天下制覇

It wouldn’t be Clamp without some vaguely pedophillic overtones, would it?

Impressions:

I’m pretty sure that I mentioned in a previous entry how Himawari’s chest seemed oddly large this season. Well, it was rather small this episode. The art in general this episode was just awful. I think we saw the same facial shot of Kohane for at least a minute and a half. It’s a pain to draw her in different clothes, so as long as we just keep to the face, we can reuse frames from all over the place. It’s not like the budget for this show was breaking any banks to begin with, but this episode was an unwelcome reminder to how awful most of the first season was.

Aside from keeping myself up to date on Himawari’s bra size, Watanuki’s little "I like you, Kohane" scene amused me. Not only for the lolicon overtures (which were then continued when the twins leapt into bed with him towards the end), but that entire scene could have been ripped word for word out of the ending of… say… Da Capo or H2O or –insert trashy romace show here–. All that was missing was a magical tree and the ghost of some girl haunting… the… lead… Well, crap. Kohane’s arc so far really is like a bad romance, only with the crazy mother following them on dates and stealing their omelets.

All joking aside, Watanuki really did show that he’s growing up and learning to actually be eloquent when it counts. He’s realized at this point that they’re all connected, and even if Kohane’s okay with the abuse she’s taking, it pains him knowing about it and he’s mature enough to tell her about it. I’m getting more and more tired of the CLUEBAT 9000 hints about Himawari every single episode and want them to just do her story already. They could finish it in two episode if they really wanted. Hell, one episode if they pushed. Instead, we have Yuuko’s weekly sinister question about Himawari while Watanuki looks surprised. Come on, Watanuki. She doesn’t even take this much interest in liquor, but she can’t help but talk about your high school heartthrob. Either Yuuko’s trolling for barely legal girl on girl action, or you should probably get a clue here.

Watanuki meets Haruka under the sakura tree at the shrine. Haruka tells him how good of a thing he did for that girl, which makes Watanuki think of Kohane. He hasn’t seen her since, but people that are the same will be drawn to eachother. They will meet again.

Watanuki wakes up.

At lunch, Himawari’s got more TV news about Kohane. Even Doumeki knows, he read about it on the net.

Watanuki can’t believe that Doumeki even knows what that is and isn’t Kohane really troubled and isn’t life unfair yada yada and the usual shouting ensues and it ends up in the usual argument about food. Their antics amuse Himawari as usual. Silly Typhoid Mary.

Back at the store, Watanuki cooks. Mokona thinks it suspicious and it might be for Kohane. A girl’s stolen his heart, ohho. Mokona and Yuuko fluster him to steal food.

Watanuki takes the chance to ask Yuuko about things going on with Kohane, so they head to the search engine of champions, GuGoot and look stuff up. Absolutely nothing complimentary at all. Lots of people wishing her death and editing pictures of her.

Yuuko does have a question for Watanuki… will that lunch be had with Himawari? He sadly says that it won’t be, and she replies that that’s good. CLUEHAMMER 9000 SLAM.

At some future point, Watanuki and Doumeki walk to school together. Random useless small talk about being a cool guy and the like. Then a pair of girls walk by talking about "that freaky girl’s" house and how creepy it is. Watanuki’s not happy, but Doumeki makes sure he continues on.

They arrive at her house, it’s covered in garbage and grafitti. Watanuki quickly walks up and rings the bell, worried. Nobody answers, so he yells over. The door opens and Kohane walks out, covered in bandages.

She tells him that she was attacked after filming. Watanuki hugs her head and says how glad he is that she’s still alright.

Inside the house, the mail is piling up, along with dirty clothes and dishes. Kohane apologizes for not being a good host. Watanuki wonders where her mother is, but she’s out.

The phone rings. Kohane doesn’t answer it. The voice mail picks it up and it’s somebody telling her to die over and over again.

Watanuki and Doumeki stare at it horrified. Kohane tells them it’s nothing, but Watanuki says that it’s not okay. Even if she’s alright, because he’s worried about her, it’s not okay, because he’s worried about her. He likes Kohane after all.

Kohane’s surprised. He really likes her? You lolicon, Watanuki. She’s okay with that. She thinks that she feels the same, that she’d be sad if something happened to him, so maybe she likes him too.

She takes his hand and holds it in both of her’s.

Watanuki explains the menu and they chow down. Doumeki’s already started. Usual theatrics. Kohane remarks that they must be close because of how openly he talks to Doumeki. After all, Kohane and her mother barely speak at all to eachother. Watanuki says that she should feel free to talk to him about anything. Doumeki interrupts, wanting a drink.

Kohane pours him the tea, and he thanks her. He even patpats her head, pissing off Watanuki again, but she smiles at them.

The door closes. Her mother is home, complaining all the while about the producer and everybody else.

She yells out, demanding an answer and finally storms into the room, just in time to see Kohane munch on some omelet. She demands to know what they fed to Kohane and slaps it away. Kohane emotionlessly watches it and

Her mother turns her anger to Watanuki. She demands that they leave. Watanuki tries to argue with her, but she keeps yelling at him. She grabs the tea and throws it in his face. Doumeki grabs him and quickly takes him to the sink. Kohane confronts her mother, saying that she can do whatever she wants to Kohane herself, but to harm others is unforgiveable.

At the store, Watanuki recovers from his burns while the rest play around. It’s a good thing he had glasses, or his eyes could have been in danger. They plop zucchini on his face to treat the burns.  They’re all worried and think he’s weird, but he clams up. Yuuko excuses them all, saying that he owes Doumeki tomorrow for his help. Mokona and the girls tuck themselves in next to him. Yuuko turns to leave, but Watanuki tells her that he noticed that not once did Kohane’s mother say her name. Yuuko just tells him to get some rest and leaves.

At Kohane’s, her mother’s happy that everything still okay. Kohane replaces her bandages, but doesn’t respond until directly confronted. That’s fine, she simply says. Her mother keeps ranting at her, but Kohane doesn’t have anything to say. Doesn’t all this business bother her? Is she really okay with being treated like this by the public? Kohane doesn’t care, so her mother says that it affects her too. Yeah, that’ll sway Kohane.

At the library, Himawari brings the news that Kohane’s got another exhibition coming up. Watanuki’s a bit down, but Himawari perks him up.

At the studio, the other psychics are pissed about being in the same program as Kohane. One of the producers convinces them that it’ll be them as the real vs her as the fake. Good for all of them. Kohane comes in as they finish up the conversation. The psychics are convinced.

Watanuki and Yuuko watch the show at home. People get introduced. Watanuki spills tea on himself while staring at the TV.

The psychics all check out a house and then they’re asked about what’s haunting it. They all see one ghost, an army soldier, killed during the war. What a poor fellow. The MC turns to Kohane, and asks what she sees. She says that she can see it. There are two. A male and a woman.

All the other psychics say that she’s got to be mistaken and team up on her. Still, Kohane says that there are two. The woman was murdered. The other psychics get pissed that Kohane would be implying that they can’t see it and says that she must be lying. Kohane simply says that she’s not.

Preview:

The truth about the haunted house.