A few weeks ago, the teaser video for Tokyo Babylon 2021 appeared on my Twitter feed and a bunch of my mutuals got extremely excited.

I thought, “Wow, that’s really extremely pretty,” but I had no context for the fervor. I only really started reading manga a couple years ago, not due to previous lack of interest but because I didn’t have much access as a teenager… and by the time I did, I had neither any idea where to start nor anyone to ask.

In 2017, however, I joined a fantastic team with several folx who were willing to offer their guidance! Hooray! And it was to one of them whom I turned for the story on the Tokyo Babylon 2021 buzz.

“Oh,” she said. “Let me tell you about CLAMP.”

The short version: CLAMP is an all-female mangaka group that first formed in the mid-1980s (I know, I know, I could be its mother) as a dōjinshi (self-publishing) circle with 11 members. In 1989, down to seven members, CLAMP started serializing their first traditionally published manga, RG Veda, in Wings magazine.

Additional series were picked up in July 1989 and August 1991, followed by Tokyo Babylon in 1990 and X in 1992. The group remained much-sought-after in the 90s, creating still-popular titles like Cardcaptor Sakura, Tsubasa, and xxxHolic, which frequently crossed over with one another.

CLAMP is currently composed of four members and has been markedly less active since xxxHolic wrapped up in 2011, though they do have a few serialized projects running in Young Ace and Young Magazine as well as several complete anime projects and the aforementioned Tokyo Babylon 2021 upcoming. Various members of the group also write stories and essays on various topics.

So where do you start if you want to read CLAMP’s back catalog?

You just sort of have to pick a spot and jump in. It’s totally acceptable to be confused. Go with it, everything will sort itself out.

My Journey So Far

I love mythology of any and every sort (in case you’re new here or somehow missed it on the previous occasions upon which I have screamed about it), so I’ve focused on the titles that draw on that source material for the first leg of my back-catalog CLAMP dive.

I should warn you before you decide to take the plunge that some of these books are readily accessible, but others are old enough that the U.S. licenses are expired, which means used copies which means limited supply which means investment. You can, of course, check your local library. Mine didn’t have any of the volumes I wanted, which is, I’ve found, pretty typical. Our system is great, but their manga collection is lacking.

That caveat stated, here’s where I’ve gone wandering.

xxxHolic

The triple x is not what you think it is, calm down. Though our spacetime witch Yûko’s wardrobe definitely has some revealing moments…

Watanuki is a high school student who sees spirits. Constantly. They haunt him wherever he goes, including the mysterious shop he happens upon one day on his way home – a shop to which his legs take him very much without his permission.

Met at the door by two strange, little girls, Watanuki is dragged inside where the proprietress, the aforementioned Yûko, offers him a deal: work for her and she’ll free him from the spirits. Expecting dusting and customer service with a smile, Watanuki agrees.

It turns out, however, his job is far more complicated: cooking and cleaning, sure, but also using his abilities to perform exorcisms, recapturing magical objects, solving paranormal mysteries, and helping people from other universes. All while making sure Yûko has the right kind of sake to go with her dinner, the fox spirit doesn’t get too big, his crush doesn’t forget he’s alive, and he and his rival are even in their “who saved who today.”

Tokyo Babylon

Sumeragi Subaru is an onmyoji, a powerful occultist, living in Tokyo and protecting the city not only from evil spirits but also from the evil humans do to one another. It may not be his dream, but it is his duty as heir to the Sumeragi clan. With him is his sister, Hokuto, who possesses powers of her own – different but no less meaningful in a city full of light and dark, rich and poor, hope and despair.

Close to the twins is sweet, unassuming veterinarian Sakurazuka Seishiro whom Hokuta thinks would be a perfect match for her brother and who certainly seems to be in love with Subaru.

But there’s something in Seishiro the twins can’t quite figure out, something deep and hidden, something that seems romantic but also dark and confusing. Is their grandmother right about the Sakurazuka, or is the faith Subaru has put in Seishiro warranted? What is the price if he’s wrong?

X

This is my next stop on the CLAMP train. Some sources list Tokyo Babylon as a prequel series to X. I can’t speak to that as X just arrived and a book without pictures is holding my interest for the first time in what feels like forever (with the notable exception of From a Certain Point of View: The Empire Strikes Back).

However, I’ll let you know once I’ve had a chance to delve into why, exactly, Kamui’s mother grabbed him and ran from Tokyo when he was a young child and how he’s connected to the end of the world. Why he’s back and so distant from the friends who have missed him. And why these kids with supernatural powers keep trying to finish high school…

Like, who has time for that nonsense?

RG Veda

RG Veda was actually in my first bundle of CLAMP purchases, but I got sucked in by xxxHolic and haven’t had a chance to crack this Japanese reimagining of the Indian epic yet. At first flip through, all I have to say is that the hair and sartorial choices in this one are ah-mazing.

I’ll update after I read the next batch. There’s certainly plenty more where all of this came from. I can’t wait to get it in my eyeholes.