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REVIEW: xxxHOLiC: Rei GN 1




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here-and-faraway



Joined: 21 Jun 2007
Posts: 1528
Location: Sunny California
PostPosted: Thu Jun 26, 2014 11:11 am Reply with quote
First off, thank you for the review. It answered a lot of questions that I had about the series.

Gosh darn it though! I'm so on the fence about whether or not to start Xxxholic Rei. I can't say that I hated the ending to Xxxholic, but it did make me awfully sad. And, as we all know, a common theme in CLAMP series is that there is always a price to be paid for happiness. In Chobits spoiler[Hedeki and Chi can be together, but they can never consumate their releationship.] In Magic Knight Rayearth, the heroes spoiler[have to destroy the princess they wanted to save]. In Tsubasa Chronicles, Sakura and Syaoran spoiler[can never be beside one another.] Etc., etc...

I don't want more of the same for poor Watanuki.
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marie-antoinette



Joined: 18 Sep 2005
Posts: 4136
Location: Ottawa, Canada
PostPosted: Thu Jun 26, 2014 2:41 pm Reply with quote
Oh god, Yuko is back? Well, that definitely decreases my liklihood of picking this up, even though xxxHolic is my favourite CLAMP series. I really, really disliked the ending of the original run but I don't see how either going back to how things used to be is anything other than a huge backwards step for the series. I'll definitely at least wait for a second volume before looking into this one any further.
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Greed1914



Joined: 28 Oct 2007
Posts: 4421
PostPosted: Thu Jun 26, 2014 3:05 pm Reply with quote
This review is rather helpful since I was unclear just how this fits in with the previous story. I'm probably still going to hold off until it becomes a bit clearer in that regard.
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Dessa



Joined: 14 Jul 2004
Posts: 4438
PostPosted: Thu Jun 26, 2014 9:18 pm Reply with quote
I didn't notice Watanuki's eyes on the cover, but that does severely mess with the timeline.

The stuff with Watanuki's eyes comes into play in volumes 7-8 of the original series. However, in Rei 1, spoiler[Doumeki has the egg that he got from Yuuko], and that doesn't come into play until volume 11 of the original series.


Man, and having read Rei, it makes me want to go and reread the entire thing all at once.
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Juno016



Joined: 09 Jan 2012
Posts: 2381
PostPosted: Thu Jun 26, 2014 10:10 pm Reply with quote
Having followed the original manga closely and having also been up-to-date with the Japanese magazine chapters, I can assure everyone here of a few things. These are not plot spoilers, but they spoil the relationship with the previous series and spoil potential hints being given in future volumes, which may lead to possible plot spoilers:

spoiler[This is a sequel, so it takes place in the age a few hundred years after Himawari and Doumeki's original generation, like the ending to the original series, though there's no indication as to how long after the original series this takes place. We get to meet the future generation successor to the old lady who made a divination for Watanuki and Yuuko in the original series. There has been no reveal as to why Himawari and Doumeki are back yet, but we keep seeing hints of a bird, which I suspect is probably related to Doumeki's egg from the original series--which may give us some kind of explanation for what's going on now. Lots of bird and egg and birdcage symbolism (and remember, Watanuki's divination symbol is that of a bird). The latest chapter(s) also points toward the events being heavily related to the new Tsubasa short series, and especially Syaoran, though we don't know why yet.]

I have hopes that this will be much more conclusive than the original Holic series, which was actually continued further than Ohkawa-sensei planned (causing her to re-write the story to continue it in another magazine), and then concluded much earlier than intended (when the new magazine transfer didn't boost its popularity). The Tsubasa series itself ended how it was intended by Ohkawa-sensei, but I suspect that anything left open was meant to be concluded at some point in the future, so the new Tsubasa series will also do that for the fans. The only current foreseeable conclusion for Tsubasa is a permanent reunion between Sakura and Syaoran, and the only current foreseeable conclusion for Holic seems to be Watanuki accepting that Yuuko is gone forever and finally moving on with his life and time.

Either way, I like the new Holic's kick-back into old territory, using fable-like storytelling to link message/moral-focused short stories with the overarching plot. It's been a while since we've seen that from CLAMP.
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katscradle



Joined: 05 Jan 2013
Posts: 469
PostPosted: Fri Jun 27, 2014 3:02 pm Reply with quote
Dessa wrote:
Man, and having read Rei, it makes me want to go and reread the entire thing all at once.

That's how I felt too.
I was in the minority that liked the way xxxHolic ended. But, I'll still enjoy more. At least so far.

I've been trying to reread a lot of Clamp series lately with them coming back. Drug & Drop spoiler[also has Watanuki in it, but without Yuko.]

Clamp still seems in good form with their work. More teasing and frustrating questions.
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