Shizuka Dōmeki

Shizuka Dōmeki (百目鬼 静) is a fictional character in the Clamp manga, and anime, xxxHolic. The manga is currently ongoing and the anime series started 6 April 2006. In the anime he is voiced by Kazuya Nakai.

Name
The kanji of Dōmeki's given name, Shizuka ("静") means "quiet or calm" and is likely meant to reflect his character. In conversation the word is often used in a command that literally means "be quiet" (shizuka ni), something often said to Watanuki. Likewise, the kanji of his family name are individually read as "numerous" "eye" and "ghost or spirit" likely referring to the role of members of his family as exorcists as well as his ability to protect Watanuki from harm, as well as a possible inside reference to the incident when the spider took his eye.

Character
Shizuka Dōmeki is Kimihiro Watanuki's classmate and considered a rival by Watanuki. He is part of the school's kyūdō club and often participates (and tops) school competitions. Also because of his cool and calm composure he is very popular with the girls.

He lives in a shrine owned by his late grandfather, a priest who during Domeki's childhood told him a lot of stories about folklore and shinto practices. However, despite his heritage, Dōmeki has a nearly null ability of seeing ghosts or spirits, though he can still exorcise them. He does seem to be able to feel spiritual "pressure" and have a vague sense of their presence. One spirit he did see was the Lady in the Park that Watanuki often visited.

Dōmeki has a pure or refreshing scent as noted by the Ame-Warashi. Kohane noted that Dōmeki was a 'beautiful' or 'pretty' person, most likely referring to his spirit or aura. Naturally, Watanuki is bewildered (and rather agitated) by this. Dōmeki cannot enter Yuuko's Store, the explanation why is later revealed on volume 8. His technique of exorcising spirits is by shooting them with an invisible arrow made of pure energy, as first revealed in volume 2.

Originally Dōmeki could not see the spirits/ghosts that Watanuki could see (like that of the oden shop owner and the Ghost Girl who haunted a scary home) but after he shared both his blood and half his eye with Watanuki he was able to eventually see and experience what Watanuki goes through.

Personality
Dōmeki's personality is a total opposite of Watanuki's. He has a cool, calm and often sarcastic demeanor. He barely speaks unless explaining folklore or asking Watanuki for impossible bento lunches (such as asking for food that is out of season or hard to find). He also has a deadpan sense of humor that is often dark and somewhat fatalistic. Much to the annoyance of Watanuki he seems to pop up everywhere, especially when Watanuki gets a chance to be with Himawari. He often replies in a one word phrase like "Hn" or "Oh". He is also very observant, and even though he does not show it he seems to be very protective of Watanuki, such as in Volume 5 where he stood for hours in the rain to make sure Watanuki was safe and in Volume 6 during the incident with the spirit in the park. Volume 9 of the manga through Dōmeki's New Years dream we find out he looks like his late grandfather Haruka. His grandfather also knows more about Dōmeki's past, and bears an uncanny resemblance to his grandson (though Watanuki points out that Haruka smiles much more).

Relationship with Watanuki
It has been sighted multiple times by various characters that Watanuki will be linked to someone that will make a major contribution to his life. The clearest citation of this all is the phrase "someone he (Watanuki) will constantly fight with." This is believed to be Dōmeki and was later confirmed. Dōmeki is constantly seen throughout the series as an annoyance to Watanuki. Dōmeki often has a sarcastic way of making Watanuki help out with his chores as well as make lunches for him. Yūko has advised Watanuki to stay close to Dōmeki, since his mere presence drives away evil spirits. Thus because of this Yūko always asks Watanuki to bring Dōmeki along his "assignments".

Even though Dōmeki may seem sarcastic around Watanuki and is sometimes annoyed with his eccentricity, Dōmeki does hold a large amount of concern for him- as shown in the following instances:


 * Volume 3 Angel San Arc: When Watanuki fell over the school rooftop, he caught him and held on to his hand despite the fact that his arm was injured.
 * Volume 5 Hydrangea Arc: Where he dug up a hole and waited for 10 hours in the rain for Watanuki to re-emerge from the Ajasai after Watanuki disappeared.
 * Volume 5 Fallen Angel Arc: He stood up for Watanuki against the irate girl and caught the box cutter she wielded in his fist before she could stab Watanuki with his bare hand, causing him to bleed.
 * Volume 6 Temptation Arc: After much concern about Watanuki’s decline in health and rescuing him after he collapsed at Yūko’s shop, Dōmeki made a choice of shooting the Lady (who appeared transparent to him) with his arrow. Later on in the story, Yūko explained that Dōmeki did this because he did not want to lose Watanuki despite gaining his hate.
 * Volume 7 Spider Grudge Arc: In volume 7, Dōmeki invokes the wrath of a spider when he destroys its web and in revenge, his right eye is sewn over with a spider web. Upon learning that Dōmeki will eventually lose the sight in that eye, Watanuki finds a way to transfer the spider’s grudge (making Watanuki lose his eye to save Dōmeki's) to himself. In response, Dōmeki becomes very agitated and concerned and loses his self control by shouting at him and pushing him towards the wall. He starts researching ways to get Watanuki’s eye back. In volume 8 Watanuki goes to see the Spider Queen to save the Zashiki-Warashi but in the process he completely loses his right eye's sight. Dōmeki then decides to give half of his right eye’s sight to Yuko so she can transfer it to Watanuki. Currently, he and Watanuki sometimes share visions since they share half an eye. This is only one of the many situations in which the two lend each other a helping hand.
 * Volume 9 Kohane Arc: After Watanuki gives his umbrella to Kohane at the park, Dōmeki appears shortly after in a very awkward yet touching moment. He tells him "Idiots don't catch colds. But maybe dumbasses do" and shelters him under his umbrella. He also prepared ginger tea for him at his house.
 * Volume 10 Himawari Arc: In chapter 118-119 of the manga, he saw Watanuki falling from the schoolbuilding and was the one who brought him to Yūko's shop. Because of this, he now became a client of Yūko and was able to finally enter the shop, for in order to save Watanuki, he gave his blood as a replacement for the amount of blood Watanuki lost. He also promised Himawari he would let her enjoy a cake with Watanuki in private (chapter 119) which he broke in chapter 122 by suddenly jumping out of the window and sitting next to Watanuki.
 * Volume 11 Kohane Arc Chapter 139: Where Kohane's "Mother" tried to hit Watanuki after she saw Kohane speaking and drinking tea with them. Dōmeki was able to pull Watanuki out of the woman's way. Dōmeki seems to be sensing something different about Kohane's mom and her violent nature. Also in this chapter Yūko and Mokona stated that Dōmeki and Watanuki are both changing in the inside (part of the eyes they both share and blood he donated) and that Dōmeki will indeed be a part of the final " battle" or challenge that Watanuki has to face.
 * Volume 12: The manga introduces Sakura entering the dream world in which she and Watanuki would meet. At these time Watanuki would just blank out from time to time, causing much concern to Dōmeki especially after Kohane's mother splashed Watanuki with hot water, when Watanuki blacked out to dream state and barely got Haruka's warning before going conscious. At one point, when Watanuki regains consciousness (either at school or on the street), Dōmeki insists that Watanuki return home to sleep.
 * Chapter 149-155: Dōmeki helps Watanuki as he tries to break into a television studio doing a live psychic broadcast involving Kohane. When Watanuki holds Kohane and shields her from her mother's blows, Dōmeki physically restrains her so she can stop hitting him. Later at Yūko's store, he expresses concern over both Watanuki and Kohane's situations, repeatedly questioning Watanuki about his motives. However, he makes fun of him when Watanuki states that he wasn't worried since Dōmeki would protect him.

The relationship between Watanuki and Dōmeki is growing stronger with Watanuki gradually beginning to accept Dōmeki's presence. It is clear that Watanuki is of significance to Dōmeki but as little is known of the latter's past beyond his interaction with Watanuki, it has been unclear (until recently; see chapter 159) how or why Dōmeki makes an effort to associate himself with Watanuki. He prefers to address Watanuki as simply 'hey', 'you', or 'idiot', but on the rare occasions where he does speak Watanuki's name he does so without any of the normal suffixes of '-kun' or '-san'.

Dōmeki shows that he cares only through actions. Whenever Watanuki thanks him or, such as the case in chapter 155, says that he wasn't worried because Dōmeki would be there for him, Dōmeki asks if he has hit his head on something. This will inevitably get a rise out of Watanuki, and Dōmeki can avoid giving an answer. Again, it is unsure why he does this.

In chapter 159 Dōmeki reveals to Kohane Tsuyuri why he stays with Watanuki. He tells of one day he saw Watanuki standing in the rain, holding a dead animal tenderly. He hears Watanuki say, "I'll die like this too. Alone." Dōmeki's intention of not leaving Watanuki alone is the contrary of what the latter wants, as he unconsciously believes he should be alone (chapter 167). After telling Kohane this she asks him to take care of Watanuki and not to hesitate when the moment comes that he'll be needed. This chapter was used in the XXXHolic OAV xxxHOLiC Shunmuki.

When Watanuki falls asleep in chapters 162-163, he talks with Haruka. Then later in, chapter 163, Haruka and Watanuki decide to talk about Dōmeki. Watanuki rambles on about how much of a glutton Dōmeki is for always eating so much of the food he cooks. He says he'd probably eat anything you put in front of him. However, Haruka disagrees. It is revealed that Dōmeki doesn't eat a single thing unless he really approves of it. He would never eat anything, unless it was something he really wanted to eat. Before the dream ended, Haruka said, "He just doesn't like to put anything in his mouth unless he's properly satisfied with it." Watanuki gave him a confused look, then was awoken by Dōmeki tapping on his shoulder and calling him an idiot.

This seems to be true. Dōmeki will eat whatever Watanuki prepares, and the food they get together at restaurants. However, in chapter 165, when Watanuki gives Dōmeki some of the potatoes made by Yūko's newest client, he sort of "choked" on it and didn't touch it after his first bite.

In chapter 166, Dōmeki said to Watanuki that he "couldn't tell who made them [nikorogashi]." He said that he "couldn't feel anything" from that person's cooking.

In Episode 08 of the second season, Dōmeki takes Watanuki on a date at the Sweet Shop he stares at the start of the episode. After bringing some Kuromitsu (Caramel) Kanten to Yūko, she asks Watanuki if he had a date with Himawari-chan. "I went with Dōmeki. Any problem?" he answered.

Dōmeki and Yūko's Shop
Early on in the manga Dōmeki and Yūko Ichihara separately stated that Dōmeki could not enter Yūko's store. This was finally explained in volume 8 of the manga; since he does not need her store, he does not see it. To Dōmeki, the area where the shop is supposedly standing is just a huge empty lot with old posts. In the lady in the park episode where Yūko calls him to wait for Watanuki after he collapsed, Watanuki seemingly appears out of nowhere.

However in Volume 10 of the manga, after Watanuki's near death experience from falling, upon Yūko's orders he brought Watanuki to Yūko's shop. He was able to enter because this time he and Himawari needed to pay the price to Yūko in order to save Watanuki.

Trivial

 * Dōmeki's birthday is on March 3, which is also Hinamatsuri, a fact that Watanuki has once teased him on.
 * In volume 9 when Watanuki first saw Dōmeki's grandfather Haruka, his style of exorcising spirits was also shooting a bow and arrow.
 * Archery is occasionally used in Shinto ceremonies; Dōmeki happens to live in a Buddhist temple and his grandfather was a Shinto priest. The concept of exorcising spirits with a bow and arrows is not uncommon in pop culture in Japan; this idea appears in Rumiko Takahashi's Inuyasha, where two of the female leads (Kagome Higurashi and Kikyo) both employ arrows channeling their own spiritual power to cleanse and eliminate enemies.

Shizuka Dōmeki