Watanuki’s face when he found out that Yuuko was planning to do something to make him and Himawari get closer together was just priceless. The episode itself also was just great. Ghost stories, who doesn’t love them? Basically, Yuuko had a 100 Tales of Horror in mind. Or at least a shortened version. It’s basically a ritual, which the japanese used in order to tell ghost stories.
To Watanuki’s displeasure, Domeki’s invited as well. The four of them prepare a bit, and then each of them tells a story. Himawari begins, and her story is the best in my opinion. Domeki makes use of a standard story with a fast climax. Watanuki tells about something that actually happened to him, while Yuuko invites some actual spirits to tell their own story.
Himawari’s may have been the best, Watanuki’s strory was also pretty interesting. As it was something that really happened to him, there is no climax. As a kid, he walked to some place, and at a crossing, he saw a very weird guy cross the streets, wearing an expensive suit, a top hat and an umbrella. At the next crossing, the guy appeared again, and once more at the third crossing. Yuuko then mentions the fact that if Watanuki continued one more time, things would’ve become nasty, as the number four equals the number six or thirteen in western culture. This is of course, logical as four is spoken as Shi, which means the same thing as death. This does make you wonder, however. What were the guys who invented the japanese thinking when they gave these the same meaning?
Interesting note: Mokona eating a watermelon was just too cute. Another interesting note: same with its suction power. Yet another interesting note: Himawari and Domeki were able to see the spirits this time. One more interesting side-note: Himawari does get worried about Watanuki at one point (*wink, wink*). One final interesting note: remember the movie? That also happened during the summer holidays, so at one point, somewhere before this episode, the movie took place.
It’s also typical that Watanuki really does not have the guts to be with Himawari alone, and that he always ends up being together with Domeki for some reason. I like this about him: his dependance on others. Yuuko’s evil personality also is just wonderful. You really know that she’ll show up with plans that Watanuki absolutely does not look forward to. Overall, I really liked this episode. But then again, how can someone who’s a big fan of stories like that not like it? ^^
Four and death do not MEAN the same in Japanese, they merely SOUND the same, they are homonyms. However, this is due to Japanese being a Chinese-derived language.
Four as “shi” is when the word “four” is pronounced as a kanji(Chinese character), the purely Japanese pronunciation of “four” is actually “yon.” Death is also “shi” because it uses the kanji borrowed from the Chinese language, and consequently sounds close to the original pronunciation.
Korean, also being derived from Chinese, is the same. Four and death sound the same due to their Chinese roots, and is equally taboo as it is in Japanese culture. Again, it is this way only because of how four and death are pronounced as “hanja”(Chinese character). In purely Korean pronunciation four is “net” and death is “jook-eum.”
English by comparison is actually a much sloppier language. There is virtually at least one exception to every grammatic rule(why even make rules?), and English is flooded with words that have multiple different meanings. At least in Chinese, Korean, and Japanese, all the homonyms have a different Chinese character behind it. In English, there is virtually no way of differentiating between different meanings of a word in anyway without the use of explicit definitions.