Edit Pace — frame-to-frame color delta (bright = fast cuts)
Color Temperature — warm (gold) vs cool (teal) per frame
Frame Density Comparison — every 2nd vs every 4th frame
Slice · 15s
Avg · 15s
Slice · 30s
Avg · 30s
The numbers confirm what any viewer senses: xxxHOLiC is a show that actively drains color from its frames. Production I.G’s adaptation of CLAMP’s manga operates on a palette of muddy browns and desaturated greys—#1A1A17, #605E59, #A2A29B—with only the Red-Orange dominant hue (57%) offering a flicker of warmth, like a forgotten candle in a shuttered room. That warmth is a lie. The falling brightness arc tracks the series’ deliberate descent from its opening act’s relatively airy 0.590 brightness to the closing act’s crushing 0.362. Director Tsutomu Mizushima and art director Seiko Akashi understood that Watanuki’s world—a liminal space of wish-granting and loss—should grow darker not because hope fades, but because each episode peels away another
Brightness Arc (episode progression)
Hue Distribution
Act Breakdown
Opening
0.590
Middle
0.517
Closing
0.362
Avg Brightness
0.399
Avg Saturation
0.242
Warmth
0.569
Color Palette
#1A1A17
#605E59
#A2A29B
#E0DED8
#A29069
#91652A
#614E32
#523222
3-Act Color Story
Opening
Middle
Closing
Color Twins
Perceptually nearest palettes — measured in OKLab space, not RGB
The numbers confirm what any viewer senses: xxxHOLiC is a show that actively drains color from its frames. Production I.G’s adaptation of CLAMP’s manga operates on a palette of muddy browns and desaturated greys—#1A1A17, #605E59, #A2A29B—with only the Red-Orange dominant hue (57%) offering a flicker of warmth, like a forgotten candle in a shuttered room. That warmth is a lie. The falling brightness arc tracks the series’ deliberate descent from its opening act’s relatively airy 0.590 brightness to the closing act’s crushing 0.362. Director Tsutomu Mizushima and art director Seiko Akashi understood that Watanuki’s world—a liminal space of wish-granting and loss—should grow darker not because hope fades, but because each episode peels away another