Starting with a joke:
Tsubasa and XXXHOLiC really ARE linked. Both of them had a great first episode followed by a disappointing 2nd one xDDDDDDDDD
Seriously now:
You can notice right away that the animation decreased, comparing to the 1st episode. I know that that usually tends to happen in every anime adaptation, I just thought that the fall here was too high.
The close-ups were fine, very good, actually, but not the “broad” scenes, the ones where we could see the whole scene. Those were bad.
At the first scene were Watanuki is cooking, they made sure to animate him but forgot about Maru, Moro and Mokona. Maru and Moro look dead only repeating Mokona’s words, they looked like Chii, when they actually are supposed to be GENKI!
Still on that scene, one can tell already that they totally cut the CCS links (Watanuki finding Sakura’s staff), they even used the same sexy pose Yuuko did on that same scene in the manga. So like, the storyboard guy was LOOKING at that particular scene when he drew the episode. So why they cut it? Maybe they do want to cut everything related to Tsubasa… I don’t know, but that wouldn’t be nice at all, since that’s the point of the whole “linkage” between the two series.
For now, I’ll just hope that they WILL eventually add that particular scene later on the series. When Ohkawa-sensei is in the staff, the crossovers are supposed to increase, not decrease, right? RIGHT? u.u
So, moving on… The lady arrives to the shop… and I could swear she was blond (as well as the computer-holic woman, and the fake fortuneteller… hummm, too many blonds I guess… O.o).
I thought the scene where Yuuko goes “Hey! I can hear you!” was totally emotion-less =_= and I don’t know why they had to add a table and chair on Yuuko’s shop to “receive” her customers…
Then we jump to the school, Himawari and Doumeki’s introduction was so quick that I didn’t even mind it at all, it was in fact one of the best scenes of this episode, IMO. I loved the SFXs and the direction, I guess we can rest assured that the scenes involving Watanuki and Doumeki will be great. Part of it due to the amazing work of the seiyuus, but I thought the scene really passed the feeling it wanted to pass.
Again on Watanuki’s seiyuu, I have to say it again, that he’s just perfect, OMG XD The scene where he’s getting back to Yuuko’s shop is PERFECT XDDD I don’t remember being that satisfied with a seiyuu before, he’s really perfect for the part.
I’m glad the street people still look gray (and still moving!), apart from the important ones, it’ll probably be like that for the whole series, yey. I liked the effect they used to create the smoke, it was good, and the SFXs they used for it too.
So yeah, the woman doesn’t die =_= I was very disappointed with that, even more than the total loss of crossovers. I think her death it’s part of XXXHOLiC’s dark tone, and it totally remarked the power of Yuuko’s words, giving them credibility. So it’s a shame… because I thought the fact that the series is being aired on TBS at 1:30 am was enough to avoid any kind of censorship. So unless that event (the fact that Watanuki saved her) will mean something in the future, then we may forgive it, but I can’t deny I didn’t like it at all.
I really hope they don’t do the same thing to the woman of the Monkey Paw arc… that death was very creepy and it would be a total shame to censor it as well.
Then again, I don’t know why they cut Himawari from that scene either. Maybe that’s why the woman survived? (Himawari=bad luck)
For the next episode, we’ll be jumping to vol. 3, but that doesn’t mean we won’t see the computer-holic woman arc (we’ve seen some magazine pictures with Yuuko wearing that arc’s clothes), the fortuneteller arc (episode 4 is called “Divination”, it could be that one) or the 100 Ghost Stories arc (in the OP there’s a particular scene with a monster behind a japanese paper-wall).
Why the changes? Here’s my guess: We’ve seen her doing this before… Ohkawa-sensei, I mean. “Messing up” with the original order of events, she did that in CCS and MKR, for example.
CCS’s 2nd episode was the one with Shadow card, while in the manga we only saw that card a while later. But the episode introduced Tomoyo, and she even helped Sakura on capturing the card. So I think we’ll be seeing the Angel arc on the next episode because that’s the first arc where Doumeki and Watanuki actually get to “work” together. We did see him at the 100 Ghost Stories arc, but there wasn’t a good “interaction” between Watanuki and Doumeki. So that’s what I think it’s all about.
Overall, the good points of this episodes were:
– It was still faithful to the manga -during most of the episode-. They kept the same dialogs, scene composition, Yuuko’s clothes (except for the last one) and the main idea of the arc was passed.
– The soundtrack and SFXs. We could listen a bit more of it and I think it’s definitely good. The SFXs were great and gave emotion to the scenes, specially the one at the school.
Bad points:
– The animation quality is definitely lacking on this episode.
– CCS links off (and Tsubasa’s too). Crossovers are always nice, but I’m still hoping their time will come.
– The woman not dying at the end. Script changes are necessary and I don’t blame them, but -this- particular one took away all the dark tone of XXXHOLiC.
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21 thoughts on “XXXHOLiC #2”
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The thing that definitely annoyed me the most about this episode was the woman not dying. I could overlook crappy animation, weird changes, etc etc, but this one was just so major that it just really left me almost mad in the end. I mean, when I read that part in the manga and the woman died, the situation felt a lot more severe and dark. This just made it seem “Oh, we’ll scare you and hurt you a little bit to teach you a lesson.” almost more forgiving in a sense, but I don’t feel that the emotion that you felt when you read the manga came across by them making that change.
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I underline everything that you said, I totally agree *nods* I was outraged as well (I came screaming all kind of curses to my friend whom I was talking to at msn, poor her xDDDDD).
It’s JUST what you said, it totally softens the “impact” of the arc u.u
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Yeah, that is why I really didn’t enjoy this episode. It made me sad. I really hope they don’t erase Tsubasa crossovers because then I’d like, start a war. There is no way they can do that, it would just be… wrong. Just thinking about the possibility makes me cringe. At least the Chii ears are promising for future crossover appearances!
And I like your Kazahaya icon, there’s another manga I’d like CLAMP to finish T_T
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I totally agree… of course XXXHOLiC is not ALL about Tsubasa, but erasing their linkage would be like losing a lot of it’s fun. I think they should really grab this oportunity of making 2 anime series being linked, I’m not sure but I never heard of that before, it would be so unique !
Ow, thanks for the compliments on my icon ^-^
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mmmm, I can’t give a complete opinion until I see the episode at hand but I’m sure I’ll have a similar reaction when it comes to this. WHY DID THE WOMAN NOT DIE?!
I mean, it was so xxxHolic-y when it happened! It loses intensity when it’s like that. It’s like, you can fool destiny, which contradicts all of what xxxHolic’s about!
Nonono! Me is complaining!!
About the crossovers, I think that if they put a tiny glimpse of CCS staff back on episode one it would be silly if they didn’t complete the crossover, riiight?
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about the ccs staff……where is this???? I’ve been told that Watanuki passes it on a shelf when he’s in the storage room getting Mokona….but all I see is a shadow of something (it’s very dark….I can just barely make out Mokona…)
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mm, it’s suppossed to be somewhere at 12:17 of the episode, although just barely
I don’t think they forgot to completely take it off, right? O-O
WE WANT OUR CROSSOVERS!
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Do you have the RAW? Shinsen’s version is darker because they probably edited the video… I could only see it on the RAW (or you could change your monitor settings to make it lighter? O.o It’s definitelly there at 12:17)
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I know >.I think that if they put a tiny glimpse of CCS staff back on episode one it would be silly if they didn’t complete the crossover, riiight?
I completely agree with you. That’s like, the only flame burning in the dark xD It’s my only hope !
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No, no, not the Monkey Paw Arc. If they touch it, they’re dead. I’m sure Hitsuzen would make them pay xDD
But no, seriously. This arc is one thing but the Monkey Paw goes to another level of darkness, so no. She has to die. Because she looked for that fate herself.
Yes, don’t allow the flame to extinguish!
Although now, the horrible idea of them not cutting that crossover completely from episode 1 is haunting me
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I like your joke! XD
But yes… I don’t really understand why they would want to cut off the CCS link and the Tsubasa link… coz crossing over is a big sell point for Holic and Tsubasa was it not? …And also, I have to agree about the woman not dying… coz Holic does have a dark undertone to it, if it’s not meant for kids, then it’s not meant for kids~ Animators shouldn’t really have to accommodate to that… then again, some would due to commercial reasons…
Anyways, thanks for the review again, it gives me a headstart to what I’m missing at the moment due to exams ^^; (I’ll be catching up afterwards).
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>I like your joke! XD
Hahahaha thank you ! XD
>coz crossing over is a big sell point for Holic and Tsubasa was it not?
I KNOW ! It’s the whole marketing strategy, isn’t it? It’s what makes the Tsubasa readers wanting to read XXXHOLiC, and vice-versa, I don’t know why the producers would like to completely eliminate it, it’s such a good marketing strategy u.u
You’re welcome for the review, I’m glad you appreciate it, and good luck at your exams ! ^^
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I was expecting this episode to be terrible after hearing some people’s reactions, but I actually was surprised. Yes the animation went down, and I’m angry about the Tsubasa cuttage and Mokona was lame. I also don’t think Watanuki is the sort to mess up on cooking, such as burning things. O.O He was a pretty good cook in the manga wasn’t he?
And I agree that the lady should have died. -_- And I wish they kept the Sakura staff thing in there. ;;
But, I didn’t think it was as bad as I thought it would be.
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oh also, I think Watanuki’s giggle/laugh is hilarious. XD It kind of reminds me of Goofy’s. O.O
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INDEED !!! Hahahahaha I knew that laugh was somehow familiar xDDDD You’re so right, it’s so hilarious and perfect !
Btw, your icon is love ! ^^
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Now that you mention it, the Watanuki meesing up at cooking was kinda weird indeed O.o Maybe he was just nervous with Mokona fooling around with him? ^^”
>But, I didn’t think it was as bad as I thought it would be.
Yeah, sure ! It wasn’t as great as the first one, and excluding it’s bad points (specially the woman not dying), it was a good episode.
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They’ve seriously screwed some things over. >:O
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He visto ya los dos primeros episodios y me sigue pareciendo que la serie no tiene demasiada calidad.
Los personajes son MUY estáticos.
Lo mejor: la banda sonora, sin lugar a dudas. No en vano es BGM quien patrocina la serie.
Los cambios del segundo episodio pueden obedecer a motivos comerciales también, quién sabe.
Pero empiezo a dudar que en esta serie aparezcan Sakura y compañía…
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ups, que no me había loggado… xD
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O segundo ep. me decepcionou… Normalmente, qdo há algum crossover, eles acabam cortando… Vc se lembra que em X substituiram os personagens de CLAMP Gakuen Tanteidan?! Mas o que ocorreu aqui foi uma censura. Sinceramente, não entendi o por quê. Uma amiga estava com receio que alguns animes sofressem alguma censura pois ocorreu um caso parecido que o sentido acabou sendo alterado num anime. Ela fala que eles amenizam p/ visar o mercado americano mas se isso for verdade, é ridículo ¬¬
Estou começando a achar isso não vai acontecer… Eu não consigo encontrar o CD com o segundo ep. de Tsubasa aqu em casa mas vc se lembra se o Watanuki aparece com os dois Mokonas ou só com o branco? Eu não me lembro…
Vamos ver e torcer que eles não façam isso…
Sobre o nome de Ohkawa que apacrece nos créditos. Pode ser que vc tenha razão… Manga-kas tem manias excêntricas… Vários adotam dois pseudônimos. Geralmente, p/ assinar gêneros distintos. Ou um p/ doujinshis e outro como profissional. Ou um homem assina com um pseudônimo feminino e assim vai… Pode ser que ela assina o roteiro como um e produtora com outro mesmo…
Ah! A voz de Watanuki está ótima. Aliás, Jun Fukuyama é o seiyuu do momento… Ele está dublando mais 3 personagens principais nesta temporada…
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Eu tb acho q pode ser o negocio de “ser compativel com mercado exterior”, é mt provavel. Bom, *sigh* vamos ter esperança ^^
Sim, o Watanuki aparece com os dois Mokona no episodio 2. Bem confuso ^^”
>Pode ser que ela assina o roteiro como um e produtora com outro mesmo…
É exatamente isso ^^ Eu achei num forum japones um povo comentando sobre isso e um deles disse q perguntaram isso la na Tokyo Anime Fair e eles responderam q pra produtora ela usa Nanase e escritora, Ageha ^^ vai entender xDDD
Jun Fukuyama é o cara ! XD
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