Subculture Anime Blog

OP: “sofa” by Suga Shikao – Track 11 on Funkaholic, guys! Shikao is back, as he should be, and all is right in the world. There isn’t much to the animation, which is kind of expected from an OVA, but there’s a little more going on in it than there was in the Tsubasa OVAs.

Summary:

Watanuki sees Yuuko underneath falling cherry petals, but he soon realizes that he is within a dream. At the elderly fortune teller’s house later, Watanuki teaches Kohane how to cook. This leads to a great feast, which Doumeki also enjoys with the group. Doumeki and Kohane eventually leave to retrieve glasses, and alone with Watanuki in the meantime, the fortune teller notices how much he has changed. Surprising Watanuki though, she also mentions that Yuuko has changed because of his involvement with her.

While Kohane is with Doumeki in the storeroom, she takes the chance to ask about his relationship with Watanuki. Despite the appearance that they have been getting along, Doumeki expresses his usual annoyance with Watanuki. However, he goes to to recall what lead him to be concerned about him. On a rainy day, Doumeki passed Watanuki holding a dead kitten. He then overheard him mention his belief that he would die alone in the same way. With this, Kohane realizes what it was that was different between herself and Watanuki when they first met. Though they were similar, Watanuki was not alone. Unlike on that rainy day, Watanuki now had several people around him. Doumeki agrees, stating that Kohane is also one of these people.

Watanuki and Doumeki part ways with the fortune teller and Kohane that afternoon, and while walking to Yuuko’s house, Watanuki finally takes the chance to thank Doumeki for his involvement in helping him during his accident. He attempts to hide his embarrassment afterwards, which lasts even after they enter Yuuko’s house. While with Doumeki later, Yuuko also expresses how much Doumeki and Watanuki have changed because of their meetings. There were three people who payed the price for Watanuki’s savior. The first two were Doumeki and Himawari, but the third was unknown to the usual group. Yuuko recalls when Syaoran visited her shop, as she transported him with his price already having been paid. Before he left, he told Watanuki not to disappear.

Watanuki again meets Haruka in his dreams, and after their usual conversation, he is given a task in exchange for Haruka’s helping him earlier. This leads Watanuki and Doumeki to the shrine’s storehouse. The two find a book inside, but this causes the two to enter a series of dreams. The two go from fishing to seeking cover from the rain, until they eventually find a hotel to take shelter in. Before entering, the girl who greets them seems to take special note of Doumeki. The boys rest for awhile, but with the girl’s warning, they soon realize that the rest of the hostesses inside are something other than friendly. Watanuki and Doumeki flee from what appear to be birds in disguise, until Doumeki distracts them with food. When the boys finally awake, they realize that they have found what Haruka was searching for. Doumeki recalls his seeing the particular book in the past, before making Watanuki panic by mentioning his previous hearing about things happening in dreams becoming reality. To Watanuki, this meant that he would have really died if he were killed in the dream they were just in.

ED: “Cherish” by Azu – Despite this just spanning a still, I loved it simply because of the art. The song itself is fitting for xxxHolic, and upon a little bit of research, I found that it is a track off of the artist’s first album “As One.”

Impression:

Woo~! I have been waiting for so long. When stuff like this appears, it doesn’t take me long at all to remember how huge of an xxxHolic fan I am. The main portion of this episode covered chapters 158 through about 160-ish, but they shifted a lot of events and included arcs that happened in earlier chapters. Mirroring the previous production of the Tsubasa OVAs, the animation and art quality of this episode was spectacular. Though I’m not too surprised about that, considering how much of an upgrade Kei was when compared to the first season already, this episode also mirrored actions taken with the TRC OVAS by sticking closer to the manga. Can you say, “Tsubasa crossovers.”?

Anyone keeping up with the manga knows that xxxHolic wouldn’t have been able to go on much longer without avoiding crossovers, but I’ll leave the (huge) spoilers out for those who only watch the anime. As for the actual stories presented in this episode, though they weren’t the most exciting out of the wide selection of xxxHolic stories, I still appreciated them for the reasons I always do. These arcs followed Kei in representing the greater parts of Watanuki’s character development. The themes of friendship and his growing as a person in general have always been a huge part of what keeps me coming back to xxxHolic. The other part would be CLAMP’s ability to make me feel as if I’m in the very world they are presenting, not unlike the bird story that was presented in this episode. I can only image how much research the team does to produce so many great stories for so long!

But, yea. I can’t wait for the second OVA, though I’m not exactly sure when it is supposed to be released.

Hit up Tenka Seiha for more caps and the OP!