xxxHOLiC Manga Chapter 171

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Watanuki receives permission from Yuuko-san to provide the next cooking lesson to his female student at Yuuko-san’s house. Yuuko-san agrees, but as always, there is a price to be paid and Watanuki grits his teeth and agrees to her terms (which includes his making Dressed Boiled Bonito). When Watanuki’s student comes by, Watanuki tells her they are going to make onigiri. The woman is a bit surprised by this, but Watanuki explains that they are not only going to make onigiri, they are going to eat it as well.

Doumeki and Mokona are sharing some sake at Yuuko-san’s place with Monoka wondering if Watanuki will be successful or not. Doumeki thinks he will be. Himawari-chan and Kohane-chan arrive, both having reasons for stopping by and having met on the way. Kohane-chan wants to speak to Watanuki and learning he’s in the kitchen, she offers to help. Mokona tells her she can’t as Watanuki is with his client.

For his part, Watanuki points out to the woman that she’s fine with seeing herself and even touching herself. She doesn’t understand what Watanuki is getting at, so Watanuki tells her that he cannot tell the taste of the foods he makes. Even though he has no memory of the taste of his cooking, his body still remembers how to make it properly. Because he lives alone, Watanuki can do a lot of household chores but loves cooking and enjoys what he makes. As such, Watanuki believes that one places a bit of themselves into every dish they make. So when you have someone eat a meal you’ve created, you are sharing a piece of yourself with them. With that in mind, then eating something you’ve made yourself is a way of knowing yourself.”

Thoughts/Review:

First, I’d like to say to Production I.G (even though they won’t see this), “See the image with this blog entry? Watanuki has different-colored eyes all the time, not just for a moment in a single episode! So if you do more anime, lets get it right, shall we?”

Whew.

Even though Kohane-chan and Himawari-chan’s appearance didn’t really contribute to the chapter (but they may have a role to play later), I liked seeing them again.

I half-expect the woman Watanuki is teaching to suddenly turn into a youkai or something and attack Watanuki. Other than showing Watanuki becoming a bit more mature, I really don’t know where CLAMP is going to go with this. If he solves the problem without any additional assistance from Yuuki-san, I would guess that this would put him one step closer to his wish being fulfilled.