Review: XXXHolic, Omnibus 1

XXXHolic, Omnibus 1 by CLAMP
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

For those of you who are not familiar with the wonder group known as Clamp, these ladies have been creating unique and timeless manga character's for decades. xxxHolic takes everything that we know and love by them and showcases them in some of the best ways. That being said xxxHolic not only brings easter eggs from their manga creations before, it also brings to life yokai and myths of the Japanese culture.

In volume 1 we meet Watanuki (born on April 1st) and are treated to the not so shameless way that he is employed by Yuko the mistress of a shop that it neither here nor there and specializes in granting wishes. Watanuki has a wish that Yuko is more than happy to grant, but at a great cost to him. According to Yuko his arrival at her shop can only be 'hitsuzen', a naturally fore ordained event.

Volume 1 hold one of my favorite stories in the series where Yuko agrees to help a woman quit the internet. She teaches Watanuki that can grant power to an item when she names a baseball bat after a samurai sword and uses it to slice her laptop in half.

Volume 2 brings the first cross over with their long running manga Tsubasa. Also hearing the first mention of Clow Reed (of Card Captor Sakura), Yuko as the Time Witch and meet Mokona (Mokona is a Mokona) for the first time. For followers of their works they may remember white Mokona from Magic Knight Rayearth, in this series he is given as companion to the characters of Tsubasa and as a connection to Yuko who keep black Mokona to contact them through out their adventures.

Volume 2 has a wonderful stories highlighting the Japanese festival of O-ban and the tradition of telling scary stories in the summer to cool off in the hot weather. Their version of the 100 ghost stories is a more simplified version taking place in Domeki's family shrine.

Volume 3 included stories featuring Kokkuri-san (Angel-san) where we get to see Watanuki sporting a stylish set of ears from the Chobits series and a cursed monkey's paw. It also includes another of my favorites where Watanuki happens upon an food cart run by a Kitsune and his young son who takes an interest in Watanuki and am item concealed in his bag. That young fox plays an important part in Watanuki's life later in the series.

Among all of Clamps' series xxxHolic is my favorite just for the mixture of supernatural and Japanese traditions. It is worth every single star.


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