XxXholic 16
Posted: November 28, 2010 Filed under: XxXholic 6 Comments »CLAMP – 2010 – Del Rey – 18+ volumes
Wow. So the fallout from the last volume continues. Can’t say I’m surprised by Watanuki’s decision, but I didn’t realize he cared about the old witch so much. It’s quite touching that he’s decided to wait and… fulfill a role, as it were.
It’s even more touching to see Domeki stand by him while he decides to do this. All the others do too… Kohane, the Fortuneteller, and Himawari all know what’s up, but Domeki seems to more-or-less live in the shop. I’m not sure what his role is, other than guardian and company, but man is it adorable to see him there. The two of them fight a lot less, and there’s definitely more melancholy between them. It’s sad to see. It will kill me to find out when & where Domeki will use his egg. I feel like I was cheated out of a climax, so sitting through some of this from now on is going to be difficult. Despite the fact I love every page of it.
There’s an interesting customer that brings a shamisen by, saying that it has ceased to make music. Watanuki and the customer discuss the instrument as if it were a child, and the solution to the shamisen’s problem is both simple and very romantic. As one of the first customers we’ve seen Watanuki deal with personally, it was a very mysterious and beautiful problem he solved himself. I didn’t mind sitting through it at all, though again, if there are too many customers, I’ll begin to wonder what their bearing on the plot is and get impatient about my cheated climax again. But this one was very beautiful.
On the other hand, we do have a large flash forward between what we saw last volume and this customer, and in that time, apparently Watanuki had a lot of problems with… bodily injury. I would have liked to have seen a little of that. It will probably come up later anyway, but the desire to see more of this does conflict with my want of a speedy resolution.
I’m just so happy xxxHolic is still so great, especially after being royally disappointed by Tsubasa and Kobato. It is very nearly my favorite of their series, even with the Tsubasa crossover nonsense. I hope it doesn’t crash and burn before the end, like Tsubasa did.
I still love this series..it attracted me to it even when tsubasa was getting a bit ridiculous, and has the right mix of nearly everything for me.
I sort of wanted to see the very beginning stages too…but I think clamp wanted us to see the effects of watanuki’s decision to never grow old. He does, in fact, still look like a high schooler and domeki has filled out considerably.
It’s really heartbreaking to see the careful way they behave around each other now. It’s very delicate and mysterious. I’m torn the way you are, Connie: I want resolution, but it’s so good, I don’t want it to end (especially not if it does fall apart); I want to know, and I value the fragility of the relationships when I don’t actually know what exactly happened. I do love this series . . .
-Wow. So the fallout from the last volume continues. Can’t say I’m surprised by Watanuki’s decision, but I didn’t realize he cared about the old witch so much. It’s quite touching that he’s decided to wait and… fulfill a role, as it were.
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I think it makes sense given prior revelations about his existence from earlier.
Early on I liked Tsubasa more (world skipping is fun!), but xxxholic has grown past it in my eyes, especially of late.
ZeroSD: I was awfully fond of the first 10 volumes of Tsubasa myself, though I think I always had high hopes for xxxholic. In retrospect, the world skipping in Tsubasa probably is more entertaining than the client stories in the early volumes of holic.
Watanuki’s new role does make a little more sense in the context of how he came to be. I’m still trying to wrap my brain around that whole situation. I think I’ve sorted it out for myself about three times, but I always forget between volumes.
themooninautumn: I do still wonder about their relationship. I like the hints about them early on, and Watanuki’s resistance to Domeki’s friendship, and I love what it’s turned into. It is delicate and full of a strange, empty routine. They both seem like they’re biding their time.
Alexandra: I did like the way they aged Domeki and the others, leaving Watanuki behind. I thought that was a nice touch. I think I still would’ve liked to have seen the fallout from all the characters regarding Watanuki’s decision, though. Maybe we will still get to see it in a flashback later on.