The Random Untitled Exploration Blog

As Kohane leaves she says goodbye to everyone including the unseen child, and thanks them for their concern over her earlier. She is, as always, an absolute ray of sunshine and just endlessly kind, even when Watanuki isn’t letting her see them or even explain who they are. 

And the child reacts well!

BUT ISN’T THAT HEARTBREAKING?

So it seems that either the child was in a similar situation to Kohane with uncaring parents, or they were VERY young, or they were always some kind of spirit who just hasn’t interacted with many other beings just yet. Either way, it is incredible that they get to meet Kohane and right some of that wrong, even if only briefly. 

Meanwhile Doumeki has figured out some of Watanuki’s plans here. 

In which something is hunting the child as well, so they’re having to play defence. 

And I LOVE the panel at the top of the page here, with the stark black background as Watanuki and Doumeki look at each other. It has such a MOOD to it, especially since the background colours are inverted from the panels around it. And! Despite the fact that they’re looking directly at each other, they’re still in separate boxes. Even when there’s no actual shift in perspective from the viewer and no actual distance between them, they are still ~separated~, which really adds to the darker tone the panel is taking and connects it with the mood of the arc overall. It also introduces the idea that this task might be dangerous - moreso than usual, even, since the last time we saw Watanuki do this he just opened the gates and let it happen. Now he’s ASKING first, which brings weight to the question. 

But of course it’s Doumeki, so he agrees without pause and just moves the conversation along right away when Watanuki lingers on that fact. 

We get a few more hints about the nature of the spirit, but I’m mostly interested in that last panel with Doumeki looking at Watanuki in shock. It’s either Doumeki figuring out the spirit through context OR him applying the formula of the situation to Watanuki instead, WHICH is RICH with nice parallels for Watanuki’s characterisation. He is a naturally empathetic person and always kind to kids, we’ve seen that a lot, but the panel adds a parallel to Watanuki’s own backstory that might hint at a connection he might be feeling to the child. 

Because Watanuki WAS forced from a place he loved for reasons he couldn’t comprehend. He was abandoned by his parents and left alone in this dimension when he was young, as Doumeki knows from when he first saw Watanuki, and these feelings were probably echoed for him when Yuuko vanished and left him in an emotionally similar state. With that in mind it’s no wonder he’s connected so deeply with the unseen child - and it also explains why he’s taken Yuuko’s loss so heavily as to spend ten years of his life endlessly waiting. In a way, losing Yuuko was the second big abandonment in his life, and the only one he properly remembers - it’s The Watanuki Wound hitting as hard as it possibly can. It explains a lot. 

And HERE we get Doumeki’s understated devotion shining through. Watanuki presents several obstacles in the situation to Doumeki and he once again accepts them all without pause. They have to stay within the store grounds, he has to stay with them outside, and he’ll get wet from the rain - but Doumeki doesn’t complain at any of these even slightly, accepting each one right away. And he even checks in with the child to see if it’s ok with them too. 

It’s a nice subtle moment but one where Doumeki’s practicality really shines through. He’s doing this for Watanuki so OF COURSE nothing is going to be annoying or impractical to him, he’s already agreed to do it so the side details don’t matter. He’s always in this every step of the way, as much as Watanuki never seems to fully realise the depth of his commitment to him. 

It feels like a direct echo of the encounter in the previous chapter, with a big hostile spirit made of darkness attacking them in the yard, but this one is already MUCH worse. The previous one was just a lingering angry spirit - this one looks cataclysmic by comparison. I don’t think we’ve seen anything like it in xxxHolic before. 

Either way it’s going pretty well in general until IT DOESN’T

UNPROMPTED.

WATANUKI GETS WRECKED. 

It’s unclear in this moment if the spirit has managed to do this to Watanuki (without either of them seeing it) or if this is more like “a price” that is being taken out of Watanuki since the deal is technically unbalanced due to the amount of effort it’s taking them. Or maybe a secret third thing! Not sure just yet but we’ll find out later I’m sure. 

It’s all a very beautifully drawn little fight scene that ultimately ends with this little trick:

Which they explain wasn’t even a plan they set up, Doumeki just figured out what power the wine had from context and used it as a last minute tactic to (once again) save Watanuki from certain death. 

(He doesn’t thank him by the way) 

(Just, for the record)

MEANWHILE they won the battle and the being coming to collect the unseen child turns out to be a bridge

Or maybe there is someone else unseen on the bridge? Or maybe not! Maybe it just a bridge. But one way or the other!

Ok no yeah there’s no-one on the bridge. But they have successfully gotten the unseen child across the bridge after all! Successfully sending them to the after life. 

And, goodness, not to pick a fight with xxxHolic but Mokona comes in at the end so that he and Doumeki can piece together what happened and I think I actually disagree with them. 

So they say all this and I’m sitting here like WHAT?

WHAT DO YOU MEAN?

Have I missed an arc? Since when was Watanuki trying to learn to rely on others? He’s been doing it for ten years! THIS HAS BEEN HAPPENING FOR TEN YEARS. 

The problems Watanuki has been facing in the cage arc are: putting himself at extreme risk repeatedly despite the increasing warnings, pushing himself further and further away from his human connections, and being ok with anything that happens to him if it means achieving his goal of meeting Yuuko again. 

None of that has anything to do with Maru and Moro doing chores or Doumeki helping him with jobs, because again, they’ve done that since the start of the arc. 

Watanuki STILL put himself at risk here, shielding everyone else except himself and still using himself as a human shield to save the unseen child. 

And I want to point out that he DID NOT explain to Doumeki what the wine was for AT ALL, so he didn’t increase his trust in Doumeki or explain to him everything that was even just on the porch - let alone the fact that he didn’t tell Doumeki that he wasn’t shielding himself, AND ALSO wasn’t letting Doumeki see THE ACTUAL PERSON THEY WERE TRYING TO PROTECT. 

So, I’m sorry Mokona I disagree severely. Watanuki did not do what you said, he did not learn to trust anyone more than normal, and he hasn’t learned to try not put himself in infinite danger. He has put himself in the perfect Syaoran cage of infinite suffering for the vague promise of an unguaranteed outcome and nothing about that has changed by adding to his infinite suffering. 

BUT ANYWAY YOUR MILEAGE MAY VARY

MAYBE THIS IS A LOVELY MOMENT AFTER ALL?

PLEASE TELL ME IF IT IS

At the very least it’s nice to see Doumeki smile. IF ONLY IT WAS EARNED. 

BUT YES HAVE A GOOD REST AND STUFF THAT’S GOOD ALSO