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MMF

CLAMP MMF Links: Final Roundup!

July 30, 2012 by Melinda Beasi Leave a Comment

The CLAMP MMF has finally come to a close! Here is the roundup of links for Day 7 of the CLAMP Manga Moveable Feast!

From your host: I spent the day yesterday wallowing in my newfound love of the shoujo-tastic artwork from CLAMP’s X, and comparing it to some other beloved series from the early-mid 1990s in The Shoujo Beauty of X. Come along and wallow with me!


X, Vol. 1 © 1992-1993 CLAMP, English edition published by VIZ Media

Also here at Manga Bookshelf, MMF guest contributor Brett Stockmeier offers up an essay defending Chobits, Chobits: Deconstructing the Love Story.

“I have reservations about declaring CLAMP set out with Chobits to debunk these visual novel universes and their tropes. From what I have glimpsed of the group and their unique way of creating, it’s impossible to say what their goal was in its creation. It may be that their intent was more innocent: to bring a touch of shoujo to the seinen market. Chobits just may have been the unique product spawned by this fusion. On the other hand, if they might possibly have had no involvement with the visual novel and the changes to the anime (as has been suggested to me), it could be that I have glimpsed a small part of their intentions in creating Chobits. I understand why the story might put off their traditionally female dominated audience, but I do believe plot itself (and not just the philosophical questions it brings up) has serious merit to it, and I hope that my ideas may help to redeem the series in the eyes of others.”

And on the lighter side, Brett makes his case for The Greatest Conversation CLAMP has ever written. Join him in comments to share your own favorites!

In her tumblr Tatakae Otaqueen!, Kathryn Cwynar discusses her different experiences with xxxHolic and Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle and declares, But from now on, I’m hedging my bets!

At Soliloquy in Blue, Michelle Smith and guest Karen Peck do a little Chatting About CLAMP, specifically Legal Drug and Suki.

Mia Lewis shares some thoughts on Looking back at the self: Exploring the comic medium from within at her blog, Painting Worlds With Words, and also provides a link to her CLAMP-focused thesis paper (download an updated version here) and another related paper, Shojo and Shonen: Recent Trends in the Visual Codes of Manga Genres.

At The Beautiful World, Ayame discusses CLAMP’s X along with two other series in Grief and Loss in Anime: a case examination of Puella Madoka Magica Magi, Mawaru Penguindrum and X.

Jason Yadao shares some history on CLAMP’s Gate 7 at the Honolulu Star Advertiser, along with his impressions of the series so far in CLAMP’s “Gate 7”: The grand experiment that wasn’t.

In the tumblr blog Xia’s Shiny Page, Christina shares her love of Tsubasa‘s Kurogane (I’m with you all the way, Christina!), in Kurogane: A Remarkable Character.

At The Manga Report, Anna takes a look at two CLAMP series, Cardcaptor Sakura Omnibus Vol. 1 and all four volumes of Wish. Be sure to check out her Wish giveaway at that second link as well!

And finally, at Manga Xanadu, Lori Henderson reviews volumes 1-10 of RG Veda.


This has been your final roundup of links for the CLAMP MMF! Many, many thanks to everyone who participated. Late entries may be submitted by email to melinda@mangabookshelf.com or via Twitter to @mbeasi for inclusion in the archive.

For August’s installment of the Manga Moveable Feast, head over to the Eeepers Choice Podcast where Phillip will be hosting discussion on Eiji Ōtsuka and Housui Yamazaki’s The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service!


Filed Under: UNSHELVED Tagged With: clamp, Manga Moveable Feast, MMF

The Greatest Conversation CLAMP has ever written

July 30, 2012 by Brett Stockmeier 1 Comment

Okawa has long been my favorite member of CLAMP. Her stories are unlike any other I’ve read, and it’s always going to be my opinion that the great art alone (provided by the other three members of CLAMP) can only go so far. In deciding how else I could contribute to the CLAMP MMF with deadlines looming, sleep oncoming and a job awaiting me in the morning, I decided to share what is, in my opinion, the greatest single dialogue CLAMP has ever written between their characters, found in X Volume 13 (omnibus 5 at the rate Viz is releasing them; you can also see it in the X anime in “Newborn”), which challenged my perceptions of all human beings head-on in a way nothing before ever had. Also included is the follow-up conversation.

(reads left-to-right — click images to enlarge)



*****






X/1999, Vol. 13 © 1999 CLAMP, New adapted artwork and text © 2003 VIZ, LLC

So what do you think? There’s a lot that you could write about from the exchange… What do you think about Satsuki’s arguments against humanity? What about Kusanagi’s answer?

Okawa’s written lots of great dialogue through the years… is there another conversation that particularly stands out to you?

Filed Under: UNSHELVED Tagged With: clamp, Manga Moveable Feast, MMF

The Shoujo Beauty of X

July 29, 2012 by Melinda Beasi 5 Comments

Those of you who have followed the evolution of the Manga Moveable Feast, and particularly the way in which subjects for the Feast are currently chosen (unlike the original democratic model, hosts now select topics on their own), have most likely assumed that, as the host of the CLAMP MMF, I’m a big fan of their work. This is a fair assumption, and it’s not exactly wrong, but the truth is a bit more nuanced. Though I count several of CLAMP’s manga among my very favorites (Tokyo Babylon, Cardcaptor Sakura, and xxxHolic are a few I’ve praised vocally over the past few years), my feelings for others range anywhere from general indifference to extreme impatience and even dislike.

One of the titles that originally registered with me somewhere between “impatience” and “dislike” is the very popular and tragically unfinished X (X/1999 when it was originally published in English), the first of CLAMP’s series to officially reach American shores. As a huge fan of Tokyo Babylon, my initial reaction can probably be chalked up to the fact that CLAMP waits several volumes before introducing Subaru into the story. But once I’d finally forgiven X for not being Tokyo Babylon II, I still found myself growing impatient with its sprawling cast, its convoluted plot lines, and its maddeningly repetitive exposition. Fortunately, VIZ’s new omnibus releases of X have not only reintroduced it into the North American market, they’ve also given me a second chance to try to grasp its charms—and grasp them I have, though they haven’t been at all what I expected.

Bloggers like my Manga Bookshelf cohort Kate Dacey have often referenced X‘s gory battles and body count as a major draw for readers. In one of her features for this month’s MMF, in fact, she likens X‘s apocalyptic imagery to the work of Katsuhiro Otomo (Akira), and goes on to conclude, “The battle scenes are kinetic and violent, executed with a gory zest that’s difficult to resist. The dream sequences, too, are suitably shocking: characters are dismembered, crucified, impaled, and engulfed in flames, often right before their loved ones’ eyes. I hesitate to suggest that X‘s body count is a victory for women, but it is a sharp and welcome rebuke to the idea that female readers strongly prefer conversation and character development to butt-kicking and carnage.”

She’s right, of course. X is filled to the brim with bloody battles that don’t shy away from gore. But I admit that my primary reaction to VIZ’s new, larger format omnibus editions has been the realization of how astoundingly, gorgeously shoujo it all is, especially in its imagery.

Here’s a sequence from X‘s first volume, in which burgeoning dreamseer Kotori receives a disturbing dream about her childhood friend, Kamui.

(click images to enlarge)





X, Vol. 1 © 1992-1993 CLAMP, English edition published by VIZ Media

When I look at a scene like this… well, first of all, I think it’s freaking beautiful. With its flowing lines and minimal use of traditional boundaries, CLAMP creates a surreal, dreamlike landscape that manages to be remarkably easy to follow while also completely immersing the reader in Kotori’s state of mind. The evolution of the spherical images in her dream from a whimsical, globe-like ball to an apocalyptic nightmare is a genuinely striking progression, enhanced by the abstract panel placement—a collection of emotional slivers mirrored by the shattering of the earth itself.

That this type of page composition is quintessentially shoujo is no revelation of course. But its emotional resonance as well as its style of imagery reminds me immediately of other shoujo series from the same period.

Kotori’s initial descent into her dream reminds me of this section from Reiko Shimizu’s Moon Child, in which Teruto slides into the depths beneath a city fountain in order to make a deal to save his sibling’s life. Though Teruto’s journey is a waking one, in both cases, there is a sense that the main character of the scene is falling into a state that is both familiar and perhaps dangerous. Teruto’s and Kotori’s bodies are completely relaxed as they descend, while the water and the scattering fish around them create a sense of otherworldliness and tension.


Moon Child, Vol. 3 © 1988 Reiko Shimizu, English edition published by Wildstorm Productions

The second spread of this sequence is dominated by the image of Kamui, holding and standing dominant over a representation of the earth, which reminded me immediately of this scene from Saki Hiwatari’s Please Save My Earth, in which Alice ponders the emotional state of Rin, whose previous incarnation, Shion, is pictured as if holding his world in thrall. Though the POV character in both series here feel love and affection for the subject of these images, there is also a sense that the person being pictured is potentially dangerous and capable of real harm.


Please Save My Earth, Vol. 20 © 1993 Saki Hiwatari, English edition published by VIZ Media

The rapid, stream-of-consiousness images in the third spread of Kotori’s dream bears a similarity to this sequence from Keiko Nishi’s short manga Promise (note: Promise reads left-to-right). I find this particularly interesting given Promise‘s real-world setting, because it demonstrates so clearly how this type of mental imagery is just as much a part of our “real” lives as it is our dreams and fantasies. In both cases, these scattered, tumbling images create a sense of panic and impending emotional danger.


Promise © 1996 Keiko Nishi/Shogakukan, Inc., English edition published by VIZ Media

Though the content of the last bit I’ve chosen from Kotori’s dream bears very little similarity (at least in terms of plot) to what is happening in this spread (again from Please Save My Earth), Kotori’s and Mokuren’s states of mind are quite similar. They’ve both had a sudden realization about a loved one that results in complete horror. Kotori has been hit with the realization that her loved one, Kamui, may destroy her world, while Mokuren has been hit with the realization that she may be taken from the world before she’s able to tell Shion that she loves him in the first place. While the Kotori’s predicament may seem more serious and vital than Mokuren’s, the artwork tells us differently. Whatever the scope of the situations’ consequences, Mokuren and Kotori are equally devastated by their respective realizations.


Please Save My Earth, Vol. 19 © 1993 Saki Hiwatari, English edition published by VIZ Media

This kind of emotional tension combined with abstract imagery is found all over in shoujo from the late 1980s and early 1990s (here’s a beautifully rendered scene from Naoko Takeuchi’s Sailor Moon)—which is part of why it’s become my favorite era for shoujo artwork.


Sailor Moon, Vol. 2 ©2003 Naoko Takeuchi, English translation © 2011 Naoko Takeuchi

Though I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that the very first scene that came to mind while pondering artwork for this article came from Moto Hagio’s They Were Eleven, which was published in the 1970s (note: these pages read left-to-right). The accelerated tumbling of the elevator buttons at the top of the first page has stuck with me since I first read this manga several years ago, and I immediately associated it with Kamui’s tumbling earth. There’s something about shoujo and circles…


They Were Eleven © 1996 Moto Hagio/Shogakukan, Inc., English edition published by VIZ Media

It doesn’t get better than this, my friends.

Time will tell, of course, if my new infatuation with the shoujo spectacularness of CLAMP’s X will help me weather its narrative messiness in the long-term, but I’m certainly enjoying myself so far. Kudos to VIZ for presenting this unfinished series in a format that finally shows it off to its best advantage. I think I may speak for all fans of 1990s shoujo when I say, “Thank you. I thank you with all my heart.”

Let’s hope this becomes a trend.


To submit your contributions to the CLAMP MMF for inclusion in this month’s archive, please send your links by email to melinda@mangabookshelf.com or via Twitter to @mbeasi. If you would like your contribution(s) to be hosted at Manga Bookshelf, please email them to Melinda, along with any included images.


Filed Under: FEATURES Tagged With: clamp, Manga Moveable Feast, MMF

Chobits: Deconstructing the Love Story

July 29, 2012 by Brett Stockmeier 9 Comments

Chobits is usually one of the more divisive of CLAMP’s series. Mankind’s interactions with the advanced technology of the setting has the potential to spark important philosophical (as well as moral) debate. Unfortunately, not everyone is able to appreciate the finer details of the plot as many find the story of Chobits, that is to say, the romance, distasteful. Part of this has to do with CLAMP’s target audience. Despite their often attributed ability to appeal to both genders, CLAMP has often been classified as a Shoujo manga circle, writing with the intention of appealing to girls. Chobits marked an experiment for the group with the intention that the work be classified as seinen, meant to appeal to young men. Because of this departure from their traditional market/genre, I believe many fans of the group were alienated by the content and progression of the plot, and some of the questions raised by the work may be overshadowed by the antipathy it garners.

It was only recently that I came to the realization that what first appears to be one of the most tasteless and tacky love stories can also be viewed as a commentary on the visual novel genre, harem romance stories, the mythical magical girlfriend, and seinen romance as a whole.

CLAMP themselves waste no time setting Chobits up according to standard visual novel cliches: The protagonist is a young adult male, a ronin (he failed to get accepted into college), has lived a sheltered life in the country away from such luxuries as computers and the big city of Tokyo. He has no girlfriend, and is very vocal about his sexual frustration (he’s a virgin). Basically, he’s a bit of a loser, and he fits the mold perfectly for the protagonist of most visual novels and seinen romance stories. He’s remarkable only for the fact of being unremarkable, and on paper, the only trait he has going for him is you can say he’s a nice guy (though as the manga itself is quick to point out, not the guy who gets the girl).

These are common traits for a seinen protagonist because often these stories are marketed towards users that view themselves in much the same way: as being hapless, unfortunatate or lacking redeeming qualities to put it bluntly. Such stories offer a world and a narrative where they, stepping into the shoes of a main character, can suddenly have a complete reversal of fortune, giving them the chance to experience a life different from the one they perceive in the real world. One where perhaps a chance event or encounter can enable them to be successful and have a pretty, doting girlfriend (or a selection of the to choose from). It’s a genre primarily made up of wish-fulfillment.

Okay, so we have an unremarkable protagonist, but there’s always a catalyst that sets him on the journey that changes his fortunes from bad to good. Often, this happens with the chance meeting of a magical girlfriend archetype. Maybe she’s just a spunky and free-spirited classmate he happens to run into (usually quite literally) on the way to school, maybe she’s an alien from outer space and he’s just the first native human being she happens to encounter. Or maybe she’s a discarded robot set out with the trash.

Hideki, being poor, and by this point shown to be envious of those fortunate enough to own persocoms, doesn’t let the opportunity slip by, and he hurries to take his new possession home. Possession is also a common theme in seinen romance: in the popular Ah! My Goddess!, a young college student binds a goddess to him with a wish to the goddess hotline. (Ah! My Goddess! isn’t harem romance to my knowledge, but it is wish-fulfillment.)

Hideki at this point only thinks of Chi as a machine, albeit a cute one (the one you’re destined for is never who you first suspect, is it?), and so he’s already picturing the things he can do with Chi. Email, chat, web browsing, but mostly porno websites. (and if he knew a little more about persocoms and their standard capabilities, he might have been expecting to lose his virginity as well)

He appears initially to be entirely self-serving. He gleefully thinks on his good luck and conjures up references to figures like Doraemon, a character from a popular Japanese children’s cartoon that typically starts adventures and bestows gifts to a particularly unlucky Japanese boy. “It’s like a story”, he thinks to himself. And it seems like it really might be: the persocom he picked up for free from the garbage is repeatedly hinted at being a legendary persocom… one of the Chobits series, which is rumored to have programming so advanced it faithfully recreates real human emotions, technology on a level we can only dream about today.

A magical girlfriend that can do things no ordinary human girl can do? An ageless robot body in the form of a cute young girl? Real human emotions? And you own her?! I don’t doubt that many young men don’t have to look very deep to know this situation is a dream come true in more than one aspect.

Of course a common feature, and indeed the sole distinguishing characteristic of the “harem” genre is that it features multiple women who may serve as a match for the hero, and Chobits once again has that covered in the most cliche manner CLAMP could think of, relying on handful of the most overused “types” of women common to the seinen genre. You have the bubbly high school kohai Yumi, the mature and sexy teacher Shimizu-sensei, and the cute, doting young landlady Chitose Hibiya. Upon first meeting each of these women, Hideki’s mind races with the possibilities of a life with each of them. And for their part, the girls are each suprisngly tolerant of Hideki’s perverse habits. Yumi, prompted by his staring, casually gives out her bra size without hesitation. Shimizu-sensei dismisses his pornography as him being a boy after all (I guess boys are all seen as being sex-crazed in Japan?), and Hibiya constantly overlooks his audibly perverse inner monologue.

Indeed, the story itself actually seems to endorse each of these women as a potential match for Hideki with a number of events between that seem to deepen his relationship with each of them. Yumi takes the initiative to invite Hideki out on a date, Miss Shimizu shows up out of the blue to stay the night, and Hibiya… well she’s just a doting landlady, giving Hideki perhaps more attention than is usual of her guests. It’s easy to see why Hideki might get the wrong impression.

Outside the unexceptional cast filled with Seinen romance tropes, the rest of the story remains faithful to standard form: the “comedy” of this romantic comedy comes primarily from awkward ero situations and Hideki’s over-the-top reactions. There’s plenty of fanservice and straight-up soft-core pornography. The outfits Chi and the other persocoms take on often titillate with nearly exposed panty shots and Minoru’s vast collection of persocoms exclusively wear maid uniforms. In the anime, entire filler episodes were added devoted exclusively to panties and a trip to the beach that somehow manages to include the show’s entire cast of available women (in swim suits of course), disconnected though they might be.

So CLAMP spent a good chunk of Chobits setting up a cast and characters that would fit right into any seinen romance, and I think a lot of people, especially when drawing from CLAMP’s audience would be put off by that. There’s a notable lack of any strong female characters like Sakura, Hokuto, or Misaki. (That isn’t to imply the females are necessarily weak, but all of them seem to start the series slightly broken, suffering deep emotional scars) Instead we get to see a cast of stereotypes focusing on a main character that hasn’t really earned the attention he gets. It all seems incredibly un-CLAMP and indeed the traditionally shoujo group hadn’t really tried to market itself to a male audience until that point. It seems natural to assume that their established primarily female audience might lose interest or even be offended and denounce Chobits for its the content. I might have been included with CLAMP’s alienated fan base if CLAMP didn’t work to tear down and undermine the stereotypical seinen romance narrative they had created as quickly as (and even before) they had built it.

Things get off to a rocky start for Hideki right from the first time he activates Chi, as he quickly realizes there was a reason he found her in the garbage. The magical girlfriend-figure he had pictured is disappointingly incapable of the tasks he had planned for it, and initially can only mimic his movements and speak only “chi”. This is in stark contrast to the goddesses from Ah! My Goddess! who can magically procure an empty house the size of a small mansion when the protagonist of that series is evicted from his dormitory. Chi on the other hand seems unable to even connect to the internet, and is rarely or never seen to consciously do anything remotely computer like, as you never see her being used as Hideki originally intended: as a tool, able to open the way to the wonders of the internet and computers. Instead, she behaves closer to that of an ordinary human girl, reading and learning from picture books rather than the internet, which should be readily available to any persocom. In fact, there are a lot of things Chi seems unable to do as a computer, though eventually she’s perfectly able to learn the same way any human being can, and can even achieve some level of independence from Hideki, taking on a job and responsibilities apart from him. Even there, as a human being, she is limited, and a crucial capability of both human and persocom is denied to her… that is, the ability to have sex.

It seemed as though Hideki might have gotten a dud when it came to his legendary persocom: rather than stumbling onto a super human devoted to making him happy, he instead finds himself with a burden and responsibilities he is not sure he can afford, quite litterally. Even Chi’s being a legendary Chobit turns out to be irrelevant or a disappointment in the context of human relationships: her “legendary programming” able to replicate human thought patterns and emotions on par with a real human being is nothing but a myth, and her only real magical feature, the ability to affect other persocoms has no practical applications in the realm of a relationship.

With the illusion of the powerful wish granting girlfriend shattered, CLAMP then proceeds to move through the list of other potential candidates in Hideki’s would-be harem and systematically remove them as potential matches. The cute young kohai with the big boobs that invited you out that one time in a maybe date? She’s been hung up on her old boyfriend since long before we came into the story. The sultry teacher that stayed over at your place in her underwear late that one night? A married woman having an affair running away from the pressures of her relationships. The doting land lady? Well, hooking up with Hideki was the last thing on her mind.

The side characters in Hideki’s harem may not have stood out initially as being incredibly liberated or strong (they’re actually all kind of broken really) like CLAMP’s other notable characters, but they (both the characters and CLAMP) deserve recognition for having a life/story/purpose outside of competing for the affections of Hideki, while traditionally interest in the protagonist is all consuming for the harem in seinen romance. Likewise, Hideki deserves some credit for his demeanor in the rejection of his fantasies. When he found out the truth of Yumi and Ueda’s past, he spoke up in the defense of the people he knew to be good, honest and kind. He listened without judgement to the confessions of an adulterer, and showed genuine regret that he was unable to lend his friend more support when he became involved with her. And he was happy, rather than bitter that these people found happiness, despite the fact that once he imagined himself playing a more active part. Lots of characters are described as being “nice guys”: Hideki is the only one in my opinion to ever take true ownership of that title in a story like this.

With the standard narrative built-up only to be summarily torn down, the universe seems to have delivered a grim shot of reality to Hideki. That persocom he found in the garbage really was broken, and yet it was also something that could become very special to him if he puts in the work required (which is true of anything really). The idea of a legendary persocom (the magical girlfriend stand-in) is in actuallity a myth, just as the idea is a myth in real life. The concept of a machine with real emotions is actually just wish-fulfillment, in a cold allusion to reality and the entire market of wish-fulfillment. It isn’t real, and exists only in the minds of those who desire and dream of such things.

But while Chi may not be a magical persocom, she is still a persocom: beatiful, ageless, and capable of many things an ordinary woman (or man. also could be a man) just can’t do or compete with. But CLAMP even here dismisses the magical girlfriend myth with their repeated insistence that there are just the same some things that only a real flesh-and-blood human being can do that persocom just can’t. Supporting this, persocoms, once portrayed as being almost superhuman, also have their vulnerabilities revealed and discussed in length. They can be easily manipulated through their programming, their cherished memories can be erased with a few computer commands, and just like human beings, they can break beyond repair and die. As an interesting side-note, these problems are also very real ailments that can afflict human beings, and thus by making persocoms imperfect, they are shown to be more like human beings than ever before, with the similarities running far beyond our shared humanoid features.

The women in his life he was focusing in on as it turned out all had lives of their own, and really never gave Hideki a second thought, if they gave him any thought as a potential match at all. What’s more astounding is that CLAMP perfectly mirrors real life when they reveal to both the reader and Hideki that he doesn’t necessarily know everything that’s going on around him. The story doesn’t stop being told just because Hideki isn’t around, and indeed it was being told even before he entered into the picture. Before even the first chapter of Chobits. And while the story follows Hideki, Shimbo, his best friend lucky enough to gain the eye of his teacher, is in the middle of his own story, and in contrast to standard form, doesn’t exist merely to root for Hideki on the sidelines: he has his own cares and his own concerns, and like the people around you in real life he can choose not to enlighten you to them. Chobits drives home the message perhaps the best in any of CLAMP’s work that you are not special. Your story is not the only one that his being told, and everybody is dealing with their own issues that may be every bit or more frustrating than your own.

This is the exact opposite of the message communicated by a visual novel where you can win anybody or anything based solely on the effort you put in and the knowledge you possess. Of course there is some truth to this world view as well, but a visual novel system exaggerates the amount of control a person has over his own life and the universe: there will always be some things you just can’t do. A visual novel also cannot take into account the fact that other people are living their own stories right along side you. Perhaps a true Chobits visual novel would be massively multi-player (and be called “real life, but with persocoms”, except that’s not very catchy).

The coup de grace though comes with Chobits‘ simple yet powerful ending when Hideki is confronted with the reality that there are some things Chi just can’t (and for all we know, never will be able to) do. Not just procreation, but sex itself, which has been a driving motivation throughout Chobits. While Hideki hasn’t exactly been on the prowl looking to lose his virginity through the series, it’s safe to say he’s always been self-conscious of his status as a virgin. The universe itself sees fit to remind him with the casual acceptance and reactions in the face of sexuality displayed by the people around him, and the gentle teasing Hideki endures by his friends Shimbo and Minoru (of all people! How can someone as young as Minoru be more sexually mature as someone as old as Hideki? Actually I might have some theories) More evidence is seen in the number of times pornography makes an appearance in the story. Porno websites dominates his fantasies of the advantages of owning a persocom, and it’s clear he has a sizable collection erotic magazines. And it must be a sexually liberated world when Manager Ueda can casually relay the story of his marriage to a persocom, and the fact that there are many people that, yes, have gone so far as to have sex with their persocoms.

Thus to be confronted with the reality that in order to be with Chi, he will never be able to be “with” Chi is a major revelation, especially given that human persocom relations aren’t really that unheard of at all. The very real possibility exists that Hideki will die a virgin, never getting to experience one of life’s greatest pleasures to be shared by two people in love. Sex has always played a large role in a seinen romances, and yet Hideki, the supposed protagonist of such a story, is being asked to live a life of abstinence. In my opinion it’s a marvelous way to draw a distinction between Chobits and other romantic comedies in the genre, and even Chobits‘ own early story, in order to show just how much the story has evolved.

I could not comfortably bring this essay to a proper close if I didn’t mention the inherent contradictions in my ideas, the most prominent of which come to light from two official Chobits sources (regardless of whatever input CLAMP had in their production). The first is the anime, which has a vastly different ending from the manga. In the anime, key plot details are changed, which fundamentally alter who/what Chi is, even if her personality remains the same. The anime Chi really is a legendary and powerful persocom, with programming advanced enough to faithfully recreate the complexity of human emotions. This new Chi completely undermines my theory that CLAMP intended to undermine the myth of the magical girlfriend by making their own character incredibly ordinary and even defective compared to other persocoms.

Furthermore, anime Chi and Hideki then undergo a trial where Chi has her memory erased, yet is able to recover the deleted data somehow through the power of the love she and Hideki feel for each other, with little in the way of a technical explanation given: it’s just a miracle of love! What’s more, after this, Chi proceeds to update every other persocom in existence so that they might all share the advanced programming she posesses. And so while the message of the manga seems to reinforce the complexity and complications of real life, the anime reinforces the myths and ideals of the magical girlfriends and that miracles do exist and all you need is love and everything will be happy in the end. Fluffy, traditional shoujo ideals, but something CLAMP has always shied away from (and been stronger for, in my opinion)

The other element that undermines my ideas is the existence of a licenced Chobits visual novel, completely typical for the genre. The user is free to pursue and win other women outside of Chi in exactly the way I have been alluding to throughout my essay.

I have reservations about declaring CLAMP set out with Chobits to debunk these visual novel universes and their tropes. From what I have glimpsed of the group and their unique way of creating, it’s impossible to say what their goal was in its creation. It may be that their intent was more innocent: to bring a touch of shoujo to the seinen market. Chobits just may have been the unique product spawned by this fusion. On the other hand, if they might possibly have had no involvement with the visual novel and the changes to the anime (as has been suggested to me), it could be that I have glimpsed a small part of their intentions in creating Chobits. I understand why the story might put off their traditionally female dominated audience, but I do believe plot itself (and not just the philosophical questions it brings up) has serious merit to it, and I hope that my ideas may help to redeem the series in the eyes of others.

I’d like to thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts, and unknownusername for taking the time to give me input while I was writing this.


To submit your contributions to the CLAMP MMF for inclusion in this month’s archive, please send your links by email to melinda@mangabookshelf.com or via Twitter to @mbeasi. If you would like your contribution(s) to be hosted at Manga Bookshelf, please email them to Melinda, along with any included images.


Filed Under: FEATURES Tagged With: clamp, Manga Moveable Feast, MMF

CLAMP MMF Links: Day 6

July 29, 2012 by Melinda Beasi Leave a Comment

Here is your roundup of links for Day 6 of the CLAMP Manga Moveable Feast!

From your host: Yesterday, Michelle and I looked at the artwork of two CLAMP series that share a similar premise, Legal Drug and xxxHolic, and discussed some of the different ways in which the group visually portrays supernatural events—especially when writing for different demographics. Check it out at Soliloquy in Blue: Let’s Get Visual: A Tale of Two Series.

Of course, Michelle and I weren’t the only limbs of the Manga Bookshelf Battle Robot to get our CLAMP on yesterday.

At A Case Suitable for Treatment, Sean Gaffney muses on some of his frustrations with CLAMP’s recent work with Some Thoughts on CLAMP.

“Yeah, it’s time to come out and say it. While there’s lots of recent CLAMP stuff I enjoy for a certain character, or a story arc, or maybe an interesting idea to start things off… when it comes to modern CLAMP I always find more problems than I really want to … As CLAMP have matured over the years, they’ve gained a depth to the quality of their storytelling. And while this is normally a thing to applaud, I think with their group it highlights that they come up with fantastic ideas and are not always so good at following through.”

And at The Manga Critic, Kate Dacey uses CLAMP’s shounen work as the jumping off point for a larger discussion about female artists creating for that demographic: Open Thread: Who’s Your Favorite Female Shonen Artist? There is already some lively discussion in the comment section—head on over and join in!

That’s all the links for Saturday! Check back tomorrow for our final roundup!


To submit your contributions to the CLAMP MMF for inclusion in this month’s archive, please send your links by email to melinda@mangabookshelf.com or via Twitter to @mbeasi. If you would like your contribution(s) to be hosted at Manga Bookshelf, please email them to Melinda, along with any included images.


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CLAMP MMF Links: Day 5

July 28, 2012 by Melinda Beasi Leave a Comment

Here is your roundup of links for Day 5 of the CLAMP Manga Moveable Feast!

From your host: Yesterday, I used the CLAMP MMF as an excuse to revive one of my favorite older columns, Fanservice Friday, with Fanservice Friday: The Fujoshi Heart of CLAMP. ‘Shippers, come and talk to me!


Legal Drug, Vol. 2 © 2001 CLAMP, English text @2004 TOKYOPOP

Friday was sparse in comparison to the rest of the Feast so far, but we did have two bloggers who weighed in.

At Experiments in Manga, Ash Brown took a look at Clover.

“The most striking thing about Clover is its artwork. The style itself is similar to those used in other works by CLAMP, but what makes it stand out from other manga (and not just other CLAMP manga) is the group’s use of innovative and unusual panel layouts and page designs. The individual panels tend to focus closely in on a particular element; these fragments are then gathered together as a whole on the page in interesting and varied ways. CLAMP isn’t afraid of overlap or white space and relatively few panels are used on a page, giving the overall presentation of Clover a minimalist feel. CLAMP’s artwork revels in the small details, moments, and movements without becoming overly complicated.”

And at The Beautiful World, Ayame continues her CLAMP exploration this week with Retrospect on CLAMP: In good and bad times…

That’s all the links for Friday! Stay tuned as the Feast continues!


To submit your contributions to the CLAMP MMF for inclusion in this month’s archive, please send your links by email to melinda@mangabookshelf.com or via Twitter to @mbeasi. If you would like your contribution(s) to be hosted at Manga Bookshelf, please email them to Melinda, along with any included images.


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CLAMP MMF Links: Day 4

July 27, 2012 by Melinda Beasi 1 Comment

Here is your roundup of links for Day 4 of the CLAMP Manga Moveable Feast!

From your host: In an MMF edition of 3 Things Thursday, I talk about my 3 Favorite CLAMP Women. Who are your favorites? Come share with us in comments!

In her latest edition of The Best Manga You’re Not Reading, Kate Dacey sings the praises of Suki, CLAMP’s three-volume manga about a childlike teenager’s complicated lessons in love at The Manga Critic.

“The brilliant sociopath, the hooker with the heart of gold, and the naïf are my three least favorite character types, the first two for their tiresome ubiquity in popular culture, and the third for being tiresome: when was the last time you read a story about a sweet, innocent person that didn’t make you feel horribly manipulated or horribly jaded? Imagine my surprise, then, at discovering CLAMP’s delightfully odd series Suki: A Like Story, which revolves around a brilliant but impossibly naive teenager who trusts everyone, reads picture books, and talks to teddy bears. I thought I’d be tearing my breast in agony by the end of the first chapter; instead, I quickly succumbed to Suki‘s charms and even suppressed a sniffle or two in the final pages.”

At Poisoned Rationality, Lexie shares her personal history with CLAMP in CLAMP and me.

Two participants took the opportunity to discuss CLAMP’s X yesterday—Ayame at The Beautiful World and Phillip Anthony here at Manga Bookshelf.

At The Manga Report, Anna shares her review of Legal Drug, and at Heart of Manga, Laura looks at Kobato.

That’s all the links for Thursday! Stay tuned as the Feast continues!


To submit your contributions to the CLAMP MMF for inclusion in this month’s archive, please send your links by email to melinda@mangabookshelf.com or via Twitter to @mbeasi. If you would like your contribution(s) to be hosted at Manga Bookshelf, please email them to Melinda, along with any included images.


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Fanservice Friday: The Fujoshi Heart of CLAMP

July 27, 2012 by Melinda Beasi 8 Comments

Welcome back to Fanservice Friday!

For those of you who may be wandering over from less manga-obsessed corners of the internet, the term “fujoshi” (“rotton girl”) is used in Japan to describe fans of BL or “boys’ love” (also known as “yaoi”) manga, which is to say women and girls who enjoy stories featuring male characters in romantic and/or sexual relationships with each other, created for a female audience, usually by female writers and artists.

You can find a lot of internet speculation (and a few academic studies) regarding why many women and girls like stories about two men falling in love and/or making out (and so forth), but there’s little doubt that they do like them, and that “they” includes me. I’m a romance junkie and, to hear some tell it, perhaps a perv. (Though for what it’s worth, I get the same enjoyment out of stories featuring a man and a woman or two women making out, so I’m at last an equal opportunity perv.)

Anyhow, given that CLAMP spent some time creating yaoi doujinshi (kinda like slash fanfiction, but comics) before they went pro, it’s likely that they may have once considered themselves fujoshi, And whether they ever did or not, that sensibility is certainly present in their professional work, regardless of its intended demographic.

So now that we’ve gotten all that exposition over with, let’s talk about….

The Fujoshi Heart of CLAMP

(click images to enlarge)


Legal Drug, Vol. 3 © 2003 CLAMP, English text © 2005 TOKYOPOP

Scenes such as the one above from Legal Drug fall into a type of female-aimed fanservice pretty common in shoujo (and even shounen) manga these days. I like to call this type of fanservice “the tease.” A scene like this is a tease, because it features two male characters caught in a compromising position that ultimately turns out not to be at all what it seems. In this scene, for instance, Kazahaya and Rikuo are posing as clandestine student lovers to facilitate their investigation of a supernatural event at a secluded all-boys’ school, and Rikuo gets mushy for a moment when he realizes they are being watched. Often, this kind of tease is used for comedic effect, like in these pages from Black Butler, but in this scene, CLAMP avoids going for the easy laugh, keeping the mood heavy to intensify the readers’ already-established interest in these characters as a potential couple (and believe me, there’s interest).

Fortunately, humorous BL fanservice is not CLAMP’s specialty… well, fortunately for me, anyway, as it’s by far my least favorite type—both as shoujo fanservice and in actual BL manga as well. Legal Drug is particularly generous with its BL overtones, and it’s also one of the group’s few series to pull some of those overtones out of the subtext and right into the text. It’s made pretty clear throughout the series’ first three volumes, that shop owner Kakei has something going on with his hulky companion, Saiga.


Legal Drug, Vol. 2 © 2001 CLAMP, English text @2004 TOKYOPOP

Though anything other than come-hither looks and suggestive embraces is kept pretty much off-screen, I’ve read manga published as BL (Wild Adapter, for instance), that treats its relationships more ambiguously.

Another of CLAMP’s shoujo series to contain a canon romance between two male characters is, of course, Cardcaptor Sakura, and though Toya and Yukito’s relationship is even more chaste on-screen than Kakei and Saiga’s, it’s still notable given the young age of Nakayoshi’s core audience. And frankly, you’d have to have a heart of stone not to melt just a little in the presence of romantic sweetness like this.


Cardcaptor Sakura: Master of the Clow, Vol. 4 © 1999 CLAMP, English text © 2004 TOKYOPOP

This kind of pure-hearted devotion is at the core of most of CLAMP’s best romances, even those that remain ambiguous throughout their entire runs, and I admit that’s part of what works so well for me. Even in a relationship steeped in rivalry or dry humor, I like to be able to see that sincerity at its core, and this is one of CLAMP’s greatest strengths. It also lends itself to some very touching moments, often with a serious tone.

Even in Tokyo Babylon, where the initially jokey relationship between 16-year-old Subaru and veterinarian Seishiro takes a decidedly dark turn, our hero’s feelings are very innocent and undeniably sincere.


Tokyo Babylon, Vol. 6 © 1992 CLAMP, English text @ 2005 TOKYOPOP

Which is not to say that CLAMP doesn’t ever go for the laugh.


xxxHolic, Vol. 6 © 2005 CLAMP, English edition published by Del Rey Manga

Oh, Watanuki and Doumeki… *sigh*. Probably my favorite of CLAMP’s subtextual BL couples, Watanuki and Doumeki spend most of their time visibly at odds, with Watanuki flailing in protest every time the two of them are paired up (which is often), and Doumeki making dry comments about Watanuki in the background. Much is made of their supernatural compatibility—Doumeki’s pure spirit is constantly necessary for keeping Watanuki safe, while Watanuki’s cooking provides Doumeki with nearly the only food pure-intentioned enough for him to enjoy eating. There’s also the fact that by halfway through the series, the two of them basically share both blood and an eye. It’s a CLAMP staple, of course, but man, it always works for me.

I’ve used this scene as an example before, but really nothing beats it for the perfect combination of prickly banter, dry humor, and undeniable personal intimacy. These characters know each other so well, and even though most of their outward behavior is designed to conceal that as thoroughly as possible, it still shines through, clear as day.

(click images to enlarge)



Perhaps the snarky nature of Watanuki and Doumeki’s BL-heavy relationship is due at least in part to xxxHolic‘s demographic (seinen), though they take a much different tack with the shounen-aimed series Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, in which the characters Fai and Kurogane—though beginning as fairly reluctant comrades—eventually develop a deep loyalty and warm friendship that reads very much like romantic love. I once referred to them as something like “the most obvious couple since Remus Lupin and Sirius Black,” but I think they may be even more obvious (or perhaps obvious to more people) than that.

Here’s another quote from my fannish journal when I first began reading Tsubasa: “Oh. Kurogane. If anyone tries to tell me that CLAMP does not ‘ship Fai/Kurogane, I will laugh harder than I have ever laughed in my life. I really will. They might as well put it on a billboard. Almost makes me wish it was a shoujo manga instead, but then there would probably be more flowers and fewer fights, and I admit I kind of like the fights.”

Having read a lot more shoujo manga since then—and particularly shoujo manga by CLAMP (*cough* X *cough*)—I’d have to take back my assertion that a shoujo version of Tsubasa would necessarily contain fewer fights, but I’d still bet money on CLAMP ‘shipping Fai/Kurogane, whether they’ve ever admitted it or not.

Though Tsubasa‘s shounen sensibility lends itself more toward heroic demonstrations of affection (Kurogane gives up his blood and an arm for Fai over the course of the series) than meaningful touches and stolen glances, it does have its moments.


Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, Vol. 22 © 2008 CLAMP, English edition published by Del Rey Manga

For the record, Fai punches Kurogane on the next page (good-naturedly, of course), ’cause, y’know, that’s how they roll.

I’ve often wished that CLAMP would just go ahead and publish a BL manga—not because I’m dissatisfied with what they’ve already offered up in both canon and less-explicitly-canon male/male romance, but because I think they’d write it very well, and that they’d be likely to give me the kind of epic, plotty BL manga I so wish there were more of—in the English-language market anyway. In the meantime, I’ll take what I can get.

Readers, what are your favorite CLAMP BL pairings?

Filed Under: Fanservice Friday, FEATURES Tagged With: clamp, Manga Moveable Feast, MMF

CLAMP MMF Links: Day 3

July 26, 2012 by Melinda Beasi Leave a Comment

Here is your roundup of links for Day 3 of the CLAMP Manga Moveable Feast!

From your host: In a special edition of Off the Shelf, Michelle and I are joined by our NANA Project collaborator, Danielle Leigh, for an epic discussion of my favorite CLAMP series, Tokyo Babylon. Come join in the discussion!

At Contemporary Japanese Literature, Kathryn Hemmann offers us a thoughtful essay on Purity and Power in Magic Knight Rayearth.

“Just as female fans of Sailor Moon are able to find messages of feminist empowerment in the series instead of polymorphously perverse possibilities for sexual titillation, female creators like CLAMP are able to stage feminist critiques of real-world sexual economies of desire within their application of gendered narrative tropes. Therefore, when cultural theorists such as Saitō Tamaki discuss otaku immersing themselves in fantasies that have nothing to do with the real world, they acknowledge shōjo series like Sailor Moon and Magic Knight Rayearth but completely fail to take into account the female viewers, readers, and creators for whom fictional female characters are not entirely removed from reality.”

Over at the Organization Anti-Social Geniuses, LCMoran names CLAMP the site’s Creator of the Month.

And at Manga Village, Lori Henderson takes a look at volumes five and six of Kobato.

That’s all the links for Wednesday! Stay tuned as the Feast continues!


To submit your contributions to the CLAMP MMF for inclusion in this month’s archive, please send your links by email to melinda@mangabookshelf.com or via Twitter to @mbeasi. If you would like your contribution(s) to be hosted at Manga Bookshelf, please email them to Melinda, along with any included images.


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3 Things Thursday: Favorite CLAMP Women

July 26, 2012 by Melinda Beasi 9 Comments

It has been a while, but welcome back to 3 Things Thursday! As you know, this week is the CLAMP Manga Moveable Feast. CLAMP has written a lot of terrific female characters, like Sakura, Yuuko, Hikaru, and the list goes on. I’ve always gravitated towards supporting characters, though, especially when they’re as awesome as some of CLAMP’s. And so, this Thursday, let’s talk about my…

3 Favorite CLAMP Women

1. Hokuto, Tokyo Babylon – I already went on and on about Hokuto in yesterday’s roundtable, but really I could talk about her all day. While she’s pretty great in her capacity as “Subaru’s twin sister,” she’s even better on her own, and I’m thrilled that CLAMP decided to break away from the manga’s primary thread long enough to let us see that. Volume two’s final chapter, in which Hokuto steps in to rescue another woman from her male pursuers, is one of my favorite moments in the entire series. She’s like a superhero in this scene, and it’s impossible not to fall in love with her.

(click images to enlarge)

2. Himawari, xxxHolic – One of the characters who seems to get the least love from fans in xxxHolic is Himawari, Watanuki and Doumeki’s schoolmate who was born with the unfortunate characteristic of bringing bad luck to the people around her. But Watanuki adores Himawari, and so do I. I love her understated insights, her sweet good nature, and the smile that covers up her loneliness. This scene in which Watanuki finally realizes what’s really going on with Himawari is a favorite of mine, partly because of Watanuki being who he is, but also because of Himawari’s cheerful acceptance of what she is certain must be the end of their friendship.

3. Tomoyo, Carcaptor Sakura – Oh, Tomoyo, Tomoyo… if Cardcapter Sakura is the absolute dearest of all dear things in the world, Tomoyo is even dearer. Her complete devotion to Sakura is adorable of course—Tomoyo is a true friend—but it’s more than that. She’s a completely original little person, and it’s just a joy to watch her exist. She’s as dear as can be here, but I think my favorite moment is in the last panel, when she greats the fairly terrifying true form of Cerberus with, “Have we met?”

So, readers… who are your favorite CLAMP women?


To submit your contributions to the CLAMP MMF for inclusion in this month’s archive, please send your links by email to melinda@mangabookshelf.com or via Twitter to @mbeasi. If you would like your contribution(s) to be hosted at Manga Bookshelf, please email them to Melinda, along with any included images.


Filed Under: 3 Things Thursday Tagged With: clamp, Manga Moveable Feast, MMF

CLAMP MMF Links: Day 2

July 25, 2012 by Melinda Beasi 3 Comments

Here is your roundup of links for Day 2 of the CLAMP Manga Moveable Feast!

From your host: I take some time to explain Why you should read Cardcaptor Sakura, including lots of pretty images and general sighing.

At The Manga Critic, Kate favors us with her 5 Favorite CLAMP Manga, including titles like X, Clover, and Shirahime-Syo: Snow Goddess Tales.

“Shirahime-Syo: Snow Goddess Tales is testament to CLAMP’s Borg-like ability assimilate any genre or artistic style and make it into their own. The three stories that comprise this slim volume are folkloric in tone and subject-matter, but expressed in a visual language that’s a beautiful synthesis of shojo manga and ukiyo print-making; the characters — with their pointy chins and artfully tousled hair — inhabit stark landscapes reminiscent of the Kishi and Shijo schools.”

Over at Heart of Manga, Laura reminisces about the first CLAMP manga she ever read, in Memorable Manga Moment: Chobits vol. 1.

Yesterday in reviews, Lori Henderson gives the first volume of Gate 7 a try at Manga Xanadu, Ayame spends some time with Tokyo Babylon at The Beautiful World, and Lexie (a girl after my own heart) takes a look at Cardcaptor Sakura at Poisoned Rationality.

That’s all the links for Tuesday! Stay tuned as the Feast continues!


To submit your contributions to the CLAMP MMF for inclusion in this month’s archive, please send your links by email to melinda@mangabookshelf.com or via Twitter to @mbeasi. If you would like your contribution(s) to be hosted at Manga Bookshelf, please email them to Melinda, along with any included images.


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Off the Shelf: Tokyo Babylon

July 25, 2012 by Danielle Leigh, Melinda Beasi and Michelle Smith 10 Comments


Warning: This roundtable contains spoilers for the entirety of Tokyo Babylon.

MELINDA: So, I’ll be honest, here. Though I am very anxious to see what the manga blogosphere has to say about CLAMP’s body of work as a whole, the biggest reason I proposed a CLAMP MMF in the first place was that I longed for an excuse to talk about my favorite CLAMP series, Tokyo Babylon.

As one of CLAMP’s earliest commercial works, Tokyo Babylon is certainly not their most deftly-plotted manga, nor their most polished—not by far. It is, however, one of their most honest manga, by which I mean that it contains a level of raw humanity and emotional truth that can be harder to find in some of their more sophisticated works.

And when it comes to things like “raw humanity” and “emotional truth,” who do I want to hash it out with? Why, The NANA Project, of course! This week, Michelle and I are pleased to welcome our NANA Project collaborator Danielle Leigh to the table for our MMF edition of Off the Shelf!

Welcome, Danielle, it’s so wonderful to have you here!

DANIELLE: Thanks so much for asking me to participate! We planned this so long ago but now that I’m rereading the project I found I’ve rediscovered my love of the title and, in a way, CLAMP as an artistic group. Even though parts of Tokyo Babylon are clumsy as hell I found myself really appreciating how well thought out the twists and turns were. For example, take all the artistic touches surrounding Seishirō anytime he appears in the work — CLAMP clearly knew who that character would be and what his backstory was from the very start.

And, okay, maybe the foreshadowing was heavy enough to drown in, sure, but there’s also a straightforward simplicity to how events play out that I feel CLAMP’s later titles would certainly benefit from (*cough* Tsubasa *cough*). It’s just refreshing to read a work and think, “yes, this plot was planned but not *forced.*”

MICHELLE: That was one thing I wanted to ask you two, actually. I pretty much learned about manga and CLAMP in the same breath, and because I asked a lot of questions, I was spoiled on the outcome of Tokyo Babylon before I ever read it. But, given that the foreshadowing is heavy-handed and starts at the end of volume one, was the reveal actually a surprise even to anyone who had not been spoiled?

MELINDA: For my part, I would say that the reveal of Seishirō as the Sakurazukamori was not remotely a surprise—nor do I think it was meant to be by that point. But what that ultimately meant for everyone involved was a huge surprise for me. I expected to find out that Seishirō was the “bad guy,” but I never expected his entire Seishirō-san persona to have essentially been a lie. I knew the truth, but I didn’t expect the consequences, if that makes sense.

DANIELLE: I was exposed to X/1999 (or the anime X) before I read this title so honestly I’m not sure if anyone would be *too* surprised about Seishirō being such a bad guy….but I think Melinda’s right. The consequences are so horrific when he finally takes off his nice guy mask that emotionally the whole thing *still* feels like a vicious punch to the gut.

MICHELLE: That’s a good way of putting it!

MELINDA: So, we’ve sort of accidentally started with the end of the series. Let’s back up a bit, so new readers can grasp what on earth it is we’re talking about!

For a series with such a sweeping title, Tokyo Babylon is a fairly intimate manga, in that it essentially has only three characters: Subaru, a shy 16-year-old onmyōji and head of the powerful Sumeragi clan; his twin sister, Hokuto; and Seishirō Sakurazuka, a kindly veterinarian whom the two Sumeragi twins have befriended. Other characters (like the twins’ grandmother, and a young woman Hokuto meets during adventures of her own) flow in and out of the story, along with a host of onmyōji customers and “monsters of the week,” but every real theme in this story revolves around these main three, and them alone.

All three characters are introduced in the first chapter, in which Subaru is finishing up a job exorcising the spirit of a young woman who committed suicide after being cruelly dumped by a womanizing celebrity. While Hokuto chastises Subaru for helping out such a creep, Seishirō points out Subaru’s kindness in freeing the young woman’s spirit for her own sake, establishing the trio’s dynamic pretty much immediately. As the series goes on, chronicling Subaru’s continued duties as an onmyōji, two things will remain consistent; Seishirō will express his love and admiration for Subaru’s selfless spirit, while Hokuto will wish desperately for him to abandon that selflessness just long enough to want something for himself—a wish that will ultimately have consequences far beyond her expectations.

Though the beginning of the series feels straightforwardly light and (rather awesomely) humorous, even its jokes—like Seishirō’s teasing “love” for Subaru—are pretty deeply nuanced, something that’s become even more apparent to me on this particular re-read.

(reads right-to-left — click images to enlarge)


DANIELLE: Melinda, you are much more generous about taking the opening premise and early characterization seriously than I am. When I was first introduced to the character I found I neither liked nor disliked Subaru and that in the early volumes both Hokuto and Seishirō behave in fairly cliched, and, to me, rather annoying ways. Hokuto often feels like the proto-yaoi fangirl (even though we find out about her deeper motivations much later on), while Seishirō plays the not-really-bad-wolf-in-veterinarian’s clothing (only later to be revealed as guilty of much, much worse than being a potential seducer of a 16 year old boy). Subaru is the empty center of the story and he lacks real definition for a very long time.

This all sounds terribly harsh but I firmly believe that all these characterizations are, in fact, carefully orchestrated by CLAMP to give the reader one hell of a payoff later on. And, of course, Subaru grows tremendously as a character over the course of the series. He starts of as a bit of a cipher (personality wise) and eventually develops real flaws, character traits, and deeper emotions.

MICHELLE: There’s definitely a sense of being lulled into a false sense of security. “Oh, nothing to see here. Just some disposable supernatural monster-of-the-week stories plus some fashion-conscious twin and a lot of BL teasing that results in Subaru taking pratfalls every three pages!” But we later learn that, with the exception of Subaru, everyone secretly had an agenda for acting the way they did, which is just marvelous.

MELINDA: I think why I’m so generous about this (to use Danielle’s words) is because my re-read convinced me that it was all incredibly brilliant, and it also helped me notice a lot of nuance that wasn’t apparent to me the first time around. I’m especially impressed with the way CLAMP handles Subaru.

One personal philosophy that is stated over and over again in this series (expressed by both Subaru and Hokuto at various times) is that no person can ever truly understand another person’s pain. Most often this idea is used to explain a lack of judgement made regarding other people’s choices and decisions and a respect for their uniquely painful circumstances. But while this philosophy seems on the surface to be a grand acknowledgement of individuality, Subaru takes it so much to heart that he not only refuses to make his mark on anyone else, he also resists becoming a fully realized individual himself, as though even that might be an affront to others. He lets other people dictate his movements, his feelings, his personal appearance—he is deliberately a non-entity. And while someone else as spiritually powerful as he is might do these things deliberately to facilitate deception, Subaru does this to avoid being an influence on anyone else. Once I realized that this was what he was doing, I could see it everywhere—along with Hokuto’s need to find a way to get him to rebel against it, even if it meant becoming involved with someone dangerous.

(reads right-to-left — click images to enlarge)


I’ll be honest—on this re-read I was kind of blown away by how carefully CLAMP crafted these characters, especially Subaru.

DANIELLE: I very much agree with your take on Subaru’s characterization with one important exception — I don’t think Subaru consciously understands a lot of his own choices and behaviors (in other words, I think CLAMP is being deliberate in their writing choices, rather than the character consciously making the choice to become a non-entity). Otherwise, I don’t think he would have such a shocking sense of emptiness, terror and guilt in the aftermath of Seishirō sacrificing his eye to save Subaru’s life. In those moments you can see him gradually awakening, with some desperate prodding by Hokuto, to his true self. Eventually he reaches the point where it all boils over and he basically realizes, “yes, I not only love Seishirō, but I’m also *in love* with him” (I’m just paraphrasing here). That’s the moment he reaches person-hood and it’s in that moment, of course, CLAMP tears it all down by having Seishirō reveal himself. God, it’s just so brutal.

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MICHELLE: Yeah, I do think it’s so deeply ingrained in him he doesn’t know he’s doing it. When one of his jobs takes him to the home of a former classmate who’s spent four months asleep to avoid a traumatic reality, we see a flashback to a very young Subaru taking the delinquents’ kicks originally meant for a stray dog. He’s perfectly willing to take on consequences himself if it means protecting someone or something else, but he’s horrified that someone would do something similar for him.

MELINDA: Perhaps I should have chosen my words more carefully, because the truth is, I agree! When I say he’s “deliberately” doing this, I don’t necessarily mean that he’s completely aware of why or even always when he is refusing to assert himself as an individual. But I still think that kind of behavior is deliberate. Somewhere inside him, Subaru has determined that he should not put himself forward in a way that impacts anyone else—maybe it’s a reaction to the amount of power he knows he possesses, or to being given such a heavy role in the world at so young an age, or something completely different—but even if he’s not aware of all the steps between that determination and the actions he takes every day, I feel that’s still a real choice.

Michelle, I’m reminded too of the scene in which Subaru is trying to help a group of girls who have been practicing amateur dark magic over a party line. This scene hit me especially hard after the fact because of Seishirō’s interference, which at the time feels like absolutely the correct reaction. As Subaru is voluntarily taking all sorts of damage in order to avoid hurting the girls, I found myself somehow on Seishirō’s side, unwilling to accept Subaru’s selflessness when it meant he’d be sacrificing himself to atone for someone else’s horrible mistakes. But of course, Seishirō’s motivations are entirely sinister, while Subaru’s alone are pure. The way that CLAMP stealthily aligns the reader’s sympathies with something that is ultimately evil in a scene like this is also part of what makes later events feel so brutal.

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This is also part of what makes Hokuto’s journey so moving and tragic, since we essentially find ourselves mirroring her own concerns for Subaru (or at least, I do), but unlike a lot of supporting female characters in manga featuring a male protagonist, she doesn’t only exist in the story for his sake. One of my favorite chapters in the entire series is one in which we get to see Hokuto’s life outside of Subaru’s (yes, she actually has one). In this chapter, Hokuto helps a young foreign woman escape from police, and in pretty spectacular fashion, too. Here, Hokuto—who is otherwise shown mostly in her role as Subaru’s caretaker and personal fashion designer—is a bona fide hero herself, showing up exactly when she’s needed to kick some serious ass. It’s the only chapter in which she appears on her own like this and I wish there were more, though I do appreciate the fact that later in the series when she’s headed out on a “date,” it’s implied that she’s meeting up with the woman she befriended at that time.

By about halfway through the series, I found I absolutely adored Hokuto—which of course made her end especially horrifying. What are your thoughts on her?

DANIELLE: Even though Hokuto has tried to distinguish herself from her brother—and to help give him the tools to do the same—I still feel like half of Subaru dies with Hokuto in the end. And I hate this feeling, because it goes against what the character herself says she stood for (i.e. that even though they are brother and sister, and twins, they are *not* the same person). On the other hand, I feel as though my inability to see her as separate from Subaru is also a consequence of that character failing to follow her own instructions. She gets so caught up in trying to give Subaru his own identity, I think she sacrifices parts of her own identity—not merely her own life—on his behalf.

(reads right-to-left — click images to enlarge)


MICHELLE: I was thinking along similar lines, actually. If one person is allowing their identity to be largely defined by another, that means there exists someone whose purpose it is to try to shape that person into what/who they think they should be. Which ultimately means Hokuto is a fairly selfless person, too.

Perhaps that’s why I so dearly loved the chapter where we see Hokuto help the foreign woman, because she suddenly comes so vibrantly and independently alive. I don’t think we even knew she had powers of her own up until that point—possibly because they are so modest that they wouldn’t be of help to Subaru on the job—but she is such a pure heroine in the other lady’s eyes that I wish we got to spend more time with her, to see how she truly sees the world when she’s not so desperately trying to save her brother.

MELINDA: You’re both brilliant, and (of course) right. And maybe what you’re getting at is something beyond either of the philosophies stated by Hokuto and/or Subaru over the course of the series. Perhaps both of their ideas are too simple to be useful.

While Hokuto is desperately trying to carve out identities for both herself and her brother as individuals and Subaru is desperately trying to have no identity at all, the truth is, they are both separable and inseparable at the same time. While they clearly are and must be individuals, they also can’t help being two parts of a single unit, and trying to define themselves entirely as either one or the other is simply not possible, or even desirable.

Is it wrong that they should need each other? I don’t think so. Nor is it wrong for them to be considerate to each other as individuals (this speech of Hokuto’s is one of my favorite things in the series, by the way). And in the end, the loss of either of them is inevitably devastating to the other. It would have to be. And even though I hate seeing what happened to Subaru over the loss of Hokuto (or contemplating the state Hokuto would have been in, had it ended up the other way around), I guess I can’t really wish for them to have been less important to each other. Can you?

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DANIELLE: And forgive the irreverence of the following comment, but what the hell are two 16 year olds doing with such trenchant life philosophies anyway? Oh, CLAMP. Even though Subaru looks like a teenager, he and Hokuto never really get to act like they are one (compared to say, Watanuki, who gets to throw tantrums, complain constantly, hold irrational grudges, and generally act like a pain in the ass. Every inch of him a teenager most of the time). Even when Hokuto’s doing silly things in a silly way for a very silly reason, there’s such an element of *seriousness* to it all. It kind of breaks my heart all over again.

MICHELLE: One wonders how much of a childhood they were actually able to have, with their parents gone and such heavy responsibility thrust upon Subaru so young.

It’s such a sad life for him, and one that doesn’t get any better. I’m not sure how much either of you have read or seen of X. I’ve seen the anime, but read only the first volume of the manga, and I’m not sure Melinda’s done either, or if she’s investigated to see what eventually becomes of Subaru.

MELINDA: I have read all of X/1999 (and didn’t care for it much, though I’m trying to let the new omnibus releases convince me that there’s more to it than just waiting for Subaru to show up), so I do know what becomes of Subaru, and you’re right, it really it does not get any better for him. There is more hope for alternate-universe vampire!Subaru in Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle (he at least gets to have a twin again), though of course that isn’t quite the same. I guess that’s an advantage to being a CLAMP character, though… you do get second chances, one way or another.

I actually wanted to talk a bit about both these characters in other CLAMP universes and also what traits Tokyo Babylon does and doesn’t share with other CLAMP series. While reading Cardcaptor Sakura alongside Tokyo Babylon for the purposes of the feast, I was struck by one of the funnier philosophies they share—that designing and creating outfits for someone might be the ultimate gesture of love. Comments?

DANIELLE: In spite of the fact this series is a prequel to X/1999 (and a kind of dress rehearsal for the relationship between Kamui and Fūma in that series) in my mind I connect it to xxxHolic more than CCS, Tsubasa or X/1999. But I think that’s an artistic link, rather than a character or thematic one, that’s going on in my head. Thinking it over, I feel like X/1999 is the sprawling, epically messy unleashing of the very carefully designed plot of Tokyo Babylon. The story is, in fact, so fantastically messy the damn thing — for whatever reason — can’t even be finished. I get the feeling I might be the only one here who is rather fond of X/1999 (or the anime X) but it’s a fondness that comes from appreciating how imperfect it is as a sequel and as a narrative work. In contrast, you could never use such a mild word as “fond” to describe how I feel about Tsubasa or xxxHolic (although for very different reasons).

I really like Melinda’s point, though….providing a friend or family member with a costume change is the ultimate act of love in the CLAMP universe! :-)

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MICHELLE: I’m not anti-X, but I feel oddly disconnected from it.

And yes, I am sure Hokuto and Tomoyo would get along fabulously. Hokuto could be a kind of mentor to her… it’d be great!

Of course, another theme that begins (I think) in Tokyo Babylon and proceeds to permeate CLAMP’s other works is the idea of “It’s all fun and games until someone loses an eye.” Seishirō loses his eye to protect Subaru, and then suddenly eyes are lost or swapping all over the place. It’s become such a CLAMP trademark that it’s actually a cliché now, sort of how people just stopped being surprised when Joss Whedon kills a character.

MELINDA: I admit I like the eye exchange in xxxHolic the best, but maybe that’s just because it was my first. Heh.

There are a lot of themes that run through CLAMP’s work as a whole, both visually and otherwise. One of the things I’m struck by with Tokyo Babylon, however, is how little it resembles its sequel, in every way, really. Danielle has already touched on this, in terms of structure and plot, but visually, too, they couldn’t be more different.

DANIELLE: Agreed. The reason I also think of X/1999 as messy is because it actually looks quite messy in comparison to the crisp, clear art of Tokyo Babylon. I absolutely love the art in Tokyo Babylon, it remains second only to xxxHolic in my own personal ranking of CLAMP styles. I think X/1999 pretty much begat Tsubasa, and my god does the art in that series drive me up the wall.

MICHELLE: I think “messy” is a great way to describe X, but for me it feels that way largely because of its huge cast, compared to the extremely intimate trio in Tokyo Babylon. Granted, I’ve not read the majority of the manga, but from what I’ve seen it looks like there’s just not time to get to know and care about everybody, there’s just so many people and so much going on in the scenes that the visuals can’t help but be all crowded and hectic. There’s no time for atmosphere, which Tokyo Babylon possesses in abundance.

I actually got used to the art in Tsubasa after a while—well, more or less—but the in-your-face gangliness of the character designs is not something I’ll ever be a fan of.

MELINDA: I think I may love the artwork in Tokyo Babylon even more than xxxHolic, but if so, it’s not by much. Both series are striking in their elegant storytelling, their stunning use of black, and a sort of woodblock sensibility that makes them feel somehow timeless. Even Tokyo Babylon‘s unapologetic 80s fashion sense manages to come off as elegant in CLAMP’s hands. xxxHolic also resembles Tokyo Babylon in its intimacy. Even though there are a greater number of vital characters, and obviously the story is much longer and wider in scope, the main setting of Yūko’s shop creates the same kind of private world Tokyo Babylon‘s characters live in.

DANIELLE: Honestly, Melinda sums up the ties I see between these series so beautifully I don’t have too much to add. I would just say if Yūko’s shop is is the centerpiece of xxxHolic, then Tokyo itself is basically the fourth character in Tokyo Babylon. Before the series gets almost claustrophobic in its tight focus on Subaru and Seishirō’s relationship, there’s a lot of pontificating in the omniscient narration about Tokyo as a kind of mirror of the human condition. It’s totally overblown and hokey, but that’s CLAMP. And I’m okay with it.

MICHELLE: That’s a great point, and you’re absolutely right. And a lot of the woes leading to the supernatural crises that Subaru is called upon to solve have something to do with Tokyo, from celebrities seducing pure-hearted girls to thugs running rampant in an apartment block, leading the residents to gossip about their misdeeds. It’s almost as if Subaru is having to clean up Tokyo’s messes.

I agree that visually (or perhaps the word I’m really looking for is stylistically), xxxHOLiC is probably the most similar to Tokyo Babylon of all CLAMP’s works. It feels like they really exhibited some restraint with these series. They didn’t go overboard with swirls and feathers and putting wings on everything, but kept things kind of understated and gloomy.

(reads right-to-left — click images to enlarge)


MELINDA: I certainly agree, Danielle, that CLAMP’s Tokyo parables are pretty hokey, though what makes it all worthwhile for me is the payoff in the final volume, where Seishirō mocks Subaru’s agony over his betrayal by saying, “Things like this happen in Tokyo every day.” With that one sentence, Seishirō manages to belittle not only Subaru’s feelings in the moment, but also basically every single time the two of them had ever talked about the city as they worked to help its many lost souls. It’s so cruel, but wow does he hit that on the nose. I’m not sure it would have had the same impact without the overblown narrative in those early volumes.

Another connection this series has with xxxHolic is the primary message being aimed at its protagonist by those who love him—Hokuto and (interestingly) Seishirō in the case of Tokyo Babylon and Yūko and Dōmeki in xxxHolic—that lesson being that it’s ultimately selfish and perhaps even hurtful to devalue and thoughtlessly sacrifice oneself for the sake of others. Ironically, it’s Seishirō who says this outright in Tokyo Babylon, after sacrificing his eye to save Subaru (whom he actually does not love at all), and given that irony, perhaps it’s fitting and meaningful somehow that, unlike Watanuki, Subaru never really gets the message.

DANIELLE: I must pause here to mention that Watanuki is my favorite CLAMP character of all time. Dōmeki is probably my second favorite.

Okay, here’s a question that’s been on my mind—do we really think Seishirō does not care for Subaru at all? And by “care” I mean have some interest in Subaru in his own evil, twisted fashion and not…you know. Anything resembling traditional human affection. Why in the world would he go so far in order to keep his original “bet” (that, honestly, he made with himself, not even with Subaru). Or am I letting knowledge of X/1999 cloud my reading of the prequel?

MICHELLE: “Care” has so many connotations of loving kindness, that it’s hard for me to even use the word in this context. I think Seishirō delights in tormenting Subaru, and that Subaru is his favorite plaything. So he’s not utterly unconcerned with him, by any stretch of the imagination. It still really bothers me that we don’t learn what he said to Subaru in X, and I’m not sure CLAMP ever intended to tell us, even before the series went on hiatus.

MELINDA: I think that’s a really fair question, Danielle, and seriously I just don’t even know. I don’t know how much we can trust everything that Seishirō says to Subaru at the end of the series. He claims to feel nothing at all for Subaru and to perceive no difference between him and a common household object, but then you’re right… what the hell? Why bother with the “bet” in the first place? Why didn’t he just kill Subaru the first time they met? And even if you (or we) are letting our knowledge of X get into the middle of this, I think that’s fair, since it is a canon continuation of this storyline.

I feel like… he’s lying. Or perhaps he doesn’t even quite realize that he’s lying, since he’s completely inexperienced when it comes to human emotion.

Also, I agree, Michelle. I really wish we knew what he said to Subaru at the end of their arc in X. It will haunt me forever, as these things do.

DANIELLE: CLAMP really loves to play with shadow selves and mirroring and Tokyo Bablyon is just *bursting* with mirroring imagery, particularly with Seishirō. Everything about his representation points to the existence of the dark identity he’s skillfully hiding (i.e. part of the foreshadowing we discussed earlier). But we never get a hint that the surface self he presents is bleeding into the hidden self. I think I would understand that character a bit more if we saw any tension or conflict in how he perceives and understands his own actions. But we never see that happen. At least in this series.

MICHELLE: Oh, now you’re making me think of a character in Cardcaptor Sakura, but I’m not sure how much I should say without knowing where certain reveals transpire or where Melinda is with the series!

MELINDA: I’ve read all of Cardcaptor Sakura, so you’re good to go.

MICHELLE: Oh, good! I was going to mention the dual identities of Yukito and Yue. Granted, Yue is not evil, but he is rather cold and unemotive, but has been hiding himself in the body of open and friendly Yukito for so long that some of Yukito’s feelings have begun to rub off on him, particularly as regards Tōya. And that’s something that doesn’t seem to have happened with Seishirō, who is able to just manipulate the Sumeragi twins without apparent qualm.

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MELINDA: I was thinking about that, too, Michelle, even though Yukito/Yue is such a drastically different character than Seishirō. I have to admit, the way that character is handled is so much more in line with what I expect from a shoujo manga than what CLAMP does with Seishirō.

You know, Danielle, I actually think what you just said about Seishirō is one of the reasons Tokyo Babylon was so surprising to me the first time I read it. I was relatively new to reading manga at the time, and I’d read a lot of shounen manga and a lot of fairly uplifting shoujo, and one of the things that nearly always happens in those series, is that characters we initially perceive as villains will turn around and become very sympathetic characters, by way of backstory or some other kind of revelation later on. The message driven home by that trope is that understanding is the key to learning to love someone, or perhaps that anyone can be granted salvation (of a sort) by way of understanding. These series are careful to always give us something to latch on to—to help us understand even the most seemingly depraved characters before the end.

Tokyo Babylon rips that trope to shreds by giving us nothing of the sort. Not only does the series end with unrepentant tragedy and despair, but there’s absolutely no sense that we should understand why it had to happen. There’s no redemption for Seishirō, because there’s not even the slightest hint of humanity for which we might feel sympathy. Seishirō’s motivations are inscrutable, he makes horrible things happen, and there is no understanding it (nor certainly any fixing it). The message of Tokyo Babylon is that sometimes people are just horrible, goodness does not always win, and our weaknesses may very well be exploited without any chance at all for us to learn from them. It’s a bleak, bleak message that I never expected to find in a shoujo manga series, and it left me absolutely wrecked as I finished it.

Of course, this was also kind of awesome.

So, I’ve talked a little here about my own personal response to Tokyo Babylon. I think you both know me well enough by now to know that it’s important to me to feel emotionally affected by a story, and I’m sure my strong emotional response to this series has a lot to do with why it’s such a favorite. Though it’s interesting to note that unlike so many favorite stories of mine, there isn’t a character I personally identify very deeply with—unlike, say, NANA, where I do find exactly that kind of touchstone in Nana Komatsu. I think I’m a more emotionally-driven reader than most, however, so I’d be curious to know what your own connections are with this series.

DANIELLE: I think my connection to this series is almost completely on the level of “that shit is entertaining.” Yes, I’m moved by what happens to Subaru and Hokuto but there’s also this *thrill* of reading a story where the creators aren’t afraid to just go for it. Melinda, you’ve beautifully analyzed your expectations versus experience of the work, but man. All I can say is, that was a really *good time*—that reading this story was, in its own way, *fun.* The older I get the more I realize how rare it is to be able to say that about a piece of popular entertainment. Too often we see the flaws and the cracks and all the random authorship-by-committee stuff that gets thrown into mass culture to make it palatable for too large an audience.

Here all I see is CLAMP pulling a ripcord I didn’t even realize was there. So, yeah…I second Melinda: It *is* kind of awesome.

MICHELLE: I feel similarly, Danielle, though for me there’s also a very powerful undercurrent of nostalgia, as Tokyo Babylon was one of the first manga series I ever heard about, and the first I was so excited to read that I bought the complete set in Japanese and scoured the internet for text translations.

But when I consider my response to the story itself, one of the things I’m most struck by is CLAMP’s chutzpah. I frequently wish that creators would be brave enough to go for the sad ending. It seems to me this doesn’t happen much anymore. Could this possibly be some Western influence creeping in? Now, granted, I’m not basing this on scholarly research or anything, but it seems to me that sad endings were more common in the past. Now even CLAMP seems to shy away from them—please note I say this without having read the endings of Tsubasa and xxxHOLiC, so please don’t spoil me!—if the way they handled Kobato. is any indication. There was the potential there for a bittersweet ending that would retroactively have cast the entire series in a more positive light for me, but they didn’t commit to it.

So while I lament that there aren’t more of these wonderfully, awesomely sad shoujo classics, I am very grateful for the perfect examples of same that do exist. (Aside from Tokyo Babylon, I am counting Banana Fish among them.)

MELINDA: You’ve rounded things out so nicely here, both of you. Thank you! And many thanks to you both as well for indulging my desire to dwell on this dark little series that has been such an enduring favorite of mine.

As we wrap things up, I’d like to make make one very heartfelt plea: We know that Dark Horse has acquired the license to reprint Tokyo Babylon in omnibus format, though the timeline has stretched quite a ways beyond what was originally reported. We know these releases take time and work, but… might it be soon? Pretty please?

It’ll be so lovely, won’t it?

MICHELLE: Very lovely indeed.


To submit your contributions to the CLAMP MMF for inclusion in this month’s archive, please send your links by email to melinda@mangabookshelf.com or via Twitter to @mbeasi. If you would like your contribution(s) to be hosted at Manga Bookshelf, please email them to Melinda, along with any included images.


Filed Under: OFF THE SHELF Tagged With: clamp, Manga Moveable Feast, MMF, roundtables, tokyo babylon

Why you should read Cardcaptor Sakura

July 24, 2012 by Melinda Beasi 6 Comments

It’s been quite a while since I sat down to write one of my “persuasion posts.” I’d nearly forgotten that my very first of these was for another work of CLAMP’s. Of course, the two series are about as different as they could be, yet both exhibit some of my favorite CLAMP-y traits, particularly CLAMP’s ability to create warm, believable relationships within an unbelievable setting. With that in mind, let’s talk about…

Cardcaptor Sakura was CLAMP’s second series (after Magic Knight Rayearth) to be published in the shoujo anthology Nakayoshi, and the first created from the start with Nakayoshi‘s sensibilities specifically in mind. Thus, the series’ heroine, Sakura, was written to be the same age as the magazine’s core readership and also as a magical girl, though CLAMP had little experience with the genre. Of course, CLAMP being CLAMP, they’d do this in their own way.

The Premise:

“Sometimes, when you read too much manga, you get jaded. You think you’ve seen it all; you think that a whole genre sucks, like battle manga or Boy’s Love manga or four-panel manga. At times like these, sometimes you just need to read one really good manga to realize that a good enough artist can make even the most stereotypical premise seem fresh. For me, when it comes to ‘magical girl’ manga, that manga is Cardcaptor Sakura by CLAMP.”

– Jason Thompson, ANN/Jason Thompson’s House of 1000 Manga

Fourth grader Sakura Kinomoto lives with her older brother Toyo and her widower dad in the fictional town of Tomoeda, Japan, not far outside Tokyo. Sakura is afraid of ghosts, hates math, is great at sports, and loves to eat pancakes. She’s also the official collector of the Clow Cards, a deck of magical cards accidentally released from a book Sakura found in her father’s study. She’s guided in her task by a cute, winged, teddy bear-like creature named Cerberus (usually referred to by Sakura as “Kero-chan”), guardian of the book and, like the cards themselves, a creation of the long-deceased sorcerer Clow Reed. Sakura is also generally accompanied by her best friend, Tomoyo, who designs and sews elaborate costumes for Sakura to wear on her magical girl adventures—and captures it all on video.

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If the above paragraph alone represented the entirety of Cardcaptor Sakura, it would already be the absolute dearest of all dear things in the world. But of course, there’s more.

Just as Sakura’s really getting the hang of the whole cardcaptor business, along comes Syaoran Li, a Chinese transfer student and direct descendent of Clow Reed, who has traveled to Tomoeda to capture the cards himself. Certain that an ordinary girl like Sakura is in no way up for the task, he follows her on all her adventures, sometimes helping out, but as time goes on and Sakura becomes more confident in her role, Syaoran spends more time simply being struck by the awesomeness of Sakura’s developing power which is ultimately far greater than his own.

Then there’s Yukito—a sweet, bespectacled young man who happens to be both Sakura’s brother’s best friend and (unbeknownst to Yukito) the “temporary” human form of Yue, second guardian of the Clow Cards and one thorny supernatural dude. Yue is also skeptical of Sakura’s abilities and unwilling to accept a new master of the Clow Cards, which forces Sakura into the position of having to win the right to his loyalty by defeating him in a fight—one that potentially poses grave consequences for Sakura and everyone she holds dear.

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But in Cardcaptor Sakura, even the most dire of dire situations is something that can be overcome. Sakura’s mantra, “I’m sure I’ll be all right!” is more than just an uplifting quasi-magical spell, it’s a philosophy of the manga as a whole. Scary circumstances may arise, possible villains appear, but the world is a warm and generous place, and even our deepest wounds can be healed with the help of loving friends.

The Relationships:

Sakura’s got a huge crush on sweet, unaffected Yukito who is (sadly for Sakura) already pretty well hung up on her brother. But Toya’s not the only rival for Sakura’s affections. Prickly Syaoran also becomes quite bothered in Yukito’s presence, much to his own dismay.

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Meanwhile, new British transfer student Eriol is showing lots of interest in Sakura, just as Syaoran begins to realize that Yukito may not be his heart’s desire after all. And rounding out all the romantic complication is smiling, devoted Tomoyo, whose best friend is oblivious to her affections—a reality that kindhearted Tomoyo is mature enough to take in stride.

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If this is all sounding kind of relationship-y and not all that magical-girl-y, well… it should. Though CLAMP makes fun and stylish use of Sakura’s supernatural journey, it’s her emotional journey that’s really the point of it all. Throughout the series, Sakura finds herself needing to re-evaluate her feelings for most of those nearest and dearest to her, as she becomes aware of the many different kinds of love she feels for them. This is the heart of Cardcaptor Sakura, and it’s one that absolutely shines.

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One of the things you’ll note, even just from reading this description, is that this series tends to treat its same-sex crushes and romantic relationships pretty much the same as its heterosexual crushes and romantic relationships—which is to say that they’re all pretty chaste, and all very readily accepted by Sakura, who for the most part acts as the series’ moral center.

Even in a CLAMP manga, this is pretty refreshing, for although CLAMP has several series that portray same-sex romantic love (Tokyo Babylon and Legal Drug spring immediately to mind), there’s a purity to Cardcaptor Sakura—and to Sakura herself—that keeps these relationships from ever reading as deviant or exotic, as they so often do in manga (including CLAMP manga like, say, Miyuki-chan in Wonderland). And while it would be inaccurate to attribute anything we might recognize as actual gay identity to the series’ portrayal of its same-sex pairings, this straightforward, innocent approach rings true for a character like Sakura, whose ideas about love are being formed, slowly but surely, right before our eyes.

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There’s a scene early in the second of the Dark Horse omnibus volumes, in which Sakura and a very embarrassed Syaoran are discussing their mutual feelings for Yukito. At the end of the conversation, Sakura arrives at this simple conclusion: “We can’t help it. We just… like him.” This is Sakura’s romantic worldview in a nutshell. She doesn’t know why people love who they love, or what any of it might mean in the eyes of her school, her town, Japan, East Asia, or humankind as a messy, divisive whole. She just knows that they do, and that’s more than enough for her. And with Sakura at the helm, it feels perfectly natural for her clear, unspoiled perspective to permeate the series overall.

Of course, romantic love is not the only variety on the table, and that’s one of the series’ strengths as well. Even the story’s romantic couples are decidedly friends first, and whatever “floaty” feelings may be buzzing around, it’s clear that those friendships stand strong, with or without anything more heart-throbbing behind them. Family relationships stand out as well, particularly Sakura’s relationships with her brother and her father—both of which are every bit as charming and throughly-written as her budding romantic adventures.

The Adorableness:

In our anniversary edition of Off the Shelf, David Welsh writes of Dark Horse’s first Cardcaptor Sakura omnibus,

I’ve already used the word “adorable” twice in this review, and you should gird yourself for me using it again, because this book is adorable in all of the best ways a thing can be adorable. The character designs? Adorable. The jokes and romance? Adorable. The sparkly, easy-to-read art? Adorable. It’s cheerful, heartwarming stuff that still manages to be thoughtful and exciting, and I can’t wait to read more of it, because, beyond being very endearing magical-girl manga, it seems like it might be heading interesting, even daring places.

As usual, David is not wrong. Cardcaptor Sakura is endlessly adorable. And by that I don’t mean “precious” or “saccharine” or anything like that, because Cardcaptor Sakura is none of those things. Nor is it any kind of grand satire or comment on the genre. It doesn’t need to be, because it’s just so skillfully created as exactly what it is. Cardcaptor Sakura is straight-out adorable—warm, heartfelt, genuinely cute, smart when it needs to be, and often funny.

Sakura? Adorable. Tomoyo and her costumes? So freaking adorable. Toya and Yukito? Dreamy and adorable. Syaoran crushing on Yukito and Sakura? Absolutely, positively adorable.

And while the main cast is, as I’ve said, extremely adorable, CLAMP doesn’t skimp when it comes to supporting characters, either. Most of Cardcaptor Sakura‘s minor characters are just as charming and idiosyncratic as its leads. Particular favorites of mine, for instance, are Sakura’s classmates Chiharu and Yamazaki. The two have been a couple since kindergarten, and much of their page time in the series is spent with Yamazaki conveying completely made-up facts to the other children while Chiharu rolls her eyes affectionately. Later, British transfer student Eriol joins in, much to Yamazaki’s delight. Observe:

(read right-to-left, click images to enlarge)



The Books:

The out-of-print TOKYOPOP books are becoming difficult to find, but fortunately as of September 26th, the entire series will be available in Dark Horse’s beautiful omnibus editions—worth the wait if you don’t already own the series (and probably even if you do). The omnibus editions come in a wonderful large trim size, printed on beautiful, smooth, white paper that shows off CLAMP’s delicate line work to its greatest advantage. Each volume contains beautiful color pages, including bonus images at the end of each omnibus, like these lovely drawings of Yue and Cerberus in their true forms.

I’m looking forward to changing out my older copies of the last three volumes for Dark Horse’s shiny new omnibus, and I plan to reread the entire series as soon as that volume is released.

Won’t you join me?


To submit your contributions to the CLAMP MMF for inclusion in this month’s archive, please send your links by email to melinda@mangabookshelf.com or via Twitter to @mbeasi. If you would like your contribution(s) to be hosted at Manga Bookshelf, please email them to Melinda, along with any included images.


Filed Under: FEATURES Tagged With: cardcaptor Sakura, clamp, Manga Moveable Feast, MMF, persuasion posts

Pick of the Week: CLAMP Edition

July 23, 2012 by Melinda Beasi, Michelle Smith and Sean Gaffney 4 Comments

MELINDA: With the CLAMP MMF now upon us, and a fairly skimpy showing at Midtown Comics this week, I asked my fellow bloggers if they’d like to devote today’s Pick of the Week to favorite/recommended CLAMP series. Happily, they agreed!

Since I will be talk about my favorite CLAMP series ad nauseum this week, I’ll turn things over to Michelle and Sean, to let them make their picks first.

MICHELLE: I’ve decided to let nostalgia rule the day on this one and choose Cardcaptor Sakura, which is not only the first CLAMP manga I ever read, but the first manga I ever read, period (in a bilingual Kodansha edition, if you’re curious). It boasts an insanely likeable cast, many of whom are still among my favorite CLAMP characters—my eleven-year-old Kero-chan cellphone strap is still going strong!—and a story that’s touching, uplifting, and something you can feel comfortable loaning your friend’s daughter.

The anime is also a lot of fun—I distinctly remember visiting my local mall’s Suncoast to pick up each new installment on DVD—and is probably the one occasion where I liked that there was added filler. I am also going to shamelessly use this space to heap some love on the CLAMP School Detectives anime, which I adore, and which includes material from the manga of the same name as well as Duklyon and Man of Many Faces. We don’t really see CLAMP like this anymore, and I’ll always be fond of it.

SEAN: Before there was Kodansha Comics and Tsubasa/xxxHOLIC, before there was Tokyopop’s volumes of Cardcaptor Sakura and Legal Drug, there was Mixxzine. And with Mixxzine came Magic Knight Rayearth. Still one of my favorite CLAMP series, as well as one of the few times they revisited characters to make them *happier*. This RPG-styled fantasy combined the best of D&D role-playing and giant robot fighting, wrapping it up in a surprisingly serious storyline. The 2nd half gets a bit overly complex, but still not nearly as complex as their later works. Sometimes it’s best to just enjoy iconic, simple shoujo action.

MELINDA: Well, since nobody else has snatched it up, I’ll take this opportunity to recommend my (still) favorite CLAMP series, Tokyo Babylon. I’ve written about it fairly extensively in the past (and you’ll see much more of this come Wednesday), but besides the heart-wrenching story and stylish artwork, another thing Tokyo Babylon has going for it is length. At just seven volumes, it’s both short enough for nearly anyone to swallow and long enough to be genuinely satisfying. The original TOKYOPOP volumes may be getting hard to find, but with Dark Horse’s promised omnibus release presumably on its way, there’s fresh hope for us all!


Readers, what CLAMP title would you most recommend during this month’s Manga Moveable Feast?

Filed Under: PICK OF THE WEEK Tagged With: clamp, Manga Moveable Feast, MMF

CLAMP MMF: Introduction & CLAMP Directory

July 23, 2012 by Melinda Beasi 10 Comments


Whether you’re a devoted fan of the four-woman creative team known as CLAMP, a vehement anti-fan, or somewhere in-between, one thing that’s difficult to deny is CLAMP’s enduring presence in the North American manga market. Of their twenty-something commercially published series (and who knows how many single volumes and short stories), a whopping twenty-two of them have seen their way to North America, by way of American manga publishers TOKYOPOP, VIZ Media, Del Rey Manga, Yen Press, and Dark Horse Manga.

CLAMP began as an eleven-member doujinshi circle in the mid-1980s, creating fanworks of Masami Kurumada’s Saint Seiya and Yōichi Takahashi’s Captain Tsubasa before being discovered by an editor from Shinshokan’s idiosyncratic shoujo anthology, Wings. Wings began publication of the group’s first professional work, RG Veda, in 1989, followed by Tokyo Babylon in 1990. Genki Comics and Kadokawa Shoten’s Monthly Asuka also jumped in early on the CLAMP bandwagon, with titles like Man of Many Faces, Duklyon: Clamp School Defenders, CLAMP School Detectives, and Tokyo Babylon‘s epic (unfinished) spinoff series, X.

Since then, the group’s final configuration of four—writer Nanase Ohkawa and artists Tsubaki Nekoi, Satsuki Igarashi, and Mokona— have had their work serialized in such disparate publications as the otaku mish-mash Newtype, the shoujo classic Nakayoshi, the seinen cheesecake-mag Young, and the popular shounen anthology Weekly Shōnen Magazine, among others.

Much has been written in English about CLAMP since their 1995 North American debut (VIZ’s X/1999 six-issue miniseries), and the English-language blogosphere contains far more learned CLAMP scholars than I, so I’ll avoid simply paraphrasing their work. Instead, as an introduction to the CLAMP Manga Moveable Feast, I’ll provide here an overview of CLAMP’s works in English, with quotes and links to reviews from around the manga blogosphere and beyond.


Manga Bookshelf’s CLAMP Directory

RG VEDA (Wings, 1989 – 1996) Published in English by TOKYOPOP, RG Veda was CLAMP’s first professionally published manga, though it did not make its way to North America until 2005. Complete in ten volumes, RG Veda is a sprawling fantasy-adventure steeped in Vedic mythology. Currently out of print.

From Carlos Santos at Anime News Network, “Even in their first book, CLAMP’s florid art style is already fully developed, filling each page with broad-shouldered men, sharp facial features and expressive eyes. Principal artist Mokona Apapa shows great confidence in her linework, rendering the characters with dramatic expressions and poses. These characters look awfully alike, though—”that dude with the dark, wavy hair” could be any one of three or four possible candidates. In fact, it might not even be a dude. RG Veda has its share of androgynous characters, and while Ashura has the excuse of being a young child, Kujaku is just plain confounding. On the other hand, there’s no confusion with the page layouts, which take a straightforward storytelling approach. Even as the panels change in size and shape to fit the action, it’s easy to see what’s going on. Occasional full-page spreads add impact to the artwork, as do the lush backgrounds and exotic outfits that define the land of Tenkai.”

MAN OF MANY FACES (Newtype, 1990 – 1991) Inspired by the works of Edogawa Rampo, this short series (published in English by TOKYOPOP) chronicles the adventures of nine-year-old master thief Akira Ijyuin. Complete in two volumes. Currently out of print.

From Michael Hopcroft at RPGnet: “All in all, ‘Man of Many Faces’ is a simple case of a team that usually writes more serious fare setting out to create a manga that just plain fun to read. The artwork is brilliant as usual, the storyline is as serious as a herd of weasels (i.e. not very serious at all), and there will be times when you will be tempted to laugh out loud in places where laughing out loud might not be such a good idea. But CLAMP’s gift for characterization has not deserted them either. Akira and Utako are very interesting characters who have an extremely interesting Romeo-and-Juliet dynamic, especially for their age (Utako is 6, Akira is 9). This is evidently going to be a short series – only two volumes long – and while the second volume has not been translated yet, it will apparently finish the series with the characters much older. An interesting trick, but if anyone can pull it off it’s CLAMP.”

TOKYO BABYLON (Wings, 1990 – 1993) Published in English by TOKYOPOP, Tokyo Babylon is a supernatural detective series about a young onmyōji, Subaru Sumeragi, and the consequences of his learning to love. Complete in seven volumes. Currently out of print. Licensed (but not yet available) for omnibus release by Dark Horse Manga.

From Melinda Beasi at Comics Should Be Good: “With its beautiful, clean imagery and striking use of black, Tokyo Babylon is unmistakably CLAMP’s work, though again, it doesn’t show the maturity of their later work, or even X/1999 which began its run before Tokyo Babylon was completed. As early as this work is, however, the visual storytelling is extremely effective, with the same intuitive panel layouts and creative use of space that makes all of CLAMP’s work both a pleasure to look at and easy to read. The artwork shines in black and white, capturing perfectly the stark drama and lurking melancholy of the series, and the story’s seven volumes feel truly epic, largely on the strength of its visuals … For fans of CLAMP’s newer work, Tokyo Babylon provides a glimpse into the group’s past which will be both compelling and familiar. For new readers, it is a great introduction to the CLAMP universe, in all its complex beauty.”

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CLAMP SCHOOL DETECTIVES (Monthly Asuka, 1992 – 1993) Published English by TOKYOPOP, Clamp School Detectives is a humorous, episodic series about three elementary school boys and their quest to improve life for their school’s female population through their clever detective work. Complete in three volumes. Currently out of print.

From Lissa Pattillo at Kuriousity: “Overall, CLAMP School Detectives delivers heart-filled mysteries and charming interaction that’s great for a happy-day pick me up. As far as mysteries go, it’ll leave readers more full of warm feelings than edge of their seat suspense, so to each their own in that regard. It’s a definite must read for CLAMP fans who’ve enjoyed any others of the era, such as Man of Many Faces and Dukylon, as the pages are full of relevant character introductions and background cameos. Readers of their newer series, Tsubasa, may find interest in seeing where some of the characters there came from too. This series is one of my favourites and I was delighted to go back to it after all this time. I’ve reread it what feels like a hundred times and it never ceases to bring a smile to my face!”

DUKLYON: CLAMP SCHOOL DEFENDERS (Kadokawa Shoten, 1992 – 1993) Published in English by TOKYOPOP, this series once again takes place at the Clamp School, this time featuring teenaged superheros Kentarou Higashikunimaru and Takeshi Shukaido, who are called upon to fight dangerous foes. Complete in two volumes. Currently out of print.

From Megan Lavey at Mania.com: “The adventures are pretty standard – so standard that they get old very quick. Each chapter consists of Kentaro and Takeshi goofing around, the General saying there’s a mission, Duklyon transforming and encountering the Imonoyama Shopping District Association, fighting some weird monster and then a short epilogue. All of the chapters are self-contained and, frankly, if you read the first chapter, you’ve pretty much read the entire book … There are some bright spots in here. The last chapter pits Duklyon against the Man of 20 Faces (aka Akira from Clamp School Detectives and his own book), and it’s a very funny fight … If you’re going to read this book, take it for what it is – poking fun at general manga storylines and as a foray into the ultimate childhood dream.”

SHIRAHIME-SYO: SNOW GODDESS TALES (Haru Pretty, 1992) Published in English by TOKYOPOP, this single-volume manga contains three quite tragic short stories revolving around the “Shirahime” (“white princess”), told in the style of legend. Complete in one volume. Currently out of print.

From Katherine Dacey, in an interview with David Welsh at the now-defunct Comic World News, preserved here by Fandemonium CLAMP: “I’m also very fond of Snow Goddess Tales. The images in that volume bear traces of eighteenth and nineteenth-century Japanese scroll painting techniques. They’ve got a beautiful, spare quality that serves the folkloric subject matter and tone perfectly. It’s a great book to give an adult reader who associates manga with Pokemon or Gundam because it really showcases the expressive possibilities of the medium … another one-volume wonder that just doesn’t get enough love from all those Card Captor fans”

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© 2001 CLAMP, English edition © 2003 TOKYOPOP

THE LEGEND OF CHUN HYANG (Hakusensha, 1992-1994) Published in English by TOKYOPOP, The Legend of Chun Hyang is loosely based on a popular Korean folk tale, though reviewers have mentioned that little is retained from that tale but the name. Only three chapters long in Japanese, this manga was released in English in a single volume. Currently out of print.

From Dusky Fey at Anime Planet: “As expected on CLAMP, all the people all lean and tall with detailed clothing. The highlight of this volume is, without a doubt, the rain dance of the priestesses. It’s absolutely gorgeous! There are some pretty solid fights in here, and the way that magic and enchanted weapons are woven into the cultural fabric is exquisite.The connection between Chun Hyang and Mong Ryong doesn’t fully develop in this volume. Their relationship, or the hint of it that we see, reminds me of Sango and Miroku in InuYasha, though I think Chun Hyang uses violence a bit too easily … I wish there was more here! One volume is not enough to really appreciate the growing love, but the manga that’s presented here is amazing.”

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Chun Hyang image from Clamp no Kiseki, © 2005 CLAMP, English edition © 2008 TOKYOPOP

X (X/1999) (Monthly Asuka, 1992 – unfinished) Published in English by VIZ Media, originally as a six-issue miniseries, followed by serialization in their Animerica and Animerica Extra magazines, a full release of the graphic novel series, and currently as a new series of lush omnibus editions, X (sometimes X/1999) began as a spinoff of Tokyo Babylon, featuring a large cast, elaborate battles, and an epic, complex struggle between good and evil. Unfinished at 18 volumes. Older editions are out of print, but VIZ’s omnibus release is currently ongoing.

From Shaenon Garrity at ANN/Jason Thompson’s House of 1000 Manga: “Of all CLAMP manga, X just may be the CLAMPiest … Relentlessly dark, intense, and humorless, X disturbed many readers—not to mention parents who flipped through their daughters’ copies of Asuka. From the beginning, the magazine received complaints about the manga’s content … X often seems like a catalog of characters and arresting images in search of a story. The thin plot thread is in constant danger of getting totally lost amid the characters and their countless side stories, and it’s never clear if all the symbolism means anything, or if it’s just there because it looks good … In the end, the central theme of X is the nature and need for human connection.”

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MAGIC KNIGHT RAYEARTH, Magic Knight Rayearth II (Nakayoshi, 1993-1996) First published in English by TOKYOPOP, and recently re-released in omnibus form by Dark Horse Manga, Magic Knight Rayearth (and its sequel Magic Knight Rayearth II) tells the story of three schoolgirls plucked from their ordinary lives in order to become the Legendary Magic Knights, the only beings capable of saving the magical world of Cephiro. Though the original TOKYOPOP editions are out of print (complete in six volumes), Dark Horse’s complete two-volume omnibus is currently available.

From Katherine Dacey at The Manga Critic: “Shonen manga in drag — that’s my quick-and-dirty assessment of CLAMP’s Magic Knight Rayearth, a fantasy-adventure that adheres so closely to the friendship-effort-victory template that it’s easy to forget it ran in the pages of Nakayoshi. A closer examination reveals that Rayearth is, in fact, a complex, unique fusion of shojo and shonen storytelling practices … Fuu, Umi, and Hikaru prove just as adept at repelling surprise attacks and killing monsters as their shonen manga counterparts; though all three girls experience pangs of self-doubt, they show the same steely resolve in combat that Naruto, Ichigo, and InuYasha do.”

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MIYUKI-CHAN IN WONDERLAND (Newtype Magazine, 1993 – 1995) Published in English by TOKYOPOP, Miyuki-chan in Wonderland is a collection of short yuri manga set loosely in the world of Lewis Carroll’s Wonderland. Complete in one volume. Currently out of print.

From Erica Friedman at Okazu: “Miyuki-chan is a collection of 6 short, service-filled stories of hapless high school girl Miyuki, as she wanders through dreamscapes loosely based on Lewis Carroll’s iconic works, games and CLAMP’s own work. All of these are filled with primarily female characters, mostly adult, and almost all focused on feeling Miyuki up or stripping her down. A psychological reading of the book could easily attribute all sorts of pent-up lesbian feelings to Miyuki but, as she’s completely fictitious, we have to just assume that CLAMP really likes drawing women in underwear … The Yuri in this manga is really Yuri – there are no lesbians here. Just fictitious female beings groping a fictitious female character. There’s no emotion at all involved, unless you count titillation as an emotion.”

THE ONE I LOVE (Kadokawa Shoten, 1995) Published in English by TOKYOPOP, this set of twelve short manga stories and essays follows various female characters through their experiences with falling in love. Complete in one volume. Currently out of print.

From Mikhail Koulikov at Anime News Network: “From a purely technical standpoint, if looked at as an exercise in visual storytelling under very restricting conditions, this is an extremely interesting work. The task that needs to be accomplished is simple: tell a complete story in no more than seven pages. Of course, manga as a visual medium is uniquely suited to accomplishing such a task, since within those seven pages, there are no limits on panel number, shape, or layout. Some pages feature a simple and straight-forward layout of rectangular panels—but there are plenty of others where the layouts are much more dynamic, almost cinematic … Many readers will find it charming, not necessarily funny or memorable, but an enjoyable read nonetheless, but there are plenty of others for whom it will hold no interest whatsoever.”

CARDCAPTOR SAKURA (Nakayoshi, 1996 – 2000) Originally published in English by TOKYOPOP, and currently being released in omnibus format by Dark Horse Manga, Cardcaptor Sakura is a magical girl manga about a fourth grader named Sakura, as she works to collect all of the mysterious Clow Cards that have been accidentally released into the world. The original twelve-volume release from TOKYOPOP (divided into two parts—Cardcaptor Sakura and Cardcaptor Sakura: Master of the Clow), is out of print, with the new Dark Horse Omnibus releases still ongoing (four in total).

From David Welsh at Manga Bookshelf’s Off the Shelf: “I’ve already used the word “adorable” twice in this review, and you should gird yourself for me using it again, because this book is adorable in all of the best ways a thing can be adorable. The character designs? Adorable. The jokes and romance? Adorable. The sparkly, easy-to-read art? Adorable. It’s cheerful, heartwarming stuff that still manages to be thoughtful and exciting, and I can’t wait to read more of it, because, beyond being very endearing magical-girl manga, it seems like it might be heading interesting, even daring places.”

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© 2010 CLAMP, English edition published by Dark Horse Manga by arrangement with Pyrotechnist Co., Ltd.

WISH (Asuka Comics DX, 1997 – 1998) Published in English by TOKYOPOP, Wish is a whimsical tale of angels, demons, humans, and love. Complete in four volumes. Currently out of print.

From Jennifer Tanko at Better Read: “… there will always be one book series that I hold in the highest regard, and that’s “Wish” from the people at CLAMP … ‘Wish’ to me exemplifies exactly what’s best about the genre with a complex storyline that combines elements of the monotheistic structure of Christianity with the nature-based spiritualism of Shinto and boasts some of the most stunning art I’ve ever seen … Beauty, trees, the four elements; “Wish” combines the cooler parts of Eastern and Western to create something stunning. Turning a page is like being at a stylized art exhibit. Since the series is so short and thus requires less commitment, I really recommend it for anyone. If you’re looking for something new and different or just haven’t stumbled onto in your encounters with this particular genre, ‘Wish’ is more than worth it.”

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CLOVER (Amie, 1997 – 1999) Published in English by Dark Horse Manga, Clover was left unfinished in Japan after the demise of Amie magazine. The story is a dystopian fantasy involving government control of children with special powers. Originally licensed by TOKYOPOP, but never completed, the license was rescued by Dark Horse Manga, and is currently available in full in one omnibus edition.

From Deb Aoki at About.com: “With its dramatic use of black and white, typography, innovative page compositions and plot structure, Clover is a story that seduces and perplexes. It’s undeniably gorgeous, but clarity can be elusive … Clover rewards repeated readings, because your first encounter will leave you dazzled by its visual artistry and slightly confused by its unconventional story. Your second read will allow you to sort out the intertwined relationships and see how each characters’ tragic destiny is revealed, then echoed in subsequent chapters … Elegant and poetic, Clover is more than a sci-fi / romance manga; it’s a fascinating experiment in visual storytelling that seduces the eye and touches the heart.”

ANGELIC LAYER (Shōnen Ace, 1999 – 2001) Originally published in English by TOKYOPOP, and licensed (but not yet released) for omnibus editions by Dark Horse Manga, Angelic Layer is a science fiction manga about a game in which humans compete using man-made dolls called “Angels.” It is set in the same universe as their later series, Chobits. Complete in five volumes. Currently out of print.

From Alison Kotin at Teenreads: “CLAMP’s drawings of the angels of Angelic Layer are riveting — beautiful captures of speed, agility, and dancer-like grace. Next to them the human “deus” controllers seem young and awkward. Don’t be fooled, however — these girls’ powers of concentration and imagination are honed to razor-sharpness! The world of Angelic Layer is enticing for its glamour and excitement, but also as a place where anyone can become a fantastic sports competitor without possessing any special physical prowess. In these fights quick thinking and street smarts are what separate the winners — if only things had been the same on my 7th grade basketball team!”

SUKI: A LIKE STORY (Monthly Asuka, 1999 – 2000) Published in English by TOKYOPOP, Suki is the story of a childlike teen named Hina who lives along with two teddy bears. The title refers to the Japanese phrase, “Suki, Dakara Suki,” “I like you, that’s why I like you.” The series explores the complications that arise as naive Hina develops a crush on her 20-something homeroom teacher. Complete in three volumes. Currently out of print.

From Johanna Draper Carlson at Manga Worth Reading: “Hina’s innocence is well portrayed without becoming stupid or cloying … The three books in this series trace her growth from liking to love, as she explores the emotion her neighbor raises in her. We also learn why she lives alone and how her neighbor is more than he seems. Her childlike innocence protects her from the very real dangers she faces, and her joy of living inspires those around her. Suki is a modern fairy tale, but it’s affecting all the same. If only more people could be so honest and open with themselves and others.”

LEGAL DRUG (Monthly Asuka, 2000-2003) Published in English by TOKYOPOP, this BL-tinged supernatural mystery series set in a pharmacy has been unfinished in Japan since 2003. It has resumed serialization under a new name (Drug and Drop) and for a new demographic in the seinen magazine Young Ace. The new version has not yet been licensed for North American release. Originally released by TOKYOPOP in three volumes. Currently out of print.

From Melinda Beasi at Manga Bookshelf: “As Kazahaya and Rikuo give off a definite Watanuki/Doumeki vibe, so do Kakei and Saiga evoke visions of Tsubasa‘s Fai and Kurogane, though in this case, what many readers see as subtext in the relationship between the later incarnations of these character types is clearly text in Legal Drug. … Sadly, with the series unfinished (perhaps indefinitely), there is an incredible amount of mystery left unsolved in this story. The art, as always, is fantastic, though more plain than something like xxxHolic. The clarity of CLAMP’s panels, with their generous white space and striking use of black, is one of the reasons I love reading their manga so much.”

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CHOBITS (Young Magazine, 2001 – 2002) Originally published in English by TOKYOPOP, and re-released in omnibus format by Dark Horse Manga, Chobits follows the story of hapless student Hideki Motosuwa, who accidentally comes into possession of a beautiful young android called “Chi.” Though TOKYOPOP’s original 8-volume release is out of print, Dark Horse’s omnibus editions are currently available and complete in two volumes.

From Sean Gaffney at A Case Suitable for Treatment: “There’s a whole lot of philosophizing in this 2nd volume of Chobits, and it would be interminable (it verges on it already) were it not for the fact that the quartet do make me succeed in pondering whatever it is the characters talk about, at length, in the 2nd half of this series, be it the nature of humanity, what love really means, or simply how much of this is a metaphor about otaku and their love for toys. As I noted in the review of the first omnibus, this was an experiment for CLAMP, their first seinen series geared towards young men, and as such it’s a bit of a flawed success.”

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XXXHOLIC (Young Magazine, 2003 – 2010, Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine, 2010 – 2011) Published in English by Del Rey Manga, xxxHolic tells the story of Kimihiro Watanuki, a teenager who makes a deal to work as a part-time housekeeper for a woman who grants wishes, in order to one day be free from his ability to see spirits. Complete in 19 volumes. Currently available in full. Note: xxxHolic crosses over with Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle.

From Ed Sizemore at Manga Worth Reading: “I love XxxHoLiC. Of the currently running manga, this is, hands down, my favorite. I confess to being completely emotionally invested in the series. CLAMP has created wonderful characters and a rich fascinating universe. … Good occult comics are hard to come by and XxxHoLiC ranks among the best. CLAMP have proven time and again they are master storytellers. XxxHoLiC is further proof of how meticulously they craft every aspect of a manga. This is one of few comics I would call perfect. Mysticism is not everyone’s cup of tea. Still, I recommend everyone pick up at least one volume of this series to experience the comic art form at its best.”

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TSUBASA: RESERVOIR CHRONICLE (Weekly Shōnen Magazine, 2003-2009) Published in English by Del Rey Manga, Tsubasa repurposes its hero and heroine from Cardcaptor Sakura, placing them in an alternate universe in which Sakura is the princess of the Kingdom of Clow, loved by her childhood friend Syaoran, who must help reunite her with her lost soul. Complete in 28 volumes. Currently available in full. Note: Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle crosses over with xxxHolic.

From Michelle Smith at Soliloquy in Blue: “It’s not a surprise that when CLAMP does shounen, they don’t do it like everyone else. In most shounen series I’ve read, characters aren’t allowed to undergo such fundamental changes as have occurred in these last couple of volumes of Tsubasa. There’s also lots of rather subtle character growth and interaction, too, especially between Fai and Kurogane. I love every scene where these two are together—okay, part of it may be “squee, they’re so in love!” but there’s a lot more to it than that. Fai’s struggle to stay remote and unconnected is particularly fascinating to me … Again, I urge people not to judge this series based on its early volumes—I think it’s starting to become one of my favorites by CLAMP.”

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KOBATO. (Newtype, 2006 – 2011) Published in English by Yen Press, Kobato is a sweet, pretty girl with a very big secret. She’s under contract with a mysterious supernatural power, and must fill a bottle with the hearts of people whom she’s healed. Kobato is watched over by her dog-like companion, Ioryogi, who is more fierce than his form would imply. Complete in six volumes. Currently available in full.

From Snow Wildsmith at ICv2: “Manga powerhouse group CLAMP kicks off a comedy series with this volume, but fans will need to hang on for the next one to get the full grasp of where the story is going. Kobato’s tale dives right into the thick of things, without any explanation of who Kobato or Ioryogi are or why Kobato doesn’t really understand the rules of human behavior. Along the way hints are dropped, drawing readers into the story. The humor is light and very silly, fashioned a little like manzai, the traditional Japanese comedy style … The art is as airy as the story and Kobato’s clothes will have fashion-minded readers drooling. References to alcohol and prostitution, as well as some language, make this for teens.”

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© 2008 CLAMP, English translation © 2010 Hachette Book Group, Inc., rights granted by arrangement with KADOKAWA SHOTEN, CO., LTD.

GATE 7 (Jump Square, 2011 – ongoing) Published in English by Dark Horse Manga, Gate 7 tells the story of Chikahito Takamoto, a high school student with hidden spiritual powers, who finds himself mixed up with a strange set of people as he travels to Kyoto to pursue his interest in Japanese history and folklore. This series is currently in serialization in Japan, and two volumes have been released so far in English.

From Rebecca Silverman at Anime News Network: “If you have never read a Clamp series before, you have more of a chance of enjoying this one. It features many of the things that have contributed to their enduring popularity as mangaka: beautiful, androgynous characters, mystic overtones, cryptic commentary, and devotion to detail. If you’ve been a reader of the group for a while, however, you may find yourself less thrilled, as Gate 7 really does nothing new and with its emphasis on Kyoto, noodle dishes, and historic figures isn’t the most easily accessible series for Western audiences. It may be too soon to really judge, but as of the end of volume one, Gate 7 is a healthy dose of more of the same done the same way Clamp has always done things.”

(click image to enlarge)

CLAMP resources online:

Wikipedia
Chibi Yuuto’s CHRoNiCLEs (LiveJournal)
Anime News Network
CLAMP-Net (Japanese)


To submit your contributions to the CLAMP MMF for inclusion in this month’s archive, please send your links by email to melinda@mangabookshelf.com or via Twitter to @mbeasi. If you would like your contribution(s) to be hosted at Manga Bookshelf, please email them to Melinda, along with any included images. Contributions to the CLAMP MMF will be archived here.

Let the Feast begin!

Filed Under: FEATURES Tagged With: clamp, Manga Moveable Feast, MMF

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