Kimihiro Watanuki sees ghosts. Seeking to get away from the spirits who literally haunt him, he finds himself one day pulled by a force into a shop, where he meets Ichihara Yuuko, also known as the Dimension Witch. In the shop, Watanuki is told that this meeting was 'Hitsuzen.'



Yuuko grants wishes for the appropriate price. Sensing that Watanuki's dearest wish is to stop seeing spirits, she promises to take the spirits away in exchange for Watanuki working in her home as a cook and cleaner. Bound perhaps by Hitsuzen, Watanuki agrees.



However, this is only the beginning. Watanuki beings to participate in 'jobs' with Yuuko, and his unique powers are often the reason for the job itself. In order to complete these jobs, Watanuki must work with his hated rival, Shizuka Doumeki, who possesses exorcist powers.



But under these jobs hides a plot, and unbeknownst to Watanuki, Yuuko is using his help in order to stop it...



Credits: twinklebyte

Story & Characters

Review of Season 1
________________________
xxxHOLIC is the dream that never came true. While watching through these 24 episodes, I kept hoping that there would be some overarching plot, some sort of actual character development, some sort of comedy, some sort of ANYTHING to make me feel happy/sad/dramatic. But in the end, I finished these 24 episodes with just a sigh. What had just happened? Nothing at all.

xxxHOLIC is all about the story of a high school boy who can see dead spirits. Because of this ability, he's been living a sad life because he is basically all alone. One day, he stumbles upon a mischievous yet kind-hearted wish-granted-mediator Yuuko. Although she piles a ton of household chores onto him, she also makes life more exciting and comfortable.

One would expect that the whole point of this tale is to make Watanuki into a better or happier person. However, from start to finish Watanuki does not change. He is the same gaga over Himawari, stubborn towards Doumeki, servile to Yuuko and annoyed at Mokona. His behavior never changes, his way of thought never alters and overall he's just the crappiest main character one can find. This anime also violates one of my biggest pet peeves - CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT THROUGH FORCED DIALOGUE. In other words, Watanuki's personality is own shown through what other people say about him and not what he does - since Watanuki does nothing. We basically have to rely on other people saying "ohh you're so (insert some adjective here)". Very frustrating. To be honest, the only reason why I watched this to the end was to watch Yuuko. But she ALSO doesn't change. While I also like her mischievous side as well as her character design, it was very frustrating to see nothing progress at all in this series.

The story is also quite annoying. About 75% of the story is on some weird 'moral of the day'. It begins with some random person wandering in who has some trouble. Yuuko says, "ok, i will grant your wish for a price." Watanuki is there with her... he becomes worried... and he sacrifices himself to help this person that wandered in. Even if it is out of his reach, in the end he learns some sort of lesson about life - and this is basically it is. The episodes I did enjoy (the snowball fight, the demon parade) were the FILLER EPISODES. Go figure.

Overall, xxxHOLIC is a very bad anime. I haven't been this disappointed in such a long time. I felt like there should have been more substance, but in the end they decided not to do anything with the characters. We never know the significance of what these people are (who is Yuuko, what is Himawari?). Leaves one with a very unsatisfactory aftertaste.

Rating: 5

Art

I loved the character designs, even though CLAMP style has oversized bodies and small heads. However, the lack of fluid motion is extremely bad - amongst the worst I've seen.

Nevertheless, this beautiful art design is the only reason I managed to get through this slow progressing anime

Rating: 9

Sound

Nothing memorable here. I don't recall or remember any poignant moments elevated by the music. OP/ED were pretty basic, as well. Voices were good, though.

Rating: 6

Presentation

Review of Season 2
_____________________

Given the disaster that was the first season, I was quite impressed by this second season of 13 episodes. Although it was generally uneventful as a whole, I believed it successfully carried out its main goal - to leave one with a very CLAMP-esque story of optimism, mysticism and friendship.

The most positive aspect of xxxHolic's 2nd season was that they tied all the episodes together somehow. Sure, each episode had stories that weren't really reflective of the overarching arc, but it was also not the typical one problem a day episode. Rather, in each episode, I really felt that Watanuki discovered more about himself, as well as the limits of his optimism. Certainly, character changes were not that drastic or dramatic, but pretty good relative to the first season. Another positive aspect is that we finally find out why a bunch of bad luck plague Watanuki (although the reason is kind of dumb to base a whole anime off of).

Note - to those who have not seen this anime before, I would recommend that you stay away from this. We get no real re-introduction of character (which is good), and it pretty much goes straight into the storyline.

Reflecting upon this anime, it really makes me wonder what the point is. Is it for humor? Well, having Watanuki cook food for Yuuko, go gaga over Himawari, and stubborn to Doumeki is really pretty uninteresting. How about the mystical part? Well, design-wise it was kind appealing, but otherwise there are a lot of other paranormal anime more dedicated to this topic. Hm... how about just pure light-hearted fun? Not really fun, considering nothing really substantial goes on. If you aren't a seasoned anime watcher, you may enjoy this, but otherwise... there's no real point.

Anyway, for those who liked xxxholic remotely, this second season is a must. Otherwise, for people like me who really want to find meaning and drama (or at least SOME kind of emotion) this is a waste of time. I realize that there are some merits to this type, but it's just not for me (someone who wants more involvement/engagement/interest in his anime).

Rating: 6

Final Verdict

6.17 (average)

Reviewed by nauxolo, Nov 12, 2008

Zerochan | Anime Wallpapers | Anime Galleries | Anime Lyrics | Advanced Anime | Anime Online
DA! | Watch Anime Online | Anime Stocks | DigitalArt | VNDB | Anime Wallpapers

© 2004-2009 Minitokyo - About | FAQ | Policy | Privacy