By: Peggy Sue Wood | @pswediting

Last July, I posted about CLAMP’s xxxHolic movie, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and since then I’ve been revisiting some of my favorites from the CLAMP team.

The stories crafted by the CLAMP team share in an extraordinary ability to immerse readers in their fantastical worlds. While there may be occasional overlaps in artwork, character designs, and names across their works, each title under their umbrella boasts its own distinct overarching concept. These concepts are brought to life through a diverse range of settings, with the few recurring characters from different titles taking on new significance, roles, and meaning within their individual narratives.

Through series like Tsubasa Chronicles and xxxHolic, we get a glimpse of the interconnectedness of the CLAMP Universe. Where alternate realities exist in parallel, not bound by those specific characters which appear in different titles to create that cohesive, connective tissue in the CLAMP Universe, but rather by shared philosophical principles (such as hitsuzen and equivalent exchange) to build a well-supported set of identifiable themes that runs throughout the continuity and among the plethora of their work, I think that CLAMP’s Wish stands out as a timeless gem that brings together a lot of their ideas about romance, fantasy, and humor into one body of work without the need for crossover.

Wish, as a series, is about an angel falling in love with a human. It’s explorative of innocent love and has larger themes like redemption, sacrifice, and the power of love transcending boundaries that we see often in other works from the CLAMP group as Kohaku, our main character and an angel, navigates the complexities of the human world alongside Shuichiro, the human they come to love.

One of the standout strengths of Wish, in my opinion, is its intricately developed characters, with Kohaku notably undergoing significant growth throughout the four-volume series despite the storyline’s comparative simplicity to that of other CLAMP works, like Gouhou Drug, Clover, or X.

The art style is very similar to Gouhou Drug, and seems to reuse some designs, but is very tonally different. It’s lighthearted and the ethereal angelic transformations, depictions of nature, and glimpses into a heavenly realm creates a beauty and elegance that befits Shuichiro’s traditional Japanese home.

Every panel is meticulously crafted, conveying a wealth of emotion and expression that enhances the storytelling experience, and which matches the earnest and sensitive Kohaku to the stoic yet compassionate Shuichiro, making the environment and people within feel all the more authentic and relatable despite the clearly fictional story going on.

While Wish is undeniably a product of its time, with its initial publication dating back to the mid-1990s, many of its themes remain as relevant and resonant today as they were upon its release. I mean, it was published in 1995—a year after I was born—and when I first picked the work up in the mid-2000s it was still a beautiful exploration of love, loss, and the search for identity that pairs well even with today’s changing culture and boundaries.

So, whether you’re a longtime fan of CLAMP already, or a newcomer looking to discover something truly special, I would like to recommend reading Wish. It is, I believe, a captivating story that will stay with you long after you’ve turned the final page. Moreover, the omnibus is currently available with online retailers, like Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Wish-Clamp/dp/1506701116

Sadly, this series never received an animated release, although it does have an official AMV, which you can watch here:

If you haven’t read this story already, I hope you will check it out! If you do, I hope you will tell me what you think in a comment below.

Thank you for reading!

Developmental edit by: Krow Smith | @coffeewithkrow