Both the movie and the anime series are directed by Tsutomu Mizushima. Nanase Ohkawa, CLAMP's director and main scriptwriter, is executive producing the TV series. The anime is not as complete as the manga is largely due to the [[Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE]] and [[Card Captor Sakura]] references being removed (though Sakura's staff from CCS and Fay's staff from Tsubasa are seen in episode 18 when Watanuki is in the storage room, and Fay's staff is also seen in Episode 8 being used as a rug beater). At some points the anime is more warmer and [[lighthearted]] than the manga. For example the lying woman in first volume is not killed, instead she is hospitalized and comforted by Watanuki.
Both the movie and the anime series are directed by Tsutomu Mizushima. Ageha Ohkawa, CLAMP's director and main scriptwriter, is executive producing the TV series. The anime is not as complete as the manga is largely due to the [[Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE]] and [[Card Captor Sakura]] references being removed (though Sakura's staff from CCS and Fay's staff from Tsubasa are seen in episode 18 when Watanuki is in the storage room, and Fay's staff is also seen in Episode 8 being used as a rug beater). At some points the anime is more warmer and [[lighthearted]] than the manga. For example the lying woman in first volume is not killed, instead she is hospitalized and comforted by Watanuki.
×××HOLiC (pronounced -holic as in alcoholic, as the '×××' denotes a variable) is a manga series planned and presented by CLAMP. It has been serialized in Kodansha's Young KC Deluxe periodically since 2003 and currently published in the United States by Del Rey Manga.
The animated movie xxxHOLiC - A Midsummer Night's Dream (劇場版 ×××HOLiC 真夏ノ夜ノ夢, Gekijōban Horikku - Manatsu no Yoru no Yume) was released in Japan on August 20, 2005. The DVD of the movie was released on February 252006 and a TV animation series began airing on TBS on April 6,2006 in Japan. The movie has been licensed by FUNimation for the USA but the TV series is still unlicensed.
Title spelling
CLAMP has recently taken to using some unusual titles in their work. ×××HOLiC may not be the most complicated of these, but its capitalisation can cause some confusion. It is widely accepted that in the 'HOLiC' part, each letter is capitalized except for the 'i', but the preceding crosses can be both in small case form or capital X's. Del Rey has chosen to use 'xxx', but 'XXX' can be seen just as commonly. This is because in the original Japanese title, they are not letters at all but multiplication signs, which can resemble either small or capital X's depending on the font they are viewed in. In Japan, this character is used to indicate a relationship or crossover between things, while in the west an 'x' is traditionally used to represent something unknown or omitted. Those who have read the manga will therefore know that 'HOLiC' refers to the unhealthy habits, addictions and compulsions etc. that Yûko's customers suffer from, and '×××' as both a place holder for the various types of "holics" (alcoholic, workaholic, etc.) and a reference to the accompanying theme of peoples' relationships with objects. FUNimation, who hold the American license for the anime, have chosen to call it just 'HOLiC' because even though CLAMP and the director have stated that the intended audience is in their 20-30's, FUNimation does not want it to be mistaken for hentai.
Plot
The series' protagonist, Kimihiro Watanuki (四月一日君尋, Watanuki Kimihiro), is a high school student who is continually plagued by supernatural monsters and spirits which are magically attracted to him. The creatures are invisible to all but himself, and as a result he feels extremely burdened by them. When he quite literally stumbles into a shop that grants wishes, his life changes drastically.
Within the shop is the seductively beautiful Yûko Ichihara (壱原侑子, Ichihara Yūko), a witch of many names and esoteric renown. The seemingly all-knowing witch soon gets right down to business: she offers to grant Watanuki's wish to be rid of his ability to see spirits. However, a price equal to the power required to grant the wish must be paid. Yûko discovers that Watanuki is very skilled with his hands and a hard worker. As a result, Watanuki soon finds himself forced to perform housework and odd jobs for Yûko until he has done enough work for his wish to be granted.
Shortly afterwards, other characters become involved with Watanuki's position, including his love interest Himawari Kunogi, and his 'rival', Shizuka Doumeki. The three become increasingly 'friendlier', despite the amount of times Watanuki gets annoyed with Doumeki's unflappable attitude.
Another reccuring theme in the storyline is that Watanuki's growth and change will be because of his experiences meeting one person. If this person is Domeki or Yuko, there are no hints yet said. But its already implied that he will be linked to both Yuko and Domeki and all their connections were foreseen.
Plot elements
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One major factor in ×××HOLiC is the connections between CLAMP's other manga; many of CLAMP's characters outside of ×××HOLiC appear in this comic. In the beginning, Yûko tells Watanuki about a girl, Sakura, the protagonist of Cardcaptor Sakura, and Sumeragi Subaru of Tokyo Babylon and X/1999. In the 8th chapter, characters from Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE, one of CLAMP's other series, appear in the story. ×××HOLiC character Yûko Ichihara likewise appears in a corresponding chapter of Tsubasa. In the following chapter, when Watanuki goes to a drug store, he meets Kazahaya and Rikuo, characters from Legal Drug. In addition, various items, like headphones resembling Persocom ears (from Chobits), or Sakura's wand from Cardcaptor Sakura, appear. The link between other series is one of the focal points of ×××HOLiC, and the two series Tsubasa and ×××HOLiC are intimately linked and frequently crossed over.
CLAMP has stated that Tsubasa and ×××HOLiC are meant to tie all of their works together, yet still stand alone as their own stories.
Recurring Themes
Because ×××HOLiC partly serves to unite CLAMP's works together, some recurring themes from their previous works are prominently featured.
One such theme is the concept of hitsuzen (必然), first introduced by Yûko. Hitsuzen has no direct translation into English (which is why Del Rey has opted to keep the Japanese term whenever it appears in Tsubasa or xxxHOLiC), but can be interpreted as referring to "inevitability", "destiny", or "fate". Interpreting hitsuzen as "fate" is not inaccurate, but in the context of the story, "fate" is implied as something that is immutable and definite, giving the idea that whoever is bound by fate is nothing more than its puppet. Instead, hitsuzen is the idea that an action is inevitable because without it, other related events in the future could not happen. Therefore all decisions and actions are related, and there can be no coincidence, only hitsuzen. Hitsuzen has been mentioned in Cardcaptor Sakura by Kaho Mizuki as she remarks that "there are no coincidences, only hitsuzen". Other English translations of the remark have rendered hitsuzen as "inevitability".
Another theme present in ×××HOLiC and other CLAMP works can be observed in the first volume of the series. When Watanuki introduces himself to Yûko, he gives her his real name as a common courtesy. Because his name is also an obvious reference to the date of his birth (April 1st, shared by Cardcaptor Sakura's Sakura Kinomoto, the incarnations of herself and Syaoran in Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle), he has given her two key bits of information that will inevitably give someone the power to discover everything about him (based on his birthday) and control his destiny (from his name). This theme has previously appeared in Tokyo Babylon, where Subaru Sumeragi made a similar mistake revealing his true birthdate to Seishirō Sakurazuka.
An orphaned boy cursed with the ability to see spirits, Watanuki entered into an agreement with Yûko to work for her in exchange for the fulfilment of his wish - to never see spirits again. However, despite the fact that he hates his ability, Watanuki often goes out of his way to help people that he comes into contact with because of his power, even when he is not required to do so by his job. He is also very independent, because he has had to live alone for most of his life, and is an excellent cook and housekeeper.
Watanuki is infatuated with his classmate, Himawari, and frequently tries to impress her in any way he can. He looks on his other classmate, Doumeki, as a potential rival for Himawari, even though the other boy has never really expressed an interest in her. Because of Doumeki's ability to repel spirits, Watanuki must spend increasingly more time in his presence, and this has begun to alter their relationship to a sort of grudging friendship. Despite this, Watanuki outwardly reacts in a very hostile way towards Doumeki, though his actions towards him often speak differently than his words.
Even though Yuuko is strikingly beautiful, seductive and often a tease, Watanuki seems to be unfazed being around her and his romantic attention still revolves around Himawari. In fact, Watanuki seemed to be more irritated than anything else when Yuuko teases him.
Being one extremely experienced in her industry, Yûko is not foolish enough to give away her real name like Watanuki. That aside, Yûko has served as a major catalyst for Watanuki's transformation, acting somewhat as his mentor. She loves to drink and eat Watanuki's wonderful cooking and dragging Watanuki on crazy outings at the drop of a hat.
Despite this immature and free-spirited attitude, Yûko has been known to be sage-like and serious when the time calls for it. Yûko seems to know the true 'hitsuzen' that Watanuki will follow, and has often offered cryptic messages to warn him of impending danger or a folklore that he should take a bit more seriously. She also seems to truly care about him, making sure he is safe at night, sending the Kudakitsune with him for extra protection, or calling Doumeki when he needs saving.
Note: Her store in the eyes of Doumeki is only a vacant lot. Yuuko explains this in volume 8 of the manga that since Doumeki does not need anything from her, the shop does not physically or visually exist to him.
Shizuka Dômeki is Watanuki's classmate and what Watanuki labled him as his rival. He is part of the school's archery club and often participates (and tops) school competitions. He lives by a shrine owned by his late grandfather.
Doumeki's personality is a total opposite that of Watanuki's. He has a cool, calm and often sarcastic character. Much to the annoyance of Watanuki he seems to hang around him especially when Watanuki gets a chance to be with Himawari.
While Watanuki is monster bait, Doumeki is monster repellant, due to his grandfather's exorcism abilities that were passed down to him. The fortune teller from Volume 2 foresees Doumeki's arrival into the story, stating that Watanuki will gain a friend that he'll constantly fight with, but their relationship will "run deeper".
Yûko advises that Watanuki stay close to Doumeki because his very presence drives away the spirits that attack Watanuki, but Watanuki's jealousy and general annoyance with Doumeki's mellow, laid-back demeanor keep him from liking Doumeki — or at least admitting that he does. The fact that on several occasions Doumeki has had to come to Watanuki's rescue doesn't help, especially since most of these situations involve Watanuki passing out and Doumeki having to carry him somewhere to rest, or Watanuki falling from a building just to have his wrist caught by Doumeki at the last second. As payment for his services, Watanuki makes him bento lunches (sometimes with Yûko's nudging, sometimes without), and Doumeki often demands really difficult or impossible lunch requests for the next day just to irk him.
The Rain Sprite Amewarashi also said that Doumeki has a pure spirit.
He looks very much like his late grandfather (Volume 9)
The love interest. Watanuki has been doting after Himawari ever since the beginning of the series, and even some cryptic remarks from Yûko "are you sure she's good luck?" haven't deterred him. Though she appears to be an ordinary human, there is something about Himawari that seems to bring the wrong kind of luck to Watanuki.
It seems even other spirits can tell there is something different about Himawari — Amewarashi (the rain spirit) would not even approach her (though it might just have been her name, considering Himawari means "sunflower" and a rain spirit's worst enemy is the sun). All supernatural issues aside, Himawari is caring and kind towards Watanuki, but always seems busy, and so far has only been friendly, nothing more.
A spirit girl (not a ghost) who has a crush on Watanuki. On Valentine's Day she searches for the best chocolate she can find to give him, but ends up giving him the chocolate that Dōmeki has eaten. Unfortunately, when she takes the chocolate out of his stomach she takes his soul with it, and Watanuki has to track her down and retrieve it. To top it off, while Watanuki is flattered and happy that a cute girl has given him chocolate, her gift is actually the chocolate he made in the first place and he does not even get to keep it. Zashiki Warashi are prone to mischievous thoughts, though this one is actually quite shy and sweet and very prone to crying (those who make her cry will be attacked by her guardians, a group of tengu-karasu). She lives on a mountain with pure spiritual energy and, as a result, is vulnerable to evil energy.
Watanuki gives her a present (a pair of hairpins with an angel wing design) on White Day to thank her for the chocolate (albeit late) in Volume 5. The pins can be seen worn on the sash of her kimono in volume 8. In Volume 8, the Zashiki Warashi is held prisoner by a spider queen for trying to retrieve Watanuki's right eye, and he decides to go rescue her despite all the danger involved.
She is based on an actual spirit from Japanese mythology, the zashiki-warashi of legend, accounting for her childlike naivité and innocence.
The Ame-warashi is also known as a Rain sprite or rain maker, a proud, high ranking spirit/ sprite. She has a very hostile attitude toward humans due to the fact that "humans have no care or regard whatsoever with living nature". She comes to Yuuko to ask for the service of Watanuki to save someone at the park with park containing Ajisai or Hydrangeas. In the anime, she is portrayed as a good, protective friend of the Zashiki Warashi.
She also has the ability to detect differences in characters and likely special abilities, as implied by her ill feeling of Himawari and the "refreshing" or "pure" scent she detects emitting from Doumeki.
Her hair in the anime is red, however there are colored CLAMP pieces that show her hair as dark blue.
The concept of an Ame-Warashi is based on a actual spirit from Japanese mythology.
The Kudakitsune, a pipe fox spirit, was the payment given to Yûko by the Amewarashi for Watanuki's help. It became attached to him right away and often accompanies him on trips of the more dangerous type, but will go with him anywhere if he lets it. It used to annoy him at first, but Watanuki has warmed up to the wormy furball. The Kudakitsune has two forms, a snake-like mini version, and the traditional Kyûbi when it reveals its true power - it is able to create gigantic fireballs also known as Foxfire or streams of fire, and also able to detect evil beings like the wing parasites and the spider lady in the volumes. It takes a large amount of pure spiritual energy to revert the traditional kyûbi back into its portable snake-like form. When that happens, Watanuki is forced to take the Kudakitsune to Zashiki's mountain. His Foxfire attack does not sit well with the Spider Queen's webs.
In the Anime the Kudakitsune's favorite treat is deep-fried tofu, but too much of it is bad for him. If he eats too much in his larger form the markings on his head will disappear one by one and soon he would not be able to return to his pipe form, as Yuuko informed Watanuki.
Maru and Moro (short for Maru-dashi and Moro-dashi) are the two girls that led Watanuki into Yûko's shop. It isn't stated whether they were created by Yûko, Clow Reed, the both of them, or someone else entirely, but since they have no souls and cannot leave the shop, it can be assumed that they were created there.
They help out around the shop, but mostly act as the cheering squad. They almost always speak in unison, or close to it. Watanuki seems to get along with them most of the time, at least when they are not dragging him into one of Yûko's plans.
It is noted that Maru and Moro, when translated, mean "Flashing" and "Streaking" respectively, something that is quite possibly a pun on the XXX part of ×××HOLiC. Even though ××× is intended to act as a variable in the title it is almost synonymous with pornography, which given the target seinen audience is probably intended.
There are very few instances that you will see Maru and Moro in a serious scene. In the parasite Angel chapter Watanuki invited them to join him in the festival, however Maru and Moro said in unison (in a rather dazed look) " That those without souls cannot leave this place.... for their bodies will disintegrate (need accurate script)" that give another fan-based speculation that Maru and Moro may also be lifeless bodies of the once living.
They also show some concern not only for Yuuko but also for Watanuki despite the fact they always annoy him. In Volume 6 of the manga, when Watanuki came home from visiting the "Lady in the park" Maru and Moro immediately sensed that something was wrong with Watanuki. When Watanuki finally collapesed, the two dragged Watanuki as far as the store's gates, saying "This is as far as we can go" before tossing Watanuki out to a waiting Doumeki. In the anime Watanuki also shows signs of slight affection to the two in episode 18 when Doumeki read a letter to Watanuki written by Mokona and Maru/Moro, Watanuki was somewhat pleased to see that they thought of him.
While the white Mokona left to travel the worlds with the TRC group, the black Mokona stayed behind to act as a liaison between the TRC group and Yûko. Mokona likes to be around Yûko, drink with her and eat the meals that Watanuki has made, and mostly chirps in with Maru and Moro. Yûko has mentioned that the Mokonas were created a very long time ago, in preparation for a future event — the arrival and subsequent journey of the TRC group. As a side note: In the xxxHOLiC anime, the Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLEcrossover, does not occur (however we do not know if it will occur later in the anime), since Mokona is not brought by Watanuki to have the Mokona assist the TRC group, rather Mokona is found by Watanuki when asked by Yûko to bring one of her "drinking buddies" for a party.
A young girl about age 11 with exceptional exorcism powers. Becuase of this she has been featured on Ghost and Supernatural TV shows. She is introduced chapter 9 in the Manga. Her mother at first seems to be very overprotective of her, but Kohane feels like her mother and herself do not have strong bond with each other, since her mother is more focused in advertising her business of excorcising spirits.
She mentioned to Watanuki that she hasn't been called by her first name as far as she can remember, making Watanuki calling her "Kohane-chan" a first.
Her first name in Kanji is translated as "little wings" and her last name literally means May 7th.
She and Watanuki seem to share a bond, likely because they have both been exposed to the occult since a young age.
Doumeki's grandfather and the priest in the temple where Doumeki now lives.
He passed away sometime ago but he is always mentioned in Domeki's stories. The reason for his death hasn't been mentioned yet.
Haruka looks strikingly like Doumeki, but he has somewhat are more cheerful and outgoing character than his grandson.
He seems to have taught his grandson a lot of stories regarding Folklore, myths, and other temple practices. He has also an immense library that now Doumeki uses and keeps.
As the priest of that temple he has the power to exorcise spirits and see them as well. An ability passed on to Doumeki (although Doumeki could not see spirits). His style of exorcising spirits, like Doumeki, was shooting a bow and arrow made of chi. When Yuuko saw the wards Haruka had made for the library she indicated that they were of high quality, attesting to his skill and knowledge of the occult.
In Volume 9 of the manga we get a first glimpse of him in a dream. Dreams provided by the dream balloons given by the Yumenai (a dream breeder). These same balloons belongs to Haruka and he sold it to the Yumenai. He acts like a guide to Watanuki like Yuuko does, asking him why does he really likes Himawari and pointing out that since he met Himawari things has gone bad for him, as well as asking why he found Shizuka Doumeki irritating.
The name Haruka means "far away" or distant.
Syaoran and the TRC characters
Since xxxHOLiC and Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE's plots are intertwined, the characters sometimes appear in each other's series, acting out the same event only from different perspectives. Watanuki has only met the group once, but said he felt as if he knew Syaoran for a very long time. He is sometimes around when Yûko talks to them through Mokona, but for the most part they do not communicate much. This relationship isn't closely stated or revealed in the anime (this is largely due to their connection with Mokona which has been removed), although in episode 8, Morodashi can be seen using Fay's staff as a carpet beater.
Note: The real Syoaran of TRC gets to visit XXXHOLIC universe in volume 9 of the manga. Here he has a wish to go where his other eye is. Yuko was wearing the same clothes she wore when the TRC cast visited her first.
Trivia
Watanuki's birthday is on April 1, the same day as Sakura Kinomoto of Card Captor Sakura. The date is also Sakura's birthday in Tsubasa. As a pun, Watanuki literally means "April 1". A point of interest is that "Kimihiro" means "to search for someone".
In the xxxHolic Movie, we learn that Doumeki likes to collect stamps while Watanuki collects grocery stamps/coupons (although it seems they were making that up).
Characters from Legal Drug appear in the anime and manga when Watanuki went to buy some medicine for Yuuko.
The name of the hamburger shop Duklyon is another crossover CLAMP series seen when Doumeki and Watanuki go out to eat. However, the characters from Duklyon aren't present in either the manga or anime, only the shop's logo is shown. The shop also appeared in Chobits and Card Captor Sakura. Dukyon's orginal establishment is a cafe bakery in the Duklyon manga and original crossover with CLAMP Campus Detectives.
In Episode 16 when Watanuki bought a hair clip for the Rain Sprite the brand of the clip was Piffle, the same name as Tomoyo's company in Piffle world in Tsubasa, and also a popular clothing store from Legal Drug, the Angelic Layer company in Angelic Layer and a café in Suki.
The apartment complex that Watanuki lives in is the same building that Hideki Motosuwa of Chobits rented, managed by Chitose Hibiya. Is also the same apartment that Hanato Kobato stayed in in Kobato. A more clear picture of his apartment is at Volume 8
In episode 19 when Yuuko invited the Ame-warashi and Zakishi Waarashi to a snowman competition, Ame-Warashi kept at the beginning a civil distance from Himawari, however they all sat together at the ending inside a makeshift igloo ( this scene is contrary to both the manga storyline and Ame-Warashi's belief being near Himawari.) Also note that even with the Zakishi present in the episode most of Watanuki's attention was on the giant snow flinging monsters. This episode was in the last chapter of the Volume 8 manga however the Ame-warashi, Zashiki, and Himawari were not present and the prize ( a box that can give you anything you want after winning) was not present either. The only snowmans was Watanuki's rabbit and a normal looking snowman by Yuuko
Anime
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Both the movie and the anime series are directed by Tsutomu Mizushima. Ageha Ohkawa, CLAMP's director and main scriptwriter, is executive producing the TV series. The anime is not as complete as the manga is largely due to the Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE and Card Captor Sakura references being removed (though Sakura's staff from CCS and Fay's staff from Tsubasa are seen in episode 18 when Watanuki is in the storage room, and Fay's staff is also seen in Episode 8 being used as a rug beater). At some points the anime is more warmer and lighthearted than the manga. For example the lying woman in first volume is not killed, instead she is hospitalized and comforted by Watanuki.
Yûko receives a request from a woman to investigate a mansion which belongs to her but by some reason she can't get inside anymore. Taking Watanuki and Doumeki with her, she discovers an auction being held there to fanatical collectors but the auctioneer doesn't make an appearance.
One after another, each collector disappears and a number of other strange occurrences happen during the night. The real reasons behind the auction must be discovered in order for Yûko and company to get to the bottom of this mystery.
The movie had been officially selected for the prestigious Annecy International Animated Film Festival 2006 in the Feature Films category with other top four nominees: Asterix and the Vikings, Gin-iro No Kami No Agito, Wallace and Gromit, and Renaissance, in this highly competitive field. It did not win in its category.
Episodes
The series began airing on TBS on April 6, 2006 in Japan and is currently in progress. For a list of episodes see List of ×××HOLiC episodes.
Theme songs
Movie
Opening: "サナギ〜theme from ×××HOLiC the movie〜" (Sanagi, Chrysalis) by Suga Shikao
TV series
Opening: "19才" (Jũkyũ-sai, 19-years-old) by Suga Shikao
Kodansha
Del Rey Manga
Editora JBC
Pika Éditions
Norma Editorial
Editorial Vid
Tanoshimi
