“The future has not been determined yet…”

A young man in a long white coat is on a train journey. Alighting at a small country station, he walks past red-clad shrine statues. No one else is about. A black and yellow butterfly flits past. Something is wrong, very wrong. He seems to be trapped in a time-loop, walking the same path again, without getting anywhere. And when tiles begin to fly off roofs and cart wheels rise up in the air to crash down on him, he stops, eyes closed, hands swiftly making the sacred signs known only to an onmyouji (a master of yin and yang) to protect himself. Yet these dangers are nothing compared to the figures he sees when emerging from a pedestrian tunnel; a laughing girl and a suavely suited, bespectacled man together, smiling at him. For the young man is none other than Subaru Sumeragi – and the phantom images conjured up to torment him are those of his dead twin sister, Hokuto, and the man whom he once loved and now has vowed to destroy, his rival onmyouji – and the murderer of his dear sister, Seishiro Sakurazuka. 

Episode 9, ‘Onmyouji,’ puts CLAMP’s most beguiling and enigmatic relationship in the spotlight: the two young scions of the rival ancient onmyouji clans, Subaru and Seishiro, who are about to choose sides and declare their allegiances in the apocalyptic war over the future of the earth. This is one of the most powerful episodes in the series so far, creating a strange, dream-like atmosphere as Subaru goes to perform an unusual and heart-breaking exorcism. But afterwards, the words he hears pronounced by the woman who has requested the ceremony resonate deeply – and disturbingly – within his mind. 

“Constantly thinking about one person – and only that person – can be done only by those whose hearts have been broken…Seishiro.”

I can’t help thinking that one of CLAMP’s main (yet never openly stated) impulses to create ‘X’ was to continue the unfinished story of Subaru and Seishirou, for there is something so compelling about these two characters and their twisted love-hate relationship that seems to me to utterly overshadow all the others, even that of Kamui, Fuma, and Kotori.

In fact, the first three episodes on this third disc, are largely based on the extra stories in the manga, and flesh out the backgrounds of several of the other Dragons of Heaven. Next comes teenager Yuzuriya and her beloved dog spirit, Inuki; then significant moments from Kamui’s past are revealed, giving us greater insight into his defensive, angry attitude. Again, director Yoshiaki Kawagiri and scriptwriters have brought the key elements of the manga to the fore by neatly weaving in these extra stories into the ongoing narrative – and, in doing so, have actually improved on the original manga in terms of clarity and character development.

But it’s as the shocking events of episode 12 ‘Alternative’ unfold that the battle lines are drawn and the terrifying implications for the future of the world become clear.

The theme that CLAMP return to again and again in their work is that of predestination. Even in the early RG Veda, the main protagonists are seen to struggle – usually in vain – against their pre-ordained fates. The theme recurs in ‘xxxHolic’ as Yuko tells Watanuki about “Hitsuzen: a naturally fore-ordained event,” the force that draws customers (and most particularly Watanuki) to her shop. Intriguingly, in ‘X,’ Kotori is the only one who foresees the possibility that the Dreamseers’ visions may not be irreversible. There is still the possibility to change the future, she tells Kakyo in a moving, dreamlike encounter on the borders between life and death. Here, Naoki Sato’s score works perfectly with the animation, enhancing a moment of great significance, a small glimmer of light in the fast-gathering darkness. 

In Summary
Steeped in blood-spattered Western religious imagery, these episodes culminate in a terrible and potentially earth-shattering moment in the lives of the young people caught up in the ancient struggle for the future of the earth. (It’s also is a must for Seishiro x Subaru fans!)