xxxHOLiC Manga Chapter 172

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: Watanuki tells his female cooking student that the reason she doesn't want to taste her own food isn't because she's disgusted with herself, but she's afraid. She rejects that but Watanuki says he's the same because he can't taste food or remember what he's eaten. That said, although it may be scary to know one's self, staying ignorant is more scary. However, people who have eaten Watanuki's food say it is good and he believes them. The woman asks why she's being told all this, so Watanuki answers that they may never meet again and that their current meeting is hitsuzen. With that, Watanuki says that they should make some onigiri so that they can eat together and learn about each other.

Outside the room, Himawari-chan, Doumeki-kun, Kohane-chan, and Mokona hear a loud noise from the kitchen. They look to find Watanuki yelling for the woman to wait as she leaves. Kohane-chan asks if Watanuki is OK and he tells her he is, though Doumeki looks skeptical.

Thoughts/Review: I didn't really like how CLAMP had the unnamed woman leave. The way the scene was drawn, it isn't initially clear what the heck happened. At first, I thought that Watanuki was running out of the kitchen to go get something, say to clean up a mess. Then after studying the imagery for a while, I came to the conclusion that the woman simply stormed off in a huff. I'm not sure what's up with CLAMP lately but it seems they are big fans of ambiguous or confusing artwork when telling the story.

Frankly, I'm not really gripped by this latest xxxHOLiC story arc, which seems to be marking time to allow whatever crap is going on in Tsubasa to finish. I really don't care about this unnamed woman or Watanuki's attempts to get her to eat her own food. Maybe she'll be gone forever and Watanuki's friends will help him suddenly be able to taste again.