xXxHolic 14
Posted: November 24, 2009 Filed under: XxXholic 7 Comments »CLAMP – Del Rey – 2009 – 15+ volumes
Boy do I like this series. It comes out slowly, and I know that I love it, but it doesn’t really hit me until I’m reading a new volume just how great it really is. This volume is a good example of why.
One of the characteristics of the series is that Watanuki cooks for everyone, especially Domeki, Himawari, and Yuko. Lately, we’ve come to realize that as intrinsic as his cooking skills are to him, he doesn’t ever eat his own cooking. Lately he’s been teaching Kohane to cook, but this volume takes the theme a step further and discusses how a person’s cooking characterises them. Another theme of memories of the body, rather than the mind, is also brought to bear on the discussion. Another character shows up for Watanuki to teach, and it’s interesting how the discussion of food and its meaning is twined throughout the entire book.
Unusually, Mokona and Domeki are the teachers of much of this lesson. It’s unusual for Yuko to step out for these things. There’s lots of foreshadowing concerning this, and I worry quite a bit about what this could mean.
We are also seeing a lot of discussions on Watanuki’s existence. I’m still not entirely clear on this, but I’ll get to that in a minute. Watanuki’s willingness to self-sacrifice has been present since the early volumes, but it was constantly shown to be a negative quality, as a way for Watanuki to destroy himself. This volume also takes a look at Watanuki’s current feelings on the matter, as well as the feelings of those closest to him.
Now, Watanuki’s existence. I’m… so, I’ve been reading Tsubasa off and on. I’m behind in the English version, but I’ll be honest and say I have a hard time with the direction the plot took concerning… you know, twins and existence and whatnot. I know what was going on, but it just didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me, and from what I’ve read, I’m not the only one who’s been left in the dark. It’s unfortunate that Watanuki has to be drawn into the same sort of mess.
Let me mark this out for spoilers. I’ll just cut it here, and you don’t have to read further if you aren’t this far into the series.
So, Watanuki is the “other half” of Syaoran that came about when he decided to go back in time. So… he existed in Syaoran’s place when Syaoran left. Syaoran himself is the child of Syaoran and Sakura, the original Syaoran and Sakura from Cardcaptor Sakura. Right? Putting aside the weirdness that Watanuki exists as a completely separate and unrelated being because Syaoran stepped out of the picture, Watanuki is also from a different dimension, one where his parents died trying to protect him (I think?). He doesn’t remember this because he paid the price of his memories. For something. It may have to do with the fact that his powers were “sealed” or something, save for his eyes and the whole seeing demons business. Anyway, he was traumatized by the death of his parents, and started thinking that wouldn’t have happened if he hadn’t existed, which is where the self-sacrifice and not wanting to exist come from.
But my main beef comes from the fact that Watanuki shouldn’t even exist anyway, because he’s like some sort of time/space double of Syaoran, and that makes no sense whatsoever. I was so disappointed when that was revealed, because things had been building towards a reveal of his nature, and that meant absolutely nothing to me.
Some of this might be more clear if I read Tsubasa all the way through. I’ll read what I have in English, which is a pretty substantial backlog at this point. I don’t think I’ll be pleased with the final explanations even when everything does fall into place.
All the same, none of that stops Watanuki from being one of my favorite CLAMP characters ever. He’s far more interesting and entertaining than almost any other I can think of, extremely well-developed and in turns serious and comedic. He’s got his friends, his hobbies, things he accepts and things he deals with, and things he learns and changes about himself. I also can’t help but admire the relationship between he and Domeki, which is looked at a little more in depth here, too.
Oh, xXxHolic. I do hope that it has a wonderful ending to go along with the incredible story it’s kept up all this time.
I think its supposed to be a time travel paradox. The confusing part is that while time travel did happen, it wasn’t obvious to the group. That’s why Yuuko says way back in Tsubasa that time travel is very difficult in their case, but world hopping is easy.
Syaoran basically asked Fei Wong to alter history without realizing, and created a reality where he basically wasn’t born (Watanuki was).
Fei Wong at the same time is trying to create a time loop (which he calls a samsara) in this new reality to prevent a specific Event from happening. Yuuko is trying to fight him, hence her references to ‘moving forward.’
I’ve given up trying to figure out where Watanuki came from and now I just try to read the story for emotional content.
So, Watanuki is the “other half” of Syaoran that came about when he decided to go back in time. So… he existed in Syaoran’s place when Syaoran left. Syaoran himself is the child of Syaoran and Sakura, the original Syaoran and Sakura from Cardcaptor Sakura. Right? Putting aside the weirdness that Watanuki exists as a completely separate and unrelated being because Syaoran stepped out of the picture, Watanuki is also from a different dimension, one where his parents died trying to protect him (I think?).
Meanwhile, it is very valiant of you to try to keep all this straight (much less articulate this really convoluted logic). I love this story to death but sometimes I can only do so if I pretend none of this nonsense exists. sigh.
I totally agree with you about Watanuki being a wonderful character to read about. I can’t think of any reason to get attached to Syaoran, but then Watanuki is just comfortable to read.
As it stands, I really have hope for Watanuki to have a happy ending because he deserves it so much. The two Syaorans can kill eachother for all I care.
PS. Is CLAMP ever gonna get to the point of slashing Watanuki/Doumeki? It would be a dream come true but it is in a Seinen magazine after all.
Lynn: Thank you for clearing that up some more! It does make a little more sense that way. I hope it will be clear when I get to the parts in Tsubasa where Syaoran and Fei Wong are interacting. I have a rough idea of what goes on through the end of Tsubasa, but details about the meaning of the clones and the time traveling and intentions of everyone are still a little unclear (for instance, the significance of the time loop completely missed me until you explained it just now, which I’m hoping was just poor reading on my part). I hope that reading it in English will help a lot.
Danielle Leigh: And I’m kind of glad that all the stuff going on in Tsubasa never really penetrated xXxHolic. Watanuki seems to be almost the only carryover, but I suspect the conclusion to both stories will play out in xXxHolic. I’m hoping it will be more in line with xXxHolic’s logic than Tsubasa’s.
Oliver: As far as I can tell, they get about as close to slashing Domeki/Watanuki as they can possibly get in a seinen magazine. It’s almost funny. I agree with you about Watanuki, too, I like him far more than the Syaoran in Tsubasa.
CLAMP left quite a lot muddled, unfortunately.
Tsubasa started explaining somewhat, and then went back to being vague and replacing dialogue with fighting.
If I had to guess, I’d say they planned an ending, but then decided to continue the series. Because it seemed like they’d set up several resolutions, and then chose not to use them.
Well, it IS very confusing, and even if you were reading Tsubasa is still wouldn’t make much sense. But when you read them together you can make the plot out. If you want here’s the mostly-painless explanation for what’s going on, if you don’t mind slight spoilers.
WARNING: SPOILERS
Well, Syaoran’s parents aren’t CCS Sakura and Syaoran. They’re just alternate versions of them (from another world). Syaoran turned back time and effectively erased his existence after he was 7 (for reason explained in Tsubasa) and it left a void. The universe created Watanuki to fill that void. Unfortunately, that means our dear Wata shouldn’t exist but does, and if the universe fixes itself he’d disappear. Which would not be good. Therefore Yuko and co. are making him make bonds with others to carve out his own place in the universe so he can go on existing. Watanuki doesn’t know any of this because he gave his memories away to Yuko as a price before the beginning of the series. Watanuki is in Yuko’s world (not his and Syaoran’s original world) because she took him to xxxHolic’s world when he was created where he lived out his life as an orphan.
There’s plenty of more mystery behind this, such as why Watanuki can’t stand Doumeki and likes Himawari, and well as the real reason spirits want to eat him, but that’s really all you need to know to understand Watanuki’s current situation.
Neat! That’s the most clear explanation I’ve ever read for that! I’ve tried reading through plot summaries of the later parts of the series to try and figure it out, and I do still have to read the later volumes of Tsubasa (I think this will be my homework for next week), but nobody’s ever quite pegged down the essentials like that. Thank you for the explanation, hopefully it’ll help make Tsubasa a little more clear, and the future volumes of Holic as well.