My top 10 favorite CLAMP characters

I was going to do a post about some new XXXholic chapters. But they suck.

Okay that is slightly harsh. But just slightly. With Tsubasa ending I thought XXXholic would step it up and give us more answers. Instead the special visitor promised to us isn't very special and our boys are talking about cat virginity. Yeah. Not the stuff dreams are made of.

SOOOOOO I shall ignore the massive fail that is the current XXXholic chapters and focus on something more positive. I bring you Tenchi's top CLAMP characters! *insert cheering here*

CLAMP characters are one big happily family...one way or another. XD

I had time to think about my favorite character's today as I drove all around town delivering pizzas. It was hard to pick just ten since there are so many characters to choose from! Why must they all be so wonderful?

But I have chosen so here we go. And yes there are some major spoilers ahead for most of CLAMP's series. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. Like serious spoilers people! Lots of spoilers! If you hate spoilers this post is not for you! But if you have read every single CLAMP series out here you should be okay. But there are spoilers in case you missed it the first time. XD





10. Kobato (Kobato)

Say hello to the new girl!

Kobato is beautiful, clueless, and loving. So why isn’t she higher on my list? Honestly it is because she is the new girl on the block. The other characters have been around for quite a while and my love for Kobato is a new one. Perhaps in a few years she will work her way up on the list. For now she has made the list because she does seem awesome despite the small amount of time I have gotten to know her.

Kobato is from a lighter manga (or thus far anyway) so her dying isn’t that big on my worry list. That and she may already be dead. It’s easier to love characters when you don’t fear then dying all the time. XD But Kobato has tons of cute outfits which I love. She is full of innocents which CLAMP loves. And she is determined in everything she does because that is what pure hearted people do. Everyone love Kobato right now!

9. Subaru Sumeragi (X/1999)

Destined to save the world despite having nothing to live for.

I love my angsty little Dragon of Heaven. Or according to the last manga (Or the last published manga CLAMP!!!) Dragon of Earth. Subaru doesn’t have a lot of fun in any mangas he is featured in. He loses his twin sister to his “boyfriend” in Tokyo Babylon. Said boyfriend has a cursed place on him due to his actions in Tokyo Babylon and Subaru is forced to kill the evil boyfriend and become a killer/Dragon of Earth. In Tsubasa he is a vampire being hunted by Seishirō and his twin brother Kamui is all pissy about their situation. In XXXholics Yuko alludes to the fact that Subaru hasn’t accepted her offer to grant his wish as he might not have one. Or he is truly that unhappy.

So yeah…Subaru has gotten the short end of the stick in every single series. But I love him. And want him to end up with Kamui. But since X/1999 is (was) turning out to be the second bloodiest/highest body count series under CLAMP’s belt I doubt it. But I can dream and read lovely fanfics about it. I also can be amazed that Subaru was able to function most of the time. And when he did have break downs they were real. He represented what a real man should be like, with all the strengths and weaknesses that come with being human.

8. Eagle Vision (Magic Knights Rayearth)

Eagle Vision is too cool to dress himself.

Eagle was the bad guy who never was really that bad. He has his reasons for trying to attack Cephiro and becoming the pillar. That and you can’t really consider someone a bad guy when they were going to sacrifice themselves to protect the country they were attacking and their home world. He was more like the misunderstood savior!

I like to pretend the anime version of Magic Knights Rayearth doesn’t exist (actually I do that a lot with CLAMP anime series…). Eagle is still alive and since Hikaru is the Pillar/not Pillar he will wake up one day and all will be well. As in Eagle and Lantis become a couple. I guess I pretend to forget about that pesky manga scene where Lantis tells Hikaru he loves him. At the very least I am sure most friends can agree that Eagle loved Lantis. I am not that crazy of a yaoi fan girl.

7. Chi (Chobits)

Are you the one for me?

I am not sure why I love Chi so much. She is just adorable and everyone has to love her. Plus she has some of the most gorgeous clothes/art work of any CLAMP character. She even rivals Sakura who appears in two manga series and have tons of outfits! Chi has an innocence about her you have to snuggle. The whole having sex with a robot is weird anyway so I am not crying any tears that Chi and her special person can’t have sex.

But it is a bit more complex because Chi is a robot. What part is her personality is program and what part is her? Chi is Chi at the end of the day and you have to love her. The end.

6. Ashura (RG Veda)

The original MY LIFE SUCKS HARD poster boy.

So he might have accidentally killed some of his traveling companions. So he had a curse placed on him before he was even born. So he is really not a he and he has no gender and lacks naughty bits. All of these horrible things mean we must love him more. He needs our love because quite frankly his life is crap. I would say that he has one of the most tragic pasts of any CLAMP character…but he is a CLAMP character. Either you are having a great life or every single person you know is dead and it’s all your fault. So…we will just agree that it sucks to be Ashura.

Even though Ashura is a character from CLAMP’s bloodiest manga…he lives! WITH HIS PARTNER. I mean surrogate dad. Yeah we will go with that…..Even though they are the only two to make it out alive it’s still a miracle! And slightly bitter sweet and sad. But CLAMP makes up for in Tsubasa where both he and Yasha are both screwed. But hey, they get to be worshiped as gods so it can’t be sad right?

5. Sakura (Card Captor Sakura and Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle)

It's tiring changing outfits every five minutes!

You can’t have a top CLAMP character list and not have Sakura on this list. XD Some might argue she should be higher on the list. XD But this is my list! But there is a whole lot to love about Sakura. Her whole I can do this attitude when in fact…things are pretty bad and you are a powerless 10/16 year old girl.

But Sakura has never been really powerless. In both version (and possible three Sakuras) she has been portrayed as one of the strongest characters in her series. And she has gone up against some pretty powerful people. But Sakura has the power to destroy the fabric of time and space with her MEMORIES. Dude who else can say something like that? No one that’s who!

Most of the time Sakura ends up with a happier ending. Maybe not the clone Sakura but I have faith that Syaoran and company will bring back the clones. So yay for Sakura getting a happier ending than most CLAMP characters. Also I think I love every single outfit any Sakura wore. The possibilities for cosplays are endless with Sakura.

4. Kazahaya Kudo (Legal Drug)

It's hard being so sexy...but he does it for us. Thank him.

If you are asking who Kazahaya is….I hate you. But I should hate CLAMP more for making Legal Drug forgettable. And not finishing it like X/1999. But I shall save my ranting for later. XD The point is that even though Legal Drug is only 3 volumes I think Kazahaya is adorable and needs a hug. Not much is known about his side story. There aren’t dead bodies lining in Legal Drug though so I think his past would be more manageable than say Ashura’s.

But I love Kazahaya’s interesting hair and the way that Rikuo picks on him and the way he has an ability that is interesting and not…that bad. XD Just thinking about Kazahaya makes me think of Fai and Kurogane…only the exact opposite. Kazahaya also has a bit of Watanuki in him with the spazzing over the crazy stuff in his life and I approve of that. XD

3. Hikaru Shidou (Magic Knight Rayearth)

Mokona loved her first!

Ah Hikaru. The original girl who carried around Mokona and saved it/her from being smashed by a bully. She was a shortie with attitude. She thought she was playing the hero but instead of saving the princess she killed her. How fluffy is that? Then Hikaru tries to redeem herself in the second part of the series but ends up becoming the pillar, the person she killed. But since Hikaru is innocent and only uses the happy side of her brain she figures out a solution that saves everyone and she is free to be Hikaru still YAY!

Hikaru spends a lot of time doubting herself and her ability. Fuu and Umi also feel bad about the whole killing the princess thing but Hikaru is more sensitive to the entire situation. That and she is drawn to Lantis, the brother of said dead princess. In the anime her doubt manifest itself into one of the main villains of season two. That's is how bad she feels! X_X Hikaru is a bit of a cock blocker for Eagle but I love her anyway. She is a very earnest girl who tries hard at everything she does (just like every CLAMP heroine). She may be old school but that is how I roll!

2. Kamui Shirō (X/1999)

He eats emo for breakfast then cries about it later.

Kamui. My dear little broken stabbed Kamui. I know you are moody and hard to love at times but deep down you are a wounded butterfly who is being molested and flung around by your best friend. Clearly you are not in the best frame of mind most of the time as shown by your propensity to hold people’s dead heads. Everyone Kamui has ever talked to is dead or in danger of dying. He lacks people skills because of that fact and probably because he never really had a father figure and his mother was too busy being on the run to let her kid be a kid.

Kamui is the definition of the reluctant hero. His fate was decided before his mother even had sex. X_X Can you imagine something so creepy? He has to leave the only two friends he has in the world so their mother can explode into a million pieces and allow his mom to live until he is 15. So she can die in a horrible blaze to protect the world for global warming. He gets back to town and acts distant to his two friends because he knows his track record when it comes to people. Then his friend’s dad and aunt both go splat. So Kamui tries to change up this plan and love his friends again and protect the world. He is rewarded with his bestest friend cutting off his other bestest friend’s head. Yay for Kamui’s life?

My poor sad Kamui. The pain just keeps going on and on. His best friend is trying to kill him and his decision to save the people of Earth means the Earth will eventually die. But not before most of his friends will go squish. And Kamui is not really emotionally strong enough to handle all this pressure. No human being should be. Who knows how Kamui would have saved the world HAD THE SERIES FINISHED! But I think he was doing the best he could do given the fact he was boned from the start.

I tend to pair Kamui with Subaru instead of Fuma. I think Kamui is so much like younger Subaru it is scary. I don’t think that if Fuma lives he will be able to put aside all the horrible things he did. Kamui might be able to but not Fuma himself. Subaru is the more stable choice and hasn’t tried to kill Kamui 68778 times. So yeah…yay for that pairing and WTF to them being twins in Tsubasa!

And now…for my number one pick…someone completely out of left field……

1. Fai D. Flourite (Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle)

Best character EVER!

Was there any doubt? Surly there wasn’t doubt right people?

Like most CLAMP characters my beloved Fai has a very sad back story. He was born and was automatically blamed for anything that ever happened in his country. All because he was a twin. Instead of just killing the twins they were locked in a tower system where they wouldn’t age/age slower and were separated. Oh and this tower was placed outside the country’s walls where the graveyard was. Fai got to experience every single person in his country being flung over the wall. What a lovely sight it must have been. Only not.

Then my lovely Fai thought he was the cause of his brother’s death and made a pact with the devil to bring back said brother. Only he was a confused child at the time and didn’t realize he was being played by Fei Wong Reed. He was taken to a safe place only for that to become a death trap as well. He had several awesome curses on him and eventually went down the path that Fei Wong reed set for him: joining up with the Tsubasa crew and attempting to bring back his brother.

Since my lovely Fai had a wonderful childhood he tried to keep himself distant from his traveling companions. Meaning he put on happy fake smiles and never talked about himself. It was pretty obvious what he was doing but only Kurogane had the balls to say something to Fai from day one. Sakura mentioned a few times that she wanted Fai to be really happy but Kurogane always demanded more from Fai. It was almost like Kurogane wanted Fai to be himself. XD Because they are in LOOOOOVE.

Out of all the characters in Tsubasa Fai changed the most. He changed from tag along but actual “inside” character to group mommy to indispensable group member/lover. Yes Fai had a better idea of what was going on the entire series that even Syaoran himself. But everyone was able to convince Fai he was a victim in all this craziness and he was not to blame.

That and Fai lived! I think that is the best part about the entire series. I really thought Kurogane and Fai were going to die to save the kids. But they got to live and the kids died WOOHOO. Okay not really woohoo but still. Kurogane and Fai lived and they are going to bring the original kids. Fai didn’t get to bring back his brother but deep down I think he knew that was impossible. Fai learned he wasn’t responsible for his brother’s death and survived losing an eye/becoming a vampire/fighting Fei Wong Reed. That and he gets to live with Kurogane! It can’t get much happier than that!

Fai is such an interesting character. There are many layers to his lies and reasoning behind things. He tries to pretend he doesn’t care that much about his fellow travelers but he is the one who bonded to them the fastest. He tried to lighten the mood when things got rough and he pretty dependable despite his lack of magic using skills. He teased Kurogane to keep him from finding out the truth about his past. But soon it became more than that and Kurogane and Fai are the best of friends now…if not lovers.

Sometimes I thought Fai’s outfits were more awesome than Sakuras. Yeah I said it! But he had fun with his costumes and seemed suited for traveling around places. The multiple outfit changes worked on him. XD

Fai and his fluffy coat touched my heart from the moment he landed in front of Yuko. He was a bit different than most CLAMP characters and didn’t fall into one stereotype. He wanted to save someone but he needed saving. He had magic powers that rivaled most characters in the series but for the most part he was unable to use them and had to become useful in different things. He was the liar of the group but he wanted to tell the truth more than anyone. He wanted to die but was saved all the time.

In short…it is hard to put into words what I love about Fai. Or what I love the most about Fai. Probably everything. He was a tragedy waiting to happen and got saved by someone who despised his type. He ended up risking his life to save the kids he was meant to betray. He provided most of the humor for the entire series and was at the center of the most sadness. He was the most realistic character in my mind.

I love Fai. He wins no matter what! If you want more of an explanation read the series for yourself and experience the wonderfulness that is Fai.

So that is my list. Yes there are tons more characters that deserve special mention but I had to narrow down the list to just 10. Most CLAMP characters have something to love about them (except the obvious bad guys like Fei Wong Reed who might turn on to not be a bad guy so…) so it is hard to just choose ten. But these are my ten and I am sticking to them.

Thank you CLAMP for making such wonderful characters for me to love and feel bad for. I would love you more if….well you know. But you are good at making memorable characters that we want to the see at the END of a series. Thank you. Now get back to work!