Customer Reviews

CLAMP South Side

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~REVIEW~

North...South...what path should you approach, fellow CLAMPER? Which side would you go to reach your temporary niche nirvana? What directions do you have to know which is the right way? I'm gonna help you with those directions. Tokyopop has pulled a Nintendo and release TWO different versions of "CLAMP no eshigoto": North Side and South Side (the "no eshigoto" is the japanese lettering on the title, meaning "artworks"). These Sides contain history of CLAMP's synonymous visual works, from the early years of 1989 to these art books' Japanese release in 2002; forget about looking for "Tsubasa" and "xxxHOLIC" designs on either side, they're from '03. Also, if you're hoping for illustrations of "Cardcaptor Sakura", "Chobits", "Angelic Layer", and "X(/1999)", you're out of luck on either side as well. The Sides are for the real CLAMP manga enthusiams, but those books are by no means a disappointment.

If you read mostly CLAMP manga from Kodansha, then you're a northern bookworm. "Clover", "Magic Knight Rayearth", and others were part of the same company line-up, because "North Side" was released in Japan by Kodansha. Even though I mentioned there's no "Cardcaptor" or "Chobits" artworks here, it does have collaboration works with characters from those series mixed together. Surprisingly, even if Kodansha has more popular and exquisite CLAMP works, this Side is short with only 160 pages.

If you read some CLAMP manga from Kadokawa Shoten, then you're a southern player. Like Kodansha to the North, "South Side" was released in Japan by K-Shoten, along with the manga in this side: "CLAMP School Detectives", "Suki", "Legal Drug", and the anthologies that grabbed my heart. Personally, "Clamp School" along with its spin-offs are, to put it lightly, not great, and at worst, vomitatious (which CLAMP girl thought "Man of Many Faces" was a great idea?). Even so, there are others that love it, and these are in it for a treat with this side, with 40 more pages of illustrations than on "North Side."

If you're buying a CLAMP art book for the abundance of extras, go for the North path. "North Side" has an exclusive CLAMP comic with one of the CLAMP artists as a princess trying to survive a whole day being a normal girl, and eventually got her ass towed up by her mishaps; funny stuff. Not only that, but it include a lengthy, though hard-to-read, interview with THE femme four. Storywriter Ohkawa, and artists Nekoi, Mokona, and Igarashi gave some standard facts of how they met, complications of their careers, and mostly discuss about their work, "Chobits." You might want to get some reading glasses because the text are small...REALLY small.

If you're looking for a CLAMP artbook with some artistic diversity, head to the South path. While "South Side" has only one extra, the "How-to Art" section is plentiful. Three different CLAMP illustrations, three different methods of creating them with detailed instructions and materials needed to create them; reading glasses not included for those squinty text. It's very helpful for those who are following a career in art.

For both sides, they include CLAMP's unreleased illustrations, including those that are titilating (who knew these girls can actually draw nipples in one of their designs), and columns to show where CLAMP's works of art have been (magazines, postcards, etc).

Choosing between "North Side" and "South Side" is like choosing between the red and blue version of "Pokemon": they're different, but they follows the same core. Both sides contain a considerable amount of flaws, while having some advantages by the corner. It would be nice if both would include arts of such popular CLAMP series, but what both sides have is good enough. For CLAMP fans, I gave you enough facts to help you with your decision, but if you have the dough, you should get both, but if you can afford only one, that decision really depends on your taste.

FINAL W()RDS: Whichever wins, nobody loses.

[Reviewer's View] I decided to buy "South Side" over "North Side", because...well, I'm from the south. Plus, it contains arts from CLAMP's manga anthologies, which I enjoy reading so much, even though their amount of arts were sparse.

My only complaint is the binding. it doesn't really let you open the book easily to really look at the artwork. However CLAMP does beautiful, intricate artwork and this is a must have for all fans of their art.

South Side is one of the two artbooks with pictures from CLAMP's various series.

I just thought it would be useful to list which CLAMP titles are actually featured within South Side:

Man of Many Faces; Duklyon: CLAMP School Defenders; CLAMP School Detectives; Suki; Wish; CLAMP School Broadcasting Club; CLAMP School Paranormal Investigations; Dream Hunter REM; Rex; Miyuki-Chan in Wonderland; The One I Love; Shirahime-Syo: Snow Goddess Tales; Legal Drug.

Some of these have more pictures within the book than others. The most extensively featured are Clamp School Detectives (46 pictures); Suki (32 pictures); Duklyon (11 pictures), Man of Many Faces (10 pictures); Miyuki-Chan (8 pictures), Wish (8 pictures) and the other series have between 2-6 pictures each.

As you would expect, the artwork is really beautiful and as always CLAMP's work looks really dynamic in full colour. I think it's well worth the price, since even if you aren't familiar with a series, the artwork is still clearly stunning!