XXXHolic Chapters 186-194:

Dear XXXHolics

I have not forgotten that you exist. It might seem that I have since I stopped posting about you when Tsubasa ended. But I have not. I apologize for the lack of you in my blog as of late. Forgive me because it is Christmas time.

Love

Tenchi

That would be a nice letter…if I really meant it. Which part of me does. I do love XXXHolics so I should blog about it regularly instead of letting it slide or making excuses on why I am slacking. You don’t give up on a series because of a few bad chapters.

Let's focus on the XXXHolic boys instead of the plot maybe?

But….my excuse is that as of late this series has been boring as hell. After Tsubasa ended/a certain someone….died things got SO boring. Like seriously falling asleep boring. So I really haven’t been inspired to blog about weird/boring chapters. That and they are super short anyway so what am I going to do, blog about the 14 boring pages? I think not.

But…..the year is drawing to an end and I am feeling a little guilty about treating XXXHolics so poorly. So I shall blog all the chapters together and try to find the good. As always though I will be honest with the real boring parts. I am sure a lot of XXXHolics fan feel the same way I do but I shall try to put some energy back into this series! At least for me anyways.


*all images are from the scanlators at Fail Manga*


So chapter 186 opens up right after Watanuki is sad about losing Yuuko to the black sludge. And Domeki holding the eggs saying he can’t use it on Watanuki. Please remember the egg because for the next 9 chapters no one else is. Seriously. No mention of the egg and it is FOUR YEARS IN THE FUTURE!

:( I miss the school and archery uniforms.

That’s right folks four years have passed since Yuuko has died and Watanuki has taken over the shop. If you are only reading XXXholic one will think that Watanuki staying at the shop to wait for Yuuko. That is true but it is explained in Tsubasa that Watanuki HAS to stay in the shop. He paid a price to get out of the nothingness he was trapped in with Syaoran. So while it is sad that Watanuki gave up the rest of his time so he can keep the shop alive until Yuuko comes back (which…makes no sense because Yuuko doesn’t need to come back to the shop) he also had to so he could keep on living. A no win situation but it wasn’t only fueled on this crazy idea of seeing Yuuko again.

This just in: When you miss someone it is best to become them to get over your grief.

ANWAY yes four years have passed since Yuuko got nommed by some black goo. Domeki has come to the shop and it is implied he does so all the time. Is he merely bringing Watanuki food or does he care for Watanuki and wants to keep him company?
Watanuki has turned into Yuuko. I miss the spazzy high school kid that used to grace the pages of XXXHolics. Now I have a male Yuuko. He isn’t completely the same of course. He doesn’t drink and act like a giant pervert all the time. But he is lazy, lounges around in robes that show off a lot of skin, and he smokes. Domeki takes this all in stride but he has had four years to get use to the changes. Still he and Mokona share a glance when Watanuki acts a little distant from Domeki when he agrees to make dinner.

Are you seriously wondering about that Watanuki?

Something interesting that is revealed during dinner is that Domeki is in college studying folklore. Watanuki has not gotten a reason out of Domeki why Domeki would pick a subject that clearly didn’t interest him in the past. I am not sure why it isn’t clear to Watanuki. But then again he doesn’t know Domeki is in love with him so things sorta go over his head. I am sure all the readers out there know that Domeki is trying to find a way to bring Yuuko back/Domeki is becoming Fei Wong Reed. Maybe if Domeki had used that egg we wouldn’t be in this mess. But I am bitter so let’s move on.

Kohane is so cute!

While Mokona and Domeki are talking about booze Kohane has come over for a visit. This chapter I was pretty excited about. Kohane is a little taller and a little wiser but she still is the same sweet girl from before. Kohane is still living with the older fortune teller (woot for staying alive old lady) and she has brought over some lovely munchies. She also comes bearing a note stating that a customer will be arriving at the shop tomorrow.

It's nice to see that ONE girl in Watanuki's life still cares about him....

Yuuko used to have customers all the time and no worries were had. But things have changed since Watanuki has taken over. Customers coming over are a big deal now and Kohane is worried that Watanuki is going to be hurt. Watanuki tries to calm her fears but he isn’t very convincing. Later while Domeki is drinking Watanuki talks more about the past four years as to educate the viewers. Word has gotten around that the new owner of the shop is weak and thus there have been fewer customers. Watanuki isn’t great at making wishes and he worries about being hurt in the process all the time. But he says he will keep on granted wishes and wait for Yuuko.

Um...no he's not. DO NOT WANT!

I just want to say again that I miss spazzy Watanuki. But I get that he has grown up a lot during his time with Yuuko and the time he has spent waiting for. He has changed from the bratty little kid to this….whatever he is now man. He knows that things he used to complain about pale in comparison to all the stuff he has been through and seen. Part of me wishes that Watanuki wasn’t waiting for Yuuko, that he could just take her gift at life and try to live it the best he could. But in the CLAMP universe characters don’t always do what makes sense; they do what makes them happy. So instead of complaining about Watanuki makes no sense I will try to accept it and focus on other things.

And that means...what?

Something weird that Watanuki mentions a lot is the fact that Domeki is free. I am not sure what is meant by that statement but I feel it is important to mention. Also any information behind these statements would be lovely.

Well hello person I don't care about.

So the person who comes to the shop, the person who is this super important
customer, is not anyone we know. AKA the Tsubasa crew/anyone from the CLAMP
universe. She is a blind woman who is very elegant and lovely. She charms Watanuki a bit and she seems to have a mysterious air about her. She comes wanting to grant the wish of a shamisen. A shamisen is a music instrument made from the skin of a virgin cat. Or at least this one is as some are made from dogs.

BRB hugging my virgin kittens tight.

Are we seeing now why the last few chapters have been boring? And gross? I love cats so much so it was hard to hear Watanuki and the woman talk about the wish that this dead cat has. Since the wish wasn’t “don’t kill me and make me into a weird looking instrument” I wasn’t too invested in this plot line. Which is stupid.

Must...stay...awake...

The short story is that the shamisen longs to meet someone. It is unclear if the woman is really the cat too because she acts all weird after the wish is granted but it is what it is. After talking with Domeki Watanuki decides to enter the dream world to grant the musical instrument its wish. The dream itself was very brief, with the shamisen taking on the shape similar to the woman. The cat woman tells Watanuki to strike so Watanuki and Domeki look in the treasure room for the thingy thing that is used to play the shamisen. It’s called a plectrum in case anyone cares. For some reason finding the plectrum makes both of the boys sad. Watanuki gives the plectrum to the blind woman who says that it was owned by the man who owned both the plectrum and shamisen. It gets all dramatic when she plays the instrument and the butterfly plectrum breaks.

Boring storyline is epically boring.

There’s no use in my analyzing whether or not the shamisen was the woman or if the woman was the lover of the man who played the shamisen. So many pages are wasted on this boring storyline and it’s just so strange to me after all the exciting stuff that happened before/during Yuuko’s death CLAMP would make this Watanuki’s “first real customer”. Couldn’t they pick anyone more interesting?!

Yuuko should have taught him how to make prices better....

But they didn’t and life moves on. Mokona talks about how there is something new in the treasure room (as the shamisen became the payment). Mokona also talks about how Watanuki used to get hurt all the time for not taking the correct amount in payments past. If he takes too much or too little the shop would “hurt” him. Thus Domeki and Kohane have been worried about Watanuki’s well being. I don’t blame them and I am glad Watanuki has people that worry about his since sometimes he doesn’t care about himself. Especially since he talks about how he can get hurt but will never die so it doesn’t matter. All that matters is waiting for Yuuko.

Can we see them now? Soon please?

Our Tsubasa boys are finally mentioned HURRAY! Rejoice the masses! We don’t see them but I guess it is forgivable. Watanuki talks about how he saw them in a dream and they were looking for a new arm for Kurogane. I wish more was mentioned but I will hold out hopes for Tsubasa: The adventures of Kurogane and Fai. The other Mokona is mentioned and how Syaoran might smack Watanuki for being reckless. Before things can get too deep it is time for a booze run.

Another friendly face I wanted to see!

Watanuki randomly goes into dream land and meets up with Haruka. They talk about various things and Watanuki seems more like his normal self. They talk about Domeki annoying Watanuki. They talk about the fact Watanuki hasn’t been injured by the shop lately (everyone’s favorite topic!). Watanuki says that he is slowly getting better at running the shop and Haruka has taught him many things. Haruka then says something that was pretty obvious to me but apparently not to Watanuki. He says that Yuuko told him to watch over Watanuki. That touches Watanuki as well as Haruka’s plea to not do anything to make Yuuko cry. Watanuki wakes up from his dream and is shows his vulnerable side. He may have inherited this shop and started to dress and act like Yuuko but he is still not even close to being as hard as Yuuko.

Does everyone know that Watanuki sucks at making wishes? Was it in the underworld newsletter or something?

This finally leads us to chapter 194. Watanuki is playing the shamisen quite well when another visitor to the shop comes by. A talking rabbit I think. He compliments Watanuki’s shamisen playing then gets down to business. Watanuki accidentally broke his/Yuuko’s smoking pipe which is called a kiseru. The rabbit man is here to fix the pipe and gushes on and on about how lovely the pipe is. When Watanuki explains he broke the pipe when he entered the dream world the rabbit man tells Watanuki to be careful, that if Watanuki goes to the dream world too many times he might not be able to return.

That is a pretty cool cleaning device though....

You would think that the rabbit man liked Watanuki when he showed all this concern over Watanuki and the way he gushed out the compliments. You would think that Watanuki has learned a lot in the five years since this story has started and KNOWS that words can be dangerous. This is CLAMP. You would be wrong. Rabbit man cleans Watanuki’s pipe and for payment he wants Watanuki to say “you may enter”. Watanuki forgets all that Yuuko taught him about words having power and SAYS IT to a rabbit man who is already IN the shop. So what happens?! Tada! Some big boobed girl enters the shop. And she doesn’t look human.

Hi. I'm here to cause problems. Welcome me.

So….we spend 8 chapters learning about how awesome Watanuki has become over the years and watch him man the shop. Then in this latest chapter…Watanuki is Watanuki and not a Yuuko replacement. But this chapter is what made me want to blog this series again so something good came out of Watanuki’s mistake. Let’s hope that this spirit is not as menacing as I think she is or if she is evil…Domeki will wake up from his drinking binge and save Watanuki. Finally I will be looking forward to XXXholics again and that is all that matters.

I just like this picture. Yes Watanuki, I find your suffering beautiful.

I have caught up. My day has been productive. I shall now complete this productive day by cleaning the bathroom. GO ME!