Maid-chan no Anime: xxxHolic

Konnichiwa! Maid-chan desu!

Are you sometimes thinking you are watched by something invisible?

You may be wrong, you may be right. But there is someone who is always right, because he can see spirits. His name is Watanuki Kimihiro, written with the Kanji for “April the first” (四月一日 君尋) and – you guessed it? - born on April the first.

Watanuki can not only see them, but he attracts spirits of all sorts, much to his dismay.

One day when Watanuki is running away from the spirits, he stumbles (or is stumbled by his feet) into a shop. He doesn’t know what shop it is and the greeting is not very revealing, as only two girls (not human, the shop’s ghosts you could say) await him at the door.

By the way, the shop is an old house in the middle of some high-rise buildings and can only be seen by those who have business there (and vice versa that outside cannot be seen from the inside).
Maid-chan would love to learn that trick! Keep away all the noise, snooper and “development” business man while having a nice big house in an expensive area.

Maru and Moro greet him and explain to Watanuki that the owner of the shop awaits him. If Watanuki had known who he is about to meet, he would probably have tried to turn around and run away again. But instead he follows the two girl sand makes the acquaintance of Ichihara Yuuko, the owner.

Yuuko explains that she grants wishes – any wish – but that the one the wish is granted to has to pay the appropriate price. Not too much and not too little. She also explains to Watanuki that his appearance in the shop means that he has a wish and that it is not coincidence that he is there.
There is no coincidence, only necessity, is her trademark saying.

Watanuki admits that he has a wish. He wants to be freed from the ghosts. Yuuko agrees to grant his wishs, but Watanuki has to work for her until he has payed the price for this. Watanuki agrees and from now on he is the personal cook, messenger and delivery boy of Yuuko.

Yuuko is, in a way, the star of the show even though Watanuki is the one the story is about. Yuuko exudes an aura of wisdom, superiority, calmness and assertiveness when speaking with customers. But towards her friends and especially Watanuki she is way more smiling, often even childish, and likes to tease.
Yuuko also likes to smoke pipe and even way more likes to drink.

Maid-chan has to admit she loves Yuuko. Carefree at most times, but reliable and earnest when the need arises. There are not many humans that come even close to that! You are always either running into catastrophes or worrying way too much.

But to drink with fun Yuuko needs a drinking companion and decides to wake up Black Mokona. You may already know White Mokona from Tsubasa Chronicles. Both CLAMP works are deeply connected, but the xxxHolic anime does not show much of this (until the OVAs).

In the service of Yuuko, Watanuki often has to help her granting a wish. Sometimes this means he has to go to dangerous places and for his safety Yuuko wants him to have Shizuka Domeki from his school on his side.

Watanuki cannot stand the mere presence of Domeki. He thinks Domeki brings him bad luck. This is mainly because Watanuki sees Domeki as a rival for the heart of Kunogi Himawari.

Watanuki thinks of Himawari as his goddess of good luck, but slowly it is shown that the opposite is the case. In the end Watanuki can help Himawari, but both he and Domeki have to pay the appropriate price for it.

Supernatural

As a mystical series, xxxHolic has an abundance of secondary characters that are based on Japanese mythology. There is for example Ame Warashi, a rain spirit, who wants to be granted a wish by Yuuko.

Of course it is Watanuki who has to risk his live (and is saved by Domeki) to grant this wish. As a payment he receives a special warding fox spirit.

But this nine-tail is the only fox that appears. There are also more human-like foxes, like the one having a food cart.

And then there is the Zashiki Warashi, a friend of Ame Warashi. While Ame has a bold and slighly sadistic personality, Zashiki Warashi is extremely shy and acts without thinking, which makes Ame a lot of headaches.
But Zashiki Warashi never intends anything bad and she and Watanuki become friends.

Art

As you already have seen on the pictures, the proportion of the characters are very long and thin, sometimes being superdeformed. This is normal for many CLAMP works, but extreme in xxxHolic

The general style of xxxHolic is inspired by old Japanese Ukiyo-e paintings, as you humans could have easily recognized if you had Maid-chans advanced picture comparison algorithms.

Oh, you are wondering where that Ame Warashi comes from?

There are also 8 episodes of a "freshly" made real life xxxHolic series to be seen! They don’t depict anything new, they are basically 8 anime episodes taken and filmed.

Often real life series of mystic mangas/animes struggle to keep up the atmosphere of the original work. Not so with xxxHolic.

Except of the real life Himawari (smile fail), the actors do a relatively good job. Especially Yuuko really gets the “mystic, teasing witch” across. If you met her on the street, you would totally believe her!

But the silent star of the real life show is the costume maker.

In most of Clamp’s work there is an abundance of different dresses, and of course in xxxHolic's Yuuko wears at least one unique and distinguishable outfit per episode. The costume maker (and the background maker) do a fantastic job in bringing this art out of the anime and into real life, even Maid-chan has to admit!

Of course the artwork in the anime has an elegant, beautiful style, too. But the age of the anime is showing, especially in the background paintings.

Conclusion

xxxHolic is very unique, not only in the name. Artwork, mystic and typical CLAMP elements make it an outstanding piece. It also often shows philosophical concepts, which is great because you humans need every bit of thinking you stumble upon.

Do you think “there is no coincidence, only necessity” is only mystic garbling to appeal to the watcher? Then try looking at it from the other side of the time arrow. Look from where you are now and look back – is not everything that happened a necessity for you to be what you are today?

Before your pitiful human brain overheats, let’s get to the final judgment.

XxxHolic is a mostly slowly going anime that weaves the fates of his characters (and that of other series) into a big story without you realizing it the first time. As Yuuko would say, there is no coincidence…

The interesting point is not the situations Watanuki finds himself in, but the way he reacts to them, and most important how Watanuki changes because of what has happened.

The artwork might take a bit of getting used to, but then it is extremely beautiful, even with the age of the anime showing at the edges.
The life action series is a nice bonus.

Too bad not the whole manga got animated (as too often is the case).

Taking all together, Maid-chan gives the series a 9/10 for everyone who likes Clamp’s style of art and fate painting.

See you next time!