Anime Rewatch Episodes 43 & 44

[mellowcandle]

This is the post for discussing the next two episodes of our community anime rewatch. We're almost to the end of Season Two now, but you are still welcome to join in anytime! All previous posts can be found by using the "anime discussion" tag

Comments

[peacewish]

So the good news, sort of, is that the Polar Vortex has dipped south just enough to touch Austin and put a little ice on our roads, which has naturally brought the city to a grinding halt and kept me from leaving the apartment. So I can do Episode 43 in my downtime, yay. The bad news is that Episode 44 is on the next disc, which is at the new house with all the rest of our stuff, and who knows when I'll be brave enough to actually try driving anywhere. So, on with the heartbreak

[peacewish]

So, my feelings about this episode are rather mixed. On the one hand, it's awesome that Meilin finally got her due as an effective and useful member of the Cardcaptor Squad. On the other hand, it's at least fifteen episodes overdue, and sad that it only happened right before Meilin's hasty exit from the plot. Ditching her right before the Final Judgement is - to me - a signal that Clamp only brought her in to shake things up during the card capturing phase of the show, but she's extra weight once Yue and those other guys come along. It just reinforces the expendable nature of her character, which I know is something of a given since she didn't even exist in the manga, but I don't have to like it

[syrimoon]

Isn't that the fate for a lot of characters though? CCS is a series that rotates SO heavily around its protagonist that almost all of what we get form others has to be filtered through her. I remember specific scenes with people I odn't even think much on, JUST because Sakura wasn't there, like Touya and Kaho at the fence, Tomoyo's scene with her mom...hell, the only independant group I can think of is the Eriol Bunch, and even then every conversation they had revolved around Sakura too.

But with Meiling being an anime only character, she gets the brunt. I dind't even notice till a few months ago that she WAS shuttled off right before the three-part season finale. I mean, I've got issues with seasons three's plot, but it wasn't because it was too busy or something. there woulda been room for Meiling. And c'mon, her wanting to rip Yue apart for hurting Syaoran and (maybe even!) Sakura would have been awesome.

[peacewish]

I'd never thought before about how Meilin and Yue would interact, given that they never do in the show and no fanficcer seems to have gone there, but I like the idea. Sakura's too nice to ever argue with Yue and Li is too starstruck, but I get the feeling that Meilin would be just fine with telling Yue off loud and long, in Chinese, laced with several words she's not supposed to know yet. Meilin does not take shit, even from mopey pretty boys with long white hair.

[syrimoon]

I laugh every time I get to the episode. "It is willed with Meilings feelings" is too cute a line for old WeiJeeves there and I love it. Wei seems liek he really loves those brats

[syrimoon]

I'm sorry guys, I really am (not) but this ends my stint as a coherent, non biased discussion partner. Yue doesn't officially show up till next weeks rewatch, but I absolutely count episode 44. Hell, technically he's been around since episode 1.

At least this weeks Perfect Yuki and his Perfect Skills has an exaplanation, even if we don't get it for another couple episodes. I wonder how much of his athletic prowess is a channeling of Yue? a pretty boy he may be, but you know he's got fierce strength. I don't care what precious little Sakura says. Yue and Yuki are almost nothing alike, and if CLAMP thinks "being kind and caring" makes two people exactly alike, then it's not wonder they have a penchant for shallow side characters. Anyway point is it's interesting to see what parallels there ARE between them.

*plops down and eagerly awaits next week*

[chrysalisdreams]

I found myself wondering how Sakura would have caught Twin without the Li duo (partly because my AU cardcaptor, Yuriko, caught all the cards alone). I guess with Mirror? That makes me wonder if Mirror reflects personality as well as image. She was fairly mischievous before her capture, and seems more Sakura-like post capture. Burying the Twin bodies in Sand or using Freeze, Time, or a number of other cards, now that I think about it more, would work, too

[syrimoon]

I love how that's your only comment on ep 44 : D

With the twin, I think Sakura's best bet would be mirror. Mirror and twin seem to be sister cards, or at least very closely related in the deck as they servee a similair purpose. Makes em wonder again what ruling each falls under.

Im still wishign Meiling popped in again. Her snarky banter woulda been a fun comparison against Yue's deadpanning and Eriol's flamboyance.

[butterflydrming]

*whispers * Did anything else happen in episode 44?

[syrimoon]

Um um um....Yuki shootign arrows....Kero talking about Yue...Yue's first glimpse...describing how pretty his hair is...no, I think that was it :o

[peacewish]

Per episode 44

[mellowcandle]

I wish I could appreciate that the one twist they tried to spring on us was that Kaho was NOT Yue, after two seasons of relentlessly hinting otherwise in this dream bit

Rewatching it I see that they tried to lay this on after all, but I never fell for it the first time through. I guess I just wasn't paying attention. I wish she had been, though. I really do. One extraneous character gotten rid of, and a sensible reason for another.

(I finally just got caught up last night, so I missed all the discussion about the play and stuff, and now no one probably cares about these episodes anymore either, but oh well, my fault for going away.)

[peacewish]

I read about what happened to you on your vacation. Ouch. Don't feel like you owe us anything at all, because I know you need as much rest as you can get. Will happily get on with tsking over Touya's continued estrangement from the magical plot throughout season 3 with you when you're ready.