CLAMP. From left to right: Tsubaki Nekoi, Nanase Okawa, Satsuki Igarashi and Mokona.
CLAMP (クランプ, Kuranpu) is an all-female Japanese mangaka group which has earned the title of the "Queens of Shojo". They have a very sadistic style which could be interpreted as manga for adult people, but also varying the themes of their series, from childish and comedic to dramatic, tragedy and teen-rated. They are known worldwide. They started as a doujinshi circle called Clamp Cluster in the mid 1980s; drawing doujinshis from 1987 to 1991.
Members[]
Currently[]
The group currently consists of four Osaka women:
| Name | Role |
|---|---|
| Nanase Ohkawa (大川 七瀬, Ōkawa Nanase) | Leader, story, script, director |
| Mokona
(もこな, Mokona) aka Mokona Apapa |
Art director |
| Tsubaki Nekoi
(猫井 椿, Nekoi Tsubaki) aka Mick Nekoi |
Assistant |
| Satsuki Igarashi
(いがらし 寒月, Igarashi Satsuki) aka (五十嵐さつき) |
Assistant |
Formerly[]
Originally, CLAMP was a 11-member group. Members who left were: O-Kyon, Sei Nanao, Tamayo Akiyama, Leeza Sei, Soshi Hishika, Kazue Nakamori, and Shinya Omi.
History[]
The group started by producing doujinshi of both their own works as well as other well known manga such as JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. Their doujinshi were published in a collection called CLAMP BOOK. They also published a doujinshi collection called CLAMP NEWS, which included small stories with their most recent series at the time, and artbook images.
Because of the successes they had gained, seven of them decided to go professionally; debuting with their first manga, RG Veda in 1989. The three additional members to debut with Ohkawa, Igarashi, Nekoi and Mokona were: Nanao, Akiyama and Sei.
Tamayo Akiyama wrote DERAYD and CLUSTER with CLAMP. Akiyama is now a solo mangaka, and has completed seven volumes of CLUSTER.
Sei Nanao was the first of the three to quit the group as she saw no longer saw a future in drawing.
All of CLAMP's manga suddenly stopped serialization for a few months in mid-1994. Officially, Ohkawa was recovering from the effects of an unhealthy diet, but the probable true cause was CLAMP's dissatisfaction with the policies of Asuka's editor. Contributing to their absence was CLAMP's addiction to video games. They have portrayed themselves as fans of Streetfighter II, the Jojo's Bizarre Adventure game, and Shin-Megami Tensei.
After the departure of Sei Nanao, Tamayo Akiyama and Leeza Sei, CLAMP's style began to change. Not so much the drawing style, but the stories. The first CLAMP series where dark in nature, latter series seem to radiate an intense happiness. More recently, CLAMP has broadened their horizon and made shonen and seinen series.
The members of CLAMP are fond of a good prank, proven by the following anecdote:
In Puff Magazine, there's a character poll every month. In order to get a character a point, readers have to send in a drawing of the character. In Puff #10, 1994 Kuujou Jotaro from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure suddenly topped the poll, and the reason: CLAMP confessed that they had drawn entries and submitted them to the Puff poll to make Kuujou Jotaro number one on the poll. In the end, Jotaro had 210 entries and topped the poll. From what they said, it was figured that nearly all entries were done by CLAMP. Some of the drawings and messages were published, and they are very comical; Even the editor of Puff was very surprised by the postcard-mountain from the mangaka circle. He said, "there must be more than 50 entries from each members.".
CLAMP had their 15th anniversary as a mangaka group in 2004, and their members decided to change their names. The reason they changed their names was revealed in an interview with Ohkawa. Each member had a different reason. Mokona wanted to drop her surname because she felt it sounded too immature for her liking. Nekoi disliked that people commented that her name was the same as Mick Jagger's. Ohkawa and Igarashi, wanted to go with the flow and changed their names as well.
Recently, Ageha Ohkawa changed her name back to her original name, Nanase Okhawa.
Collaborations and Participation[]
| Work | Collaborated with | Contribution/ Roll |
|---|---|---|
| Blood-C | Production I.G. | Character design and story |
| CLAMP School Paranormal Investigators | Tomiyuki Matsumoto | Illustrations and script |
| Code Geass: Akito the Exiled | Sunrise | Character design |
| Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion | Sunrise | Character design, ending sequence illustrations (season two) |
| Koi | Takeshi Okazaki | Manga script |
| Mouryou no Hako | Madhouse Production | Character design |
| Night Head Genisis | George Iida | Novel illustrations (2 Volumes) |
| Oshiroi Chouchou | Kamon Nanami | Manga illustration (1 Volume) |
| Rex Kyouryuu Monogatari | Hata Masanori | Manga illustrations and script (1 Volume) |
| Sohryuden | Yoshiki Tanaka | Manga illustration (12 Volumes) |
| Shu no Ketsumyaku | Kamon Nanami | Novel illustration (1 Volume) |
| Sweet Valerian | Madhouse Production | Character concept and design |
| Mahjou-kan | Yoko Tsukumo | Book illustrations |
| Tekken 6 | Bandai Namco Games | Jin Kazama's 3P costume design |
Gallery[]
