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Although the story crosses over with Tsubasa Resevoir Chronicles, it is not necessary for one to read Tsubasa before reading xxxholic to understand the story, though there will be some moments of slight confusion.

I enjoyed this manga to a great extent, and to date it is one of my favourite manga. The main reason for my love of this manga is the characters within it, especially Watanuki, who's personality I admire greatly, Yuko following closely behind. The manga is centred around the interaction between Watanuki and those of his personal life, as well as the interactions between Watanuki and the customers. Both contribute greatly to ... the development of his character, and to a ever so slightly lesser extent to the rest of the characters, and often so so hand in hand. As such, I love all the characters, but Watanuki more so than others. Due to the nature of the shop theme, all new characters are integrated smoothly without problem, though it also means that old characters often disappear from the spotlight for lengthy periods of time to forever, this also contributes to the story. This does not make loving the characters any less harder. However, dialogue between characters, especially Yuko and Watanuki, can, and often are hard to follow and confusing. I believe that the manga becomes wrapped up in the mysterious theme, and thus will often be hard to follow, fortunately, this did not hinder my understanding of the story's happenings, and will most likely not do so for anyone else.

xxxholic is very good at introducing and teaching those who are curious about Japanese folklore, since the manga's interpretation of these myths/folklore all play a part in driving the story forward. This type of story, similar to Mushishi, is something that I greatly enjoy, and this has played a part in my opinions on this story. Personally, the art is not detailed in some areas for me, and can be plain, however I think that it suits the story and the characters.

Overall, this was a wonderful story for me, and I would be overjoyed for another story of similar nature to come around and or be known to me. Overall, I would rate this a 9/10, however I loved this manga so much that I will add that extra point for a 10/10 score.