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XXXHOLiC
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Animation - 7.9 |
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Sound - 8.6 |
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Story - 7.6 |
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Character - 8.6 |
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Value - 8.0 |
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Enjoyment - 8.6 |
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Average - 8.2 |
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| Average |
5.2 |
| Animation |
6 |
| Sound |
7 |
| Story |
4 |
| Character |
6 |
| Value |
4 |
| Enjoyment |
4 |
| Note: This review applies to all - xxxHolic: Kei, Shunmuki and, of course, this season of the show. It is based, first on E-D, later on SHS and finally on ACG fansubs. SHS and ACG were okay, but the video quality and translation of E-D was somewhat lacking.
Quote:
You don't belong only to yourself, you know? There isn't anything in this world that belongs to only himself. Everyone has connections to someone else and shares something with them. That is why you can never be free. That is also why it is so amusing, sad and dear.
Originally created by CLAMP (Tsubasa Chronicles, Cardcaptor Sakura) and directed by Tsutomu Mizushima (Genshiken) xxxHolic is a semi episodic show telling a story about a high school student Watanuki Kimihiro who is unfortunate enough to possess one of the most troublesome super powers I have ever seen, ability to see and attract loads of flesh hungry ghosts, monsters and similar kin to himself wherever he goes. One day he accidentally wanders into a weird shop whose ever-mysterious master Yuuko proposes him to get rid of his "power" in turn for having him work part-time for her. And so starts the new life of Watanuki, an assistant of a witch who can grant any wish.
I can't believe I actually had high expectations for this show. I guess the pretty colors of Yuuko's eccentric clothes' designs and allegoric-like opening animation fooled me into thinking this anime had style and backbone that of Boogiepop Phantom, hell, was I wrong. Rather than to something stylish or allegorical, or even novel, I was treated to a bunch of below-average been-there-seen-that monster-per-week episodes in the first season and some half-assed character fleshing episodes in the second. Not to mention the Shunmuki arc which proved to be just an another filler with cameos of Tsubasa Chronicle characters. Though I guess the word filler is not completely correct in the context of this anime, as though it does indeed move in a line, it neither does nor shows any intent to go anywhere. Frankly, it has been awhile since I have seen such a pointless show, virtually doing nothing about nothing. The plot is like damp paper, fragile enough to be teared by your breath alone. The only redeeming factor of xxxHolic is its attractive character cast, especially female characters with Yuuko at the front are interesting to observe. Unfortunately, however the character potential, it gets boring when plot doesn't care to give back-stories or even flesh out majority of the cast, mostly concentrating on short youkai-driven stories which are laughable when compared to Mononoke, Mushishi or even Ghost Hunt. I must say that the only things I have genuinely enjoyed in this show were the few philosophical lines from Yuuko's mouth and some character interactions which unfortunately led nowhere in the end.
Conclusion: Unless you are desperate to watch something episodic weakly dealing with Japanese mythology and you have already stormed through the better shows like Mushishi, Mononoke and Ghost Hunt I'd recommend to stay away from xxxHolic as it's simply not worth your time. It's rated for ages 13 years and older if you care.
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| Average |
8.3 |
| Animation |
6 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Story |
8 |
| Character |
9 |
| Value |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| Xxxholic explores the story of Watanuki and his part time job with the mysterious Yuko. Funny in some times, touching in others, it is a great watch.
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| Average |
9.5 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Story |
9 |
| Character |
9 |
| Value |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| Nothing gives me greater pleasure than to write up a favorable review for an anime, especially for one that truly deserves it and ~Holic is such an anime. Which is no wonder, considering it was done by the same people that did Card Captors, Tokyo Babylon, X 1999 and Tsubasa Chronicle—Those folks over at CLAMP. If you are new to anime and you're not so certain as to how to invest your time and money...then start with CLAMP, especially if you like very high-end or stylized anime art, attractive looking characters, shounen-ai [or hints of shounen-ai]. Besides, almost anything from CLAMP is a guaranteed crowd pleaser and this of course includes ~Holic!
~Holic is a series that's both funny and serious at the same time, offering up stories filled with a lot of mystical folklore of both Eastern and Western origins as well as those of ancient and fairly modern origins. This is a show that's modern, fresh, funny and above all...original.
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| Average |
5.3 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
6 |
| Story |
3 |
| Character |
6 |
| Value |
5 |
| Enjoyment |
5 |
| xxxHolic is the story of a young boy named Watanuki who is plagued by spirits who constantly follow him around. However, his life changes when he wanders into a peculiar fence which, when he touches it, destroys the spirits following him. Within the fence is a shop, whose propreitor, Yuuko, grants wishes-- for a price. In exchange for ridding Watanuki of his problem, Yuuko forces Watanuki to work for her in her shop.
Now, when I first read this premise I was really looking forward to this series and was expecting a serious and mysterious series similiar to Vampire Princess Myu.
However, this series bounces back and forth between serious themes concerning bad habits and death, and cutesy school-crushes and repetitive light humor. To me, these light-hearted scenes and the comic reactions of the characters ruined whatever serious atmosphere that the series attempted to create.
The episodic nature of this anime also made the anime a bit boring and repetetive- there isn't a main plot and only the introduction of new characters keeps this series from being a set of completely unrelated episodes. Really, there isn't much of a plot, therefore, and thus the ending is fairly open, with many questions still left unanswered about Yuuko and her shop.
Because there was little plot to speak of, the series relied on the characters to move the series along. However, to me many of the characters were a bit too shallow and lacked the complexity to keep them interesting for 24 episodes. Doumeki, the stoic and silent "friend"/rival of Watanuki, and Himawari, the oblivious and always-cheery subject of Watanuki's crush both lack development. Himawari becomes annoying after her first few appearences, and seems to have the same cookie-cutter cutesy and obvlivious lines in every appearence. In fact, I would say that only the side characters from the shop- Mokona, Moro, and Maru- are interesting at all.
The two main characters, fortunatly, don't suffer from the boring shallow personalities of the side characters. Both Yuuko and Watanuki carry the series, both of them developing throughout the series and possesing depth in their characters. It is the byplay between Yuuko and Watanuki as they grant people's wishes and interact in the course of running the shop that the series focuses upon, and without their characters being interesting, this series would have been terrible.
The simplistic animation in this series compliments the semi-serious mood of the series (with many cartoony facial expressions and body movements) though it was a bit distracting for the first couple episodes. The style takes a bit of getting used to (extremely lanky, long-limbed characters, little detail in backgrounds, and only important characters are drawn, the others are only outlined.)
The soundtrack isn't too noticeable during the actual show, but the opening and the second ending are both good songs which reflect the mood of the anime well.
While I enjoyed this anime for the most part, I got a bit bored with the episodic nature of the anime and the lack of development for many of the characters. Overall, this anime isn't too great, but it isn't bad either.
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1 of 2 people found this review helpful.
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sun9 |
(2007-01-09 08:55:42) 2007-01-03 05:07:46 |
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| Average |
7.8 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
9 |
| Story |
7 |
| Character |
8 |
| Value |
8 |
| Enjoyment |
8 |
| xxxholic seems to be one of those anime that focus on an individual topic each episode rather than the overall development of their characters.
This is quite acceptable given that not many years (or traumatizing events) have passed in that 23 episodes.
One of the main setting I see xxxholic based itself on would be the gathering of a group of people based on the idea of destiny.
Thereafter, many other topics were inserted. Not that it wasnt good. I kinda enjoyed the numerous topics brought up. In the first 6 episodes or so, the themes were some rather religious concepts (e.g. the idea of trade or else suffer retribution as a knowledged meddler -retribution idea was not suggested in anime though-, if you can see a spectral, they will know that at the same time.)
As for the supernatural stuff shown later on, I guess it'll just be a reference for me since my exposure is limited.
But around midway, it feels like a few of the same topics were brought up again. It might have been a more eye-opening ride if they touched on a different topic or include more new topics each time.
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| Average |
5.0 |
| Animation |
6 |
| Sound |
6 |
| Story |
3 |
| Character |
5 |
| Value |
4 |
| Enjoyment |
6 |
| 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.
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1 of 2 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
9.3 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Story |
10 |
| Character |
9 |
| Value |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| This was a real surprise for me, a gem hidden in the hoard of April 2006's animes
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0 of 0 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
9.5 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
9 |
| Story |
9 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| Clamp has successfully made a very good anime. Before you see this there are a lot of other things you should see like Chobits, TRChronicle, Lupin. Clamp has a habit of including things from other anime's of its creation into its anime. So a lot of stuff is entered in this anime. This anime is actually 23 eps, with the last ep being a side story. Its a lot like a japanese version of Alice in Wonderland.
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Caireen |
(2006-10-11 05:34:23) 2006-10-11 05:30:00 |
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| Average |
8.6 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
9 |
| Story |
8 |
| Character |
9 |
| Value |
0 |
| Enjoyment |
9 |
| (Based on 23 episodes).
Definitely one of the better recent Clamp anime and a bit of a high note after the disappointment of Tsubasa!
Lets' hope FUNi will make up their minds to actually license it rather than to keep everyone in the dark with their C&D's!!
(Will update when and if I get to buy the DVDs!).
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0 of 0 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
9.2 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
9 |
| Story |
10 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
8 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| Hmm... finally found an anime that's out of the ordinary. xxxHolic as an anime is like Okami compared to other PS2 games. The setup is somewhat dubious, but this show quickly turns into a refreshing experience that is also surprisingly easy to relate to.
Like I said earlier, the setup is dubious. I mean, we have characters who are totally stereotypical. The plot doesn't seem to present any viable developments. The setting appears confined and uninteresting. The list goes on. But it is my pleasure to say that almost everything is more than what meets the eye.
In particular, the characters are absolutely amazing. Emphasize on *absolutely amazing*. I don't want to give anything away, so I'm going to leave it at this: all the main characters and even many side characters will defy your expectations.
The story is another high point. It will take some time for the pacing to set in. But once you get used to the program it becomes engrossing and very interesting. One particular device is noteworthy: many times xxxHolic does not completely wrap things up. At first, this may feel somewhat unsettling. But like I said, once the pacing sets in this works very very well.
Finally, everything else is completely complementary. While the animation isn't particuarly high budget, I like the style and it works well. Music is subtle and effective. VAs, etc, etc, all pull their respective weight and serve to improve the overall atmosphere.
This anime takes some time to set up the characters and pacing. But once it gets down to business you'll see absolutely unrivalled character development. A textbook definition.
Undoubtly one of the best anime in 2006.
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| Average |
9.0 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
9 |
| Story |
9 |
| Character |
9 |
| Value |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| xxxHOLiC is great. Although I prefer anime with perfect stories, this one grabbed my attention quite a bit. This show gives you the most insight in Japanese culture than other anime I've ever seen. It's like the only reason to watch it other than what other fool needs help from Yuuko, the wish shop owner.
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0 of 0 people found this review helpful.
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|
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| Average |
10.0 |
| Animation |
10 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Story |
10 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| xxxHolic is one of the best, if not the best, anime of 2006. The series is made to be incredible fascinating in every department. The animation might take some time getting used too, but it's pretty amazing from time to time.
The story is about Watanuki who sees 'strange' things. He stumbles on the shop of Yuko who grants him any wish. He wishes too get rid of this ability, and Yuko grants him that wish. But everything has a price, and so does this wish. Because the wish has quite the price, which watakuni cannot pay. Yuko decided that he should come work for her to pay of his debt. We follow the different situations Watakuni's comes across.
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0 of 0 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
9.0 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Story |
8 |
| Character |
9 |
| Value |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
9 |
| Wow you just have to love the soundtrack to this, both opening and closing are radio-play worthy in any country. Animation is great although it does take a while to get used to the elongated style of the artists. The story is great with an almost monster of the week feel along with the ongoing plot-line of Watanuki's struggle to rid himself of his gift, and yet at the same time understand this other world he somehow sees. Great comedic value and some of the stories really make you think about your own life and the way you live it.
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0 of 0 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
9.5 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Story |
9 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| This is a really interesting anime. I think the best feature are the characters and their reactions to everything that happens in each of the episodes, especially Watanuki's. Compared this anime with the manga, it's almost the same as Card Captor Sakura's differences between its anime and its manga. The slight differences make it fresh and make you want to both watch it and read it.
The only bad thing I can think about it is that there are no crossovers with its sister anime, Tsubasa Chronicle. Sure, stuff as Fai's staff appear, but the apparition of Tsubasa's characters are nowhere to be found other than the movies.
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0 of 1 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
8.2 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Story |
7 |
| Character |
9 |
| Value |
8 |
| Enjoyment |
9 |
| Based on the 8 episodes released so far that have been subbed, I think xxxHOLiC is going to be a great anime.
At the moment the story seems to be still developing, but in my opinion the story doesn't really continue from the next episode. I get the feeling it's like those animes wehre every episode they have to fight monsters or solve problems.
About the animation, xxxHOLiC is different from other animes since almost all the characters have long legs and are super-skinny. Of course, this would have to be because it is one of CLAMP's animes. In one of the episodes you can see Syaoran and Sakura from Tsubasa Chronicles show up. Like many of CLAMP's animes, the characters are mixed.
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0 of 0 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
8.0 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
7 |
| Story |
7 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
0 |
| Enjoyment |
8 |
| Note: as the show is still airing at this time, this review is based on the first six episodes.
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