xxxHOLiC◆継 Episode 13
xxxHOLiC Kei 13 (finale)

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Watanuki is late getting to Yuuko-san’s place when the young kitsune’s voice calls to him after Watanuki smells the kitsune oden. Only the paw of the fox critter and the wrapped cases of oden can be seen as the young lad wishes to thank Watanuki for the dream balloon. Watanuki takes it home where Yuuko-san and company are happy to partake in this meal.

The following day, Yuuko-san has Watanuki come with her to buy a new refrigerator. Watanuki is not happy with this since he will have to carry the fridge home (apparently delivery service isn’t available) and points to a small fridge. Yuuko-san asks him if he really wants her to purchase that refrigerator. Watanuki takes a second look and sees it is possessed. So, he changes his mind and Yuuko-san wants the big fridge. As Watanuki walks around, he discovers a critter charged with electricity. After receiving some massive shocks from the critter (for offending it) Watanuki learns the critter is Raijuu. Naturally, Raijuu knows Yuuko-san and after Watanuki frees Raijuu, Raijuu wishes to thank Yuuko-san properly.

Yuuko-san has Raijuu come by the store where Raijuu repairs her refrigerator. He (?) ends up repairing all of the electronic equipment in the place. That evening, Yuuko-san, Watanuki, Raijuu, and Himawari-chan head to Doumeki’s temple residence. They head into the nearby woods where they find the Kitsune Oden Stand. Watanuki gives the kitsune boy some mittens as food is being prepared. Neko Musume arrives to take part in the party as well as the dream balloon creature and the cat person that came from the painting. The festivities are underway as it begins to rain when Ame-Warashi and Zashiki-Warashi also join, where Yuuko-san gets Ame to stop the rain. With that, the festivities continue and Raijuu puts on a light show.

Thoughts/Review:

Nothing like a massive, filler episode to end the series. Not only that, but to fill it, the writers bring in every other world nice being they can. Nothing wrong with that in and of itself (and we did get to see Zashiki-Warashi again which I didn’t expect we would), but there was no point to any of it other than to fulfill a 13-episode agreement. Sadly, I kept nodding off during the episode despite its attempts to be funny and the like.

I did notice that the writers threw in at least one CLAMP cameo — Shinbo and Sumomo from Chobits. I think that Kudo and Himura from Legal Drug also made a cameo. I didn’t notice any other CLAMP cameos but then I was having a hard time staying awake as I watched this.

Ultimately, xxxHOLiC Kei is much better than the xxxHOLiC anime title. The extraction of the Tsubasa elements is a detraction, but at least the writers tried to do a better job of making this adaptation over the previous one. There are still weaknesses but it is better.