History Manga / X1999

Note about the title: the original title of this series is simply ''X''. The manga was retitled as ''X/1999'' for release in America by Viz to prevent confusion with an American comic book series also named ''X''. The 1999 portion comes from the year the story takes place. The omnibus edition has the title reverted to ''X''.

There are actually two separate animated versions of ''X'': the 1996 movie, which is a great deal of action and way too much information compressed into an hour and a half, and the 2001 television series, which at 24 episodes had more time to actually develop the plot and featured a very different ending. Both are missing elements from manga chapters produced concurrent or following their release, suggesting yet a third very different ending... [[NoEnding which may never actually materialize]].

The characters of Subaru, Seishirou and Hokuto originated from another CLAMP manga, ''Manga/TokyoBabylon''. Although it is sometimes referred to as such, ''Tokyo Babylon'' is not a {{Prequel}}, since the series predates ''X'' and the stories are independent. It is, however, helpful to know the plot of ''Tokyo Babylon'' before reading their subplot.

** Kakyou didn't appear the movie considering he didn't made his appearance yet in the manga when the movie was released. His spot in the Dragons of Earth is filled by CanonForeigner, Shogo Asagi. He would later become a CanonImmigrant for ''Manga/TsubasaReservoirChronicle'', though.
** Tokiko Magami, Kyogo and Sayo Monou, Hokuto Sumeragi and Hien and Souhi never appear in the movie.

* AlmostDeadGuy: Saiki Daisuke was able to counterattack Fuuma not before received the final blow.

* AsiaRuneChant: Often used by Seishirou, Subaru and Sorata. The English dub left untranslated.

* BlandNameProduct: The computer Somy Vaoi that appears on the tv series.
* BloodierAndGorier: The manga and the movie, particularly on the death scenes of [[spoiler:Tohru (in the movie at least), Tokiko, Kotori and Daisuke]]. The TV series retains the violence but is ''very tame'' with the gore and death scenes.

* DramaticHighPerching: Virtually every single character with supernatural abiltiies at one point stands on top of buildings, posts and trees.

* ElementalRockPaperScissors: Karen is a pyrokinetic, Aoki has powers over wind, Yuuto manipulates water, Kusanagi has a power related to earth, Sorata seems to have an affinity with lightning as well as his esoteric Buddhism powers.

* EmotionlessGirl: Arashi is essentially this crossed with a DeadpanSnarker, her usual response to Sorata being "[[VisibleSilence ...]]". She does gain more emotion as the series goes on [[spoiler: and when this happens, it's her downfall, as she either dies (movie) or pulls a FaceHeelTurn (TV series, probably manga)]] Note that [[spoiler: her FaceHeelTurn is halfhearted at best, and in the anime it results in the destiny that she was trying to prevent by changing sides. YouCantFightFate, you know?]]

** Kotori, Yuzuriha and Kusanagi, notably subverted in that the latter is a middle aged ''man'' in the Self-Defense Force.

** In the manga, [[spoiler:Nataku also makes a HeroicSacrifice to protect Karen. It's sort-of explained in that she looked like the mother of her past self Kazuki and she tried to reach for him before his death.]]

* OddFriendship: Yuzuriha (a schoolgirl) and Shiyuu Kusanagi (a middle-aged man in the Self-Defense Force). However, Yuzuriha definitely has a crush on him. For the most part he acts like a responsible adult though.

* OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent: Fuuma and Kotori at first, subverted with Kamui, who in the anime series used his powers to fight other kids. In the manga, the younger Seals try to keep up this cover story by transfering to CLAMP Academy. Subaru does a REALLY poor job of passing for an Ordinary College Student.

* PerpetualMolt: Both Kamui and [[spoiler:Fuuma]], apparently, to produce the huge number of loose feathers drifting through Important Scenes.

* PutOnABus: [[spoiler:After the confrontation with Fuuma, Yuzuriha and Kusanagi went AWOL and never seen in the following chapters. The Dragons of Heaven noticed Yuzuriha's disapperance but they have a hard time looking for her]].

* ShootYourMate: More like "run your mate through". With your ''hand''. Seishirou can give you tips on proper technique. And also Fuuma, who seems intent on running his pal Kamui through with that 5-foot long sword of his. Best friends: always there to kill you off with a giant pointy thing in the CLAMP universe.

* TakeMyHand: Kamui has two scenes in which this trope is used, they are parallel: in both he saves Kotori from plummeting to her death, once when they were both children in a flashback sequence and later during the story proper.
** In the movie, he gets an extra one to save Yuzuriha to plummet to her death during their fight against Yuuto and Kasanagi.
* TakingYouWithMe: [[spoiler: Karen to Yuuto]] in the TV series. [[spoiler: It ''seems'' to fail when she dies, but he ultimately perishes as well.]] In the movie, [[spoiler: Subaru to Seishirou, Karen to Shougo and Aoki to Nataku]]. Not yet invoked in the manga. Notice the ''yet''.

* TheUnreveal: Since the manga's hiatus, Fuuma points out that Kamui's "true wish" [[spoiler:is not restoring him to his original self]]. Hence, he cannot still create a kekkai in which its shape is unknown (though the movie and anime shows his kekkai is a spherical one).

* WhiteAndGreyMorality: On paper, the Dragons of Heaven are good guys who must protect humanity while the Dragons of Earth are the ''antagonists'' (not bad guys contrary as what most people believe) who must destroy humanity to protect Earth from man's destruction. All of the Seven Seals are portrayed good who are truly motivated with their roles though several members have other motives such as Kamui (at first) and Subaru. Their leader, Hinoto, happened to have [[spoiler:an evil split personality who manipulates the Dragons of Heaven]]. The Seven Angels had several members who are morally ambigious with flaws and FreudianExcuse such as [[TokenGoodTeammate Kusanagi]], Kakyou and [[ExtremeDoormat Nataku]]. Fuuma is the most morally ambigious of them all and even though it's his job as the other Kamui to destroy mankind, he spared several people because it's their true wish to stay alive (in the manga, at least). Yuto is AffablyEvil but he seemed to care other people particularly Satsuki. Satsuki views HumansAreBastards and [[BlueAndOrangeMorality lacks the understanding on why it is wrong to kill people]]. Seishiro may come close to being evil as he is an assassin.
** The manga tends to fall into GreyAndGrayMorality [[spoiler:where after killing Seishiro, Subaru unintentionally inherits his role as the Sakurazukamori and joins the Dragons of Earth to fill his spot. Apparently, like Fuuma, he wants Kamui to realize his "true wish". Arashi had a fallout from the Dragons of Heaven as well but this is due to Hinoto's manipulations. Kanoe's reason of forming the Dragons of Earth is to free Hinoto from the burdens of being a [[DreamWeaver Dreamseer]] and she's shocked when she found her sister's evil personality]].

** It's interesting to note that in said series, in Acid Tokyo, Fuuma and Kamui are leading the opposite groups to what they do in X, which are, incidently the sides ''fate'' had destined them to fight on in X ''before'' Kamui decided to choose otherwise.

* OedipusComplex: Seishirou, who had an... interesting relationship with his mother, Setsuka [[spoiler: before he killed her and took over her position]].

* {{Bishonen}} Apparently, there is an unspoken rule that there must be at LEAST one on every page.

In February 2023, Kadokawa Shoten reprints the series as part of the CLAMP PREMIUM COLLECTION with new covers done by CLAMP. The five chapters, which were never published as a volume, would also be included in the collection and published as "Volume 18.5".

* NoEnding: The last manga chapter was released in 2003. CLAMP last seriously talked about the series in 2005, saying they were still looking for a publisher to handle the series. The [[BloodierAndGorier increasingly violent content in the series]] created problems as some of the events ended up very reminiscent of real-world disasters at the time. Now that we're ''two decades'' removed from the last chapter, it's all but certain the manga will be left unresolved.

* NoEnding: The last manga chapter was released in 2003. CLAMP last seriously talked about the series in 2005, saying they were still looking for a publisher to handle the series. The [[BloodierAndGorier increasingly violent content in the series]] created problems as some of the events ended up very reminiscent of real-world disasters at the time. Now that we're a ''decade and a half'' removed from the last chapter, it's all but certain the manga will be left unresolved.

Note about the title: the original title of this series is simply ''X''. The manga was retitled as ''X/1999'' for release in America by Viz to prevent confusion with an American comic book series also named ''X''. The 1999 portion comes from the year the story takes place. The license is currently held by Kodansha, who publishes it as ''X''.

Note about the title: the original title of this series is simply ''X''. The manga was retitled as ''X/1999'' for release in America by Viz to prevent confusion with an American comic book series also named ''X''.[[note]]Viz's onmibus rerelease of the manga, though, goes back to simply being called ''X''.[[/note]] The 1999 portion comes from the year the story takes place.

* OffModel: The anime. Apparently QUALITY faces are a side effect of the Shoujo Armageddon. And this is ''despite'' being a work by Creator/YoshiakiKawajiri, who is known for mostly averting this.

One of Creator/{{CLAMP}}'s longest-running manga (stalled at 18 volumes out of a planned 21 since 2003, with a few further chapters making a "Volume 19" never published in a tankoubon), ''X'' is the story of Kamui Shirou - a boy destined to save the world... or destroy it. He is drawing the Dragons of Heaven, who are attempting to preserve the world as it is, and the Dragons of Earth, who wish to eliminate humanity's taint, to [[TokyoIsTheCenterOfTheUniverse Tokyo]]. Guided by Hinoto, a dreamseer (''yumemi''), the Dragons of Heaven attempt to preserve the seven barrier structures situated around Tokyo. Kamui must decide if the world is even worth saving, and then choose sides... But what of the dreamseer's prophecy that there is another Kamui?

[[caption-width-right:350:[[MessianicArchetype Kamui]], [[IllGirl Kotori]] and [[DarkMessiah Fuuma]].]]

* DeathByChildbirth: Subverted, since Tokiko, Saya and in the movie [[spoiler:IllGirl Kotori]] die after giving birth to [[spoiler:sentinent swords called, Shinken.]]

* AbsoluteCleavage: Kanoe because she usually wears revealing outfits.

* ModestyBedsheet: Kanoe covers her gorgeous body after having sex with Yuuto.

* MysticalCityPlanning: The series has CLAMP Academy, a school whose buildings and campus were designed and arranged to form a spell capable of [[spoiler:sealing the Sacred Sword.]] There's also... y'know... the massive pentagram created by it's monorail system.

* IHaveTheHighGround: Virtually every single character with supernatural abiltiies at one point stands on top of buildings, posts and trees.