CLAMP (クランプ, Kuranpu), is an all-female Japanese manga artist group that formed in the mid 1980s. Many of the group's manga series are often adapted into anime after release. It consists of their leader Nanase Ohkawa (大川 七瀬, Ōkawa Nanase), who provides much of the storyline and screenplay for all their works and adaptations of those works respectively, and three artists whose roles shift for each series: Mokona (もこな, Mokona), Tsubaki Nekoi (猫井 椿, Nekoi Tsubaki), and Satsuki Igarashi (いがらし 寒月, Igarashi Satsuki). Almost 100 million CLAMP tankōbon copies have been sold worldwide as of October 2007.
Beginning as an eleven-member dōjinshi circle in the mid 1980s, they began creating original work in 1987. By the time they debuted with RG Veda in 1989, their numbers were reduced to seven. In 1993, three more members left, leaving the four members who are currently still part of the group. In 2006, each member decided to change her name; however, Nanase Ohkawa later decided to change her name back (from Ageha Ohkawa back to her original name Nanase Ohkawa).
Their first hit was RG Veda, an apocalyptic story with an Hindu mythology touch, which tells the story of a rebellion and betrayal in the Kingdom of Heaven and the path of the six stars in order to defeat Taishaku, the usurper, from his throne. CLAMP's works are both famous and diverse, (Tokyo Babylon, X, Magic Knight Rayearth). But their real success came with CardCaptor Sakura, when they became known worldwide. After writing and publishing Chobits, Angelic Layer, and Clover, they started working on Lawful Drug and xxxHOLiC before beginning Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles.
While some of their works are still in progress, Tsubasa and xxxHolic are the ones that cross over the most, for the two are very related with each other.
Lawful Drug is currently halted because their publishing magazine closed.
CLAMP had their anniversary in 2004 as a manga group and the members changed their names from Nanase Ohkawa, Mokona Apapa, Mick Nekoi, and Satsuki Igarashi to Ageha Ohkawa, Mokona, Tsubaki Nekoi and Satsuki Igarashi. Why they changed their name, which was revealed in a later interview with Ohkawa, was of different reasons as:
- Mokona wanted to drop her surname because it sounded too immature for her liking.
- Nekoi disliked people who commented that her name was the same as Mick Jagger's.
- Ohkawa and Igarashi, who wanted to go with the flow, also changed their names as well.
They have also won an award for one of their works, Cardcaptor Sakura. In 2001, they received the Seiun Award, a famous Japanese science fiction award.
More about CLAMP can be found on the CLAMP Wiki.
Current members[]
• Ageha Ohkawa whose former name was Nanase Ohkawa, was born May 2, 1967 in Osaka. Ohkawa is the leader of the group and also the script writer. She negotiates with their editors and also, sometimes, writes the screenplays for the animated versions of their manga. She recently changed her name back to Nanase Ohkawa.
• Mokona was born June 16, 1968 in Kyoto. Her former name was Mokona Apapa and she is the main artist of the most stories, and during several times also in charge of the design. The trademark of the studio is her detailed art style, and as you might already have noticed – also the namesake of Mokona (appears in Magic Knight Rayearth and later in Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle and xxxHolic).
• Tsubaki Nekoi, former name was Mick Nekoi, was born January 21, 1969 in Kyoto. She is primilary Mokona's assistant but also the main artist to some of the series as xxxHolic etc. Tsubaki is also in charge of drawing super deformed characters and mascots. She works with Mokona on character design.
• Satsuki Igarashi was born February 8, 1969 in Kyoto. Her name is the same but the spelling which is different. She assists Mokona and Tsubaki in their work and is in charge of the design of tankobon – is the japanese term for a book that is complete in itself and is not a part of a series.
List of works[]
- XxxHOLiC
- XxxHOLiC Rei
- Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle
- Cardcaptor Sakura
- Tsubasa World Chronicle: Nirai Kanai-hen
- Chobits
- Clamp School Detectives
- X/1999
- Man of Many Faces
- Tokyo Babylon
- Kobato.
- Duklyon: Clamp School Defenders
- RG Veda
- Shirahime-Syo: Snow Goddess Tales
- Legend of Chun Hyang
- Magic Knight Rayearth
- Miyuki-chan in Wonderland
- The One I Love
- Magic Knight Rayearth 2
- Wish
- Clover
- Angelic Layer
- Suki: A Like Story
- Legal Drug
- Murikuri
- Gate 7
- Drug & Drop
- Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card
CLAMP often "recycles" characters from their own earlier works, which gave rise to "a loosely defined Clamp universe that gives much of their work a unifying tone", and creates "absorbing, complex narratives that appeal to both male and female readers". All these factors result in "a cult following devoted to anything and everything the group publishes".