xxxHOLiC Manga Chapter 197

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Doumeki reports on his and Kohane-chan’s trip to the apartment complex. Doumeki recognizes the building as the same one he and Yuuko-san visited to assist the woman with the computer addiction. Since her apartment wasn’t on the top floor where the spider thread ended, that means this is a different person they will be dealing with. Doumeki smokes his pipe as preparation to enter the dream realm, by which he can then enter this apartment.

After dinner, Watanuki goes to bed while Doumeki looks at the egg he’d been given years earlier. Watanuki awakes in the apartment, which is filthy. Watanuki sees a filthy woman picking up broken glass from a bottle and remarks on how he can never get used to people not seeing him when the woman looks up at him and verbally acknowledges his presence.

Thoughts/Review: So, if CLAMP continues this manga (and so far, I hope they do), I now see how they’ll have Watanuki travel from place to place. I had figured that the dream realm was not really something that Watanuki could use to travel to different places but more a place for Watanuki to talk to people, whether from the past like Doumeki’s grandfather and the cat or possibly the present. So Watanuki has such control that he can travel to different places in his dreams and really be there though normally unseen.

It appears that CLAMP chose the same apartment building they’d used before because Watanuki had been there and so I guess it makes it easier for Watanuki to enter the place via the dreaming.

So, who is this woman in the apartment? Why is she living in such filth? Why is she filthy and injured? Why can she see Watanuki if he is in a dreaming state?

CLAMP brings back a bit of the humor from the past when Watanuki cuts Mokona’s sake ration for not helping Moro and Maru with the laundry. Mokona’s please for mercy from “Watanuki-sama” made me chuckle. Also, Watanuki blowing smoke in Doumeki’s face when Doumeki decided he wouldn’t leave made me chuckle. I also enjoyed Doumeki’s nonchalant response by simply changing the topic to food and his wanting some sake to go with it. ^_^ Even with as mature as Watanuki has gotten, he couldn’t help but have a reaction to that (though no screaming) which amused me as well.

Speaking of Doumeki, interesting that he still has the egg and is still apparently pondering when it is time to use it. It isn’t really a surprise that he has the egg, but I couldn’t even begin to speculate on how it might be used.

So, we have a more lighthearted chapter with a kind of creepy ending. I’m looking forward to seeing where things go.