Clamp

In 1985, eleven women came together in an effort to become the first all-female manga team. These eleven consisted of: Nanase Ohkawa, Mick Nedoi, Mokono Apapa, Satsuki Igarashi, Tamayo Akiyama, Leeza Sei, Sei Nanao, Soushi Hisagi, Kazue Nakamori, Shinya Ohmr and O-Kyon. The creation of the first manga, however, wiped out four of the mangaka, and only seven were left. Once that manga was finished, Tamayo Akiyama, Sei Nanao and Leeza Sei decided to party ways with Clamp, which left the members down to four: Ageha Ohkawa, Mokona, Tsubaki Nekoi and Satsuki Igarashi.

Their first manga, RG Veda, was released in the manga magazine Wings. Before this was published, the women were known as doujinshi, or mangaka who publish outside of the mainstream. The manga was received warmly, and Tokyo Babylon was their next creation. Tokyo Babylon has become one of their best known works, and is still considered to be a masterful piece of manga work. A movie was created about Tokyo Babylon, but the women weren’t through yet. They created such mangas as CLAMP campus detectives, 20 Mensou ni Onegai, and CLAMP Cop Dukylon.

Magic Knight Rayearth 1 was published in 1993 and became almost as popular as Tokyo Babylon. The series was turned into an anime as well as an RPG, which led to a sequel: Magic knight Rayearth 2. An original video animation, or OVA, was created about the sequel, and numerous Gameboy games were also made. Card Captor Sakura was released in 1996, cementing CLAMP’s place as the best all-female mangaka team that has ever been.

The Artists

Ageha Ohkawa is known as the leader of the group. She was born in 1967 in Osaka. Her maiden named was Nanase, but she married shortly after the group got together, changing her name to her husband’s. Ohkawa is the main writer of CLAMP, and is the one that does all of the talking with the editors. She also has a hand in working on the screenplays when their mangas become anime’s.

Mokono was born in 1968 as Mokona Apapa. She goes by the name: Mokono, and is the woman out of the group that is generally in charge of design. Whenever you see work by the CLAMP, it is a good bet that Mokona was the artist behind the work. Her work is just one of the things that has set the team apart.

Tsubaki Nekoi was born in 1969 in Kyoto. She works with Mokona on character design, and is generally considered to be Mokona’s assistant. She has been the main artist for some of the series, including Watashi no suki na Hito, and Dakara Suki. The women generally leave Nekoi in charge of drawing the deformed characters and mascots.

Satsuki Igarashi was born in 1969 in Kyoto, and grew up with Tsubaki Nekoi. She is considered to be the “gopher” of the group, running as an assistant for both Mokona and Nekoi. She designs the tankobon and has a column that she writes monthly in Kadokawa Newtype Magazine.

Creators of Japanese manga.