DVD Review: XxxHolic Complete Series
FUNimation Distributes CLAMP, Kodansha Anime Based on Seinen Manga
Jul 24, 2009
A storyteller often considers himself successful if a character he's created causes an extreme visceral reaction. George Lucas wants you scared when you hear Darth Vader's laboured breathing. True Blood's Alan Ball smiles when you're annoyed with Tara's self-defeating ways, or argue with your friends whether or not Sookie would be happier with Bill or Sam.
In that case, is your blood supposed to boil whenever you see XxxHolic's Kimihiro Watanuki (voiced by Todd Haberkorn in the English dub) throw one of his countless temper tantrums? Is Haberkorn's whining voice meant to cause a reaction somewhat akin to hearing fingernails on a chalkboard?
If so, the makers of XxxHolic – based on CLAMP's long-running seinen manga – have succeeded admirably. An anime with an intriguing premise and sumptuous art design, it also sports a protagonist whose annoyance level ranks somewhere between Space Chimps' Ham III and Luke Skywalker moaning about wanting to go to Toshii Station to get some power converters.
FUNimation Distributes Kodansha, CLAMP's XxxHolic
No, XxxHolic is not about the misadventures of a porn addict. It follows the aforementioned Watanuki, an 18-year-old who's plagued by evil spirits. Cue some scenes where he's publicly wrestling with creatures no one else can see (Ha. Ha. Ha.). He encounters Yuko, a sensuous witch who offers to rid Watanuki of his affliction . . . for a price.
That price is for him to serve as Yuko's manservant and babysit her familiars: a pair of mysterious children and a black puffball that does little except gulp whiskey. In his spare time, Watanuki tries to romance his classmate Himawari Kunogi, and avoid his one-sided rival, the sardonic Shizuka Domeki.
But it's working for Yuko where Watanuki (who still sees spirits) learns about the dangers of wish fulfillment. As the DVD box says, "Beware your desires."
The animation is clearly based on traditional Japanese ukiyo-e woodcuts: the colours are beautifully saturated and the angular drawing style is wonderfully done. Yuko is a fascinating character: kittenish and playful one minute, dispensing wisdom the next. That said, her warnings appear to be of the "avoid thinking of purple elephants" variety: almost guaranteed to lure the victim into disregarding her advice.
The plots are compelling, although the episode "The Contract" blatantly rips off W.W. Jacobs' short story "The Monkey's Paw."
However, all this gets undercut whenever Watanuki is on-screen (ie: 95% of the time). He somehow manages to be more immature than Up's 8-year-old Wilderness Explorer Russell (who's 12 years younger). You can set your watch by Watanuki's tantrums, and he professes his hatred of Domeki so profusely that one wonders if there will eventually be a Yaoi moment between the two.
DVD Extras
There are a bunch of trailers, and the opening and closing songs, minus the credit crawl. Aaand that's it.
The Final Analysis
XxxHolic is beautifully animated, and there are some intriguing plots. However, some people (guilty!) will have an extremely hard time getting around the protagonist's obnoxious behaviour. XxxHolic's creators may have designed him to be that annoying – if so, kudos to them.
However, in the absence of any such knowledge, XxxHolic gets a 6/10.
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