to rewind time again.

Don't ask me how CLAMP was able to come up with such a plot, for I wouldn't have an answer, except for the fact that they announced TRC as their giant project meant to tie up all their past works. (Well, while I think CLAMP is great, I know they're into fanservice and that they have some very weird pairings [e.g. the teacher Kaho Mizuki and Eriol Hiiragizawa, I mean, how perverted is that? That's pedophilia, even if he's a reincarnation of Clow Reed! Also, from the same series, Rika Sasaki and Terada-sensei. Ugh. What is wrong with you, CLAMP? And yeah, the yaoi pair Touya and Yukito. And that hint of yuri between Tomoyo and Sakura. Really, CLAMP (annoyed).])

Now, fans of both series are waiting in bated breath. Including me, of course.

However, I noted that there seems to be an ongoing war between fans of "Syaoran," the real son of Sakura and Syaoran of CCS, and fans of the clone Syaoran (the original protagonist of TRC until he lost his heart). Well, personally, I'm rooting for the real "Syaoran" more, although I wish a happy ending for the clones as well. Why? It's simply because I was a CCS fan before I became a TRC fan (it was the reason I followed this series, after all). It would be heartbreaking for the CCS pair if they lost their son in the process.

But, aside from that, I wish to plunge into this discussion I stumbled upon in a site forum. I wasn't a registered member and I was too lazy to create an account, so I'm going to rant about it here (not that I think anyone would read it, though). It seems that fans of the clone Syaoran hates the real Syaoran. And yeah, I understand that they would feel that, since "Syaoran" (for distinction from hereon, I will be writing the real Syaoran with quotation marks) took the place of their hero.

But I must say, "Syaoran" indeed has more character depth than the clone, despite the fact that CLAMP devoted almost 200 chapters with the clone as the protagonist. He's not the typical hero, you see; for me, that alone would gain him lots of points. Many protagonists are built up as picture perfect—strong, understanding, sensible, sensitive...with just a tiny hint of imperfection or so. And yet, "Syaoran" defies these perfections. He bungled up, he messed up with his decisions. He was willing to rectify it, but he wasn't willing to sacrifice himself for that end (if you ask me, he really wanted to be with his Sakura). So he comes across as human. He was real.

Some say he's selfish, an insensitive jerk. I don't think so. He's just doing what he could do to cope. He did his best.

If you ask me, the clone's character was what should have been developed. His character was too much dependent on the plot. From the start, he was after the clone Sakura's feathers. His emotions were pure angst, because of the plot as well, because Sakura can't remember him at all. He was the perfect hero, the contrast of "Syaoran." He endured it all because he loved Sakura. He sacrificed everything, even his own feelings. He was too ideal, that in fact, (while I was moved by his love for Sakura and was actually sad for him every time Sakura won't remember him) I found his character too bland even when I was only watching the anime adaptation.

When I think about it, everything about Syaoran was engineered by the plot, unlike "Syaoran," who made his own decisions leading to his circumstances, and thus, for me, made him a much better character. Although Syaoran decided to go on a journey to save Sakura, we find out it was Fei Wong Reed's plan, after all. And if you ask me, it was the only relevant choice he actually made.

Don't get me wrong. I don't hate Syaoran. I just think it isn't right to vent off one's frustrations about CLAMP to a character they created that way.

I think it was planned long beforehand, that Watanuki and "Syaoran" become the connectors to CCS. The clone may have started the story, but then the story didn't actually start at the beginning, did it? It started at a point of action. Lots of chapters only served as foreshadow of things to come.

"Syaoran" may not have been the protagonist at the start (in fact I thought he was the antagonist), but it seems that he was the catalyst of this story. Him, and his wrong decisions. So TRC fans ought to be thankful that he messed up, or otherwise, there would have been no TRC.

What's the point of this post? Nothing. I told you, I was just ranting.

P.S. I do wish CLAMP would hurry up with the next chapter of TRC. And I wish the scanlation of XXXholic chapter 172 would come out soon.

Creative brain drain, anyone?

Takipsilim. That's the tentative title of the Filipino version of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight, currently brewing in ABS-CBN's kitchen. Even the translation of the catch phrase seems to be verbatim, "Kung mabubuhay ka habangbuhay, ano ang ikabubuhay mo?"

Crap. What's happening to creative writers nowadays? Not only are we bombarded with cliche story lines, we also need to put up with dozens of remakes and adaptations. Come on.

I'm not a Twilight fan, so I'm not really as indignant as others probably are. But really. I'm reacting because...well, they say imitation is the best type of flattery. I think it's embarrassing, not because we can't do justice to the stories (so okay, some adaptations really sucked, but others were relatively all right), but because it reflects our inability to produce our own stories. It's embarrassing that we need to borrow the same old idea, rehash it and package it as new content.

We really need fresh ideas nowadays. Do you know, I don't watch television anymore because I can't take the load of crap these media outfits feed the people. What, do they think so low of Filipinos?

There are many theories pertaining to media's function. One such is the agenda setting theory, stating that media sets what people deems important, meaning it feeds information that, on closer inspection, are not really what's necessary, but it's what sells.

The long-standing argument is whether media gives the people what they want or need, or if media gives what can drive its profits up, making people accept whatever they produce.

Ah, well. Even I don't really know the answer to that. But I do know that media uses cultural products for profit, meaning that whatever it produces seeks to maintain the status quo, i.e. this society of profiteering.

How did I end up discoursing again? Ah, well. I'm just glad that this re-make and adaptation craze didn't happen at the height of the Harry Potter craze. I'm so glad that the creative ingenuity of network creative consultants did not extend to localizing Harry Potter.

Or I would have gone berserk.

P.S. Encantadia was based on the Lord of the Rings saga, right? But at least that was decent. I don't think they could have pulled off adapting Harry Potter. I just don't think they could have. Encantadia was at some point related to ethnic culture, but HP is just too...different.

*image taken from http://wakpo.com/articles/off-topic/takipsilim-twilight-tv-series-in-the-philippines

On books and intellectual masturbation

I haven't read popular books. I haven't touched Foucault, I haven't read Umberto Eco, or anyone of those whose works are popular in the academe. Even relatively pop culture books, no, I haven't.

What I have read are random, light stuff — romance, Stephen King, Michael Crichton, Sidney Sheldon — whichever suits my mood. Things that don't require much thought. Where things happen just because the author said so. Never mind the loopholes. Never mind that *some* people regard those kind of stuff as sort of cheap. Whatever.

But I don't think it makes me any less of the person that I know I am. I know I can read Foucault and the likes. I know I can absorb what they have to say. I just...don't want to. I prefer the practical to the theoretical.

And right now, I've learned quite a bit of something new. I know I am being bombarded by contradictions. I think I read to take my mind off things that haunt me all the time. I use it as a means of escape, even for a little while. So I can stop contemplating and wondering and becoming agitated or whatnot.

Maybe someday, when I've got the energy, I'd stop reading merely for pleasure. Maybe I'll start picking up *meaningful* books that would challenge my intellect.

But then, who decides what's meaningful or not?

I mean, I can read books of philosophers all day and not get a single word of what it means and pretend I did. Just the same, I can read these "low-quality," "pop cult," and "wrong-in-what-they-teach" books all day long and not be influenced. In fact, I think it hones my critical thinking more, since I see the flaws of the philosophies such novels employ. I see the errors, I think about them, how many people are deceived and brainwashed. Then I think about how we can come up with better books, which will teach the right way of thinking. And how people should read other literature more.

I see the need for change more.

Yes, I know, few people think the way I do. Many people would say boycotting such material is a way to stop them from proliferating. But given the present culture, I doubt we could do it.

So, things as they are, I think I am better-equipped reading such books (although I admit I must not limit myself in reading only them). It pays to know what's in right now, so we'd know how to battle such ideologies. It pays to know the enemy.

So maybe I'd read some more. Afterward, maybe I'll start reading a bit of *them*. Soon, I hope.

Did you realize I was making excuses?

(EDIT) P.S. I have books sitting inside my computer — Margaret Atwood, Umberto Eco. I have satires, like Terry Pratchett. Even the fantastically pop cult Neil Gaiman. I just need the urge to start reading them.

P.P.S. Sometimes I think critically of the Harry Potter series. Sometimes I see allegories. But then, I don't like the premise of the prophecy. And I don't like the idea that change is tied to one person only...kind of like a "Great Man" theory of history...