天下制覇

The Book Worm is the enemy of the Library War world.

Impressions:

Was Himawari always that busty? I remember her being a lot more lanky like the rest of the male cast. She seems a lot more filled out these days. Not just in the chest either, but her whole body. She doesn’t look anywhere near the stick figures that Doumeki, Watanuki and even Yuuko form. Maybe I’m just crazy though. That’s also always a distinct possibility.

Anyway, still sticking very close to the source, which I’m perfectly fine with. I also don’t remember the manga being quite so in-your-face about the general Himawari stuff, but that’s fine. A little more foreshadowing on that part is perfectly fine. I really am looking forward to seeing how they handle her stuff. Between that arc and this one, those are probably two of my favorite arcs of xxxHOLiC. I was a little surprised that they didn’t show the Spider Queen or the Vestal Spirit in the preview, which seems very strange to me, but they did have Watanuki’s hand all bandaged up as Yuuko offered him the thing that ends this arc, so assumably the badass Watanuki moment will make it in.

This arc really does represent the turning point in Watanuki’s character, which is what made the first season kind of disappointing. This is when people start risking themselves for his sake and he starts being more assertive and taking steps to be responsible for himself instead of just screaming and whining at Doumeki constantly and being hopeless. I’ve got no complaints with how they’re handling it and the production values are remaining pretty decent, especially compared to the first season, so I’m all smiles.

Blah blah blah, Yuuko recaps the situation so far. A minute of recap after one episode, that’s not a good sign.

At night, Doumeki pours over various books, looking for an answer. His door is suddenly thrown open, it’s the self-proclaimed Watanuki-sama. Watanuki chews out Doumeki for skipping class and not taking care of himself. Doumeki calls him an idiot and then get into their usual arguing for a bit, but then things turn serious.

Doumeki points out the seals around the room and how this is basically the pinnacle of his grandfather’s research and spiritual mojo. Doumeki ruins the atmosphere by chowing down and they get into their usual arguing again.

Once Doumeki finishes eating, Watanuki asks him if he’s figured anything out about his eye. Watanuki says that he’s fine, but Doumeki isn’t alright with that. He tells Watanuki to go home, but Watanuki flips open a book and starts reading.

Doumeki directs him to do something else instead and Watanuki stumbles on a wrapped up book. Doumeki wanders over and opens it as Watanuki flips out over messing with the unknown. It’s just a relatively normal book though.

Doumeki reads through it and surprise surprise, it has exactly what they want to know. Watanuki looks over at another book as it flips over. The letters gather in one place and form a snake. It attacks Doumeki, but Watanuki pulls him to safety. It then attacks the book they were reading and eats the words. Doumeki tries to stop it, but Watanuki pulls him back.

Doumeki goes to grab it and it starts to attack him. Watanuki slams a box over it, trapping it. The two argue about what to do with it until the box starts to rattle. Watanuki thinks to ask Yuuko, and she appears behind them with Mokona.

Yuuko looks around the room briefly and tells him that the price for her helping will be the seals placed around the room. Doumeki readily agrees and Mokona sucks them up. Yuuko then removes the box. The snake attacks, but is stopped by the seal she’s holding. It drops down and eats it. Yuuko uses the rest of the seals as bait. It leaps from one to the next, eating them all.

As it devours the last one, it unwraps and then rewraps into a bundle of yarn.

Yuuko explains the nature of the snake and how the seals that it ate are now what’s binding it. Unfortunately, the important text of the book has been devoured and is gone. Watanuki yells at Doumeki in general rage.

Yuuko looks over at the book that spawned the Book Worm… the notebook that Watanuki brought Doumeki from Himawari. She asks Watanuki about it and he looks at it. All her notes are completely eaten away. Watanuki flips out while Yuuko thinks about Himawari.

 Watanuki demands to know why Yuuko is here. She just wants food from Watanuki as usual. Watanuki tries to shoo her away from Doumeki and out of there. Yuuko wants to drink. Don’t we all? Since they don’t have any food though, Watanuki gets manipulated into the usual.

The next day, Watanuki ponders Himawari’s book. She comes up behind him. He gives her back the book and apologizes. She smiles and tells him that it’s not his fault. She asks about Doumeki and gets the usual Watanuki response. Watanuki stares at her chest the book and wonders about Himawari and what Yuuko meant by asking who is was from. Himawari notices him lost in thought so he does his usual insane routine.

As Watanuki walks home, his vision splits. Half his sight is the present, the other half somewhere else. He sees a goldfish floating in midair in the real world. A girl leaps off a wall and grabs it, then gnoshes on it. Watanuki starts spazzing. The girl jumps down and makes some strange statements about hearing all about him and "that girl."

Later, Yuuko explains that it was a catgirl. Watanuki’s not exactly pleased with the answer. Yuuko furthur explains that he shouldn’t be surprised that the spirit world is taking interest in him.

At school the next day, Watanuki is cleaning up alone. He looks in a window and thinks about Yuuko’s words. Doumeki ambushes him from behind and asks him if he’s figured out anything, but Watanuki sulks. Himawari comes running up to walk home with them. Doumeki says that he’s got club activities though, so Watanuki runs off to get prepared. Himawari tells Doumeki that she hopes his eye gets better.

On the way home, Himawari and Watanuki make random small talk. It’s mostly girly stuff about cute things.

They reach the crossroads and split up. Watanuki walks off with an idiot grin on his face. He doesn’t make it far before his vision splits again and he sees a woman.

In front of him in the real world, horns blare and a woman is hit by a car. She struggles to get up as people run to help her. Watanuki is suddenly slapped by the Crow Tengu who yell at him telling him that it’s his fault. He doesn’t understand, but they demand he go with them to Yuuko.

At the shop, the Crow Tengu beg for help. Their wish, to save the Vestal Spirit. They cannot save her. The miasma where she is is too thick to allow them to enter and will kill her if nothing is done.

They pay the price (one of their artifacts), and humbly ask for help. Yuuko agrees and tells them that Watanuki will be accompanying them. They protest, saying that it’s Watanuki’s fault in the first place, to his shock. She chastises them and asks Watanuki what he’ll do. Watanuki immediately agrees, even if it’s dangerous. Yuuko raises her hand and the Pipe Fox flies over to Watanuki.

Raising the fan, she sends Watanuki and the Crow Tengu all off to save the Vestal Spirit. Mokona is worried about Watanuki, but Yuuko says it’s up to him now.

Preview:

Watanuki sets out into the spirit world and at the end, is given an uncomfortable choice to make.