Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle vol.20

The blurb on the back should say "Fai, you got some 'splainin to do!"

After Fai attacking Sakura and her body and soul being separated and taken to different worlds, the gang has to figure out what the heck is going on and what to do next. As usual, there is the end-of-arc-Yuko-infodump (and as usual, said infodump makes me feel like I should be reading xxxholic). It turns out Fai's actions weren't really done of his own will, but he has known this moment would come. And he has quite a few other secrets he's been keeping and lies he's been telling.
The second half of the book takes place in Fai's old homeworld, where he encounters an old face and we get a lengthy flashback to his childhood and find out even MORE juicy Fai secrets. The volume ends with a surprise which, though it isn't fully explained, will probably make you want to go back and reread some of the earlier volumes.

This volume actually moves a bit slow. Most of the first half is Yuko explaining some of what's been going on, and the group deciding what to do next. It just takes a bit too long for them to actually get going. Those scenes could have moved much quicker. The second half, which is mostly the flashback, is really well done, though. It plays out like a (dark) fantasy story that could stand on its own. Sometimes flashback can be too long, but in this case, Fai has been such a question mark for the past 19 volumes that CLAMP can take as long as they like to fill in the blanks. Despite being the most happy-go-lucky character in the group, Fai probably has the saddest past out of all of them. It shows how much of a front he's had up this whole time.

As of this volume, almost every single character has some sort of double (Syaoran and his "image", Sakura's separated body and soul, Fai and his twin, the two Mokonas, and all the doubles of other characters throughout the different worlds), except for Kurogane (that we know of). I wonder if there's something to that.

Anyways, overall, it was a decent volume. The beginning was a bit slow, but the flashback and all the information being revealed make up for it, and as always, CLAMP's artwork is great.