Tsubasa Rumor Mill (181)

[ashura_sama]

Reading these spoilers made me remember every bit of the dreadful sensation I had when I read the spoilers for Holic 144. I want to kill Watanuki so dead for worrying us like that!

Comments

[tati81]

You're the best Ashura-sama!

[ashura_sama]

Um... thanks? (笑)

[tati81]

Ravenclaw suits very well on you ^_^

[lodelco]

Actually, I figured Watanuki might pay for R!Syaoran. I mean, that guy has little left to offer so Watanuki in his infinite kindness would pay the price for R!Syaoran. I didn't know that he'd pay it in advance. Now I get a vision of Watanuki being some all knowing person before losing his memory...

But its a nice fit though. Watanuki loses his memory, and for his sake R!Syaoran pays the price to keeps him safe.

BTW, how can someone so kind and sweet come off as hard-core?

[ashura_sama]

Now I get a vision of Watanuki being some all knowing person before losing his memory...
*SHIVER*

Still, where does the danger of "disappearing" fit with all this? Is Holic making a point that Yuuko's opening monologue also applies to people?

[lodelco]

Well, how about thinking of it like this? Cut a tree off at the roots and it dies eventually. I know thats not usually the case with people who lose their past memories but maybe its some sort of special case?

Also, since Watanuki is someone really important, his existence is being threatened someway, be it memory loss or something, and R!Syaoran is paying the price to keep him safe.

The truth is not one of us (fans) really knows. And given the fact that most of HOLiC is from Watanuki's perspective, the fact that he surrendered his past memories just cemented the reason why CLAMP isn't telling us anything.

[ashura_sama]

I think it's more like the tree that fell and there was no one to see or hear it -- therefore the tree doesn't exist. Though it -is- a good question whether Watanuki is the only one who could be in this situation, or it could've been anyone. The former is likely because of several hints of Watanuki's importance, the latter I think would fit better with the general theme of Holic.

Shaoran's price was one-time-only, wasn't it?

[cutesherry]

I was waiting for your version, though I didn't expect to see it so soon ^__^
Nice translation, a always!

About Watanuki : does it means that when he saw Yuuko in chap01 of XXXHolic it was actually his 2ND encounter with her? o__O
He had already came to her before?
Or was it later on? But that would make no sense since, since the very start of the manga, Wata didn't know about himself and why he was followed by monsters/ghosts...but the fact he paid for Syaoran suggest that he knew all about it and, I guess, his bond with him...but on the other side, he showed he had past memories in Holic : about the ghost child he met as a child, or the watch he gave to Yuuko in chap01, or the fact his father was a great cook...does it means then he remembered everything at some point and immediately gave it all as a payment for Syaoran? o__O
And for the same wish as Syaoran part too left me wondering : save Sakura? He sacrificed his past, his identity, his parents' memories for it? Then he knows her from before too? Or is their common wish

[ashura_sama]

I think it's possible that Watanuki's loss of memory was gradual for some important reason that will come up later. He remembered his parents both before and after he first saw other Shaoran, but there was nothing particulary noteworthy about his reaction to him.

Watanuki -is- a pretty nice kid, so he would want to save Sakura if given a chance, but the timing is off -- as far as we know, he only really knows Sakura from when they met in the dream world. Either he actually knows her from before that, or this was the "heart like Shaoran's" acting...

Things don't look well to Sakura at all...

[morgif_kun]

Aw, poor Watanuki T_T
I might start to wait anxiously for TRC updates once again!

I didn't think about the possibility of him gradually forgetting his past; I was more under the impression that he already didn't remember anything since the beginning - but just started to question his memory loss recently.
Instead of the effects of his payment strenghtening, it feels to me like they're weakening and the more he meets with Syaoran and Sakura, the more he notices something's wrong with him.
So I vote for Yuuko and Watanuki to already have met before Holic's beginning! Probably in a whole another time/dimension :D

Thank you for the spoilers ♥

[ashura_sama]

The thing is, we saw Watanuki talking about his parents several times before mentioning it to Sakura, so I find it a bit unlikely that he wouldn't have realized it back then if the memory of their names had already been missing. Same thing with Chitose the apartment manager. And what about school? Or has he actually been "haunting" the school instead of being to classes like everyone else?

Instead of the effects of his payment strenghtening, it feels to me like they're weakening and the more he meets with Syaoran and Sakura, the more he notices something's wrong with him.
That's a pretty interesting idea, too. Kinda reminds me of the Matrix for some reason.

You're welcome! ^_^

Thank you!

[jenny_1260]

Ooooh, NICE, CLAMP!! Finally, Watanuki is being explained, and he's saaaafe! Well..... it wasn't as bad as we thought it was, anyway.... *ponders on the "disappear"... it's not gonna mean something really simple like 'death' after all, is it? -_-;;;*

...so Sakura-replica's soul didn't die? Hopefully, though it'll be more WTF to get THAT explained. The 5-page reminiscence sounds sweet AND foreboding though...--;;

FWR being in Clow-koku is a really smart idea, fifty points and a cookie for you indeed :)

[ashura_sama]

I wouldn't say Watanuki is "safe" just yet (especially when you consider he could be headed to another confrontation with the psycho-bitch), but this -does- take off a huge source of concern over him.

Now I'm starting to think (as opposed to "wish") that Sakura-replica's soul is the only soul there's ever been. Which makes the whole situation even worse, seeing as she was sort of betting that the original were alive somewhere.

[mikoto_chan13]

You mean that the original of Sakura's soul was destroyed when the replica was made? Or the body? Or both? Because SOMETHING must have remained, as we took a glimpse of it in the tube.

[anonymous]

I would have never expected this revelation about Watanuki at this point. Why does it have to happen while xxxholic is in the middle of the incredibly boring Kohane ark? Hope something happens soon to get things moving there.

I thought Watanuki didn't even _have_ a real past. Who would have thought he had given it away? And at a very young age, on top of that (this must have happened some time before the Bone-kun episode).

He cannot possibly be Eriol, can he?

[anonymous]

Now that I think about it, it's not very likely that Watanuki's past will be explored in depth in xxxholic, right?

I mean, if Watanuki gave up his past (all of it, including the fact that he made a wish) as payment for something, it's not like Yuuko can give him any info on it.

I guess his past will be dealt with in Tsubasa, in another Yuuko-tells-Mokona subtle exposition chapter.

[ashura_sama]

Maybe the point of having the Kohane arc at the same time as this revelation is emphasizing how Watanuki is "moving on"? But I agree, the Kohane arc is dragging already.

Haha, I'd *facepalm* a lot if he turned out to be Eriol, since my first thought over seeing an ad for Gekijouban xxxHolic was, "Who's that woman with Eriol?"

I guess his past will be dealt with in Tsubasa, in another Yuuko-tells-Mokona subtle exposition chapter.
Maybe Shaoran will -finally- decide to peruse his memories that -aren't- related to Sakura?