xxxHOLiC Kei

Title:xxxHOLiC Kei
xxxHOLiC◆継
Overall:Rent
Keywords: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Notables: Animation - Production I.G.
Original Concept - CLAMP

Continuing after the original series xxxHOLiC, Watanuki continues to work at Yuuko-san's shop. For this new series, Watanuki meets more interesting people and creatures including the Dream Buyer (who buys and sells dreams in the form of a balloon), Kohane-chan (a young girl who can see spirits), Doumeki's deceased grandfather, and more. Also, old favorite characters return such as Ame-Warashi and Zashiki-Warashi. Further, the secret of Himawari-chan is revealed as to why Yuuko-san tells Watanuki that Himawari-chan is not his goddess of good luck.

Animation by Production I.G.
Original concept by CLAMP.

"継" ("kei") here probably means "to succeed".

[TV series, 2008, 13 episodes, 24 min]


[edit] An anime series inspired by the ↗Clamp created manga series by the ↗same name.
There is also a splash-over (tie-in) with Clamp's Tsubasa Chronicle anime series.
OverallArtAnimationCharacter Design MusicSeries StoryEpisode StoryReviewer
Rent 7 7 8 7 8 7 Dreamer [series:1733#2279]
A continuation of the 1st season, it was fun to watch and funny at times.

Art, Animation & Character Design
The art and animation was more or the less like that of seasion 1. It was smooth, consistant and still strangely unique. If you aren't familiar or use to xxxHolic animation style, you might at first be turned off. But watch it a little bit and you'll grow use to it and begin liking it. As season 1, the characters are thin and lanky but still animated smoothly. I actually like it. Especially the cute Himawari-chan. Yuuko-san seemed a bit more "lively" or interactive in this installment too.

Music
Nothing special as usual. Although, the music and audio effects fit perfectly to the overall theme and feel of the anime.

Series and Episode Stories
There's really no overall plot. It's pretty much an episode to episode story telling with elements of humor and slapstick actions. It seemed that this series gets more in detail about Himarwari-chan and Doumeki. Especially near the end.

Overall it's good show to rent and watch. There's nothing special about it but it's worth watching if you're itching to watch an anime.

Last updated Sunday, February 22 2009. Created Sunday, November 30 2008.
Buy 7 7 7 9 9 9 Xenoknight [series:1733#2967]
HONORABLE MENTION ANIME WINNER - Sequel with Greatest Improvement

final review soon...

I love continuation attempts because now we can see all the characters again and the story doesn't just die like other titles. The art style got a serious makeover with fluid animation, cleaner visuals, and more vibrant colors. The music makes a world of difference this time compared to the first season - the end credits ("Honey Honey" featuring Ayuse Kozue) is brilliant. I think i'm losing my taste for American music and shifting over to strictly Japanese! The music i'm hearing is really getting ridiculous over there and my music collection is starting to become something very diverse... (^ ^)

Things are automatically on the right track for this title. The storyline is ferocious right from the "jump" (start) and things are getting really complicated for the main lead. This is a beautiful storyline presentation I must say. It's noticeable and a thousand times better compared to last season. It can only improve from here on...

OMG! This is like a different show all together! When did the main lead become such a "G"? Episode 3 crossed that fine line! You know what that means don't you? Until I find a superior candidate, I think this title could be crowned "Greatest improvement from original season". I need a few more episodes to confirm it. Just a few more pushes now...

Ep 5 was another solid push... The main lead sure knows how to make ancient spirits and deities fall in love with him. The pleasant surprises of this series continue from here...

Ep 8 was another solid push... The mystery element is increasing exponentially and it really makes me think about how much effort went into writing this story.

Ep 9 was the final push! The birth of a new award winner is always a great feeling for me. What an episode to remeber 9 was. This type of anime genre isn't my style but even so, for me to this taken over, means this title will remain special to me and i'll buy the previous season as well to complete the series.

Check out my award list to see some of the best anime titles in the world!

Never forget Xenosaga.

Last updated Wednesday, February 04 2009. Created Sunday, October 19 2008.
Rent 7 7 7 7 7 7 AstroNerdBoy [series:1733#436]

I had big time problems with xxxHOLiC starting with the removal of the Tsubasa Chronicle link that is in the original manga. Then, I hated how Production I.G simply took the original source manga stories and mostly churned out sub-par knockoffs for the anime. So it was with little enthusiasm that I took up the sequel xxxHOLiC Kei sequel anime series. Fortunately, it seems the production staff of Production I.G learned some lessons.

This series picks up the manga story from volume 7 with the spider grudge story and Watanuki's eye. As before, the Tsubasa linkage is removed, but this time, the writers do a much better job of following the manga stories. That's not to say they are perfect though. There were a number of minor changes, but some changes were head scratchers to be sure. For example, in the manga, after the spider grudge arc, Watanuki has a blue eye and a yellow eye. In the anime, he has this eye color arrangement for a moment before the yellow eye returns to blue. So even though the writers often reference "the eye," the increased impact that SHOULD be there in the anime with Watanuki having multi-colored eyes is gone. To be honest, there was no reason for the anime writers to change this.

There were other changes as well. For example, the impact of the Mahjong game story is flushed because the writers needed to fill time for 50% of the episode. So they try to inject comedy into the story that was not a comedy story in the manga. Those who've not read the manga won't be bothered by this, but having read the manga, I didn't like the change. Other changes made from the Tsbuasa threads having to be removed were understandable. However, things that had a meaningful purpose in the manga have little meaning in the anime due to the Tsubasa elements having been removed. That is unfortunate.

Still, I could see that Production I.G tried harder with xxxHOLiC Kei to do a better job and I think they succeeded on the whole. It is just a shame that this series couldn't have been done with a proper telling of the Tsubasa story in anime form. Oh well. Considering how the Tsubasa elements play a greater role in future xxxHOLiC stories, I can't help but think that there won't be another xxxHOLiC series done, or that such a series will be very weak.

Bottom line: I actually enjoyed xxxHOLiC Kei whereas I was irritated most of the time by xxxHOLiC. However, the loss of the Tsubasa elements and other changes make the anime story weaker than its manga source and that doesn't inspire me to want to watch this again. As such, I can only give it a "Rent."

Last updated Tuesday, August 26 2008. Created Wednesday, April 09 2008.


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Japanese Broadcast TV series site http://www.tbs.co.jp/holic/

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