Nice review :D
xxxHOLiC tv Review
Kimihiro Watanuki sees youkai and ayakashi spirits. Seeking to get away from the spirits who literally haunt him, he finds himself one day pulled by a force into a shop; there, he meets Yuuko Ichihara, also known as the Dimension Witch, who tells him that this meeting was Inevitable (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 the inevitable, 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...
Description: twinklebyte
Story & Characters
This is a Review of xxxHolic Season I :
Story Introduction :
Kimihiro Watanuki , perhaps what you call an every day high school student you see on the streets but he have a mysterious ability to see and attract spirits , who pester him to no end. One day , he was quite literally forced by a mysterious...force into a shop that grants wishes...
Character Sypnosis : ( Main Leads )
Kimihiro Watanuki :
Watanuki was constantly pestered by spirits , which was drawn towards him like iron is to magnet. When he was
"attacked" by a spirit one day , he stumbled into a mysterious shop , which he was forced to walk into by some
mysterious force. There , he met Yuko , the owner of the shop that grants wishes at a price , in his case , Watanuki
needs to work at her shop.
Personality :
Despite his cold and indifferent appearances , with a somewhat emo-ish aura 'bout him , his actually a comical type
of character and he goes all soft and...well , dumb , when he sees his crush. Watanuki also dislikes Domeki but he does
not actually hate him.
Yuko Ichihara :
A mysterious and beautiful woman that runs the shop that grants wishes. To grant a wish , something equal is to be given
, usually meaning an item of great memento value. Most of the time , she spends her day idling away , eating dishes
prepared by Watanuki and drinking sake. She also likes to say "there is no coincidence as everything is
inevitable"...or something like that.
Personality :
Usually , she is really immature despite her age , constantly acting like a child at times and requesting Watanuki to do
all the chores for her. However , if neccessary , she will become surprisingly mature and knowledgeable.
Shizuka Domeki :
A schoolmate of Domeki whom Watanuki "dislikes". He is an expert in archery and he also runs a Shinto Shrine.
He also have a natural ability to sense and destroy spirits but he doesn't actually have the ability to see them
like Watanuki.
Personality :
His a bit cold and indifferent but he actually cares a lot for Watanuki despite their arguments. ( If you can call that
an argument anyway , Watanuki is ranting to no end and Domeki is reflecting it in an indifferent manner ) He is also
usually silent until prompted to speak.
Himawari Kumogi :
A classmate of Watanuki and also his crush. Himawari are good friends with Domeki and Watanuki , though this often stirs
up jealousy within Watanuki whenever he sees Himawari being nice to Domeki :P
Personality :
She have an extremely cheerful and friendly personality. Often calling Domeki and Watanuki "close friends" and
"comedy stands" , much to the protest of Watanuki. ( Though they ARE close friends , in a different
sense...and yeah , their definitely comedy stands )
Overall :
The story generally moves in a mini-arc manner. With every few episodes , the Anime would be focused on particular
events and side characters though the course of events are still moving in the same course , though in a slow way.
Often , the viewers would see lots of references of mythology of the Japanese culture such as the pipe fox and other
spiritual beings so you can learn quite of mythological factors from watching this...if you actually bothered to read
more about that particular creature anyway. :X
Also , this Anime holds strong morality content , in every mini-arc , there is a really strong message being sent out to
the viewers but despite the fact that it IS that obvious , the viewers can't help but feel intrigued by the
storylines of each and every mini-arc. ( Usually depicting Watanuki helping others out of their emotional problems etc.
etc. )
Definitely , upon the words "morality content" , you'd probably think that this is a boring Anime.
Actually , it's more entertaining that what I had expected , though the story is fairly predictable to a certain
extent , it is interesting to see how things turn out and the morality message being sent out at the same time left me
in awe.
As for the characters , their certainly likeable but their backgrounds were not elaborated , other than Watanuki's.
However , this would be cleared in the future Seasons , where some of the character's personality or even actions
were explained.
Oh , by the way , for those who had been really into CLAMP's works ought to know that xxxHolic have some
connections to Tsubasa Resovoir Chronicles and Card Captor Sakura. Though this wasn't shown in the first Season.
All in all , I consider this a must-watch :D
Rating:
Art
Artwork Review :
Whether you like the artwork or not really depends on your taste. The characters certainly have abnormally long legs and
limbs but at least , the artwork style is pretty unique and well , they don't look bad at all :O
Though to be honest , I'm fairly thrown off by Watanuki's design. His appearances had given me the impression
that he was an indifferent and cold male lead but he turned out to be quite the opposite of what I expected. Consider
that the first "plot" twist I faced XD
Though to be honest , the coloring is a bit old-school styled.
Rating:
Sound
Music Review :
To be honest , I find the lyrics of the opening some what overdone. Or rather , it is somewhat unfitting but the tune
and vocals is definitely unique. However , some parts of the lyrics applies to the difficulties faced by the characters
and perhaps how they feel about themselves so it isn't entirely off point.
The first ending theme is a bit more...intriuging , I presume it's somewhat opening their heart to someone else and
the belief that everything has a reason , the latter seems to have some connections to Yuko's favourite quote.
Anyway , here's the music list.
List of Openings , Endings and BGMs :
19Sai ( Opening I )
Reason ( Ending I )
Kagerou ( Ending II )
Chou no Michikusa ( BGM )
Seiyu :
The Seiyu for Watanuki is Jun Fukuyama.....much to my surprise. Well , as many of you might know by now , Jun is the
Seiyu for Lelouch of Code Geass. He was also the Seiyu for Kraft Lawrence of Spice and Wolf , Shinra and Kishitani of
Durarara and Kei of Special A.
Ohara Sayaka , on the other hand , takes on the role of Yuko , the same as in her role in Tsubasa Resovoir Chronicles.
She had also taken on the role of the child Lelouch , Milly Ashford.....well , she had taken on TONS of roles anyway.
Kazuya Nakai plays Domeki , and has took on roles like Zoro from One Piece and Mugen from Samurai Champloo...he does
enjoys being a samurai doesn't he? :O
Anyway , the voice actors of the Anime is mainly compromised of experienced Seiyus who had taken on a LARGE amount of
roles. ( Yes , even the side characters )
Rating:
Presentation
This is a Review of xxxHolic ( Season I ) :
Essentially , xxxHolic is a fine mix of morality with light humor and a bit of storyline as side-ingridients. Every few
episodes or so , a morality value which is to be learnt is almost always there , either learning not to lie and stuff
like that...you get the idea.
The storyline is quite intriuging to a certain extent , further supported by the usage of mythology references to the
Japanese culture to keep this alive , if you ARE curious enough anyway.
Well , Season I was simply a stepping stone for the later Seasons I believe , I haven't watched the Anime yet but I
have read bits of the Manga so more under-elaborated characters would be explained further later on , but definitely not
in this Season.
Anyway , the teachings of life definitely does render this Anime one-of-a-kind , the other morality Animes tend to turn
out to be something like Doraemon , which is under the "kodomo" ( children ) sector but this seems to be
focused on teens and older audiences due to the darker atmosphere.
Overall ( Others ) :
Age Recommendation : All
Genre : Slice-of-Life , Fantasy / Supernatural , Comedy ( Light )
Humor :
The humor content isn't particularly strong but they'll definitely improve your opinions of the characters so
you'd get to like them more. Well , ironically , the main male lead is the main comical character , which is
contrary to typical Anime standards.
Trivia :
- There is a Manga version of it....
- There are fanbooks and novels released for it.
- Apparently , there is a PS2 game available for the xxxHolic series.
- There are films and OVAs released for it so don't miss it out!
- This Yuko is the very same Yuko as in the Tsubasa Resovoir Chronicles series. Why is the case? Keep watching xxxHolic
to find out! :D
Rating:
Final Verdict
8.3333 (good)
Reviewed by z827, May 09, 2010
Comments
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rukasu04 Mute Member May 15, 2010
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Sherillas May 18, 2010
I've tried, really tried to watch this anime keenly but somehow it ALWAYS puts me to sleep. No matter how alert I am, once I decide to watch it, I'm guaranteed SLEEP. I just can't seem to knuckle down and watch this till the end, though I doubt that there will be one anytime soon what with the crossover thing, OVA's and "PS2 game" which is quite a shocker to hear. I do not dislike it at all, however the pace of the series moves too slowly so I'm simply unable to stay focused till the end, in-spite of my fighting spirit HA. I probably watched up to episode 3, and that's only after watching them repetitively.
My opinion of the characters I've seen is this, Watanuki is tolerable with the exception of his pinch nerve attitude towards Domeki, whom I actually really like and think is the most interesting character thus far. That girl with the black hair and curly pig tale is... I need to watch more episodes before I can give an opinion of her. Yuko is HOT, she's like a "pimp goddess." I like the "morality" aspect behind each episode as well, it makes you think about things that you normally would not, at least I did anyway. The art is certainly different, but it grows on you, or at least it did with me. I'm actually really thankful that I read this review because I got to brush up on all the character's personalities, also I'm more determined to watch this with my eyes WIDE OPEN next time.
Nice review yet again, and with a pretty a decent presentation. I even like the "Trivia" stuff at the end. Thanks for the read, and my new found "determination" to watch this again... pray for me.
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emina07 Mute Member May 23, 2010
you would appreciate it if you watch it back to back with tsubasa chronicles and see how the are connected
merged: 07-23-2010 ~ 11:34am
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rukasu04 Mute Member Aug 12, 2010
Nice review :P
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SchRita Aug 27, 2010
I heard of it a lot of times, is it really that great?
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patriz0 Oct 07, 2010
it is...
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hitsu-chan Jul 20, 2011
I don't watch it but it seems very interesting and entertaining... thx for the review
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