Confusing but beautiful and heartbreaking at the same time. It's becoming obvious that this series is heading for one mindfrak of a finale very soon, judging by how deeply recent chapters have gone into Watanuki's past and present predicament.

Random thoughts:
-I wish Himawari had been in this volume a lot more!
-Watanuki comments that he doesn't see as many spirits as before. As someone who also reads Natsume Yuujinchou, am I supposed to see this as ominous? Hmm.
-Hngh, kinda sorta guiltily ship Watanuki/Haruka right now.
-I don't get where the story arc with the bride-to-be learning how to cook is going.
-KOHANE-CHAN ♥

I hear volume fifteen is a real bombshell, so I'm very much looking forward to the next book! ( )

Kohane-chan is settling in well to her new life away from her cruel mother; she's even learning to cook from Watanuki! Food and cooking play a central role in this volume, as Watanuki takes on another cooking student, but she seems to be a rather odd case. She won't eat her own cooking because she is disgusted with herself, which Watanuki (and readers, I presume) finds incredibly strange. Domeki and Watanuki have an intense philosophical conversation about this, but I'm not sure that I get it entirely. It has something to do with personal views of oneself, trusting humanity, and knowing about the origins of something, so in an ablique way it ties into the storyline with Sakura and Sayoran. ( )

This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot.wordpress.leafmarks.com by express permission of this reviewer Title: xxxHolic #13 & 14 Series: xxxHolic Author & Artist: CLAMP Rating: 4 of 5 Stars Genre: Manga Synopsis: Watanuki helps out Kohane-chan and gets her to a safeplace away from her mother. In volume 14 the story takes on the over-arching idea of who and what Watanuki is, the price he has paid in the past without realizing it and how he, Li and Sakura are all tied together. My Thoughts: I almost cried at the Kohane-chan story. Seeing a young girl attacked by her own mother because the mother hates her ex-husband is just sad. Thankfully, with her wish to be happy and her giving up her powers, which turn out to be based on one of Sakura's feathers, Kohane can start to have a normal childhood. Surrounded by friends, she can learn what love really is. Volume 14 was a little more esoteric and non-plot centric. Lots of little conversations between various people that advance what is happening to Watanuki and Sakura and Co over at Tsubasa. And we are getting little hints that not everything will be ok with Yuko. She has not been so rambunctious and we keep seeing bits of melancholia in her expressions. " ( )

Watanuki is finally told what is going on with and to him. In exchange for another's safety he gave up his memories. Once he was told that, Watanuki was at peace with his choice. The way that the plot is going is still sad but I think that things are going be changing soon. What is going to happen I do not know but something big. The plot is getting more and more hidden as things go on. Which is unusual, normally at this point you would have some idea where things are going or at least how they are going to resolve and I just do not have that. Only five more volumes until this one is done.

I give this volume a Five out of Five stars. ( )

As the Quick Wit Links blog points out, things are serious in Volume 14 of xxxHolic by CLAMP because it's the first time Watanuki has been on the cover since the first volume.

By now if you're not reading Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, you will probably be very confused by Yuko's explanations of Watanuki's past and his relationship to Syaoran. For those who are, Watanuki's introduction to Yuko and the missing wish from the first volume of Tsubasa will both make sense.

I had started reading Tsubasa before Volume 14, mostly because I was watching the anime and was becoming aware of the importance of the crossover. So I had already started to figure out much of the connection between Watanuki and Syaoran. For anyone reading both series, CLAMP drops enough hints to connect most of the dots by volume 14.

What took me most by surprise was the true nature of the shop and Maro and Moro's role in maintaining it. The shop's existence relies on heavy magic and may not be able to survive an upcoming confrontation. Maro and Moro's main roll is maintenance.

For those who prefer more of an in story (vs. crossover) explanation of what's going on, there is a side story about Watanuki being forced to teach a reluctant woman who to cook. Her explanation is that she is getting married and wants to learn how to cook for her soon to be husband but she has never cooked for herself. She can't stand the way anything tastes when she cooks it herself. The cooking lessons reveal Watanuki's outlook on life and his belief that how a food tastes reveals something about the soul of the person who cooked it.

Suffice it to say that things are about to change significantly ( )