Release date: June 30th, 2001
Thoughts: Sakura falling asleep on Syaoran or vice versa is probably one of Wish-chan's favourite things considering the amount of times it happens and the amount of fanart out there.
Signs of the times! When Syaoran was explaining how he removed the tracker, he talked about using the floppy disk program. Man, I haven't used a floppy disk since the late nineties.
While it was a stupid move of Syaoran to accidentally keep the tracker after dislocating it, the scene where S&S had to jump off the train so the police won't meet then at the station was exhilarating.
Kero-chan is reunited with Sakura and their reunion reminds me of my clingy cat when I come home from work.
The police's reaction to the Kaitou charges being dropped ("All the police were turning super-deformed, crying half because of relief, half because they felt taken advantage of.") is probably the last anime-esque reference in New Trials and would probably meet the chopping block when Wish-chan edits the chapter.
I'm a cat person, but Wolfie-chan's entrance and utter fondness for Syaoran is endearing!
It's a good thing that the Akagi estate is big enough since it has to hold Sakura, Syaoran, Tomoyo, Takashi, Chiharu, Rika, Erika, Aki, Eron and Miho!
There's more bickering than usual on the Takashi and Chiharu front to foreshadow their mini story arc.
Takashi mentions that the town came with a werewolf story but there was no elaboration. The fun part of a NT re-read is spotting the foreshadowing!
Fanart spotlight: It may look like a regular portrait of Kai, but what Selenity drew is an exact description of what he was wearing when he visited Sakura in the middle of the night. I always love how Wish-chan is so good as describing outfits. It's a huge plus for the artists in the community!
After ten thousand years I finally comment on your blog! These next comments are going to be long! Sorry >_<
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with you - Wish-chan definitely loves making Sakura/Syaoran fall asleep in each other's arms because it happens at least twice in every arc (we could argue it happens almost every other chapter lol not that any of us minds) at this point we find it all nice and fluffy but later it will be more of "aaaww remember when these were the nice and simpler times?" *cough* arc 4 *cough*
I also agree that one of the best parts of rereading NT is spotting the foreshadowing! I have so many as I've been reading. At one point I got so excited and I was like, "OMG! How did I miss this the first time!?!?!" To which I had two of my relatives look like me like I was crazy until I sort explained what it was.
Lol, I remember being young and playing with my parents' floppy disks. I think I may have damaged one or two hehe.
One thing I absolutely love about New Trials, even more so as time passes, is just how well it's written that I can actually see the story play like an anime in my head (and I've been watching anime since I'm around three!). I know that my mental images of New Trials as an anime can't compare to what Wish-chan imagines but as I read the story I can see the "change" of animation from 90s classic shojo moments to a more develop and mature one as the story progresses.
Diana, it is so rare that anyone even visits my blog let alone comments so please, write me your opus!
DeleteSailor Moon was my favourite anime in the nineties and I really got into a lot of different series in the mid-2000s. But then I moved on only to watch Kobato in the mid-2010s and now I just started Fruits Basket 2019. I read the whole manga 15 years ago and it's so lovely to revisit the story again in anime form. I love hearing your thoughts of the evolution of NT as someone who has literally grown up with anime herself!
Second post because it was originally too long and blogspot didn't allow it >_<
ReplyDeleteMy notes (with spoilers for anyone reading who has not read Arc4):
So I discovered through this chapter that the ruby locket (the Mizuki locket) that Sakura and Syaoran are risking their lives for in order to help Kai has dragon carvings! I had completely forgotten that. I don't think it's ever mentioned again though... I wonder if Wish-chan remembers the dragon carvings in the locket.
I know it's probably too early in the New Trials real world time (this chapter being published in the early 2000s) but I wondered if Wish-chan had thought of the locket's backstory and its connection to the Great Five. I found it weird that the locket, which was created for Mayura, had dragon carvings in it because her patron animal was a phoenix and the dragon belonged to Shulin. So then I remembered once reading (and later confirming) that Ruichi (or Ryuichi as it written in Japanese and in babynaming websites) means "first son of the dragon". At this point I'm starting to think that the Great Five story is not only a story about the doomed friendship of six people but of the failed love story of Mayura and Ruichi and not the love mess of Landon, Shulin, Hayashi, and Risa.
And it's amazing how we are told that the ruby in the locket is not the ruby from the Five Force Treasure but still had special power... which makes sense because it's from the same ruby and put together by the one and only Chang Ruichi-sama.
Another thing that caught me off and I think it may be a mistake is that she describes the locket as gold when through the rest of the story it's made out of silver.
Chapter 33:
"Slipping out from his pocket the white gold oval locket with the intricate dragon carvings and the ruby embedded in the center, he examined it. A sort of second instinct informed Syaoran that it wasn’t likely that the ruby was indeed one of the Five Force Treasures. Yet all the same, there was some sort of special power sealed into this locket."
"Silently, he [Kai] stared at the locket and traced the dragon engravings and the ruby in the center with his fingertips."
Anyway, I had completely forgotten about how this is actually the first time that Sakura sees inside the locket and even though she might have pieced things later in the story she actually saw/knew of Kaitou's real identity.
"Paying no heed to him, Sakura had knelt on the floor to pick up the pretty white gold locket. To her surprise, it had opened in half, and inside, there was a tiny photo fitted inside the locket frame."
Random note: Sakura meeting Wolfie-chan and what happens in the later chapters reminds me of what happens in Chapters 72-73 with Leiyun and Byakko-chan.
I think this line might be Eron's most dramatic throughout the entire story?
“Don’t ask me,” muttered Eron, shaking his head. “Erika dragged me here.” Then he switched on his charming grin and knelt down in front of Sakura, clasping her hand. “But if I knew you were coming as well, I would have come most willingly.”
There's a part in this chapter that Sakura comments on Kaitou's use of sunglasses at night and inside and it reminds me of this song from the 80s that my mother hates called "Sunglasses at night". On another spoilery note I wonder if he showed up not only because he wanted his locket back but because Miho was around the area. ^_^
The Landon, Shulin, Hayashi, and Risa quadrilateral is so messy that I didn't even have an inkling of what was going on between Mayura and Ruichi behind the scenes until the community began ruminating about it. One of the many reasons why I love our group!
DeleteMy mom gave me a necklace for Christmas and I thought it was silver because my last silver necklace tarnished beyond repair and I was looking into a replacement. But she told me that it was white gold so I don't have to worry about tarnishing in the future! Honestly I think "the silver locket" has a way better ring to it than "the white-gold locket", hahaha. It makes me think of how diamond in the Amamiya necklace used to be known as a crystal before Sakura realized what it was.
Oh man, I can only imagine the fanart of Eron on his knees in front of Sakura! Yes, I can't picture him being that dramatic during the course of the series.
While Kai does have a bond with the locket that practically jeopardized everything that he was doing on more than one occasion, he was definitely there because of Miho too. After all, his crime spree (New York, London...) were in parallel with the cities that she was in at the time.