Episodes: 24 (complete)
Finished Watching: 7 October 2007
Rating: 8.25/10
Note: At the time of writing, I haven’t read the manga version yet, so no comparisons will be made to it.

Nutshell

xxxHOLiC is about Watanuki, a teenage boy who was plagued by evil spirits who followed and harassed him. One day, while walking passed a house and literally found himself walking into it without wanting to. There he meets Yuuko, a mysterious, beautiful, sometimes-kooky medium, her two child companions and a little creature called Mokona (crossover from Magic Knight Rayearth). She promises to keep the evil spirits away from Watanuki but in return he has to work part time at her medium “shop”. xxxHOLiC works under these two premises:
1. There are such things as spirits and ghosts
2. There are such things as genuine mediums and magic

Impressions

Oh CLAMP! I’ve always loved their works; there is (albeit, sometimes misguided) sincerity in their stories that many other anime/manga can’t quite manage. An example of this is in the second episode that revolved around a girl with a pinky problem. It is revealed that it’s not mere limb stiffness, because to Yuuka and Watanuki, they see that she has a trail of black smoke coming out from her finger. The episode goes to reveal what the black smoke is about and the type of life this girl leads. There is obvious social commentary going on, and in a very CLAMP-esque way, rather than any form of judgement, it is simply an observation into human behaviour and how people cope with living.

The art style was something I had to get used to. Everyone in xxxHOLiC has tremendously long limbs, which makes them really tall. I guess it makes it stand out compared to other more glossy, better-proportioned anime series out there. It’s pretty amusing how bosomy Yuuko is and how some of her many costumes shows it off off quite unabashedly. :P

As for characters, I really don’t care for Watanuki too much. He’s always so neurotic and prone to making a ruckus over the smallest things. However, as the main character, he gets the most character development, so that does make him difficult to hate. The other characters are prone to be kind of one-dimensional and can be summed up with a sentence. Watanuki’s love interest is cute, pretty and sweet and his rival/friend is stoic, dependable and more silent than not. I guess my favourite character is definitely Yuuko. While she doesn’t vary much from polarising from being mysterious and thoughtful, to being a spontaneous drunk, the former quality makes her very interesting. Character exploration is not too big in xxxHOLiC, but if you don’t mind the existing, albeit archetypal, character types, then it shouldn’t be a problem.

CLAMP’s attempt at humour works at times but it’s not a consistent thing. I personally don’t find it very funny whenever Watanuki gets all slapstickishly angry about something, but at times it does surprise me with how funny and adorable some of the characters are at times. But if you’re looking for consistent humour, this anime probably would not fit the bill.

Final Words

xxxHOLiC is great if you want a well-paced, episodic anime that has somewhat of a focus on exploring social phenomena and human behaviour through a fate/destiny, supernatural light. Sometimes touching, often spooky, kooky and clever. Each episode, while it may not be gripping plot-wise, is one that leaves you wondering what the next episode would be about.

Post Scripts

The opening song is awesome! Also the beginning of episode 24 scared the hell out of me.

Did You Know

According to wikipedia the title “xxxHOLiC” consists of the “xxx” which is supposed to represent variables, and “holic” to connote an addiction to. An example would be, “alcoholic” being a person who’s addicted to alcohol, and a “workaholic” being someone addicted to doing work. This is a pretty clever title, as some of the reoccurring themes explored in the anime are of people’s addictions to things amongst other human follies. However, “holic” doesn’t mean addiction at all. The actual proper suffix in these words “-ic”; so “acholic” means “pertaining to alcohol”. Some clever comedians have pointed out that “chocoholic” doesn’t make much sense, as there’s no such thing as “chocohol”.

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