Back to fai_fluorite's Profile fai_fluorite's Profile

A few years ago I made it a project to re-read every CLAMP manga and rank them on a scale of 1 to 10 in three different categories, and xxxHOLiC was unambiguously on top with a 29/30. I'll duplicate my review from that time below, and the long and short of it is essentially that this is the only CLAMP manga that I'm willing to recommend even to people who aren't particularly into the kind of thing CLAMP usually has going on or even particularly into manga at all. It's just that good!

Art: 10/10
People complain endlessly about the noodle proportions, but I genuinely ... think this is some of CLAMP's absolute best work despite being some of the most noodle-esque, and that in fact the noodle proportions are a plus. It's one of many stylistic choices that works really well to contribute to a surreal atmosphere, which also manages to be quite somber and contemplative. As far as I understand, Nekoi was lead artist but Mokona drew the female characters, and their skill sets combine here in a way that uses both lush, extravagant detail and pared-down moments that have sort of a feeling of melancholy emptiness (enhanced by the lack of screentones), which was in my opinion really effective and a delight to look at. The color illustrations are always total eye candy, too. Also, Nekoi's ability to convey a decent range of emotion in prototypically stoic Doumeki's micro-expressions is really an art form and I find it kind of hilarious in the best way.

Writing: 10/10
I will preface this section with the note that the writing score here is given by someone who has read Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle like seven times, so it's hard for me to evaluate how confused a reader who has zero exposure to Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle might be. That said, while reading both concurrently is probably the best experience you can have (if you want to get intense with it you can look up the publication schedule and follow that when switching back and forth between them), I really do think it's not necessary and that it's going to be enjoyable either way. Anyway, this is a relatively slow paced sort of surreal supernatural story that has a lot of very compelling things to say about feelings of alienation and isolation, grief and loss, and valuing yourself and the feelings that other people have for you, among other things. The characters all have really interesting struggles and the ways that they develop together is really very moving and often bittersweet. How much you will enjoy how the series eventually develops does depend on how comfortable you are with sad-ish endings (I struggled with the ending when I first read it as a teenager, but loved it as an adult), but if you're a person who enjoys those you'll love it.

Fun Factor: 9/10
This is the field in my review spreadsheet to account for things that cater to my personal taste, which for CLAMP manga usually amounts to anything that's trashy in a hilarious way, great outfits, and Yaoi Factor. This manga is flat-out excellent so there's about 0% trashniness (though it is regularly really funny on its own merits rather than funny by accident), but it's got the other two in spades. Yuuko has such an expansive closet of truly slayful intricately detailed outfits that when she wears one twice it's a plot point. She's a pro at looking sexy and glamorous, and Watanuki does inherit this tendency to a certain extent after the timeskip (he can't quite keep up, but he makes a good show of it). Yaoi Factor is off the charts here for those who enjoy a good case of intense quasi-romantic devotion that lives in the realm of probably intentional but non-"canon" subtext the whole time (and/or for those who enjoy CLAMP's weird thing about charged moments surrounding eye trauma). Since it's all very subtextual, it also really does not get in the way - if you don't like that kind of thing, you can simply choose not to interpret it that way. Anyway, my one sentence endorsement for this is "Doumeki makes me want to punch a hole in drywall with my head (positive)."

Congratulations if you got through all of that. Don't waste any more time reading reviews and go read xxxHOLiC immediately.