1:36 p.m. - Wednesday, May. 20, 2009
CLAMP Universe!!!!
Clamp, as I've explained over and over in other reviews, is an all WOMEN mangaka group that creates some of the most popular and interesting mangas in the world. Their character development and stories have satisfied many anime-crazy fans. They've had several anime adaptations from the mangas, and some pretty darn successful ones at that. Some of their recently most successful animes have been Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles, XXXHolic, and Cardcaptor Sakura (which came out a little while ago, but in this century). Now why am I talking about this group? Because they are unique. What makes them so unique compared to other mangaka groups and writers? That's simple. They have a unique play on their characters: They recycle them. They use old characters and put them in new mangas, creating a character standard that no one can imitate any of them (kind of like the Disney channel circle of stars, only they have their own minds and can work for someone else if they like). These are the top three things that are cool about them:
1)They recycle characters as their signature way of doing things, causing people to love and adore the characters for a lifetime.
2)They are all women, and still capture, sometimes, a predominately male audience (not common in the anime world)
3)They know how to make a good story, romance, and interesting characters.
Not many people can do it like them. I've even known some people to take the names and put them in their animes, but it ended up being a big issue because people thought it was made by CLAMP. They have six big names in their universe: Clow Reed, Yuko, Sakura, Syaoran, Tomoyo and the Mokona. Some characters look like other characters, but don't share the same name, like some say Doumeki looks like Kurogane. Eriole lookes like Watanuki, etc. So there are several ways you can identify CLAMP's work if you're ever looking:
1)Again, they recycle their characters-look for an optimistic, naive girl with reddish brown hair, a quiet silent hardworking boy, who usually wears green and carries a blade, and someone with dark hair and wears glasses, and has an eccentric personality or acts strange, or someone with long hair, is confident, weird, smart, and dresses like a slut.
2) EERIE/epic music-They love epic and eerie music in their stories.
3)A life-long lesson learned at the end, or ideas that make you think. Fate is common, the inevitable.
4)underlying issues that can't be explained or deciphered by the audience. The unexpected, or plot twists.
5)the use of sci-fi or spiritual meaning behind a subject.
6)The references from fairy tale story books (Alice in Wonderland, Sleeping Beauty)
7) Switching of Gender roles (?)-Like Syaoran was Aurora in sleeping beauty (?).
Bam! It is really good! But it can become a problem as well:
1)People compare them thinking they're all supposed to be alike, when they're not. Like some people aren't in favor of Sakura and Syaoran in Tsubasa, but like them better in CCS, and don't like it because of the difference, though it's clear they are nothing a like.
2) Many people get confused-They don't know what they're watching, whether something is another season, or a whole different anime.
So this is a mangaka group worth mentioning anyway, even with criticism. I feel they are the best at making animes for the new generation. I really admire them, and hope to see more from them.
~Over and Out~
