xxxHOLiC

I discovered this anime while surfing the AnimeSuki forums. Curious, I clicked on the thread and read about this anime. Although I did not learn much from the thread, I read about it on websites that were anime databases such as AniDB and AnimeNewsNetwork. From those sites I learnt about the anime, but the details were still hazy in my mind. I then decided, despite my unattraction to the anime, to watch it. (Perhaps I also watched it because of Ichihara Yuuko's t3h h0tn355)

I never really did expect anything from the anime. I almost was put off of it in the first five minutes because of how the characters were drawn: with disproportion. All characters were lean and lanky, with long arms and feet. Eventually, the style grew on me, and I watched on. What then unfolded was a sea of quirks, bizarre occurrences, and surreal phantasmagorias. Great.

Like the description from the databases, the movie (to be more specific) was hazy. It's not really a maze of metaphors like FLCL (as if I understood that!) but it was a maze to watch. We see Kiminoto Watanuki twist around the mansion (the movie's central setting) dealing with monsters and strange poltergeists. At the heart of all that weirdness, though, was a very striking meaning (at least for me). In addition, the relationship of Yuuko and Watanuki only added to its charm. It's something of a mother doting over a son dovetailed with a servant-master relationship, which suited the movie well. I, for one, am not against different-generation relationships as long as both man and woman are beautiful. Even if the man or woman is aged, as long as they look beautiful and are fit for each other, I won't hesitate from watching it ( hmm ... this reminds me of Koi Kaze.) I myself wish for them to end up together eventually, and that will be answered in the coming TV series of xxxHOLiC that I'm definitely going to watch.

The moral or meaning to the movie isn't as strikingly poignant as Shingetsutan Tsukihime or Koi Kaze, but it's still poignant in its own way, I guess. To simply put, we sometimes forget what we truly live for. And that, is the movie in a sentence. Mix that meaning, however, with colorful characters, surrealism, phantasmoric art, and the beauty of Ichihara Yuuko, and you get xxxHOLiC.