Shizuka Dōmeki

Shizuka Dōmeki
'xxxHolic' character
Created by	Clamp
In-universe information
Species	Human
Gender	Male
Occupation	Student/Archer
Relatives	Haruka Doumeki (Grandfather)(Deceased)

Shizuka Dōmeki (百目鬼 静, Dōmeki Shizuka) 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 said many times by various characters that Watanuki will be linked to someone that will make a major contribution to his life. The clearest citation of all this 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; he often has a sarcastic way of making Watanuki help out with his chores, and usually manages to get Watanuki to make his lunch for him. Although Domeki irritates 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 and rude around Watanuki and is sometimes annoyed with his many eccentricities, Dōmeki does seem to have a great deal of concern over his wellbeing, as shown in the following instances:

Volume 3 - Angel San Arc: When Watanuki fell from the school rooftop, Domeki caught him and held on to his hand, despite the fact that his own arm was injured and bleeding.

Volume 5 - Hydrangea Arc: When Watanuki was dragged into the Ajasai, Domeki stood by the hydrangea bush for ten hours in the rain, waiting for him to re-emerge.

Volume 5 - Fallen Angel Arc: When the irate girl was about to attack Watanuki with a box cutter, he caught and held the blade with his bare hand, injuring himself in the process.

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 In The Park (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, although he knew that by saving him, he would incur his further hate.

Volume 7 - Spider Grudge Arc: In volume 7, Dōmeki invokes the wrath of a spider when he destroys its web whilst spring cleaning. 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 to himself, causing him to lose his own eye to save Domeki's. When he discovers what Watanuki has done to save his sight, Dōmeki becomes very agitated, loses his self control by shouting at Watanuki and throws him against 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. As a result, he and Watanuki sometimes share visions since they share half an eye.

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 prepares ginger tea for him at his house.

Volume 10 - Himawari Arc: In chapter 118-119 of the manga, Watanuki falls from a second-storey window as a result of bad luck transferred to him by Himawari. When Domeki sees him falling, he brings him to Yuko's shop and finally is able to enter, becoming a client of Yuko's when he pays her for saving Watanuki by giving a measure of his own blood equal to that lost by Watanuki in the fall. He also promises Himawari he will let her enjoy a cake with Watanuki in private, although he later breaks his promise in chapter 122 by suddenly jumping out of the window and sitting next to Watanuki.

Volume 11 - Kohane Arc Chapter 139: Domeki pulls Watanuki out of harms way again when Kohane's "Mother" attacks him for speaking to and drinking tea with Kohane. Dōmeki also seems to be sensing something different about Kohane's mother and her violent nature. Also, in this chapter Yūko and Mokona state that Dōmeki and Watanuki are both changing on the inside as a result of the blood and eye that they share. They also state that Dōmeki will be a part of the final battle or challenge that Watanuki has to face.

Volume 12: This volume introduces Sakura, who enters the dream world in which she and Watanuki meet. At these times, Watanuki blanks out from time to time, which is a cause of much concern to Dōmeki. At one point, when Watanuki regains consciousness, 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 to stop her hitting Watanuki. 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 great 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.

Domeki prefers actions to words in showing his affection towards Watanuki, but although he prefers to address Watanuki as simply 'hey', 'you', or 'idiot', on the rare occasions where he does speak Watanuki's name he does so without any of the normal suffixes of '-kun' or '-san'. In Japanese culture, this is often seen either as a gesture of great affection and intimacy towards another, or hugely rude. Watanuki usually takes it as being the latter.

Apart from this, though, Domeki usually speaks through his actions; when it comes to actual conversation with Watanuki, he mostly remains either highly sarcastic or monosyllabic. Whenever Watanuki makes any gesture that might indicate that he likes or trusts Domeki (for example, when in chapter 155, he says that he wasn't worried because Dōmeki would be there for him) Dōmeki asks him if he's hit his head on something. This, inevitably, causes Watanuki to fly into a rage, and as a result, 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 her that one day, he saw Watanuki standing in the rain, tenderly holding a dead animal. He heard Watanuki say, "I'll die like this too. Alone." As a result, Domeki resolved never to leave Watanuki alone, although this 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 OVA xxxHOLiC Shunmuki.

In chapter 163, when Watanuki meets Haruka in his sleep, Haruka decides to talk about Domeki. Watanuki rambles on about how much of a glutton the archer is for always eating so much of the food he cooks, and says that he'd probably eat anything put in front of him, no matter what it was. However, Haruka disagrees, and reveals that Dōmeki had never in his life chosen to eat anything that he did not truly approve of or did not really want. As the dream ends, Haruka says, "He just doesn't like to put anything in his mouth unless he's properly satisfied with it." Watanuki is confused, but before he can ask for clarification, he is woken by Dōmeki tapping on his shoulder and calling him an idiot. What Haruka says seems to be the truth; although Domeki willingly eats whatever Watanuki gives him, and occasionally steals Watanuki's own food or food that he had speacially prepared for Himawari, in chapter 165, when Watanuki gives Dōmeki some of the potatoes made by Yūko's newest client, he chokes on it and refuses to eat any more after his first bite. Later (see chapter 166) Dōmeki tells to Watanuki that he "couldn't tell who made them [the nikorogashi]." and that he "couldn't feel anything" from that person's cooking.

In Episode Eight of Season Two, Domeki takes Watanuki on a date to the sweet shop that he had stared at the start of the episode. After bringing some Kuromitsu Kanten, a kind of caramel sweet, to Yuko, she asks Watanuki if he had gone to the sweet shop on a date with Himawari-chan. He replies "I went with Domeki. Any problem?"

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.