xxxHolic

 And so we come to the letter X in the challenge, which as you can suspect doesn`t had that much choices to pick from.

So I went overboard and took triple X's for the anime to watch!

XxxHolic is a supernatural series, centered around Kimihiro Watanuki.  Much to his chagrin and annoyance, he can see spirits and other supernatural creatures, when he one day stumbles into a strange house.  Here me meets Yuuko, a mysterious woman who tells him he can get rid of this ability, at a price, in that he must come work at her store that grants wishes to people.

 

But this also involves doing a lot of daily chores for Yuuko and her two attendants, Maru and Moro.  As clients come in, Kimihiro learns more and more about the spirits and creatures and how they influence the people's everyday life, but also how to handle these situations.   

Amongst some relatable episodes, like a housewife addicted to her internet connection, there are also some VERY dark episodes.  For example episode 7, where they meet a deceased girl caught between realms of going to the afterlife, scared of going alone.  They manage to expose the body and lay it to rest, allowing her to pass on at last.  

Kimihiro is taught that like his fellow companion working for Yuuko, Domeki, his powers come from his family lineage, and that while he has the power to attract spirits, Domeki can actually drive them away.  The two don`t really get along well though, so during a trip to a beach house Yuuko devices a plan to help them work together better.  They later meet a girl in a park, but she is actually a vestal sprite that accidentally steals Domeki's soul, and Kimihiro and Yuuko go through great lengths to get it back, saving him, as she actually took it to present it to Kimihiro as an Obon gift.  

When Kimihiro later notices a pair of wings starting to grow out of the back of a classmate, she becomes ever more unkind and eventually attacks him.  Domeki and a pipe-fox that Yuuko received earlier as a payment interfere, the fox detroying the winged parasite that had taken her over.  When they later encounter twin sisters, the older of the twins starts bleeding all of a sudden during a scary movie.  Together with Yuuko, he manages to break the vicious cycle both are caught in, giving her the confidence to improve her life.  

The band gets involved into ever stranger quests to help people out, even going as far as a haunted picture that keeps chasing one of their clients.  Kimihiro unknowingly has become a sort of a target / attraction to spirits, and Yuuko decides to give him some time off as a result to have him cool down his ability.  During that time he befriends a woman who had lost her son, hoping to ease her loneliness.  But soon after he starts getting ill, until the point he collapses.  Domeki saves him by shooting the woman with a spirit arrow to free her from her sadness, making Kimihiro recover as Yuuko advises him to change his opinion of Domeki.  As he reminsces his childhood during his brithday, he met another boy who had saved him from spirit hands and befriended him.  They meet up and Kimihiro is saved again by the boy, but he reveals he is actually a spirit of a boy that died 7 years ago, and now must return to the spirit world, but they vow to remain friends forever...

 

 

Well, first I must say one thing, this series animation style wasn't my cup of tea.   Sadly, this distracted a lot of my viewing experience, and while the story was okay and fun at times, this series didn`t touch my buttons really due to that factor.  Bonus point though for the awesome opening theme!