Postby Wyntre Rose » Sun Dec 13, 2009 1:24 pm
xxxHolic does get rather dark. Not in an extremely violent way or anything, it's more phsychological. No sex or nudity, though Yuuko wears some revealing clothes quite often. The "religious" content may give you pause, though. Especially in xxxHolic: Kei, the sequel, there's a little girl who is a medium who is one of the "good guys" and in the first, Yuuko has a friend who is a fortune teller - Yuuko seems to be one, as well - and the main character can see and be hounded by ghosts and spirits. These aren't any worse than anything in, say, Spirited Away, though. Yuuko herself grants wishes - any wishes - even if they won't turn out well for the person who wished them, and she must have equal payment for whatever she's done, which can sometimes be really harsh, depending on the wish. Watanuki's friend - or enemy, depending on who you ask - Doumeki is the grandson of a Shinto (I believe) priest, who has some powers of his own, though he's unaware of it until he meets Watanuki.
Having said all those negative things - it's a great series!! Watanuki, the main character, is funny (unintentionally) and incredibly selfless, but he can also be very flawed, which makes him one of my favorite CLAMP protagonists. So often their main characters are too perfect, but Watanuki is very human. And the rivalry/friendship between him and the stoic, priestly Doumeki is priceless. Yuuko's relationship to Watanuki is an interesting one as well, especially if you are reading the manga, which goes much further than the anime does (so far, anyway...here's hoping they animate the whole thing!!!) There are a lot of lessons learned in these stories - think Aesop's fables with a supernaturally Japanese twist - and for the most part, they are good ones. Just keep in mind that they are not coming from a Judeo-Christian worldview.
Funimation has the first season of it streaming free on their website both in English and Japanese with subs, so I'd recommend you watch it there. xxxHolic: Kei hasn't been licensed yet (crosses fingers) but you can safely watch the first season alone without a huge cliffhanger. It's pretty episodic. It isn't until Kei starts that everything starts really pulling itself together into an overarching story. If you read the manga, though, you'll probably want to be reading Tsubasa too, since they overlap constantly. You won't be completely lost if you don't, but you'll get a lot more out of it if you do. The anime for both takes out most of the crossover, so it's not so necessary for them.
Edit: Just remembered one other thing to watch out for. In one of the earlier episodes, Watanuki and Doumeki encounter some girls who are trapped by the Japanese equivalent of a Ouija board. Yuuko is guiding them through the ordeal, and if you watch it in English, she seems to say that the board itself isn't so harmful, it's the people's thoughts that make it evil. In Japanese, if I remember it correctly, she condemns the object as well as the intentions that people use it for. Just an FYI.