Rose Petals and Cherry Blossoms is my Card Captor Sakura/Shoujo Kakumei Utena fanfic crossover. I don't know why but crossovers are mighty fun. The last one I wrote was a Fushigi Yuugi and Slayers crossover titled Slayers FUSHIGI and remains the longest thing I've ever written - a whopping 150 formatted pages in MS Word. I guess it's just fun seeing how characters interact with each other... or something like that.
Anyhow, this fic is partially a response to my friend KeroSteph's fic challenge to the CFFML (although I learned of it from her blog.) The challenge, in a nutshell, is to write a CCS fic where Sakura and Shaoran do not become a couple; instead, Sakura moves on to fall in love with another person (whom she marries. I'm sure it could go the other way with Shaoran moving on, but that would be a different story than this one. ^_~)
This story takes place after both Card Captor Sakura and the Utena series end. Thus, there are quite a few changes that I'll be working with. Please note there will be major spoilers for the ending of both series, so tread lightly.
Card Captor Sakura through an author's eyes
First off, I am working from the manga storyline. This is because while I am quite familiar with the manga plotlines (glances up at the 12 volumes of Chinese-translated Sakura manga sitting on her shelf) I have not seen the anime series past episode 16 though I loved both movies. I like the manga plotline because it's much more concise, and this means there will be fewer cards I will be dealing with as compared to the anime.
This story begins with Sakura and all her elementary school friends in high school in their senior year (time to worry about college!) They are going to Seijyo high school (the school next to Tomoeda elementary) and are in various homerooms/classes/clubs. Sakura and Tomoyo are still best friends although because their classes/homerooms are different they can't hang out like they used to in elementary/junior high. Shaoran returned to Japan for junior high and high school, but had to return to Hong Kong at the end of his junior year. This part is explained in chapter one. Sakura's dad and Tomoyo's mom still have their same jobs. Touya and Yukito work in a large company and aren't seen too much. Eriol and his group remain in England although Kaho now permanently teaches at Tomoeda elementary school. I don't see it likely that they'll be playing any major roles, as you'll learn soon enough in the story.
The Sakura-verse is pretty easy to comprehend. It's just a buildup of what happened between elementary to high school, and not much has changed. Should be easy to follow this universe's settings.
Shoujo Kakumei Utena through an author's eyes
The Utena-verse is a much more twisted universe to work with in general, and yet here I am adding so many twists to the plots it's like a supercoiled piece of bacterial DNA that's ... oy! Too much Life Science! Back to the story!
First off, I am working with the campus setting as presented in the Utena movie. This means the buildings are red and white, the rose garden is exposed to the rain, the dueling platform is suspended in the sky and is covered with roses, etc, etc. However, I am using the characters as they are presented in the Utena television series. Touga is the president of the student council, Nanami is not a cow, Akio is his evilly bishounen plotting self, etc, and so on and so forth.
This story takes place after Utena and Anthy have left Ohtori Academy. They brought about a personal world revolution, but nothing was said about the players left behind. Akio remains in the background trying to bring about HIS world revolution, while the student council and the rest of the school is left to their own devices. Without the Rose Bride there are no more duels, and things have settled down into something resembling normal. The roses on the platform have also mostly died due to lack of anyone to care for them, and can be seen as a metaphor for the school's situation. Everyone is a few years older (Saionji and Touga are about to start their own college studies) and in some cases, more mature (mostly in the case of Nanami and Miki, who have done a lot of growing up in the days following the departure of the Rose Bride.)
Basically, the Utenaverse is of the television characters in the movie setting, set several years after Utena and Anthy bring about their own world revolution and left. I hope this isn't too complicated, but I love the movie settings to much not to borrow from that, yet if I want the story to work it's easier to work with the television characters, since they are much more developed. Aiyah.
Well, that's what I'm working with. Any questions?
Bara no Unmei ~ Adolescence Mokushiroku is my Utena movie site with more info about the movie and the setting that I'm working with. The Utena Encyclopedia is a good starting site for Utena in general, and they have lots of scripts for all the episodes. If you're interested in seeing Utena, Central Park Media has released the first 13 episodes on VHS and DVD, as well as Adolescence Mokushiroku, the Utena movie (again on DVD and VHS), and are trying to make plans to release the rest of the television series in the future. Viz Communications has the rights to the manga and is currently publishing it in their AnimericaExtra! magazine and will soon be publishing graphic novel compliations. For more on Card Captor Sakura, Clow Card Quest and Rabi's CCS Page are both excellent resources. CCS is being released on DVD/VHS by Nelvana (the dubbed version) and Pioneer (the subbed version.) The first movie has also been picked up by Nelvana but the second movie has not yet. The manga is being translated by Mixxine and is available in their magazine, Smile, as well as in graphic novel format, although Kodansha is also producing an English/Japanese bilingual version (and it's coming out faster, though it's more expensive ^_~.)
Back to the index and to the fic!
This site is a part of ming-ling.net
Card Captor Sakura was created by CLAMP and is (c) their respective companies. Shoujo Kakumei Utena was created by Chiho Saitou/Be-Papas and is (c) their respective companies. Please address all inquiries to me at ming_ling@hotmail.com. Please do not repost this fanfic without my prior written permission.
Tomorrow's Melody was created 02/22/01. Rose Petals and Cherry Blossoms was begun 05/10/01.