Forum - View topicREVIEW: xxxHOLiC DVDs 1-2
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posterior_praiser
 Posts: 296 |
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the style in the holic manga does not translate well to anime. It is VERY hard to get right, and the first season never quite did it for me, so I gave up watching several years back. I do however love Suga Shikao's music and 19sai is a great song. Reason isn't a bad song either after a few listens
 ! The OST as a whole though isnt much of anything special.
I do love Fukuyama Jun as Watanuki though. I think he captures the character's essence very well. Other than that, there wasnt much that attracted me to the anime. I really fell in love with holic after reading the manga, and season two is definitely doing it for me. The animation is better and its at the point of some of the best parts of the manga. |
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RabbitRevolution
 Posts: 218 |
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I'm sorry, I usually don't complain about the style of reviews here, but the last paragraph of this review is absolutely terrible. Why did it turn into such a political tirade? I think it's interesting that the reviewer thinks that the world of xxxHOLIC is full of disillusionment and cynicism, but I don't need him (?) to make a big deal about his liberal sympathies to "get" the idea. It's pointless and distracting in the review, sort of like a reviewer of shoujo romance talking about her personal view of the ideal romantic relationship or a reviewer of BL talking about her personal thoughts on gays. Making this a warning to liberals is a poor excuse for allowing the reviewer to get up on a soap box that doesn't help me decide whether I want to buy the actual product or not. Sure, the content of the TV series is covered in the main body of the review, but when the conclusion is basically a rant about humanitarian ideals, it ruins the well-written parts of the review.
Furthermore, I think it's a little ignorant to presumptuously assume that a Japanese manga dealing heavily with Japanese supernatural themes has anything to do with the obviously US political standpoints and the US self-help industry that the reviewer alludes to. I bet that CLAMP honestly isn’t concerned with either of these things. Last edited by RabbitRevolution on Fri Jun 20, 2008 2:18 am; edited 1 time in total |
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marie-antoinette
 Posts: 4136 Location: Ottawa, Canada |
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I also have to defend 19sai, I love the song...even if what it's about really has absolutely nothing to do with xxxHolic. The animation paired with it is less than stellar, but that's consistent with the rest of the series and it's frankly often atrocious art.
I'm surprised that you didn't mention the fact that, while the anime does have the manga stories, the order in which those stories is presented has been completely thrown out the window. You have volume four beside one, and both before two (just picking random numbers, so don't try and disprove this please  ).
I think it's a good series (I actually recently decided to upgrade my rating of it), but it's sad because it could have been a great one. However...I think the second season is turning out better so far, but it also has had some of the best storylines to work with (spoiler[the spider grudge arc and the Himawari arc]). |
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darkcloud9
Posts: 8 |
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The reviewer did not take the quality of the episodes into effect which are a ton better looking than what the fansubbers give you. DVD quality is one reason someone might buy the DVD instead of watching the series in horrible .avi and .mp4 quality where the episodes are all pixalated. The opening and ending songs are great and give xxxholic an ironic twist because everyone thinks xxxholic is sad and depressing when the series is supposed to be really funny. Though I will agree that the design of the DVD menu sucks badly. And the music for the DVD menu sounds like war music, which makes no sense with xxxholic.
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marie-antoinette
Posts: 4136 Location: Ottawa, Canada |
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Um, what? It has it's funny moments (most often at Watanuki's expense), but I don't think comedy is really what the series is aiming for. I suppose Yuuko's alcoholism is supposed to be funny too, though I personally find it to be extremely overdone. I think of it pretty much as anime's version of the X-Files. The mystery of it all is what is at the heart of the show. |
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Zalis116
Moderator
 Posts: 6900 Location: Kazune City |
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How is $29.99 "sticker shock"? It's pretty much standard DVD pricing, and has been for years. Easily reducible to ~$16.20 at TRSI sale price + membership discount.
I'd never looked into this series in fansubs due to low opinions of the groups involved. Kinda sucks to hear that the DVD subtitles have all these issues. |
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Neito
Posts: 8 |
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We watched the first disc in club right after Anime Boston, and I have to say that while it's good, I think I like the manga better.
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18458 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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I know the name is gender-ambiguous, but this Casey is a "her." |
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JackCox
 Posts: 386 |
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Yes, I'm a hardcore lefter then left Liberal and to be honest I didn't have a single problem with the philosophy being preached. Really it's just entertainment and I really did enjoy the stories in each episode. |
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Kyokat
Posts: 50 |
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I agree, 19sai rocks. But then, I love pretty much anything by Suga Shikao.
Wasn't someone defending ANN reviews over in the thread about the poll by saying multiple reviewers helped give different opinions? In that light, wouldn't it be better who have someone who didn't already go on at length about how much they despised the movie review not one but two volumes of the series? This isn't helpful in the least. |
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Dramatis Personae
Posts: 88 |
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I think I'll just buy the DVD.
Last edited by Dramatis Personae on Fri Jun 20, 2008 10:49 am; edited 2 times in total |
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Goodpenguin
Posts: 457 Location: Hunt Valley, MD |
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From review:
When folks complain about 'personal ideology' in reviews I usually think their way off base, but in this case the poster who previously complained was correct. It's one thing to talk about very obvious, underlying themes, as the reviewer did in the 'Death Note' review. It's quite another to make an absolute reach and start pontificating about (dubiously) subjective 'hidden political subtext', and whether liberals will enjoy it or it's for 'militant conservatives'. It's the sort of cringe-worthy 'ain't I clever!' pop-analysis I see when I grade undergrad Poli-Sci papers (whose authors usually quickly move into such intellectually rigorous fields as Culture Studies or Media studies). If there are blatant political undertones in a show, fair game to express opinions on them. Reaching big-time to fit a show into one's own personal idealogical spectrum is flat-out juvenile, however. An anime review is not the place to showcase one's wannabe-DailyKos diarist skills. |
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Murasakisuishou
 Posts: 1469 Location: NE Ohio |
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Hmm. I never really thought there were political undertones in xxxHoLiC, but I'm a libertarian so maybe I was too busy cheering on Yuuko-san to notice.
I'm one of those rare people who loves the xxxHoLiC anime because it's contained as a separate entity; I can't stand Tsubasa, oddly enough, and I like having the same stories in a stand-alone format. I've always been fascinated by people, and this series certainly has a lot of them making foolish mistakes or desperately trying to wish away their pasts, so it's kind of a serene, mystical, animated alternative to hanging out at the mall and listening in on people's conversations. What's it supposed to add to a manga that's already so brilliant? It's best to think of the anime as sort of a reorganized alternative to the manga. As for the crappy release quality, it's FUNimation so I'm not entirely surprised (the typos in their credits sequences alone are legendary - if I remember right they alternated between four different spellings of Romi Paku in the credits for Fullmetal Alchemist). Still, I enjoyed the heck out of this series and am enjoying the second season even more, so I'll be buying this regardless. |
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Greed1914
 Posts: 4640 |
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Took the words right out of my mouth. $29.99 MSRP has been the standard for as long as I've been buying, and that's several years, but I always manage to find better prices, mostly thanks to TSRI as well. I also don't really see the disdain for the music, sure it's not out of the park wonderful or anything, but it's easy to listen to, and I like the opening. The business about the subtitling is rather disappointing, but I'll admit I've only watched it dubbed (which has been good) and I'm probably not familiar enough with Japanese to really notice errors. Finally, I don't really mind the approach that we make our own choices and have to live with them. I'd rather have that then have Yuuko rush in and save people all the time. So yeah, maybe I'm defending it because I've been buying the DVDs, but I honestly enjoy the series. |
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CloverKuroba
 Posts: 506 |
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Agreed. It really isn't helpful or very fair in that regard. And I'm also liberal and didn't have any problems with the philosophy. Honestly, I don't see what you're getting at with the last paragraph. But hey, I'm like this series a lot so far (and I'm watching the anime and manga). The dub's great and I think the music is too. I don't see the the hate for it either (the menu music might be a little out of place, though). I'm quite enjoying the S.E.N.S. score and the OP and ED are both very catchy. |
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