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ship_manifestoTitle: Lilac Wine
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-syndicated.gif)
noble_scarlet aka Ekai Ungson
Email: beautiful.alone.now@gmail.com
Spoilers: the entirety of the Card Captor Sakura series/manga
Lilac Wine: Hiiragizawa Eriol x Daidouji Tomoyo [Card Captor Sakura]
Watakushi wa...
Hi. I'mnoble_scarlet, also known to numerous fandoms as a fanfiction writer going by the name of Ekai Ungson. I churn out writing for many fandoms in different anime series, books, and television shows, but my first love is always and will forever be the Card Captor Sakura fandom, for the pairing of Hiiragizawa Eriol and Daidouji Tomoyo, more popularly known as ExT.
I discovered Card Captor Sakura first as an anime series when a friend bought a video CD of its WB counterpart, "Cardcaptors". I fell in love with the series almost immediately, but one CD containing only two episodes was certainly not enough to go on with, and so I scoured the internet for websites about the series. There I devoured spoilers, plotlines, and stumbled on fanfiction. The very idea of it then was very alien to me, who could not see the point of why people would want to write about an established series which had an inevitable conclusion. Nevertheless, curiosity got the best of me. I started reading, working my way through numerous bad fics, and then discovered a unique network of (back-then) CCS fanfic writers. I got so addicted to their stuff I decided to make my own. And the rest is history.
The infamous VCD of "Cardcaptors" in fact did not feature either of the characters I'm writing this essay about. I learned about them later-- much later-- when I began to read the spoilers and episode guides for the third season of Card Captor Sakura. By then I had learned that the WB series was a product of pure evil. A year later, local television showed Card Captor Sakura, and I sped home after class each afternoon to watch the series. There the images I had in my mind about Eriol and Tomoyo were fleshed out, and then I began writing fanfiction about them in earnest.
Why? Well... I thought they were canon. Really.
The Series
Card Captor Sakura is about an eleven year old girl named Kinomoto Sakura who accidentally opened a book in her father's library and let loose a set of magical cards called Clow Cards. Accompanied by the Guardian of the Book, a small indeterminate animal-plushie named Cerberus (more popularly known as Kero-chan), she is tasked to retrieve the Cards before they wreak havoc unto the fictional city of Tomoeda, Sakura's hometown. She is also accompanied by Li Syaoran, a Chinese exchange student who has a familial connection to the Cards, and her best friend, Daidouji Tomoyo.
After Sakura captures all the Cards and passes a judgment test that deems her worthy of keeping them, she believed that the crisis was averted. But strange things began to happen in Tomoeda. Strange, magical things, wherein she felt the aura of the man who created the Clow Cards, a sorcerer named Clow Reed, who has been dead for more than a hundred years. At the same time, there's a new exchange student in Sakura's class: a mysterious young boy named Hiiragizawa Eriol.
The Sorcerer
Hiiragizawa Eriol is the reincarnation of Clow Reed, the very powerful sorcerer who created the Clow Cards several centuries ago. His birthday is March 3rd, but he has no parents, leading us to believe that he wasn't born normally. The running speculation is that Eriol came to be as he was first seen in the series/manga-- already physically twelve years old, and possessing the memories of his predecessor. His mission (or, more likely the main reason why he was created), is to get the current Mistress of the Cards, Sakura, to transform the Clow Cards into Sakura Cards. He comes to Tomoeda as a foreign exchange student from England and initiates himself immediately into Sakura's group of friends. He lives in a mansion just on the outskirts of town with Ruby Moon, his asexual Moon Guardian, and Spinel Sun, a small cat-like winged creature who serves as his Sun Guardian. Eriol has dark blue hair and blue eyes; he wears glasses, and has a pale complexion.
Publicly, Eriol is charismatic and charming; he is the epitome of the perfect English gentleman. He often exhibits these qualities to Sakura in the form of mild, harmless flirtation-- to the eternal ire of Li Syaoran. He plays the piano, draws well, and is athletic: he beat Li Syaoran, a very athletic and strong boy by any standards, first in a one-on-one basketball game and another time in a swimming race. He has impeccable manners and is very polite to those around him. On the flip side he has a strange sense of humor-- he tells outrageous, unbelievable stories of the origins of things with Takashi Yamazaki, to the consternation of the class and to the eternal gullibility of Syaoran and Sakura. He is well liked by everyone though, and earns the trust of Sakura easily.
But then she doesn't know about Eriol's dark side. To persuade (in a manner of speaking) Sakura to transform her Cards, Eriol had to create situations wherein she had to use them. These situations go as dangerous as causing an avalanche on a ski trip, to making a grand piano chase her best friend around the school, to having her and her friends chased by a gigantic penguin slide, to trapping her inside a hole filled with.. er.. stuffed sheep plushies.
Eriol's task was fulfilled when Sakura won her final battle with him: he cast an eternal darkness over the city of Tomoeda, causing all of its citizens to fall asleep and only waking up on the condition that Sakura defeat the darkness. Sakura, after a long battle, transformed the last Cards, Dark and Light, which successfully broke Eriol's spell.
In the manga, Eriol gave away half of his powers (essentially his essence) to Kinomoto Fujitaka, Sakura's father, who was apparently also a reincarnation of Clow Reed. In the series, he returns to England.
The Princess
Daidouji Tomoyo is the daughter of Daidouji Sonomi, owner and CEO of Daidouji Toys Inc., and is Sakura's best friend. She was born on September 3rd, and her most telling features are her long, black hair and her beautiful voice. Tomoyo's eyes are dark blue (some say violet) and her skin is pale, almost snow-white.
In both the series and the manga Tomoyo has a sort of obsession for Sakura-- she is never seen without Sakura at her side, and when Sakura begins to capture Cards she is there, videotaping the entire thing-- and giving costumes for Sakura to wear, of her own creation.
There is no evidence of Tomoyo's father anywhere-- it is presumed that he has either separated from Tomoyo's mother Sonomi, or is deceased. Because of her mother's influence and wealth, Tomoyo lives a sheltered, comfortable life in a large mansion, is seen accompanied by bodyguards, and owns the latest gadgets. She has her own trailer stashed full of the Sakura costumes she makes and also has her own movie theater. Despite these material luxuries, Tomoyo continues to live a simple life-- she attends public school, walks home with Sakura, and is not treated specially in any way.
Tomoyo is prim and well-mannered; she addresses everyone with respect and is very even-tempered (she is never seen angry). Everyone loves her because she is kind and gentle. She seems delicate, but is actually very athletic especially on winter sports-- she can ski and skate well, being put to lessons at a very young age by her mother. She actively participates in the school choir and is the voice of choice for school presentations and solos. She is a good friend, always supportive and steadfastly loyal.
But Tomoyo has no magical powers to speak of and so is unable to defend herself from attacks of an otherworldly nature. Her insistence to videotape Sakura's adventures have sometimes put her in trouble, and her closeness to Sakura has made her a target. However, what she lacks in the supernatural she makes up for with a good, solid dose of common sense. Tomoyo is incredibly perceptive-- almost scarily so. She is very attuned to the feelings of those around her and the interlacings of these emotions. As such, she has been known to give certain people a mild push in the right direction to get their balls rolling, so to speak. Though she is never one to outright manhandle someone to admit their feelings for someone else, she is sneaky-- knowing exactly which words to say at which moments, depending on who the person is.
The Canon
There is, rather sadly, little to no evidence of this pairing in canon. Eriol is in a heavily implied relationship with Mizuki Kaho, a former teacher and temple guardian who is physically older than him by twenty-odd years, and Tomoyo's feelings for Sakura certainly go beyond the limits of mere friendship. There isn't much said about Eriol and Kaho, but Tomoyo has been known to have said that whatever Sakura's happiness was her happiness as well, and she was the one who pushed Li Syaoran into admitting his feelings for Sakura.
so Why Eriol x Tomoyo?
Eriol and Tomoyo are not main characters in Card Captor Sakura-- they're secondary characters that serve mostly as plot devices and conveniences (Card Captor Sakura was in fact created as a parody to the mahou-shoujo or magical girl genre) to the main characters themselves. Tomoyo creates Sakura's costumes, and she serves instrumentally in Sakura and Syaoran admitting their feelings to one another, while Eriol is the main drive that forces Sakura to transform the Clow Cards into Sakura Cards, essentially causing her to come into her own and mature from a scaredy-cat girl to a courageous young lady. Although the series and the manga show enough for audiences to deduce for their personalities, there is still so much about these two that a lot of people don't see, and so speculate upon.
Still, the shipping of this pairing requires the shattering of certain canonical truths: Eriol's relationship with Kaho and Tomoyo's love for Sakura. Mostly, a canon instance is used: Eriol admitted in canon that he "wasn't sure" if he was having a relationship with Kaho, and Tomoyo often has said that "my happiness is Sakura's happiness". Going from there, most fan-writers deduce that Eriol having a relationship with a woman about twenty years older than him would never really work, as Eriol may either be too young physically to attend to Kaho's needs, or too old mentally and emotionally, being the reincarnation of a centuries-old sorcerer. Tomoyo on the other hand, may have want for a happiness that is truly her own and not the product of someone else's.
That dealt with:
Eriol and Tomoyo are alike in many ways: they're both smart, sneaky, mysterious people who like to watch from the background and push things where they see fit instead of outright meddling with the affairs of other people. They prefer a backhanded approach of dealing with things, and wait for effects to materialize instead of directly causing them. They are both very good people who would do most anything for their friends.
But beyond this, both Eriol and Tomoyo have an underrated feel of not wanting to be left alone. Tomoyo lives in a cavernous house with only the servants for company, her mother occasionally, and an absentee father. Eriol lives in a cavernous house with only his Sun and Moon guardians and grew up with no family to speak of save for them. That is why they both value their friendships more than anything else: the truth is, that's all they really have.
The fun part about this pairing is that both Eriol and Tomoyo have seemingly twisted senses of humor-- since they prefer a backdoor approach and then watch as the consequences unfold, often to devastatingly funny circumstances. The combined power of their minds working often brings about sheer chaos. The gullible Syaoran and Sakura are often the targets of these machinations, but the result is always the same: they bring the two together to live happily ever after.
I asked people why they shipped this pairing, and the most prevalent answer was: "They look good together", seconded by "Eriol cannot be with a woman old enough to be his mother" and followed by "Tomoyo can't have a self-sacrificing ending". Now, all these reasons are valid, and I have been known to use these reasons as seen fit to bring about a story, but to say that the pairing is steeped in these reasons seem a little shallow.
Eriol and Tomoyo, I think, understand each other. If they were given a chance in canon to really get to know each other, I think they would hit it off quite splendidly. They both want the same thing as far as Sakura is concerned. But the allure of this pairing lies in the idea that for them to fall in love with each other, a lot of growth and change is involved. As they are, they would not be attracted to each other in any way as they are too absorbed in their own worlds to take notice of the other, but their characters allow so much leeway for growth and for change-- they're only eleven in the series after all-- that Tomoyo, maybe, after a few years, may come to realize that she wants to be happy for the sake of being happy; that Eriol, maybe, after a few years, may come to realize that he is in fact his own person and not the shadow of someone else, that he is in charge of his own choices.
Tomoyo can fill the gaps in Eriol's heart, and Eriol can make Tomoyo smile with little things.
To borrow from a Nora Roberts novel:
"She would push him to be his best."
"And he would keep her from being too driven."
"It's good."
"It's great."
Card Captor Sakura copyright CLAMP/Kodansha.
Excerpt lifted from "Waiting for Nick" by Nora Roberts, from Harlequin Mills & Boon
Author:
noble_scarlet aka Ekai UngsonEmail: beautiful.alone.now@gmail.com
Spoilers: the entirety of the Card Captor Sakura series/manga
Lilac Wine: Hiiragizawa Eriol x Daidouji Tomoyo [Card Captor Sakura]
Watakushi wa...
Hi. I'm
noble_scarlet, also known to numerous fandoms as a fanfiction writer going by the name of Ekai Ungson. I churn out writing for many fandoms in different anime series, books, and television shows, but my first love is always and will forever be the Card Captor Sakura fandom, for the pairing of Hiiragizawa Eriol and Daidouji Tomoyo, more popularly known as ExT. I discovered Card Captor Sakura first as an anime series when a friend bought a video CD of its WB counterpart, "Cardcaptors". I fell in love with the series almost immediately, but one CD containing only two episodes was certainly not enough to go on with, and so I scoured the internet for websites about the series. There I devoured spoilers, plotlines, and stumbled on fanfiction. The very idea of it then was very alien to me, who could not see the point of why people would want to write about an established series which had an inevitable conclusion. Nevertheless, curiosity got the best of me. I started reading, working my way through numerous bad fics, and then discovered a unique network of (back-then) CCS fanfic writers. I got so addicted to their stuff I decided to make my own. And the rest is history.
The infamous VCD of "Cardcaptors" in fact did not feature either of the characters I'm writing this essay about. I learned about them later-- much later-- when I began to read the spoilers and episode guides for the third season of Card Captor Sakura. By then I had learned that the WB series was a product of pure evil. A year later, local television showed Card Captor Sakura, and I sped home after class each afternoon to watch the series. There the images I had in my mind about Eriol and Tomoyo were fleshed out, and then I began writing fanfiction about them in earnest.
Why? Well... I thought they were canon. Really.
The Series
Card Captor Sakura is about an eleven year old girl named Kinomoto Sakura who accidentally opened a book in her father's library and let loose a set of magical cards called Clow Cards. Accompanied by the Guardian of the Book, a small indeterminate animal-plushie named Cerberus (more popularly known as Kero-chan), she is tasked to retrieve the Cards before they wreak havoc unto the fictional city of Tomoeda, Sakura's hometown. She is also accompanied by Li Syaoran, a Chinese exchange student who has a familial connection to the Cards, and her best friend, Daidouji Tomoyo.
After Sakura captures all the Cards and passes a judgment test that deems her worthy of keeping them, she believed that the crisis was averted. But strange things began to happen in Tomoeda. Strange, magical things, wherein she felt the aura of the man who created the Clow Cards, a sorcerer named Clow Reed, who has been dead for more than a hundred years. At the same time, there's a new exchange student in Sakura's class: a mysterious young boy named Hiiragizawa Eriol.
The Sorcerer
Hiiragizawa Eriol is the reincarnation of Clow Reed, the very powerful sorcerer who created the Clow Cards several centuries ago. His birthday is March 3rd, but he has no parents, leading us to believe that he wasn't born normally. The running speculation is that Eriol came to be as he was first seen in the series/manga-- already physically twelve years old, and possessing the memories of his predecessor. His mission (or, more likely the main reason why he was created), is to get the current Mistress of the Cards, Sakura, to transform the Clow Cards into Sakura Cards. He comes to Tomoeda as a foreign exchange student from England and initiates himself immediately into Sakura's group of friends. He lives in a mansion just on the outskirts of town with Ruby Moon, his asexual Moon Guardian, and Spinel Sun, a small cat-like winged creature who serves as his Sun Guardian. Eriol has dark blue hair and blue eyes; he wears glasses, and has a pale complexion.
Publicly, Eriol is charismatic and charming; he is the epitome of the perfect English gentleman. He often exhibits these qualities to Sakura in the form of mild, harmless flirtation-- to the eternal ire of Li Syaoran. He plays the piano, draws well, and is athletic: he beat Li Syaoran, a very athletic and strong boy by any standards, first in a one-on-one basketball game and another time in a swimming race. He has impeccable manners and is very polite to those around him. On the flip side he has a strange sense of humor-- he tells outrageous, unbelievable stories of the origins of things with Takashi Yamazaki, to the consternation of the class and to the eternal gullibility of Syaoran and Sakura. He is well liked by everyone though, and earns the trust of Sakura easily.
But then she doesn't know about Eriol's dark side. To persuade (in a manner of speaking) Sakura to transform her Cards, Eriol had to create situations wherein she had to use them. These situations go as dangerous as causing an avalanche on a ski trip, to making a grand piano chase her best friend around the school, to having her and her friends chased by a gigantic penguin slide, to trapping her inside a hole filled with.. er.. stuffed sheep plushies.
Eriol's task was fulfilled when Sakura won her final battle with him: he cast an eternal darkness over the city of Tomoeda, causing all of its citizens to fall asleep and only waking up on the condition that Sakura defeat the darkness. Sakura, after a long battle, transformed the last Cards, Dark and Light, which successfully broke Eriol's spell.
In the manga, Eriol gave away half of his powers (essentially his essence) to Kinomoto Fujitaka, Sakura's father, who was apparently also a reincarnation of Clow Reed. In the series, he returns to England.
The Princess
Daidouji Tomoyo is the daughter of Daidouji Sonomi, owner and CEO of Daidouji Toys Inc., and is Sakura's best friend. She was born on September 3rd, and her most telling features are her long, black hair and her beautiful voice. Tomoyo's eyes are dark blue (some say violet) and her skin is pale, almost snow-white.
In both the series and the manga Tomoyo has a sort of obsession for Sakura-- she is never seen without Sakura at her side, and when Sakura begins to capture Cards she is there, videotaping the entire thing-- and giving costumes for Sakura to wear, of her own creation.
There is no evidence of Tomoyo's father anywhere-- it is presumed that he has either separated from Tomoyo's mother Sonomi, or is deceased. Because of her mother's influence and wealth, Tomoyo lives a sheltered, comfortable life in a large mansion, is seen accompanied by bodyguards, and owns the latest gadgets. She has her own trailer stashed full of the Sakura costumes she makes and also has her own movie theater. Despite these material luxuries, Tomoyo continues to live a simple life-- she attends public school, walks home with Sakura, and is not treated specially in any way.
Tomoyo is prim and well-mannered; she addresses everyone with respect and is very even-tempered (she is never seen angry). Everyone loves her because she is kind and gentle. She seems delicate, but is actually very athletic especially on winter sports-- she can ski and skate well, being put to lessons at a very young age by her mother. She actively participates in the school choir and is the voice of choice for school presentations and solos. She is a good friend, always supportive and steadfastly loyal.
But Tomoyo has no magical powers to speak of and so is unable to defend herself from attacks of an otherworldly nature. Her insistence to videotape Sakura's adventures have sometimes put her in trouble, and her closeness to Sakura has made her a target. However, what she lacks in the supernatural she makes up for with a good, solid dose of common sense. Tomoyo is incredibly perceptive-- almost scarily so. She is very attuned to the feelings of those around her and the interlacings of these emotions. As such, she has been known to give certain people a mild push in the right direction to get their balls rolling, so to speak. Though she is never one to outright manhandle someone to admit their feelings for someone else, she is sneaky-- knowing exactly which words to say at which moments, depending on who the person is.
The Canon
There is, rather sadly, little to no evidence of this pairing in canon. Eriol is in a heavily implied relationship with Mizuki Kaho, a former teacher and temple guardian who is physically older than him by twenty-odd years, and Tomoyo's feelings for Sakura certainly go beyond the limits of mere friendship. There isn't much said about Eriol and Kaho, but Tomoyo has been known to have said that whatever Sakura's happiness was her happiness as well, and she was the one who pushed Li Syaoran into admitting his feelings for Sakura.
so Why Eriol x Tomoyo?
Eriol and Tomoyo are not main characters in Card Captor Sakura-- they're secondary characters that serve mostly as plot devices and conveniences (Card Captor Sakura was in fact created as a parody to the mahou-shoujo or magical girl genre) to the main characters themselves. Tomoyo creates Sakura's costumes, and she serves instrumentally in Sakura and Syaoran admitting their feelings to one another, while Eriol is the main drive that forces Sakura to transform the Clow Cards into Sakura Cards, essentially causing her to come into her own and mature from a scaredy-cat girl to a courageous young lady. Although the series and the manga show enough for audiences to deduce for their personalities, there is still so much about these two that a lot of people don't see, and so speculate upon.
Still, the shipping of this pairing requires the shattering of certain canonical truths: Eriol's relationship with Kaho and Tomoyo's love for Sakura. Mostly, a canon instance is used: Eriol admitted in canon that he "wasn't sure" if he was having a relationship with Kaho, and Tomoyo often has said that "my happiness is Sakura's happiness". Going from there, most fan-writers deduce that Eriol having a relationship with a woman about twenty years older than him would never really work, as Eriol may either be too young physically to attend to Kaho's needs, or too old mentally and emotionally, being the reincarnation of a centuries-old sorcerer. Tomoyo on the other hand, may have want for a happiness that is truly her own and not the product of someone else's.
That dealt with:
Eriol and Tomoyo are alike in many ways: they're both smart, sneaky, mysterious people who like to watch from the background and push things where they see fit instead of outright meddling with the affairs of other people. They prefer a backhanded approach of dealing with things, and wait for effects to materialize instead of directly causing them. They are both very good people who would do most anything for their friends.
But beyond this, both Eriol and Tomoyo have an underrated feel of not wanting to be left alone. Tomoyo lives in a cavernous house with only the servants for company, her mother occasionally, and an absentee father. Eriol lives in a cavernous house with only his Sun and Moon guardians and grew up with no family to speak of save for them. That is why they both value their friendships more than anything else: the truth is, that's all they really have.
The fun part about this pairing is that both Eriol and Tomoyo have seemingly twisted senses of humor-- since they prefer a backdoor approach and then watch as the consequences unfold, often to devastatingly funny circumstances. The combined power of their minds working often brings about sheer chaos. The gullible Syaoran and Sakura are often the targets of these machinations, but the result is always the same: they bring the two together to live happily ever after.
I asked people why they shipped this pairing, and the most prevalent answer was: "They look good together", seconded by "Eriol cannot be with a woman old enough to be his mother" and followed by "Tomoyo can't have a self-sacrificing ending". Now, all these reasons are valid, and I have been known to use these reasons as seen fit to bring about a story, but to say that the pairing is steeped in these reasons seem a little shallow.
Eriol and Tomoyo, I think, understand each other. If they were given a chance in canon to really get to know each other, I think they would hit it off quite splendidly. They both want the same thing as far as Sakura is concerned. But the allure of this pairing lies in the idea that for them to fall in love with each other, a lot of growth and change is involved. As they are, they would not be attracted to each other in any way as they are too absorbed in their own worlds to take notice of the other, but their characters allow so much leeway for growth and for change-- they're only eleven in the series after all-- that Tomoyo, maybe, after a few years, may come to realize that she wants to be happy for the sake of being happy; that Eriol, maybe, after a few years, may come to realize that he is in fact his own person and not the shadow of someone else, that he is in charge of his own choices.
Tomoyo can fill the gaps in Eriol's heart, and Eriol can make Tomoyo smile with little things.
To borrow from a Nora Roberts novel:
"She would push him to be his best."
"And he would keep her from being too driven."
"It's good."
"It's great."
Card Captor Sakura copyright CLAMP/Kodansha.
Excerpt lifted from "Waiting for Nick" by Nora Roberts, from Harlequin Mills & Boon
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no subject
Date: 2005-11-01 06:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-01 06:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-02-22 05:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-13 06:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-02-16 08:57 pm (UTC)Just one little nitpick: It's not overtly stated, but I believe it was implied in the manga that Eriol was not actually a child, but had taken on a younger form in order to interact with Sakura as a peer. This would probably be the reason he was able to attract Kaho's affections. They never touched on that in the anime, and in the last movie he appeared still in child form. Also, Eriol's relationship with Kaho was never properly brought up in the anime (much like Rika's relationship with Terada-sensei, which seemed reduced to her having a crush on him with some minor hints that he might return it), but it was hinted at vaguely a couple of times.
no subject
Date: 2008-07-26 10:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-19 10:16 pm (UTC)Thank you very much for an essay that's full of effort and totally effortless. Your writing fits it and your words are excellent. Plus it's totally objective. It basically summarizes the whole story of my love for the couple too. Eriol and Tomoyo belong with each other.