Well... this is bound to be a rather long, rather emotional journal for me :'DD

Today I learned that Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles had been completed...

I'd been kind of avoiding it lately, because I knew it was drawing to a close. I knew that such a big part of my life was going to be over so suddenly, and I couldn't bear to let it go.

I don't think many people really understand what TRC means to me... and that's mostly because I don't really care to talk about it. It's very personal for me, and things that personal I really don't tell to anyone.

I first learned about TRC in Indonesia, about 4-5 years ago. This is when the manga was just starting, about in its 1st or 2nd year of production. They were showing the anime on Animax, an anime channel there in Indo (from Singapore tv). I had seen commercials for it often enough, and was kind of confused why they showed a different land on each episode... but the first time I watched it it was like magic to me. Me and Kyle were sitting on the couch just chilling out watching it, and Syaoran did one of his kicks... it was just so cool, like nothing I had seen before. The storyline was so detailed and serious, unlike so many of the other animes/mangas that are just shallow. But, of course, there was the perfect comic relief in Kurogane, Fai, and Mokona.

I don't really know when exactly I started reading the manga... but it was just so much beauty dumped on my lap. The characters were wonderfully detailed and deep, very thought through... the worlds were fun and curious, and the plotline dark and detailed, with deep underlying meaning. All besides the fact that the art is perfection.

And of course... there was the Ninja.

When I say I love Kuro... I mean I love him to the deepest core of my being. A lot of people think I'm weird or laugh at me for loving someone out of an anime/manga so much. But he's not just a 2D character. You can tell how much time and effort and thought CLAMP puts into all their characters and Kurogane is just a masterpiece, as well as the others in TRC. There was a time when I really did loathe Fai in my heart of hearts because he was just such a self-centered wretch. Syaoran has the kind of honest, selfless bravery everyone wishes they had, but are too cowardly to hold. And Sakura is like something out of a dream, a human, but as perfect a human as we can be.

Of course, I often joked throughout the manga that they showed too much of Syaoran and Sakura and not enough of Kurogane, but unlike so many other stories out there the authors are not biased. They do not spend 3/4 of their time on one or two characters and the other 1/4 on the other 10 or whatever. The time is spread out very evenly between all the characters and it really just allows you to see how deep they all are.

TRC is really one of the first things that inspired me to draw. After seeing that episode of the anime, I really just wanted to draw Syaoran. I think it was because he kind of reminded me of one of my characters, Marn. I wanted to duplicate it, in a way. I don't think I really ever did end up drawing Syaoran, but it did spur me on to draw other things. It was the kick that did it, however weird it sounds. The animation was just so fluid and the style was so unique... Kyle and I were just stunned.

Now I guess I don't really have a lot more to say... TRC is one of the very few things that has remained constant for me these past 4 or 5 years. It has always been there when I just needed something solid to ground me again, and has been something I gave myself to completely. I let myself get lost in its beauty. And it never failed to support me.

<3 Kurogane

~Boan

P.S. thank you so much to my good friend ~fireproofmarshmallow who continues to trust in the love I have for Kuro and never fails to be there for us. Also, a big thanks to ~Usurachi who was brave enough to read through all 232 chapters with me. You're a great friend