"X" marks the spot

Hi everybody! Yeah, I know I had promised an update for last weekend, but the possibility of going trekking to the mountains with a couple of friends came up and I welcome every possible opportunity to go outdoors and enjoy summer, so the blog had to be put on hold once again. Today, to make up for the delay, I am sharing with you a megafile comprising two soundtrack albums released for that great 2001 TV series that is "X".

"X" started in 1992 as a manga featured in the comic magazine Monthly Asuka by the Kadokawa Shoten Publishing House. Their authors are an all-female studio that go under the name of CLAMP and that are, by now, legends in the manga and anime fandom, having created some of the most popular, critically acclaimed and commercially successful titles in both their paper-based and animated versions, such as "Chobits", "Card Captor Sakura", "Magic Knight Rayearth", "RG Veda" and "Clover", among many others.

CLAMP members are Ageha Ohkawa (formerly known under the name of Nanase Ohkawa) handling the writing of the stories, Mokona Apapa and Mick Nekoi in the drawing department, and Satsuki Igarashi in design and general planning. Their work is not only characterised by their graphic style (which has evolved along the years and also as Mokona and Mick influenced each other), but also by developing great characters, creating emotional endings with unexpected twists, nuanced villains and love relationships of all sorts, with a strong presence of homoerotism specially among male characters. To read a CLAMP story is never dull: these girls are already a brand of their own, having experimented with every possible genre inside manga and having always found outstanding success thanks to the quality of their work. Each time a new title by them is announced, plans for its adaptation to the screen (the small or the big one) are simultaneously made. And, fortunately, they are workaholics that never seem to take a break or to suffer from creativity droughts...

"X" is up to the moment their longest manga. It has reached a 18th recopilatory volume in Japan in 2003 and the ending, foreseen for volume 20th or 21st, is long-awaited by fans since then. The publication of this title is on hold for the moment; sources in the internet claiming that the reason is a dispute over creative differences with Kadokawa about the ending created by the authors, others saying that it was CLAMP's decision to call for some time off after the Kobe disaster ("X" features plenty of scenes of apocalliptic destruction by earthquakes) and the Sakakibara incident (the beheading of a boy by a 14 year-old murderer that apparently was influenced by violence in manga, videogames and films). "X" is certainly one of CLAMP's most violent titles, and beheadings certainly abound, but the dates of these events and the decision to suspend the publication of the manga don't really match, so I'm more inclined to believe the first version.

The first animated adaptation of this manga was under the form of a music video to the song "X" by (how appropriate...) legendary rock band X-Japan. The video was only 2 and a half minutes and left fans salivating for more. Here you have it courtesy of bentoprd @ YouTube:

In 1996 an anime movie was finally released, but despite the expert direction by Rintaro ("Metropolis") and many other celebrated artists involved in its production, the movie was panned by the fans. And for a reason: to try to encompass the twelve volumes of manga that were published by then in a two hour movie was suicidal, and too many changes had to be done to the original story in order to have the rudiments of a coherent story.

But finally, in 2001, the TV adaptation was done in 24 great episodes that adapted the 18 volumes... and went even further, providing the fans with a conclusion to Kamui's saga. It is no secret that CLAMP starts a manga only when the story is already written and the members are satisfied with it, so there are plenty of chances that what we saw on the screen is actually what we will eventually see on paper someday when publishing resumes. But it is also very well known that adaptations of CLAMP work to the screen aren't usually literal, and there are way too many differences between the published volumes and the episodes... so some variation should not be discarded. Yet, the ending makes so much sense and is so fitting to the journey that the main character -Kamui- has undergone, that it really feels like the closing to the story that CLAMP imagined.

"X" tells the story of Kamui, a 16 year-old boy that is called to decide on the future of the Earth on Judgment Day in 1999. He must participate in the fight between two factions of warriors empowered with supernatural abilities: the 7 Dragons of the Earth, who are willing to eliminate humankind and give the Earth a fresh new start, and the 7 Dragons of Heaven, who want to preserve humankind even at the cost of seeing Earth further deteriorating because of our activities. His choice of band will have an automatic influence on which group his best friend Fuuma joins. Destiny has foreseen that these two become enemies in the fight. Each of the Dragons is a complex character with a fascinating story behind, and the main topics are friendship, sacrifice, hidden desires that sometimes we are not even aware of, the consequences of our pursuing them and, above all, if there is such thing as fate and if we can fight it.

I have no words to describe how awesomely cool the story is. The TV series, perfectly adapted the colossal fights, the deepness of the relationships among characters (usually belonging to different factions), the angst, the tragedies, the apocalliptic atmosphere... The voice casting was top-notch, with stand-outs Kenichi Suzumura outdoing himself in the role of Kamui and scene-stealer Mitsuaki Madono playing Sorata.

And then... the music ! Naoki Sato composed an amazing score that I'm sharing today with you, guys. Two soundtrack albums were released and I'm comprising both in a single file for your utter enjoyment. Included are the OP rock song "ExDream" by Myuji, and ED "Secret Sorrow" by Kohei Koizumi (who is a guy, don't let yourselves be fooled by his voice... :-P). The instrumental pieces are marvellous, and will give you goosebumps for different reasons. There are tracks like "Destiny" that make you smell the nearness of battle, and then others like "Simply one desire" that leave a warm imprint in your heart, thanks to the professionalism of the orchestra arrangements. You won't find the karaoke versions of OP and ED (included in the sountrack) because the file would otherwise be too big, but the TV size versions are there. Mr. Suzumura sings the final track, the insert song "Crystal". And also included is the song "Strength", also by Kohei Koizumi, which was used in the OVA "Yochou", released to the market as a sort of episode zero to the TV series... (Awful idea if you haven't read the manga, because it contains many spoilers !! :-s). Unfortunately I don't have much information to share on Mr. Saito and on some of his other work in animation... hell, not even a photo of him ! :-(

But at least, as a test of the quality of the animation and of the general feel of the TV series, enjoy the OP courtesy of Ramblingnakuru @ YouTube:

Go check this manga out (it's published in most Western countries) and if you enjoy it, then get the DVDs for the TV series, because I'm sure that the manga will hook you enough to want to know how the story ends...
Here's the album, and always remember Kotori's wise words..."Destiny is not decided yet !" ^_-