Can someone confirm this?

[jjblue1.livejournal.com]

Okay, so J-pop had announced they're going to reprint 'X' in Italy.
Why anyone out of Italy should care about this?
Apparently J-pop had been assured by Kadokawa and CLAMP's manager the series will be finished soon, or at least in time not to force J-pop to pause while printing it (which would mean, according to the tentative schedule given, that they need the new volumes ready for 2012... end of the world anyone? -_-).

Now, although this is a great new, I would like to know if someone can confirm J-pop's declaration about CLAMP being finally ready to end 'X'.
So, does anyone know something?

I'm not sure if this post is allowed. If not I apologize.

Comments

[nokiirat.livejournal.com]

i think in every open interview they've had, they say 'soon'.
so it could mean something or nothing at all.

until they actually post something on their official website, i don't think anyone can confirm it. 2012 is a long way off to predict anything with CLAMP.

[senshi772000.livejournal.com]

They started last year in France to reprint X de Clamp. But we don't know if they'll also release the last volume...

They also made an agenda and they put in it the first chapter of the last volume but I don't know if I can be hopeful about this...

[winnucch.livejournal.com]

Yeah, J-Pop has announced to reprint X, but they haven't say any date. Probably because X is't over yet.

[zeldas.livejournal.com]

"Very soon" means nothing in CLAMP's world. It's like saying, "well, no, we're still looking for a popular enough magazine to carry it."

I could be wrong (and if I am, please to be correcting the date/exact words), but the same thing was done with Tokyopop concerning Legal Drug and its continuation, and they went along the lines of, "Oh but CLAMP said it'll carry on very soon!" And this was in... 2008, I think, during a con. So yes, "soon" goes hand in hand with CLAMP and it always means nothing at all.

[snoozy.livejournal.com]

Well, i think, mostly the issue with X, is that CLAMP has actually pretty much the last chapters ready. As in, drawn-ready. /as it was said in an interview.
And it is really weird, considering how popular X is, that no magazine would not want it serialized. Idk what CLAMP might has in mind since i believe, if they really wanted for it to be serialize/published, they would have done so. Honestly, idk.

[sumeragiskank.livejournal.com]

But how popular is X within Japan really? Popular CLAMP series are things like Tsubasa and Chobits with a lot of merchandise and promotion. X always struck me as their own indulgant personal project that only had a core of niche fans, but was not widely popular. It's a hard series to categorize - technically shoujo since it ran in Asuka, but it's got more violence in it than most shounen series. Nevermind we don't know what the contract they had with Asuka was like and how much time is going to be needed for the series to be free to be published elsewhere. There were all sorts of issues involved when Minekura Kazuya jumped publishers with Saiyuki.

CLAMP started as a doujinshi circle, it's always been my very whacked out dream that they just go ahead and self-publish the end of X in doujinshi form. Totally never going to happen, of course.

[snoozy.livejournal.com]

Popular enough to be able to serialized somewhere at least.
I doubt, that any kind of contract, would chain X that much, so it cannot get published somewhere else or something.

[zeldas.livejournal.com]

That's why I think it's not the magazines, but CLAMP themselves. They could have it printed in any magazine, but I have the feeling they'd rather have it in one of the ~IT~ magazines. I don't only think so because all of their titles happen to be published in the widespread magazines, but because I think it's one of the reasons why they didn't directly shift to another magazine. They could easily pick a smaller magazine but nope, it seems like they'd rather stick to what's popular because they're CLAMP.

By all means, I don't care anymore ;A; It could turn into an online comic, I just want it out there.

[yokainomiko.livejournal.com]

Comic Blade Avarus and Wing are both shoujo magazines that are sort of weird in categories. I think Wing Comics is better suited for that technically shoujo but has a LOT of action and violence to the extent that it confuses people.

R.G.Vega I believe was published by Wing Comics initially o_O

[snoozy.livejournal.com]

Well, i (we) cannot really be sure about it, but seems to be the case. And sucks, cause man, fucking cliffhanger, and we are SO close to end. Damn.

[v-chan-paradise.livejournal.com]

During the interview given this summer in Paris they said they were finishing it. So we can hope.....

[kurohaneshizumi.livejournal.com]

Adding to what chocoshins said, not only was it popular enough to be published in a magazine somewhere, it had a ton of merch following it as well. An anime, a movie, a video game, drama CDs and soundtracks and such, posters, t-shirts, pins and stuff like that as well. Of course, most of these things were made in Japan and sold to the Japanese and then brought over here (or not; the video game was never released here).

So I'm sure that it has enough of a following to get it reprinted and finished. Perhaps, since Tsubasa is finally over, they feel they're ready to do X again. In fact, since nearly all of the X characters were in Tsubasa, that probably helped push their decision forward as well. (Reminding them how much they loved it.)

[sumeragiskank.livejournal.com]

I've been following X for years, and while it has gotten some merchandise, it's merchandising is nowhere near the level of what I would consider a truly popular series. It has/had its followers, but I never saw it as the sales powerhouse that some people seem to think it was. X was never a CCS or a Chobits for CLAMP.

Don't get me wrong, I want to see it finished someday and on CLAMP's own terms, but I don't overestimate how popular it was and understand why it would be a difficult series to shop around to a new publisher. I think the CLAMP name behind it more than anything is going to be what does it in the end.

[(Anonymous)]

I can confirm the news, in fact in Italy the X series will be published in autumn 2010 in agreement with Kadokawa Shoten after having reassured the Italian publisher on the resumption of the series.

[kurohaneshizumi.livejournal.com]

X is very old now, though. It was an odd story (advertised as shoujo but had several elements that could also make it shounen); very dark. The thing, I think, that really turned people off of it at the time was all the crazy sh** that was happening in Japan towards its end which was the real reason CLAMP stop work on it. That is, all the suicides and earthquakes and weird killings. (I believe CLAMP said this in CLAMP no Kiseki.) So while it was quite popular for a time, with all that was happening, people, including CLAMP themselves, were getting turned off by it.

Cardcaptor Sakura and Chobits were lighthearted series that were the totally opposite of X. They were published well after X. And after all the time that it wasn't being worked on or talked about, a lot of people forgot about it. I know that if I talk to a youngster today and mention X they'll tell me they've never heard of it. But if I mention Cardcaptor Sakura or Chobits or eve Magic Kinght Rayearth (which was published the same year after X) to them, they'll know at least one if not all of them.

If you think about their other works before X, not many people have heard of them either. Man of Many Faces and CLAMP School Detectives or CLAMP School Defenders: Duklyon or even RG Vega didn't really build much of a fanbase. About the only work before X that a lot of people are familiar with is Tokyo Babylon and that's because of X, essentially.

But die-hard CLAMP fans and the older otaku that haven't forgotten what an awesome series X was, are still pretty excited for it.

I'm sure that it certainly wasn't as popular here in the US as it was in Japan (I really wanted that video game) but I'm sure it was, at the time, very popular (until all that stuff went down). I suppose we'll never know for certain though. We can only look to the future and hope for the best. (Isn't that what CLAMP's taught us? XD)

[starlady38.livejournal.com]

I do agree that it's probably difficult to find a publisher for, since it only has, what, 3.5 tankoubon worth of chapters remaining? But consistently when I lived in Japan and talked to a certain demographic about manga--women college-age or above who like manga--X/1999 would come up as a fan favorite. And I think CLAMP deliberately played up the X/1999 characters in TRC, which had outstanding sales, in an attempt to re-energize the fanbase so they could go to a publisher with that as support. And honestly, given this news, I suspect that strategy is working.

[la-vie-noire.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I also remember that it was the best-selling shoujo of its time in Japan. Someone once told me (I don't know if it's true) that it even did better than Tsubasa does now in terms of takoubon sales. So yeah, pretty popular.

[la-vie-noire.livejournal.com]

*I also remember = what I heard then. Not that I was in Japan in that time or something. I wasn't. XD

[sumeragiskank.livejournal.com]

Actually, CCS and Chobits were both published while X was still running, CCS finished in what, 1999?

And yes, a lot of the small CLAMP series are not very popular outside of the hardcore CLAMP fan, and I think the same thing stands for X as well. I love X, it is my all time favourite manga, but do I think that it has mass appeal and was ever super popular? No, and I don't think it really was ever meant to be. There's nothing wrong with X being a niche series

And you are not missing much with the video game, the best part really was learning Fuuma's finishing move, which involves strapping whoever to a cross and running them through with the shinken. Ok, and the Chi no Ryuu win, everyone dies! ending is pretty hilarious.

[outou.livejournal.com]

The thing, I think, that really turned people off of it at the time was all the crazy sh** that was happening in Japan towards its end which was the real reason CLAMP stop work on it. That is, all the suicides and earthquakes and weird killings. (I believe CLAMP said this in CLAMP no Kiseki.) So while it was quite popular for a time, with all that was happening, people, including CLAMP themselves, were getting turned off by it.

You make a good point there, and it reminds me of how CLAMP themselves have changed since the series was canceled: they may have planned out an ending and even drawn the final chapters, but the content of those chapters might no longer fit in with their morals or worldview. For example, xxxHOLiC and TRC both emphasize how sacrificing oneself can harm the people one loves, and one member of CLAMP--I'm pretty sure it was Nanase Ohkawa--said in an interview that she doesn't care for characters who give up their lives without thinking of the consequences. How well would this idea work with X and its conclusion?

[kurohaneshizumi.livejournal.com]

X started in 1993 and stopped in 2003. Cardcaptor Sakura started in 1996 and ended in 2000. And Chobits started in 2001 and ended in 2002. Magic Knight Rayearth started the same year as X even. But really, X was still, technically, published first. And by the time CCS and Chobits were coming out, it was because, as I said, all this really weird stuff starting happening and X's production started slowing down by then.

Like I said, I wasn't born in Japan or in Japan at the time X was coming out... And I don't think X is what got CLAMP their recognition. No. But enough people were noticing similarities between what was going on and the events in X. I can't believe that CLAMP would've really stopped writing/drawing it if they didn't know enough people were getting a little freaked by it. I think this fact is very important to this discussion we're having.

Haha. XD Awesome. I've seen a lot of the cut-scenes and stuff for the game, but I haven't actually played it. Still, I love fighting games and an X sounds totally amazing~ *A*

[starlady38.livejournal.com]

It wouldn't surprise me if it did do better than TRC, since the market has shrunk since then.

[kurohaneshizumi.livejournal.com]

That's a very good point, also! ^_^

Granted, a lot of the people Kamui cared for, like Subaru and Kotori and Keiichi, were already gone (to whatever extent). So I do wonder how they'll change or alter, or whether or not they'll keep the planned ending they supposedly had. Very interesting thought. ^_^

[vehemence.livejournal.com]

Well aren't you mysterious.

[clamp-hikari.livejournal.com]

it's like this with all releases. It wont be 'soon' unless there's a date. Or else there are months, if not years in between...

[kazahaya.livejournal.com]

Honestly, I wont believe it until I have my hands on volume 19.

I will probably cry the day I read the news/see it, but until then I've given X up for Lost and bitterly resent CLAMP for letting it stop.

[ogawa-yuma.livejournal.com]

first of all, the thing that piss me the most is when a very VERY well know artist (not only mangakas) underestimates the size of their mass of fans outside Japan >_>***... well, Im not sure about B.C -before CCS XD- times, but one thing that must be sure for they already is their ACTUAL worldwide popularity rate =_=...

well, my friend and I will keep praying to Clow, Yuuko, Ashura, everybody! for they to continue Gohou Drug TAT... and my friend at least will keep biting her wrist in despair until she see something new about X :P

...btw, KUROFAI PIC!!! *¬* <3<3<3 -biting her wrist in despair for the wait-

[yoshikochan.livejournal.com]

>.< At ycon, which is Oct. 29-31, there was this booth that had what I thought was a new CLAMP compilation art book. It was so thick and looked very nice. The vendor said it was brand new, had just been released in Japan the week before.

The vendor was nice and let me browse through it... and I saw it wasn't an art book at all - it had pictures but also a lot of text and information (in Japanese which I can't read ^^;) so I didn't buy it.

But the entire center chunk were these black edged pages... of an X comic. I haven't reread the last few volumes of X in almost 8 or so years, but it looked very much to me like continued/new X material.

I took it as a sign *.* X is coming. The end of the world is here! XD

[jjblue1.livejournal.com]

I think the book you saw was the one that collected the 3 Newtypes devoted to CLAMP plus the 2 manga special (Kobato and X) that contained the episodes printed only on magazine (in X's case the last 5 chapters that weren't collected in a volume).
But well the end of the world is coming so X might come as well...

[yoshikochan.livejournal.com]

Ooo so that's what it was :D considering this came right after TRC finished, I think it's a pretty good sign *.* *believes!*

[panapp.livejournal.com]

I wish it's not a joke, this time!!!

[(Anonymous)]

well, I think that's the point that they wanted to make at the end of X, that's why Fuuma in the end (of the series so far) was saying such things, and why he never killed Kamui, altought he had the oportunity... that's what he wants him to realize

[dreamersg.livejournal.com]

its been 10 years already and clamp hasn't started it
people have alot questions to ask
whats going to happen next to everybody?
why didn't clamp start to work on it right this minute is it because there busy with other stuff
well did someone write a letter about x1999a sterilization I can't find it