XXX-HOLIC

The only title ever with “xxx” that isn’t porn



Review by: M.H. “Self-referential” Torringjan

Length: 24 episodes
Genre: Comedy, supernatural
Watched: 24 episodes, subbed

CLAMP series are generally a grab-bag of plots and premises, from the cute (Chobits) to the action-packed (X), and even in-between (MKR). By reading the description of this series, I wasn’t quite sure what I could expect, an unlucky shmoe coming across a magical store with a creepy lady. I figured that it couldn’t hurt to give it a shot, though, and while I wasn’t too impressed, I also wouldn’t turn the series down.

Plot summary: Watanuki is a down-on-his-luck boy who has a problem. He attracts spirits to himself, very much like sleeping pills attract various actors. One day, while walking home from school, he comes across a mysteeeeerious shop, where a mysteeeeerious woman, Yuuko, tells him that she can solve his problem. As ith everything in life, however, it comes with a price Watanuki will have to work a part-time job with her to pay off his tab (the amount of which, suspiciously, is never stated). He will work with Yuuko to solve other people’s problems while trying not to get killed by the spirits around him.

Artwork: The artwork for this series was surprisingly toned down, especially for something animated by Studio I.G. The series didn’t live up to CLAMP’s usual standards, nor did it live up to Studio I.G.’s previous attempts. It also didn’t help that the characters looked like they’d just been pulled out of Willy Wonka’s taffy pull. I’ve seen some long limbs on characters before, like in X, but this went beyond “long legs” to ridiculously long legs. Overall, this was extremely underwhelming.

Music: CLAMP series generally aren’t known for their soundtracks, and this series decided not to buck the trend. While the opening and closing tracks are bouncy and interesting, most of the rest of the soundtrack is electronic and generic. This is definitely not one that you’ll want to buy or waste disk space on.

Characters: Kimihiro Watanuki is the standard down-on-his-luck, bad-with-girls dork that we’ve seen about fifteen times, at least three of them in CLAMP series. Basically, dress Hideki from Chobits in all black, and you get Watanuki. Himawari is Watanuki’s extremely dense, but friendly, crush, a young girl (who oddly likes dressing in black)who believes in things like good luck charms, the red string of fate, and getting a bank savings account instead of an IRA. She tries to keep all of her friends happy and concerns herself with being cheerful, no matter what the situation. Doumeki is Watanuki’s rival for Himawari (although he might be surprised to hear that). He is a mostly stoic character who lives at a shrine and specializes in archery, exorcisms, and eating Watanuki’s cooking. He is spiritually the polar opposite to Watamuki, as he is immune to the spirits, causing Yuuko to enlist his help on occasion. Yuuko is a complex character, quiet and thoughtful at times, loud and boorish at others. She is Watanuki’s guide to the world of spirits, although she is often not too forthcoming with all the information that he needs. Watanuki has no love for her, but he will continue working for her out of a sense of duty and closeness. While the characters themselves aren’t entirely original, there is enough interest to hold your attention. My only question is, what led to the decision to have everyone in the series dress almost entirely in black like some goth-baby rejects from Hot Topic? It was kind of distracting.

Plot: The main appeal of the series is the relationship of the plots to legends and myths. The strong influence of legends, both Japanese and otherwise, lend a local taste to the series for those with an intellectual interest in Japanese culture. Unfortunately, the series doesn’t offer much in the way of continuity. The series is very episodic, which could annoy some (I personally thought that the series could have benefited from a continuous plot, but so much for what I wanted). What really got under my skin was that they didn’t even have the time to iron out the romantic subplot. Then again, considering the manga is 10 volumes long, that might be a little bit more than you can cover in 24 episodes.

CHICKS!! While there are a fair number of chicks in this series, their legs all really don’t end at their hips. Nor do their arms end at their shoulders. Actually, nothing really ends where it should. Regardless, the personalities may have something to interest you. Himawari is the cheerful, yet vapid type who wouldn’t realize you liked her if you flew a plane over her house. However, if you succeeded in convincing her of that point, she would do everything in her power to make you happy. She cooks, she enjoys a good time out, she has about everything necessary to have a good time. Yuuko is a girl for those who like to have a good time, and doesn’t mind some secrets. She can hold her liquor with the greats (Misato and Momono, to note a couple), and she’s got some great stories to tell, so you’re guaranteed a good time when you’re with her, although she can’t cook and doesn’t clean, so her long-term appeal might be limited. My personal favorite is the Vestal Sprite, whose name implies a small, elf-like creature with wings. Thankfully for all of us, she actually appears to be human, and a very cute human at that. She has a lithe build and a nicely defined figure, while avoiding being a bombshell. She is a shy, quiet girl who has eyes only for Watanuki (for reasons unexplained at any length), although he seems more interested in Himawari. It should be easy enough to steal her from him, and definitely worth the effort.

Overall: I’ve watched CLAMP series in the past and have been able to definitively say that they were good, this series provided a difficult problem. While the plots of the individual episodes were interesting to me, and the writing was clever at times, the characters were not interesting and the show was not technically impressive. In all, while this show has its good points, it doesn’t seem to be up to CLAMP’s normal standards, and might not impress you as much as their other efforts.

In a Nutshell:
+ Interesting plots
+ Good writing
- Static characters
- Artwork not up to snuff
- Generic music
Final score: 6.5/10

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