Sequel

TV Series, 2008, 13 eps,8.33(3409),8.26(3434)

Side story

Movie, 2005, 1 ep,7.18(3255),7.79(3275)

Same setting

TV Series, 2005, 26 eps,6.41(5829),7.71(5917)

Same setting

TV Series, 2006, 26 eps,6.30(3642),7.63(3697)

Same setting

OVA, 2007-2008, 3 eps,8.27(2582),8.29(2622)

Other

Music Video, 2007, 1 ep,6.00(998),6.93(1006)

TV Series, 2005-2006, 50 eps,6.47(7682),7.73(7846)

TV Series, 2011, 12 eps,3.42(2834),5.97(2863)

Movie, 2000, 1 ep,4.57(5854),6.79(5884)

TV Series, 1998-2000, 70 eps,7.56(4840),7.94(4912)

TV Series, 2018, 22 eps,7.18(741),7.38(745)

Unknown

OVA, 2017, 1 ep,6.82(504),7.03(508)

TV Series, 2002, 26 eps,6.56(11673),7.74(11859)

TV Series, 1997, 26 eps,4.08(346),5.98(351)

Music Video, 1994, 1 ep,4.20(1062),6.20(1070)

Music Video, 1999, 1 ep,4.73(876),6.30(882)

OVA, 1995, 2 eps,3.15(880),5.53(887)

Movie, 2012, 1 ep,4.93(1348),6.56(1360)

Movie, 1999, 1 ep,6.56(2465),7.45(2479)

Movie, 2000, 1 ep,7.90(2535),7.99(2553)

Movie, 2005, 1 ep,5.62(2270),7.30(2293)

TV Series, 2001, 26 eps,5.76(2703),7.26(2729)

TV Series, 2009-2010, 24 eps,7.18(2139),7.63(2156)

TV Series, 1994-1995, 49 eps,5.81(1478),7.11(1497)

Unknown

OVA, 1991-1992, 2 eps,3.51(542),5.75(547)

OVA, 1997, 3 eps,4.61(760),6.49(766)

OVA, 1992-1994, 2 eps,3.95(1093),6.23(1096)

TV Series

OVA, 2009, 2 eps,7.73(1481),7.87(1494)

Music Video, 1997, 1 ep,3.93(641),5.89(648)

Movie, 1996, 1 ep,3.58(2203),6.22(2233)

TV Series, 2001-2002, 24 eps,5.95(3847),7.40(3895)

OVA, 2001, 1 ep,3.80(478),5.89(483)

Music Video, 1993, 1 ep,5.02(475),6.32(482)

OVA, 2010-2011, 2 eps,8.39(1775),8.10(1783)

OVA, 2009, 2 eps,7.88(2126),7.93(2135)

Both animes are focused on yokai worlds and granting wishes. Both have high school boys working at a shop that deals with other world issues.

Both have mysterious shops with eccentric owners and great stories each episode.

Both series revolve around protagonists who are able to see creatures that normal people can't see.

Kind of "villain of the week" story telling about ghosts/wierd creatures.

Both are fantasy with episodic stories. Both Yuuko and Enma Ai grant people's wishes. xxxHolic is more optimistic and positive.

mystic\comedy

Same character design and similar magical elements.

byhendanoci on2019-12-17 18:53

Just finished watching xxxHolic for the third time. I love the art, stories and atmospere in this series and Yuuko is an amazing character!
The only downside of this anime... is Watanuki. He has to be the most anoying character ever in an anime, maybe i feel this strongly about it is because the rest of this series is soooooo good. The way he treats Doumeki is just rude.

Could have been on par with Mushishi if it wern't for the MC, still a must see though and highly recommended!

byymasumac on2018-05-17 12:15

***AMAZING***. One of those you really wish would come true around you. Absolutely intoxicating.

Loved Ichihara Yuuko's clothes. For people who like fashion.

byhoplitex on2016-11-09 15:38

This didn't age quite well. Character design - at best... unique. Unnaturally spider-like long limbs, dead fish eyes, snake movements. Watanuki was the most annoying character I have seen in a long time. Yuuko was great though so balance was there. ED awesome. With the story and all, it was interesting watch.

byyota71 on2016-03-28 17:26

Even if the character design is a bit odd (very big hands, small heads, very long arms and legs) the anime is truly enjoyable higly recommended

bykazuma46 on2012-06-19 03:55

If you are a fan of yokai then this is a must must see but anyone interesting in anime will love this anime.

bybnns on2012-06-13 23:55

Greatly enjoyed this series, there isn't much in the way of story progression, things happen slowly but the detailed environments and the different unique situations, that left me with a feeling that anything could happen, were priceless. Made me enjoy every moment.

byThatAnimeSnob on2012-08-23 20:24

NOTICE: This review covers the whole franchise; not just the first season. No need to make different reviews for the exact same show.

THE STAFF
- Animated by Production I.G. which means it will have a good budget but the characters will behave like robots, or in this case like string puppets.
- Directed by Mizushima Tsutome, who has some fame for his fondness of making comedies with cute chibi girls who act all erotic and/or violent (Hare+Guu, Dokuro-chan, Punie-chan, Squid Girl). Other than that, he is not good in anything else he was part of (especially with the crap he did in Blood-C and Another) and since this show is not about chibi girls it is not one of his better works.
- Based on the manga by CLAMP, one of the most famous team of mangaka in the 90’s. Most of their numerous works have been adapted to anime and most of them were a hit in airing shares and sales. They have a style that combines the cute with the dark and know how to create spicy premises and hot romantic pairings. Sadly their stories are good only as far as premises go; their plots always fall apart under the lack of proper handling of their themes. You end up reading or watching just for the kinky situations and give up on the story. A note must be said here that they primarily make shoujo shows with lots of action and romance that ends up appealing to both genders. But since the shoujo is their base template, it is expected to focus almost entirely on character chemistry and visual aesthetics than… well, anything else.

SPECIFICS
It is an almost entirely episodic show about Watanuki, a high school boy with a curse, working for Yuuko, an eccentric witch, in order to remove it and together dealing with supernatural cases concerning ghosts and demons. There is very little to write about the story; you can read the description of the premise and this is as far as the whole thing goes. There are some episodes in the second season that offer development to the main characters but it is still close to zero. And there is an OVA that exists purely to have a cross over with Tsubasa Chronicles, another CLAMP title that was nothing but a parade of cameos.

Because of the episodic nature there is very little character development throughout the seasons. Watanuki is just a typical hyperactive high school boy, and Yuuko is just an enchanting witch that loves to change clothes every episode. Just like in all CLAMP works, you mostly like them for their simple-minded personality and eccentric clothes. You tolerate everything just to see the sexual tension of Watanuki building up slowly next to the super hot Yuuki and you just wait for some spicy romance to occur… slow as always. There are some other interesting secondary characters from time to time but the show barely tries to offer backdrop stories for most of them, so they too have close to nothing as far as fleshing out goes.

The artwork is very good as far as cinematics, clothes, and decorations goes. There is a lot of detail given to make everything dark and plethoric as means to attract your attention. It is average to bad when it comes to animation, backgrounds, or character designs, since there is little actual motion, the sceneries are simplistic, and the characters look damn skinny and simplistically drawn.

There is nothing overall great regarding the music part. The first opening is somewhat good and there are some famous and professional voice actors in the cast but in all there is nothing I found above average or memorable. Most dialogues are dull, most BGM is passable.

Having close to no on-going plot and mostly style than substance is of course nothing new in the genre but it definitely looks less interesting than its cousin shows.
- Mushishi is far better in atmosphere and philosophy.
- Mononoke is far better in aesthetics and fleshing out the characters.
- Bakemonogatari is far better in cinematics and fan service.
- Natsume Yuujinchou is just… cuter with those cats.
So in all, it is a boring and passable anime.

And now for some excused scorings.
[/spoiler]

bysummoner on2009-09-08 12:34

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.



Originally created byCLAMP (Tsubasa Chronicles,Cardcaptor Sakura) and directed byTsutomu Mizushima (Genshiken)xxxHolic[/b] 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 weirdshop 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.

Animation: 6/10

If you are familiar with otherCLAMP shows you should know what to expect in this department. Extremely tall and paper thin characters run amok, it takes some time getting used to, but once you do you notice that they aren't so bad after all. Especially the facial animation of females is well done, though characters still lack detail when their faces are not up-close. The tremendous amount of different apparels Yuuko and some other female characters tend to wear in this anime is commendable. I mean, I feel it is "many" when I see character change his clothes three times in the period of a show, but Yuuko does it way over fifty times. The character designer in CLAMP certainly has some interest in fashion. Backgrounds on the other hand are bland and barren for the most time, though they get better in the following seasons. Blank color palette, which fooled me to believe this show actually had genuine style seems to have been means to save money for animation production, as it doesn't look that good. Motion fluidity is not the best either, you can see characters going choppy there and there. Ultimately I'd say the animation has more style than substance, it's too bad that "style" didn't go together with the plot.

Sound: 7/10

The only part of the show which is actually somewhat good is sound in xxxHolic. Particularly the first opening emo-like song19sai bySuga Shikao sounds and fits the show well. Animation, which follows it, is also pretty cool, butterfly motive and same singer fooled me for Boogiepop Phantom vibe. Second OP is similar to the first, but not as good, while all EDs are more or less boring. Overall background music byS.E.N.S. is dominated by classical instrument tunes, which get quite eerie or emotional when the show calls for it. Particularly some Yuuko-philosophical-lecture scenes at the end of some episodes are well-fitted.

Voice-acting is also pretty good, though I must say it took me more than 20 episodes to finally noticeFukuyama Jun doing the lame voice of Watanuki. Feels like a waste to make such a talent make voices for someone so geeky, but he still does a good job.Ohara Sayaka does a very good job at sounding mysterious and... err sexy as Yuuko. The side characters also have good talents includingNakai Kazuya,Itou Shizuka and to my surpriseMutoh Sumi (Voices of a Distant Star) who managed to give Zashiki-warashi a really cute, yet somewhat non-human voice.

Story: 4/10

The setting of the plot is actually pretty average. It's normal your every day Japan, except for the fact that Watanuki tends to become involved with various spiritual things and meets many Japanese mythological creatures in the run. In a sense the setting is pretty much the same as in Ghost Hunt and Natsume Yuujinchou, not the most interesting and innovative of ideas, but still with potential.

Unfortunately the plot itself is barely there. More than two-thirds of the show are episodic stories about how people are affected by various ghost phenomena and Watanuki trying to save them. Unfortunately, none of the stories are really interesting and have laughable depth when compared to other shows of the same nature. There is no suspense like in Ghost Hunt, there is no artsy presentation like in Mononoke, and though there are attempts at philosophy those are toddler level when compared to Mushishi. Actually in terms of completion and fleshing out, these stories are even worse than the sleep-inducing ones in Natsume Yuujinchou, which I certainly didn't enjoy either. Well, anyway, the other one-third of the show is about Watanuki's uncertain state of mind and people around him, the better part. Though you never get any insight in Yuuko, you at least get five minutes of backstory and resolution for Himawari, while some episodes at the beginning of the second season flesh Doumeki out pretty well. Unfortunately the romantic vibes which go around Watanuki, Zashiki-warashi and Himawari never get past the state of vibes and just as in the first episode, none of the relationships progress in the last. What was the point of this show is completely beyond me. It's like a sandbox with pretty characters and story potential, but all that happens is wind blowing minor and random crisps of sand around.

Characters: 6/10

Lots of unused potential, that's what the characters of this show are. Watanuki and Doumeki are virtually the only two characters who are completely fleshed out and develop, unfortunately, they are also the least interesting of the bunch. I'm really getting tired of those uber altruistic main characters in these kind of shows, all they can think of is how to save and help others while forgetting themselves, not to mention that every single on of them have the same state of mind. Doumeki is slightly more interesting than Watanuki because of his emotionless outward attidude. Unfortunately, both of their simplistic barely two-dimensional natures get old pretty soon.

Yuuko is certainly the coolest character in the show, unfortunately, rather than a full-fledged character she is more like of a narrator. You never learn her back-story or her state of mind or anything. What appears to be the main heroine, Himawari, is kept completely static through the whole show, up until the ending episodes of Kei, were she suddenly is fleshed out, concluded in a time-span of five minutes and thrown away aside again. Zashiki-warashi seems like a character with potential, unfortunately even during her short cameos she basically repeats the same action pattern all the time. Have I mentioned that some of the lines are repeated over and over and over again in this show? Like when Doumeki and Watanuki are arguing and if there is a female character nearby she will most definitely say "you are such good friends", it really gets painful after the twentieth time, seriously. Oh yeah, almost forgot spirit-seer child prodigy Kohane, who is probably second best character after Yuuko in the show. She seems to have her outwardly cool yet caring personality fleshed out pretty well and even has few episodes dedicated specially for herself, probably the best moments of the show.

There are also some useless mascot characters in this anime like Maru, Moro or that annoying black critter Mokona. Not to even talk about personality traits, all they do is making life harder for the main character and annoy the viewers. It's not even explained who those three are, none seem human to me.

Miyers-Briggs personality type indicator:

Zashiki-warashi - ISFP (D)
Tsuyuri Kohane - INFP (D)
Ichihara Yuuko - ENTP (C)
Doumeki Shizuka - ISTP (D)
Kunogi Himawari - ENFP (E)
Kimihiro Watanuki - ESFJ (E)

Show Spoiler

Value: 4/10

Shows of this nature have little value, because, really, it's not as fun to watch something like this again. Jokes suck, there is no action and plot doesn't offer anything new even through the first run. I'd rather re-watch Mushishi or Mononoke three times in a row than watch this show again. This show is not really that bad, it's just one of the weakest additions to genre which already has some really cool stuff floating around.

1. Conclusion[/u]: Unless you are desperate to watch something episodic weakly dealing with Japanese mythology and you have already stormed through the better shows likeMushishi,Mononoke andGhost 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.[/i][/ol]

byrika3 on2008-12-25 20:03

What it's about: xxxHolic is a story of a boy who is able to see and interact with spirits. He one day finds himself stumbling into an old building he had never noticed before. Inside, he meets a woman named Yuuko, who claims to be a witch. She says she can help him, but for a price.

Animation: The animation is just bad. There is no excuse for this. I've seen my fair share of extremely low-budget productions that still managed to top this.

For starters, only important characters are colored. Everyone else is left uncolored and poorly-lined. The palette is a bunch of unrealistic poorly-shaded vibrant colors, which makes the white crowds stand out even more. The focal point is the main Characters of course, but what you're really thinking is something along the lines of, 'what's up with the white spaces?'

Body proportions are also pretty bad. Everyone is drawn with an angular skinny quality and because of that, they seem a lot taller then they really should. This makes you wonder how a person who appears 7 feet tall made it through a normally-drawn doorframe of roughly 6' 11'' without any problems at all. it also distracts from any current dialog, causing you to miss out on important details. Yuuko at least is drawn beautifully, but in most scenes her neck appears freakishly long. I'm not sure if this was done intentionally, but in my opinion it makes her look like a cross between a Japanese geisha and a swan, and not in a positive way. She's given an oddly-distributed torso, tall on top and then mostly legs on bottom. Long, long legs. Really long legs.

Another issue is the skin tones. A characters skin is typically alright, maybe a bit too pale or dark, but nothing major. Then someone gets thrown into the mix who has pallid, sickly gray skin or off-white skin, and it's hard to look past that. For example, Doumeki's skin is constantly deep gray, giving him a dull, dead appearance. The shading done to skin sometimes turns it into a sort of messy badly-colored peach tone that looks almost diseased. This probably appeals to some people, but to me it was a real turn-off.

Usually the eyes are like old-fashioned Mickey Mouse eyes. You know, giant commas somehow attached to their face? Yeah. I think I might have missed the point of that. Worse, they're very flat, making everyone have a zombie-like quality. This is worse on the people with gray skin (covered above) and makes xxxHolic very hard on the eyes.

Sound: The sound is much better then the animation, luckily. It is usually done with a light technical/traditional merging style that's easy on the ears and pleasantly conducts the plot and animation on. The lipsynch is fine where the animation manages to pull through. Any inconsistencies are probably more the fault of the imagery then the sound itself.

The opening theme is a light song about a crazy love. It's matched nicely with scenes from the anime and some cameo appearances. The entire thing draws you in and leaves you feeling very relaxed, mellow, and open to the plot.

Both ending themes are fine. Not awesome, but definitely not bad. They also match the series well, so I haven't got any complaints in this department.

Story: The story is a really interesting one. The main character, Watanuki, is cursed with being able to see and interact with spirits. This keeps him mostly confined to his house because he's afraid of encountering the spirits when he leaves. Fascinatingly the spirits aren't remnants of humans, but rather something else entirely, which is gradually explained. When Watanuki stumbles into the witch Yuuko's shop, she says she might be able to help him. In exchange, Watanuki has to work for her. Watanuki excepts, but then later feels bad because of the unspoken cost of getting rid of the spirits.

Watanuki's work for Yuuko is mostly kitchen-work. He also cleans the shop, though. He is often seen in a feminine apron and handkerchief. When he complains about being overworked, he is ignored by everyone. He works like a maid and doesn't have much free time to relax or interact with peers of his choice. He doesn't get along with Mokona or Doumeki, often seen in the shop, and doesn't even try to be kind to them.

Occasionally Watanuki does tasks dealing with the supernatural. It's not hard for him because he's still more prone to paranormal experiences then the average boy. Usually he's forced to bring Doumeki (a classmate Watanuki dislikes) along, because Doumeki is able to repel spirits, preventing them from harming anyone.

Watanuki's job with Yuuko leads him to meet the other people in the shop. There's Maru and Moro, the 'twins' who look nothing alike but are the same apparent weight and height. They help do menial tasks for Yuuko but never do anything really important. Shortly after we meet them Mokona also appears to drink Sake and party with Yuuko (who binge-drinks ritualistically.).

We also get to see Watanuki's schoolmates. He seems to be able to spend a lot of time around his crush, Himawari, but unfortunately has to spend a lot of time with a person he considers his rival, Doumeki, as well.

Yuuko frequently drags Himawari and Doumeki along with Watanuki on her crazy supernatural adventures. This leads to plenty of arguments that only compliment the feelings of a family setting and make the series more enjoyable. Watanuki is the housewife to Yuuko's 'lazy drunk' parent. Himawari would be the ever-present best friend and Doumeki is like the brother Watanuki hates. Maru and Moro just run around and cause trouble for them occasionally, and Mokona stays glued to Yuuko unless told to do otherwise.

It really is a fun storyline to follow.

Characters: The characters all, as I mentioned earlier, seem to form a dysfunctional family. They compliment and offset each other in exactly the right ways, leading for a lot of mix-ups, disasters, and overall fun.

Watanuki himself is a kind and generous young man. If he sees a person struggling then he'll try to help them, even if they are a stranger to him. He has faith in Yuuko's magic, and sometimes brings her people whom he asks her to help. Watanuki's crush on Himawari is pure and innocent, letting us know that he really is a gentle and loving-spirited boy. He is prone to more erratic and emotional behavior when he's upset or stressed or feels abused, but (most) of his threats are empty.

Doumeki is a brisk and apathetic guy. Even though Watanuki considers them rivals, this seems to be purely one-sided. Doumeki doesn't deliberately compete with Watanuki. In fact, he usually pays him only a bare minimal of attention. At first he seems completely shut off and too disconnected to care about anything. However, when he believes Watanuki to have been injured he stands and waits in the rain for 7-10 hours without a coat or umbrella, revealing that he really does care, he's just entirely incapable of expressing it. He's asked out frequently, but always turns the girls down for some reason.

Yuuko is much more expressive. She's cunning and manipulative, usually without any regards for the cost. However, when she's calm she's very intelligent. She drinks too much and often fails to explain things properly, but her talent as a witch is unbelievable. She uses Watanuki like a servant, but treats his friends as though they were her own, much to Watanuki's frustration.

Himawari is a cheerful character lacking in apparent depth. She's not terribly bright and doesn't seem to comprehend the supernatural events that happen around everyone.

The mystical characters are surprisingly human. What separates them is knowledge of the strange and occult forces that drive and alter life. As a general rule of thumb they treat Yuuko with respect and tolerate or befriend Watanuki.

Value: xxxHolic points out interesting factors and presences in the human psyche. Yuuko is often the one who explains a behavior after we observe it for a while. Reading further into it is something that has to be done with the knowledge gained from watching. It is a whimsical yet somehow down-to-Earth example of a supernatural comedy and is highly enjoyable. You don't have to think terribly hard to get through it, which I know can be a plus sometimes.

At times the series dwells annoyingly on Watanuki's ranting about being forced to do 'women-work', which knocks it down from a rating of nine to a rating of eight.

Enjoyment: This is a very interesting and unique story with characters you won't be able to find duplicates of elsewhere. The supernatural and human elements co-exist peacefully, one not dominating the screen more then the other. This makes for a more pleasant watch with a series that is decidedly many dominant genres at once. The realistic portrayals of people and fun fantasy draw away from the abhorrent animation.

This is something that you will watch the first season of and then want to take a break from, but I can guarantee that you'll watch the second season. this series can't be done in context by someone else without seemingly like a dull rip-off, and it can't be forgotten once viewed.

All in all, though there are some shortcomings, it's definitely worth it to watch xxxHolic.

byzilch on2008-06-27 08:51

Animation - 7

The style of xxxHolic involves some purposely-skewed character proportions. Expect to see some unusually long arms, legs, fingers, and such. Besides that, the character designs - and the rest of the animation for that matter - are fairly simple, but clean.

Sound - 7

The opening didn't strike me at first, but grew on me as the series went on. I found the first closing was rather forgettable, but the second was more enjoyable. The background music likewise did its job, but was not really notable. The Japanese voice acting was fine, but I would contend that the roles were relatively undemanding.

Story - 8

xxxHolic is basically episodic. Things happen which carry forwards into later episodes, but there are no story arcs that carry through multiple episodes except towards the very end. This may disappoint some, but for me it was a welcome change of pace from the heavily-serial anime I've been watching recently.

Mysticism and the supernatural is typical fare for xxxHolic, with the balance of fate being a recurring theme (it's mentioned by Yuuko more than a few times). Other episodes have a psychological bent, and in some of its better moments xxxHolic even manages to bridge the two.

As for the quality of the writing, I'm torn. xxxHolic sets itself up with plenty of rich thematic space to explore, and when it chooses to delve into this space it usually does so adeptly. However, the writing is very stingy about doing so. Later episodes in the series seem to prefer rehashing and dragging out old plot points to exploring new material. There may be an excuse in that the original manga has a lot of material that crossed over with other CLAMP works (particularly Tsubasa) which the television series eschews, but that does not fix the problem.

Characters - 7

If the writers are somewhat stingy with plot developments, they're downright miserly with character development. Yuuko drops some hints on this front (the same hints several times, in fact), but after their introductions the main characters are largely static. The second series fares better on this front, but obviously that's a bit late.

Besides that, there's a lot of stock interaction - typical anime fare. It's not bad, but it reinforces the feeling that material is being rehashed a bit much. Just count the number of times Himawari says, "you two really are good friends".

Value - 7

xxxHolic is decent entertainment value, though it's probably not going to wow you. The first few episodes are indicative of the rest of the series. If you like them, you'll like the rest. Otherwise, it's not for you.

Enjoyment - 8

I have to admit, I quite liked it. If I sound critical at points it's only because I felt it had the potential to be even better. As is, it was good enough to convince me that I should give the manga a shot.

byradionerd7 on2007-04-03 10:59

This show is original and refreshing. After many exposure to so many dull, cliche filled anime shows, I welcomed a show that's like non other. xxxholic deals with superstition, spirits, fortune-telling, forklores and other mysterious dark magic like topics with overall theme of there's a balance to everything. One cannot obtain something for free for there's always a price that must be paid or a consequence follow from certain actions. This show also deals with human weaknesses: pride, greed, Lust, addiction, envy, etc.
Although the show contains dark settings, its still very comical. I can't say if this is a very good mix but I think this is better than something completely depressing titles like Boogiepop Phantom.

The animation was average. The characters look freakish with ape like arms that comes down to their knees and they are all 8ft tall but only weigh 100lbs. The background isn't very detailed and background people are all grey figures (I suppose it was to achieve certain effect). There were plenty of details though when it was necessary.

The sound was pretty good. Although the opening and ending theme isn't my taste of music but overall the sounds through out the show were good. The seiyus were good and sounded very familiar, especially Yuko's voice (Sayaka Ohara: Rika - Honey and Clover, Raquel Kasull - Scrapped Pricess)

Story wise, there isn't a main plot. Each episodes has their own seperate themes and story. Through each mostly non-related episodes, there are small character developments and ties the whole series together. Other than Watanuki, rest of the characters are mainly one dimensional. The main theme is about a boy who's been alone most of his life finds friends through different experience. I was disappointed when the ended and I didn't find any kind of concrete ending or any climax. Through out the show, I thought there were subtle hints of a grand ending to come, but I was corrected. The shows has mix of comedy and seriousness. However, the most comedy about Watanuki getting angry at Yuko, Domeki, and Modoki over same things get overused, and I got tired of it fairly quickly. The main purpose of the comedy was to keep the serious tone of the show lightly.

This might not be the best anime I've have seen, but overall XxxHolic is an entertaining and an interesting show. I learned a lot more about different side of Japanese cultures that I normally don't see. It was great to see the beliefs and superstitions of the Japanese society that has very similiar sides to our society. Although I am a more of sci-fi/action person, I enjoyed xxxHolic. I recommand this show to anyone who wants a break from over saturated mediocre shows.

bysaya77 on2007-03-08 05:09

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.