Finished watching xxxHOLiC Kei

Finished watching xxxHOLiC Kei (2008, Production I.G., 13 epi.) on 4/25/2016.

It's been a while since Watanuki has been working for Yuko in her shop. As such, he's seen his fair share of spiritual phenomena and other unbelievable things from the other world. But now these strange events seem to be affecting his life more and more, and even the people he loves. Could this be an omen of things to come? Watanuki must be strong!

8/10 – Continuing on the 2006 series, this show now seems to focus more on the main characters and their relationship with the supernatural world that Watanuki has known his whole life. The show is also a bit of an improvement in terms of quality. The art is good, and the animation quality as well. Long gone are the days of tall, exaggeratedly disproportionate bodies with tiny little heads. The story, above all else, is quite juicy and intriguing. You really come to learn more about the characters and meet new ones that really grow on you. Simply put, great things come in small packages.

Finished watching xxxHolic: A Midsummer Night's Dream

Finished watching xxxHolic: A Midsummer Night's Dream (2005, Production I.G., 60mins) on 2/23/2016.

Yuko, Watanuki and Domeki are invited to a mansion party where they meet a handful of collectors. While staying at the mansion, everyone starts to wonder who the master of the house is as they are guided into different rooms for dining, lounging and sleeping without any maids or butlers. Watanuki even finds himself going though puzzling mazes just to get to a restroom.

8/10 - Although it's a movie, it's a little short for one. But I think it's because this movie double-features with an even shorter movie, Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle the Movie: The Princess in the Birdcage Kingdom. The two are also directly connected. This movie was fun and interesting to watch. Animation quality got... well, a bit too stylized at times, specially with Watanuki flailing around to get spirits off of him. Watanuki reacts to everything very dramatically so this fun-house mansion filled the movie with comical sketches between him and the ever-stoic Doumeki.

Finished watching Darker than Black

Finished watching Darker than Black (2007, Bones, 25 epi.), Darker than Black: Gaiden (2010, Bones, 4 epi.) and Darker than Black: Gemini of the Meteor (2009, Bones, 12 epi.).

Ever since the the two Gates showed up in North America and Japan, the people that live in the spaces they encase have not seen the true night sky for ten years. That wasn’t the only change that took place. A select few became Contractors, people who’ve exchanged their humanity for supernatural powers. But the real question is, what exactly is outside of the Gates?

8/10 – I liked this show. I think the art and animation quality is its strongest point. The first season's plot though was a bit sluggish and more political than anything. After that I watched the surprisingly gory, 4-episode Gaiden which focused on a growing relationship between Hei and Yin and a hidden power in Yin as a "doll". Gemini of the Meteor carried on after that and was more character driven, more emotional, which kept me very engrossed. The plot twist was also good but the ending, like the first season, still left me with plenty of questions. Specially about the whole Gate thing. I still don't understand it well. I decided to review these three altogether because I gave them all the same rating.

Finished reading Mushishi

Finished reading Mushishi (1999) on 9/10/2014.

Story and art by Urushibara Yuki.

50 chapters.

Ginko is a wandering doctor. And the ailments he treats are that of a supernatural nature caused by tiny, shy, spirit-like beings known as mushi, which despite their size can be the cause of large-scale, devastating phenomena.

7.5/10 – This manga has a very interesting concept and is presented in a magically nostalgic and melodramatic way that connects with me in a weird, scary, yet gentle manner. However, even though I'm happy with getting into Ginko's past and how he became a mushishi I still think the story had a lot more potential for a deeper complexity that it never really reached aside from some exposition. Most of the stories were self-contained and at one point they got really repetitive to the point where I almost gave up. The final story was also a sort of self-contained two parter that almost made me think that Ginko was going to become something more. But he didn't, and I wasn't aware that that was the end of the manga until the last page where the author says 'farewell'. Still, this is one of the best manga I've read so far and the idea is very original. I just really wish the story would've gotten more interesting.