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taotrooper) wrote2006-10-11 10:52 am
taotrooper) wrote2006-10-11 10:52 am
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Kiseki #10, HOLiC interview
I dare the heavens to reset my computer again, dammit! *dodges from the wrath of deities*
*****
Q: Let's start by telling us how you came up with this resource.
Ohkawa: Very few of our series have a setting nowadays. The parallel stories and fantasy episodes from Miyuki-chan in the Wonderland didn't, for instance. We wanted to create a CLAMP World gathering all those elements. And on the other hand, we wanted to draw, simultaneously, two series that were related to each other.
Q: Which one of both series was born first, Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE or XXXHOLiC?
Ohkawa: XXXHOLiC was born a bit earlier, but they're almost twins. What we proposed to Young Magazine just right after Chobits was XXXHOLiC. Tsubasa's idea already existed back then but we had no idea were to publish it. It could've been in Nakayoshi, where Magic Knight Rayearth and Cardcaptor Sakura ran, but it was too complicated to crossover a weekly series with a monthly series. We even considered other companies, but as soon as we took the project to Shounen Magazine they gave us the green light and we started the publication.
Q: Where does the title come from?
Ohkawa: At the beginning we thought something on the lines of "Addicted", but the term is a bit general. However, "holic" reminds of "workaholic" in English, which is more used and easier to interpret. This is why we named it xxxHOLiC. In Tokyo Babylon we treated the social pathologies and this time we wanted to give a more esoteric tone to it.
Q: Do you like occultism?
Ohkawa: I love it (laughs). I'm a fan of movies like Angel Heart, The Dead Zone, and The Omen.
Nekoi: I like occult-themed literature. And Kamon Nanami's works.
Mokona: I was so frightened by Kamon Nanami's Kaidan Tsurezuregusa. She told me the plot herself.
Q: Why did you create Yuuko?
Ohkawa: Because there had to be a character aware of CLAMPverse in its entirety. And in order to design her we based on a real life model: the aesthetician who makes our manicures, who has the exact same personality (laughs). Physically speaking they have nothing in common, of course.
Igarashi: And we were lucky there was a person at the aesthetician's who was like Watanuki (laughs).
Ohkawa: When we showed them the project, we had thought of three possible conduct patterns for Yuuko. When we met the aesthetician we thought her strong character fitted Yuuko like a glove.
Q: What can you tell us about the character designs?
Ohkawa: It costed us so much to design Yuuko. I could describe with words the image of her in my head, but we took a lot of time to decide how her facial features were going to be like. Watanuki came up right away, though.
Q: Isn't it too complicated to develop two related series, simultaneously?
Ohkawa: Not so much right now. Later on, things will become harder, but so far they've just crossed over in scenes such as the Valentine's Day sweets or the White Day's present. What it's more difficult is to decide where to tell the scene first: XXXHOLiC on Mondays, or Tsubasa on Wednesdays.
Q: Besides Ohkawa, are the rest of the CLAMP members informed about the outcome?
Ohkawa: No, they don't know either XXXHOLiC's endings or Tsubasa's. A while ago I told them a little bit of what's awaiting for Watanuki, and there was such a fuss at the studio. I'm explaining to them how the story will go on little by little, but I haven't given them enough information for them to know the outcome.
Q: The theatrical movie release is coming soon. Have you given many directions to the animation crew?
Ohkawa: No, this time we let everything in their hands. I've checked the script and the storyboard, but I don't think my opinion could be of any help, so I just directly let the whole thing in their hands.
Mokona: Besides, Yuuko comes a lot in the TV animation series [Note: Mokona must mean Tsubasa Chronicle, since HOLiC TV was not even decided at the time the interview took place] and, even though Watanuki only says two lines, he's in the movie too, with Himawari and Doumeki.
Nekoi: I'd rather discover it like someone else from the audience how the characters move, how they talk... let it be a surprise.
*****
My thoughts:
- My, Ohkawa talked a lot.
- LOL aesthetician. The idea of someone in real life who's kinda like Yuuko scares me and amuses me at the same time.
- So TRC was almost done in Nakayoshi. I wonder if they would've let CLAMP to do all the gore stuff they do in TRC. The only Nakayoshi manga I could imagine to be that crude is Sailor Moon, and as it's not my fandom I have no idea if it's as "bad" as Tsubasa.
- Ohkawa's movie tastes are creepy. No surprise there.
- Later on, things will become harder [to crossover] <- I wonder if she means the current arc, or it's just starting to get harder NOW. I think this is just the beginning of crossover hell, personally, with real!Syaoran paying the price for Watanuki, and with Fei Wang as a possible suspect behind the wing parasites.
- OK, it's a real surprise Ohkawa is the only one knowing TRC and HOLiC's endings! I want to know if this is something normal in the CLAMP studios, and they never know the whole plot of their mangas until they draw it, or if Ohkawa is being secretive just now.
- I told them a little bit of what's awaiting for Watanuki, and there was such a fuss at the studio <- and the question is, what exactly did she tell them? XD Was it the eye thing? Was it the window thing? Was it something in the future we still haven't seen in the series? Now I'm intrigued.
- this time we let everything in their hands <- well, that explains Tsubasa Chronicle too...
*****
We wanted to create a CLAMP world with parallel stories and lots of fantasy.
Q: Let's start by telling us how you came up with this resource.
Ohkawa: Very few of our series have a setting nowadays. The parallel stories and fantasy episodes from Miyuki-chan in the Wonderland didn't, for instance. We wanted to create a CLAMP World gathering all those elements. And on the other hand, we wanted to draw, simultaneously, two series that were related to each other.
Q: Which one of both series was born first, Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE or XXXHOLiC?
Ohkawa: XXXHOLiC was born a bit earlier, but they're almost twins. What we proposed to Young Magazine just right after Chobits was XXXHOLiC. Tsubasa's idea already existed back then but we had no idea were to publish it. It could've been in Nakayoshi, where Magic Knight Rayearth and Cardcaptor Sakura ran, but it was too complicated to crossover a weekly series with a monthly series. We even considered other companies, but as soon as we took the project to Shounen Magazine they gave us the green light and we started the publication.
We wanted a character aware of the whole CLAMPverse to exist
Q: Where does the title come from?
Ohkawa: At the beginning we thought something on the lines of "Addicted", but the term is a bit general. However, "holic" reminds of "workaholic" in English, which is more used and easier to interpret. This is why we named it xxxHOLiC. In Tokyo Babylon we treated the social pathologies and this time we wanted to give a more esoteric tone to it.
Q: Do you like occultism?
Ohkawa: I love it (laughs). I'm a fan of movies like Angel Heart, The Dead Zone, and The Omen.
Nekoi: I like occult-themed literature. And Kamon Nanami's works.
Mokona: I was so frightened by Kamon Nanami's Kaidan Tsurezuregusa. She told me the plot herself.
Q: Why did you create Yuuko?
Ohkawa: Because there had to be a character aware of CLAMPverse in its entirety. And in order to design her we based on a real life model: the aesthetician who makes our manicures, who has the exact same personality (laughs). Physically speaking they have nothing in common, of course.
Igarashi: And we were lucky there was a person at the aesthetician's who was like Watanuki (laughs).
Ohkawa: When we showed them the project, we had thought of three possible conduct patterns for Yuuko. When we met the aesthetician we thought her strong character fitted Yuuko like a glove.
Q: What can you tell us about the character designs?
Ohkawa: It costed us so much to design Yuuko. I could describe with words the image of her in my head, but we took a lot of time to decide how her facial features were going to be like. Watanuki came up right away, though.
Q: Isn't it too complicated to develop two related series, simultaneously?
Ohkawa: Not so much right now. Later on, things will become harder, but so far they've just crossed over in scenes such as the Valentine's Day sweets or the White Day's present. What it's more difficult is to decide where to tell the scene first: XXXHOLiC on Mondays, or Tsubasa on Wednesdays.
Q: Besides Ohkawa, are the rest of the CLAMP members informed about the outcome?
Ohkawa: No, they don't know either XXXHOLiC's endings or Tsubasa's. A while ago I told them a little bit of what's awaiting for Watanuki, and there was such a fuss at the studio. I'm explaining to them how the story will go on little by little, but I haven't given them enough information for them to know the outcome.
Q: The theatrical movie release is coming soon. Have you given many directions to the animation crew?
Ohkawa: No, this time we let everything in their hands. I've checked the script and the storyboard, but I don't think my opinion could be of any help, so I just directly let the whole thing in their hands.
Mokona: Besides, Yuuko comes a lot in the TV animation series [Note: Mokona must mean Tsubasa Chronicle, since HOLiC TV was not even decided at the time the interview took place] and, even though Watanuki only says two lines, he's in the movie too, with Himawari and Doumeki.
Nekoi: I'd rather discover it like someone else from the audience how the characters move, how they talk... let it be a surprise.
*****
My thoughts:
- My, Ohkawa talked a lot.
- LOL aesthetician. The idea of someone in real life who's kinda like Yuuko scares me and amuses me at the same time.
- So TRC was almost done in Nakayoshi. I wonder if they would've let CLAMP to do all the gore stuff they do in TRC. The only Nakayoshi manga I could imagine to be that crude is Sailor Moon, and as it's not my fandom I have no idea if it's as "bad" as Tsubasa.
- Ohkawa's movie tastes are creepy. No surprise there.
- Later on, things will become harder [to crossover] <- I wonder if she means the current arc, or it's just starting to get harder NOW. I think this is just the beginning of crossover hell, personally, with real!Syaoran paying the price for Watanuki, and with Fei Wang as a possible suspect behind the wing parasites.
- OK, it's a real surprise Ohkawa is the only one knowing TRC and HOLiC's endings! I want to know if this is something normal in the CLAMP studios, and they never know the whole plot of their mangas until they draw it, or if Ohkawa is being secretive just now.
- I told them a little bit of what's awaiting for Watanuki, and there was such a fuss at the studio <- and the question is, what exactly did she tell them? XD Was it the eye thing? Was it the window thing? Was it something in the future we still haven't seen in the series? Now I'm intrigued.
- this time we let everything in their hands <- well, that explains Tsubasa Chronicle too...
no subject
Yuuko: lovechild of Ohkawa and the manicure lady!
WHO on their sane mind would reject her opinion? <- Bee Train and NHK?
Aww, but now I noticed this makes the whole do-you-want-to-know-my-love-life thing on the movie non-canon. Bummer.
That's interesting. Yeah, now I wonder how things would've looked like in some series if the main artist knew the ending and the deaths beforehand.
no subject
Really? That would be so great ! The ones who weren't translated yet:
Angelic Layer
RG Veda
Miyuki-chan
Shirahime
I have those in spanish, I can handle them, but it's so much better when they are in english ^^"
Also, when you get 11 and 12, feel free to translate the interviews because they haven't been translated as well ^^
no subject