Subculture Anime Blog

Spectacular. My final impression is included!

Summary:

After school lets out, Watanuki complains about having to work for Yuuko as usual. While walking home that night, he is surprised to see a hand floating in front of him. After hearing its voice, however, Watanuki soon realizes that it is the young kitsune calling out to him. The kitsune guesses that, since his powers are still weak, he could not show his full self to Watanuki. The kitsune offers a package of oden to Watanuki as thanks for the balloon he had been given earlier, successfully handing it to Watanuki before he fades. Everyone at the shop is happy when they are able to enjoy the oden, including Watanuki who Yuuko allows to have some. Watanuki then takes the chance to ask Yuuko for a favor, which she agrees to grant for the proper price.

Watanuki is forced to go shopping with Yuuko later, and he is further surprised when Yuuko reveals that she is searching for a new refrigerator. When Watanuki sees that she is looking at rather large ones, he suggests a more manageable size. Yuuko denies buying the one he points out, however, describing that there are some items that are defective before their purchase. Watanuki sees nothing wrong with the refrigerator at first, but when he takes a closer look as suggested, he senses a dark aura around it. Recalling that the previous Watanuki would have probably purchased this, Yuuko states that the change in his right eye did not just improve his vision.

While traveling around the store a bit later, Watanuki notices a small creature stuck behind some appliances. Describing it as very strange among other things, the creature quickly shocks Watanuki with electricity. When Yuuko appears, she and the creature quickly greet each other as old acquaintances. The creature finally introduces himself as the thunder beast, Raiju, but begins to shock Watanuki even more after more of his disrespectful comments. Raiju requests to have Watanuki help him out of the wall he is stuck in, and although successful, Watanuki is shocked quite a bit by touching Raiju.

When the group arrives back at the shop, Raiju repairs Yuuko’s refrigerator as a thanks for saving him. After repairing several other electronics that Moro and Maru show up with, however, he is quickly drained. Over tea later, Raiju explains to Yuuko that he was attracted to the electronics store while traveling, and had become stuck. When Raiju reveals what his plans were for going out, Yuuko suggests that Watanuki have Himawari come to the event with them. With this, she would have Watanuki’s wish granted.

That night, Himawari and Doumeki join the group to visit the kitsune’s shop. Watanuki takes the chance to thank the kitsune child for the oden, then presenting him with a pair of gloves. The kitsune is surprised to receive yet another “thanks for a thanks”, but he is extremely grateful to hear how happy Watanuki was. The group is soon joined by the Yumekai, as well as the Neko Musume. While Watanuki helps the kitsune prepare oden, the Ame Warashi and Zashiki Warashi also appear. When it begins to rain, Raiju suggests that he will finally leave. Giving Watanuki his thanks before disappearing, he creates a fireworks-like scene for everyone to see. The Ame Warashi clears the sky afterwards, allowing everyone to enjoy themselves for the rest of the night.

Impression:

This episode was just awesome. I don’t care what anyone says! At the start of the episode, I did find it a bit strange that this episode wasn’t shown earlier in the series. Towards the end though, I went back to being confident that this would make for a great end for the series. Although parts of this episode almost seemed like a flashback, it clearly wasn’t. For one, Himawari had Tanpopo wit her. There’s nothing wrong with altering the timeline just a bit though, especially with how much this happened in the first series. I loved seeing all of the characters show up in the end, the Zashiki Warashi in particular. I did laugh at how much the story was altered though, especially with Raiju’s fireworks scene being different from how it was displayed in the manga and OP. By having Doumeki show up, they also got rid of the development with his seeing the fireworks out of Watanuki’s eye. But when we’re given stuff like Maru and Moro’s “fuwa fuwa” instead, I’ll forgive the random changes.

The earlier scenes with Raiju and the young kitsune were left fairly intact, but there were some alterations. I have always liked xxxHolic’s themes of noticing things that would have usually been passed by. For Watanuki, this may involve supernatural things, but I think this can also apply to several things in real life as well. I’m not sure if CLAMP has anything against refrigerators though. I was slightly annoyed that they took out Raiju’s gist about humans creating things that only hurt themselves. It’s something I really believe, and that part of the manga really hit base with me. Looking at what Production IG has done with most of the story in the past though, I can probably forgive them for it. I think I’ll save that talk for the final impression.

Final Impression:

xxxHolic has always been one of my favorite series. A supernatural, psychological, and slice of life series, I can connect with so many of the themes that are presented in each story arc. The first season has always been on my favorites list, and the series is one of the few manga that I have ever picked up (I don’t read a lot of manga when compared to watching anime). Along with messages about society and Japanese culture, Watanuki’s developing as a person is something that several people growing up can relate to. I probably became a big CLAMP fan because of this series, and it continues to be my favorite by them.

When Kei was announced, I was extremely excited. With some of the best chapters being animated, and a now much better looking animation production, there was nothing keeping me from watching. Each episode was everything I could have wanted from the series, and nothing was keeping me from giving this a perfect score. Well, that was until the slaughtering of Kohane’s arc. I will say again though, I can see how they wanted to keep the story away from Tsubasa Chronicle crossovers. Hardcore fans may want this without question, but what of those who only watch xxxHolic? I didn’t watch Tsubasa Chronicle until well after I had watched the first season of xxxHolic, and I still haven’t picked up the manga. The anime also seems to take a more slice of life approach when compared to the manga’s fairly dark themes. If I hadn’t read the manga, I probably wouldn’t have had any problems at all. Seeing the potential that had gone to waste though, when it could have easily been handled better, I couldn’t help but dislike that one major flaw in the series.

Still, that wasn’t enough to make me dislike this season of xxxHolic overall. Kei will also make it to my favorites list, as a continuation of the first series that I absolutely loved. This show was also, quite easily, my favorite series of the Spring ‘08 season. xxxHolic Kei is a necessary watch for any xxxHolic, or CLAMP, fan. From here on, I can only wonder if my wishes will be granted again in the future…with yet another sequel. The manga is not currently finished though, and that will be plenty to keep me happy for now.