Search - xxxHOLiC: Fourth Collection on DVD

The further we get away from the source...

N. S. Michael | New Mexico | 08/12/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"...the less tight this rendition becomes.

And that's a shame, as I love xxxHolic to death. It has become one of my overall favorite manga and, for the most part, the anime I've most looked forward to the past year or so.

Its not as if volume 4 of the anime disappoints all that much. There's plenty of your typical Watanuki/Domeki comedy routinage... as well as Watanuki/Himiwari swoonage, but there are several flaws inherent to the overall presentation that often stifle the mood.

One obvious issue is the reworking of major series relationship points. The most prevalent in this volume being the reunion with the Zashiki-warashi. Instead of adapting the "white day" gift return from the manga as they did in the previous volume by getting the Ame-warashi to goad Watanuki into giving the love-struck spirit girl a faux "white day" gift, they instead make it a thank you gift for junk food given to the pipefox (that goes against the timid spirit girl's character) which endangers the cute not-so-little-anymore guy (a plot point not in the manga).

Another is the crossover-replacement plot point of the soul-stealing wings... in the manga, the angel-wings are devices of the malevolent Fei Wong Reed, of the manga/anime Tsubasa:Reservior Chronicles, who is gathering souls to feed his machinations, from which the girl never will recover. Here, the angel-wings are just spirits... and the girl will recover, eventually... which is a betrayal both to the source material the the overall tone of the manga AND anime. Tragedies happen in xxxHolic, that's a fact... and serve to contrast with the happy endings. This deviation in particular really got my back up.

Apart from that, there're a few moments where the overal pacing is off... such as when the Angel-wings chase Watanuki and his just lies there after his first dodge instead of immediately getting up or even reacting. It's times like that which make me wonder if the animators/director needed to fill a few more seconds and just repeated the basic animation instead of doing anything that might be construed as dynamic (which would take more time and cost more money).

Bah...

I've really gotten my hate on here, haven't I. You shouldn't, for a second, think that I didn't enjoy the volume... just that little things here and there really bugged the overzealous story purist in me.

The fact of the matter is, xxxHolic: the animation will still rate a purchase from me despite these little annoyances... and will continue to do so, methinks, as I am quite a fan.

Still, caveat emptor... and enjoy."