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XXXHOLiC Season 2
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Animation - 7.5 |
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Sound - 5.5 |
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Story - 4.5 |
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Character - 4.5 |
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Value - 4.0 |
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Enjoyment - 4.0 |
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Average - 5.0 |
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| Average |
3.7 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
5 |
| Story |
3 |
| Character |
3 |
| Value |
2 |
| Enjoyment |
2 |
| Everything that is best and worst about CLAMP in spades.
A decision has at least two choices. What may seem as the obvious, righteous to one person may end up being completely wrong for the people they care about. Every action and choice we make has consequences. Furthermore, youthful exuberance can further cloud one's judgement and consideration of others.
After a season of seeing how Watanuki - the sometimes angsty, sometimes hyper teen boy - reacted to being Yuuko's lackey and the results of what people were willing to pay the price for in order to obtain a wish, the second series changes focus to Watanuki's everyday life. As it merges with a bizzare series of bad luck that ends up affecting his friends, the brooding & sly Doumeki and the ever-smiling, sickly sweet Himawari, Watanuki is forced to make choices that will deeply affect their lives as well as his own. In between is how he handles it - along with a hundred other random things.
CLAMP's telltale designs are ever so alluringly allowed to go a little darker and deeper than normal. And honestly, I didn't mind that. For those who have problems with abnormally thin aesthetics or chins so razor sharp they could cut through concrete, it will be off-putting. If that doesn't bother you, then it will probably be good on the eyes. Sure, it's fairly bishounen with all the metrosexual traits that CLAMP fans adore. But it's not extreme. There is a certain element of mystique in those black areas devoid of life and the white colours that seem to suck the light out of its surroundings. Intriguing material for the eyes. However, there wasn't anything rather special about the music. It wasn't harsh on the eyes yet it wasn't pleasing. The themes seem more like an opportunity for those watching to have 90 seconds to chat in between the next show or to grab a drink.
As explained above, the story is rather simple. Watanuki faces a dilemma in arcs of a few episode each. He makes decisions that seem utterly obvious to him, but after he comes down from an angsty, rushed decision, a reaction from a friend or a sneaky word from Yuuko will make him think about the bigger picture beyond his own self-indulgent perspectives. Watanuki will then gradually resolve them. Before, in between and after, we receive random scenes of Doumeki leeching food of Watanuki, meal scenes involving Yuuko's servants and the token cute toy furball in Mokona, Watanuki's heavily exaggerated raves at Doumeki and Yuuko which instantly change to hyper, overly sugary words when trying to gain favour with Himawari. Essentially, this is a series about Watanuki gradually growing up and developing a spine, but unfortunately one gets in the form of a sugar-coated pill with so many candy layers the actual substance in the middle is a step shy of being non-existant. For the less experienced anime fan or younger person, this may be more interesting. For the more seasoned anime fan, it will most likely be a waste of time.
Watanuki was potentially an interesting character, but the following three traits make him impossible to like: his ability to make the most selfish decision, his generally angsty mood and his hyperactive nature when conversing with his 'friends'. He makes mistakes that are so bleeding obvious, it's impossible to sympathise with the guy. No normal person could be this block-headed. Yuuko is a woman that is rather chilling. To view any scenario without morality or even caring as to what happens is a very hard thing to do. Yuuko somehow manages to do it with ease. I didn't find that appealing at all, perhaps since she seemed so devoid of passion about it. Doumeki feels like nothing more than the token heart-throb with a few teaspoons of brooding. Scenes involving him feel utterly static. Himawari seems a nice enough girl, if it weren't for the fact her seemingly happy exterior wasn't so utterly sugary. Watching Himawari is enough to induce diabetes, particularly since Watanuki goes into a hyper, silly, fake persona simply to impress the girl. Add in Yuuko's servants and Mokona, the sugar dose reaches potentially lethal proportions.
xxxHolic Kei is a series of angsty lows and hyperactive highs with no substance in between. Certainly a mix of the best and worst of CLAMP. Unless you're a CLAMP fan, it would probably be best to avoid this.
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nauXolo |
(2008-10-31 05:14:06) 2008-10-31 05:12:58 |
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| Average |
6.3 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
6 |
| Story |
6 |
| Character |
6 |
| Value |
6 |
| Enjoyment |
6 |
| 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).
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