Here is the interview with Nanase Ohkawa that was published in this month's issue of Newtype magazine, it also features a new Wish illustration:


Click to enlarge it.
It's not really an interview since there is no interviewer, just Ohkawa talking about the anime ^^;

Credits for the scan goes to undini (thank you so much!), who also points some highlights from the interview:

- Kobato.'s world and Wish's world is the same.
- When they were setting the plot for Ioryogi, from the beginning they thought that he did something in the world of Wish and because of that he became like this.
- They don't know how many characters from Wish will appear in the Kobato. anime.
- Ohkawa says that Kohaku knows about Kobato and Ioryogi, but she doesn't want to say anything else since it will be spoiling the anime.

EDIT: Allan Montenegro kindly translated the interview to portuguese and I retranslated it to english:

Two worlds connected

The worlds of "Kobato." and "Wish" are the same!! In the end, there will probably be a lot of readers who cannot hide the surprise upon seeing this new fact! To start with, where the idea came from?

"When we first thought about Ioryogi's creation, we thought about making a mysterious being coming from a world like the Heaven that we first described in "Wish", for some reason, we thought about changing his appearance to the way it looks now. Since we decided that Ioryogi would appear, one could tell that both worlds were connected."

With the animation of "Kobato.", the two worlds will be more closely connected.

"It was a decision that came up during a meeting. We decided that to visually show the world of angels would be easier to understand to story. So, by making Kohaku appear, both stories become much more connected. Even so, in the end the title is still "Kobato.". At the moment, it's not clear how much Kohaku and the other "Wish" characters will appear (laughs). Besides, it is known that Kobato and Kohaku both sing very well, it would be very pleasant to make them sing."

They are not just good at singing, in one way or another, Kobato and Kohaku have a lot in common. What kind of connection there is between them?

"If I tell you that, I would be spoiling a lot (laughs). However, it's established in the anime version that Kohaku knows about Kobato and Ioryogi. The uncommon love that exists in the [Wish] manga is very strong, I think we won't be able to develop Kohaku's efforts [in the anime]. Upon watching the Ending, I thought "I'm so glad! It looks so cute!", it looks good in the anime, very pleasant to watch. I hope you'll like it."

So the Ending animation is already done! And in the end it was an interview. A 3-questions long interview, but an interview nonetheless xD

I honestly don't know when I'll stop talking about CLAMP in Paris xD Probably when the news stop coming ^^;

First let's start with a new article published in ParisMatch.com featuring a very nice new picture of the CLAMP members. The interview was conceived just before going to the opening party of the CLAMP exposition in Paris.


The article reveals that more than 110 million copies of CLAMP mangas have been sold worldwide so far. Also, Ohkawa tells ParisMatch that CLAMP works 12 hours per day and 25 days per month.

Thanks clamp_now for the tip!

Next, this video provided by HachetteVideos in shows some footage of CLAMP in Japan Expo from July 4.


The video is available in HD quality and I have ripped and uploaded the HD version (72 MB) in MegaUpload for anyone interested in keeping the video.

Lastly, gettyimages has 3 videos from the interview that CLAMP gave to the AFP press agency on July 3. This is the raw version of the interview, all in japanese, no french translation. There are other 2 videos (a raw version and an english version) about shoujo manga with some new CLAMP footage as well.



To download the videos, click on the Download 4:3 preview clip link at the sidebar. Since they are preview clips, all videos are watermarked.

Interview (raw) / Shoujo manga + CLAMP (raw) / Shoujo manga + CLAMP (english)

I love when Ohkawa says "It wasn't as if we decided that we didn't want men, but it just ended up that we were all women" xD

Second day of Japan Expo, first day of CLAMP activities.

Today there was a sign session and the CLAMP Cosplay contest. I left after the contest so I don't know if there was a second sign session. I heard a rumor that it got canceled but I have to confirm that. The Cosplay Contest did end much later than planned so maybe it's true. Anyone can confirm that?

The signing rooms at Japan Expo are in an open area, basically anyone can watch the artists doing the signs, even if they haven't won any tickets, which is pretty cool.

I think the first session had around 50 to 100 people, and CLAMP greeted each one of them and the fans were able to talk to them and ask questions. If anyone here won a ticket or knows someone who has, and if they asked any questions, please let me know the question and answer! ^^

Unlike the signing sessions from the USA and Korea, CLAMP did not give a special signing board do sign on, you could bring anything for CLAMP to sign on.

They were very generous with the fans, Mokona took pictures from two girls with her cellphone camera because of the way they looked.

Later there was the CLAMP Cosplay contest where CLAMP were the judges. Each member chose a winner individually and CLAMP as a group chose another winner.

Satsuki Igarashi chose a CLOVER group with Suu, Kazuhiko and Oruha.
Mokona picked a Code Geass duo with Cornelia and Euphie.
Tsubaki Nekoi chose a Blck and White Mokona duo.
Nanase Ohkawa picked a Sakura Kinomoto.

CLAMP as a group chose a Card Captor Sakura duo made of a Sakura and a Syaoran. I really liked that duo, the performance was so funny and the music was great, it was one of my favorites.

The winners got CLAMP's autographs and other official goodies such as clearfiles and shitajikis.

However, originally there should have been only one winner picked by CLAMP as a group, but there was a duo from Tsubasa made of a Syaoran and a Sakura that CLAMP liked so much, that they decided to give them a priwe too.

They promised to draw something to them and they also gave to them their Ioryogi plush toy that used to be in CLAMP's studio and that Nekoi carried around everywhere in their events.

I have a few pictures and videos, but I'm not allowed to share them until monday but please look forward to them!

On other news, CLAMP was featured in today's edition of the french newspaper Le parisien. They were interviewed in their hotel room just before leaving for the opening of their art exhibition that I mentioned yesterday. There's a very cool nez picture of CLAMP members sitting on a bed.


Click to enlarge it.
Special thanks goes to flowright for scanning the article!

Great exclusive material today!

Remember last year when CLAMP was featured in the Bande Dessinée Festival, coincidentally also held in France? There was a video screening at the event showing CLAMP's studio along with an interview shot specifically for the event.

Turns out that video was included in a special DVD celebrating CLAMP's 20th Anniversary released exclusively in France!


The DVD was released by Kaze and Pika Édition and apart from the interview, it also contains the first episode of Angelic Layer, Chobits, XXXHOLiC and Tsubasa Chronicle (animes licensed by Kaze).

kei_san77 was kind enough to rip the video interview in high quality! There's a total of two videos. The first one is very short and it shows CLAMP working in their studio, the second video is the interview itself.



( Download )

Enjoy! kei_san77 told me she'll be sharing a translation of the interview, and since the French subs are attached to the video permanently, a simple subtitle file wouldn't work, anyone willing to make a nice subbed version of this would be welcomed! ^__^

I thought we might never have this video. I've been wanting it like crazy since the previews were available, being able to have it in such quality makes me very happy!

Update: Translation of the interview can be read here.

The 7th DVD and Blu-ray of Code Geass R2 was released on the last February 20 and among its extras, it came with a booklet with a new interview with character designer Takahiro Kimura, CLAMP (Mokona) and producer Yoshitaka Kawaguchi.

The booklet also comes with a few more of CLAMP's original character sketches for the anime (although I think most of them, if not all, were published in the MUTUALITY artbook).

I totally missed this news on CLAMP-NET.COM, actually I think they only half-announced it and that's why I missed it.

Without further ado, you can download this booklet here.

Much thanks to Aurelia for providing the scans and letting me know about it! ♥

undini-kun scanned CLAMP's feature in Da Vinci magazine and it can be downloaded in his LiveJournal. I LOLed at Mokona's eye notes for Doumeki, Watanuki, Fye and Syaoran xD

Now that we have proper scans, can someone please translate the interview for us? Thanks is advance! =)

undini-kun was utterly nice enough to take pictures of the CLAMP special feature that was published in this month's Da Vinci magazine.


The pictures are in this album.

It's been a long time since the last CLAMP interview, if someone is willing to translate it, the fandom would appreciate it ^__^

EDIT: Summary of the interview here!

A special hotsite has been released for the promotion of CLAMP's Silver Powder, the series of jewelry designed by Mokona in collaboration with Wargo.

The hotsite features pictures of all 13 pieces available for purchase and a new interview with Mokona (featuring a lovely new picture too!).

CLAMP's Silver Powder is currently being sold via Wargo's website (not anymore, all sold out), CLAMP@MOBiLE e-mail order and at some specialized stores in Tokyo.

Today I bring some unsorted stuff, starting with the latest entry of Ageha Ohkawa's Private Board, where she speaks about the renewal of CLAMP-NET.COM.

( Renewal )

( Newtype USA #6 - Kobato. + CLAMP Interview )

( Newtype #7 - Code Geass cover )

( CLOVER DVD scans )

According to Kodansha, Tsubasa Vol. 19 will be released on June 15th.

And a brand new article + interview with Mokona (about the Okimono book) was published in the April 24th issue of Nishi Nippon Shinbun, they have an online version of it available at their official website. The article features a brand-new picture of Mokona, too.

( The day after my birthday )

( Puff Interview - Highlights )

Last but not least, people, I gave a series of CLAMP interviews in Chinese and asked carcarcarrot-san if she could translate them, she kindly accepted the mission and already translated two of them. The first one is about the end of Chobits while the other one is about their 15th Anniversary. Both very great interviews and really worth checking.

The first of the series of interviews with Mokona has been published on today's issue of the japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun. And online version of the interview can be seen here.

The article + interview is a bit short and not much revealing, being more focused on CLAMP itself rather than her book, but I'm not sure if the contents of the online and printed versions are different. However, the article features a lovely new picture of Mokona ^__^

It's been 2 weeks since the latest volumes of XXXHOLiC and TRC came out on sale, and it's time to see how well they went on the rankings !

( And the winner is... XXXHOLiC ! )

( XXXHOLiC & Tsubasa 2007 Calendar )

I also mentioned on my previous post about the CLAMP article featured on The New York Times. mmrobitussin-san scanned her own copy of the actual newspaper (yeah, it has been published !) and you can see it over here ^__^ (This is for the crazy people like me who want to save it for historical reasons ^^""")

First we had a transcription of the Press Conference, and now we have a deeper look of the fan's panel where around 5000 people attended.

( Question & Answer )

Here !

Thanks to everybody of my flist for letting me know about it *-*

Gouhou Drug coming back, the total number of volumes for X, their eye-fetish, it's all there...

( Highlights and Comments )