hontou ni
7Jul/093

xxxHOLiC Shunmuki 2

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In contrast to Lupus' drive-by shooting and Aroduc's pastrying of this OVA ep, I thought the whole journey was worth it just to see Yuuko's expression after Watanuki's declaration that he will do whatever he can to fulfill her wish. Not that they didn't make pertinent observations: the former's excellent point about how Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle finally crossing over and the latter's note about the pro forma nature of most of the events. But still... for me, xxxHOLiC is all about Yuuko.

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19Oct/085

Power of Sunflower

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Baka-Raptor's reckoning that Kei was 20 times better than xxxHOLiC's first season is somewhat hyperbolic but I do agree with the core of his argument. Watanuki is, or rather - becomes, less whiny and shows tremendous growth as a lead. But also because, as he changes, so do the people around him and their interactions.

The character of Kunogi Himawari stands out in this respect. I had thought that Itou Shizuka had been rather wasted in playing this supporting role since she had so little screentime. I had only read the manga up to Vol.9 so I was surprised and delighted by her arc across Ep 11 and 12 of Kei.

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21May/063

XXXHOLiC 7

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Hi, I'm...

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21May/060

XXXHOLiC 6

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Yuuko is asked by a housewife to grant a wish: to be able to quit the internet. Said housewife kinda gets molested by Yuuko in the process and, in the end, it's really up to her. In the manga, this story moved me deeply and I'm glad that the anime conveys the meaning and atmosphere very well. It's also becoming clearer to me that I enjoy xxxHOLiC episodes much more when Yuuko has a lot of screentime as (1) Watanuki is really irritating, especially when shouting at Doumeki and fawning over Himawari and (2) Yuuko is very oneesama. (;^_^)

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1May/062

XXXHOLiC 4

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In agreement with the consensus, I felt that xxxHOLiC has been so-so especially because it's hard to live up to the superb animation quality of the movie. I also agree that the manga had a darker tone that doesn't seem to have been successfully adapted into the anime. Watanuki (another one of those good-hearted but intensely whiny male leads) also became more annoying in the anime because I couldn't just skip over his tantrums like I did in the manga.

This episode recovered some of my enthusiasm for this series. Firstly, there was lots of Yuuko. Love her stage presence and her outfits. Secondly, some scenes felt more complete in animated form e.g. Yuuko's surprise at the gate of the first fortunetelling venue, her cold disdain during the first session and the odd mix of mystery and soothing of the whole mood of the second session.

I'm no expert at calligraphy but I can't resist commenting that Yuuko's brushwork seems to suggest someone who responds to the burdens of the world by being nimble and as light as a feather.

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26Feb/060

XXXHOLiC: A Midsummer Night's Dream

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The ×××HOLiC movie, A Midsummer's Night Dream, was released on 2005-08-20 (ANN - see also for introductory synposis) and I've been looking forward to it since watching the trailer. Really hope that Arienai Fansubs will pick this up as my understanding of the movie, based on my half-baked Japanese, is far from perfect. Also looking forward to a post from CLAMP specialist, Dav, at Takoyaki & Ocha. I would be most grateful if readers could point out my errors or omissions.

I've chosen to use "×" (multiplication sign) for the first three characters instead of xxxHOLiC or XXXHOLiC - mostly because the series name is read simply as "holic" (????) with the first three characters representing blanks rather than sounds. There's variation on the official website so this is just a note on my personal perference.


Kimihiro Watanuki - a young man with the cursed blood of being able to see spirits but also attract them to him; Domeki - a schoolmate, archer, from a family of exorcists, his special ability is to repel spirits with his mere presence; Himawari - love interest of Watanuki, smells of trouble despite her utter niceness; Yûko Ichihara - the time-space witch, a powerful (moon) magic-user whom Watanuki works for to cure his curse. Further summary, spoilers and 129 screencaps. The screencap quality isn't great as the file size was a manageable 445 megs. If it were the same quality (assuming same encoding) as for the trailer, it would have ended up at almost 900 megs!

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18Nov/050

The Yuri Has Landed

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Up to my ears in course work now. T_T Entries on SHUFFLE! 18 and Mai Otome 07 will be a bit late. On a happier note, the past month's consolidated loot from Forbidden Planet, Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.co.jp (via the Yuricon Shop):

  • Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (1st Gig) DVD box set
  • Ghost in the Shell 2: Man-Machine Interface
  • Yuri Hime Vol.2
  • Kashimashi Girl Meets Girl Vol.2
  • xxxHolic Vol.1-6

The Mahoro towel underneath was a present from Stripey btw. ^_^

Filed under: Anime DVD, Ghost in the Shell, Kashimashi, Manga, XXXHOLiC No Comments

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