*Movie flashbacks* Can’t be helped, since they used the same scene xDDD This time, at least, we don’t get to see any human body-shaped object among Yuuko’s treasures xD It’s really nice to see all Yuuko’s treasures colored up, they look one more intriguing than the other. Also, is it just me or do I spot Akari-chan’s portrait among them? O.o Can’t remember if this was in the manga as well… Always nice, though.
They kept Fye’s staff in !!!!! Awww ^___^ I’m so happy with it. Before watching this episode for the first time, I asked myself if they would let it in or cut it out, and I came up with the conclusion that there was no point to cut it… I mean, it’s not hurting anybody, it won’t affect the main plot, who doesn’t know it belonged to Fye is not going to notice nothing at all, and shall only think it’s another weird treasure of Yuuko’s. What I mean is, the staff is harmless for the story, and it’s not infringing any copyrights (if that’s what keeping the Tsubasa crossovers to not happen), so I’m glad that they’ve kept it ! At least now we have *something* to link with Tsubasa apart from Mokona.
I loved that scene, I love how Watanuki is all “WTF! THE BUTTERFLIES ARE MOVING” and Yuuko is goes as convenient as always “Of course, they don’t want to get hit” XDDD So Harry Potter-like.
Differently than in the manga, here we are in summer (we get to see the summer uniform for the first time), and thus Yuuko is not wearing the same clothes as in the manga (heels and a scarf), they also re-used 2 clothes from episode 3, Angel.
Wasn’t the cylinder’s color pink in the movie? Well, I think I prefer this grayish one ^^
I thought the hair of the cylinder’s woman was much lighter (it’s all because of her white hair in the manga xD), kinda like Fye’s hair, but this one serves her well too. And I really liked her seiyuu, she did a great job even if she was just a guest character.
What IS up with Himawari? O.o Yuuko said there’s an “incredibly powerful seal” protecting the cylinder, but she just touched it and the thing opened up.
O-ho ! I don’t think we ever got to see Yuuko’s bedroom in the manga before O.o Her bed looks like a Queen’s bed XD And she doesn’t sound sleeping when she’s answering the phone, which is good because I think it’s so rude to sound sleepy when you’re on the phone ^^”””
How cute, I had forgotten (that, if it even was mentioned) that the butterfly flew to the shop of the person on the phone, which I really wonder who might be O.o I wish it was Kakei, of course XDDD But I don’t know if he runs an antique shop as well ^^”
One of the reasons I really love this arc is because Yuuko explains that things don’t appear out of nowhere (as well as they never simply “disappear”), everything goes to somewhere and something has to be paid in order to grant a wish. This is how Earth works and will always do, the never-ending cycle.
On that particular scene, where Yuuko is arranging her flowers, I was really expecting some deep red flowers instead of extremely pinky ones O.o I think they break a little the color equilibrium of the scene, graphically speaking, I meant. They are camellias, right? At least they look like it… I know there are many kinds of camellias from white to red, but CLAMP used black to paint them in the manga, which means dark red would be more appropriated than pink. But I know very little about camellias and maybe the pink ones bloom on the summer while the red ones on the winter @_@
I think the woman looked so cute all excited for her thesis, she even blushed a little, but poor woman…..
The incident in the subway: It had a good atmosphere, lots of gray people walking around XD (it would be really stupid to use static people on a subway station !), but it’s a shame they cut the BLOOD that is in the manga, at least we get to see one of the woman’s heels and that’s quite pitiful.
Like in episode 6, I think Production IG did a great work to show the woman’s obsessive and desperate behave, her face shows really well her craziness, and she gets really ugly and scary too, which is nice, of course XD
When the Monkey’s Paw gets out of the cylinder, THAT is freaky O.O In a very cool way, of course. The way it suddenly moves on is very scary.
I’m SO glad, first because the woman DID die, we were all fearing that she wouldn’t after episode 2 but thank gosh it was just a false alarm, and second because her death isn’t censured in any way ! On the contrary, we even get a CLOSE-UP ! I would even dare to say that the scene is even more disturbing than the one in the manga (I love the panel where you can only see her shadow through the window, though). The way the hand grabs her neck and squeezes it like… you can SEE it’s squeezing it mercy-less. Add that with the seiyuu’s performance and you get perfection !
What IS up with Himawari? O__o Just as easily as she opened the cylinder, she did with the jammed door ! I think only people with less than 2 brain cells can’t see that something is up with this girl. I really wish they’ll show us more hints of what exactly is up with her…
I thought it was a little weird (but sinister) the fact that the teacher’s body was nowhere around O.o She died at her home in the manga if I’m not mistaken, so we can assume nobody saw her body for a period of time… but here just looked like those scary movies where the killer cleans everything (including the body) in 5 seconds xD
I liked the last scene too. I’m glad they didn’t end the episode with comedy as they usually do, it would break the mood a little. And that’s the way this arc ends in the manga as well, with a close-up at the cylinder… very creepy XDDDD
In an overall, I loved this episode. Mainly because it’s very faithful to the manga, including, and specially, the dark mood that wasn’t toned down at all (except from the blood at the subway). It was greatly animated too, specially the last parts with the teacher getting desperate and crazy.
Good points:
– Fye’s Staff !
– Faithful to the manga
– Dark mood was kept untouched (ie. the woman DIES!)
– Good animation
No bad points because I couldn’t find anything that really bugged me at this episode, maybe Yuuko looking weird in one or two shots, but nothing else.
Staff for Episode 10 – Lamplight:
Script: Michiko Yokote (Series Composition, Eps 1, 4, 8).
Storyboard: Yoshio Mukainakano (Ep 5)
Episode Director: Couldn’t picture the name of the poor guy ^^””
Animation Director: Tomoyuki Matsumoto.
I think we can expect the next episode to be very similar to episode 5.
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22 thoughts on “XXXHOLiC #8”
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Chibi Yuuto's CHRoNiCLEs 
Hi there x3 XDDDDD lol, I luved this episode so much, I was waiting for your review x3. You were right about fye’s staff XD, I was so happy to see it, like a big smile appeared on my face after watching it XD lol. The seiyuu of the cylinder’s woman did such cool job x3. About himawari…o.o yeah it’s more than obvious something is up with her, when I saw that she only touched the cylinder and the thing opened I thought something like “Well, for what I know that is going to happen (thanks to the manga) this just clearly says himawari is bad luck” and other things but I’m very intrigued about her o.o.
X3 I was so happy that the woman died!!..lol I know it sounds weird XD but hey, we need this dark feeling in xxxholic *-*…wow, I felt like…mm it was a feeling of nervous and horror XDU sort of after she got killed @_@ I was all like “o.o jesus…” it looked very creepy very creepy, but XD that’s why I luved it. I enjoyed too much this episode, because of what it tries to say, lol the woman was too much confident because of her luck but no one is exent of an accident XDU poor of her. so so x3 I share your liking for this episode Chibi Yuuto-sama x3
Minaya
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Hi there !
The appearance of Fye’s staff was a mix of joy and relief. If they continue adding these “harmless” crossovers, it’s enough for me ^^ Of course I would love to see Syaoran and co but since that’s not possible, at least don’t take off ALL of the references.
>lol I know it sounds weird XD but hey, we need this dark feeling in xxxholic *-*
Oh yes, there’s no doubt about it. The whole point would be ruined if the poor woman stayed alive. I hope this means we won’t be seeing a lot of censorship around.
I also loved that particular scene, specially because it’s so “Wow…” XD
Bye bye ! Thanks for commenting *bows*
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Ahhhh! I was so happy they kept it all dark and the woman’s death was done SO perfect. It was scary x__x That hand… *shudder*
This episode reminded me of just how mysterious Himawari is. Seriously o__O What I *really* want to know though, is if Himawari herself knows how bad she is. If she does that means she’s faking everything, but if she doesn’t then… >__>
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Indeed !! The hand is definitely viciously crunching the woman’s neck !
>is if Himawari herself knows how bad she is.
I ask myself that too, I guess we all want to know if she’s not aware of that, or if she wants to play the Seishirou XD
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wiiiiiiii! Yay! ^^ Your comments give me high expectations for this chapter! which makes me really happy since it was one of the chapters I was expecting the most. It all sounds so interesting I can’t wait to watch it!!
Yay for Fay’s staff! (I laughed a little when I read Fye’s bat XD) It would’ve been pointless to remove it, I’m glad they kept it ^_^
Her bed looks like a Queen’s bed XD
XD But of course, Yuuko deserves such luxuries xDD
And wow, it seems like the woman’s death was perfectly creepy, sugoi! O.O
I think only people with less than 2 brain cells can’t see that something is up with this girl.
XD! that made me laugh too xDD I really really really want to know what is it that she’s hiding, or what she truly is!
Well, great review! It all adds to my need of watching this episode as soon as i can! Kisses, Yuuto-chan! Take care ^_~
PS.-I saw chapter 7 yesterday and I finally understood what you meant by “Watanuki’s Funny Movements” XDDDD OMG! I love him so much xD He’s completely hilarious!
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Please do watch it, this episode is very nice !
OMG did I type Fye’s BAT? XDDD That was so un-intentional, I swear *goes to fix it XDDD* Anyway, I’m more than glad that they kept it as well ^^
I hope they show us more hints on Himawari… not just “She’s different”, we KNOW there’s something up with her, we GOT that XDDD So I’m hoping more hints at both anime and specially manga.
>I finally understood what you meant by “Watanuki’s Funny Movements”
LOL! Did you? I love his movements xDDD P IG always comes up with one crazier than the other ^^
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Hi there, Yuuto-san! Here we go again,
>They kept Fye’s bat in !!!!! Awww ^___^
I was very impressed when I saw it too. The butterfliy trying to escape was PRICELESS and I almost fainted when it flew off the rug. Very Potter-ish, indeed.
>Her bed looks like a Queen’s bed XD
And, let´s face it, Yuuko´s hot when she´s waking up. All the times!! XDDDDDDDDDDD
>This is how Earth works and will always do, the never-ending cycle.
She respects that law like it was very simple and she often gets disappointed with people because they can´t perform something so simple. If you think deeply about it, even when we die, we are buried, we get decomposed, the minerals/nutrients are going to feed a plant, which is going to feed a cow as grass or a pregnant mother as an apple, for example. CLAMP showed the never-ending cycle ina a very nice way, as always. I loved it!
>I think the camellia breaks a little the color equilibrium of the scene, graphically speaking, I meant.
I checked an article on Wikipedia to solve that question. I´m going to “ctrl+c ctrl+v” some parts:
“Camellia (Tsubaki in Japanese) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Theaceae, native to eastern and southern Asia from the Himalaya east to Japan and Indonesia. There is some controversy over the number of existent species, with anything from 100–250 species being accepted. The genus was named by Linnaeus after Fr. Georg Joseph Kamel S.J., a Jesuit botanist.”
Camellia = TSUBAKI!!!! Tsubaki Nekoi!!!!! Mangaka!!! of xxxHOLiC!!!
Well, just like it was mentioned, there´s a big variety of species, and most of the pictures on the article depict pink camellias (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camellia). Pink is probably a popular color for camellias and maybe that´s why they used it on the scene. Although I agree that it was strange not only for the scene, but also for the fact that pink doesn´t match Yuuko. Red would be MUCH better.
>The incident in the subway: It had a good atmosphere.
It was PERFECT. The scene when the woman falls on the trails and the subway passes by her was just AWESOME! That made me happy for a day or two. XD
>What IS up with Himawari?
This episode emphasises the fact that Himawari is not so innocent MORE than in the manga, in my opinion. I´ve always though that her eyes are kinda… dead and… emotionless. Even in the manga. The series highlighted that a little, in fact.
The moment the woman gets killed is just PRICELESS. I thought they would never show it like that… They showed even more, in fact. Maybe that was a way to pay us back for what they did to the woman on episode 2. I hope they kill her one day too, even if it is in the end of the series or next season… *DIE B!#&H*
I also loved the ending scene. Very dark, hehehehehehehehe
And I still think Watanuki is going to have trouble if he doesn´t notice he talks only to three people, and one of them (Yuuko) may not exist… Himawari is not even human for me. We´re left with Doumeki, who is HATED by Watanuki hahahahahahaha
Just kidding, but maybe true. haha
See ya, Yuuto-san
XXX
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>even when we die, we are buried, we get decomposed, the minerals/nutrients are going to feed a plant, which is going to feed a cow as grass or a pregnant mother as an apple,
Exactly ! I love that as well *-*
>Camellia = TSUBAKI!!!! Tsubaki Nekoi!!!!! Mangaka!!! of xxxHOLiC!!!
LOL ! Yup, that’s what Tsubaki means xD
Can you believe I did check that wikipedia article? But it didn’t help me much xDDDD
> Pink is probably a popular color for camellias and maybe that´s why they used it on the scene.
That’s probably it… but I’m glad you agree that dark red would fit much better.
>Maybe that was a way to pay us back for what they did to the woman on episode 2.
HAhahaha maybe that’s it XDDD
>I hope they kill her one day too, even if it is in the end of the series or next season… *DIE B!#&H*
HAHAHAHA They’ll chase her down XDDDD
>and one of them (Yuuko) may not exist…
Oh, hang on XDDD I don’t think Yuuko doesn’t exsits, but it’s a theory right? XD
Glad that was another episode appreciated by us all ^__^
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>Oh, hang on XDDD I don’t think Yuuko doesn’t exsits, but it’s a theory right? XD
Yes, it´s a theory ^^”. I think that Yuuko doesn´t exist, just like her house. Only the people who need the shop are able to see it. From that we could make a point that only people who need to see Yuuko actually see her or talk to her. Doumeki doesn´t need to see the shop, but that doesn´t mean he doesn´t need Yuuko.
Since Watanuki doesn´t talk to many people (only two, cos´ I´m not counting Yuuko, since she doesn´t participate in Watanuki´s world (a.k.a. school)) I believe he´s a strong candidate for the shop or maybe his own “business”. If Watanuki actually passed to “Yuuko´s side” or something, nobody in this world would really miss him. He is a really strong candidate. Nobody would take his world from him if he was attached to it. I believe Himawari-chan is what still attaches him to this world.
When I mean Yuuko is from another world, I don´t mean she´s dead. Yuuko made it very clear that there are other places dead people go. Watanuki´s parents, for example (mentioned on the fortune-teller arc), are in a “another place” or something. That´s what I like about xxxHOLiC too, it doesn´t show death as a stopping (How about not equating death with stopping? – Alanis, again XDDD), but as a change of dimension. Eastern philosophy rocks sometimes (Thank you, India – Alanis *stop mentioning her already!!!* XDDDD).
Himawari wouldn´t miss him, and Watanuki is going to have a real heart break when he notices she treats him like she would trat any other person. And she would probably hurt him like she would if it was any other person. She never said he´s any special for her. The only thing that intrigues me is that we don´t see her hanging around other people during lunch time, which would mean that Watanuki and Doumeki are the people closest to her (in school at least). We know nothing about Himawari-chan´s personal life indeed.
Doumeki spends his day at the temple studying, as far as CLAMP informed us. He has a lonely life and he would probably be Watauki´s link to this world when Kimihiro-kun “opens his business”.
In fact, Watanuki´s a kind of link to the outside world for Yuuko, too.
OMG, too many theories for one day. XDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
See ya
XXX
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The only thing I have to say is that I was so scared before watching this episode that they’d cop out and not kill her in the end. But then when I watched it and that hand basically crushed her neck, I was so shocked. It was sooooo creepy and it seems weird but I was happy because she died. It means they are keeping things the way they are and not trying to make xxxHOLiC the feel good hit of the summer.
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That is correct indeed. My fears for the possible censhorship had all fade away. I think that’s why they picked TBS and an airtime above midnight, so avoid censhorship.
Let’s hope they’ll keep up the dark mood for the rest of the series, after this episode I’m sure they will.
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I know it’s not original at all, but I was so glad the woman did die at the end of this episode! I don’t mind the lack of blood with the train accident, as long as the woman is dead (two deaths in one episode, I really didn’t expected that much). What really bothered me thought, was the camelias. I understand there are many types of camelias, but the one they did for the anime, beside the unfit color, doesn’t share the same design with the one from the manga. I remember, as I read the manga for the first time, when I saw the camelias bouquet I simply thought “oh fuck, camellias, the poor girl is dead”
In my mind, they were blood red, camelias are associated with death in Clamp’s work, so like callas are associated with murder, so I see know better color than blood red, just like Setsuka’s ones.
I was really disapointed by the butterfly carpet, from the manga, I was under the impression the butterfly movement was pretty fainted, like the women in the photo in book 7, something you would miss if you don’t know what kind of things objects can do at Yuuko’s. But well, it isn’t that big a deal, I’m just nickpiking.
I’m not surprise Fay staff is in, I don’t think the problems with the crossover is copyrights or the like, if it was really a problem of copyright, Subaru and Seishirou wouldn’t have been in the X movie or TV series, there only two years between the last TB OVA and the X movie.
I believe it’s a problem of synchronisation because 1) Tsubasa is a year ahead already, around book 6 in xxxHolic and 2) both scenarists would have to work together for the dialogues and see how they can work the rest of their rexpective episode scenario to make both version fit in both series. Since they don’t work for the same company, they can’t meet face to face that easily, that means a lot of trouble. Fay’s staff isn’t on that level of trouble, the fans of the Tsubasa TV anime know to who that staff used to belong and they know it was suppose to be there, there no cross talking in the next Tsubasa episode involved, so it stays.
As for Himawari … I thought at first she might be a tanuki, a racoon like animal of Japan who is a trickster in Japanese folklore, Himawari is of the tanuki girl type after all, but the other magical spirits wouldn’t think so badly of her if she was, so maybe she just has some tanuki blood. Unless she just brings bad luck, because she’s a scorpio who enjoy to suffer. ^_^ But she do like occult stuff, maybe she’s like the girl from the first episodeweird stuff always happen around her because she want it badly …
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Oh, I forgot to add … where to we go with the episode 9 … where they any story with finger promesses? I don’t remember … a filler epiosde already …?
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Yes, it’s original.
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>I understand there are many types of camelias, but the one they did for the anime, beside the unfit color, doesn’t share the same design with the one from the manga.
That is very true. They looked so weird, kinda large in their width and…. P!NK ! In my mind they were blood red as well… They totally broke the impact of the scene. It looked SO pretty in the manga.
I understand your point in the carpet… but I liked this way better I guess ^^””””
No, I don’t think the problem with the crossovers is copyright either… I was just pointing the dumbest reason. Japanese people aren’t THAT protective with their stuff. Specially on the television, very often an actor does a TV show in one channel and a Soap Opera on another channel. They have this freedom of one channel talking about the other as well, there’s no taboo about that. So I don’t think it’s copyrights EXACTLY because we’ve seen it happening on previous CLAMP works.
>Subaru and Seishirou wouldn’t have been in the X movie or TV series
But TB and X are both from Madhouse so even if copyright WAS a problem in Japan, it wouldn’t be the case here.
>I believe it’s a problem of synchronisation because
Yup, that’s what it is. HOWEVER, nobody is asking for them to be syncronized… everybody knows XXXHOLiC’s timelime is different than Tsubasa’s…. let US picture the order of the events… nobody is even asking for the same dialogs… just use the same dialogs of the XXXHOLiC manga, damn it XD
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>But TB and X are both from Madhouse so even if copyright WAS a problem in Japan, it wouldn’t be the case here.
Well, animators rarely own the rights of a series, they are just paid to do the job.
For exemple, Tsubasa’s TV series’ right are owned by Clamp, Kodansha and NHK while Holic’s TV series’ rights are own by Clamp, Kodansha and Ayakashi Kenkyuukai. For the movies, it’s Clamp, Kodansha and the “Genkijouhan xxxHolic Manatsu no Yoru no Yume” production committee for Holic and Clamp, Kodansha and “Genkijouhan Tsubasa Torikago no Kuni no Himegimi ” production committee for Tsubasa.
For X and TB, the X movie is owned by Clamp and the X production committee, while TB is owned by Clamp and Shinshokan, so their owners or more different than the current TV series.
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I see… demo, in one way or another, the rights will be always CLAMP’s and they can do anything they want with it ^^
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Indeed, as for the manga company and the “[fill with the name of the series] project committee”, they are glad with the character crossover since it brings reders from another publisher or anime watcher from another series to their new product. ^_~
The absence of the Tsubasa crossover are more likely due to logistic problems.
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I really didn´t know cammelias were associated with death!! Very interesting!!! If it´s possible, could give us more examples??? I love simbology, as you may have noticed. And CLAMP loves it too. XDDDDDDDD
See ya
XXX
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When you asked, I was like “Oh my, were that idea came from, there must have been more than Setsuka’s speech …”, so I went back to my art books and my manga to try to find out if I was crazy or not. Here’s what I found:
In the “definitively camellias” category:
– Setsuka’s speech in Seishirou’s side story, of course, she said camellias look like blood on the snow’s white. It was just before her death.
– In X0, a Asuka cover with Kamui sitting in the snow with camellias all over him. It was the cover for the second part of book four, with his mother’s and Kyougo’s death, and the dream Hinoto showed him in which he kill Kotori, Kamui try to beat up that little white trouble maker.
– In X∞, a poster with Kamui and Fuuma protecting themselves under a camellia patterned Kimono, with a camellia tree beside them. This poster was published in the September 1999 issue of Asuka. In that chapter, Kamui just regained conscienciousness after Daisuke’s death events, he’s in a dream, binded by strings, blood pooring all over his leather winged body, Kakyou tells him he can bring Fuuma back if he release the shinken.
– a set of two black and white title pages from Rg Veda, one form the December 1995 issue of Wings, the other from January 1996. First Kendappa-O and then Souma, with many camellias around. It’s around midway in book 10, must been around the time of their deaths.
– From the 1992 Clamp Calander, Arashi lay down looking at us. X was far from being serialised back then, so I don’t know if it’s linked to our Arashi or the yakuza one from the short story they never succeed to get published.
– Card Captor Sakura book 9 part 2, looks like camellias, but they have tone only in the middle of the flower, the border are white. Mizuki wrote a letter to Sakura, she tells a few things to her, then says she can’t tell more more right now.
– Card Captor Sakura book 10 part 2, looks like camellias but light color ones. Sakura tells Syaoran Yukito didn’t return her feeling as she finally dare to tell him she love him.
– Card Captor Sakura book 10 part 4, looks like camellias but light color ones. As Syaoran notice Tomoyo knows a lot about Sakura, Tomoyo answer with a bitter smile “it’s because it’s Sakura”.
In the “may be camillias” category:
– From Hiten Muma, the Alphonse Mucha like picture of Sashi, image made specially for the Hiten Muma. Likely drawn not so long after Sashi/Kaara arc. The heart of the flowers doesn’t look exactly like the usual camellias
– From Tenma Gouka and Hiten Muma, a pair of Ashura picture, one with little Ashura and the other with the big one. There are red flowers around, though the heart of the flower seems different from the usual camellias.
– Shuuichirou holding a branch with flowers on it, the heart of the flowers doesn’t look exactly like the usual camellias. Title page from the June 1998 Mystery DX issue, the last chapter of the regular story of Wish (there’s the extra with Shuuichirou after that).
Well, that’s about it, that’s not the full inquirery, just what I could dig out tonight (after scanning 12 books of CCS with flowers everywhere, I just can’t focus anymore … ^^;), but there seems to be a link. It seems dark or red ones mean death, but light or pink ones are more like sorrow or bitterness.
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Very interesting indeed!!! THX SO MUCH. I´ll look for the pictures and check too.
^^
See ya
XXX
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The two first example from the “may be camillias”, the Asura set and the Mucha like Sashi are indeed camellias, camellia japonica to be exact. ^_^
The Shuuichirou’s one seems to be a cherrytree, an appletree or something like that.
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