It may take a while to get used to reading it, given the artists’ fondness for elaborate layered designs done in 2-D black-and-white. I don’t know exactly what to say about it. I recognized the two boys from Legal Drug, and the notes in the back helped explain a little of the Tsubasa crossover, but I’m not interested in exploring the wide world of every CLAMP series ever. I’m still a little put off by the references to other CLAMP series in this book. (It’s a very modern addiction, and one I think many of us can relate to.) Yuuko again handles the problem bluntly, but ultimately, the customer must live with her own choice, day by day. The computer is taking time away from her husband and child, and she needs help choosing her family over her online life. That message is repeated in the second piece, about a woman unable to tear herself away from her laptop. There is nothing anyone else can do to cure them. Yuuko, the mistress of the shop, doesn’t grant the woman’s wish as much as provide the instrument of her destruction, but she blames it on her choices. There’s less emphasis on clever poetic justice it’s more of a blunt “don’t do that, or look what might happen” warning. The first story, a fable about a pathological liar who’s in so deep she lies to herself, resembles a Twilight Zone episode with a more mystical bent. The book’s about “-holics”, addicts of one sort or another.
That was the key: “xxx” wasn’t an indicator of adult content or a way to be edgy it was a variable. I only realized what that message was when I went to wikipedia in an attempt to figure out what the title meant. They’re just the anthology framing device, characters to alternately provide some comedy and bring home a given episode’s message. I realized that the point wasn’t the schoolboy who wanders into the shop of a wish-granting Japanese Madame Xanadu, or the background of the teasing witch and her two impish assistants. Reading though this time, I found much more to appreciate about it.
I had enjoyed most of the other titles on the list, so when I had a chance to trade for it, I thought I’d give it another try.
I came back to it because someone (sadly, I don’t remember who) whose opinion I respect mentioned it as part of a recommendation list. The authors seemed to be trying too hard. It didn’t do anything for me, and I found the atmosphere of mystery silly and pretentious. I know lots of people love it, but after the first time through, I shrugged. This is the second time I’ve tried reading CLAMP’s xxxHOLiC.
Illustrating the oddities of interpretation and the passage of time…
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