Forum - View topicThis Week in Anime - Do xxxHOLiC's Vibes Hold Up?
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Kenfra
Posts: 127 |
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Tbh I never saw Holic as a horror, as much as I saw it as a low stakes mystery, with elements of fantasy and a some comedy.
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MagicPolly
 Posts: 1623 |
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I'd say it has some horror elements, but it's much more focused on the mystery and fantasy elements. The monkey's paw episode stands out as particularly creepy.
Honestly I'm currently halfway through Kei and xxxHOLiC is still really great, I really enjoyed it despite so many people online saying that it was awful (probably comparing it to the manga which I don't care about, it's it's own product). I really wish the other season and OVAs got licensed since Tsubasa was fully licensed even if they changed the animes to not connect. Though, I'm not even that old myself and I'm feeling myself shrivel up at the thought of people today saying it's "too old" to watch. Also just a random thing since I flipped through the first volume of manga after finishing the anime spoiler[the lying woman story makes a LOT more sense and is much creepier when she actually dies in the manga vs being put in the hospital in the anime.] To no one's surprise the manga has much better art and the character designs look much better. Also lastly I'd recommend the movie Midsummer Night's Dream, it's an hour long with a self contained plot and has some really fantastic animation. I'm not sure about watching it standalone without the tv series but I feel like you could get by with just a vague understanding of the plot. |
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FilthyCasual
Posts: 2368 |
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I wouldn't call xXx_Holic a horror anime. It has cautionary tales and some genuinely creepy moments (the angel wings...) but it's more of an exploration of the supernatural and Watanuki. I should really get around to picking it up, it was one of my first anime and I like it a lot. It doesn't seem like you guys made it to the Hydrangea episode, the wings episode, or the one where Watanuki meets the sick lady, so that's a real shame. Those and the Monkey's Paw episode stick out in my memory as particularly good.
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Aura Ichadora
 Posts: 2302 Location: In front of my computer |
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The first season of xxxHolic is something I'd love to see get a reboot. Still try and keep it to where the Tsubasa stuff is very minimal, but include a bit more of the elements from the manga that they did leave out or changed (like what was mentioned by MagicPolly, spoiler[with how the ending happened to the story of the lying woman]) as well as improve the animation. The first season, while still a blast to watch, has not aged as well with most of its animation. Kei's animation, while not perfect by any means either, looks much better than most of S1. I know it has a lot to do with budgets and Kei was half the length of S1, but if we could get a reboot with animation much more polished and refined, that'd be fantastic.
Agreeing with the wish that Kei and the OVAs got licensed over here like what all of Tsubasa did. It's definitely something I have hopes for every year, even if it's just the tiniest bit of hope, when con season rolls around and someone has picked it up. Even if it's subbed only, I'd be okay with it, although the dub for this series is really good in its own right. |
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Brainchild129
Posts: 307 |
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Ah, this takes me back. I'm glad that Nick and Chris were able to get beyond the "lol noodle people" part of the show. They pretty much nailed both its charms and its faults, save maybe for a mention of the show's sweet OP by Suga Shikao.
It really is a shame that we didn't get the other 2 seasons, which cover the portion of the manga that really digs into the relationships between Watanuki and Yuko along with the Watanuki/Doumeki/Himarawi trio. In my opinion, that middle section is when xxxHolic is at its best. Yet I totally understand why this show flopped here. The animation is lackluster (seriously, even Bee Train figured out how to handle those noodley CLAMP characters in their own lousy Tsubasa adaptation without making them all look like pulled taffy), but more importantly it only intermittently captures the lush, creepy atmosphere that is the manga's biggest selling point. That's actually why I would second the recommendation for the movie. The premise is a simple one-off story (spoiler[Watanuki and Doumeki get stuck in an ever-shifting haunted house]), but it clearly got more care (and a little more budget) than the show ever did. At the very least, it proves that the show's director, Tsutomu Mizushima (yes, THAT Tsutomu Mizushima) isn't a total mismatch for the work. |
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tintor2
 Posts: 2108 |
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After Kei, I'm kinda sad that Production I.G kinda made the series end abruptly. We barely got two Ro OVAs that treat the viewers as people who already read the entire manga as they barely explain what happened to Watanuki and Yuko and instead focus on Haruka and Domeki with Kohane not making a single appearance despite her big reveal in the reveal of adayume
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meiam
Posts: 3447 |
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I remember reading the manga as a teenager, but all I really remember from it was the very fancy cover and cross over with Tsubasama. Otherwise almost nothing was retained, although I did recall most of the stuff in this column once I saw the screenshot.
I don't remember hating it, but it felt like it was just carried by the visual and I don't think I'd have cared about it without that aspect. |
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Minos_Kurumada
Posts: 1181 |
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XXX-Holic and Tsubasa are not exactly "Sisters" they are the same manga told from different points of view.
You quite frankly can't understand one without the other and you essentially need to red both at the same time to not to get lost on what's going on. You pick one, read until the something related to the other manga is mentioned/happens then you stop, pick the other and do the same. You also need have read Sakura Card Captors and X, but its not that necessary, in the same way that reading Wish and Chobits helps you with Kobato. |
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dm
 Subscriber Posts: 1460 |
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The manga had a lot of extremely fine art, with just enough plot to keep me coming back for the pictures. It was easy to see that some of CLAMP's artists were deeply into textiles.
The anime didn't do the art justice (it would be hard to do so). I'm hoping the live-action film gets licensed by someone. I'd love to see it and be able to understand the dialogue. |
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Themaster20000
 Posts: 870 |
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I loved the manga,but found the show to be a pretty bland adaptation of the material. The animation tires,but fails at capturing the art of manga. The stories are adapted in the blandest ways possible. I will say I enjoyed xxxHolic: A Midsummer Night's Dream. Some really cool visuals,and the animation does a better job getting the style down.
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Triltaison
 Posts: 791 |
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The opening (19sai) still remains one of my favorites, but the show itself isn't one of my favorite CLAMP adaptations. It's not bad, but I'd just rather read it. The manga is still quite fantastic and a great read for spooky season if you're in the market. Though, I think some of the volumes are a bit hard to come by now. The lying woman really has stuck with me all these years.
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Hiroki not Takuya
 Posts: 2656 |
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I just started watching xxxHolic again seeing it on CR and I'll absolutely vouch that it still delivers the low key supernatural mystery and folklore vibes it always did. The only anime that certifiably requires drinking saki when watching! Downloaded Kei but didn't like as much, lost that magic...
Like the poster above, the show really did present some memorable thoughts that still linger even after many years. "People can wish for happiness or unhappiness", "People can get bored when benign things happen, so they can wish for something dangerous to happen", "When people meet, however briefly, there is a potential that it changes their lives in some way" |
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Sasuke149
Posts: 88 |
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Rather than getting scared, I remember laughing out loud when watching Holic. Clamp's comedy is just tailor-made for me, even if it's in little doses.
One day if I become a millionaire, I will commission an animation studio to do a faithful adaptation of both TRC and Holic, including all the crossover moments and going in order of chapters so that both series flow at the same timeline. Ah what a dream really... To this day my biggest achievement is making my friends read Holic and TRC at the same time in chronological order. We would read one volume each day and talk about it in the evening. Such fun times. |
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