Manga pimp~ [Xxxholic]
May. 1st, 2007 11:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fishpatrolI remember watching a few episodes of the Xxxholic anime and not being very impressed (I found it very much on the dull side), but the manga has me going *__*♥. I've read up to the latest chapter (134) and I can't wait for more.
There isn't really an over-arching plot (nothing like "working to win the Nationals" or "finding One Piece" or "playing the hand of god", etc). In a way, each part is self-contained, but there are certain characters that show up at the beginning and then come back. There are also parts that mentioned in passing in one volume and then is brought up again in more detail several volumes later. It's a wee bit irritating when certain questions are never answered, and when Yuuko alludes to certain things and the reader is kept in the dark for a long time. I guess it creates a feeling of slight dissatisfaction.
I can't really say that I love all the characters either. They're a little too...bipolar for my taste. XD; I don't have much fondness for characters like Yuuko -- ones that are practically omnipotent, but only reveals the amount of information that they think is "convenient" for the main character to know (and Yuuko's mood goes from flippant to somber so quickly that it could cause whiplash!). watanuki has a kind streak so wide that it puts the most hero-complex infected shounen protagonist at shame. except watanuki's "kind attitude" doesn't seem to extend to the people he is the most close to. XD
The characters all have their cute/endearing moments though: like when Watanuki slips up and shows how much he really does care for Yuuko and Doumeki (despite his loud complaints and denials), Himawari and her imagined comparison of Watanuki to a wild cat, Mokona~ (the most adorable...thing ever), and the list goes on.
So what makes this manga great? The art is amazing. CLAMP has really improved over time, and the art for Xxxholic is just gorgeous. It's mostly clean and simple -- a lot of solid black tones -- but there are parts where there is careful (and beautiful) detail, like Yuuko's clothes and the splash pages (asdlfkajds the splash pages <333 *___*). Another aspect about the manga I really enjoy are the themes and concepts it raises. The idea of wishes being fulfilled for a price (I've always the concept of equivalent exchange to explain "magic", which I first came across in FMA), the idea of dreams within dreams, and the general mystical, supernatural atmosphere that is created in the manga. I think the manga doesn't translate very well into anime form because it's more about thoughts and ideas rather than action. The appeal of the art is also kind of lost in the anime, IMO.
It looks like Xxxholic is approaching the end and I hope it'll be a good one (hopefully it'll be satisfying and not a cop-out :x -- ooh, and I sure hope CLAMP won't put it on infinite hiatus *cough X/1999 and Legal Drug cough* -- mmm, Legal Drug is another one that I would like to see more of -- the main characters are so similar to Watanuki and Doumeki XD).
And a just few random things:
*It's strange just how much Doumeki's grandfather resembles him (only more...smug than stoic ;))
*Parents don't exist. At least not for the main characters. The parents that do show up all seem to have some sort of dysfunctional relationship with their children -- either the parent or the child is a spirit, or there is some sort of negative tension between them, etc.
*Everyone is very much into the be-kind-to-others and self-sacrificing thing (even Yuuko, in her own profit-gaining way ;)). Except for the evil spirits who will steal souls and/or eat body parts without a second thought.
Anyways, in short, I think everyone should read Xxxholic because it's pretty. :)
Scanlations can be found here.
Raws (+ translations) can be found here.
[Other manga I have read recently - instead of studying - include One Piece, Samurai Champloo, and Yellow. Manga-reading sure beats studying any day. :D]
There isn't really an over-arching plot (nothing like "working to win the Nationals" or "finding One Piece" or "playing the hand of god", etc). In a way, each part is self-contained, but there are certain characters that show up at the beginning and then come back. There are also parts that mentioned in passing in one volume and then is brought up again in more detail several volumes later. It's a wee bit irritating when certain questions are never answered, and when Yuuko alludes to certain things and the reader is kept in the dark for a long time. I guess it creates a feeling of slight dissatisfaction.
I can't really say that I love all the characters either. They're a little too...bipolar for my taste. XD; I don't have much fondness for characters like Yuuko -- ones that are practically omnipotent, but only reveals the amount of information that they think is "convenient" for the main character to know (and Yuuko's mood goes from flippant to somber so quickly that it could cause whiplash!). watanuki has a kind streak so wide that it puts the most hero-complex infected shounen protagonist at shame. except watanuki's "kind attitude" doesn't seem to extend to the people he is the most close to. XD
The characters all have their cute/endearing moments though: like when Watanuki slips up and shows how much he really does care for Yuuko and Doumeki (despite his loud complaints and denials), Himawari and her imagined comparison of Watanuki to a wild cat, Mokona~ (the most adorable...thing ever), and the list goes on.
So what makes this manga great? The art is amazing. CLAMP has really improved over time, and the art for Xxxholic is just gorgeous. It's mostly clean and simple -- a lot of solid black tones -- but there are parts where there is careful (and beautiful) detail, like Yuuko's clothes and the splash pages (asdlfkajds the splash pages <333 *___*). Another aspect about the manga I really enjoy are the themes and concepts it raises. The idea of wishes being fulfilled for a price (I've always the concept of equivalent exchange to explain "magic", which I first came across in FMA), the idea of dreams within dreams, and the general mystical, supernatural atmosphere that is created in the manga. I think the manga doesn't translate very well into anime form because it's more about thoughts and ideas rather than action. The appeal of the art is also kind of lost in the anime, IMO.
It looks like Xxxholic is approaching the end and I hope it'll be a good one (hopefully it'll be satisfying and not a cop-out :x -- ooh, and I sure hope CLAMP won't put it on infinite hiatus *cough X/1999 and Legal Drug cough* -- mmm, Legal Drug is another one that I would like to see more of -- the main characters are so similar to Watanuki and Doumeki XD).
And a just few random things:
*It's strange just how much Doumeki's grandfather resembles him (only more...smug than stoic ;))
*Parents don't exist. At least not for the main characters. The parents that do show up all seem to have some sort of dysfunctional relationship with their children -- either the parent or the child is a spirit, or there is some sort of negative tension between them, etc.
*Everyone is very much into the be-kind-to-others and self-sacrificing thing (even Yuuko, in her own profit-gaining way ;)). Except for the evil spirits who will steal souls and/or eat body parts without a second thought.
Anyways, in short, I think everyone should read Xxxholic because it's pretty. :)
Scanlations can be found here.
Raws (+ translations) can be found here.
[Other manga I have read recently - instead of studying - include One Piece, Samurai Champloo, and Yellow. Manga-reading sure beats studying any day. :D]
