xxxHOLiC #4 - Divination

Summary

The episode begins with Watanuki and Himawari eating a picnic lunch together. To Watanuki's disappointment, Doumeki is there too (in the last episode, Watanuki agreed to making Doumeki's lunches, in return for his help with the exorcism.) Himawari brings out a fortune telling book, and asks for the guys' birthdays. When it turns out that Doumeki's birthday falls on Girls' Day, Watanuki teases him. Himawari thinks it's cute. This sends Watanuki into despair. He 'revives' after Himawari says that she and Watanuki have compatible sun signs.


Watanuki is in a good mood when he arrives at Yuuko's shop. When he tells Yuuko about the fortune, though, she brings him back down to Earth. The compatibility fortune only looked at sun signs; there are several other things that need to be taken into account to get a truly accurate reading. Yuuko decides to take Watanuki to see a real medium.


When they arrive at the first fortune teller's place, Yuuko remarks that something is wrong. Still, they go in to see the medium. There are forms on the table to be filled out with questions about name, date of birth, etc. Before the fortune teller begins, she remarks that Mokona is a cute doll. Watanuki is impressed with how accurate the medium is, but Yuuko is decidedly not. As they leave, Yuuko asks what the weather will be like. The fortune teller says that the weatherman predicted clear weather.

After they leave, Watanuki is asked by Yuuko why he was so impressed. She explains to him that the way that fortune teller worked was by asking questions that could go either way, then making her further 'predictions' based on what the client tells her in response to generic questions. The client believes that the medium knows all, but in reality the client is the one answering their own questions.


Yuuko still wants Watanuki to see a real medium. She turns her handkerchief into a butterfly, which they follow until they reach an old house. Watanuki wonders if they're in the right place, since there isn't a sign. An old women comes out of the house and said that she'd been waiting for them. She seems to be an old friend of Yuuko. The woman comes over to greet Watanuki and Mokona (she somehow knows that he's a living being), and tells Watanuki that it must be hard for him to be without parents. Watanuki is shocked that she knows that.


They all go inside and sit down at a table. The old woman asks for Watanuki's name. He asks if that's information for predicting his fortune. Actually, the medium just wanted to know what to call him. A bowl of sand with a pendulum is brought out. Watanuki and the woman put their hands onto a pair of handles, and the pendulum start drawing in the sand. The divination has begun.


The medium tells Watanuki that his parents are resting in peace. Watanuki is relieved to hear that; he'd been really worried about it. When the pendulum stops moving, we see that it's drawn a butterfly. Butterflies are a sign of change, and Watanuki's change has already begun. As a fee for the divination, she asks Watanuki to cook something with sake. Watanuki says that it hardly seems valuable enough, but old woman remarks that a home-cooked meal that's made with love is very valuable.


While Watanuki is in the kitchen, the old woman tells Yuuko that she is what started the change. Yuuko asks the medium what the weather will be, and the woman responds that it should clear up by the time they go home (it had started raining while they were inside.)


On the way home, Watanuki says that he wishes the old woman would have told him more about his relationship with Himawari. Yuuko tells him absolutely not. She comments that a medium can answer one's questions but they can't determine everything about the future. Then Yuuko suggests they go drinking.

Comments
That was a bloody long summary. Maybe I should cut back to just a paragraph outlining the general theme of the episode.

I really enjoyed this episode. Of the four I've seen, this is probably my favorite. There plenty of Yuuko screentime, which makes my really happy. Yuuko's just one of the coolest characters ever.