Don't worry about the thanks--I both appreciate them and feel weird about accepting them, which is why I tend not to reply specifically to thanks-only comments. Thanks, Japan, for giving me this strange hangup (for the same reason I'm also bad at saying "You're welcome." I'm way more likely to say "No prob" or "Don't mention it" or the equivalent).

A good deal of the series was spent on his creating relationships with other beings and realizing how much he meant to others, and he clearly isn't honoring that right now.

I agree completely, and was too lazy to write out my personal equivalent of what you said before. I don't think Yuuko anticipated Watanuki's strong personal affection for her (aw, Yuuko!). I hope that Doumeki, Mr. Voice of Reason, is able to find some sort of solution with the egg--I think that Watanuki's basic idea isn't bad, but the impression given of his execution of it raises a lot of red flags.

I personally believe that he was meant to look like a combination of Clow and Yuuko (his eyes and build are very similar to Yuuko's, after all).

I would buy this, though I was thinking today that technically Watanuki was brought into being to fulfill the roles Jr. wouldn't due to being absent--so what was Jr. originally supposed to do? Be friends with Doumeki and Himawari? I suppose, since Yuuko is the source of the anomaly, it's not really possible to know objectively, but it's still an interesting thing to wonder about.

I think in any case Watanuki accepting death puts him several legs up on FWR.