Subculture Anime Blog

Heading to the climax.

Summary:

Watanuki has one of his usual conversations with Himawari on the way home, seeing her off after agreeing to teach her how to cook something later. As Himawari leaves, however, Watanuki again feels a pain in his pinky finger. This happens again while he is serving food to Yuuko later, causing him to break a glass and injure himself. Yuuko again asks if Watanuki has done anything with his pinky finger, making him recall the pinky promise he had with Himawari previously. This also makes him remember all of the bad things that have happened because of it, making him unable to claim that this is coincidence. When Watanuki meets Haruka in his dreams that night, he talks with him about the occurrences that have happened because of his pinky. He also recalls Yuuko’s statement that there are no coincidences, and only hitsuzen. Watanuki admits that, although he did not believe this at first, he has started to see that this is true. Haruka makes Watanuki realize that since he has realized something, he is unable to return to ignorance. Because of this, the only option left would be to decide what to do. Before Watanuki wakes up, Haruka advises him to be with Doumeki.

Watanuki learns from Moro and Maru in the morning that Yuuko has left for awhile, disappointing him as he wanted to discuss the dream he had. Watanuki passes by Kohane on the way to school, taking the chance to give her a gift of food since she only has time to thank him for their previous engagement. Before Kohane leaves, however, she only wonders who Watanuki had made a pinky promise with. At school, Watanuki discusses the dream he had with Doumeki. As Doumeki confirms that his grandfather died while he was a child, Watanuki wonders why he appears so young in his dreams. Doumeki also recalls that Haruka not only put spirits to rest, but he could also see dreams of the future. Before Doumeki leaves, he tells Watanuki to wait for him until his club is over in the afternoon. Himwari pats Watanuki on the back when she meets him in the halls on the way to class. Watanuki worries about the things he has thought about recently, but he still talks to Himawari normally. When he leans on one of the school windows, however, he falls from a very high distance and becomes severely injured.

Envisioning himself as a child, Watanuki sees his parents reach out to him. He attempts to go after them when they seemingly leave him, but Haruka appears just in time to prevent him from following. When Watanuki wakes, he finds that he is in Yuuko’s shop. Yuuko tells Watanuki that Doumeki had attempted to call an ambulance after finding him, but she had instructed him to come to the shop instead. Watanuki would have died if it wasn’t for Haruka’s saving him. Watanuki can only believe that there would be a high price to pay for this, but Yuuko tells him that it has already been paid by two people. Watanuki is then shocked to see that Himawari has entered the shop, but he finally takes the chance to express his worries to her. Watanuki is further surprised when Himawari completes his thoughts for him, implying that she was only waiting for him to figure out that bad things happen when he is around her.

Preview: Revalations of epic proportions.

Impression:

That smile still gives me the chills. This probably being the most impacting arc of the series that I have read, seeing it animated was a dream come true. The real climax is next week though, so I won’t have as much to talk about this time around. This episode did a fairly good job of bringing back all of the hints that were previously revealed. It doesn’t take a genius to guess what Himawari was causing for Watanuki, but it still makes for an engrossing story. I loved seeing the scene with the young Watanuki and his parents, right down to the falling glass. Added with the bgm tracks that were played in this episode, and xxxHolic’s haunting atmosphere was represented perfectly. Although there was clearly filler put into this episode, the only thing I really didn’t like was the addition of Kohane. As if her arc wasn’t already slaughtered in the last episode, they just had to bring her back in an unnecessary scene this week. Ah, but I guess there’s no real reason to complain anymore about that. Next week’s episode will make for all kinds of awesome, so I definitely can’t wait to see it. After that, the only thing we have left to see is the thunder beast Raiju.