Ah, reassuring consistency.
The xxxHolic DVDs have been nothing if not consistent. Little changes about the DVD menu layout or box presentation but the illustrations therein. On the box cover is an image of Yuko and Watanuki, and the inside jacket is a sakura watching party with all the main characters (including the pipe fox) except Maru and Moro. The art is really the main draw to the presentation of the DVD, and the animation and character designs are quite elegantly drawn. The music also plays a key factor in the setting of the overall tone of each episode and the soundtrack is exceptional. One thing I’ve neglected to mention in past reviews of this series is the voice acting. The Japanese voice cast is superb, and it’s really hard to imagine more perfect actors for the role. The English dub of it, however, is slightly less than stellar. The best actor of the lot would be Yuko’s voice actress, and the rest fail to really capture their characters properly in my opinion. But all in all, they could be a lot worse.
The well is still dry.
With the series season ending in this volume, the offerings of extras are still extremely poor. You get the same slide-show image gallery of screen captures and textless versions of the opening and ending songs. The only thing that ever changes is the list of Funimation trailers included in the package, and even then only one or two titles are ever different from any of the other discs. Now, I’m certain most people (myself included) don’t generally give thought to the extras section of DVDs, but it would be nice if this section was spruced up a bit. Perhaps such paltry offerings are why few people ever peruse the extras list in earnest. When so little is ever offered in the way of DVD treats, it makes one wonder why they bother putting any on at all.
The results speak for themselves.
In spite of the lackluster DVD package and extra content, xxxHolic: Sixth Collection has capped off as the best of the series so far. It’s far more emotional than previous discs, and you really begin to feel for and understand Watanuki much more than you previously would have. The addition of episode 24 being a side-story also adds to this, and I felt it was a nice touch to the series to actually stop and say “This is why Watanuki is the way he is.” I’m left with such a yearning at the end of this disc that I’m picking up more of the manga just to further find out what happens to him, and learn more about his school friends’ roles in all this change in his life. XxxHolic: Sixth Collection is a must-have if you’ve been following the series up until now. Newcomers to the series also won’t have a hard time following along if they ended up jumping in at this point, which I feel is a plus to the story flow of the series.