xxxHOLiC◆Kei

Quick Thoughts:
The less episodic format led to improvements in some areas, but ultimately this season still suffers from many of the issues I had with the first season, like character designs and the repetitive interactions between characters.

Story:
Instead of being mostly episodic like its first season, xxxHOLiC Kei is presented in loosely connected arcs 2-4 episodes. This should've helped by allowing more time for developing more in-depth stories and settings, but outside of one arc towards the end the arcs felt mediocre. The couple plot twists they attempted were too predictable, and most the new characters introduced weren't interesting enough to carry the story.

Character:
I think ... they dropped the ball in their attempts to develop Watanuki's friend group. In the first few episodes it seemed like the relationship between Doumeki and Watanuki would develop past the very stale, one-dimensional interactions they would have in the first season, but their dynamic hardly changed. The end result is basically an ability that's used sparingly throughout the season. Himawari's development was strange and almost nonsensical, that's all I can say without spoiling. Even with these developments though, nothing really changed with their interactions. Watanuki's still unreasonably antagonistic towards Doumeki, and swoons over Himawari any times she's mentioned.

Enjoyment:
I enjoyed just one arc, which was about 4 episodes. Everything else mildly enjoyable at best and boring/repetitive at worst.

Interesting ideas in this show tend to get bogged down in the irredeemably unlikeable characters of the show. The way they become unlikeable is however peculiar, as on their own each individual character is OK. Effectively, when the main characters interact with one another they become obnoxiously annoying. Most of this is due to Watanuki, the main character. His reactions are so formulaic that now into the second season they are driving me up the wall. He goes gaga for Himawari, he gets inexplicably angry at Doumeki, and he lets himself get pushes around my Yuuko and Mokona. This has become extremely formulaic and you ... should expect to see this happen in every episode. In a typical scene I have no seen too many times, Watanuki will be talking, Doumeki will show up, Watanuki will flip out, and then third character will say 'You two really get along'.

The contrast is when the characters are actually in action. Storylines such as Watanuki and the pipe-kitsune trying to save zashiki-warashi were very good, and the action a far cry from the usual monotony. Comparitively, the game of Mahjong was one off the most annoying (ignoring that a game of Mahjong episode is mandatory and right up there with the mandatory hotsprings episode in every anime).

As long as Watanuki isn't flipping out at someone, and as long as Yuuko isn't on screen, the show is good.

Ahh, xxxHolic: Kei. A fitting sequel of the series introducing consistent plots, like ones about Watanuki's eye, Doumeki's grandfather, Himawari's true self, and more. What could possibly go wrong? Well, let's consider to start with that the season only has 13 episodes; this somewhat puts it on a timer to wrap up old plot threads, something that it honestly...doesn't really take the time or care to do properly. Most of the characters are still the same as they were, with Doumeki making Watanuki freak out and him gushing over Himawari still being consistent elements. Despite a hope that you know, some people may have hoped ... to actually develop their friendship. Some other storylines weren't really fully explained or seemed forgotten, like what exactly happened with Haruka. And other times, the story felt that somehow it was able to squeeze filler into it. Case in point: An episode that expects one to learn the moderately complex game of Japanese mahjong. Not something universally relatable in a story about spirits, nor even appropriately fitting into the theme. There were some good episodes, but it felt like some of this was old hat. The revelations surrounding certain characters led to some interesting results, and Kohane's storyline was gripping, if troublesome and full of unfortunate implications that weren't really resolved. If given more episodes to develop, I believe this could've made a great series, given a little more care put into the writing. 6/10.