Review of Xxxholic

Note: This article is gladly written by one of my good friends in a bleach rpg as well as a forum that i used to visit a lot. He is Rabid Dreams and I would love to sincerly thank him for guest blogging this entry. To note as well, if any of you out there is keen to write a review, please email us your review. Our email can be found at the contacts page. Now, I will allow him to write and talk to you about the anime that he loves a lot.

REVIEW

Xxxholic was originally a manga created by CLAMP (the same people who made Card Captor Sakura, Tsubasa Chronicles and Chobits), and of course we do see some familiar looking items or characters in the anime. However as a big change from the manga, the anime has removed the references to Tsubasa Chronicles it once contained. This is most noticeable with the black Mokona showing up in the anime a little earlier than he does in the manga, along with the way he is used.

However though the anime contains a lot of filler, you won’t ever really notice a drop in quality even if you’ve read the manga before hand. Personally I see this anime as more of a retelling of the story than using the story laid out by the manga. For example in the manga we don’t see where Yuuko (also known as the Dimensional Witch in Tsubasa Chronicles), gets her pipe fox from. Yet in the anime we see a bit of back story to it, along with see how affectionate the creature is towards Watanuki (the main male lead), showing why it was willing to give it’s all to protect him from harm.

The art style in the anime may come across a little weird to those who have watched other CLAMP animes or even read the other mangas as the style it uses is a little abstract in the proportions of the human body. Though after reading the manga you see that elongated and thin bodies come from the manga style, rather than who ever drew the anime having a poor grasp of human anatomy. Personally I find the style to suit the anime. Even if it was used in something like one piece I’d probably dislike it.

From the opening you get the hear one of the best picked pieces of opening music I’ve heard in a long time, with perhaps only Asterix (by Orange Range) in the original bleach opening to surpass it. Though in the actual show it’s self you rarely notice the background music, which in my opinion should be the aim of any piece of background music being used, to enhance what is being shown rather than being intrusive the piece it is trying to be used with.

Now we get onto the interesting part of this, or at least what I really wanted to talk about, the characters. Sure most people would begin with this but I think though they are the most important thing in an anime, along with the story, they and the story will always hit you after the initial impression left by the music and style.

The main character is Kimihiro Watanuki (spelt the same as April first in Japanese or so we’re told), though we know his birthday and the fact he’s still in high school, his age isn’t mentioned in the anime, meaning we’re only left to guess. However there is something strange about this young man, he can see evil spirits, and attracts them like flies to a rotten steak.

Without spoiling too much of the story Watanuki lives alone and is pretty good with house hold tasks and it seems that Yuuko saw this in him when she granted his wish. So as payment she turned him into her personal dogs body and that’s how the anime begins, and of course this explains how Watanuki is dragged into Yuuko’s strange world.

Watanuki’s two closest friends are Doumeki, a young man who lives in a temple, with the natural ability to make evil spirits leave him alone. Though the two of them will never admit it through their arguing both Watanuki and Doumeki are both close friends. Now we come to Watanuki’s love interest and other close friend, Kunogi Himawari, she’s in the same class as Doumeki and seems to be a sweet young woman who enjoys the company of both of the two young men, however it has been hinted in the manga there is more to her than Watanuki realizes.

Now we come on to the voluptuous and alcoholic Hajiwara Yuuko, the main female lead in this anime, and Watanuki’s boss. Though she tells him it’s an alias, we never do find out her real name, though in the manga in one of the Tsubasa Chronicles moments we see her referred to as the Dimensional Witch. Though she drives Watanuki around like a slave it’s shown on several occasions she has something of a soft spot for him, whether it’s saving him from a spirit or an affectionate action.

Though she’s usually the mysterious type we do see her performing various strange acts when she’s bored which shows a childishness that is rather endearing in a mysterious character. However Yuuko also has two other young servants she keeps around called Marudashi and Morodashi respectively, two soulless, what appear to be young women who can not leave the shop.

Well if I carry on much from there I’ll wind up spoiling the storyline and no on wants that when they read a review so I’ll cut it there and leave you with this. This anime is worth the time and effort to watch however, don’t go in expecting to see an anime with the same events as the manga as you’ll be disappointed even if they are basically the same story.

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