CLAMP is an abusive relationship [a rant]

[ginny_t]

I've never been a big fan. One of my first manga series was Wish. *shudder* I tried to read X, I did! I read the first arc of CCS and was unimpressed by the story. Sure, the character designs were gorgeous, but that's not enough for me.

So I was pretty much "meh, CLAMP, wev." Then along came Watanuki. I only picked up the manga because friends had it and I'd heard he was a cabana boy. Hello kink, what are you doing here? Watanuki is an incredibly sweet character. I love HOLiC's smaller scale, the simpler story with hints of complexity behind. That's what life is. It's not about saving the world for everyday people; it's about getting through the day and wondering why your finger hurts or why you're hearing noises in your house.

Okay, there was HOLiC TRC crossover. From the HOLiC side, it was mostly tolerable. There were some hints of cracky craziness maybe to come. I was a little "oh, CLAMP, why?", but I kept reading. CLAMP had hurt me before, but then promised to change, promised "It'll be better this time, baby. I promise." I saw how CLAMP was abusing the TRC folk, but HOLiC was okay, so I closed my eyes to that (yes, I enabled) and kept up with my sweet spaz.

Then there was the "Watanuki is waking from dream to dream" storyline that kind of petered out in HOLiC. Wut? Turns out I'm lucky to have me an Ysabête, 'cause she turned me onto the TRC chapters that explained that. WHAT?!?! You resolve a multi-chapter story arc in a different publication altogether?! That's not only shitty storytelling; that's downright bad business!!! But I was hooked on spaz.

In the fandom, there's been all kinds of speculation about what the hinted crackiness means. I've avoided it, fingers in ears, lalala! Do Not Want. Why can't Watanuki just be himself? He's pretty darned awesome on his own; there don't have to be links to other "more important" elements. (This reminds me of my reaction when Furuba fanbrats were speculating that Tohru was somehow a distant Sohma. *snarl*)

So, TRC 201 comes out, and the xxx_holic comm has a post that there's a big HOLiC spoilerdragon in it. *sigh* I check with my Ysa, but she's got nothing. I shrug and move on. Today, someone in the same community posts some fanart with a telling subject line and a warning that there's a big spoiler for TRC 201 at the link. It's pretty easy to guess what the spoilerdragon is. Great, so now I'm mad at some poor fan who made a poor subject line choice (and I scolded and feel only slightly bad about that) and FUCKING FURIOUS at CLAMP. Once again, something important revealed in the other damned story.

Fail, CLAMP, fail. (And silly me to've believed that they could change.)

Comments

[morgana006.livejournal.com]

I'm going to try not to read spoilers.

I just wanted to pitch in that I probably started reading CLAMP way too young to not stay a fan, but Cardcaptor Sakura is one of my favorites, though I like the second arc way better than the first.

[kats-kradle.livejournal.com]

...TRC?

[hysteriachan.livejournal.com]

Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle.

[hysteriachan.livejournal.com]

I could really do with the new TRC chapter turning up somewhere useful right about now. I'm very curious (and very glad that I don't follow related communities >.>).