xxxHolic
Ep.3 "Angel"
I love the beginning of this episode, what with the innuendos and all. Funny as hell, especially when Yuko hits a baseball into someone's window and then asks Watanuki to go and get it. Watanuki is very angry because of this. Apparently the ball didn't just break a window but trashed someone's dining room! He immediately forgets his troubles however as soon as Himawari arrives and asks Yuko for help with a friend's school. Apparently bad things have been happening there and Himawari is worried about it.
Yuko says that she won't help her but Watanuki will... with some help. Himawari offers to assist but Yuko has someone else in mind. Domeki!
Later at the shop we get a very creatively directed scene that features Yuko changing into a kimono behind a slide door while talking to Maru, Moro and Watanuki. The whole scene is beautifully animated but also hillarious as we see Watanuki coming to terms with working with Domeki and then eventually decide that he will do anything for her.
Also during this scene is a hillarious sequence taken straight from the manga (I'm so glad they kept it!) that's initiated when Yuko explains that he helping Himawari is better than her and Watanuki imagines a kind of horror movie shot complete with Phantom of the Opera-ish organ music and him screaming "She'll be in her clutches!!!". Yuko responds by whapping Watanuki in the back of the head. Haha. Funny stuff.
Personally I think there's more to Himawari than meets the eye. She obviously asks Yuko for help with this case and Yuko refuses to do it. Both of these facts are very unusual. How did Himawari really find out about this haunting (I don't buy her story) and why didn't Yuko want to touch it? Could Himawari have been trying to set Yuko (or maybe even Watanuki) up?
Think I'm crazy? What about Yuko saying that Himawari won't bring Watanuki good luck and, in a later episode she manages to open something obviously magically sealed and potentially very dangerous. Hmm...
Later that night Watanuki and Domeki meet outside the school with Watanuki wearing his very own cyborg ears taken from one of CLAMP's other series, Chobits. We flash back to earlier and see Watanuki's protest about wearing these and also see Yuko and Mokona playing a game of chess with black and white Mokona chess pieces!
Back in the present, Yuko tells them to start and they both head into the school, but not before Watanuki notices a huge black smoke creature wrapped around the building. They proceed and once inside Watanuki smells a very strong stench coming from somewhere. Domeki doesn't smell a thing. As they head up to the roof, the smell becomes stronger and once on the roof, Watanuki is attacked by numerous spirits however they disappear when Domeki is in close range. Interesting!
Watanuki then sees three girls playing "Angel". They're all crying and are convinced the pen which two of them are holding is moving itself and writing down things like "DIE" and "If you let go of the pen, you will die!". Watanuki decides to force their hands off the pen.
He manages to do so and they all scream and run around. It is then that Domeki asks Watanuki what he's doing. He can't see anyone there which means, the three girls are ghosts! They transform and push Watanuki off the edge of the building. Domeki quickly grabs his arm, saving his life. The ghosts attack Domeki however and seriously injure him in the process (blood starts to drip down his arm). Yuko begins to explain to Watanuki via the earphones, that these things aren't human and that they were made by students playing Angel. Watanuki tells Yuko that the huge black smoke that he saw earlier is right below him but before he can get Yuko to explain what it is, it leaps up above them and solidifies into a huge inverted black snake! It comes back down and eats the girls/spirits in one gulp. Domeki pulls Watanuki up and they begin to run as the snake now wants to eat them! As they're running, the headphones fall off and land on the ground. Watanuki and Domeki become cornered and are about to be eaten until Yuko's voice starts coming from the headphones. She offers the phones to the snake as a sacrifice. It eats them and then slithers off of the building.
The next day the whole gang are chilling in a park as Watanuki cooks takoyaki for them all. Yuko explains that the giant snake was the building's guardian spirit and that Watanuki's presence allowed it to wake up and that Domeki's shielded Watanuki from the spirits. It appears Domeki has an unconscious exorcising ability. Himawari thanks them all for helping here and tells them that everything at the school has now gone back to normal.
Yuko ponders how things will only get more interesting from now on.
Today's Crossovers
 Watanuki, Yuko and Mokona's ears they wore in this episode were based on Chii's from Chobits.
 The book Maru and Moro were reading is also a reference to Chobits.
 There was a little reference to the white Mokona (Soel) who does appear in xxxHolic but is mainly featured in it's mirror series, Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle via the chess game Yuko and the black Mokona (Larg) were playing.
My Original Impression
Saturday, April 22, 2006
Loved this episode! Had the best animation so far in the series (a LOT better than Episode 2's), more great music and a fast paced story that covered the mystery of the week and each character's personal arc. Very well done. Very faithful to it's manga version and they kept the crossover items of Chii's ears from Chobits and the white Mokona chess piece from Tsubasa Chronicle.
Can't wait for next week! This series doesn't disappoint... though I really want to see some proper Tsubasa Chronicle crossovering! It looks like though, they're doing all the manga storylines that don't have a crossover with Tsubasa first and will most likely introduce the white Mokona and the Tsubasa team mid-season and include all the crossover eps in the second half.
I wonder if they'll add the Legal Drug crossover?
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