Category: xxxHolic

The art is a strange thing in this anime. At one time, it looks very crisp, at other times, it looks messed up. The main characters look very good, though the side-characters, which only appear one episode could have been done much better. The animation, especially the supernatural looks great at some times, though it’s horrible at other times.

Anyway, this episode was about fortunetellers, fake ones and real ones. Yuuko decides to take Watanuki to one of them, but later it appears that she’s a fake one. She only tells you what you want to hear, instead of what you want to know. She uses common knowlegde and guessing in order gain the victim’s trust and tries to make it believable. And true, that’s how most fortunetellers run their businesses, although some people refuse to admit it. I’ve even heard of fortunetellers that tell the exact same story over and over again, without anyone noticing it.

Fake fortunetelling, by the way, seems to be a sensitive subject of Yuuko. For the first time, we see her dead-serious, instead of her usual cheerful, playful or explaining personality. She then takes him to a real fortuneteller, using an interesting technique of conjuring a hankerchief into a butterfly, which flies to its target, in this case, the fortuneteller. She indeed has no need of information from Watanuki, except for his name, perhaps, and she does tell him things only a person who knows him would know, and leaves a big impression on Watanuki.

I have to say that I enjoyed watching this anime. It follows the same pattern as Mushishi and Jigoku Shoujo, as in one story every week, though it’s more focused on the main characters than those two were.

Ah, finally Himawari and Domeki play a big role in an episode. Especially Domeki works very well along with Watanuki and Yuuko. The three of them just form a perfect team. The character animation still is as buggy as ever, but the special effects look amazing. This gives a very unique feeling to the show.

The case in this episode involves the school where a friend of Himawari resides. A couple of students have been playing with Angel-San, which seemed to have induced some very strange incidents. I had a bit of trouble figuring out what Angel-San was in the first place, but it appears to be an instrument with which you can call ghosts and make them say a message.

Watanuki and Domeki both arrive at the school, accompanied by the greatest Chobits-pun ever, and indeed, the entire building is infested with spirits. Inside the building, there’s a very strong smell, which only Watanuki can feel. The smell increases as they both go higher, until they reach the roof of the building. There, they see a couple of schoolgirls with an Angel-San which has totally gone berserk, threatening to kill everyone. When Watanuki tries to break them apart, it appears that the schoolgirls were supernatural themselves, as they change into a giant evil spirit. Then a gigantic snake arrives, and eats everything. Especially this part I loved, the choreography was just awesome, not to mention the music included.

We then see a little aftermath, in which Yuuko explains what has happened. That only shows that the dialogue in this anime is top-notch. Everything gets perfectly explained, I like it.

This episode consisted of two parts. In the first part, Watanuki’s classmates, which we already met in the movie, are introduced again. Their relationship is just like in the movie, including all of the feisty dialogue between the three of them. Anyway, they don’t really play a big role in the episode, as they leave afterwards to do their own things. Juuko, meanwhile, feels like she wants to eat some very peculiar dishes. Guess who gets to do it.

Then the second part begins. What we have here is a story of a woman, who’s been lying so much, that she’s become used to it and doesn’t even realize she’s doing it. She suffers from a black smoke-like something, which gushes out of her every time she lies. As she lies more and more, her body becomes more and more paralyzed. Yuuko lets her figure out her problem on her own, which results in the girl ending up in the hospital. Watanuki isn’t really happy with Yuuko’s way of acting, so he asks her a couple of questions, at which she gives a satisfying answer, only to be followed with even more insane food-orders. Then, we see a serious side of Yuuko when she monologues about Watanuki’s usefullness.

The great point of this series is without a doubt the incredible dialogue. Whether it’s meant to be serious or comedy, this anime delivers. In the first case, there’s just so much room for debates, and moral questions. In the second case, seeing each of the characters just annoy the hell out of Watanuki and him responding back is just too funny to see. The mystery-department also is interesting to see, but it could have been better. Though I’m guessing that the creators just start off with the small cases, and end with the large ones. I’ll be waiting for those.