I'm all for a toxic lovers story, those can be quite fun. In typical CLAMP fashion, though, this story is utter nonsense, and it's hard to even parse how or why it happened. Yes, it's foreshadowed kind of early on, but that was kind of random, like most of this story. It's also hard to really connect with a character saying "you always wanted x" when this only started being "always" with like volume 4/5 out of 7. So frankly the character realizations just feel empty. CLAMP is notoriously bad at endings, though, so I'm not surprised it's bad, there's just less to take from this than others. This is almost worse than the ending for "Tsubasa".

The art in this volume is a bit better than others, particularly since it's early CLAMP, but it's still not great. Also, honestly, I know a lot of Japanese mangaka just do that, but the weird obsession with crucifix imagery is bizarre, especially given Christianity has nothing to do with the story except for one off-hand mention in like one chapter. So the constant use of it in the cover art and often on the character clothing in the story is so weird. Especially since it's like "we don't know how to fashion, let's just draw a giant crucifix on their clothes and that'll solve it". It's not as bad now as it was in the 90s, at least, but oof it's painful to go back to.

Overall, if you want a trip down old shoujo lane with a prolific group of mangaka, and a story that led into their more famous series, "X", then there are I guess worse ways to waste your time. There are moments where the series touches on disability, classism, abuse, in ways that are solid and still ring true, and this is one of CLAMP's more overt m/m stories. Still, I can't say I recommend this to anyone. It's just not good or enjoyable. I would honestly suggest people read "xxxHolic" instead if they want some supernatural CLAMP, or watch "Cardcaptor Sakura". Those are much better. ( )

The ending volume of this series is the most utterly heart wrenching manga I've ever read and it didn’t get any easier with a second read through. Here Subaru finally discovers the secrets to his memory of the cherry tree with tragic consequences. Although this is the last volume it is not the end of the story which is further explored in the course of Clamp's X/1999 series.

I know this series is a favorite of many Clamp fans and in spite of how this story made me feel, I think it was very well done. The artwork was exemplary with half the story told through the expressions of the characters. It is easy to see why it has garnered such a wide following.

As a side note, this is a series that was given to me by a very generous Borders employee as she was de-cluttering her personal collections. When I offered payment she suggested the “pay it forward” method and as such this series is my next donation to my local library who can never seem to keep enough manga on their shelves :-) ( )