Yuuko in my eyes

...the actual application that I wrote

The first thing I must say about Yuuko is that she definitely is my favorite character of all time - Clamp and non Clamp, I don't think anyone can beat the love and adoration I feel for her (I mean the other characters, I love her definitely the most, sorry for my lousy English). So, now get ready because this will be long, because there is lot of stuff. I really love this character in a lot of ways, and I'll definitely describe it here!
You know, I could begin by saying it was love at first sight, the moment I saw her I was in love- (and to think I normally don’t really like female characters – so she is even more special), so let's begin with the exteriority: We all know that in life the first thing we notice are the looks, and she has them.

Whatever she wears, she looks stunning, ok you'll say hey she is a drawn character, but I'll answer: hey there are drawn characters that aren't really good in everything their creators draw on them, or like when they put them on some weird clothes, I think Yuuko would look fabulous cosplaying mokona too.What I love most about her appearence is her hair, she was drawn with a cut that can seem short, but actually she has very long beautiful black hair... I can't have it as long as her, because I have tiny hair but, but I did cut my bangs like her... ok, not this is kind of sick, I know. Her hair rocks.

Now let’s pass on to the personality, she has a wicked one, really, you never know how she will react to the situation, what she will do or how she will do it. She is the kind that goes with the flow. She doesn’t think too much about small things, her only real concern (that we come to know later on in the manga) is Watanuki and the final battle that she was preparing for a long time. Those are the only two things that worry her; beside that, she is a happy go-lucky woman, who also can be a total mystery. We don’t even know if her name is really Yuuko Ichihara, actually we are more sure about the fact that Yuuko is NOT her real name. She will make wishes come true, but for every wish the price must be paid. And sometimes if you are lucky you’ll get some pieces of advice advice for free, but only if you are really lucky.

She also wants to educate Watanuki in what she is doing, we don’t know why she wants to do it, because in the end everything in xxxHolic and Tsubasa Reservoir, and even more around Yuuko is like in a veil of mystery. She is the kind of character that makes you wonder, but at the same time she makes you smile, and even if she has all those COSMIC powers, still at the same time she seems so close to normality (if that we can call normality). For me personally it is, maybe because of that I feel her so close to me. In a way I can say I’m so infatuated with her because sometimes I feel we are similar, ok, I don’t have all that power, but I’m talking about her personality, she is the kind of how I would like to be – she knows what she is doing, she knows what to say in the moment when it’s needed, she is a good public relator too (ok ignore this one XD), it doesn't take much for her to convince people, but at the same time she leaves them their own choice. She knows the future (not everything, but something yes), but she doesn’t tell exactly, she wants people to find their own way, because as I learned from here, hitsuzen… but there is not one way to it. While ones destiny is written, the path to it is not, she leaves the choice to the person and even if a person can have two destinies, she never tells, She tries to make them understand that it is still the person's choice alone. (like in the beginning with the girl that was lying and didn’t know, she wanted her to understand alone, because if she told her it would have been useless, the girl wouldn’t believe… so she died in the end, because she had chosen the path of death.)

And there is another thing that I adore… she collects stuff, ok she collects COOL stuff, but also I collect too stuff, while mines are only mangas (all kinds of them really!) and figures (of clamp (still waiting to get my Yuuko <o<), one piece (ok more likely Aces) and naruto (I have my favourites XD – except iruka ç_ç can’t find a cute one… ok this was ot)) anyway, I know most of that stuff came as payment, or stuff that will be used in the last battle (it is like an epic saying … the last battle). Still she collects LOT of stuff, and it means she is collector! And I love collectors even though they are crazy - you can't argue this one with Yuuko.. Besides she owns replicas and original stuff from all CLAMP mangas around..

And have you ever asked yourself how old Yuuko actually is? She looks good, but so does Tsunade in Naruto! Or maybe the shop is some kind of dimension where the time stops. You see, what is fascinating about Yuuko is the fact that barely know anything about her - we can only wonder and make guesses about what could be her past and... I was hit in this moment by a thought: more mysterious the character is more I love it: Yuuko, we in the end know NOTHING about Yuuko, the only thing we have is to wonder, to make guesses at what is her past and how bright her future could be.
Another thing that makes me love her is the way she carries her burdens, and we know that those which she carries aren’t easy or light, they are all difficult and heavy, and still she doesn’t stop, she continues her way without cracking or going downon her knees, always with that secretive smile, that disappears just in the moments when nobody can see her, because those burdens are hers, and she doesn’t want to share them with those around her till the time comes. This actually make you see how strong she is, she is a strong character and she never complains about her destiny. It must be a big burden knowing thing, like about Watanuki’s true identity and his parents, and still can’t tell him so she doesn’t interfere because the balance of time would be destroyed and it’s a big secret, the fact that she just want them to be ok, but on the other side she wants them to do it alone, because every meeting they make in their life, everything they solve makes them change… make them grow, and she is there to watch over their growth, but without actually helping if not with small pieces of advice and jobs.

Another great point of this woman is: her knowledge! It doesn’t matter if we talk about modern stuff, antique, occult or normal: she knows it. She is like a big book of everything, whatever happens or she is asked about, she knows it. She knows all the weird occult stuff about spirits. And then it’s fun when she says stuff as explanations… like in the first volume when they meet for the first time (well let’s say their first meeting in the manga): She explains the definiton of hitsuzen, adding that it could be found in the Kodansha Japanese Desk Dictionary, Second edition... or when she explains stuff to Watanuki about the spirits and why he should be friend with Doumeki.

And then her Humor, it’s a killer. She has such a strange humor, but still I always laugh when she says something funny, like commenting on Kurogane in a funny way to loosen up. And then there is also how she likes to make Watanuki squirm because of his relationship with Doumeki (SHE definitely is a yaoi fan and she ships Doumeki x Watanuki)

I also love how she values every sincere relationship, be it with a human or a creature from the spirit world. As she always states that every encounter makes you change, I think for her to become such a great person, she had to meet lot of people around the dimensions, and during the series, manga or anime we see she knows a lot of them and how they all respect her and are friends with her. Sometimes I ask myself if she actually is a human or is she something else, she could be whatever, with CLAMP we never can now what she exactly is.

For the last thing that I would like to mention, that she actually is not perfect… she smokes and she drinks. Ok I love that too when she does it, her elegance while smoking is something that makes her seem like a fairy or shi simply smokes that way, and that smoke, maybe she does it just to create the scene and it looks more mysterious or simply she smokes that way. Even if I don’t support drinking in real life (I won’t say anything about smoking, being a smoker), even more so if the person is driving, when it comes to Yuuko I see it as a part of her, it wouldn’t be Yuuko if she wasn’t asking for more beer or sake or whatever alcohol and without getting drunk, just huge hangovers the day after, and I like this because it makes her imperfect… hell she has like cosmic powers but she is a drinker and smoker.

I’ll be coming to an end of this essay, I would write more, but I think it’s already enough of my rambling on how much I love Yuuko and why I love Yuuko… I’ll conclude this essay if you want to call it. For me Yuuko is an important character, I’m like totally obsessed with her from them moment I saw her.