xxxholic 109 continued
In which WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK
LAST TIME ON XXXHOLIC:
CLAMP FUCKING DID IT. THEY GOT ME SO BAD. I DIDN’T SEE THIS COMING EVER. EVER EVER EVER.
WATANUKI FULFILLED HIS WISH AFTER WELL OVER A HUNDRED YEARS. (WHAT THE FUCK?? WHAT THE FUCK????) RIGHT WHEN I THOUGHT TEN YEARS WAS EXCESSIVE I GET KICKED OUT A WINDOW AND CLAMP LAUGHED THE WHOLE WAY DOWN.
HERE I WAS THINKING WATANUKI WOULD FINALLY REALISE HIS WISH AND BE ABLE TO SLOWLY CONNECT WITH ALL THE PEOPLE IN HIS LIFE AGAIN, FINALLY MOVING TOWARD THE FUTURE
GUESS WHAT. NO!
NO THEY’RE ALL DEAD!
HE WAITED OUT THEIR ENTIRE LIVES AND THEY ALL DIED BETWEEN THIS CHAPTER AND THE PREVIOUS ONE!
WHICH MEANS CHAPTER 108 WAS ACTUALLY A MUCH BIGGER GOODBYE THAN I EVER COULD HAVE THOUGHT POSSIBLE. IT WASN’T JUST WRAPPING UP THEIR ARCS IN TIME FOR THE END OF THE MANGA IT WAS THE FINAL TIME WE WOULD EVER SEE THEM BEFORE THE 100+ YEAR TIME SKIP AND THEY ALL DIE OFF SCREEN.
WHAT THE FUCK!
AND! AND THIS MEANS THAT THE BEGINNING OF THIS CHAPTER WAS ALSO A TRICK. I THOUGHT THESE WERE ALL RATHER UNREMARKABLE SCENES WITH DOUMEKI AND SO I SKIPPED OVER MOST OF THEM IN THE RECAP BUT NOPE THAT WASN’T EVEN DOUMEKI THOSE WERE HIS DESCENDANTS.
MAYBE IT WAS EVEN A DIFFERENT ONE EACH TIME?
Or… no not quite, counting this scene there are 6 Doumeki moments we get, so I suppose some of those could be the same guy. Or there doesn’t have to be just one, there could be multiple Doumeki brothers per generation. Maybe the first scene was even Doumeki! Maybe they all were except the last one! FUCK IF I KNOW OH MY GOD.
It just occurs to me that the thing Watanuki was saying a couple of pages ago about “Oh that much time has passed?” which I totally didn’t get in the moment WAS A REFERENCE TO THE FACT THAT IT’S BEEN WELL OVER A CENTURY, AND NOT JUST A DECADE.
I…
Oh gosh what do I do with this! Watanuki comes to the conclusion that he’ll never see the actual Yuuko Ichihara again. Which, you know, I would have hoped he might have figured out a long time ago, but here we are, and he’s learning it right now. But he finally does seem to accept that that was it. Yuuko doesn’t actually exist anymore, and so he can’t see HER again.
BUT THEN. I’M NOT SURE IF HE MEANS IT?
He confirms that he can actually leave the store again, but that he’ll also keep running the store. That’s fine! I don’t mind that at all!
But then he follows up by saying THAT HE’LL CONTINUE TO WAIT?!
IS THAT CORRECT?!?!?!?!
WATANUKI PLEASE IT’S BEEN SO LONG WE DON’T EVEN KNOW HOW LONG IT’S BEEN. WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF WAITING STILL.
IS HE WAITING BECAUSE HE THINKS THERE WILL BE SOMETHING FOR HIM TO MEET STILL? OR HAS HE EFFECTIVELY TRAPPED HIMSELF ETERNALLY?
IS HE UNABLE TO STOP WAITING?
WILL HE JUST KEEP WAITING FOREVER? IS HE JUST STUCK ON THE SAME CYCLE NOW THAT HE’S DONE IT FOR SO LONG??
Oh my goodness, I feel like after this revelation it would have been nice to give him the closure and let him finally move on. That’s what YUUKO seemed to want for him, to let him finally be free and live his life outside the cage again. But he immediately just gets back inside the cage and says he’s just going to continue sitting here forever.
I AM LOSING MY MIND OVER THIS. WATANUKI P L E A S E
Is that it then? Did the obsession win? Did his life BECOME the obsession? Did his entire existence become devoted to an obsession that can never truly be fulfilled in the way he wants it? Has Watanuki become the true “Holic” after all?
… OH ACTUALLY WOULDN’T THAT FIT? WOULDN’T THAT MATCH?
IS SYAORAN WAS TSUBASA (since that was his name) AND WATANUKI IS THE XXXHOLIC (since he is the ultimate holic)?
WOW I HATE IT HERE.
H E L P WE ARE STILL IN THE BUILDING
OK!
OK IS THAT THE FINAL REVEAL THEN? WE FINALLY LEARN WHAT THE EGG WAS?
THE EGG WAS THE OPTION FOR HIM TO FORGET YUUKO?
OH MY GOD ALL THIS TIME AND IT’S STILL HERE. EVERY DOUMEKI DESCENDENT GETS THE EGG AND HANGS OUT WITH WATANUKI IN AN ETERNAL VIGIL TO SEE IF HE’S READY TO FORGET HER.
AND AFTER ALL THESE LIFETIMES EVERY DESCENDANT COMES TO THE SAME CONCLUSION THAT THEY DON’T WANT TO ERASE THAT FOR HIM?
SO THAT’S WHAT DOUMEKI WAS WONDERING EVERY SINGLE TIME? IF HE SHOULD ERASE HIS MEMORY OF YUUKO?????
EVEN YUUKO HERSELF SET THIS OPTION UP FOR HIM, AWARE THAT HE MIGHT END UP HERE?
SHE KNEW THE WHOLE TIME AND SET UP A WAY FOR THIS NOT TO HAPPEN BUT THEY NEVER USED IT???
Which is NICE in a way, I suppose, that they realised how important it was to him and they didn’t want to take that away. And it’s nice that even here the idea is based on agency - they present the Option of forgetting but Watanuki still doesn’t want it.
He’s just… going to sit in the cage forever. And I guess Doumeki’s living legacy will just continue to hang out with him as he does it.
Oh man and I want to know everything about how the Doumeki side of things works as well. How long did Doumeki continue to hang out with Watanuki? At what point did his descendant take over? When did it become A Family Thing and every new Doumeki takes the place of the old one?
How long do they spend with him? Is it like an apprenticeship thing they do while they’re young and learning the spiritual knowledge or do they continue into adulthood? Do they just do it until there’s a new person to replace them or are there periods where none of them are available?
ALSO does this mean they are free from this service now too? If Watanuki CAN leave that means he doesn’t need them to be his connection to the outside world, he can do that on his own. He doesn’t need to send them out on errands if he can go to the store himself, but will he? Are the Doumeki descendants quite happy with this situation and will they just continue it all the same?
… OH AND WHAT DOES THAT MEAN FOR THE SEQUEL?
Is xxxHolic Rei set in this future, with Watanuki this far ahead of us in time and living with the Doumeki descendants? I suppose if it is that means he can leave the store and have adventures around the place, which could be fun. Or will we still be set in the present day and basically be having flashbacks of his time with Our Doumeki?
Will there even be a Doumeki in the sequel? Surely there must be right?
OH DON’T USE THAT IMAGERY ON ME
HE DIDN’T DO IT! HE DIDN’T FLY AWAY! HE’S SITTING RIGHT THERE IN THE CAGE STILL!
HE NEVER LEFT!
HE’S STILL THERE A HUNDRED YEARS FROM NOW!
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHhhh
