Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle: Difference between revisions

** This is done to {{spoiler|Kurogane}} as a child. It's pretty jarring as we {{spoiler|get to know him as this big [[Badass]] character, then you meet him as a child and he's pretty much a bundle of joy and happiness, with a loving father and mother. It's then shown how he became so violent and angry at the beginning of the series}}...

* [[Brick Joke]] - At the beginning, Fai mentions he can't whistle and substitutes a "Pyuu~" sound for it. 14 volumes of pyuu-ing later he DOES whistle for a spell that saves the Tsubasa gang's lives.

* [[Bruce Lee Clone]] - He even has a special fighting system based on kicking (to compensate for lack of depth perception).

* [[Calling Your Attacks]] - Done seriously for most of the series, but lampshaded in one instance where Fai tells Kurogane, "You could at least call your attack's name!" To which the ninja replies, "Screw that!"

** Also, the [[Our Vampires Are Different|vampire]] [[Bishonen|twins]] Kamui and Subaru. Being vampires fills in for the creepy-ness.

* [[Cyberspace]] - The Country of Oto, although none of the main characters come from technologically advanced worlds, so they never suspect it. Not that it would matter if they did, since they don't know what world they go into until it's too late.

* [[Dead All Along]] - {{spoiler|Yuuko was only alive because Clow told reality to ignore her death. As a result her death resets just about everything reboot-able across the history of the multiverse.}}

* [[Deal With the Devil]] - The Dimension Witch Yuuko (of ''[[XXX Holic]]'') grants wishes and demands a heavy price in return, however she doesn't cheat her customers if they act in good faith. She is the "sponsor" of the heroes' travels and stays in communication with them. She also makes deals with the individuals the band comes across, who usually get a fair cop. In ''xxxHolic'', the ugly results of bad-faith wishing are visible, as are some ([[Mind Screw|although by no means enough to make sense]]) of the reasons and details behind the devil-dealing process.

* [[Five-Man Band]] - The corresponding roles are: Syaoran [[The Hero]], Sakura [[The Chick]], Kurogane [[The Lancer]] /TheBigGuy, Fai [[The Smart Guy]], and Mokona [[Team Pet]]. Note, however, that these roles stick only through the first half of the series. The deconstruction and character development in the second half breaks down the easy categories.

* [[Fountain of Youth]] - {{spoiler|When C!Syaoran and C!Sakura seal themselves in the tube, they reverse age from adults back to being 14 years old and become identical to the originals right down to the clothes! Which makes for some interesting results on the reader's eyes when the tube is finally broken.}}

* [[Freaky Friday Flip]] - Ok. This one's a ''very weird'' example. Observe closely and you'll see that {{spoiler|C!Sakura and R!Sakura}} have 'swapped' bodies between themselves. What makes it freaky is that ''the bodies are of course, completely identical!'' Basically {{spoiler|R!Sakura (A) merged with C!Sakura's body while C!Sakura's soul entered the body of R!Sakura (B) that Ass-Chin lost during the cloning process.}} See [[Doppelganger]] above for an explanation.

** Aaargh! ''More [[Mind Screw]]''.

* [[Killed Off for Real]] - This is stated to be a fundamental rule of the multiverse (although its impact is undermined somewhat by the series' penchant for twins and clones). Death is permanent and comes to everyone in time. Even Yuuko cannot bring someone back from the dead without suffering serious consequences. {{spoiler|Except clones, because they weren't truly alive until Clow and Yuuko gave payment to have them be reincarnated. But when they die after that, it's for real.}}

* [[Lampshade Hanging]] - In Chapter 218, Mokona mentions being [[Mind Screw|incredibly confused as to what's going on]], {{spoiler|especially with the fact that Junior looks just like his father and his mother looks exactly like Sakura. Oh, and they've suddenly appeared to save the day}}. By this point, the reader likely agrees.

** Well by this point even God admitted they too [[Mind Screw|were lost]].

* [[Life or Limb Decision]] - Specifically, {{spoiler|Kurogane amputating his arm for Fai's life}}. Completely without hesitation, too.

* [[Mind Screw]] - '''AND HOW!''' '''Several orders of it''', with ''no chance'' of screw driving. Really, [[CLAMP]] deserve a ''special award'' and maybe a even new trope like Mind Screw Pileup. For the sake of your sanity, do not, we repeat, DO NOT try to understand the story.

** How to sum up the story in just 2 words. As for examples, ''Some of them'' include...

** Not only that. After the {{spoiler|time loop set up in the Acid Tokyo arc is revealed}}, the entire ''plot'' becomes confusing.

** The Multiverse as such! Just how many darn versions of each character are there anyway?? The confusions of who's who is quite understandable.

** [[Tetsu Inada]] as Kurogane.

** [[Maaya Sakamoto]] as Princess Tomoyo.

* [[Never the Selves Shall Meet]] - Played straight and averted too. Where it's played straight is that the {{spoiler|Clones}}, in spite of visiting Yuuko's shop many times, never meet {{spoiler|their reincarnated selves in the tube.}}

* [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero]] - Multiple times in the story, and the root of the ''whole'' problem is {{spoiler|Clow's momentary subconscious wish that Yuuko wouldn't die, which set the entire plot in motion when Fei Wong Reed decided to grant it}}.

* [[Occult Blue Eyes]] - Fay's magic is explicitly tied with the blue ''color'' in his eyes, which is weird.

* [[Oedipus Rex]] - Syaoran. {{spoiler|Specifically, the real one. He's been impersonating his father and romancing an a princess who is the original from whom his mother was cloned since he was seven.}}

** Also, {{spoiler|Cloney is also an example, since he has memories of being a clone of Syaoran, and his wife has memories of being a clone of Sakura. Since they got together based on those memories, and a clone can be thought of as being like a child, its debatable which generation is imitating which}}. Time travel, reincarnation and a ''really'' tangled family tree with ever changing relationships [[Gambit Pileup|piling up on top of each other]] make things [[Mind Screw|confusing]], yes.

* [[The Other Darrin]] - Kusanagi and Tomoyo got their dub VAs replaced in the OVAs.

* [[Our Vampires Are Different]] - Kamui and Subaru, and later {{spoiler|Fai gets turned into one to save his life}}. Description on the trope page of how they stack up against classic vampires.

** Seishirou is also possibly a vampire as Fuuma comments to Subaru when he is asked that Seishirou isn't growing any older.

* [[Perma Shave]]

* [[Phenotype Stereotype]] - Fai is blond and blue-eyed, and in one chapter has [[But Not Too Foreign|some serious objections to sushi and chopsticks]]. In the dub, he speaks French once seperated from Mokona.

* [[Power Limiter]] - Fai's full-back phoenix tattoo is supposed to restrict his huge innate powers to keep him safe. Thus, when he gives it up to Yuuko as his traveling price, he also swears off the use of magic. Later subverted when we find out {{spoiler|he's more dangerous with it than without it, because he is cursed to kill the first person he meets who is MORE powerful. With his magic restricted, it's more likely that he'll find someone who outstrips him}}.

** The "[[Curse]]" Tomoyo places on Kurogane which will decrease his strength if he kills anyone could also been seen as a kind of limiter. This is ALSO subverted because {{spoiler|we find out after Celes that it's really a [[Protective Charm|protection charm]] and the stuff about his strength diminishing was a prophecy about the consequences of killing Ashura}}.

* [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old]] - {{spoiler|Fai. As Yuuko told Kurogane, '[Fai] has already lived many times your lifespan'. Given that Kurogane looks to be in his early 20's at the youngest, this probably makes Fai at least 80 years old, despite ''also'' appearing to be in his early 20's.}}

** Although it's not entirely clear how much of this is slow aging due to magic, and how much of that time was spent {{spoiler|in the timeless pocket dimension where he and his twin were banished. It was long enough for everybody else in their country to die, so it was probably a while.}}

* [[Reset Button Ending]] - Now that {{spoiler|[[Big Bad]] and Yuuko}} are both dead, existence should have been restored to the way it should have been. Right? But no, paradoxes ( {{spoiler|Syaoran, Watanuki and by extension even Sakura and possibly the whole of Clow Country, not to mention an unknown number of lingering changes in the multiverse}}) still exist. Reality could never fully recover after ''that many'' [[Divide By Zero]] attempts.

** {{spoiler|The original Syaoran}}, who was replaced by {{spoiler|Watanuki}}.

** And also {{spoiler|the clones}}, who have vanished from all time, leaving Syaoran a bootstrap paradox, and...

* [[Time Travel]] - [[CLAMP]]'s brought in variations of every category on the trope page...

* [[She's All Grown Up|They're All Grown Up]] - Most new readers/viewers' impression of [[Cardcaptor Sakura (Manga)|Syaoran and Sakura]] in this work.

* [[Time Stands Still]] - {{spoiler|Clow Country, or more specifically the Reservoir, which is frozen in the moment just before [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|little Sakura is cursed]].}} Subverted in that what happens in the frozen world affects its inhabitants. Don't worry, [[Mind Screw|they]] [[For Want of a Nail|get]] [[Unexplained Recovery|better]].

* [[Time Travel Tense Trouble]] - We at [[TV Tropes]] aren't the only ones suffering serious difficulties with the script.

** {{spoiler|[[Chuck Cunningham Syndrome]] - The body of R!Sakura-2 (for want of a better label) was taken away and merged with the cloned soul, while the original soul of R!Sakura-2 ended up in the [[Big Bad]]'s own tube, but is never mentioned again. Or what happened to that tube. Yes, there were '''three''' Sakuras.}}

** This error makes it hard to explain {{spoiler|the Sakuras' [[Fusion Dance|body merging]]-cum-[[Freaky Friday Flip|swapping]]}}. Not to mention complicating the {{spoiler|Cloney-C!Sakura}} relationship and forcing the use of extensive spoilers in a desperate attempt to reduce reader confusion.

** The Entire Tokyo arc, where the fun and games end and someone loses an eye. See also [[Darker and Edgier]].

** Chapters 150 and 151, {{spoiler|where Fai's curse activates and he nearly kills Sakura}} and all of the Celes arc.