xxxHOLic Episode 2 - Falsehood
Watanuki begins to “settle in” to being Yuuko’s slave; admittedly, this mostly involves grumbling about how much she drinks and messing up the cooking, but it’s a start at least. However, his hijinks are interrupted by a client wandering in seemingly by accident; she’s a woman who complains of a stiff little finger. Yuuko gives her a ring to wear to cure the problem, but warns her that she’ll have to break her “habit” and remember what a little finger is for (i.e. “pinky swears” for making promises).
Meanwhile, we briefly meet Watanuki’s crush, the sunny Himawari, and his “arch rival”, the deadpan Doumeki (my favourite character!). On his return to Yuuko’s she remarks that he’s got an ugly face on; this means that something’s up with his fortune and it has something to do with Himawari. Anyway, Ring Girl turns up again complaining that her wrist has stopped moving too; as she answers Yuuko’s questions about herself, Watanuki notices that the strange smoke he saw around her when he first arrived multiplies as she speaks. If you’ve read the episode title you can see where this is going…
Anyway, to cut a long story short - the woman is a compulsive liar, and her lying is immobilising her body. However, the ring contains the immobilisation; she foolishly takes it off as it cracks from the strain and her whole body immobilises right in front of an oncoming truck; she does survive the ensuing accident, but with no memory of what has happened. After explaining all about bad habits and giving them up, Yuuko gets to remark portentously on Watanuki’s future as he goes back to messing around in the kitchen. C’est ca.
I have to admit I’m in the same camp as muhootsaver at the moment; I’m not really sure why I’m still watching XXXHolic. Quite frankly, it’s a bit boring, and it’s not just because I’ve read the manga; admittedly this story isn’t the most exciting in the world, but there doesn’t seem to be enough energy or style to the whole thing; Yuuko should feel more mysterious, somehow, rather than being a bit boring. Maybe it’s the relatively sparse use of background music or something, but a lot of scenes just don’t seem to grab my interest at all, although the climactic scene with Ring Girl was good.
I’m sticking with the show for the time being because I think it can get more interesting as we haven’t seen the more imaginative stuff (or enough of Doumeki!), but to be honest the show feels as plodding as the worst spots of Tsubasa do without the good music and background art to fall back on, and that’s not a good thing…
April 14th, 2006 at 1:06 am
:( I’m disappointed to hear that the anime isn’t going so well. The manga’s actually kind of fun, in an angry kind of way. And the liar lives?! I could’ve sworn that she drops very, very dead in the manga. It’s actually very good there, because it particularly accents how Yuuko’s shop isn’t exactly the happiest place on earth. :( Ah, well.
September 17th, 2006 at 5:45 pm
I understand where you are coming from. For a short time I begain to lose intrest but stuck with it and I still love it. I love Yuuko in the fact that she is always confindent, its not that she comes off a boring in the anime but more so that she never states the obvious like most people do… then again she doesn’t always state the abstact aswell. Just stick with it the costumes she wears are worth it alone. Though lately they have been putting her in some UGLY junk, They ruined a pretty lilly dress by making it neon yello green. Wataniki is a bit of a stick figure that screams too much though.
One last thing, If you think the anime is bad… don’t EVER watch the movie! It was crap in my oppenion I almost didn’t watch the show cuz the movie was so terrible. Oh and Ep 19 of the TV show is hilarious You MUST watch it.
Thank you for your time.