[ SECRET POST #5549 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #5549 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.


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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 12 secrets from Secret Submission Post #794.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

“Clamp does not seem to do well with wrap ups/pay offs.”

This is so true lol! They do a pretty good job ending things when the manga is a one-shot, or a happier and lighter story. For example: CCS, Angelic Layer, Kobato and Chobits, where things are mostly very happy, and the story is very focused, with a fitting and satisfying ending. Even their stories with darker elements still seem to have a better chance of having a good ending if the theme is still optimistic, like Magic Knight Rayearth.

But if the story is dark and episodic(xxxHolic, Legal Drug/Drug & Drop), or a sprawling epic with more dark elements than fluffy ones(Tsubasa(especially after Acid Tokyo), Gate 7, X-1999)? The higher the chance the ending will either be convoluted and unsatisfying, or not have an ending at all and be stuck in a seemingly endless hiatus. There are some exceptions, like RG Veda and Tokyo Babylon. But RG Veda had the advantage of being based on Vedic mythology, even though it’s so loosely based on the mythology as to be comedic. And Tokyo Babylon feels like a fluke.

Maybe my theory that they only suck at endings when the subject matter is dark and/or the story is a longer epic isn’t actually true, and it actually comes down to which members are in charge of plotting, outlining and storyboarding, idk. But it’s still a theory I’ve been running with in my head for a while.

And to me, it really sucks that their ending curse happened to Tsubasa. As much as I liked the actual plot and original characters in Tsubasa, and as much as I still think there was some good writing and characterization after Acid Tokyo, I personally feel like that arc was the start of the downhill slide of the story. It became a tangled mess plot-wise, the tonal shift from optimistic to darker was too sudden as to feel whiplash-inducing, and it lost a lot of the spirit and charm it had up until that point. I feel like a bad fan for saying this, but I liked Tsubasa the best when it was a happy and idealistic dimension hopping adventure, with constant fun crossovers that rewarded the reader for being a CLAMP fan. There was dark moments before Acid Tokyo, but they didn’t take over the story, and they gave depth to the worlds, and also showed beautiful and bittersweet sides to settings and characters. The tone was even, not too fluffy as to make it feel like there was no real threats to our adventurer protagonists, but not too dark as to feel like there was no hope or point to continue on their journey. And even Acid Tokyo didn’t ruin that tone all in one. Like I said, it felt like the start of the downhill slide, but it wasn’t responsible for everything. It was our hero’s darkest hour, but one that could have been an interesting way to test their resolve, and have them grow as characters and people after they heal from the events. And that did happen, but then...It all felt squandered when the convoluted nonsense started to take over everything.

xxxHolic similarly had a terrible ending, but unlike Tsubasa, there doesn’t feel like a clear point where the story started to go downhill. It just kind of happened, almost Game of Thrones style. Although I’m only talking about the suddenness of the bad ending when I make that comparison. I know that comparing the two sounds insulting as hell, so to clarify, I don’t think CLAMP at their worst are anywhere near as awful as the Game of Thrones writers and showrunners in the last season(s). My comparison is not one of quality of writing, but of jarring endings that feel like they come from nowhere. There’s just not a lot of foreshadowing of how things would end up in xxxHolic like there was for Tsubasa, at least as far as I’ve noticed. And I don’t know which of the two mangas actually had the worst ending. Maybe they’re both equally bad, considering the two mangas are supposed to be intertwined, no matter how clumsily the attempts to tie them together are after the first volume.

Sorry for this wall of text!! I apparently have Thoughts and Feelings about CLAMP!

TL;DR: You’re right, CLAMP sucks at endings sometimes, and xxxHolic were just another victim of that. But it’s frustrating, because they have made good endings before. They’re just not consistent.

[(Anonymous)]

POUR ON THE THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS lol.

Yeah after my saltiness over x/1999 and LD/D&D I think that's why I gave up on xxxHolic early. Better than be disappointed AGAIN lol.