xxxHOLiC Kei ep.04

April 24, 2008 | 12 Comments

I thought the animation quality will take a nosedive here but thankfully that's not the case. I like that the animators tried to express the characters' emotion through different animation styles. It gives the otherwise boring and noodle-thin character design some variations. The music is pretty good as well. I don't usually pay much attention to the music used in this series apart from the OP and ED but I like the carnival-like BGM that was used during the introduction of the Yumekai. I also appreciate some of the cross-reference scenes included in the episode. For example, the shot of Himawari/Watanuki is done in an upside-down manner, similar to how CLAMP normally draws their X characters when they want to show characters with two conflicting interest. I don't think that's the case in here though. It's most likely just a symbolism for Himawari's incompatibility with Watanuki. If you're a manga reader, you'll also spot Young Jump reference here. In fact, the magazine is displayed so prominently that it's a bit annoying at times.

Episode 4: Yumekai

Watanuki tells Himawari that his first dream for the year involved him being chased around by a giant eggplant and a giant Mokona. Himawari, however, thinks the entire dream was cute plus since he was dreaming about eggplant, it must have been a good dream/omen. On the other hand, she feels that she had a bad dream. She explains how the dream started with her feeling like she's being followed by someone. Even though she tries to go faster, she can hear equally fast footsteps following her. Before she knows it, she can sense a menacing presence behind her back. Before Himawari can finish her story, however, she excuses herself because she has a student council work. To thank her for listening to his story, Watanuki gives Himawari his hand-made Madeleine cakes. Unknown to him, the cakes aren't the only thing that have a change of ownership. Fast forward a few hours later, Watanuki wonders why he's helping Doumeki so Doumeki reminds him that he's the one who offered to take Himawari's place and help him.

As it turns out, Himawari's relative is visiting today but she also had to help student council with printouts. Because she seems worried about this, Watanuki volunteered to take over her task at student council. What Watanuki didn't know was the fact that he'd be doing it together with Doumeki. Despite his annoyance, Watanuki feels that he made the right choice because he can't contemplate what would happen if Doumeki and Himawari were to be left alone on their own. Watanuki, however, can't hide his annoyance when he finds out that Himawari gave Doumeki some of the Madeleine cakes that he made for her. If that's not bad enough, Doumeki decides to share his dream with Watanuki. A dream which apparently involves a horse and his grandfather. That night while he's on his way back home, Watanuki feels like he's being followed by someone. When he turns around, he finds out that the thing in question is a humongous Ayakashi. Watanuki panics because he knows that the Ayakashi will eat him if it manages to capture him.

Unfortunately, despite Watanuki's attempt to run away, the Ayakashi manages to grab him. Before it can completely devour Watanuki, however, someone arrives with a horse and pierce the Ayakashi with an arrow from his bow. Upon seeing his savior, Watanuki immediately assumes that the guy is Doumeki. A few seconds later, however, he's startled when Yuuko sits on top of his body. She tells him that the whole thing was nothing more than a dream/premonition. Yuuko defines premonition as a dream that forewarns an equally similar upcoming event. Watanuki is confused about this because he didn't have a dream of being chased by Ayakashi although Himawari did have one that sounds similar. Upon hearing this, Yuuko tells Watanuki that he basically purchased Himawari's dream when he gave her the Madeleine cakes. If a person listens to another person's dream and then pay equivalent value, the dream will become the first person's. The dream itself will then become a reality. Watanuki finally understands that the Ayakashi came from Himawari's dream while Doumeki's grandfather and his horse originated from Doumeki's dream.

Upon hearing this, Yuuko comes to the conclusion that Watanuki also gave Doumeki the Madeleine cakes. She also tells him that they'll make someone buy that arrow. Because of this, they are going to look for a Yumekai. In order to do this, Yuuko puts an enchantment on the arrow so that it'll seek a Yumekai. The arrow eventually points at a small gap between a wall and a telephone pole. Despite Watanuki's protestation, Yuuko insists that they walk through that small grap otherwise they won't reach their destination. True enough, by going through the small gap, the two arrive at an alternate dimension. She then points at the sky where a Yumekai is located. Watanuki is surprised to see it because the Yumekai in question is a hippo carrying multi-color balloons. Yuuko explains that a Yumekai buys dreams for a living then raises and breeds them. The hippopotamus lands down upon seeing Yuuko and tells Yuuko that lately his business hasn't been going well because people haven't had valuable dreams lately.

He, however, becomes excited upon seeing the arrow that was used by Doumeki's grandafther and asks Watanuki to sell it to him. Because Watanuki is not being responsive, the hippo starts offering him balloons containing good-luck dreams. Yuuko uses the opportunity to tell the hippo that a Yumekai like him should know the equal value of the arrow. Because of this the hippo gives her what he considers his best good-luck dreams. Despite the amount of good luck that he traded in order to get the arrow, the hippo agrees with Yuuko that the arrow worth more to him. As soon as he fuses the arrow with a balloon, the balloon glows brightly. Yuuko believes that with the hippo raising, it'd certainly become a Holy dream that can cast away any nightmare. The hippo feels pleased for being able to obtain this dream so he decides to celebrate at the fox's oden stall. Upon hearing this, Watanuki asks him to give one of the good-luck balloon to the son of the oden stall's owner because he wants to thank the kid for saving him during the Hyakkiyakou.

Later on after returning from the alternate world, Watanuki sleeps with 2 of the ballons. All of a sudden, he realizes that Doumeki's grandfather is sitting outside his room. He asks Watanuki if his grandson is too much to handle. Watanuki admits that their first encounter ended up in a fight but Watanuki's right eye also came from Doumeki. Having said that, he doesn't want another person to do anything they may regret for his sake. Upon hearing this, Doumeki's grandfather assures Watanuki that his grandson can endure a lot before showing Watanuki a picture of a young girl. The next morning, Yuuko points out that the dream that he saw most likely came from a balloon that has deflated. She believes this balloon must be a good dream that Doumeki's grandfather sold to that Yumekai. Watanuki feels that the entire thing is such a coincidence but Yuuko reminds him that there's no coincidence, only Hitsuzen (inevitability). As for the picture of a young girl, Yuuko explains that it's a custom for young boys who are weak to be dressed up as girls so they'd grow up to be strong. Watanuki realizes he now has something to embarrass Doumeki. Because he's too excited, however, he bumps into Mokona, who has come back carrying some eggplant for Yuuko.

Impression:

While I never had a premonition dream, I have had dreams that closely resemble minor events in my life. It's more like deja-vu, where I'd take the last book in a bookshop and then get an eerie feeling that I've seen this happening before. Except that I saw it happened in my dream. Yeah, it sounds ridiculous and there are times when I think I'm just imagining things. However, since it happens quite a bit, I can't help but wonder about it. Having said that, the event in question is usually a *really minor* event that it doesn't really affect my life one way or the other. But if I did see the same event beforehand in my dream, I wonder how it actually happened (from a logical POV)? The same thing can be said about lucid dream. This is a dream where you are half-conscious to the point that you can direct the decision that you make within the dream. I've had many nightmares that ended because within the dream, I somehow know that it's just a dream. I'm pretty sure that I'm not the only person who have had these weird dreams because after asking several people, some have also said that there have been one or two occasions where they experienced something similar but they just ignore it since it seems unimportant (it's a glitch in the matrix!!).

Anyway, it's interesting how dreams in this story can be kept in a particular container and even be traded around, purchased, or sold. Once again, however, I feel that CLAMP was being misleading about Himawari's role in Watanuki's misfortune. Everytime Yuuko talks about her, it feels like she's talking about some evil entity. On the other hand, I'm surprised at how easy it is for Watanuki to interact with Doumeki's grandfather. Considering the fact that they almost look-alike, one would think that since Watanuki dislikes Doumeki, he'd find it hard to talk to his grandfather, who's a dead ringer for Doumeki himself. Although on a hindsight, by now the feelings of dislike for Doumeki is probably superficial and not deeply-rooted like it used to be. Plus, what Doumeki has done for him probably did leave a rather good impression on him. Speaking of Doumeki, the custom of dressing up a weak boy in a girl's clothes sound a bit ineffective to me despite what Yuuko claimed. Wouldn't that just cause the boy to have lower self-esteem and sexual identity issue? Not to mention he'd be consistently teased by his friends if they know about it.

Preview

On next week's episode: Kohane. Wow, it's hard to believe that we're already at this point. It'll be Himawari arc before we know it. I can't help but wonder if they'd finally admit a crossover with Tsubasa Chronicle.

© memento 2003