xxxHOLiC

Rating:
Summary: "Hitsuzen"
Review: "A naturally fore-ordained event. A state in which other outcomes are impossible...."

Such is the wisdom of Yuko, the female lead of this series. I was drawn to this book by the look on her face on the cover artwork. To me the look in her eyes was a glare as if to say "I dare you to guess how old I am and all that I've seen." The story places her in the position of mentor for the spiritual newbie Watanuki Kimihiro, a guy who seems to be carrying a cursed ability to see spirits.

While there doesn't seem to be any single cohesive story yet, the random encounters and episodal nature still pulls me in to the characters' lives. Many scenes play out as an educational process for Watanuki. The events revolve around the spiritual nature of habits, desires, and the Yin-Yan nature of granting wishes. Many things that would appear iconographic or symbolic become incarnate and wield real power in the hands of Yuko.

I found the TsubasaRC crossover a little distracting to the flow of the story as it was presented a bit more abruptly than the other encounters. Then I decided to buy TsubasaRC vol-1 to see what was going on. I probably wouldn't have been interested in TRC otherwise. But by now, I've bit the baited hook. The combination of the parallel yet individual story lines, Japanese mysticism and an almost metaphysical nature with a twist of String Theory makes XXXHolic my new addiction.

Clamp does it again...

Rating:
Summary: Kinda chaotic... Just the way I like it!
Review: A great manga with humor but no set plot.

Watanuki Kimihiro has been haunted by ghosts and spirits all his life. While on a walk, he is pulled mysteriously to a strange house. There he meets a witch named Yuko. She says she can make his wish come true (make the ghosts and spirits leave him alone) if he gives up something of great value to her. And that is how Watanuki ends up working at Yuko's shop. Everything's normal for a while, people come in and get their wishes granted, or sometimes they get advice. It seems that Watanuki will be able to pay off his debt in no time... that is, until he gets an omen that speaks of people from another dimension coming to theirs and they actually do.

This series crosses-over with another series called Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE. This is a really good series so far, with lots of humor and all, but I do hope a plot appears soon.

Rating:
Summary: Really Cool!
Review: As usual CLAMP proves to be the best in storytelling. XXXholic is about a boy who can see ghosts and other things humans cannot normally see. Some people would see that as a gift but to this boy it has been to him nothing but trouble. So he walks and stops right in front od this little house in the middle of the city. Suddenly he walks right in to the gate and into the house. The house owner quickly asks him his name and his date fo birth and puts him into contract to work for her and in return to make his wish come true. To get rid of his so called "gift". But other than that i am done we will see if the boy can survive his boss and get rid of his "gift."

Rating:
Summary: The weirdness hath begun.
Review: CLAMP hit a good stride after the strangely compelling "Chobits" with what I like to call their 'lost memories' series. They've really learned how to create good manga from potentially disasterous stories. "xxxHolic" may not have their most brilliant story, but it makes up for that with stunning art and fun characters. If you enjoy this, you should also pick up "Tsubasa" which has a more 'serious' story and more familiar characters.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful book!
Review: CLAMP never, ever ceases to amaze me. How they can just crank out these amazing books is just...amazing! And trust me, this book is no exception.

xxxHOLiC is a masterpiece. As you've probably already read, it's about a boy, Watanuki Kimihiro, who is haunted by ghosts and spirits. The beautiful witch Yuko says she'll get rid of them-for a price. So he becomes her servant/worker, and gets to see all of Yuko's crazy customers.

This is not like Cardcaptor Sakura, in that you can't just read the book and understand it. You'll have to read some things twice, and really think about some of the things before you get them. It's not a chore though, it's fun.

The art is absolutely stunning. It has a slightly gothic twist, which just makes it more interesting.

When I first read the summary of this book, I was a little put off, because frankly, I am a fan of girly mangas, so it didn't sound all that appealing. But I was so wrong. This is a book not to be missed.

One of the other cool things, is that if you're familiar with CLAMP's work, you'll notice a lot of little things throughtout the book from things like Cardcaptor Sakura, etc. It's fun to look for :D And this book crosses over with Tsubasa:RESERvoir Chronicle, which is CCS in an alternate dimension :D

Plus, Del Rey publishing has included these cool extras in the back of the book! All in all, xxxHOLiC is NOT TO BE MISSED!

Rating:
Summary: Submitted for Your Approval
Review: How these ladies can keep cranking these books out like sausage without them feeling like they were cranked out like sausage is beyond me. Dont' struggle, just accept. This is another fabulous book.

This book is a collection of Twilight Zone style short stories, with our well-endowed witch Yuki and our petulant schoolboy Watanuki as our unifying characters.

For those of you new to CLAMP, let me take you through the CLAMP checklist: Beautiful artwork -- check. Beautiful costumes -- check. Interesting characters -- heh, an understatement. A moral lurking just at the edges of the plot -- check. A plot that takes at least two books to develop -- check (you were not in a hurry, I hope). A plot and/or characters that are ever so slightly...bent -- oh yeah.

Don't worry. If you read any of CLAMP's work fast enough and without any serious thought it won't ruffle your PG-13 sensibilities. It's just when you start to think about the issues that seemed like they were on the margins of the story that you realize what the story was *really* about.

Ant THAT, for me, is what makes CLAMP such a damn fine read.

Rating:
Summary: Very picky but I like it
Review: I'm not a manga fan because I think most manga is sexist and very violent without there being a good reason. But I like this series of stories and the characters -- a nice strong woman and a young man under her control and yet she isn't evil and she doesn't normally go around with her breasts hanging out or using sex to get things. I'm interested enough to get #2 of the series.

Rating:
Summary: Xxxholic is a Nice Beginning
Review: Love the art, love the story. The reason this gets four out of five instead of five/five, is because of all the references and crossovers within the CLAMP universe. Also distracting is the japanese pop-culture (there isn't enough of them to be too distracting though) jokes, which thankfully are explained in the back of the book.

However, this first installment of the manga is gripping and definately worth the buy.

If you want a summary, check out other reviews.

Rating:
Summary: This is totally unlike any series I've ever read.
Review: The characters in this book go along greatly with a series of

this kind of nature, ecspecially the two main characters, Yuko

Watanuki. Anyone into weird comics should definately check this

book out, let alone any fan of CLAMP.

When I first heard about what Clamp had done about crossing the

comic series Tsubasa and xxxholic, I immediately became

thrilled. The first series I got out of the two was Tsubasa

because I had some experience with Cardcaptor Sakura. When I

read that, I wanted to see what the other side of this

cross-over was about. So I got xxxholic not to long after I got

Tsubasa. Both are great and both I recommend to you.

In this installment, Watanuki continues to work for the

space-time witch Yuko. She sends the Tsubasa characters Syoran,

Sakura, Fai, and Kurogane, each giving up something valuable.

After that, Yuko takes Watanuki to see a fortune teller. The

first one thinks she's a fortune teller, but really, she's not.

Meanwhile, the romance is heating up between Watanuki and

Himiwari-chan. When Watanuki doesn't invite her out on a date,

Yuko invites her and Domeki {Watanuki's rival} to the 100 ghost

stories session, which telling scary stuff that you've witnessed.

Highly Recommended.



Rating:
Summary: Crowded Drawing, Good Plot
Review: The plot and dialogue is pretty good in XXXholic, it's interesting, creative, and ends in a great cliff hanger.

The problem is that often the art is good (same as other CLAMP stories) but there are too many details crowded together. The makes it hard to discern some pictures. However, when the story moves to simple settings it's much nicer.

I'd actually only rate this 3 1/2 stars (and round it to 3) because sometimes I wonder where CLAMP is going with this, but I added 1/2 a star because I *wuv* Del Rey publishing! They've got some useful extras at the end of the books, like explaining Japanese culture and honorifics and even a sneak preview of the next book (albeit it's in Japanese. -.-)

You probably realize from reading other reviews that this is a crossover of a lot of CLAMP books, but you don't need to read any of them to get the story. This is because they use Clamp characters (namely from Card Captor Sakura) but they're characters in an alternate reality, which you can read more of in Tsubasa. They cross-over part you don't get until the end anyway.

Appropriatness: don't worry parents. The worst you have here is mild swearing, no four letter words. How ever, we're comparing it to G-rated Card Captor Sakura.