Release date: June 30th, 2001
Word count: 3021
Thoughts: This is the first chapter I ever read of New Trials. I was a huge Takashi and Chiharu fan and I gobbled up the very few fanfics that featured them. Nothing was able to hold a candle to Sincerity and I promptly caught up with the chapters. My original reviews from 2003 are still on FF (which we called ff.net back in the day!).
The problem with T&C being a tertiary couple was the fact that there is a ridiculously small amount of information about them so many of the same plot points circle around. But in this special, Wish-chan invents fresh backstories that are completely believable.
Takashi and Chiharu have a bond like no other couple. On paper they seem to be such opposites but the flashback shows why they click.
The tie-ins to canon is top notch. Takashi names his bear Suama instead of Chiharu to her frustration in the show, but in the chapter it's his favourite dessert that he gives him.
Takashi notes how a lot of his friends have missing parents. This is also a common theme in Disney movies.
The title "Sincerity" seems ironic due to Takashi's endless lies. But it refers to his true feelings, the ones that never wavered since he proposed at six-years-old, and that's so special.
Fanart spotlight: Wish-chan moved me to tears when she dedicated this Takashi and Chiharu fanart to me shortly after I joined the NT team in 2003. Back then, fanfiction was my life and to be recognized like this was a first. I was in my first wave of NT involvement when I started uploading the chapters where Digidynasty left off. There's not a lot of T&C fanart out there so I enjoy them immensely.
This was such a treat to read. The first time I read NT I was surprised to see a Chiharu and Takashi special because with so much focus on Sakura and Syaoran and the Dark Ones it felt like a breath of fresh air to read about CxT. I really liked how she tied in CCS canon.
ReplyDeleteIt must have been such a happy moment to have Wish-chan dedicate the fanart to you. ^_^ let's hope we get more Chiharu and Takashi moments before NT is over. (secretly hoping for Takashi to repropose to Chiharu ^_^ since Chapter 68).
Actually, Wish-chan was starting to work another side story for T&C but then it got too dark so she dropped it. I'd rather have them as a fluffy background couple anyway. I think the next time they got screen time after Sincerity was during Chapter 47 when Takashi made a bead bracelet for Chiharu (https://www.deviantart.com/draugurok/art/Takashi-and-Chiharu-310425118?comment=1%3A310425118%3A2628248794). When Sebastian said that he would draw a NT scene for me that was the very first one to come to mind.
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