xxxHOLiC Chapter 213 Discussion

The ending I feel was somewhat appropriate given the nature of the last few chapters.... it wasn't so much surprising as it was saddening for me. That Watanuki seems to be "alone" once again...  I don't feel that Doumeki's descendants can really replace our first Doumeki, with whom Watanuki shares blood and an eye with. I was also made sad by Watanuki's changes after Yuuko died.. he became quieter and less prone to his random outbursts which were the comedic relief throughout the story..... All in all the manga seemed to somber towards the ending, and though the people at Clamp say that Watanuki is happy in his decision, I (and I'm sure other followers of xxxHolic) am deeply saddened by it.



I can't accept that our Watanuki is going to spend the rest of his life waiting with only Doumeki's descendants for company (as Makono and the girls don't make many appearances towards the end) and the hope of meeting Yuuko again (which is clearly not going to happen based on his dream.) IT'S JUST ALL WAY TOO SAD given the silly and happy atmosphere of, basically, the rest of the manga. Also, Himawari getting a husband, even after we find out that Watanuki does share a mutual love for her... After this I was kind of hoping that, hey, maybe Watanuki might find a partner in Kohane who became really beautiful but no. The fact that we don't know what happens to Kohane, besides getting old and becoming beautiful and what-not, is similarly disappointing. Doumeki had a follow through in the form of his descendants, why not Kohane-chan!!!!!!??



I am way too sad. I would hope there would be some kind of follow up to help my fellow heavy hearted fans but it's been several years since the end of the series (I've finished it just now). Poor Watanuki, who became way emotionally distant after the death of Yuuko, and poor Doumeki and basically poor everybody who (in my eyes) didn't receive a proper sending off for the ending of what could have been a perfect series.

I just read the ending and I was curious about what other people think, it seems most people are not happy about it. haha Although I think maybe my experience with Clamp's works might insert some closure to some minds, so I decide to say something.



I don't think the ending of xxxholic is bad, comparing to many works in the past this one is quite satisfying. Since we can all pretty much take it for grant that xxxholic universe is in the same universe as other mangas they've written, for me it's quite a happy ending. You see (as much as I don't want to admit, but I have read their works since I was a kid up until now. T.T I don't even like them all that much anymore, but it's hard to get rid of my childhood...), Clamp has this tendency to solve a relationship if only one of them is immortal by making another person reborns and meet him/her again. If you have read Wish, you will know exactly what I mean. (Like going to sleep for one hundred years while some unknown grandchild just showed up being the reincarnation of the destined person. lol) >.> They make the eternal love/bond works out this way. lol So I think it's nice that even if Watanuki cannot die, Shizuka (whichever reincarnated form  he takes) will always be there with him.



No, I don't think that Shizuka had married or anything. We never know anything about his family members so it was left ambiguous for a reason. (I don't know if most people here know this, but the term grandfather used in Japanese is not strict. For example, if Shizuka happened to have siblings and they got grandchildren, the grandchildren will also call Shizuka grandfather.) It'd be hard for Shizuka to marry, it would, in fact, make no sense, because Shizuka *lived* at the shop with Watanuki. He basically chose the job he deemed helpful to Watanuki and allowed him to be close to him at all time after he graduated, and practically lived there after a while, it'd be hard for him to marry. >.> It's absurd to think that  he just one day got married, and then left his wife home while he lived at the shop? XD lol Not to mention that Clamp made it so that Watanuki behaved like a wife in traditional japanese style, most housewives in japan prepare a bath for her husband and serve sake during dinner and after bath, and no, it's very very abnormal for a friend to do that to another friend. Or the fact that Shizuka tried to put the thimble in his ring finger. (No normal male friends will do that in Japan...) The hints are way too obvious to think otherwise. I am very inclined to this train of thoughts because that's what Clamp always do to their homosexual/male-asexual/asexual-asexual pairs in their mangas. When I first read this manga, I feel that the relationship between Watanuki and Doumeki is very similar to the one in Gouhou Drug (before it was dropped and picked up again with a different name. lol)



It's okay for Watanuki to never want to forget Yuuko, isn't it? Because it also means Yuuko's wish is fulfilled so that Watanuki will live on and cannot die. And as it is, Shizuka's reincarnation/descendants will never use that egg anyways. Watanuki himself also said that he would never see the real Yuuko again, he will just live on like that.



So I think it's quite a happy ending, can't see how this is tragic. Maybe Yuuko's death is tragic to many people, but without her death, the story could not move on, and watanuki could not be a sucessor and continue to live (sort of) forever while taking care of the shop. And knowing Clamp, we know that Yuuko existence could not really disappear in this universe, after all everyone always reborns or exists somewhere in some plane (like ashura and yasha from rg veda somehow managed to appear in Tsubasa/many other characters. lol).



If anything I think X is the most screwed up as well Tokyo Babylon, damn annoying. We can't 'read' their last moments together. lol

Oh the raging. This is how CLAMP gets their sustenance.



People mad about them not saying when new Doumeki came in don't get the idea of agelessness. Doumeki looked like his grandfather and no one raged about that, yet his grandson looking like him is unacceptable? Right. It also makes sense for the grandson to know a lot about Watanuki. I mean seriously, if you were friends with an immortal, wouldn't you tell your children and grandchildren about them?



The end of the series seemingly drug on and this explains why. The passing of time. It wasn't an abrupt end, it was setting up for showing this. Sure there's loose ends, but it does make more sense when you tie it all together.



All in all, it's a fitting end. They could have ended with Yuuko, but it would have been unfulfilling and people would have wanted more. This way, it's clear there's really no more. There was never a clear plot ending and this shows that. But yeah, it's not my favorite ending, and they could have done it better, but it was thought out and it fit the story.

so this is how 100 years of simping ends up. nb but also ng.

Originally, I hated the ending, but after re-reading the manga, I thought it was very fitting. One of the main things in xxxholic is obsessions, and while some may argue that Watanuki was just in love with Yuuko and that is why he waited for her so long, I think (like many others) that it was an obsession. I'm sure he loved her too, but I think it became an obsession after she dissapeared, perhaps it became even stronger because of his fear of forgetting her. Could also be that he was obsessed with the idea of her, rather then her as a person... I think his obession was having a parent, since it is one of the things he didn't have growing up (and while he probably was/is in love with her, I think she was a mother figure to him before he thought of her as a lover).



I also believe CLAMP when they said that Watanuki was happy at the end (and so was everyone else in their own way, and no-one can really blame Watanuki for not living a life THEY wanted him to live, plus you can't force someone to love another person, so I think it's rather realistic that it remained a onesided love circle). Happiness really does look different from person to person, and while obsessions often affect your life negatively, it doesn't always have to be the case. People say I have my obsessions, but I never felt like they made me unhappy, in fact I think I'm very happy most of the time, so I can understand why, despite it all, Watanuki was happy in the end of Rou, so no matter what ending we will get in Rei, I think I will still consider the Rou one as the "official" one.

extra chapter prediction: eventually one of doumeki's descendents will get sick of watanuki and throw the egg at him, watanuki then gets hit in the head causing him to have amnesia and forgetting about yuko.

I don't know what to think....I can't say I disliked the ending, in normal circumstances I would have really liked it, but there are far too many questions to just end it like this. Once again CLAMP just cuts us off...

once again....CLAMP does not fail in getting the worst reactions out of me...





WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT ENDING!!!?



I mean...I liked the ending of Tsubasa after convincing myself that holic would somehow patch things overall but seriously...did they plan this chapter in 2 hours before the due date?



dropping the score from 9 to 8