I finished this anime pretty much as fast as I could, and not because I hated it, but because I loved it.

Well, I don't know, maybe just liked, because it isn't my top favorite anime (actually, I don't even know what my favorite is anymore). Still, I really did enjoy it; it has action, comedy, and romance, as well as characters that I like (except for two of the villains, but it's unusual for the antagonists to be more charming than the protagonists anyways). Not to mention that I do have a bit of a penchant for tsunderes, and at certain points, the main character, Zakuro, displays some very tsundere-like behavior.

The anime starts out with Zakuro and her fellow half-spirit girls finding out that they are going to have to work together with soldiers to take care of the trouble that spirits have been causing. I won't reveal anything else, so if you want to find out, give it the 3 episode test - basically, watch 3 episodes of the anime, and decide where you want to finish it. Actually, for me, sometimes I only watch the 1st episode. That was enough to make me decide I didn't want to watch Akikan or Omamori Himari (urgh, too much ecchi, no thank you). So, whatever # of episodes floats your boat.

Anyways, Otome Youkai Zakuro seriously has a lot of characters that look like characters from other series.

Takatoshi "Omodaka" Hanadate (Otome Youkai Zakuro)


Matsuyuki "Yukiatsu" Atsumu (Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai)


Both of them pretend to be something that they're not. Hanadate poses as a lieutenant but turns out to be after Zakuro for his own sinister reasons. As for Yukiatsu, he can't get over Meiko Honma (or Menma, as she is called in Anohana) and dresses up as her. Also note that both Hanadate and Yukiatsu are interested in the main female character of their respective animes, but in both cases the girls like someone else. And at one point Hanadate says he's stuck in the past because of his mother's death and her supposed rejection of him. That reminded me a lot of Yukiatsu, who was unable to move on after Menma's death.

Aya Orikata (Otome Youkai Zakuro)


Yuuko Ichihara (xxxHolic)


Both of them are the owners of unusual shops, have mythical beings as their assistants (Mugi is Aya's helper, and Maru and Moro help out Yuuko), and of course, the signature pipes they're smoking.

Tsukuhane (Otome Youkai Zakuro)


Kohane Tsuyuri (xxxHolic)


Besides the similarities in their names and appearances, I can't think of much, except...Both of them lived lonely and secluded lives. Tsukuhane's husband had her live in the mountains, alone except for the fox spirit Kushimatsu, and later on, when her daughter Zakuro was born, Tsukuhane fled with Zakuro to keep her safe. As for Kohane, her mother becomes distant from her.

Actually, now that I think of it, xxxHolic and Otome Youkai Zakuro do have some profound similarities. Spirits are a big part of both animes, both of the main characters' parents are dead, and both are sometimes funny, sometimes slightly disturbing. It does make me wonder if the author of the Otome Youkai Zakuro manga ever read or watched xxxHolic.

Labels: 3 episode test, anime, ano hi mita hana no namae wo bokutachi wa mada shiranai, anohana, characters, comparison, manga, otome youkai zakuro, similar, similarities, xxxholic

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