Yahoo! Japan Movies is streaming the first 8 minutes of BLOOD-C The Last Dark online. Check it out!

The movie officially opens this Saturday in Japan.

Looks good! All the Tokyo-ness!

There is a very interesting interview at Mantan-Web with the editor of GATE 7, Shuhei Hosono.

Here are some of the highlights:

- Shueisha wanted CLAMP to draw a series for JUMP SQ since the magazine started to be serialized, but it was only possible 3 years later.
- During its 3 years of conception, Hana's visual and the story itself changed significantly compared to the original concept, except the series' title (that we noticed ourselves).
- He met CLAMP for the first (?) time in France, in Japan Expo. He was impressed with CLAMP's popularity in Europe. It was then decided he would be the editor in charge of GATE 7 (I'm not 100% sure about this part).
- CLAMP's manuscripts smell like incense. He said that before being CLAMP's editor, he was used to receive manuscripts smelling like tabacco.
- What we've seen so far in GATE 7 is only the "prologue" of the story, and we should expect some major turn-arounds in the future.

I love the part about CLAMP's manuscripts smelling like incense! XD

• BLOOD-C:

There will be a BLOOD-C x CLAMP exhibition at the PARCO art gallery in Tokyo, Japan, from June 8 to 18.

The exhibition will cover the history of the BLOOD franchise, the world of BLOOD-C, CLAMP's art for BLOOD-C and the other media adaptations (manga, novels etc).

Also, goods will be on sale at the BLOOD-C x CLAMP shop.

For more information, please check: http://www.parco-art.com/web/museum/exhibition.php?id=490

• CLAMP Summer Fair:

To promote the release of Code Geass: Boukoku no Akito and BLOOC-C The Last Dark on theaters, Animate stores will be holding a CLAMP Summer Fair from June until August where DVDs and Blu-rays from CLAMP's works will be on sale.

An original postcard drawn by CLAMP will be given to those who purchase an item, a total of 3 postcards will be available:

• Featuring CLAMP:

A comment by CLAMP member Nanase Ohkawa has been published in this month's issue of Ure Pia magazine in the feature What is your last movie?.

This magazine asked from various personalities what is the last movie they would like to watch before they die, Nanase Ohkawa is one of the personalities to which this question was asked.

I'm curious to learn what she answered ;)

The magazine is already on sale.

On its second week of sales, GATE 7 #3 fell 8 positions in Oricon's ranking, landing on the 12th position:

05/07~05/13

1st - Kimi ni Todoke #16
2nd - ONE PIECE #66
3rd - WORST #29
12th - GATE 7 #3

During this period, it sold 54.941 copies according to Oricon, making the total number of comics sold so far up to 186.288 copies (7.911 more than GATE 7 #2 in the same period).

Apart from the big drop, volume 3 remains being the one GATE 7 volume with the highest number of sales up to its second release week.

I don't think it'll appear on next week's ranking, but in case it does, I'll be back with the updated numbers ;)

- Next scheduled chapters (red means new):

05/02 - Young Ace #06 - Chapter 7 (on sale).
06/04 - Young Ace #07 - Chapter 8 - 1 color page.
07/04 - Young Ace #08 - Chapter 9.

Yay for 1 color page added to Chapter 8! =)



- Next scheduled chapters (red means new):

05/02 - Jump SQ #06 - Chapter 15 - 1 color page, beginning of tankoubon 4 (on sale).
06/04 - Jump SQ #07 - Chapter 16.
07/04 - Jump SQ #08 - Chapter 17.



• BLOOD-C:

A two-part special episode of BLOOD-C will be aired on TV a few days before the movie opens on theaters.

Part 1 will air on May 26 and Part 2 on May 30.

I believe these special episodes might be some sort of prologue to the movie, which opens on June 2.

• BLOOD-C:

CLAMP drew the cover illustration for the novel adaptation of BLOOD-C The Last Dark, which will be on sale on the same day as the movie opens, on June 2. The novel is written by Junichi Fujisaku (co-writer of the BLOOD-C franchise).

Source: Amazon.co.jp.

Lastly, there is a new trailer for the movie, check it out:

It's been a week since the release of the third volume of GATE 7, it landed at position 4 in Oricon's weekly ranking on its first week of sales. This is the highest position achieved by a GATE 7 volume to date.

04/30/2012~05/06/2012:

1st - One Piece #66
2nd - Naruto #60
3rd - Bakuman #18
4th - GATE 7 #3

According to Oricon, GATE 7 #3 sold 131.347 copies in its first week. In contrast, the previous GATE 7 volume sold 98.914 copies. This represents an outstanding 32% growth on first week sales!!

In Tayosha's ranking, GATE 7 #3 also appeared on the 4th position:

1st - One Piece #66
2nd - Naruto #60
3rd - Bakuman #18
4th - GATE 7 #3

Also, Shueisha revealed that the first two volumes of GATE 7 already sold 900.000 copies to date.

GATE 7 is definitely on the right road to become another CLAMP hit! Congratulations to GATE 7 and CLAMP!

I'll be back next week with the follow up!

Today is the birthday of CLAMP member Nanase Ohkawa (my favorite CLAMP member ♥)! She's turning 44 today.

Here's wishing all the best to her! ♥

Unfortunately, Nekoi didn't draw anything for her this year... I wonder what's keeping her so busy... Hope all is well.

Today is also the release of GATE #3 and RG Veda #3, from CLAMP CLASSIC COLLECTION (check the cover here).

CLAMP-NET.COM has posted the cover of GATE 7 #3:

It will be released on May 2nd.

I think it's safe to assume that every cover will feature Hana and an animal. I wonder if there are any meanings in the order they appear?

This illustration reminded me of one of the illustrations that CLAMP drew for the Oshiroi Chouchou book.

The official website for the BLOOD-C The Last Dark movie posted a new trailer for the movie. The story is set in Tokyo one year after the TV series.


The movie opens on June 2 in Japan.

Also, for those interested, the wallpaper version of CLAMP and ARIKA's April Fools' joke is already up at ARIKA's official website (although the wallpaper is not the text-cleaned version of CLAMP's illustration that we wanted).

I've been trying to post this since yesterday but LiveJournal was down for updates for some reason.

First of all, HAPPY CLAMP DAY EVERYONE!! It is safe to congratulate CLAMP for their 23rd Anniversary as professional manga artists this year! Long life to our favorite manga artists!

To celebrate this special day, yesterday CLAMP-NET.COM was redecorated with a new look:

Due to timezone differences, the website is back to is usual look.

There was a special campaign going on at the website to celebrate the "CLAMP Day" that, up until now was celebrated amongst fans on April 1st of every year, now it seems CLAMP themselves will adopt that day as their official day. The campaign is no longer reachable, though, since it's no longer April 1st in Japan.

The campaign consisted in finding the CLAMP-NET.COM banner spread across different websites related to their works. A similar campaign was held for the promotion of CLAMP IN WONDERLAND 2. The prize for finding all keywords was a wallpaper featuring the CLAMP Festival crossover illustration that was used as the background image of CLAMP's official website yesterday.

I have uploaded the wallpaper for those who might have missed it:

Click to enlarge it.

- Next scheduled chapters (red means new):

03/02 - Young Ace #04 - Chapter 5 (on sale).
04/04 - Young Ace #05 - Chapter 6.
05/02 - Young Ace #06 - Chapter 7.



- Next scheduled chapters (red means new):

03/02 - Jump SQ #04 - Chapter 13 (on sale).
04/04 - Jump SQ #05 - Chapter 14.
05/02 - Jump SQ #06 - Chapter 15 - Color pages, beginning of tankoubon 4.

• Comics:

The 3rd volume of GATE 7 will be released on May 2 (same day as Jump SQ #06 goes on sale). Additionally, messages of support to CLAMP will be published in Jump SQ.19 Vol. 01, which goes on sale April 19. I'm not sure if these messages are related to the release of the 3rd GATE 7 volume or because of the disease that CLAMP is currently under treatment.



• CLAMP FESTIVAL 2012:

There is going to be two new editions of the CLAMP FESTIVAL in 2012. One in Tokyo and another in Osaka. Both will take place on October 7 and 21, respectively.

Early tickets for CLAMP@MOBiLE members will go on sale in May.

• Featuring CLAMP:

The May issue of Da Vinci magazine will be a special edition about Kyoto and CLAMP were invited to talk about their recommendations for hot pot cuisine, which is typical of Kyoto.

• Featuring CLAMP:

CLAMP has joined Ichirou Mihara from ARIKA in his April Fools' joke. The official website of ARIKA showed a fake cover of a fake manga magazine (see below) entitled Yearly Shounen ARIKA. The cover features a new illustration of Sakura from Card Captor Sakura in what appears to be a reference to the character Sakura of the Street Fighter game.

Ichirou Mihara informed via his Twitter and Facebook accounts that a wallpaper will be later available for download. A back cover of the fake magazine will also be available.

Click to enlarge it.

• Featuring CLAMP:

CLAMP wrote the text and drew an illustration for the foreword of Junichi Fujisaku's new mystery novel Tsukareruna! (ツカレルナ！) that will be released on April 25. Junichi Fujisaku is one of the scriptwriters of BLOOD-C.

• CLAMP Shop:

Starting today, the official CLAMP Shop is selling a set of can badges featuring the illustrations used in the valentine's chocolate that was originally sold at the CLAMP＠MOBiLE Fes! 2011 event. Do you remember how much success those chocolates made? They were completely sold out at the event.

Make sure to check them out here and here as they have high-resolution previews of the illustrations featuring very cute SD versions of CLAMP characters!

If you go to CLAMP-NET.COM today, you will notice there is a countdown at the homepage.

The countdown shall end on April 1st, where "something" is expected to happen.

Additionally, there is a notice in the news page saying that CLAMP-NET.COM will be down for maintenance on the final 2 hours of March 31st, before it turns to April 1st.

You all know April 1st is a legendary date in the CLAMP universe. What will happen? Will the site be redesigned? The current layout is been running since 2009. Will there be an important announcement as well?

Let's wait and see!

The official website of the BLOOD-C The Last Dark has been completely redesigned and it now has a Characters section with cast information.

Apart from the already known cast members from the TV show, here are the new names that will appear on the movie:

Kuroto Mogari: Hiroshi Kamiya
Mana Hiiragi: Ai Hashimoto
Iori Matsuo: Yuuichi Nakamura
Shun Fujimura: Yuuki Kaji
Hiro Tsukiyama: Kana Hanazawa
Haruno Yanagi: Yuko Kaida
Kutou: Junichi Suwabe

(thanks to koi-nya for helping with these links!)

• Campaign:

To celebrate the release of the 6th and last DVD & Blu-Ray of the BLOOD-C TV Series, CLAMP-NET.COM is holding a campaign that will last until June 4 in which they will be offering clocks that can be added to your personal blog or website and a cellphone wallpaper.

I am able to get only the "blog parts", which are the clocks that can be added to your personal website or blog.

Digital Version:

Here is the code that you must copy and paste in your blog/website in order to have it:

<script src="http://www.clamp-net.com/js/blogparts.js" language="javascript"></script><script language="javascript">inBlogparts('blood_degital1203');</script>

Analog Version:

Here is the code that you must copy and paste in your blog/website in order to have it:

<script src="http://www.clamp-net.com/js/blogparts.js" language="javascript"></script><script language="javascript">inBlogparts('blood_analog1203');</script>

There is also a cellphone wallpaper available for CLAMP@MOBilE members featuring the same illustration but I am unable to get it since the file is protected against sharing.

The past weeks have been rather quiet, haven't they? Hope you're all doing ok and still loving CLAMP =) Here's some news to make you all excited then!

Today CLAMP member Satsuki Igarashi posted a message in CLAMP-NET.COM where she mentioned being on a business dinner about a new project!

よっぱーでーす（笑（。

新しい企画で顔合わせ&お食事会。お会いした方はとてもじめに色々と考えて下さっていました。発表はもう少し先になると思いますが、お楽しみに。

She didn't give any further details about it but she said to be very excited and that an official announcement should be followed soon.

Quite foreshadowing, huh? Whatever it is, I'm already excited! Stay tuned everyone!

On another news, here is the cover for 20 Mensho ni Onegai!! for the CLAMP CLASSIC COLLECTION editions:

It will be released on March 03.

Kadokawa put up a hot site for the CLAMP CLASSIC COLLECTION editions, you can check the previous covers there.

Today is the birthday of CLAMP's member Satsuki Igarashi! She's turning 43 years old today.

Here's wishing all the best to her! ♥

Here's a picture of some of the gifts she received:

The official website of BLOOD-C: The Last Dark movie has updated with the first part of an interview with CLAMP member Nanase Ohkawa. Part 2 will be posted tomorrow.

In the interview, she explains the differences between the "BLOOD" series and mentions the likes of Quentin Tarantino and Zack Snyder.

Nanase Ohkawa is one of the screenwriters for BLOOD-C: The Last Dark along with Junichi Fujisaku. The movie opens on June 6 in Japan.

----

Moving on to MOON SAGA now, its official website updated with a video interview with actor Saotome Taichi, who is part of the cast in the play version of the project.

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Lastly, CLAMP members recently made blog posts about being in Kyoto. They did another location hunt there, most likely for GATE 7.

Today is the birthday of CLAMP member Tsubaki Nekoi! She's turning 43 this year.


Here's wishing all the best to her! ♥

Code Geass news just keep coming!

From ANN:

Yoshitaka Kawaguchi, the producer of the Code Geass anime franchise, announced on Thursday that a film adaptation of the original Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion anime is being planned. Kawaguchi specifically said that the film adaptation is for the Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion story and not the separate Code Geass: Akito the Exiled.

Sunrise has announced that the Code Geass: Boukoku no Akito project will be screened in 10 Japanese theaters this summer. Miyu Irino will play Akito, while Maaya Sakamoto will play Reira Marukaru.

Sunrise also announced a stage musical inspired by the original anime, in addition to the previously announced non-musical stage play (Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion: Souran Eve). A social game is launching on Japan's mobile game platform Mobage.

Source: ANN.

I'm not sure if this means that Code Geass: Boukoku no Akito is actually a movie, I don't think so. I think it's a first-look of what the project is going to be like.

But hey, it's Tsubasa's Syaoran, Miyu Irino, and Maaya Sakamoto! =)

More info as they come!

Update: ANN has the word that Maaya Sakamoto will also provide the theme song for Code Geass: Boukoku no Akito.

Update 2:

A 90-second promotional video for the Code Geass: Akito the Exiled anime project was presented at Thursday's Code Geass New Project Announcement event and later streamed by Bandai Namco Live TV online.

I rounded up the most important facts of this year in the CLAMP universe and what we can expect for the future =)

( 2011 balance )

I would like to thank everyone who have read, followed, commented or contributed for this LJ during this past year. Thank you so much! I will keep doing my best to bring you the latest CLAMP news as fast as I can in 2012 =)

So...

HAPPY NEW YEAR !! ^__^

Here's wishing for a CLAMP-filled 2012!