Manga: xxxHolic volume 1 (CLAMP)
Yup, another CLAMP title. These women's works seem to be a mainstay in my features, lol. This time, I'd like to talk about one of their ongoing series, xxxHolic.
The story is about a young man named Watanuki Kimihiro who possesses a strange ability to see spirits and ghosts. Furthermore, he also seems to emit a bizarre aura of attracting them to him. As much as Watanuki attempts to rid himself of this major burden, his efforts are futile, until he met the mysterious Ichihara Yuko.
Yuko claims that she could fulfill any kind of wish - including Watanuki's desire to not have the ability to see paranormal things anymore. She also tells Watanuki that their meeting was a manifestation of hitsuzen which roughly means "inevitability". At the end of the day, Watanuki's wish was taken in by Yuko in exchange of being her personal maid.
The first thing that struck me about xxxHolic is the artwork. It may not be as visually nice as their past titles but I'd call this one nicely different and unique. The story, on the other hand, is superb. xxxHolic tackles different kinds of issues, human nature, habits and addictions (thus, the name "holic" in the title) and adds a mysterious and magical element to it. Every story is finished whether short or long which I think is great (and has the re-read factor, lol). The characters are also very interesting especially Yuko who appears to be neither a protagonist nor an antagonist.
The first volume features two stories. The first is about a woman who seems to have the habit of lying, and the second wants to get rid of her addiction with computers and internet surfing. I think one of the greatest parts of xxxHolic is that it features stories in a magical but still realistic in some way. Some have a happy ending, some are tragic (that usually results to death) - we cannot expect life to always turn the way we want it to even if we try our best.
Now what do I have..? CLAMPaholic! *lol* Corny.... :P
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