×××HOLiC/YMMV

• Anvilicious: Some of the scenarios are Warped Aesops.
  • The time Watanuki defends the spirit of an unborn girl from the personification of abortion comes to mind.
• Cargo Ship: Shamisen/Plectrum. Which technically isn't a cargo ship since it's actually cat/butterfly. Maybe. It gets confusing when their human forms look like their owners. And it only gets more confusing when you realize that the bit of the plectrum's form we get to see looks very much like a certain dead exorcist.
  • The only universally accepted pairing within the CLAMP fandom is apparently Larg/sake.
• Crowning Moment of Heartwarming: When Watanuki finally stops Kohane's mother and takes Kohane to the shop to have a meal with Yuuko and the others.
  • Also a Crowning Moment of Sadness as well as Heartwarming in chapter 144 where Watanuki doubts his existece "as a real boy" due to his faulty memories, to which Yuuko responds that Watanuki indeed is "a real boy" and embraces him like a mother would.
  • In a Crowning Moment of Funny, now that the Holic has ended, even Word of God has admitted that they too are somewhat confused over how everything turned out and want to re-read it.
• Funny Aneurysm Moment: All Watanuki's wailing in earlier chapters about how his service at the shop kept getting prolonged and was NEVER GOING TO END? Yeeaah.
• Hollywood Homely: Watanuki, considering he's not particularly popular with human girls (as mentioned in above in the Bishonen trope), but certainly isn't ugly to say the least.
• Ho Yay: Once again, it's CLAMP. There's subtext not only between Doumeki and Watanuki, but also between Watanuki and Haruka, who he is much more willing to admit fondness for.
  • Subtext between Doumeki and Watanuki?! Subtext?!! CLAMP is certainly pushing "subtext" to its limit - hell, recent chapters have Doumeki and Watanuki alone in a bedroom, with Watanuki wearing a loose kimono, discussing about the mating habits of cats, and what it needs for the ideal mate and love.
    • Not to mention the above statement on how much Watanuki resembles a cat. Oh yeah, nothing going on there.
    • Although you can consider the "longing for" and sideways glances in reference to Watanuki's constant longing for Yuuko. Doumeki's proven he doesn't approve of Watanuki's choice, after all. He never does.
  • Judging by the hints given in Rou ten years or so have gone by, Himawari is married and only visits the store once a year, while Doumeki and Watanuki spend almost every afternoon together. Doumeki goes out to work, brings the groceries, Watanuki cooks and serves the food, then they talk about anything while watanuki bends around the floor with his clothes almost falling off. Their relationship seems to have almost completely become that of a married couple.
    • The latest chapters have become increasingly homoerotic, mainly the latest one, in which after granting a ghost woman the wish of being reunited with her long lost lover, Watanuki recieved an umbrella as payement and; while explaining to Doumeki that finding a beautiful woman under an umbrella is an amazing discovery for any man, he walks femininely under said object and winks at his friend. Whether this is CLAMP's subtle way of messing with our minds or something more remains to be seen, and most probably never will.
  • On the opposite end, Yuuko is a wee bit touchy-feely with one of the early clients, as well as the twins in one of the earliest chapters (even kissing one of them.)
• I Knew It!: A large number of fanfics had predicted that Watanuki would inherit the shop and sure enough...
• Moral Event Horizon: If hurling a cup of boiling hot water at Watanuki for daring to befriend Kohane doesn't turn her mother into an irredeemable bitch in the eyes of the reader, then hitting Kohane on national TV should do the trick.
• Nightmare Fuel: A good amount, and notable in that, for the most part, it manages to creep the Dickens out of you without anything graphic. The ending to the episode Contract ranks as one of the most horrific moments in the show.
  • This trooper had a hard time going to sleep after watching episode 10, where they tell ghoststories. "But dad, mom's been next to you the entire time." * shudders*
  • The ... hand in episode 24 of the anime is very very creepy.
  • The worst part of the entire thing for this troper is the monkey's paw story. The conclusion where the monkey's paw strangles the woman itself... kudos to CLAMP, that was terrifyingly done.
• Tear Jerker: Yuuko and Watanuki's goodbye in chapter 182. "My wish, is for you to go on existing. That's all I want." * sniff*
• Uncanny Valley: Occasionally the TV animation (and especially the movie) slips into this. One reader of Anime Insider wrote in after they featured Yuuko on the cover and asked, "Why did you put a sexy zombie on the cover?" (referring to this image) and managed to just about sum up most people's grievances with the art in one sentence, while simultaneously spoiling a major plot point unintentionally.
• The Woobie: Jesus hell, damn near every major character is a woobie in some form or another, Watanuki, Kohane and Himawari being the most prominent examples.