About

Kimihiro Watanuki
Kimihiro Watanuki (四月一日 君尋 Watanuki Kimihiro?) is a high school student plagued daily by spirits who are constantly attracted to him. After meeting Yūko Ichihara, she promises to remove this unwanted ability in exchange for working part-time in her shop until it equals the worth of his wish. He lives by himself due to his parents no longer being around, so he excels in cooking and cleaning, much to Yūko's pleasure.[4][5] She also sends him on various jobs that often have a spiritual nature. Watanuki is known for a having both a volatile and caring nature to him. While around Himawari Kunogi, he is very excited and speaks in a high-pitched voice,[6] while he expresses irritation while speaking to Shizuka Dōmeki.[7] He generally gets enraged at the often insane requests of Yūko, though he will pay close attention whenever she is serious with him.[7]
Watanuki is essentially an alternate self of the second Syaoran who appeared in the series, having been created to fill the gap left by Syaoran after he decided to turn back time and be imprisoned by the sorcerer Fei-Wang Reed as a payment. Watanuki became the child of Syaoran's parents, and fills all of the relationships Syaoran would have made.[8] Before the series' start, Watanuki gave up the memories of his past in order to help Yūko find Fei-Wang, and help Syaoran. As he then could not remember his parents, Watanuki developed a strong guilt, thinking his parents died to due his fault, and it led to the attraction of spirits.[8][9]
After Yūko's death, Watanuki resolves to stay and take care of the shop until he sees her again.[10] In order to both stabilize the shop and break free of Fei-Wang's dying curse with the second Syaoran, Watanuki offers up the remainder of his "existence".[11] As a result, Watanuki can no longer leave the shop. He becomes the new master of the shop and takes up Yūko's role of granting wishes to those who come to the shop.[12] Over the next several years, Watanuki's powers become stronger thanks to the fact he did remove his ability to see spirits.[13] He also begins to adopt many of Yūko's characteristics, habits. His lifespan also increases and retains the appearance of a teenager for over a hundred years. Several years after taking over the shop, Watanuki's powers grow strong enough to allow him leave the shop.[14]
Watanuki is voiced by Jun Fukuyama in Japanese and Todd Haberkorn in English.[15][16] Director Tsutomu Mizushima referred to Watanuki as his favorite character from the series due to his personality and that he identifies himself with him.[15] In a xxxHolic poll, Watanuki was voted as the most popular character from the series.[17]