Information |
Yūko Ichihara | |
Series | XxxHOLiC Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE |
Profile | |
---|---|
Also Known As | Kindoo-chan The Dimensional Witch The Space-Time Witch The Witch of the Dimensions The Far-Eastern Witch |
Age | Unknown |
Birthday | Unknown |
Relations | Unknown |
Likes | Sake |
Powers | Granting wishes |
Characteristics | |
Gender | Female |
Hair Color | Black |
Eye Color | Gold Amber (Manga) Red (Anime) |
Debuts | |
Manga Debut | Volume 1, Chapter 1 |
Anime Debut | Episode 1 |
Last Anime Appearance |
XxxHOLiC: Rou OAD |
Voices | |
Seiyuu | Sayaka Ohara |
English | Colleen Clinkenbeard |
Yūko Ichihara (壱原 侑子, Ichihara Yuuko) is a main character in XxxHOLiC.
Etymology[]
- Her given name Yūko (侑子) consists of "leading" (侑) and "child" (子), the former of which may allude to her roles as a main character, Watanuki's mentor, and one who tries to lead people to what they desire via granting their wishes.
- Her surname Ichihara (壱原) consists of "one" (壱) and "field" (原). The former kanji may allude to Yūko's status as a main character or her being the first character Watanuki encounters, while the latter may reference Yūko possessing knowledge as vast as the wilderness or that whenever one has no need of her shop, all they will see is an empty lot. As stated by her in the first chapter, her name is a pseudonym; her real name has yet to be revealed.
Development[]
When CLAMP was designing Yūko, they wanted to create a character who was "aware of CLAMPverse in its entirety." [1] Her character was based on the group's beautician who did their manicures. [1] Deciding on Yūko's design was difficult; Ohkawa commented, "I could describe with words the image of her in my head, but we took a lot of time to decide how her facial features were going to be like." [1]
Appearance[]
Yūko is a tall, pale, slender woman with knee-length black hair. Her hair is cut in many layers, with bangs obscuring her eyebrows, a layer of side bangs reaching down to her jaw, a layer reaching her hips, and a final layer at her knees. Her eye color is usually red, though it is sometimes purple or turquoise, suggesting that she can alter her eye color randomly.
Yuuko usually wears a kimono at home and more revealing outfits when out in public, but never the same thing twice. Whenever Yūko wears a kimono, she will offset it with suitable accessories. For example, if her kimono has a rose pattern with lace, she will wear a rose in her hair, along with a lace choker and bracelet.
Yūko will also sometimes style her hair in a neat, creative fashion, adding an accessory such as colored pins or chopsticks. Like her clothes, Yūko has never been seen with the same hairstyle twice, other than leaving her hair loose. On some occasions, the length of her hair is shorter than it looks. An example can be observed during the episode where the Twins are introduced, wherein her hair is tied up in a small bun seemingly impossible to hold all her hair.
Personality[]
The eccentricity of Yuuko's character confuses readers because her guidance of Kimihiro Watanuki grants him a state of spiritual and paranormal awareness of great importance. Some of her resolutions appear trivial at first, but eventually are revealed to be wise in relation to the plot.
Many times, she appears to act as a spectator, but in most cases, her intervention yields results that govern the speed and dynamics of the plot. Her histrionics confuse Watanuki, but end up involving him in serious situations, in which Watanuki is driven by it as part of it. Yuuko is openminded and respectful of all beings, being they kind or not. To Yuuko, good and evil are concepts that humans decide, and these do not apply to nonhumans. This kind of thinking occurs when, for example, she decides not to intervene to prevent someone from their mistakes or endangerment [2] since to her, "everything is a matter of the inevitable" (hitsuzen, 必然, ひつぜん). Though Yuuko acts sarcastic, bossy, and annoying towards Watanuki, it's quite evident that she cares for him, as was seen when she died: "My wish... is for you to continue existing." She sometimes acts lecherously to disturb Watanuki for her own personal amusement, and loves alcohol, which results in sending Watanuki to the drugstore every time she has a hangover.
Towards close friends, Yūko shows a very different side of herself than when she is with a customer. With close friends such as Watanuki or Oba-chan, Yuuko is kinder and more open, sharing more opinions and thoughts with them. However, even among friends, Yuuko keeps her more serious feelings to herself, not wanting to burden others with her problems. Readers can see these hidden thoughts through Yūko's monologues when she is alone. Many of these hidden worries are never revealed to other characters (such as Watanuki), even after she dies. And although Yūko is sometimes open about her feelings towards others (such as telling Watanuki that she is happy that he is at the shop), readers can see that most of the time, her feelings go unsaid. The reason why Yūko hides her feelings from others is unknown, but it is speculated that she doesn't want to become too attached, knowing that one day she will vanish.
As the plot advances, she is seen behaving in an immature fashion in order to keep Watanuki from realizing the gravity of the situations around him. Yūko has many nicknames because she has never revealed her real name due to her belief that someone who knows the true name of another person can control them.
Biography[]
See also: Yūko's Shop
At the shop[]
Yūko is the owner of a mysterious shop in Tokyo. She is a dealer in wishes as she will grant the sincere wish of anyone who is willing to make an appropriate sacrifice in return; the price is always equivalent to the weight of the wish, no more, no less. In the case of Watanuki, who sought to be rid of the spirits that plague him, the price was a long period of frequently demeaning servitude. As a result, she now has Watanuki as a sort of "personal assistant" to clean, cook, and perform other tasks she considers beneath her. She keeps Watanuki close and searches for him whenever he's in trouble in order to protect him. This is a connection she shares with Doumeki who's always by his side in the hardest moments due to his ability for exorcism.
When it comes to the gastronomical requests, she always challenges Watanuki to prepare the most varied dishes, which the boy makes without much problems unless some complaints, since he is very good in the kitchen.
Yūko is apparently one of the few people with the power to send people to multiple worlds, such that she has been aptly named the Dimension Witch. The travelers Syaoran, Fai D. Flourite, and Kurogane, the protagonists of Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, are sent to her from their respective home worlds in order to gain this ability. However, to gain the ability to traverse dimensions and the related abilities embodied in a being known as Mokona Modoki, they are required to pay a price that equates the power required to grant the wish.
At the shop, Maru and Moro, two child-like beings created with Yuuko's magic, also reside there. Their full names, Marudashi and Morodashi, are translated roughly to mean streaking and flashing, a play on the "xxx" in the title and possibly alluding a raunchy sense of humor on Yuuko's part. According to Yūko, Maru and Moro cannot leave the shop or touch the Mokonas because they have no souls. The two have the function of grounding the shop to its unique location between dimensions. In later chapters, Moro and Maru are seen sleeping, and Yūko comments that they are focusing on keeping the house in place. Apart from this function, the two greet visitors, assist Yūko, and annoy Watanuki.
Yuuko also goes to the fortuneteller Oba-chan every so often. When Watanuki asks her why she needs to see a fortuneteller if she has the ability to predict the future, Yuuko explains that one cannot predict their own future or else there will be chaos. Though she does not explain this matter any further, readers suspect that that by this, she means that if we tell our own future, we may not want to accept what we see and so we will try to twist our predictions.
Powers and Abilities[]
She's a sorceress of great power and spiritual energy, who has gained multiple titles with her renown, but she is commonly known as The Witch of Dimensions, due to the travel she sent on the characters of Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, in search of Sakura's feathers. Besides the ability to travel in time, she is powerful enough from handling dangerous objects and protective seals, create powerful barriers to protect (and even instruct Watanuki on how to create them, as she did on the night of the Hundred stories ghost/horror (Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai) and then sending Mokona to his side to play with words to block spirits in a full moon night, and she can also talk on good terms with any character of the nonhuman realm, including ghosts, gods, spirits and among others, which often saves Watanuki from death. When doing magic, Yuuko often summons her magic circle.
Among her other abilities beside granting wishes, traversing dimensions, she can also create gods for other worlds (which was a wish made by Ashura of Tsubasa), manipulate time (demonstrated when she had Mokona transport the Tsubasa group from Shara to its ancient past of Shura), and speak through Maru and Moro as well through other people's minds. In the anime, when she sends a letter to Watanuki, her responses to him are in "real-time", depending on Watanuki's reaction. In the xxxHolic movie, she gives a glimpse of how powerful she can be when she faces the collector, even though she does not use any offensive attacks. She effortlessly dodges most of his attacks and is seemingly unscathed from a direct hit.
All of Yūko's customers must pay a price in order to grant their wishes, which can be no more or no less than the one demanded, or else harm will come to one's way. She is not one to tell the customer the most direct way to solve their problems because in the end, it can only be solved with that person's own realization and resolution to change themselves. Often if the person lacks the sincere determination to change themselves, a karmic disaster that even Watanuki, who wishes to stop them from hurting themselves, cannot stop, will inevitably befall them. In Volume 8, when the Karasu-Tengu seek her help to save the Zashiki-warashi, their payment, the Tengu Fan, was more than the required price. To balance it out, Yūko sent Watanuki to assist them.
Her abilities are not unlimited and may almost seem like a curse as it appears that she is unable to do anything for anyone or grant any gift (other than feelings) without it becoming a binding transaction. She possesses knowledge of all types of magic objects that exist, many of which are in her shop.
Relationships[]
Clow Reed[]
Her relationship with Clow Reed is somewhat ambiguous. They made the two Mokonas together using their magical abilities, also met the original Mokona of Cephiro together in the other world. Clow Reed is the one who accidentally wished for Yuuko to stay alive, stopping her time and effectively preventing her from dying for an untold amount of time. In the first chapters of xxxHOLiC manga, he is being called by different names by Yuuko. In some fansubs, it has been translated that 'Yuuko hasn't met Clow Reed' (xxxHOLiC chapter 3) but in Del Rey translations, it is Sakura Kinomoto (talking about her first staff in Card Captor Sakura) who she hasn't met. It is been hinted that Clow and Yūko are lovers. In chapter 138 of Tsubasa, Clow told Sakura-hime that "Being apart from the one you like, no matter how old you are, is a lonely thing. And while apart, I'm wishing for that person to be happy."
Kimihiro Watanuki[]
Initially, Yūko is merely Watanuki's employer, but their relationship gradually becomes one akin to that of a close mentor-student bond, or perhaps something even more personal, such as a mother-son one. She teaches Watanuki valuable lessons about the world and gives wise advice. Despite often giving him grief with the many requests and jobs she gives him to fulfill, as well as her merciless teasing, Yūko proves to care a lot for Watanuki, helping him and giving him guidance even though he does not always realize it. In chapter 168 of the manga, Yūko talks about Watanuki and Syaoran. She says that Watanuki now "wants to be here," and because of her help, Fei Wang Reed wasn't able to find Watanuki. She also says: "Maru, Moro, because we love Watanuki, we'll do our best to protect this store, so that we can always be together with Watanuki." Later on, something similar happens when Yuuko and Watanuki start meeting in dreams, and Yuuko starts asking Watanuki if he is happy at the shop. When Watanuki confesses that he is, Yuuko tells him that the shop was made for the sake of a specific and special day, but if it has also turned into a reason for Watanuki to stay/to be happy, then she is glad.
Just before her death, Yūko tells Watanuki that her only wish is for him to continue on existing. He in turn, makes a vow to grant that wish, and stay in the shop until he meets Yūko again.
Mokona Modoki[]
Yūko and Larg are good friends. They share similar interests in food (they love snacks and sake) and can usually be found together. Mokona is usually seen on Yūko's shoulder or sitting beside her on the porch drinking with her. Yūko and Mokona also seem to be interested in the same activities. They were both very excited to do the 100 Ghost Stories and the Winter Games along with other things. Yūko sometimes also refers to Mokona as her "drinking partner."
Obasan[]
Obasan is one of Yuuko's oldest friends. She is Yuuko's fortuneteller, meaning that Yuuko trusts her with her future and whatever other aspect of her life that she might see in her fortune telling. In Obasan's home, one can see that on one of her bookshelves is a letter from Yuuko, held up on a stand. You cannot read what the letter says but it shows that Yuuko sometimes writes letters to Obasan and that Obasan likes Yuuko so much as a friend that she keeps her letters as a reminder of her in her home. Obasan is also the only person in the entire manga that calls Yuuko "Yuuko-chan." Everybody else calls her Yuuko-san. Also, when Kohane comes into Yuuko's care after she is taken away from her mother, Yuuko entrusts her to Obasan, knowing that she will take good care of her.
Haruka Doumeki[]
Yuuko and Haruka are good friends although we only see them meet once during the series. Before Yuuko dies, she meets Haruka in a dream. When Yuuko sees him, she says "This is the first time we have met this way" (she is referring to meeting in dreams). This shows that the two have met each other in the past and the two continue to talk as friends. Later on, after Yuuko's death, in a dream, Haruka tells Watanuki that when Yuuko and he talked, Yuuko asked him to take care of Watanuki. This shows that Yuuko trusted Haruka with Watanuki's care even if it only was in dreams.
Kitsune[]
She gave Kitsune and his son a birdcage. When Watanuki first finds the oden shop and brings some oden home to Yuuko, she recognized the food immediately and asked if it was Kitsune's oden. This shows that Yuuko had met and ate at Kitsune's oden shop a few times. Also, (in the anime) Kitsune invites Yuuko and Watanuki to a small feast at his oden stand. Yuuko and Watanuki go, inviting Himawari and Doumeki also. During the feast, Watanuki and his friends stray from the oden shop a bit to look at the stars and talk while Yuuko stays and converses with Kitsune.
Akari[]
Akari once jumped out of a picture when Watanuki was cleaning and when Yuuko sees her, she talks to her like good friends. Akari even said that she traveled a lot but, in her opinion, Yuuko was the best hostess. The two are good friends and they have sake together. Yuuko then tells Akari that it is a shame that they only get to see each other once every year, and Akari agrees. Every year, Akari gives Yuuko a type of seed where "the best sake" (in Yuuko's opinion) is collected. This is also an invitation to the Monster Procession.
Princess Tsubasa[]
Also known as the real/original Sakura. Her body was kept by Yūko for a long time, without Fei Wang knowing. As stated in Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, Yūko also suffered the same fate as Sakura, that she had her time severed in all dimensions and now, her time would flow once more.
Tsubasa Li[]
He was sent by his parents to Yūko because his mother dreamed of someone needing his help. He was then sent to Clow Country and met Princess Tsubasa. He then realized that the princess was marked by a seal of death and made a vow to protect or remove the princess' seal of death. He was then returned in Yūko's shop badly wounded after a battle with Fei Wang. He made a wish to return to Clow Country to fulfill his promise, with a payment of him being unable to meet his parents ever again.
Quotes[]
- "There is no such thing as a coincidence in this world. The only thing... ...is Hitsuzen!"
- "There are many unusual things in this world. Everyday events occur that cannot be explained. Bizarre phenomena that often go unnoticed because people close their eyes to what they don’t understand. But the truth of the matter is, there are many unusual things in this world. And people…. People are the most mysterious of them all."
- "If you give someone your name, they can take your soul. If you give them your birthday, they can control your life."
- "For everything you wish, you have to pay an equal price in return. You can't get more or give more. You can't get less or give less. It must be in balance, or else there will be chaos." - Chapter 1
- "Habit... A need to be conscious of it, and if a person does not want to get rid of it, then it cannot be rid of." - Chapter 3
- "Good and bad are human concepts, so something that is not human cannot be classified as neither good nor bad."
- "Living things are restrained by Chains: The laws of nature, the flow of time, the vessel known as your “body”, and the existence called your mind. The one chain that people can wield: WORDS."
- "Instead of regretting what we cannot do, it is better to do what one can. For example, what we do has nothing to do with results and so we must forge forwards."
- "No matter how small the problem is, how small the thing is, it will always effect the people around you."
- "Family is other people. No matter how close your blood relationship is…no matter what your relationship may be…anyone other than you is not you! And so you have to think it over and decide for yourself! Take away other people’s wants and needs, and decide if this is something that is necessary for you! It may cause hardships to others…but you want it. That’s your free will right there! But you ignore that and decide based on someone else's advice, because decency demands it, because people say it’s awful, you will fail to quit. No one could succeed that way! You don’t understand what you’re trying to do. With that as your background, how do you expect to make a promise to yourself? But the opposite way…there are risks there, too, of course. If you decide to take the action that best suits you, there will be people who won’t understand…people will be saddened by your actions"
- "If you believe in it, it is real, if you do not, it is fiction." - Chapter 9
- "Even family are still other people. Other than being related by blood, is there any other relation? Aside from yourself, everyone else will always be other people." - Chapter 6
- "Names are important. Names have power. It doesn't matter whether it's living or not. Once you have given something a name, you have embodied it with that same amount of power." - Chapter 7
- "Normal? What is normal? To do only what the masses do? What is the benefit of that? And what is the problem with adopting a custom that is abnormal if it has no negative effect on the world at large?" - Chapter 23
- "If you've decided that you can't do it even before you act, you have already made it into something impossible." - Chapter 24
- "Our relationship has been formed. No matter how trivial the meeting and the incidents that follow may seem, a relationship is made. Even if it is for a short amount of time, a knot that has been tied does not unravel. It means that during your lifetime, every incident that passes has meaning. The meeting between you and I also has meaning, so remember it."
- "Words, once it has left your mouth, it cannot be uncalled. It cannot be nullified. People don’t understand how strongly they’re tied down because of it. But they continue to use that lock. Words are something living and sometimes, it can even tie down a person’s life."
- "When one sacrifices oneself to help another, it could actually be painful to the person being helped, especially when that person is of importance to them."
- "Often times, people simply deny the existence of what they do not understand, and anyone who tells them otherwise is a liar. What they don’t know stays ‘unexplained’ and they are happy with that."
- "The rock, once it starts to roll down the hill, it won't stop. It will keep rolling until the end of the road."
- "Sometimes, even when the heart forgets, the body still remembers."
- "Everybody relates to others and shares something with them. That's why we can never truly be free. That's what makes us feel joy, sadness and love."
- "You don't only belong to yourself, you know? There isn't anything in this world that belongs only to yourself. Everyone has connections to someone else and shares something with them through these. That is why you can never be free."
- "Instead of regretting what we cannot do. It is better to do anything we can do. Even if what we do doesn't bring us to our goal it brings us that much closer to it"
Trivia[]
- She had a past relationship with Clow Reed.
- She is the one Fei Wang Reed wanted to revive completely to prove he was superior to Clow Reed who could only freeze her time, eventually causing the events of both xxxHOLiC and Tsubasa.
- She has a specific outfit that she always wears whenever she shows up in Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle.
- In Horitsuba Gakuen, she is a chairwoman and a Literature teacher who always climbs through the window.
- Yuuko is an alcoholic. This however, is pretty obvious as she is most of the time seen drinking wine, beer, or other alcoholic beverages. The most is that she is seen drinking sake with fish as she called it really delicious.
- Interestingly, all of Yuuko's customers in the story are all female - with the exception of the old man that received the cage filled with "Illusion Birds", birds that can only be seen its shadow in the full moon. Watanuki and Doumeki are not included as they are employee and friend respectively.
- Yuuko is hardly seen wearing the same outfit all the time, since she only wears them once (she never wears the same outfits twice, except for the black dress that she used to send the Tsubasa gang to other dimensions which she is seen in anytime there's a plot point related to Tsubasa, and a kimono with butterfly wings attached to the obi that is seen mostly in Watanuki's dreams).
- Her real eye color is not known as she changes it most of the time to fit with her outfits. However, the most consistently used color for her eyes is a wine red.
- Her recurring theme is the butterfly. Almost all of her outfits have a butterfly design to it. An example is her OVA kimono, the obi is designed to resemble a butterfly.
- This butterfly theme is especially symbolic since this was the theme for the outfit she chose to die in. Incidentally, in an earlier chapter when Yuuko used a location spell that turned a handkerchief into a butterfly, she mused that "if it had to go farther, it would turn into a bird". So she being the butterfly who fades away and Kimihiro - her successor - whose symbol is the bird is the next level to go further.
- Kakei makes a reference of her when Kazehaya asks him why Watanuki can't leave the shop (Drug and Drop, Ch 6)
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 https://chibiyuuto.com/clamp-interviews/clamp-interview-clamp-no-kiseki-vol-10-xxxholic-june2005/
- ↑ XXXHOLiC manga volume 1, chapter 1
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