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Alternative Titles

Synonyms: xxxHolic Rou, xxxHolic Cage

Japanese: xxxHOLiC

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Information

Type: Manga

Volumes: 19

Chapters: 213

Status: Finished

Published: Feb 24, 2003 to Feb 9, 2011

Genres: Comedy, Drama, Mystery, Supernatural

Demographic: Seinen

Serialization: Young Magazine (Weekly)

Authors: CLAMP (Story & Art)

Statistics

Score: 8.38¹ (scored by 32,327 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #230²

² based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #180

Members: 83,225

Favorites: 5,064

Resources

Wikipedia

8.38

Ranked #230Popularity #180Members 83,225

MangaYoung Magazine (Weekly)CLAMP (Story & Art)

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Volumes: /19

Chapters: /213

Available on Manga Store
xxxHOLiC Omnibus
Volume 1
$19.99

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Synopsis

Living alone after his parents passed away, Kimihiro Watanuki is a high school student who can see otherworldly creatures that are attracted to him. His days are plagued by these nuisances, and he wishes to rid himself of this inconvenience. One fateful day, as Kimihiro is being chased by a horde of spirits, his feet bring him into a mysterious store to seek shelter. Here he meets Yuuko Ichihara, the mistress of this supposed store, who claims to be able to grant wishes. Yuuko offers to grant Kimihiro's, as long as he pays an appropriate price.

Thus begins Kimihiro's time working in her store to earn the payment necessary for his wish. In Yuuko's employ, he must become further involved with spirits and the supernatural before he can leave that world behind. How will he fare in the inexplicable encounters that await him?

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

xxxHOLiC was previously serialized in Young Magazine, but moved to Bessatsu Shounen Magazine in June 2010.

The series was released in English by the now defunct Del Rey from April 27, 2004 to February 21, 2012. Kodansha Comics USA has republished the series in an omnibus edition from March 18, 2014 to September 8, 2015 the final two volumes were 2-in-1, while the previous were all 3-in-1. It was also published in Spanish by Norma Editorial from July 2004 to October 2011.

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Related Manga

Other:	K-Dash, Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE, Drug & Drop
Spin-off:	Shiritsu Horitsuba Gakuen
Side story:	xxxHOLiC: AnotherHOLiC
Sequel:	xxxHOLiC: Rei
Adaptation:	xxxHOLiC, xxxHOLiC◆Kei, xxxHOLiC Shunmuki, xxxHOLiC Rou

More characters
Characters

Ichihara, Yuuko

Main

Watanuki, Kimihiro

Main

Doumeki, Shizuka

Main

Modoki, Mokona

Main

Kunogi, Himawari

Main

Tsuyuri, Kohane

Main

Flourite, Fai D.

Supporting

Syaoran

Supporting

Sakura

Supporting

Kurogane

Supporting

Reviews

Mar 26, 2024

ZNoteTaku

Recommended

*×××HOLiC* seems to defy any real sense of simplistic genre classification, and that’s a good thing. Given the sheer breadth of its surreal dives into the darkly fantastical, the comic, and the serious, it seems to have all its conventional genre labels connected to one another in inseparable ways. It makes its home in a strange twilight zone. But no matter what particular style or tone it is going for at any given moment, it always seems to move in sneakily smooth motions of change rather than being plopped down from out of nowhere. It sows seeds early that germinate into their fuller blooming later, ... and at the center of its blooming lies a certain shop that grants any wish. For Kimihiro Watanuki, plagued by spirits that he cannot seem to get rid of, he comes across the shop’s proprietress, the sake-loving, coy, and outright mysterious Yuuko.

To see the world through Yuuko’s eyes is to be made keenly aware of, to put it in rather odd words, “the relationship between everything and everything.” Every step, blink, word, and thought has a resonance and a meaning, a cause and effect that vibrates and changes the surrounding universe. Whether that meaning is immediately known to us or if it causes consequences that we ourselves are not aware of varies depending on the circumstance. *×××HOLiC* makes its narrative out of this idea, and it proves delightfully malleable regardless of your own personal history. After all, there is no one, singular real-world ideology that monopolizes these thoughts. Many of the world’s religions, psychoanalytical theories, and philosophies imply—if not outright state in their texts—an inherent connection between the material and the spiritual, the natural and the supernatural, how the weight of one’s actions and thoughts dictates life’s destiny, or whether there are no coincidences and that everything is inevitable or predetermined (the question of personal agency).

One could easily map Jung’s synchronicity idea, Sartre’s “man is condemned to be free” and “living authentically” analysis from *Being and Nothingness,* Buddhism, Christianity, or any other construct upon it as our guiding light. When thought about in this way, it clarifies what makes Yuuko a mystifying presence both within the narrative proper and as a reader experiencing the story. *×××HOLiC* personifies these numerous, real-world metaphysical beliefs by using Yuuko as the cipher, a characterized embodiment of the thing that we wrestle with and engage in, something that we take comfort in, get frustrated by, but also provides wisdom when needed with a gentle push.

*×××HOLiC* does involve pushing, sometimes with characters kicking and screaming. Whether it be Watanuki grimacing at needing to bring Yuuko’s fourth sake bottle of the day or someone coming to Yuuko’s shop in need of a wish granted, they are at times pushed into situations beyond(?) their control. In a philosophy where seemingly everything is inevitable, this could prove either fatalistic or nihilistic depending on your perspective. But focusing on a “what’s the point” angle means not focusing on the “what do I do about this” matter, and it’s that distinction that makes the manga’s material work. Even in the supposed closed-circuit nature of its themes and presentation, choices are always present. Watanuki's nature defaults to unfailingly be of help, even to the detriment of his own body or happiness. Choosing one possibility out of the many that exist, fueled by the past choices you’ve made and the state of your own mind, means rejecting all the other choices before you. To *×××HOLiC*, this fact carries with it all the weight of a world-interacting power. Of course, using that power carries consequences of their own, especially if one claims they’ll pay any price in reckless desperation. With the supernatural and natural world held side-by-side in the manga, one can only imagine the payments and compensations that could form...

But regardless of one’s motive for making their wishes, everyone as a result is changed in some way, shape, or form, sometimes coming complete with the recurring imagery of butterflies. The core relationship of the series is the prime example. From their earliest interactions, Watanuki and Yuuko sometimes have a relationship akin to a cat being dropped into water – annoyance to the point of sheer frustration (take a wild guess who the cat is). But such a dynamic is to be expected; for the purposes of this story, if Watanuki is to experience the universe through Yuuko’s eyes, it **must** (not “**should**”) involve pushback and gradual realization. No worthwhile transformation happens overnight, and nothing worth experiencing doesn’t come without effort.

As *×××HOLiC* cautiously warns though, to become aware of something means that you cannot necessarily go back to the way you were before; time, and experience, always push you forward. The series does not say outright that this change is good or bad, but understatedly claims that change is the quintessential—or to use Yuuko’s favorite term, inevitable—aspect of existence, and one that we all must reconcile in our own way. We reconcile it with our own choices at each new turn. When enemies become friends or you make a baseball bat and computer get intimately acquainted with one another, that may or may not be the part of some grand design by God, gods, or someone else. But no matter what design or not-design was in place to make it all happen, choosing or not choosing, along with the changes that come as a result, must occur. There is no pointlessness in *×××HOLiC’s* inevitability philosophy; instead, it encourages the possibilities that inevitability brings.

So, if you find yourself needing a wish granted, look, feel, and choose carefully. Then change, look ahead, and regret nothing. The trust you place in your decisions can make wishes and dreams become reality. As Yuuko would say, it’s no coincidence – it’s inevitable.

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Nov 8, 2022

Animelover875

Mixed Feelings

To start with, I'll state that I watched the anime of xxxHolic first, and will be judging the manga on its own terms, rather than as a comparison/contrast between the two. To start with, xxxHolic seemed to have an unfortunate issue where chapters would frequently repeat themselves and be listed out of order (which thankfully stopped near the halfway mark/ending of the series.) That aside, how does the plot of xxxHolic hold up? I'd like to preface this by saying that I am not Japanese and despite my interest in Japan, there is much in Japanese culture that doesn't translate very well to western media. ... For instance, certain things in the manga may have crucial implications or symbolism necessary for understanding the writer's intentions, but they're not visible due to the assumption that the viewer is privy to these already. That said, if this was the case, then that would be a dangerously misguided assumption; the series often hints at what appears to be symbolism, so wrapped up in a cloud of philosophy that it becomes a nearly incomprehensible, if well-thought-out, mess to a casual audience. Chapters are somewhat repetitive and fillery, unfortunately; several chapters are centered around meaningless moments (for instance, several pages of a chapter devoted to Mokona and Doumeki drinking) or the characters being exposition machines, simply stating exactly what happened in previous chapters. This can be partially excused if they used it to fill in exposition (which they sometimes do), but more often than not, the following chapter feels more like a recap of what you've just read than anything to advance the plot. One missed opportunity may have been showing Fei-Wang Reed directly intervening, furthering the need to protect the shop and its guests later in the series. These aside, the series clearly had some level of talent into the writing, foreshadowing to hidden and double meanings, or revealing events to be more misleading than they initially seemed.
Plot twists are anoher aspect xxxHolic does well, and while no spoilers will be covered in this review, chapters that advance the plot (specifically, those featuring Doumeki, Yuko, or Tsubasa Chronicles crossover characters) typically do well, illustrating somewhat clearly to an untrained eye the message they wish to get across. Watanuki undergoes the most character development in the series, though unfortunately there are negatives to the series as well. One story arc depicts graphic violence and hate crimes toward an elementary schooler, part of which is due to her mother, who receives nearly no repercussions by the end of the series. This was an aspect of the series I wasn't able to let go, and I was perplexed and irritated as to why nothing was done to stop the woman who was clearly losing her mind, and instead decide to have audiences forgive her. This wasn't nearly as bad as how the anime portrayed this arc ending; however, the anime was mercifully concise on the aspects of abuse and so the manga's quality is detracted by focusing more on it, good writing aside. Doumeki and Watanuki's relationship also progresses remarkably slow, and seems to perform a 180 almost out of nowhere by the end of the series, only hinted at subtly early on and nearly dropped. I'll be giving the series a 5/10, as unfortunately the flaws are not able to balance out the benefits, nor vice versa.

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Dec 18, 2013

arielphf

Not Recommended

I get very tired of CLAMP.

All of their offerings feel the same; insipid, juvenile and tedious. Perfect fare for a toddler, but rather boring for an adult and as I've gotten older, I find myself disliking their works more and more. xxxHolic has a little bit more of an interesting feel, but the male characters don't act like men and the enigmatic female makes me want to slap her.

Like other Clamp offerings, you never really learn what is going on in the story - you never really learn who the characters really are and why they are doing what they ...

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How many chapters does this have? Zaldun - Aug 22, 2018	7 replies	by StewedBeefHaunch »» Apr 7, 10:38 PM
Poll: xxxHOLiC Chapter 213 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) tsubasalover - Feb 9, 2011	114 replies	by 1stburneracct »» Mar 17, 3:29 AM
How to continue xxxholic? CrystalKing - Aug 9, 2023	2 replies	by n7pidgey »» Aug 10, 2023 8:07 AM
Manga Price Gouging Kairoku - Jul 27, 2013	2 replies	by AstarionAncunin »» Oct 13, 2022 7:09 AM
omnibus release quality elgatosaika - Dec 1, 2021	2 replies	by elgatosaika »» Jan 3, 2022 7:54 AM

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