×××HOLiC
×××HOLiC (pronounced -holic as in alcoholic, as the '×××' denotes a variable) is a fantasy and supernatural manga series planned and presented by CLAMP, started in 2003. It is currently published in the United States by Del Rey Manga. As of 2008, one movie and two TV series was released in Japan.
×××HOLiC is a story about Kimihiro Watanuki (四月一日君尋 , Watanuki Kimihiro), a high school boy, his employer and a series of supernatural events around him. To be released from his original supernatural but unpresant ability, Watanuki "buys" a help from Ichihara "witch of dimensions" Yūko (壱原侑子), the seductively beautiful witch at her shop. As "payment" for her work, he is forced to serve Yūko as housekeeper, sometimes even to deal with odd jobs her clients bring. He feels extremely burdened by them. When he quite literally stumbles into a shop that grants wishes, his life changes drastically.
The world setting of ×××HOLiC is shared and simultenously running with CLAMP's another manga serial, Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle.
- この世界には偶然なんてないわ。あるのは必然だけ。
- There is no such thing as a coincidence in this world, there is only the inevitable.
- Sincerity with respect to yourself! No matter what your objective… no matter who you are… if you are going to do something or not do something, that is a promise to yourself. And the one who keeps the promise, or breaks the promise, is you. No one else can be burdened with holding you to a promise that’s made to yourself. ~~XXXHoLic Vol. 1 pg. 145
- Family is other people. No matter how close your blood relationship is…no matter what your relationship may be…anyone other than you is not you! And so you have to think it over and decide for yourself! Take away other people’s wants and needs, and decide if this is something that is necessary for you! It may cause hardships to others…but you want it. That’s your free will right there! But you ignore that and decide based on someone else’s advice, because decency demands it, because people say it’s awful, you will fail to quit. No one could succeed that way! You don’t understand what you’re trying to do. With that as your background, how do you expect to make a promise to yourself? But the opposite way…there are risks there, too, of course. If you decide to take the action that best suits you, there will be people who won’t understand…people will be saddened by your actions. ~~XXXHoLic Vol. 1 pg. 146-147
- It’s okay to be angry. If a person sacrifices himself to save another, then that person should know just what kind of scars that action leaves on the rescued person. ~~ XXXHoLic Vol. 7 pg. 49
- Wishes.. Surely, if you keep wishing, they'll come true. That's how strong the power of people's wishing is. But, if you wish for someone's unhappiness, you'll also become unhappy, proportionally to the strength of the wish. Those who feel they are unhappy now, are bitter towards someone and wish for someone's unhappiness. ~~ Chapter 156
- If you wish for revenge, an equally hard blow will be dealt back to yourself. ~~ Chapter 156
- The staff Watanuki found before was a mere replica. But this one here is the one and only "Star Staff". The price paid by Sakura [Kinomoto]-chan, true inheritor to the magic woven by Clow. ~~ Chapter 167
- Likewise, both Syaoran and Watanuki differed in name and appearance. It was as their parents wished it... in order to avoid erasing either of the two... Syaoran [Li] changed his face, and even his family name. Through that name, this child [Watanuki] was kept hidden. ~~ Chapter 167
- If he wasn't here... if nobody but Syaoran existed in this world, would his parents not have died? That thought and regret beckoned spirits to that child, making him choose an unhappier path. ~~ Chapter 168
- Our relationship has already been formed. No matter how trivial a meeting and the incidents that follow may seem a relationship is made even if it is just for a short amount of time. A knot has been tied does not unravel. It means that during your lifetime, every incident that passes has a meaning. The meeting between you and I also has a meaning, so I’ll remember it.
- Sincerity and determination... no matter what a person wants to attempt, those are needed. ~~ Vol. 1
- The best tools in life you have are action and sincerity. Whether you quit a bad habit or begin a good one, commitment to that decision is everything. ~~ Vol. 2
- Any prediction true or false should not be made likely. It can still alter a persons path.
- Learn to make your own decisions instead of relying on others to make them for you. Otherwise, those decisions will never really be made.
- There is only one possible past for us. But there can be an infinite number of futures.
Others
[edit]- Kimihiro Watanuki: You're gonna burn in the flames of the hell I'll make for you!!! [to Doumeki]
- Syaoran: [to Watanuki] So... don't... disappear... Chapter 169
- So now that you have chosen your future, it is the time to live it.
Dialogue
[edit]- Watanuki: WHAT IS THIS PLACE!!!!
- Yūko: A shop.
- Watanuki: Huh?
- Yūko: This is a shop that can grant wishes.
- Watanuki: IS THIS A TREASURE TOO? [holding up a staff] WHAT IS THIS THING SUPPOSED TO BE ANYWAY?
- Yūko: Oh! So it's over there!
- Yūko: How is this possible... things like this just don't happen....
- Watanuki: Yūko-san...
- Yūko: How can Syaoran and the others NOT give me gifts for White Day!
- Watanuki: I guess I'm just pathetic, right?
- Yūko: Yes, you are.
