Product Description

There is no such thing as coincidence, there is only the inevitable...

Watanuki has been haunted by dark spirits his entire life, a curse flowing through his bloodline preventing peace. When his incessant demons drag him to the ornate door of the Dimensional Witch Yuko, he meets a mystical woman of insight and luxury, quick to help those in a bind… For a fee! One might very well end up paying with their soul! To be free of his visions, Watanuki will work in her shop of dreams and wishes. There is always a price to pay…

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #66404 in DVD
• Brand: Funimation
• Released on: 2008-03-25
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: Animated, Color, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: 5.00 pounds
• Running time: 100 minutes

Features

• Watanuki has been haunted by spirits his entire life; a curse flowing through his bloodline that prevents his peace. When incessant demons dog him to the ornate door of the Dimensional Witch Yuko, he meets a mystical woman of insight and luxury, quick to help those in a bind - for a fee. To be free of his visions, Watanuki agrees to work in her shop of dreams and visions. Helping Yuko with her

Amazon.com
Devotees of the four-woman collective Clamp have eagerly awaited the 2006 series based on their manga XXXHolic. High school student Kimihiro Watanuki possesses the dubious ability to see evil spirits. While fleeing one of the amorphous creatures, he stumbles into the shop of Yuko, the Dimensional Witch inTsubasa Reservoir Chronicle. Yuko will grant any wish--for a price. She half tricks/half bargains Watanuki into working for her in return for relieving him of his supernatural gift. He spends his after school hours running errands, cooking, and fussing. Doumeki, the girl he adores, and Doumeki, the boy he loathes, join him to form a mismatched trio. The aura of sensual power that surrounds this version of Yukois broken by her outrageous demands for food and saké, and the squeaks of the obnoxiously cute mascot Mokona. Although the animation is often very cartoony, XXXHolichas the vaguely decadent look of a Symbolist painting. Eerie and off-beat, the series will delight Clamp's many fans. The related feature A Midsummer Night's Dream (2005) was released in a package with Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle: The Movie: The Princess in the Birdcage. The Starter Set comes with a box for the discs.(Rated TV PG: comic violence, alcohol and tobacco use) --Charles Solomon

Customer Reviews

Not My Cup of Tea
This is the first set of episodes, so the viewers need to be a little forgiving of the necessity to spend extra time introducing all of the characters and providing adequate background so that subsequent episodes can actually get on with the story. However, there is a thin line between holding the viewer's attention and doing back work.

I just cannot get excited enough about this series after watching the first collection to watch any of the follow ons. The art is interesting in the overly tall, thin caricatures of people (almost like walking stick figures). The personal interactions of the main characters is almost stereotypical in the adolescent and more mature woman formula with its oedipal implications. Add to that the excessive use of cartoonish emotional outbursts by the male lead (Watanuki), and this is just a little over the top for me. While the female lead (Yuko) is drawn with a little more curve than the rest this is no fan service series either. I would have to say that this is primary fare for those that already know and like the series.
P-)

The Manga is better
CLAMP always delivers an intriguing story. XxxHolic is no exception.

First of all let me get one thing off my chest. The anime is drawn strange because it's an adaptation of the manga. For some reason over the past few recent manga series CLAMP has released you can tell they are slowly changing their art style. While they've always drawn their characters a little 'lanky' it seems they are taking a more simple approach to their normally over-the-top details. It was pleasing to the eye in Chobits but seems to be going downhill in XxxHolic. (and Tsubasa as they are essentially tied together)However, since the details are tapering off we can now see the true structure and anatomy of their style of character. It's still the same CLAMP we know and love but simplified.
Even so it doesn't seem to translate well into anime. Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle is the same way. Seeing the lanky structures in still images, black/white, and with CLAMP's gorgeous detail is okay but once they start moving they have to tone down the details and it starts to show it's flaws.
All that aside the anime is basically a moving picture version of the manga. The story stays the same, albeit shortened as it's just the first season, and is just as interesting.
I love the Manga and I've watched the entire first season of the anime. While I am striving to collect all of the Manga a simple 1 time watch-through of the anime was enough for me.

PROs- Very close the manga, all the humor is there, it just wouldn't be the same Watanuki if he wasn't lanky (c'mon admit it!), and it's still the same great short-story style.

CONs- Oversimplified style of animation, Ending is abrupt and open-ended, doesn't explain the characters background (such as what is up with Himawari?!!), and does not even hint at the fact there is 2nd season. (The Manga does though :) Xxxholic Kei)


End thoughts - It's a good story, likable characters, but the animation is severely lacking and it ends up coming across as a short story sitcom of creepy stuff rather than the adaptation of the Manga (which DOES have a story believe it or not).

In my honest opinion it's a good 1 time watch if you're a fan of the Manga but even then...you could just watch "Kei" and you'd be just as happy.

Holic - A Mildly Interesting Spirit Anime
The name of this anime series is Holic. The xxx in front of the name is a variable to insert your addiction. This is the first DVD from the TV series and contains 4 episodes.

Watanuki is a high school student who is cursed with the ability to see spirits who torment him. One day he is mysteriously pulled into the shop of a beautiful witch/ fortune teller named Yuko. She says she is in the business of granting wishes. She gets him to admit that he wishes to stop seeing spirits. She says she will grant the wish once he has paid her by working in her shop doing chores and cooking. Thus starts their relationship which is the basis for the episodes of the series.

I enjoyed it, but was also annoyed by all the yelling and whining that Watanuki does. That gets very old very fast. The plots of the first 4 episodes were not that involved. Overall I think this is a series geared more for teen girls. I really like the opening theme and will be looking to get a copy of that.