During the first 8 seconds of Watanuki standing still, I thought my video file was corrupted.
For summaries, reviews and more screencaps, I recommend checking out the entries by Aroduc, Totali, psgels, and ayumikat. Random waffling from moi instead.
Once again, Suga Shikao plays a part in the HOLiC franchise by contributing “sofa” from his 8th album FUNKAHOLiC. An excellent song fitting for the series’ image, but it makes me wonder whether the OAD staff requested his input before or after he composed the song. Being a loyal fan of HOLiC himself, Suga has a habit of writing his lyrics based on the series, as he did with “Sanagi” (Manatsu no Yoru no Yume), “19sai” (HOLiC TV), and “NOBODY KNOWS” (HOLiC Kei TV 2). As for the opening video sequence, it lacks motion but it definitely has the impact with the characters portrayed as silhouettes, and in some way matches the atmosphere of the song.
In a general, collective sense presented by CLAMP, Watanuki and Doumeki could be one of the many “hard-boiled buddies” in their works. To quote Mokona (CLAMP’s lead artist, not the black/white manjuu) “It’s not emotions of romantic love.” when referring to the many “yaoi” pairings in their various series. Hmm yes, in their case, “trust is an emotion that is greater than love”, but I guess fujoshi’s, closet BL fans, and doujinshi artists will think otherwise…
After 6 years of being engrossed with HOLiC, Yuuko has steadily become my favorite CLAMP character. As charming as she is mysterious, perhaps her playfulness and eccentricity are the traits which are most charismatic about her. A job well done to Ohara Sayaka for bringing out both the sage and child in Yuuko. I tend to have a very loose belief that seiyuu are at their best when they’re voicing characters who have similar personalities and traits with themselves, like Kuonji Shinra is to Itou Shizuka and Hanazono Shizuma is to Nabatame Hitomi. Saaya-nee is no exception when it comes to Yuuko. Imho, Yuuko is likely her best role yet, a role in which she fully utilizes both her high and low vocal range. Besides Ohara being a famed do-S with one heck of an infectious hysterical laugh, what made her appealing as the character is that she and Yuuko have a devilish streak to them, evident in the way they love teasing others. Plus, it’s a delight to hear Saaya use her Yuuko tone every now and then to bully her co-hosts and guests on radio shows lol.
It’s nice to see that Yuuko has become somewhat of an icon among CLAMPverse female characters due to her involvement in the series, although after her solemn revelations as well as the latest developments in the HOLiC and Tsubasa Manga, I can only fear the worst may happen.
//SPOILERS for the Manga – HOLiC Chapter 174 & Tsubasa Chapitre 215
With reference to the pre-opening scene of Yuuko in the butterfly kimono, there have been speculations she has always been dead, or is only a ephemeral being referred to by Haruka’s cryptic message about the butterfly seeing a dream in Chapter 133 and will disappear once the dream ends. Since early on in both HOLiC and Tsubasa, it is evident that Yuuko’s being itself is (or by choice, can be) separated from dimensions to avoid physical contact with those who possess powerful magic e.g. Fay and later, (Real) Syaoran. And now in Tsubasa Chapitre 215, it was revealed she had her time frozen like (Real) Sakura, which would explain why she never ages. It’s gradually becoming credible Yuuko is a potential candidate of the deceased person Fei Wang wants to revive. Hmm… Do dead people become ill or bleed when they’re wounded? Oh wait…this is CLAMP. Any mind-screwing plot twist is possible.
//SPOILERS
Gee, my brain cells haven’t been fried this much since writing the Mai-Otome entries. Even those were pretty tame…
As staff announced earlier, it’s great to see they are finally able to openly link HOLiC and Tsubasa, and not conjure up some filler explanations such as for the canon events that happened in the TV series. Due to all ties being cut from Tsubasa and Syaoran not being mentioned at all in both seasons, it explains why several events did not occur/were left out in the TV series e.g. Ame Warashi commenting on Watanuki’s existence after the Himawari arc (Kei – Episode 12).
I like how this particular arc was slotted in. It flows better than the original where Watanuki’s consciousness slipped into this dream while walking home with Doumeki, and waking up in the middle of a picnic with Himawari. I’m interested to know the role the book plays as well as the roles of the remaining 4 items Haruka wants, and how those objects tie in with the rest of the plot which will occur in the Kouhen volume of HOLiC, and maybe even Tsubasa Shunraiki.
I’m not a devout fan of AZU but I’ve heard CHERISH quite a while back, and I find the melody fits well like the previous themes. Plus, I actually like this ending video sequence more than the TV series ones, despite it being only a panned still image. And hey, the staff got Ame Warashi’s hair color (light blue) right this time!
Story-wise, it was a bit of a tangle as Ohkawa took the major parts from Chapters 158 – 161, then peppered it with arcs from earlier chapters, some even as far back as Chapter 123 (excluding the flashback). The animation is considerably better than the TV series, though for understandable reasons, not as good as Manatsu no Yoru no Yume (speaking of which, I still owe Zyl a review of the movie ^^;;;). Character designs were a tad inconsistent in some scenes but overall an improvement since Kei, thanks to Ohkawa-sensei earlier pointing out the characters’ limbs were too long in Season 1. On the whole, a very enjoyable episode.
Now onwards to the second part in June, and according to producer Kawaguchi Tohru’s diary notes, the rest of the major side characters will appear in the Kouhen volume, assuming they won’t change the script in progress. Looking forward to hear how much Zashiki Warashi’s voice has broken. ;)
I don’t have much Tsubasa Chronicle background so your exploration of the manga linkages were particularly fascinating.
Your theory also seems to be reinforced by Yuuko’s comment about Haruka-san being ‘another person who does not need to pay’. The other person is presumably herself. I was thinking ‘But why doesn’t Yuuko need to pay? She’s not deceased like Haruka-san.’ Waitaminute…
Manatsu no Yoru no Yume was self-contained whereas Shunmuki Zenpen feels like the first episode of an OVA arc. And yes, still looking forward to what your thoughts on Manatsu. :)
I’ll try to get on that review soon. ^^
I suppose HOLiC is one of the more interesting TV adaptations seeing CLAMP themselves, or rather Ohkawa, is largely involved in the production and scripting for the project. Because of that, they can give legitimate reasons for editing and cutting out some scenes from the Anime due to its crossover connections with Tsubasa e.g. Watanuki was created as a replacement for Syaoran’s existence in HOLiC’s current world, hence why they cut the scene of Ame Warashi and Zashiki Warashi meeting Watanuki after he recovered from his window fall accident, and had him immediately meet with Doumeki and Himawari.
Very interesting observation. I did a quick skim through past chapters, and it seems this scene wasn’t included in the Manga (although most likely, I may be wrong due to me being as blind as a bat and having a memory worse than a goldfish). Since Ohkawa is behind the script, there is a possibility she wrote that scene as a canonical hint to some revelation or event that will occur in the Manga later, similar to what happened in Tsubasa. For this occasion alone, I agree this scene can be taken as a sign the dead do not need to pay to have their wishes granted. Besides that, there’s also the case of Yuuko eventually being able to meet Haruka in the real world, compared to Watanuki meeting Haruka only in his dreams when he is asleep/spacing out. I wonder if this is one of Yuuko’s “dreams” she is able to see when she’s awake.