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4[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/af734504af16fd36933abfa68a6a6346.png]]
5[[caption-width-right:350:L-R: Igarashi Satsuki, Nekoi Tsubaki, Ohkawa Nanase, and Mokona Apapa.]]
6
7The four women who make up the manga group CLAMP (Ohkawa Nanase, the scriptwriter; Mokona Apapa, the lead artist; Igarashi Satsuki, the layout designer; and Nekoi Tsubaki, the character artist) are to manga (and manga turned into anime) what Music/MegumiHayashibara is to voice acting. They began as {{doujinshi}} artists before breaking into the professional manga scene in 1989 with ''Manga/RGVeda''. The original doujin circle was actually made up of ''ten'' members (one of whom was a guy), but six of them left (one in 1990, two in 1992, and three in 1993), resulting in the four-woman team we know today. Website/ThatOtherWiki has a little more information on their contributions and accomplishments since in CLAMP's [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CLAMP#Former_members article]].
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9Since ''RG Veda'', nearly all of their work has been animated, a list which includes many of the staple series of anime.
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11A theme that runs through CLAMP's works is that love transcends everything, [[EveryoneIsBi particularly that pesky little thing called gender]]. Note that this is not a "[[ThePowerOfLove love conquers all]]" kind of thing, as gender/age/being a robot/being a ruthless assassin/etc can be insurmountable barriers to having a functional relationship. No barrier can stop people from falling in love but it may very well prevent that love from reaching a happy resolution. (See the relationship between Tomoyo and Sakura in ''Manga/CardcaptorSakura'', or the one between Sakurazuka Seishirou and Sumeragi Subaru in ''Manga/TokyoBabylon'' and ''Manga/{{X 1999}}'', or between Kazuhiko and Suu (or Ora) in ''Manga/{{Clover}}'' as prime examples.)
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13Their manga work is characterized by a highly-detailed {{Shoujo|Demographic}} art style, though for budget reasons the designs are often simplified for animation. Their style underwent a noticeable change in the late 1990s when Mokona starting ceding more design responsibility to Igarashi and Nekoi. Nekoi's distinctive character designs are responsible for the "{{noodle people}}" description common in fandom. CLAMP also errs on the shojo side thematically (despite being published in an unusually wide range of magazines, including Shounen and Seinen), and thus are very prone to [[TrueArtIsAngsty drama]] and painful HardTruthAesop. Their work also runs the spectrum with some being extraordinarily [[Manga/{{Kobato}} cutesy]] and [[Manga/CardCaptorSakura lighthearted]], others being horrifically [[Manga/{{X 1999}} gory]] and [[Manga/RGVeda violent]], and others still being a mix of the two or everything in between. Being former doujinka, their work is also notable for a deliberately high degree of fanservice. Aside from that, CLAMP loves [[TheCameo inserting alternate versions of previous characters into other works]], a concept somewhat connected to the fact that their works [[TheVerse take place in a large, interconnected multiverse]].
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15The question of "which of their works is Most Important" can be difficult and contentious; virtually all of their works from TheNineties and the turn of the millenium have very devoted fans and influenced fellow creatives in certain ways. The ones with the best arguments, however, are ''Manga/MagicKnightRayearth'', ''Manga/CardcaptorSakura'', ''Manga/{{X 1999}}'' and ''Manga/XxxHolic''. ''Rayearth'' was one of the first MagicalGirlWarrior stories to really escape the shadow of ''Franchise/SailorMoon'', mostly by way of injecting some SuperRobot and HighFantasy elements into the proceedings, and its influence is still felt to some degree today. Much ''more'' influential (and for many, the "best" candidate for importance) is ''Sakura'', which became ''the'' final TropeCodifier of MagicalGirl anime in the [=90s=]; virtually everything produced in that genre in its wake owes something to it.
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17''X'' is the most contentious, in that it ''was'' on the road to being massively influential - its movie version famously won over Roger Ebert - but its indefinite hiatus on a cliffhanger has largely worn away the affection it once inspired, and it has faded from the public consciousness significantly. When it was running, however, it was a ''massively'' influential work for its blend of UrbanFantasy and the apocalypse, and its ''visual style'' remains an all-pervasive influence on modern Japanese UF (it is very easy to draw a through-line from ''X'' to ''VideoGame/Persona5'', for example). Finally, ''[=×××HOLiC=]''... more or less defies classification. It's this strangeness and flexibility, however, that has left its mark on wider culture.
18
19A quick note about the members of CLAMP: In July of 2004, they all changed their pen names slightly. Mokona Apapa became simply Mokona, Ohkawa Nanase became Ohkawa Ageha, Nekoi Mikku became Nekoi Tsubaki. Igarashi Satsuki simply switched her family name into hiragana, and her given name into kanji. Nekoi and Mokona had been wanting to change their pen names for awhile; Ohkawa and Igarashi just went along for the hell of it. Ohkawa has since reverted to Ohkawa Nanase for attributions. At least three of them have used their names (partially or entirely) [[AuthorAvatar for characters in series]]: Satsuki as Yatouji Satsuki in ''X'', Nekoi as Nekoi Yuzuriha in ''X'', and Mokona as Mokona in ''Manga/MagicKnightRayearth'', ''Manga/TsubasaReservoirChronicle'', and ''Manga/XxxHolic''.
20
21----
22!!Some of their works:
23
24[[index]]
25[[AC:Manga]]
26* ''Manga/RGVeda'' (1989-1996)
27* ''Manga/ManOfManyFaces'' (1990-1991)
28* ''Manga/TokyoBabylon'' (1990-1993)
29* ''Manga/DuklyonClampSchoolDefenders'' (1991-1993)
30* ''Manga/ClampSchoolDetectives'' (1992-1993)
31* ''Manga/{{X 1999}}'' (1992-2003; on hiatus)
32* ''Manga/LegendOfChunHyang'' (1992-1994)
33* ''Manga/MagicKnightRayearth'' (1993-1996)
34* ''Manga/MiyukiChanInWonderland'' (1993-1995)
35* ''Manga/{{Wish}}'' (1995-1998)
36* ''Manga/CardcaptorSakura'' (1996-2000)
37** ''Manga/CardcaptorSakuraClearCard'' (2016-2023)
38* ''Manga/{{Clover}}'' (1997-1999; on hiatus)
39* ''Manga/AngelicLayer'' (1999-2001)
40* ''Manga/SukiALikeStory'' (1999-2000)
41* ''Manga/DrugAndDrop'' (2000-2003 as ''Legal Drug'', 2011-2013 after restarting as ''Drug & Drop''; on hiatus)
42* ''Manga/{{Chobits}}'' (2000-2002)
43* ''Manga/XxxHolic'' (2003-2011)
44** ''[=×××HOLiC=]: Rei'' (2013-2017, 2023-present)
45* ''Manga/TsubasaReservoirChronicle'' (2003-2009)
46** ''Tsubasa [=WoRLD CHRoNiCLE=]: Niraikanai'' (2014-2016)
47* ''Manga/{{Kobato}}'' (2005-2011)
48* ''Manga/Gate7'' (2011-2013; on hiatus)
49
50[[AC:Other works]]
51* ''Literature/{{Yumegari}}'' (1996)
52* The anime of ''Anime/BloodC'' and its movie sequel, ''Anime/BloodCTheLastDark'', in collaboration with Creator/ProductionIG
53* ''The Grimm Variations'', in collaboration with Creator/{{Netflix}} and WIT Studio
54* Character designs for ''Anime/CodeGeass''
55* Character designs for ''Anime/MouryouNoHako''
56* Character designs for ''Anime/SweetValerian''
57* Character designs for ''Literature/{{Kabukibu}}''
58* Character designs for ''Anime/CardfightVanguardOverdress''
59[[/index]]
60
61!!Tropes common across most of their works:
62* AllDeathsFinal: By WordOfGod, there is no way to [[BackFromTheDead bring back the dead]]. Ever. That being said though, {{reincarnation}} is possible and has occurred in a few of their works, with stress on the fact that even if the soul is the same, they aren't the same exact people as who they were in a previous life. However, in ''Manga/TsubasaReservoirChronicle'', [[spoiler:if a certain EvilPlan is successfully carried out, apparently it will become possible to negate this trope... Even if it costs the stability of the whole of space-time.]]
63* ArtStyleDissonance: CLAMP’s art style is usually cutesy with a hefty dose of [[{{Bishonen}} good-looking men]] and can be commonly associated with {{Shoujo|Demographic}}, but not all of their works are aimed at young girls. Several examples are ''Manga/{{Chobits}}'' (published as {{Seinen}} and has a fair amount of {{Fanservice}} and existential themes), ''Manga/TsubasaReservoirChronicle'' (the later arcs went DarkerAndEdgier with heaping dose of MindScrew), ''Manga/{{X 1999}}'' (published as {{Shoujo|Demographic}} but it deals with the apocalypse and contains violence and tragedy) and ''Anime/BloodC'' (the BloodierAndGorier spinoff of the Blood franchise). Even ''Manga/MagicKnightRayearth'' gets in on this, as the original deals with themes that were, at the time, uncommon to MagicalGirl shows, and the Anime/RayearthOVA is just full-on seinen.
64* AuthorAppeal: They have a thing about CherryBlossoms in their works such as ''Manga/CardcaptorSakura'', ''Manga/TokyoBabylon'', ''Manga/{{X 1999}}'' and ''Manga/TsubasaReservoirChronicle'' and angelic (and devil) wings which is no surprise that both ED animations ([[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFePGTALWBs here]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xm4VWvRcU9w here]]) of ''[[Anime/CodeGeass Code Geass R2]]'' (for which CLAMP is responsible for the character design) featured the majority of the characters wearing wings. And of course, there's the occasional EyeScream.
65* TheBeautifulElite: In their works, if someone is good-looking, they are usually powerful in some way, and vice-versa.
66* BecauseDestinySaysSo: Hitsuzen, a concept introduced in ''Manga/XxxHolic'' though its general themes appeared in earlier works. In particular, ''Cardcaptor Sakura'', ''Tokyo Babylon'' and ''X/1999'' touch on the inevitability of fate and prophecy.
67* CanonWelding: ''Manga/TsubasaReservoirChronicle'' combined the Plot of ''Manga/XxxHolic'', ''Manga/CardcaptorSakura'' and numerous other CLAMP works into one huge GambitPileup. Along with that, CLAMP tends to use a few shared universes for many of their works.
68** ''Manga/XxxHolic'' is canonically in the same world as ''Manga/DrugAndDrop'', ''Manga/{{Wish}}'', ''Manga/{{Kobato}}'', ''Manga/SukiALikeStory'' and ''Anime/BloodC''. Also, its story has a pair of connections to the world of ''Manga/CardcaptorSakura'' (which in turn has one to ''Manga/MagicKnightRayearth'''s) and possibly a minor one to the world of ''Manga/{{X 1999}}''.
69** ''Manga/{{X 1999}}'' takes place in the same world as ''Manga/TokyoBabylon'', ''Manga/ClampSchoolDetectives'', ''Manga/ManOfManyFaces'', ''Manga/DuklyonClampSchoolDefenders'' and ''Manga/MiyukiChanInWonderland'' (in the last two, bizarrely enough, ''X/1999'' happens to be an [[ShowWithinAShow anime film]]; given the kind of series they are, they might or might not be entirely canonical). Also, the background of ''Manga/MagicKnightRayearth'' hints this is the original world of its main cast.
70** ''Manga/AngelicLayer'' and ''Manga/{{Chobits}}'' are implied to be in the same continuity, in which ''Manga/MagicKnightRayearth'' is a popular anime series.
71* CostumePorn: With long, lacy ribbons being a particular hallmark in their promotional art. Oddly, it only occasionally shows up in the actual stories themselves (and almost ''never'' in animated versions due to the cost of animating all that billowing ribbon properly). It's also not restricted to their female characters. The prettier male characters in particular get stuffed into elaborate and pretty outfits no one should by rights be able to move in.
72* ChastityCouple: Only a very small minority of {{Official Couple}}s have ever been given a kiss scene, much less anything beyond that. Affection between individuals tends to instead be expressed through gentle gazes, hand-holding, hugging, and kisses given in [[AnywhereButTheirLips places that aren't the lips]] (such as the forehead or cheek). In darker circumstances, affection can by shown by giving blood, some sort of heavy sacrifice (especially when that focuses on [[EyeScream the eyes]] in some way), or cutting off limbs.
73* DreamWalker: Character that have powers related to dreams appeared as earlier as ''Manga/TokyoBabylon''. Ever since ''Manga/{{X 1999}}'', and later cemented by ''Manga/TsubasaReservoirChronicle'', {{Prophetic Dream}}s or walking into other people's dreams became a standard yet valuable power in their future works.
74* EveryoneIsBi: Very prevalent among their characters, though ''Manga/CardcaptorSakura'' takes the cake with most of the characters (self-consciously or not) displaying attraction to other characters with no regard for gender.
75* EyeScream: Because it's all fun and games ''until someone loses an eye.''
76* {{Fanservice}}: Their works are prone to having this, though ''Manga/MiyukiChanInWonderland'' has the most fanservice by far. However, it can become downplayed to almost non-existent when the story becomes more serious, with ''Chobits'' being one such example.
77* FantasyKitchenSink: The CLAMP multiverse features all kind of fantasy and sci-fi elements coexisting with each other, including {{God|Tropes}}s, AngelsDevilsAndSquid, RitualMagic, HermeticMagic, UsefulNotes/{{Onmyodo}}, {{Magitek}}, SoulPower, PsychicPowers and even MagicFromTechnology. Some of them share the same setting, and rarely if ever is a clear line drawn between them.
78* FlowersOfRomance: Any of their series will feature these at some point or another.
79* HighSchoolAU: The ''Horitsuba Gakuen'' omakes, which sics the ''entire'' CLAMP universe in an ElevatorSchool, but focuses on the cast of ''Manga/TsubasaReservoirChronicle'' and ''Manga/XxxHolic''.
80* HugeGuyTinyGirl: Not universal, but fairly common.
81* ImpossiblyCoolClothes: They're really fond of making these. In fact, they're even requested to make clothing designs by other companies.
82* MaybeEverAfter: Their favorite ending... even in denouements. ''Chobits'' is probably the work which is closest to every featured couple having a HappilyEverAfter.
83* MindScrew: Deserves a special award! ''Manga/TsubasaReservoirChronicle'' and ''Manga/XxxHolic'' have fried brain cells across their fandom and leaving a probable legacy of several decades worth of forum discussions, all of which add to the confusion even more. After overdosing on this trope, things have reached a point where, after the end of ''Manga/{{Tsubasa|ReservoirChronicle}}'' & ''Manga/XxxHolic'', even WordOfGod has admitted that [[HoistByHisOwnPetard they too are rather confused over how everything turned out and want to re-read it]].
84* MissingMom: Characters in their works will often have dead or absent mothers, sometimes plot significant, other times not. Nadeshiko Kinomoto in ''Manga/CardCaptorSakura'', Chu'nyan's mother in ''Manga/TsubasaReservoirChronicle'', Shuko Suzuhara in ''Manga/AngelicLayer'' and Saya's mom in ''Anime/BloodC.'' are some examples.
85* NoBiologicalSex: Sexless/genderless characters tend to pop up in their works. Usually a JustifiedTrope through various explanations:
86** Ashura in ''Manga/RGVeda'' is explicitly said to have no physical sex as part of a curse to end the line of the Ashura clan with them. They don't identify with a gender, either.
87** In ''Manga/{{X 1999}}'', Nataku is similarly sexless as a result of cloning. In the manga, it's implied that they are female, likely because their genetic source was a young girl named Kazuki.
88** In ''Manga/{{Wish}}'', all angels are explicitly genderless (because of, well, being angels, there is no need for having a traditional dichotomy), although many international translations incorrectly used gendered pronouns, with the Creator/{{Tokyopop}} translation in particular making them all female.
89** Ruby Moon from ''Manga/CardcaptorSakura'' is technically genderless (due to being from a line of beings who are all genderless), but chooses to present herself as female because, as she puts it, girls get to wear cuter clothes and uniforms.
90** Hana from ''Manga/Gate7'' is strongly implied to be genderless - Sakura calls into question whether or not Hana is female, and then, in response to Chikahito's confusion, neither confirms Hana's masculinity nor offers any form of clarification.
91** A ShrugOfGod has also hinted that the Zashiki Warashi from ''Manga/XxxHolic'' may not necessarily be either male or female, playing off old portrayals of the spirits in mythology and artwork, where their gender was often unclear.
92* NoEnding: Quite well known (and well criticized too) for open ended and [[LeftHanging unresolved closures]]. Some works fared even worse and were [[OrphanedSeries left incomplete.]]
93** Only one of their works has an explicit ending on the lines of "Are HappilyEverAfter". In many cases, they [[TrueArtIsAngsty stop short of actually showing it, leaving readers guessing and wanting more]]. See MaybeEverAfter above.
94** The worst offender might be ''Manga/ManOfManyFaces'', a short manga series which opened a lot of weird mysteries and didn't close ''a single one of them'' (earlier chapters even lampshaded it). Even although its main characters were incorporated to the storyline of another manga, ''Manga/ClampSchoolDetectives'', the matter never received closure.
95* NoodlePeople: Characters in their works tend to be this whenever Nekoi is in charge of the art, as she often draws people with long, slender limbs. When several of their works are in animated form, the character animation design are either good (several works animated by Creator/{{Madhouse}}) or bad (''Manga/XxxHolic'' animated by Creator/ProductionIG).
96* {{Omake}}: Lots of it in their works. See SideStoryBonusArt for the extent in just one aspect.
97* OnlySixFaces: They are ''masters'' of this trope.
98* PhraseCatcher: "It's CLAMP." is often used when describing why certain aspects are present in most works.
99** Another one is "No one is straight!" in regards to Clamp treating gender as unimportant when it comes to love. Whenever someone unfamiliar with Clamp works insists a character to be straight this response is bound to pop up.
100* PimpedOutDress: Especially in the [[SideStoryBonusArt omake art]].
101* RecurringElement: Mokona is frequently seen in several works. And now, Watanuki is present in [[Manga/DrugAndDrop their]] [[Anime/BloodC most]] [[Manga/{{Kobato}} recent]] works, even beating his predecessor, Yuko, to boot.
102%% * ReincarnationRomance
103%% * RuleOfGlamorous
104* ScrewDestiny: Many characters in their works like to give destiny the middle finger. Whether they actually succeed in changing their fate is another story.
105* ShoujoDemographic: Most of their works are aimed at this demographic. Despite being primarily associated with shoujo, they have made {{shonen|Demographic}} and {{seinen}} manga as well.
106* SignificantBirthDate: April 1st is a birth date shared by a number of their characters, it's also the day CLAMP was formed.
107* SideStoryBonusArt: Enough to fill whole libraries.
108* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: Depends of the work, but their most notorious works (Such as ''Manga/CardcaptorSakura'') tend to be on the idealistic scale. Other works, such as ''Manga/{{X 1999}}'' tend to be more cynical.
109* StealthSequel: ''Drug & Drop'' turned to be one to ''Wish''. ''X/1999'' also concludes Subaru and Seishirou's story from ''Tokyo Babylon''.
110* TangledFamilyTree: Sakura and Syaoran in ''Tsubasa -[=RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE=]-''. See MindScrew for more details.
111* TeacherStudentRomance: A few of their works feature this:
112** ''Cardcaptor Sakura'' features quite a bit of it; Sakura's parents met and fell in love when they were teacher and student, Toya had a previous relationship with his student teacher Kaho Mizuki (though they didn't start dating until after she quit), and in the manga, Sakura's friend Rika is in a relationship with their homeroom teacher (though in the anime, she simply has a PrecociousCrush on him that he's oblivious to).
113** In ''Chobits'', [[spoiler:Hiromu Shinbo falls in love with his cram school teacher Takako Shimizu and ends up eloping with her, and later marrying her]].
114** In ''Suki: A Like Story'', main character Hina has a crush on her substitute teacher, though he rejects her feelings out of guilt from his past.
115* TimeyWimeyBall: Especially in their more recent works, such as ''Manga/TsubasaReservoirChronicle''.
116* TokyoTower: The tower's been used as a key locale in several of their series.
117* ViewersAreGeniuses: Only for their non-Japanese fans. ''Manga/{{Chobits}}'' assumes that the audience has some knowledge of how information technology has a divergent development path in Japan compared to the rest of the world, and awareness of some social issues facing the country. ''Manga/Gate7'' requires readers to know their history on the UsefulNotes/SengokuPeriod.
118* UnlimitedWardrobe: Several characters tend to wear different sets of clothes. [[Manga/CardcaptorSakura Sakura Kinomoto]], [[Manga/XxxHolic Yuko Ichihara and Kimihiro Watanuki]] [[spoiler:(who later inherited the shop)]] are usually the ones who wear different clothes frequently.
119* WiseBeyondTheirYears: Several of their youngest characters exhibit wisdom far beyond what their age would really allow.
120* WhiteAndGreyMorality: Completely evil villains are rare in their work. Most of the time, the antagonists are portrayed having very sympathetic motives, being NotEvilJustMisunderstood, and plenty of them are genuinely good people who are forced to fight against the heroes due the circumstances.
121* YaoiFangirl: They were originally a yaoi {{doujinshi}} circle (with much of their doujinshi focusing on series such as ''Manga/CaptainTsubasa'' and ''Manga/SaintSeiya'') before they became professional manga artists. While none of their professional works are officially in the YaoiGenre, many of them feature at least a bit of ShipTease between two male characters, as seen in their [[ShipTease/{{CLAMP}} own Ship Tease page]]. One of their more infamous works is a doujin of [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders Jotaro and Kakyoin]] having a son that [[MisterSeahorse hatched from an egg that Kakyoin somehow laid]]. They're also {{Yuri Fan}}s and some of their works also have ship tease between female characters, though their doujinshi doesn't focus on yuri as much and their only true yuri work is ''Manga/MiyukiChanInWonderland''.

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