Re: xxxHolic 205 Discussion/206 Predictions Thread
So that's Shizuka? How did he get a body?
Where's Doumeki?
Shizuka is Doumeki's given (what we'd call "first") name. Doumeki is his family name (or "last" name). His grandpa's given name is Haruka.
The fact that Kohane uses his given name, means she's close to him and considers him a friend. While using "Doumeki" is more formal when they're at school.
Doumeki using Watanuki's family name, instead of his given name (Kimihiro), the few times he doesn't just go "hey you" or "that guy", implies either a polite, or impolite, distance in relationship. Even though they share everything and are clearly close. It's an interesting dynamic.
Kind of like the guy friends who call each other names casually and aren't afraid of offending each other, who don't act very close yet will actually do anything for each other.
So you'll know that if either of them calls the other "Kimihiro" or "Shizuka", it'd be a sign of extreme sincerity at this point.
Just another cultural aspect of Japanese language that not everyone knows about. That's why sometimes in other anime or manga, you'll see a character say like, for example, "Hi, I'm Uzumaki Naruto, don't forget it!" (family name comes first, given name comes second. But sometimes translators reverse them to Western order, as do the dubbers, so we might read Naruto Uzumaki). And someone who wants to be friendly will ask "Is it ok... if I call you Naruto-kun (your given name)?"
Calling someone their given name without earning it, or getting permission, can be rude or invasive. Like Yuuko-san pointed out long ago, your name gives people power, so by social rule they have to earn the right to use your given name, unless you're willing to give out the permission right away based on first impression.
For example, despite their animosity toward each other, Naruto and Sasuke still call each other by their given names, so that shows that they've always been close on some level.
It's a subtle way of determining just how characters feel about each other, and provides dynamics to relationships that might be different than what we perceive through other words and actions. It's useful to know.
(The rest of the questions... I don't know yet, I'm curious too, I'm sure it'll be revealed in the next chapter.
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