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April 11, 2006

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XXXHOLiC #1 Review


Shinsen’s subbed version was out today, for those who still didn’t know. IMO, their version is slightly better than Kyuuketsuki’s, the translation is more faithful to the manga, the edition is excellent (you can notice the care they put onto it) and plus, they added some interesting notes at the end. I will download Kyuuketsuki’s one just to kill my curiosity in case they release it before Shinsen, but even so, they did a very good job and I’m not misjudging it.

So now to the episode itself:

First things first, so let’s start by Yuuko’s opening speech. Of course, it just had to be there, because that speech is XXXHOLiC’s soul. I wouldn’t mind the speech to be there on every episode at all. It melts greatly with the OP, which is my next subject…

– The song. Ah the song… it was love at first, uh, “sight”? xD Well you got it. 19 Sai is just love ! Suga Shikao was born to sing XXXHOLiC’s songs, I couldn’t be more happy with it *-* The lyrics might be a little off, but they have AGEHA on it which is enough to me xDDDD
– The butterflies are just great.
– CLAMP’s name is not big/legible enough… *me being totally bitchy*
– One big surprise is definitely “Ohkawa NANASE” as the executive producer. I don’t know why they didn’t announce this before on the main staff nor why it’s “Nanase” instead of “Ageha” (is she producing it ever since she was still called like that?). Either way, I’m not complaining, the more Ohkawa-sama, the better (OMFG EXECUTIVE PRODUCER!).
– Doumeki and Himawari’s shadows have textures ! I just loved that and I hope to see it more times, if possible.
– In an overall, I thought the OP was greatly planned, flowing very nicely with the song. The director did it’s storyboard so we can expect great deals of him.

Now the episode:

Whoever had the idea of making everybody else at the street gray, minus Watanuki, deserves my bless. We can notice in the manga that the other people are less detailed indeed, but if it weren’t for the anime, I would never thought on such possibility. It gives such an impact seeing it in color (not to mention, they MOVE ! I hate static street people). It’s perfect to show that Watanuki is not even caring for the gossips, talkings and all the babbling of the people, he has other things to worry such as evil spirits following him.

In fact, if only they would just “follow” him, they are actually almost MOLESTING the poor kid xDDDDDDDDD Again we see Watanuki struggling against them from the people’s PoV, which is nice.

On the scene where he touches the shop’s fence, you can clearly see the background, and I loved the way they drew it. It looks like it was painted with watercolor and it’s so similar to Nekoi’s paintings of GD (she uses the computer, but it’s still similar).

The title frame is… simple xD Black background with standard japanese type. Laziness? It could be xD But I can’t deny it gives this raw feeling.

The fact that they are in spring makes it look even prettier, what with sakura petals falling on Yuuko’s yard >.<

Maro and Maru are L-O-V-E ! They look even cuter (if that's even possible) moving around with real voices. They were surely the source of my laughs at this episode.

The scene where Watanuki meets Yuuko is very good and intense (even though I think the smoke was looking like a mist rather than a pipe's smoke), the soundtrack is excellent. The music is soft and yet heavy, because it sounds like an endless tune. It was PERFECLY broken by Yuuko's "fuuhh-" (you know, puffing the smoke out xD), just perfect.

The next scenes are pretty much very faithful to the manga. The dialogs, even some positions are just like in the manga. Some things were unfortunately left aside, like Yuuko's mirror. But the essential was there.

I liked the part where Yuuko explains what is the shop. Watanuki fans himself against Yuuko's smoke xDDDDDDDD And later we can see Watanuki's comical reaction when Yuuko says she can take people's souls, and I really liked her laugher. Then I'm also glad they've kept the speech about the weight of taking one's life, Yuuko's expression is perfect for "it's not worth it".

The scene after that is even funnier, when Yuuko and Watanuki are arguing about payments and such while Maru and Moro pass around repeating Yuuko's words xDDDD Just perfect.

Then the first signs of Yuuko's alcohol addictiveness xD And Watanuki goes to the storage room to get the "drinking partner" who is none other than Mokona ! Before we go to Mokona, we can see a glimpse of Sakura's staff at 12:17, I just hope we'll be seeing it properly next episode.
Now back to Mokona. We all saw this coming so no surprise, the real surprise to me was that Mokona said he's been sleeping from 3 years? I really don't remember if we got that information in the manga as well. Did we, hiragizawa-san? (Soel and Larg expert).
So it’s all very weird… he woke up for no reason at all (“let’s drink !” is not a reason xD) and the other one supposedly remained there… O.o
I think that the fact that we won’t be getting any Syaoran-tachi at the store doesn’t necessarily mean we’ll be COMPLETELY out of Tsubasa crossovers… I’m confident that we shall see some connections for sure.

Part B: The original-ness xD

Only that, it wasn’t bad at all. I totally understand that it would ruin to start the lying girl arc at this episode… it would be too much information, and not to mention it would be cut in half.

What counts here are the girls. The scene is long and a bit bad-directed since it stays over and over with the same cameras.
So one of the girl claims to be able to see spirits and she tells her friends how unfortunate she is and all the bad things that happens to her, so that she would sound cool and receive special treatment from her friends. Watanuki tries to help her by telling that it’s all okay, in spite of all. But she doesn’t listen to him, of course, since she’s playing the victim and if she was indeed able to see them, she would understand.
So the spirit who’s been following Watanuki since the market “notices” that the girl somehow “wishes” for it… and so it possesses her.

It was a good original story, good to start by showing how people wish for their own unhappiness unconsciously.

The ED:
I thought the song was a bit off of XXXHOLiC’s mood, even though it’s a cute song. Mokona dancing it’s priceless but he could do it all the time and not only half-way through it.

Next episode looks so cool (the lying girl!) and I can’t wait to see it >..< Mokona's one is a bit annoying sometimes, sorry, but that's what I think ^^"

– The animation is very good, better than I expected to tell the truth. I shall never believe in Youtube ever again xD (that promo fooled me a bit). Of course P. IG can do better than that to a TV Series… just look at BLOOD+ (it's perfectly animated), the fact is that… XXXHOLiC doesn't -need- that much shadows and tones and shinings and etc. It has simple and not very detailed traces. There's no middle term in it, it's either black or white, which makes the colors and effects very limited.

– The soundtrack is very good too. I think S.E.N.S managed to capture XXXHOLiC's obscure mood. We could hear violins and pianos which is the best musical instruments for XXXHOLiC in my opinon. Even at the comical moments, you can notice the music is kinda dark and creepy.

Anyways, I totally LOVED it, I was more hyper when I saw it for the first time but it has been a couple of days since so it cooled down a bit. But I'm very satisfied with the result and I think this will be a promising series… I hope and it won't let me down. The fact that Ohkawa-sensei is at staff is enough to prove that. I’m VERY looking forward for the next episode.

I dedicate this post/review to oujiro_chan. Thank you for all the support, Oujirou-san, you’re amazing ! ^__^

—-

Now one last thing related to XXXHOLiC, the new Animedia issue featuring a Special CLAMP interview is already on sale, and XXXHOLiC is in the cover (drawn by CLAMP). Check it here.
Looks SO pretty ! The first color pic of Maru and Moro too ^0^

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32 thoughts on “XXXHOLiC #1 Review”

  1. *puts on Mokona hat* We don’t know for how long Mokona Modoki slept in the belljars. The three years thing left me all “uuuuuh WTF”. This doesn’t bode entirely well, as even though we have no translation for all the book, I get the feeling Clow should’ve been alive when they went to sleep. Call it femenine instinct, if you will. Yet another reason to worry about next week’s crossover.

    But we don’t know if we have an estimated of sleeping years in “Soel to Larg”. Yet.

    Ooh, pretty cover!

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    • >The three years thing left me all “uuuuuh WTF”
      I know ! It left me go like that too ! I immediately thought on contacting you to clear this up xD

      >Call it femenine instinct, if you will.
      LOL! I too think he was still alive O.o So how come? Did Yuuko travel like, in time? o.O

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      • I blame it more on the screenwriters’ lack of metacanon knowledge *throws a Soel to Larg copy at them* Someone in my site’s board was saying they might’ve wanted to have a cute mascot since the beginning in order to sell merchandising, and I’m agreeing with her.

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        • With Ohkawa on the staff, I don’t think she would allow such a random thing. Maybe they changed (with her supervision) the whole timeline and some plot elements just for the anime.

          >they might’ve wanted to have a cute mascot since the beginning
          Indeed… in order to have one more comic relief too u.u

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          • I think kudakitsune would’ve been a better starting mascot. They could make it so Yuuko had it before, and that wouldn’t stop them from doing the ame warashi saga. She’d just have to give something else as the payment.

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  2. Watanuki’s comical reaction when Yuuko says she can take people’s souls

    Is it just me, or was he really spoofing the Exorcist’s famous spiderwalk sequence?

    That me roll with laughters! XD

    Really, really promising anime, I can’t wait to see the rest! *__________*

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  3. oh no it’s happening again, I avoid a manga then watch the series only to really get into it and start reading the manga.

    Seriously, I thought I’d wait for anime to come out because I was never too sure on this series, and now that I’ve watched the movie and the first episode I’m really starting to get into it all. I’ll probably watch a few more episodes before starting on the manga, as I’m still not entirely swung on it all, but I can feel it slowly happening.

    I love Yuuko, always have with her mysterious personality, and now I’m loving Watanuki, his voice is just perfect and his reactions to what Yuuko says are priceless.

    And the new Animedia has a poster as well of Tomoyo from Piffle – she looks so perfect in her big hat!

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    • Ow you really -should- read the manga… the manga is always great. But I can see what you mean by wanting to read it now. The TV series made my love for XXXHOLiC grow some more. I think it’s the fact the way they publish it it’s really painful to follow (12 pages per week, not to mention the breaks). When you see it all happening start to end, you see the whole thing and it’s so great.

      >I love Yuuko, always have with her mysterious personality, and now I’m loving Watanuki, his voice is just perfect and his reactions to what Yuuko says are priceless.

      I know ! Watanuki’s seiyuu is perfect, perfect… They have a great interaction (yuuko and watanuki)

      >And the new Animedia has a poster as well of Tomoyo from Piffle

      Ow really? where did you see it?

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  4. OMFG! *die*

    *Crazy mode on*
    FIRST! Look what you made I done! XDD ARE YOU CONTENT??? ANSWER!!!
    *Crazy mode off*

    ;_; I’m still shocked with the manga…I’m not comfortable with the new desing on manga/anime…just pictures are ok now o.o~ but… I WANN SEE THE ANIME ;_; Maruta and Morota are too kawaai *3* *squeeze hard*

    xD sorry about my e-mail o.o and about MAI INGLIXI! 8D

    û.u I know that you’re being totally bitchy… ò_Ó STOP THIS! YOU’RE A MAN!! 8D YAOI IS THE BEST THING EVER HAPPEN! But you just not born for this ò_ó you’re a sexy, wonderful, gentleman, yammi guy *¬* so please xD DO NOT BE A BITCHY!!! u.u or I’m gonna catch you on street 8D and make you a man!!

    *ok ._.’b I’m going to kill me just now*

    Bye *-*/ yammi guy! xD

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    • Ah, you made an account…

      Seriously, I don’t think you got anything I said up there about being bitchy O.o (don’t take it so literal >.>).

      And please stop that molesting, I’m not confortable with it… ^^”

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  6. OMG! You dedicated it to me?! OMG!!! Thank youuuuuuuu!!! that´s so sweet! X3 *glomps* *I´ve left a mark on the world I can die young now T.T xDDDDDD* Well you know how I like your reviews ;), you can´t find this kind of reviews contents in anywhere else… not even japanese magazines do it like this!!!! You don´t skip ONE detail covering all the aspects! I am sure hardcore japanese otakus would join me in this!

    > they added some interesting notes at the end
    OMG! Yes I knew you were going to like this as well I did! Other fansubs should improve this as well I think! Many things get lost in translation, and specially in Clamp´s works because we all know they are full of winks and suggested details, there is always a reason why they choose certain word and not another…so I think this Notes idea is just GREAT!
    >CLAMP’s name is not big/legible enough…
    Total support on this one!!!! hahaha *goes to writte a complain letter* XD

    Maru-to-Moro are certainly the most funniest thing on this chapter, followed by Yuuko´s “Omoshiroi…” laugh XD…
    Oh and I think Yuuko´s smoke looking like a mist, it has to do with that way is easy to anime (just an effect) I am sure the animators have found that doing the opening secuence XD, altough the animation is indeed good, correct, not amazing, but indeed fits the plot pretty much.
    The scene with the girls at the street is indeed rough animated, but I think we have to have in mind there is not much sponsors, or merchandising out to solve money issues, so I am trusting that it will “leave” those details as the chapters go on. what do you think about thius theory? Also the mini-made-up-plot was an excelent showing of Holic raw atmosphere like you said.
    OH! Loved the music too! can´t wait for a soundtrack to come out! >.<
    With Nanase-san (xD) in the stuff I feel we can rest a little bit our worries (fiuuuhhh), also I am thinking that the idea of "erasing" Shaorantachi from the plot, and to let Holic shine with its own glow…was her idea, what do you think? …it´s just a theory though…^^U …because I am really not sure if they are gonna appear you know….(a couple of minutes won´t kill anyone)
    And as for the cover: Woah! I like the idea of Maru-to-Moro with butterflies-like outfits! So cute X3
    THANK YOU SO MUCH AGAIN and… YOU are the amazing one! ^///^
    As always, Take care ok? (the world needs you! Really!… or at least we do so much XD)
    Claudio
    PS// Sorry about the big comment ^^U couldn´t help it…XD

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    • >You dedicated it to me?!
      Course I did. You said you liked my reviews didn’t you? It’s like a motivation for me to do them because it takes time and patience to do them >.>

      >I´ve left a mark on the world I can die young now T.T xDDDDDD
      LOL ! No, don’t die xDDDDD

      I loved the Notes too ! It shows how careful they were. PLUS, they added a manga pic which is love (I just think that they should have added Sanagi as a background song instead of Ship of Fools xDDDD).

      >Total support on this one!!!!
      Hahahaha I KNOW ! In -this- point BeeTrain did great, it was so legible at the 1st OP. Okay, yeah, you can read it on XXXHOLiC’s OP, sure… but it’s not, you know, big enough xDDDDDDDD

      >Maru-to-Moro are certainly the most funniest thing on this chapter, followed by Yuuko´s “Omoshiroi…” laugh XD…
      WORD !!!! I loved her “Omoshiroi”! Poor Watanuki, he’s at a madhouse xDDDD

      Yeah I think the smoke/mist is much easier to animate indeed. But I was happy that they kept the “original” smokes on the OP ^_^

      About the animation, well, the storyboard guys wanted to create a tense situation that had lots of dialogs… and they didn’t have a manga to base on, so that’s the result xDDDDDDD I think that, like it happens in many animes, we’ll have better animation around the middle of the series. Because they’ll hopefully gather money from the merchandising. Besides, I think it’s going to be 2-seasons long, so.

      About letting XXXHOLiC shine for it’s own, I thought about it too. Maybe they don’t have enough room for it? Besides, we’ve seen it on Tsubasa, and we’ve seen it again on the movie (very fast, but we did). Even though I’d love to see Watanuki’s PoV animated… and the whole CCS connection u.u I just hope that doesn’t mean we won’t see any connections at all.

      Thank you for the nice comment ^0^ And I don’t mind big comments at all \o/ (mine is probably bigger than yours xD)

      You take care too !

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  7. Oh my I hope that magazine is at my bookstore tomorrow. ^__^ It looks so pretty.
    Thank you for the very detailed review. ^^ I love reading your reviews, for they are just too precious. I agree with pretty much everything you said too. Overall, great stuff, can’t wait for the next one. And I have a feeling Yuuko’s speech at the beginning is always going to be there. It seems like one of those things they tacked on permanently before the OP.
    I anticipate lots of good things this week. ^-^

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    • I know, that cover is so awesome, isn’t it? I loved the butterflies textures >.<

      Me is glad that you liked my review \o/ Not that we hadn't chat about it before, right? ^_^

      I think too that it'll be attached to the OP, Yuuko's speech, it's so great I wouldn't mind at all ^^

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  9. GREAT review! The episode was awesome, I’m really looking forward to the next one…

    The only thing I didn’t like in the Shinsen version is that they have placed the notes between the end of the ep and the ED… I just happen to love this transition on many animes, and it just ruins it. I hope they could put in the very end >> But that’s just me being nitpicker XD

    I didn’t notice the textures in Doumeki and Himawari’s shadows… nice. I liked the plain title frame, it gives an eerie feeling.

    And Maru (it’s her right? I mix them up XD) kissing Yuuko was just too darn cute!

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    • Ow about the notes, I thought it was a bit odd too… but I think they wanted everybody to see it (some people close the video maybe O.o)

      The textures are great, aren’t they? I hope they use it more often.

      I forgot to post about Maru (or Moro, I also mix them up XD) kissing Yuuko was TEH Cute ^0^

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  10. Ahh, so this was the huge post you were talking about *-* It’s great! I like your reviews very much and we usually agree on the same things so xD

    The opening IS LOVE! I can’t believe there are people who think the ending is better!!! >.< Suga Shikao was born to sing xxxHolic's songs XD

    And kyaaa! That is a pretty cover *-* It really is Maru and Moro's first color pic, ne? They should've goteen one earlier!!

    And since I'm still waiting to see the whole chappie, your review was a big help for me, thank youuuu!!!

    Take care Yuuto-chan!! ^^

    PS (and I wanted to ask this so long ago!) WHEN did the Mokonas got named soel and Larg??? I feel SO lost =_=

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    • Yes, sha-chan, this was the ultra big post xDDD So hard-working @_@ I’m glad we agree on many points \o/

      Taste is taste… I saw some people who actually -hated- the OP… All we can do it’s respect their opinion =\

      >WHEN did the Mokonas got named soel and Larg???
      When? uh… I think that… since always o.o” It’s their other name (I think the symbols corresponding to these names are on their little ear pendants, but I’m not sure).

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      • Nobody can deny your loyalty to CLAMP with posts like this Yuuto-chan! ^.^

        since always o.o” It’s their other name
        mmmmm, then why I’ve never seen or heard them being called that way before?! O-O The other day I saw someone mention those names and I was mmm… and then I was checking for TRC!movie screencaps and one thing led to another and I went to the Mokona info section and there it was, and I was “Oooh, so it is that way? O.O” What did I miss? Do I have to re-read my TRC?!?!? O-o Wheere? wheeere? x_X

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  11. Great episode, great review! Mokona was WAAAAAAAAY funnier in this than in TRC XD (especially the sound effects that go with him! the little *pop* sounds when he jumps off of Watanuki to greet Yuuko after they return, and the scuttle noise when he races to the takoyaki stand! So great! hehehe)

    Did anyone else notice this? In TRC anime, Mokona is bigger, like the size Mokona is in Magic Knight Rayearth (although he is small in the TRC manga like in xxxHOLiC) but in the xxxHOLiC anime they made him the right size….now we’ve got Mokona’s of two different sizes!!! (at least as far as they anime series goes….they’re both small in the movies o_O) lol

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  12. GAHHHHH! DOWNLOAD!!!! The shinsen-subs bots suck ;_; half and hour to go but I have to go to uni. This has taken too long.
    I read all of MKR the other day. MKR!Mokona also has a tail, and kinda looks like hes a melting blob sometimes O.o yeah…
    Read holic again recently and got all the mokona stuff I missed before :P. Clow and Yuuko based their mokonas on MKR!Mokona – who was also in the business of traveling between (and creating O.o) worlds.

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  13. OMFG!!!!!!!!!

    HOW COME YOU SAW A GLIMPSE OF SAKURA´S WAND???? I would never see that… You must have watched the epidode one million times!!!! I saw it and I couldn´t believe a normal person would see that. You´re supernatural Yuuto-san!!

    Yuuuuto-saaaaaaaan!!

    See ya

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