xxxHolic
Ep.22 "Temptation"
The finale of the xxxHolic anime series draws near with a tragic story of a woman and a lonely boy which begins in this episode and concludes in the next.
Yuko is away on a mysterious mission (see the crossover footnotes for the complete details on what exactly Yuko and Mokona are up to) and leaves Watanuki by himself to look after the shop. Today he's cleaning all of the storeroom belongings again but through his frantic dusting he trips himself and falls on his face.
While on the ground, he hears someone laughing and looks up to see a kind kimono wearing woman. They talk for a bit about the shop and Watanuki's "part time job" there and Watanuki finds her incredibly kind.
Their conversation is cut short however by the ringing of the phone in the shop. They both say their farewells and Watanuki races inside to answer the call.
Yuko's on the other end and was just calling to see how he had been doing and to let him know that she and Mokona would not be back for a few days.
Watanuki ends the call by telling Yuko to be careful. Yuko replies "You too."
The next day is White Day and Watanuki discusses it with Himawari and school. As usual they run into Domeki who looks suspiciously at Watanuki. When he asks him what's wrong, Domeki asks Watanuki where the pipe fox spirit is. Watanuki's confused by this random question and says that it's sleeping in it's pipe back at Yuko's shop.
Domeki tells Watanuki that he should carry it with him just in case.
The next day, Watanuki runs into the same woman from before and they decide to sit in the park and have some Japanese canned coffee.
While talking, the woman tells Watanuki that she had a son but he had died a long time ago. However she is sure that he would have grown up into a nice young man just like Watanuki.
At school, Himawari talks about Domeki and how he's anxious about the upcoming archery match. She raves about how great he was at the last match they watched (in Episode 5) much to Watanuki's dismay.
That night, Watanuki looks sadly at a picture of his parents, unfortunately for us, the audience, a shadow has fallen across the top half so we still don't know who his parents are. He begins to cough.
The next day, he meets up with the woman again to drink canned coffee with her. They talk about how he likes Himawari and how it would be good if she liked him and his life in general.
Again that night, while cooking a meal for the kind lady, Watanuki coughs. Something is obviously wrong.
The next morning he sees the woman again and gives her the meal he had cooked wrapped in a furoshiki. She's overjoyed by his kindness and tells him how he's such a nice boy. Suddenly Watanuki begins to cough more and more. The woman panics a little and holds him close.
Cue montage of several more happy meetings between the two before switching to Watanuki at school with Himawari where he passes out completely.
He wakes up in the hospital with Himawari and Domeki (who had carried him here) looking over him. When Himawari leaves, Domeki demands to know why Watanuki didn't have the pipe fox spirit with him for protection. Watanuki replies that he hadn't been to Yuko's in a while and that he hadn't seen any spirits in a long time now.
On his way home, he decides to drop by the shop and get the pipe fox spirit. Moro and Maru greet him happily.
All of a sudden, Maru and Moro freeze and the phone rings. Watanuki picks it up. It's Yuko!
She says that her and Mokona will be gone for a little while longer. She also claims she knows that Watanuki is feeling sick and that it's because he keeps seeing that woman.
Watanuki is unable to answer. He coughs up blood. Yuko asks him what's wrong but Watanuki is unable to stop coughing and passes out on the floor. He drops the phone.
To be continued...
Today's Crossovers
Yuko and Mokona are actually in the process of turning two characters from Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle Episode 36 into gods!!! We never actually see them do this on screen (or in the manga either) but it's pretty cool nonetheless!
My Original Impression
Saturday, September 16, 2006
I think this may be the best xxxHolic episode of the season! It was perfect in every way! It was a great idea to use this story with the lady as a two parter leading up to the finale in Episode 24. It's sad, dramatic and offers a more serious insight into Watanuki's childhood and homelife than the last episode did.
Speaking of homelife, we got a proper look at the exterior of his building and it is indeed the same one that the main character from Kobato. lives in. I would love for Kobato to make a little guest appearance like the Legal Drug guys did Episode 6. One can hope.
I loved the music in this episode. Spotted a few new tracks here and there as well as the usual bgm from previous episodes. I can't wait for the limited edition third DVD which comes with the soundtrack. Got a feeling I'll be listening to it non-stop.
The animation... the best we've seen in this season. The visuals of the ume (plum) blossoms falling (not Sakura people, they fall in spring and look different) were simply beautiful.
The script was great and really portrayed the tragedy of both main characters and led up to a heartstopping cliffhanger that had me on the edge of my seat and I've read this arc in the manga!!!
When all the episodes have aired, I'll be writing a top 5 episode list and you can bet that this will be on it.
5/5!
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