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A review by pussreboots
xxxHolic, Vol. 1 by CLAMP
4.0
Now that my son's older, his taste in reading is converging with mine (as is his taste in television and movies). One series he and I are both tearing through having watched the anime series together is xxxHolic by the mangaka group CLAMP.
The series begins with Kimihiro Watanuki, a young man living on his own and besieged by spirits. What he wants more than anything is freedom from their constant stalking. Fate brings him to Yûko's shop where he is given the chance to learn how to control and avoid the spirits for a price. He basically becomes her indentured servant and cook.
After their initial meeting, the remaining episodes usually are a retelling of a superstition or well known horror story. The first one is about a woman who is a perpetual liar. If she can't learn to acknowledge her bad habit (as Yûko calls it), she will be destroyed by her lies.
This series is on my short list of all time favorite mangas and it is my favorite translation. Each volume has a back of book explanation on key points in the book. In this one, there is a call back to a popular children's show that was similar to Romper Room. Had I not read the translation notes, I would have missed the parallels.
As Yûko is also known as the "dimensional witch", her abilities give CLAMP the opportunity to keep a parallel story line going in a separate series: Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicles. I'm also reading that series but I'm not as far along in it as I am in xxxHolic.
Although Del Rey, the publisher of the translations, recommends the books for 13 and older, I would recommend it third graders and older who are getting interested in horror stories and / or graphic novels. There's no graphic violence, nor adult themes (beyond Yûko and Mokina's taste for saké).
The series begins with Kimihiro Watanuki, a young man living on his own and besieged by spirits. What he wants more than anything is freedom from their constant stalking. Fate brings him to Yûko's shop where he is given the chance to learn how to control and avoid the spirits for a price. He basically becomes her indentured servant and cook.
After their initial meeting, the remaining episodes usually are a retelling of a superstition or well known horror story. The first one is about a woman who is a perpetual liar. If she can't learn to acknowledge her bad habit (as Yûko calls it), she will be destroyed by her lies.
This series is on my short list of all time favorite mangas and it is my favorite translation. Each volume has a back of book explanation on key points in the book. In this one, there is a call back to a popular children's show that was similar to Romper Room. Had I not read the translation notes, I would have missed the parallels.
As Yûko is also known as the "dimensional witch", her abilities give CLAMP the opportunity to keep a parallel story line going in a separate series: Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicles. I'm also reading that series but I'm not as far along in it as I am in xxxHolic.
Although Del Rey, the publisher of the translations, recommends the books for 13 and older, I would recommend it third graders and older who are getting interested in horror stories and / or graphic novels. There's no graphic violence, nor adult themes (beyond Yûko and Mokina's taste for saké).