xxxHolic, and Clamp stuff in general

[Entr0pi3]

Among the manga I'm currently reading, xxxHolic is one of my favorite series (I just got the 6th volume yesterday). And quite possibly my favorite Clamp series evAer (along with Clover and Tokyo Babylon)
Anyone else reading it?
...
I'm pretty sure some of you guys know at least about some Clamp stuff, so come and discuss it in this thread, now!

And if you guys want some precise details on xxxHolic awesomeness, just ask (maybe then I'll write a real review or something...)

[Asaroth Larot]

I am
Havent read 6 yet

havent read tokyo babylon or Clover though

currently I'm trying to pick up more of the Suikoden 3 manga

[Jeff 2G6]

Wtf kind of name is xxxholic?

Anyway I've never read/watched it.

I know one thing is for sure though, Tsubasa is fucking booooooooooooring. What a piece of shit.

[Entr0pi3]

xxxHolic reads Cross-Holic, I've read.
Nothing to do with "XXX" material.

I've seen people speculating that the name meant "Anything"-Holic (since xxx = blank space, in japanese), which could somehow make sense in the first volumes, since the stories would more or less deal with addictions - however I don't think the theory holds for the following volumes.

Another theory being Cross is short for "Cross-over", which seems to make a little bit more sense, considering characters from other Clamp series make cameo appearances (or are at least refered to by one of the main characters), and that the whole xxxHolic series is meant to be tied to another series published at the same time, aka Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle [spoiler=not_a_spoiler_just_a_long_parenthesis](which I'm not really fond of - read quickly the first volume, looks like rather boring stuff indeed ; anyway, I can say with confidence that, at least for now, you don't need to follow the Tsubasa story to enjoy xxxHolic, and the series are very different)[/spoiler]

But now that I think about it, it seems that "xxx" word refers to the same kind of concept than the "Cross" in Chrono Cross : transdimensional things, that kind of stuff... which explains the cross-overs, but not only : storywise it's also about the cross-road between the "real world" and the spirits world (among other things). Oh, and like they say in the 2nd volume, a 4-branch cross-road (which can be drawn as an "x") refers to death ("4" sounds the same as "death"), in japanese. Which does make sense, considering the main theme of the story.
... May sound a bit far-fetched, but that's exactly the kind of riddle the Clamp girls like to put in their manga.

There is no xxxHolic anime series, but I think a movie has been made (I only read the manga, though - the drawings are a bit too elaborated to translate well into anime, I think)

A list of some works by the Clamp studio (a team of girl mangaka) :

• RG Veda [1990] : epic drama in India mythology setting
• 20 Menshou Onegai (The Thief with a 100? Faces) [1990] : comedy starring a schoolboy with a secret hidden identity, I think
• Tokyo Babylon [1991] : dark story dealing with occult stuff in a modern Japan
• Dukalyon [1992] : SF comedy, I think
• Clamp Gakuen Tanteidan (Clamp School Detectives) [1992] : comedy, starring an excentric millionaire schoolboy
• Shirahime Syo [1992] : ?
• X-1999 [1992] : apocalyptic story about people with psychic powers fighting each other to death over earth's fate and some prophecy in 1999 Japan
• Magic Knight Rayearth [1994] : shojo RPG-like epic mixed with some comedy elements
• Watashi no sukina Hito (The One I Love) [1995] : probably shojo stuff?
• Miyukichan in Wonderland [1995] : ?
• Wish [1996] : shojo dealing with angels, demons and stuff (who alternatively turn SD at night/day)
• Card Captor Sakura [1996] : (overly?) cute magical girl story about collecting magical cards
• Shin Shunkaden 1996 : ?
• Clover [1997] : artsy melancholy surreal SF (?) stuff
• Suki dakara suki (I love what I love) 1999 : probably some shojo stuff
• Angelic Layer [1999] : shonen-like manga about kids having dolls fighting against each others in tournaments
• Chobits [2001] : shonen manga on a young male and his female android, mostly about male fan service
• Goho drug (Lawful Drug) [2001] : weird stuff (haven't read it), takes place in modern japan, probably deals with somewhat esoteric stuff and slightly gay boys
• xxxHolic [2003] : strange mix of comedy and much darker occult stuff, starring a mysterious excentric witch and a short-tempered highschool boy who can see spirits (sounds like a plot generated on Seventh Sanctum, allright )
• Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE [2003] : supposedly epic cross-over staring the same main characters than CCS, except they're from another dimension

[Damien]

I got the shonen manga on a young male and his female android, mostly about male fan service out of my Library the other day for a laugh.
Chobits always will remind me of Barry and Ayacon drunken cosplaying

[Entr0pi3]

Chobits makes me a

Edit : some xxxHolic pictures goodness
Extremely sophisticated cover and chapter art


Slightly less sophisticated story art (usually lot of black & white contrast)

(notice the main character's funny faces )

[Calbrena]

Haven't read or watched xxx-holic yet but I read the first volume of Tsubasa Chronicles a few months ago... This reminds me I have to steal more mangas from Pedro, and the Karekano DVDs...

Chobits also makes me a

[Jeff 2G6]

Anything but CCS makes me a

[Entr0pi3]

So you liked CCS?
What other Clamp stuff do you know? (apart from Tsubasa which you don't like)
There might be some other series in the list that you don't know but might like.

[Jeff 2G6]

I've actually seen a few of the CLAMP stuff a long time ago. I've finished CLAMP school Detectives, Magic Knight Rayearth, CCS, and X movie. I've also tried Angelic Layer and Tsubasa obviously.

I really don't see anything special about anything special about their works really.

[Doom]

Amen...

[Garbo]

chobits owns fgts

[Impaler]

xxxholic

[Kat]

I find CLAMP really hard to get into I'm glad mostly that they've moved away from the dark dark days of X.. where I'm referring to the pages rather than the plot. Screentone overkill >.>; Though saying that I do really like Tokyo Babylon and that's pretty cluttered and toned too.

I never quite get any depth from their stories :< I tend to prefer their mini works.. Wish was cute if a bit pointless, while Clover was stylish love. But the things they're really known for I don't like ;

[Kat]

And to double post: Tsubasa turned Seishirou too young and not sexy enough

[Slashley]

--
Nothing to do with "XXX" material.--

[Doom]

I never quite get any depth from their stories :<

Well that's because... I bet you know what's coming...
[spoiler]there isn't any.[/spoiler]

[Killey]

I'm a huge fan of Clamp and I've read the majority of their works and watched all of their animated works. I can't help but like anything the group produces. Their artwork and storytelling are always top notch and they manage to push an interesting twist to their themes. I just wish that their older works were more easily accesible.

Anyways, XXXHolic is definitely the groups better works but overall the combination of Tsubasa and XXXHolic was genious. I really enjoy the cover and chapter art or XXXHolic due to the extravagent designs and attention to detail, however, all of Mokona Apapa's work displays that level of detail. In regards to the pronounciation of XXXHolic if you've watched the trailer to the movie the title is actually pronounced as "X-A-Holic" don't ask why because I have no idea.

I prefer Clamp's darker and more mature works hence my love for their older works as well as XXXHolic. X and RG Veda still remain as my favorite works from the group though I wish Clamp would hurry up and finish off X. Currently, Tokyopop is releasing the 12 Volume series of Clamp no Kiseki, which goes over everything that Clamp has ever released. Each Volume of Clamp no Kiseki comes with 3 chess pieces in the shape of various Clamp characters.

I'll help fill in the '?' that Entr0pi3 made in the list above.
Shirahime Syo: It's a one shot deal with various small stories of a japanese legend. Tokyopop released this manga several months ago but I never bothered to pick it up.

Miyukichan in Wonderland: Is a series of small stories about a girl named Miyuki who finds herself getting into strange worlds where comedic elements happened. Some of the worlds that Miyuki finds herself in is Wonderland (Alice in Wonderland), Mirrorland, and Clamp land.

Shin Shunkaden: I believe this was based on a Korean legend but I cannot remember off the top of my head. I believe Tokyopop released this manga as well. It's another short story type of deal.

I'll add in Clamp's latest work
Kobato (Temporary): "Hanato Kobato is a cute girl who has a mission: fill a mysterious bottle she carries with her. For that mission, she's counting with Ioryogi's help, a little blue dog who seems very cute but who has a terrible foul mouth and bad manners. Now, Kobato-chan has to heal the people whose hearts are wounded, the only problem is that she doesn't really know how to do it. The more people/hearts she heals, the more her bottle fills itself. She only needs to take care to not fall in love with the person she's healing."

If you want to check out Kobato you can dl the first 4 chapters from the following website: http://clampno.lumiere.free.fr/#

[Lavos Spawn]

I haven't read most of their works. I love CCS, who doesn't, but most of what I have seen/read I wasn't to keen on. What little I read of RGVeda and Chobit's didn't appeal to me, and no matter how many times I saw Angelic layer, I still couldn't get into it. Suki Dakara Suki was a kind of interesting love story, but Miyuki was pointless other than to prove that girl's can make ecchi manga too. I have been following Tsubasa, but although I thought the series had great potential in the beginning, it's turned out to be disappointingly bland and storyless.

I guess Clamp is just one of those groups that is popular because they are popular.

[Kat]

I downloaded those first few parts of Kobato.. it's pretty cute. I actually prefer CLAMPs lighter works.. with the overuse of the chibi Reminds me of Wish I might have to follow this one [til they quit doing it and never ever finish it.. the fuckers ]

[Calbrena]

Wish was nice

[Impaler]

suki dakara suki

[Entr0pi3]

I think Clamp became popular because their early works were truly unique and original (at least at the time when they were released). Part of that uniqueness lying in the yaio twists they put in their stories (big reason why some fan grrls would go into hysterical frenzy at the very mention of the Clamp name, IMO)
And they're still popular now because they experienced with quite different genres, which means most people can find among their series at least one that appeals to them.

For better or worse, their art at least is really striking (anyone claiming they can't see what's so special about it needs a new pair of eyes - unless they only saw anime adaptations of their works, which can't do justice to the original art, IMO) and unusual (I won't say "unique", because obviously it's inspired from classic art styles such as "art nouveau" - which is a nice pictural reference, IMO)

It's true the stories aren't really deep. They're full of symbolism (written into words, and/or in the pictures), but they talk about rather simple, essential things. Just like poetry. Poetry doesn't need to be deep (like an elaborate lecture or a philosophy essay) it just needs to be pretty and talk to the "heart".
What I like about Clamp is that they really know their symbolism well. It's usually not just some random unconnected references for the sake of it - the whole thing is neatly tied together (like an extended metaphor) and makes sense (and the cross-references between their various series is consistent as well).
You could say they managed to create a "mythology" of their own - rooted in oriental "philosophy" (ying-yang stuff, especially), but their works themselves obviously can't be called "philosophical" : like all mythologies it just talks about simple, universal themes (=> nothing really deep, in the end, just intriguing stuff punctuated with a few simple words of wisdom)
That's enough for me. Complexity is over-rated

Also, the many silly (often parodic) series they made contrast nicely with their more serious works: it shows that as authors, they don't take themselves too seriously (despite their artistic maneurism and heavy use of symbolic references), which makes them quite sympathetic, IMO.

[Asaroth Larot]

What first attracted me to CLAMP was the art and nothing else.

I thought it was so cool when card captors was on kids WB. The art rocked compared to everything else on. I didn't know about any butchering of plot then, that wouldve pissed me off if I knew.

Many years after that show stopped airing I saw the books at the library and read through them and some other CLAMP stuff

[Joei]

tsubasa was shit. they did make seishiro unsexy!

X TV owned.

[Killey]

The X TV series is garbage.
The director made several changes that altered the perception of several characters, as well as wasting too many episodes on specific characters. The storyline is huge enough to fill out all 26 episodes so I don't see why it was necessary to devote entire episodes to a single character. I can understand for character development purposes but the same effect could have been acheived through general progression of the storyline, as there were many moments that displayed good character development. I actually enjoyed the movie more than the TV Series even though the movie pretty much disregarded the manga. In any case, the manga is still 4554123564132231 times better than both.

[Impaler]

The same can be said of tsubasa tv. It's boring.

At least the manga ver. is quite

[Joei]

the X movie is garbage, weirdo

[Asaroth Larot]

I tried watching the X movie
I ended up turning it off after about 8 minutes

If there is one thing I cant stand it's a director who cant direct

[Killey]

the X movie is garbage, weirdo

The reason I dislike the tv series so much is that it tries to follow the manga closely and then makes changes at significant points, which irritates me. I mean, if you are going to follow the source at least stick with it. I wouldn't mind so much if the changes were made for the better but they weren't, in my opinion. I enjoy the movie more because it doesn't follow the source at all and thus barely any comparisons can be made. I know it's a rather odd reason but this is the way I view it.

I tried watching the X movie
I ended up turning it off after about 8 minutes

If there is one thing I cant stand it's a director who cant direct

If you are going that far than I will have to say the same for the director of the TV series. Well, the biggest flaw in his direction was that I felt that he didn't have a good grasp of the characters and wanted to mold them in his vision, which is what he's paid to do but I couldn't agree with the choices he made. The first episode is a prime example of this.

[spoiler]The first episode had several scenes where Kamui acts more harshly towards Fuma and Kotori and pretty much left the scene as such without exploring the reasoning behind it. In the manga there were follow up scenes showing Kamui hurt at his actions, as he was only acting the way he did to protect his friends. The anime completely avoided these scenes, from what I gather, as an attempt to make Kamui look 'cool.' If you think I'm drawing conclusions than I suggest you purchase or at least rent/borrow the first official DVD, which contains an interview with the director where he explains his approach with this anime.[/spoiler]

[Joei]

well i haven't read the manga.