Season 1 Closing (1)
Reason
xxxHolic's first closing credits came as quite a shock to many people. After watching the visual feast that was the opening credits as well as the first class animation of the episode itself, the ultra minimalist approach to the closing credits which feature a basic black background and a black Mokona sleeping for the majority of the credits, really stood out.
Many fans (whom I disagreed with) accused Production I.G. (the animation studio) of being lazy and assumed (with no proof at all) that the company had been given a low budget and that they blew it all on 19 Years Old, which was utterly crazy as we're talking about animation here and the cost wouldn't have been that different anyway, especially when it comes to the Japanese animation industry and their work ethics.
I liked it. The pure simplicity was refreshing and had a kind of underground, cool feel that the whole show seems to have. And Mokona, while not exactly doing much, was very well animated and deserves his time in the spotlight as he was completely excluded from the opening credits! A lot of people don't realise this fact even though it explains why the character gets the ending credits dedicated to himself.
The song used, Reason was the debut single release from the little known band, Fonogenico. Only one version of the single was released (and can be bought HERE before they sell out!) which featured the full version of Reason plus two other tracks by the band. One of the extra tracks was great, the other average.
The cd came with a double-sided cover. One with the arty official cover and the other with a very nicely rendered xxxHolic anime image of Watanuki and Yuko commissioned specifically for this cd release.
Reason ran at the end of every episode until Episode 14 when, much to everyone's surprise, it was replaced by a new song and animation, though in a similar style to Mokona's floor burning antics.
<-- Episode 13 -- >xxxHolic Season 1 Main< -- Episode 14 -->
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