November 9th, 2008 
AstroNerdBoy xxxHOLiC Manga Chapter 168
SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:
Yuuko-san continues her conversation, which we learn is with Maru and Moro, who desire to be with Watanuki. Because others have come to care for Watanuki, he now has his own wish to be here and not be just a copy of Syaoran (even if he doesn’t have any memories of once being Syaoran). Maru and Moro promise Yuuko-san that they will protect the store for the sake of Watanuki, for which she thanks them.
Thoughts/Review:
I thought last chapter was kinda weird, but this one is too. So now we know that the spirits which have tormented Watanuki are due to his unconscious feelings of regret over the deaths of his parents (to protect him), who would be alive if it weren’t for him. I can buy that, but what troubled me about this chapter is the revelation that the incident where Watanuki fell out the window at school and nearly died was self-induced by Watanuki trying to erase himself for Syaoran’s sake (again, without knowing he’s doing it). That immediately kills the whole story of Himawari-chan’s terrible bad luck being the cause of several negative things including him falling out of the window.
Back when that chapter came out, it does look like a bit of a stretch for Watanuki to have gone through the window and out, but I figured that Himawari-chan’s bad luck might be the cause, or it is just a case where CLAMP just didn’t quite pull off the effect in the drawing. Based on the information from 168, Himawari-chan wrongly believes herself to be the cause of Watanuki’s accident when in fact Watanuki subconsciously tries to off himself. Further, it would seem that Yuuko-san knew this all along, but what the hey — make Himawari-chan suffer.
At least we got to see whom Yuuko-san is communicating with. I’d forgotten all about Maru and Moro so nice to see they are still around, even if not physically present in the scene (and certainly, this is the most serious they’ve ever seemed, at least as I recall it).
I haven’t read the next Tsubasa chapter to see how they are progressing the Watanuki-Syaoran story. After reading this chapter of xxxHOLiC, I can’t say that I’m enthused about where things are going at this point.
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I like the xxxHolic one! did you get it from one Manga?
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Nope. I don’t get anything from there.
I just stumbled on this post through google and I wanted to comment (even though this post is months old). ^_^
In reaction to the impossibility of things being both Watanuki and Himawari’s fault:
Actually (because I’ve been thinking about this) it might be possible for the falling out the window thing to be caused by both Watanuki’s unconscious death wish and Himawari’s bad luck, as long as you take a broader view.
You know how everyone asks Watanuki why he likes Himawari? And he never really gives a good, solid answer besides ‘she’s cute’? I think Watanuki liking Himawari in the first place is part of that unconscious desire to off himself. Some part of him (that he ignores)is attracted to things that are bad for him.
Look back at the story with the fridge that was a dud. Out of all the fridges in that store, he would have picked the one that had something wrong with it. After Yuuko tells him to look again, Watanuki can suddenly see the ‘bad stuff’ around it and replies that he doesn’t want the fridge anymore. That he doesn’t want the fridge/can finally see the bad stuff is due to the changes he went through, which, in my mind, boil down to him not IGNORING things that are bad for him like he would have in the past.
Now take this situation and apply it to Himawari. It makes a creepy kind of sense that if Watanuki was really trying to erase his own existence he would attract things that would do the job for him, like all the bad ghosts and Himawari.
So it’s this attraction to Himawari that cause him to constantly want to be in her presence, which would up the chance of his fortune going bad. Like it did.
Looked at from this perspective, it was Himawari’s bad luck that caused the fall, but it never would have happened if Watanuki wasn’t subconsciously attracted to things that are bad for him.
The corollary to all this is that if Watanuki is attracted to things that are bad for him, he might then be repelled by things that are good for him, ie Doumeki. We’re told time and time again that Doumeki makes Watanuki’s life better in general, but Watanuki’s first emotional reaction to the other boy is RAGE HATE RAGE. Really, it’s another subconscious reaction that would achieve the same end result as the attraction to Himawari.
Himawari/bad things= Sparkles of Love while Doumeki/good thing= Massive Irritation.
My two cents. ^_^
Crap, I think I posted that really long comment a few times, I’m sorry! I’m not very used to Blogger. ^_^;;