December 3rd, 2012 
AstroNerdBoy 
Howdy folks! Longtime readers of my blog will know that I was a big fan of CLAMPs xxxHOLiC manga series until CLAMP unceremoniously ended it, taking the time to wrap things up, but in a very unsatisfactory way. So imagine my surprise when Seichan of CLAMP*NEWS brought to my attention that xxxHOLiC will return as xxxHOLiC: Kei. In addition, xxxHOLiC isreturning to the seinen manga realms of Young Magazine, having been moved from Young Magazine to the shounen Bessatsu Shounen Magazine for a year or so as xxxHOLiC: Ko.
For those who never read the manga, the series was an ambitions project by CLAMP, linking it with a second manga series CLAMP was producing simultaneously, named Tsubasa: -RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE-. xxxHOLiC told the story of one KIMIHIRO Watanuki, a high school guy who’s troubled by the supernatural, both in terms of creatures like youkai, and in terms of ghosts and spirits of various types. One fated day, Watanuki ends up at the residence of one Yuuko-san, a “time-space witch” who makes a living granting wishes for a price. Yuuko-san agrees to grant his wish, but the price is that Watanuki has to work for her. From there, Watanuki spends much of his free time with Yuuko-san, becoming involved in various wish requests brought to Yuuko-san. Also in Watanuki’s life are Himawari-chan, a girl whom Watanuki is in love with though she only sees him as a friend, and Doumeki, a guy whom Watanuki dislikes, though Doumeki’s natural ability to repel the supernatural causes the two to work together a lot.
There are a few things surprising to me about this announcement. For starters, the fact that CLAMP is bringing this back from the dead is the biggest surprise. I had the feeling that CLAMP grew bored with xxxHOLiC as the manga wrapped up, leading them to just end it and have done. Although CLAMP has brought back dead manga before (Legal Drug), I would have bet on almost anything coming back before xxxHOLiC, especially X/1999. xxxHOLiC was over, even if the ending wasn’t very satisfying to fans.
The other surprising thing for me is that CLAMP already has multiple projects on the table, including Gate 7 and the Legal Drug sequel, Drug and Drop. At present, I understand that CLAMP is still on hiatus for unspecified health reasons, so both Gate 7 and Drug and Drop are on hiatus at present. As such, it just seems odd that CLAMP would then add a third manga title to their production schedule.
Regardless, xxxHOLiC is coming back, so where does that leave us fans? Will CLAMP continue the series from where they left it, meaning only Watanuki would return as a character? Will CLAMP go back and fill in the massive gaps during xxxHOLiC: Ko‘s run? Will CLAMP create the Big Red Reset button, thus nullifying certain unpopular events in xxxHOLiC: Ko‘s publication, allowing CLAMP to continue properly with all of the old cast, including Yuuko-san, who was a big reason that xxxHOLiC was such a success.
Only time will tell what will happen. For my part, if I’m able, I would chapter-blog the series, as I did before.
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They should just retcon the Ko storyline entirely. The series just wasn’t the same without Yuuko and Himawari.
I was very disappointed that Himawari-chan was never seen again in the Ko manga. I had really hoped that we’d get to see her yearly stopping by the store.
yes that was a suprise. i re-read the last chapter and i thought it did not leave things after all, but rather ending things so that none of the previous characters would be around apart from watanuki and Doumeki’s great-great grandson (or whatever).
In fact all that matters is that-
-Watanuki can leave the shop
-he is equally as powerful as yuko was
-He’s not as hung up on Yuko’s death anymore
-the Doumeki lineage still holds the mysterious egg
I reckon the new series would still be set in the shop though, because he said he wasnt ready to leave it just yet.
I agree that the shop would have to play a role. I’ve heard some theories that maybe Watanuki becomes Clow Reed (I think that’s a stretch, but this is CLAMP we are talking about), thus providing a means for Yuuko-san to return and close the circle.
Hmm…. I wouldn’t mind a Battle Angle Alita like reboot, but all I can keep thinking of is:
“Fool me once, shame on you.
Foole me twice, shame on me.”
Hopefully I’m wrong and it’d be a pleasant surprise. Or maybe they can go the ‘dream’ route for the retcon. lol
“Fool me once, shame on you.
Foole me twice, shame on me.”
Yes, that is the real problem. Thus, if CLAMP pokes me in the eyes again, I know whom to blame. ^_~
something I saw mentioned before was that the Ro arc could be nothing but a dream of Watanuki’s. That time hasn’t skipped but rather he has been having dreams of different time periods. This is backed by something Doumeki mentioned Yume juuya, “Ten nights of Dreams”.
Sōseki composed ten strange dreams set in various time periods beginning with his contemporary time (the Meiji period) and including dreams set in the age of the gods, the Kamakura period, and 100 years in the future. The series begins with the phrase “I had a dream like this.”
>something I saw mentioned before was that the Ro arc could be nothing but a dream of Watanuki’s.
That’s a strong possibility. Watanuki’s dreaming had gotten so out of control that he was dreaming within a dream at times, or so it seemed. It was difficult to know what was what.
I would be very VERY surprised if the new series isnt set directly after the last chapter. I wish the fans would stop thinking theres going to be some sort of retcon. Retconning would be like Clamp admitting their previous work was/is crap, which would make their fans have doubt over every story they are working on (or unfinished). Its not going to happen people.
Well, CLAMP is so unpredictable, I think that anything is possible. Besides, CLAMP did do some retconning to force xxxHOLiC to Tsubasa when they made Obaasan change Watanuki’s fortune after the fact, using the excuse that she misinterpreted things. They also retconned the whole Himawari curse that caused Watanuki to fall out a school window by changing it so that it was actually Watanuki subconsciously trying to commit suicide (or some such nonsense).
Honestly if any work screamed “incomplete” without executive meddling this was it. I have lost faith in Clamp’s ability to tell an effective story because most of their recent series endings have underwhelmed me. Maybe this will change things…
Certainly, Kobato was underwhelming. Tsubasa started as just a fun adventure tale, then got boring, then turned dark and interesting, then went off the deep end as CLAMP got caught up in trying to top plot twists with plot twists.
I am interested to see where things go with the new xxxHOLiC, especially that it is back in the seinen realms.
More Holic is the best info i see today…
Just hoping there will be more Negima
Maybe after the first of the year.