Feelings woe woe woe
Jun. 30th, 2007 03:17 pmThis isn't really triggered by anything. I guess I want to distract my mind from the news my mom fell down some stone stairs in her garden (she's fine, just really scratched).
I was once sort of questioned, a while ago, how come I was a CLAMP fan if I wasn't digging the current angst. My own sympathetic capacity was also put in trial just 'cuz I was indifferent to two twin boys locked away from each other with piles of dead bodies.
See, I liked RG Veda. I liked Tokyo Babylon and X, although I'm slowly losing interest in it. So I don't think angst per se is a bad thing. I do like angst. Then why can I stand TB/X, RGV, Clover, Shirahime-sho, and all those manga filled with tragedy, but not TRC's most recent chapters?
I think I might have a theory. It's the magazine syndrome. When I read the manga mentioned above, the series were already finished or had just entered the Hated Hiatus. So really, I read the chapters volume by volume. Between volume and volume, the time period would be either really short (question of minutes or hours) or medium-term (one or two months). So it never really dragged on to me in that format. I'd finish the series, or would be spoiled for them, before it felt heavy.
However, XXXHOLiC and Tsubasa are the first CLAMP manga I'm reading as they're been published, and keeping up to date with Japan. The weekly periodicity is a killer, even though it kills me in different ways than most fans. So basically, it looks like the waaaangst just drags on and on, gnawing your brain endlessly. I'm sure that if I had read Acid Tokyo, Infinity, plus Celes in a volume batch, I wouldn't have this issue not even remotely. It's something that happens to me with some Shounen Jump serieshi Bleach, and I know I'm not alone in this... just not in the CLAMP fandom.
And yes, I said I liked angst like every other girl, but it's also true I'm a person of balance. I like heartbreaking pasts. I like character introspective. I like silly faces and comedy relief. I like minor characters alternating with main ones, and not only the newest ones that have to do with the current plot. I like old plots returning. I like foreshadowing. I like to see all of this blending (as much as possible)! (*) See, X and RGV did focus in several characters, and it wasn't always about the wangst.
TRC isn't balanced to me: they started with fluffy comedy for volumes, then threw over-the-top-is-this-even-humanly-possible angst. I know that it works for a lot of people and think this is awesome, but it's not the way I like storytelling. I don't mind extreme gore and woe when a series is ending, like RGV, but Tsubasa is... well, I'm not sure if it's right in the middle or just wrapping Fay's issues and FWR's schemes up to move on to the ending. Either way, it just means more Woe-Is-Me is yet to come, and they'll keep throwing more WTF twists (I like CLAMPtwists, though, most of the times), and always focused on the five/six main characters. It's too unbalanced for my taste, and instead of getting me answers or sympathy, I get more confused and start to find characters annoying for excess of spotlight. Then again, I can't stand post!Rainbow Bridge!Subaru's subplot, so there might be a problem within me and The Ultimate CLAMP Angst Triggers.
Still, I don't think I'm a bad or a lesser CLAMP fan because I'm not digging it, or my nose isn't dripping for Fay|Yuui's Sad Past Of Dooooooom. It's just the magazine format plus my non-CLAMP fandoms' awesomeness what make it lose points, along with my ideas about storytelling.
(*) It IS quite possible for a mangaka to do all those things at once, believe it or not. Probably not in most popular, fanservice-oriented fandoms, but it certainly can be done. I can think of several manga that managed to pull this off beautifully and, unlike Fay's pastor SAINT SEIYA LOL, have drove me to tears more than once.
I was once sort of questioned, a while ago, how come I was a CLAMP fan if I wasn't digging the current angst. My own sympathetic capacity was also put in trial just 'cuz I was indifferent to two twin boys locked away from each other with piles of dead bodies.
See, I liked RG Veda. I liked Tokyo Babylon and X, although I'm slowly losing interest in it. So I don't think angst per se is a bad thing. I do like angst. Then why can I stand TB/X, RGV, Clover, Shirahime-sho, and all those manga filled with tragedy, but not TRC's most recent chapters?
I think I might have a theory. It's the magazine syndrome. When I read the manga mentioned above, the series were already finished or had just entered the Hated Hiatus. So really, I read the chapters volume by volume. Between volume and volume, the time period would be either really short (question of minutes or hours) or medium-term (one or two months). So it never really dragged on to me in that format. I'd finish the series, or would be spoiled for them, before it felt heavy.
However, XXXHOLiC and Tsubasa are the first CLAMP manga I'm reading as they're been published, and keeping up to date with Japan. The weekly periodicity is a killer, even though it kills me in different ways than most fans. So basically, it looks like the waaaangst just drags on and on, gnawing your brain endlessly. I'm sure that if I had read Acid Tokyo, Infinity, plus Celes in a volume batch, I wouldn't have this issue not even remotely. It's something that happens to me with some Shounen Jump series
And yes, I said I liked angst like every other girl, but it's also true I'm a person of balance. I like heartbreaking pasts. I like character introspective. I like silly faces and comedy relief. I like minor characters alternating with main ones, and not only the newest ones that have to do with the current plot. I like old plots returning. I like foreshadowing. I like to see all of this blending (as much as possible)! (*) See, X and RGV did focus in several characters, and it wasn't always about the wangst.
TRC isn't balanced to me: they started with fluffy comedy for volumes, then threw over-the-top-is-this-even-humanly-possible angst. I know that it works for a lot of people and think this is awesome, but it's not the way I like storytelling. I don't mind extreme gore and woe when a series is ending, like RGV, but Tsubasa is... well, I'm not sure if it's right in the middle or just wrapping Fay's issues and FWR's schemes up to move on to the ending. Either way, it just means more Woe-Is-Me is yet to come, and they'll keep throwing more WTF twists (I like CLAMPtwists, though, most of the times), and always focused on the five/six main characters. It's too unbalanced for my taste, and instead of getting me answers or sympathy, I get more confused and start to find characters annoying for excess of spotlight. Then again, I can't stand post!Rainbow Bridge!Subaru's subplot, so there might be a problem within me and The Ultimate CLAMP Angst Triggers.
Still, I don't think I'm a bad or a lesser CLAMP fan because I'm not digging it, or my nose isn't dripping for Fay|Yuui's Sad Past Of Dooooooom. It's just the magazine format plus my non-CLAMP fandoms' awesomeness what make it lose points, along with my ideas about storytelling.
(*) It IS quite possible for a mangaka to do all those things at once, believe it or not. Probably not in most popular, fanservice-oriented fandoms, but it certainly can be done. I can think of several manga that managed to pull this off beautifully and, unlike Fay's past
