August 18th, 2009 
AstroNerdBoy xxxHOLiC Manga Chapter 185
SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:
Watanuki decides that he will take over Yuuko-san’s shop until he can see Yuuko-san again and thus informs Doumeki of his choice. When Doumeki asks about school, Watanuki says that the price for his choice is the time within him, thus he will never be able to leave the store again. It also means he won’t age, though he will die someday. Until that happens, Watanuki will grant wishes and wait to see Yuuko-san again.
After Watanuki leaves the room, Doumeki grips the egg he was given and considers Watanuki’s decision as well as his own decision on when to use the egg.
Meanwhile, Watanuki takes up Yuuko-san’s pipe and after a cough-filled start, smokes it like a pro.
Thoughts/Review:
I can’t say I saw this turn of events coming. Watanuki wanting to grant wishes and the like I can see because that groundwork had been laid, even if somewhat tediously. The fact that Watanuki is tied forever to the shop is a surprise though. Considering how nutty Tsubasa is with all of its clones and such, I can’t help but wonder if CLAMP will actually have Watanuki take some customers.
Again, we are teased with Doumeki’s egg. I keep thinking, “get on with it already.” *_* Naturally, that can’t happen because CLAMP has to keep xxxHOLiC in a holding pattern.
Regardless of what happens, I would like to see Watanuki retain his abilities to see things so he can still see Zashiki-Warashi. Actually, I’d like for her to come back to the manga for a story but we’ll see where CLAMP drags things to.
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Regardless of what happens, I would like to see Watanuki retain his abilities to see things so he can still see Zashiki-Warashi. Actually, I’d like for her to come back to the manga for a story but we’ll see where CLAMP drags things to.
Didn’t Watanuki say that he refused the granting of his wish not to “see”, and so that was the power he was going to use to grant wishes?
Sounds like he’s going to be talking to the spirits to help out.
Yes, that is correct. I just hope that remains intact is all.
I haven’t been keeping up with the scanlated chapters, having only read what Del Rey has released. However, I can’t help but note that xxxHolic is already up ch. 185, compared to ch. 227 for Tsubasa, but while most of Tsubasa has been released in tankoubons (219 chapters over 27 volumes so far), only half of xxxHolic has (95 chapters over 15 volumes). What’s up with that?
Has Kodansha said why they’re releasing it in collected volumes at such a slow rate as compared to Tsubasa? At this pace, even if xxxHolic ends before the year is over, the last tankoubon won’t be released for another 5 years.
I don’t know for sure, but it likely has to do with the crossover stuff between the two manga. CLAMP took a lot of breaks with xxxHOLiC while Tsubasa pressed forward and I suspect that in order to have certain tankoubons with crossover stories released at the same time, things were delayed publishing-wise for xxxHOLiC. That’s just a sheer guess on my part since I’m not collecting the tankoubons for either series.