xxxHolic
Ep.5 "Shiritori"
This is a rather relaxed episode when compared to the usual "mystery of the day" ones, but it's also one of the most entertaining ones and offers the viewer some great down time between the more serious episodes with plenty of comedy, more insight into Japanese mythology and the occasional CLAMP crossover.
This episode actually combines several smaller arcs from the manga as well as adding extra scenes to add depth such as the opening scene which is completely the product of Production I.G. (the animation studio) which features Watanuki and Himawari watching Domeki's archery tournament.
Himawari seems generally interested in watching Domeki, though Watanuki basically sees it as a chance to hang out with Himawari. To his disdain, Domeki wins the tournament which sparks the usual bickering at the end. Domeki doesn't help much by trying to get rid of his winning arrow tail by dumping it in Watanuki's bag. Watanuki sees this however and cleverly places it on Domeki's head. Himawari simply laughs and comments (again) about what good friends they are.
On his way home, Watanuki finds a very strange Oden Stall. As he goes to inspect it he notices a small humanoid fox. There's a very cute silent moment with them staring at each other which is broken by both of them hysterically screaming.
Suddenly an adult fox comes out and welcomes him to their oden stall. Watanuki is naturally a bit surprised as this is his first time to visit a fox spirit oden stall.
He's quickly served and his own delicious bowl of oden which he devours in a noisy, Japanese way (ala slurping and talking with his mouth full).
As he finishes, the younger fox returns and becomes very interested in Watanuki's bag. Watanuki opens it and finds Domeki's arrow! (that devil!) He's furious, finding this, but gives it to the young fox spirit as he never really wanted it for himself anyway.
The older fox explains that that arrow is a haja arrow which will protect them from evil spirits. He gives Watanuki several foods in a furoshiki, thanks him and then the entire stall vanished.
He returns to the shop to find Yuko starving and wondering where the hell he'd been, however her mood changes considerably when she sees and smells the spirit fox's food. They immediately put Watanuki to work getting drinks ready for their meal.
Later on Yuko and Mokona notice that tomorrow night will be a full moon and decide to prepare for it by drinking the house dry. Watanuki's in shock though of course gives them all the alchohol they'll need.
The next day Yuko tells Mokona that before the drinking, there's something else that must be done. An errand for Watanuki. He must carry a gift (which he assumes are the boxes from last night) wrapped in a furoshiki to the foxes. However, Yuko warns him that tonight is dangerous as it's a full moon and Friday the 13th! She gives him a backpack that she says will protect him.
Watanuki starts out though is quickly halted as he senses something strange on the street at night. The shadows look a bit unusual. He thinks it might just be a trick of the light until they start to stretch towards him and explode into ghosts!
He runs for his life and remembers the bag Yuko gave him! He quickly opens it but only finds a cheerful Mokona who suggests that they play a game of Shiritori (a Japanese word game where you must think of a word that begins with the same letter the last word ended with). Mokona gets a bit tricky though and only says words that end in "ri" causing a lot of stress on Watanuki's end. While running, Watanuki couldn't think of a word, the ghost gets closer and attacks the package which begins to glow. He finally thinks of a word and the game continues until they safely get to the fox's stall.
The fox explains that the original reason for playing Shiritori was to ward off spirits. Mokona of course knew this which is why he was in the bag.
Watanuki gives the fox his package which turns out to be a birdcage with birds that can only be seen by the light of the moon! One of them is injured though but the young fox brings out the arrow tail from before and his father uses it to heal the bird.
They all celebrate with oden and a very short game of Shiritori.
Today's Crossovers
 A rather cool crossover I loved was Watanuki's backpack that carried Mokona in this episode. It's a dead ringer for Sakura's backpack from when she visited Hong Kong in the first Cardcaptor Sakura movie and series. Whether it's the same one or just the same design is unknown.
 The rather obvious crossover would have to be the birds which are straight from CLAMP's Clover.
My Original Impression
Friday, May 5, 2006
I loved this episode! It featured a combination of two of my fave manga mini-arcs, the fox oden stand and the Shiritori/Clover birds! Production I.G. blended these two separate stories perfectly and even added more depth to the story by offering insight into Domeki's arrow and the Clover birds themselves.
I also noticed quite a few new music themes this week which was great to hear. I'm loving this music more and more with each episode. Can't wait for the inevitable soundtrack release!
I guess the only thing that I found off-putting in this episode was the character's habits to talk with their mouth full. It's a very common habit in Japan but it just clashes with my sensibilities. Don't get me started on Yuko slurping a whole bowl down in one go in a previous episode. Despite that being a Japanese custom, that's just something I don't picture Yuko doing. She's too travelled and civilised for that.
That's just me though and the end of my rant.
Next week we get the computer addict lady! No sign of Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle yet though I think I understand why.
Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle's main focus is it's crossovers with other series. xxxHolic on the other hand has a rather focused and complex storyline of it's own with the crossovers being more secondary and of a bonus nature. This is why I think the writers of xxxHolic have decided to establish the characters of Watanuki, Yuko, Himawari, Domeki and Larg (black Mokona) and the world they live in before introducing Syaoran and even Soel (white Mokona).
The Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle crossovers will come. The same company that's doing this series did the movie which also crossed over with Tsubasa and both movies were screened together. Just give it time.
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