xxxHOLiC

xxxHolic is the story of Kimihiro Watanuki and his contact with a strange witch named Yuuko. It has 24 episodes and each episode tells a different story about fate, love or the supernatural. It also includes the humorous aspect to balance out its tone, dark as it may be.

It has a variety of supernatural topics from Japanese mythological creatures to divination and ghost stories. The characters are interesting, with Yuuko’s fun-loving but enigmatic nature being the highlight. Watanuki is an interesting protagonist because his past was lonely and he has supernatural abilities. His friendship with Doumeki makes both characters more complex.

The visual design may not ... be to everyone's taste, with its elongated and skeletal frames sometimes creating awkward movements. However, the voice cast, particularly Kazuya Nakai's portrayal of Doumeki is noteworthy.

Although xxxHolic is episodic and barely touches the manga’s storyline, it still presents an entertaining and sometimes dark entry into the CLAMP world. Fans of the supernatural will find it fascinating. It sets the stage for the more plot-driven xxxHolic Kei.

I agree with the rest of the comments that XXHOLIC is not as good as it appears to be, there are better chapters, and other very boring ones where barely anything happens, I don't know exactly how to explain it but it is as if the story was not written at all, It reminds me of other unfinished works by Clamp.

For me, what kept me going the most were its characters, I think that is the strong point, each one has their personality and they are very different from each other, but the main plot barely comes to light, therefore it is an entertaining series ... to watch time, with paranormal episodes like any other series of this style, reminded me of the zack file. There is a chapter that reminded me of Fushigi Yugi. I don't know if more viewers have noticed.

It also has connections with other series such as Tsubasa reservoir chrnicles but it barely takes advantage of this coincidence. In short, I think that xxxholic is a series that has good ideas but in the end is not able to translate them onto the screen.

Quick Thoughts:

This show did not need to be 24 episodes. A premise is established early on regarding the main character's (Watanuki) ability to see spirits as well as his destiny in relation to his boss Yuko, but the show hardly delved deeper into it. Instead, xxxHolic follows an episodic format whose formula grew stale just several episodes in.

Story:

Yuko runs a shop that "grants" wishes, and these wishes are usually linked to something spiritual. Each episode generally involves Watanuki using his ability to see spirits to help Yuko fulfill those requests. There are some variations; such as more slice-of-life centered Watanuki's friend group, or episodes with ... more lighthearted interactions with spirits, but Yuko's requests are the main focus. Episodes conclude with the wishes being fulfilled, usually in a monkey paw type of way, and then Yuko monologues about the theme of the episode. This episode structure isn't bad, I think the elements supporting it (characters, art) were too weak too carry for 24 episodes.

Art:

Visually, xxxHolic is underwhelming at best. It seems like they were trying to go for a dark, mysterious vibe, but things like most of the background characters being grey silhouettes made the art seem flat and lazy. I never got used to the characters designs either; they're ridiculously lanky. It didn't seem consistent either. They would look fine in closer shots, but it seemed like as camera zoomed out, their heads would shrink and their limbs would extend. Animation-wise this show was fine. nothing notable.

Sound:

The soundtrack was simplistic, but pretty good overall. In particular, it worked well with the parts of the show that were more eerie in tone. Voice acting was solid as well. I did find Watanuki's voice a bit annoying, but it seems like that's the kind of voice they were going for.

Characters:

I think the characters and how they interact were a large part of why the show got stale so quickly. The main cast reacts to each other in very predicable ways. An example could be Watanuki's friend group: Watanuki either overacts to other character's antics in his shrieking voice or swoons over his love interest Himawari, Doumeki eggs him on by reacting nonchalantly, and then Himawari giggles and says Doumeki and Watanuki look like great friends or something. That's basically the slice-of-life portion of the show in a nutshell. The more serious side isn't much better. Having someone as goofy as Watanuki be the main character takes away a lot of the tension they try to build. Yuko helps mitigate this when she's actually on screen, but she's usually in the background playing a more supportive role for Watanuki.

Enjoyment:

I kind of enjoyed the show for what was in the first several episodes, but it dragged on too long and got repetitive in the latter half. Can't say I enjoyed it that much overall.