# xxxHOLiC (2006)

> A high school student bargains his way into service at a mysterious witch's wish-granting shop to escape the spirits that only he can see.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/33334

## Facts

- Seasons: 2
- Episodes: 37
- Episode runtime: 25 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: animation, fantasy
- Network: TBS
- Cast: Jun Fukuyama, Sayaka Ohara, Kazuya Nakai, Shizuka Itoh, Mika Kikuchi, Hisayo Mochizuki, Kazuko Kojima, Eri Sendai
- TMDB rating: 7.6/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0488477/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: mild
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: mild
- Tone: melancholic, whimsical, contemplative, eerie

## What critics say

Audiences rate the series positively, with praise for its atmospheric, mythic storytelling and its quirky, episodic supernatural tales.

## Synopsis

xxxHOLiC (2006-2008) is a Japanese seinen anime series created as an animated adaptation of the CLAMP manga and broadcast on TBS, produced by Production I.G. High school student Kimihiro Watanuki (voiced by Jun Fukuyama) is haunted by ayakashi spirits that no one else can see, and he stumbles into the strange wish-granting shop of the enigmatic witch Yuko Ichihara (voiced by Sayaka Ohara). Her price for removing his curse is labor: he must work as her part-time cook and housekeeper. Each episode is built around a new client with a wish, a spirit, or a dangerous bargain, and the cost of every wish quietly reveals something about the people who make it. Classmate Shizuka Doumeki (voiced by Kazuya Nakai) and Himawari Kunogi (voiced by Shizuka Itoh) add warmth and friction to the everyday routine of the shop. The series spans two seasons and thirty-seven episodes, running as a stand-alone supernatural anthology woven into a larger arc. Fans of Mushishi and Natsume's Book of Friends will find resonance in its folklore-rooted, melancholic atmosphere, its quiet, psychological tone, and its patient mythology. Its dreamlike, contemplative register rewards close attention.

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- [Witch Watch (2025)](https://ember.film/tv/176004)
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- [Monogatari (2009)](https://ember.film/tv/41884)
- [IRODUKU: The World in Colors (2018)](https://ember.film/tv/70655)
- [Rozen Maiden (2004)](https://ember.film/tv/39091)
- [Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE (2005)](https://ember.film/tv/34549)
- [Cardcaptor Sakura (1998)](https://ember.film/tv/32915)
- [Noragami (2014)](https://ember.film/tv/57225)
- [Hanamonogatari (2014)](https://ember.film/tv/1104930)
- [Servamp (2016)](https://ember.film/tv/59521)

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