The official website for the XXXHOLiC TV Drama has been renewed with a few new pictures, new comments from CLAMP and two video teasers. Unfortunately, the videos are not available if you're outside the Japanese territory.

Still, make sure to check out the new site! Was anyone able to watch the videos yet?

Here's a summary of the new comments from CLAMP (*spoilers ahead*):

- They haven't made any special requests for this adaptation. They left everything in charge of the director and the staff.
- Their favorite scenes upon reading the script were the beginning, when Watanuki meets Yuuko, and the ending.
- They confirm the absence of Mokona in this adaptation, and recognize that it would be difficult to have it as a plush toy or CG, even though they would really like to see Mokona in a live action.
- In the case of the TV drama becoming a regular series, they would like to see more of Anne's performance and Watanuki as the shop's owner in "Rou".

So there is the chance of having more than the 8 episodes planned for this series. Let's hope it'll be successful enough for that to happen! It's a shame that CLAMP's involvement was practically nil this time... but it's understandable since this is a completely new field for them. Let's hope they did a good job!

For those interested about the thematic XXXHOLiC Cafe, its special menu has been revealed at the cafe's hotsite, it looks very tasty.

The poster below announces the beginning of the XXXHOLiC Rei serialization for Young Magazine #14, to be released on March 4. The return was scheduled for February, but it was probably delayed to March due to the incident regarding Young Magazine and a picture of AKB48 idol (read more about it here).

Also, the XXXHOLiC artbook release has been pushed back to the end of March, this time it seems to be definitive. The artbook title will be XXXHOLiC Kochou no Yume (Butterfly's Dream).

Animate.tv has an interview with actress Anne, who will play Yuuko in the upcoming XXXHOLiC TV Drama.

In the interview, Anne says she was reader of XXXHOLiC and a big fan of the series since she was a teenager. Because of that, she was allowed to give some input on the TV Drama production, for example, on Yuuko's costumes and speeches. She also mentions having followed other CLAMP works such as Magic Knight Rayeart, Chobits and most recently, GATE 7.

According to her, she hasn't met the CLAMP members yet, but she is looking forward to that day.

I was also able to understand a part where she says Yuuko doesn't repeat the same costume twice in the TV Drama, which is good ;)

The XXXHOLiC TV Drama will air on WOWOW channel for 8 weekly episodes, starting February 24.

To promote and celebrate the TV Drama, WOWOW and PASELA RESORTS are launching a thematic cafe inspired in XXXHOLiC for a limited time.

The cafe was decorated in order to feel like Yuuko's shop, some of the props and decoration objects are the same as those seen in the TV Drama. Customers will also be able to enjoy a special menu inspired on XXXHOLiC.

The cafe will run from January 21st until March 3rd. Here's the official website: http://www.paselabo.tv/drama/xxxholic/index.html

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The cover of GATE 7 #4 was posted in CLAMP's official twitter account:

Source: @CLAMP_News

Looks really, really nice!

Our predictions that it would feature Hana and the white tiger were right on! Each volume Hana is featured with the 4 animals of the Chinese constellation: the Vermilion Bird (volume 1), the Azure Dragon (volume 2), the Black Tortoise (volume 3) and the White Tiger (volume 4). Now I wonder how the cover of volume 5 is going to look like... any guesses?

The good thing about CLAMP moving to twitter is that now the covers are posted in a much higher resolution.

GATE 7 #4 goes on sale on February 4, along with Drug & Drop #1 (there is going to be a campaign for it!).

On a sad note, for those who haven't seen it yet, CLAMP-NET.COM has official closed last Monday. As previously mentioned, all news are being now posted on their twitter account @CLAMP_News. Hopefully this is only temporary, even if it takes a long time for the website to be reopened.

Update: Bigger version, although with less quality, here.

The cover of Drug & Drop #1 was posted in CLAMP's official twitter account:

Click here to see a larger version of it.

I really like it! I am glad they've kept Gouhou Drug's black&white visuals, even the cannabis makes an appearance (which is nice, I thought it had gone for good). I don't understand why they didn't include the series' logo, but the title typography looks good too.

I think the art is slowly getting back to how it used to be, it might never reach the same level as Gouhou Drug, but it looks better than the first few chapters of Drug & Drop.

Drug & Drop #1 will be released on February 4, along with GATE 7 #4 (there is going to be a campaign for it!)

As I mentioned, this was originally posted on CLAMP's official twitter account. Since Janurary 1st, CLAMP-NET.COM is no longer being updated. The site is still online, it hasn't been shut down, but hasn't been updated since. All news are being posted on CLAMP's official twitter.

Their twitter account has become more active since then, tweets beginning with "★【CLAMP】" were tweeted by CLAMP members themselves, so make sure to follow it if you haven't done so yet: http://twitter.com/CLAMP_news

It's that time of the year again to look back and see what happened of most important on the activities of CLAMP.

As we all could predict by the end of the previous year, 2012 was an extremely uneventful year. CLAMP members (more precisely, Mokona) were under medical treatment in order to cure a lumbar compression fracture. Due to that, CLAMP's activities this year were much weaker than the last few years.

Thankfully, they publicly stated at the CLAMP FESTIVAL 2012 in Nagoya that they are fully recovered now, so hopefully we can expect the upcoming year to be a lot better for them, and for us!

Let's take a look of what made news in 2012, and what awaits us in 2013!

( 2012 balanceCollapse )

On other news, it looks like CLAMP-NET.COM is really going to shut down on January 1st. According to this last message, from January 1st onwards all news will be posted on CLAMP's official twitter account: @CLAMP_News.

I'm not sure what to think of this change. It's definitely sad that the site is going to shut down, I don't think it's a good idea to make twitter the only source of information. I hope this is just a temporary measure and that the website re-opens again in the future.

Also, check out this advertisement for the GATE 7 and Drug & Drop campaign that will run in February:

Click to enlarge it.

Could this be the art that will be used on the cover of volume 1?

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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 2013 =)

So...

HAPPY NEW YEAR !! ^__^

Here's wishing for a CLAMP-filled 2013!

The official website for the XXXHOLiC TV Drama was updated with more information and additional cast members.

The site's background illustration now shows a first look at the inside of Yuuko's shop (it looks great!). You can check out the image here.

Actors Naoto Takenaka and Yumi Adachi. Yumi Adachi will play the role of Spider Lady (Jorogumo), and although I don't have official information on Naoto Takenaka, I am inclined to believe he will play Haruka Doumeki.

Personally, I'm happy about Naoto Takenaka, I really liked his work in Nodame Cantabile. Yumi Adachi seems like a perfect choice for Spider Lady as well. So it looks like the show in a total of 8 episodes will go as far into the story as the Spider Lady arc, which is nice!

There are some changes in the staff list, too. Before, Jun Tsugita and Keisuke Toyoshima were both listed as directors and scriptwriters. Now, Jun Tsugita is listed as scriptwriter alone and Keisuke Toyoshima as the only director.

Last but not least, the show's start date has been announced: February 24, a Sunday.

Update: Check out the first official promotional image of the cast!

To promote the simultaneous release of GATE 7 #4 and Drug & Drop #1 on February 4, Kadokawa, Sueisha and CLAMP will join forces to launch a collaboration campaign.

Exclusive goods will be released using as a motif the below image newly drawn by CLAMP, featuring the characters from both series:

More details about this campaign -- what the goods will be and how to participate -- to be announced soon!

I love the illustration! *-*

It was announced today at the CLAMP FESTIVAL 2012 NAGOYA that a new series of the XXXHOLiC manga will begin in February.

The new series will be called XXXHOLiC ◆ Rei (XXXHOLiC ◆ 戻 < レイ >) and will be published in Young Magazine. The kanji for 戻 roughly means "return".

This will coincide with the release of the XXXHOLiC artbook, the TV Drama and also the series' 10th Anniversary.

All of this makes a lot of sense, if you ask me. There couldn't be a better time, strategic-wise, to resume the series. I would presume that Kodansha and CLAMP already knew that there would be a live action adaptation and decided to put the series on hiatus in order to wait for it. I'd say that everything was planned from the start.

So CLAMP is back to weekly magazines, and back to 3 works simultaneously. Very nice!

In other news, we now finally have the release dates for GATE 7 #4 and Drug & Drop #1. It will be a simultaneous release on February 4. Drug & Drop #1 will cost 588 yens.

Cinema Today is reporting that Masahiro Higashide will play Doumeki Shizuka and Karen Miyazaki will play Kunogi Himawari in the XXXHOLiC TV Drama adaptation.

Again, great choices, I'd say! No word yet on Mokona (personally, I don't really think Mokona works for live action and I hope they'll cut it out of it).

The XXXHOLiC TV Drama will run for 8 episodes starting in February 2013.

To celebrate the broadcast of the XXXHOLiC TV Drama, WOWOW channel will run a marathon of the XXXHOLiC TV Anime for 3 consecutive weeks in January, followed by a marathon of the XXXHOLiC Kei anime and the movie Midnight's Summer Dream in February.

This marathon will gear up for the premiere of the TV Drama series later in February as well.

According to CLAMP-NET.COM, the TV Drama will have a total of 8 episodes.

This will also coincide with XXXHOLiC's 10th Anniversary of publication.

At first I thought 8 episodes was too little, but these episodes will probably be around 50 minutes long, and you can tell a lot of story in 8 hours. There could be new seasons and/or special episodes, movies etc if this turns out to be successful.