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Himawari Kunogi
Profile
Age 15-17
25-27 (XxxHolic:Rou)
Birthday November 27
Characteristics
Gender Female
Hair Curly pigtails
Appearances
First Appearance
(Manga)
Chapter 1
Chapter 192 (Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle)
First Appearance
(Anime)
Episode 2
Voices
Seiyuu Shizuka Itō
English Cherami Leigh
Quote1 You are very kind, Watanuki-kun. Whoever your thread of fate is connected, I know that you will be happy with that person. Quote2
--Himawari to Watanuki on xxxHolic Shiminuki (CD Drama)

Himawari Kunogi (九軒ひまわり Kunogi Himawari) is one of the supporting characters in the Clamp manga and anime, XxxHOLiC.

Himawari is the crush of Kimihiro Watanuki. She is often cheering for him, if not commenting him and Shizuka Doumeki on their "comedy acts" together. She does share and give food to Doumeki and Watanuki, yet it's never food which she herself made. This has become a running gag in the series: every time Himawari gives food, whether to Watanuki or Doumeki, Watanuki assumes that she was the one who made it.

Despite the fact that Watanuki is very open in showing his feelings and admiration for her, she seems very oblivious to the fact that he likes her. She has never shown any favoritism between the two, but Watanuki always thinks that she prefers Doumeki.

Himawari is also the only human besides Watanuki, Doumeki, and Yuuko that Mokona Modoki interacts with regularly.

Appearance[]

Himawari appears as a beautiful young girl with a slender figure. She wears her uniform most of the time and is rarely seen with another clothing, except for kimonos. When she is not wearing her uniform, she usually chooses to wear one-piece dresses of a single color in its different shades. She has long curly hair which falls below her waist, tied into two pigtails since she was a child.

As the series progresses, Himawari continues to grow and develops a more shapely body but still uses the same choice for clothing. She undoes her signature pigtails, allowing her hair to cover the scars on her back.

Personality[]

Himawari is a kind, bright, friendly, and relaxed young lady who always wears a smile. She remains positive to most events in her life and even jokingly compares Watanuki's fights with Doumeki to plays and comedy sketches. She also seems to be a professionally-capable individual and keeps her composure most of the time while also showing a certain level of understanding about most things that happen around her such as when she explains something complicated that has been said by other characters. She also seems to be quite daring given how she loves ghost stories and gets involved in some of Watanuki's paranormal escapades by choice sometimes.

However, Himawari has also a darker side of her. She can be serious when needed and is capable of keeping her smile intact even when she is explaining something very disturbing. Despite her innocent mind and naïve nature, she is actually very mature and has been aware of Watanuki's feelings for her since they met.

Biography[]

Past and Early Life Stories[]

Himawari-2

In the beginning of the manga when Himawari was first introduced Yūko had already said that Himawari was "not Watanuki's goddess of good luck" and this has been suggested strongly throughout subsequent storylines.

During the case of the Lady with Bad Habits, Watanuki met up with Himawari just before the girl was killed in a car accident (this scene was altered in the anime to exclude Himawari's presence and to let the girl survive). After, in the Monkey's Paw case, the university student-teacher at some point drops the item in the school hallway. Being nearby, Himawari offers to help pick it up. At the moment she touches the item, the seal of the monkey's paw opens resulting in the student-teacher's high curiosity only to lead to her tragic fate. Even more alluding to Himawari's role against luck, the student-teacher often ironically boasted about her case of lucky streaks before her death.

In the 100 Ghost Stories chapter, Yūko said that "all the players" were present; being Watanuki, Doumeki, herself, the dead man in the other room and Himawari. Each had a role to play, as Yūko explained at the end of the ceremony. While she mentions that Watanuki and Doumeki were necessary to draw out and then exorcise the spirit while Yūko herself was required to explain what they needed to do, she fails to reveal Himawari's role because Doumeki has returned with sake, Yūko's favorite drink.

Yūko did not further comment what role Himawari was to play in that group. Himawari's presence seems to always foreshadow bad luck, such was when Watanuki has a seemingly prophetic dream on the day he gave his eye to the spider, in which he saw Himawari through half of his vision. The Ame Warashi is cautious of her presence (Although it may just be because Himawari's name means 'Sunflower' while Ame-Warashi is a rain sprite). Speculations may also add that Dōmeki himself may know/feel something strange about Himawari since he has always accompanied Watanuki whenever the two should be alone.

Watanuki was slowly sensing the difference in Himawari.[1]

After Watanuki nearly died after falling from the 2nd story of their school, Himawari for the first time was seen inside Yūko's shop to pay the price to stop Watanuki from death. It is revealed that she is aware to the fact she is bad luck not only to Watanuki, but to everyone around her and has since been waiting for him to point it out.[2]

After this incident, she tried to say goodbye for the last time to Watanuki; however, Watanuki refused to let her go and slightly confesses to her that he likes being with her and that her presence makes him happy. Himawari reluctantly agreed to continue being friends with him and is seen crying out of happiness because it was the first time anyone told her that they were happy to be with her. It was at this moment where it is shown the price she paid to prevent Watanuki from dying is by forever bearing all of his scars from the fall. Subsequently, Himawari lets her hair down (as opposed to tying two long ponytails), likely to hide the scars from Watanuki lest he gets upset.

Recently Watanuki gave Himawari a magical bird that according to Yūko, is immune to her bad luck (it is revealed that her "power" also does not affect Doumeki because is similar to Tanpopo). Himawari asked him to give a name to it and Watanuki chose to name it "Tanpopo" (the Japanese name for dandelion) because of its yellow color, also dandelions and sunflowers are both yellow flowers. It is revealed in Chapter 209/Volume 18 of the manga that Himawari is married with a businessman who knows about Watanuki and accept their friendship.

Bad Luck[]

As Yūko has previously stated, Himawari is a normal human. She possesses no special powers or unusual abilities. In chapter 118, Himawari explains to Watanuki that he is not the only one affected by the bad luck she seems to bring.

Since childhood, no matter where Himawari goes, unfortunate things seem to happen. By simply picking up a ball near her home, the house next door became the target of arson. People she was connected to were hurt, including all her friends, a girl in the neighborhood who ended up committing suicide, and her class teacher was stabbed by his wife when he was caught in an affair.

Concerned that Himawari may be possessed or using occult magic, her grandmother took her to a priest who found nothing evil attached to her. While this was the priest's conclusion, he regarded Himawari sadly and informed her grandmother that the only people immune to Himawari's tendency to bring bad luck were her parents by virtue of the fact they brought her into this world. Not long afterwards, Himawari's grandmother died; though Himawari realizes her grandmother was ill and also elderly, she believes that she contributed to her grandmother's death.

At the beginning of the series, her bad luck affected Watanuki indirectly, she makes Watanuki watch people get killed or find corpses. Later when she touches him, a dark miasma covers Watanuki and hurts him when he can has an accident. It's also mentioned that her bad luck is away when Doumeki is close to her because of his pure aura. Himawari is more affected by her bad luck than everyone else, she watches people get hurt and even the ones who stay with her can't see her anymore like when Watanuki became the shop owner, she can't see him anymore because her bad luck doesn't let her enter to the shop without being hurt.

Throughout the series, before Himawari revealing herself her chronic bad luck, several hints are given about her handicap. When Watanaki visits Doumeki at his temple, to help him search in his grandfather's storage books that could help ending the spider's malediction and give Watanuki's eye back, shortly after finding a book with a sort allowing to recover an eye stolen by a spider, a spirit suddenly appears and starts eating the letters from the sort. It was later pointed out by Yūko that the letter-eating spirit had also eaten part of Himawari's book which had been brought by Watanuki, who was asked to give it to Doumeki. Yūko immediately understood that the spirit had been brought in the storage through Himawari's book as an effect of her bad luck, giving a small clue to the reader.

Relationships[]

Kimihiro Watanuki[]

Himawari's classmate and a close friend of her. Since the beginning of the manga, they have remained close: often sharing lunches, sometimes flirting with each other and Himawari has even asked him on a date once. Her interactions with Watanuki usually end in Himawari comically leaving him with Doumeki as his companion, making her the pillar of his relationship with Doumeki.

After putting Watanuki in some misfortune situations, she starts to spend less time alone with him to protect him from her curse while secretly hoping that one day he would notice it and cut any connections with her. However, Watanuki remained oblivious to this and even after realizing it, he decides to remain by her side, much to Himawari's surprise and delight.

Himawari cares deeply care for Watanuki, a feeling that is usually seen during the series since Watanuki experiences many dangerous situations, sometimes, putting his life at stake on a regular basis. She has offered her assistance in a few occasions and wishes for his well-being, even making him pinky-promise her that he won't push himself too hard. Some volumes after the accident, Watanuki starts being more carefully around to her and they spend more time together but always keeping Doumeki around them. At this point, Himawari starts to interact closer to him and, eventually, realizes her feelings for him.

After Watanuki decides to never leave the shop again, Himawari grows apart from him because her misfortune is bad for the shop and for her own sake so she promises that she will only visit the shop on his birthday. Himawari confess her feelings to Watanuki and they start a long-distance relationship and talk via telephone. 10 years later, Himawari gets married to somebody else who knows about Watanuki and accept their relationship but they are not able to meet each other because her husband can´t enter the shop and Watanuki can´t leave.

Shizuka Doumeki[]

Much to Watanuki's jealousy and annoyance. Doumeki hangs around her and Watanuki at every chance when they could be alone. Nonetheless, Himawari treats them equally as friends and often teases or compliments on how the two get along. Doumeki is one of the few that can actually sense the difference in Himawari, he is also aware of Watanuki's feelings for her. He seems to keep a close eye on Watanuki and Himawari whenever they are together since Watanuki often gets affected by her bad luck. He is also helping her to be more open about hanging out with them rather than hiding and running away from her friends.

Yūko Ichihara and Mokona[]

Himawari is a person that Yūko is fascinated with, much to the annoyance of Watanuki; because Yūko always teases him that she is not his "Goddess of Luck". She was quick to notice bad luck around Himawari, but treated her with good cheer and even invited her on small picnics and outings she sets up for the trio. Mokona, being cute as she is, can always be seen playing with Himawari when they meet. The two of them do not seem to be affected by Himawari's bad luck.

Etymology[]

  • Her given name Himawari means "sunflower" (ひまわり), which is one of the city flowers of Kitakyushu, a city in Japan. The Kokura region within the city is known as "Lucky Kokura" as it was the primary target of America's "Fat Man" nuclear bomb towards the end of World War II. However, due to the city having complete cloud cover on the day of the bombing, America was forced to bomb its second option, Nagasaki, instead. As hard as it may be to tell if this is symbolic, it should be noted that - like the city - Himawari isn't affected by bad luck, but those around her are.
  • Himawari's surname Kunogi means "nine" (九) (ku) and "flats, counter for houses, eaves" (軒) (noki/nogi).
    • The character "九" (ku) of Himawari's surname is the same as the kanji for the number 9, which the Japanese consider unlucky because it sounds similar to the word for pain ("kutsū") and coincides with her role of bringing bad luck and pain to Watanuki. Possibly lending into this is Himawari's birthday, November 27th; November was originally the ninth month of the Roman calendar and comes from the Latin novem, meaning "nine," while the digits of 27 (2+7) add up to 9.

Quotes[]

  • "Watanuki-kun and Doumeki-kun are really good friends."
  • "The more we are, the funnier we'll be."
  • "There are things than just by talking to them, touching them or getting involved with them bring bad luck to others. Even if it's human... no, because it's human. They exist."

Trivia[]

  • Himawari's birthday is November 27, making her a Sagittarius. She likes sweets, romantic novels, astrology, and ghost stories, and is the only child in her family.
  • It's been hinted that Himawari may have met or believes to have met Haruka Doumeki. In episode 2 of xxxHOLiC Kei, Doumeki mentions that his grandfather was an exorcist and he died when Doumeki was in elementary school, Himawari suddenly has a flashback of her grandmother. In episode 12, Himawari said that her grandmother took her to an exorcist who told her about her bad luck when she was in elementary school so it's possible that the exorcist was Haruka Doumeki.
  • Himawari is not the guilty about the window's accident. It's later revealed by Yuko that Watanuki unconsciously tried to erase his own existence when he felt that Syaoran was going to die making the accident a suicide attempt.
  • Himawari is good at playing the piano. In the series, it's mentioned that she takes piano lessons and in Horitsuba Gakuen CD Drama it can be heard how she plays piano at a pro-level.
  • Many character have feelings for Watanuki, but Himawari is the only who has confessed her love to him.
  • Despite she lets her hair down instead her two pigtails to cover her scars, in Horitsuba Gakuen, Himawari still wears these two hair styles.
  • The people who are not affected by Himawari's bad luck: her parents, Doumeki, Yūko, and possibly Mokona and her husband.
  • Although Watanuki and Doumeki are her best friends, she never calls them by their names.
  • Along with Dōmeki she is one of the best students of Tsuji private academy making her part of the Student council.
  • Watanuki mentioned once that he has lot of rivals for Himawari's love hinting that Himawari is very popular among men.
  • It was revealed in xxxHolic Rei that Himawari owns an iPhone and her case has designs of sunflowers (Reference To her Name).

References[]

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