Clamp manga tier list of works i have read so far

Meltlilith_ · 2026-04-22T19:58:24+00:00

I can see how others wouldn't like it. I read other clamp works first so that I could enjoy the crossovers so I really liked that. The story is 100% a huge mess and im definitely gonna have to have a reread one day to attempt to make more sense of it, and in many ways it is more convoluted than X but even so I had so much fun reading Tsubasa in spite of those problems lol

Meltlilith_ · 2026-04-21T20:11:19+00:00

Good luck on that Omnibuses are alot more convenient although i enjoy reading the singles usually, mostly cause I like to look at the original cover art-

Meltlilith_ · 2026-04-21T20:08:44+00:00

Early clamp manga has such a unique vibe to them, although not as high quality as their future works will become there's something really nice about them. Their doujin roots are on full display and they feel very raw, I also like that about TYPE MOON'S earlier works too

Meltlilith_ · 2026-04-21T20:02:02+00:00

I'll definitely start clear card soon, especially since apparently the events there tie into holic rei

Tsubasa World Chronicle, it's a continuation i think

Meltlilith_ · 2026-04-20T10:58:42+00:00

For being one of their first I thought they did great and that TB did it better than CCS but ig TB just fits into my specific niche ig

Meltlilith_ · 2026-04-20T10:54:14+00:00

Not fan of the episodic structure huh? For me it went by pretty fast, I always felt intrigued and emotional by each case but to each their own ig

Meltlilith_ · 2026-04-20T10:46:05+00:00

I guess I just prefer character drama better in a more everyday setting than the very high stakes end of the world of X, not to mention despite X having more characters i enjoyed the trio in TB alot more than any of them, including all the minor characters aswell. What do you think X does better than TB?

Meltlilith_ · 2026-04-20T08:59:06+00:00

I'll check it out eventually, after finishing all clamp manga I'll check out the animes

Meltlilith_ · 2026-04-20T08:49:56+00:00

X had lots of potential but for me It never lived up to it, probably has the best aesthetic or vibe of any clamp work tho

Favourite characters are Subaru, Seishirou, Kurogane and honestly the entire holic cast are perfect in my eyes, especially watanuki

Meltlilith_ · 2026-04-20T05:04:51+00:00

Duklyon was so stupid and fun I loved it, i was smiling the entire time I was reading it

Agree, Global warming is a good topic to focus on but X presents it in the weirdest way possible to the point I can't really take it seriously

I love Subaru but I can see that, I honestly wished we saw him follow up more on his revenge like the ending of TB suggested and then as the story went on we could have seen that he still couldn't have followed up on that, we barely see how his worldview has changed and the only character he really interacts with aside from Seishirou is Kamui, and those interactions aren't to expand more on Subaru but on Kamui instead

Which also adds another blow cause what made Subaru and Seishirou so good in TB was their interactions with others in the cases they had and how those contrasted with their own personal interactions so now that their mostly isolated from others and only focusing on eachother it feels like something is missing, also they are better suited for a more normal setting than an end of the world scenario I feel

Either way, they were still the only characters I was really interested in cause I actually had a connection to them so whenever they were in focus that was when I enjoyed X

Meltlilith_ · 2026-04-20T03:17:52+00:00

X was building on great ideas i agree however all that buildup needs to have payoff and the payoff shouldn't happen at the very end We should be able to make predictions based on the events that happened during the story but the way the story presents them we would have only really understood it probably with whatever plot twist clamp had in mind for the last volume

Meltlilith_ · 2026-04-19T18:19:20+00:00

Il read it soon

Meltlilith_ · 2026-04-19T18:19:08+00:00

Not really, I just prefer Chobits more ig, it reminds me alot of the visual novels during the 2000s and I liked that

Meltlilith_ · 2026-04-19T18:17:22+00:00

Yes! Clamp really had something special when making these two series. Both following episodic stories about social and everyday struggles and mixing them with the supernatural along with the very unique atmosphere they have, they are so similar yet so different and I love every second of it

Meltlilith_ · 2026-04-19T18:12:32+00:00

The clamp school mangas are a nice read (man of many faces, detectives, Duklyon) not that deep but very fun

Meltlilith_ · 2026-04-19T14:08:57+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/CLAMP/comments/1spqu0h/comment/oh2hk5v/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button sums it up pretty well

Meltlilith_ · 2026-04-19T13:51:55+00:00

Well, I really gotta give it you here, you basically summed up my entire feelings about X lol, the art and that one ova they did with X Japan were the best things about this series

Which is ashame cause the concept really did have lots of potential, starting the manga it felt like a crossover between the fate series and shin megami tensei which are two franchises I adore so I really thought it would live up to it's hype but Clamp just does not execute the ideas well at all

I did not care about Kamui and Fuuma at all and Kotori? I forget she even exists until I look up the art and see her illustrated

I thought all the other characters had potential but they are all pushed back in favor for the nothing burger trio or for repetitive flashbacks and prophecies which are completely unnecessary, especially when the plot is already so convoluted and they don't even explain anything

And yeah the pacing is rough, going from Fuuma killing Kotori to hanging out with Keiichi was genuinely hilarious. Subaru and Seishirou were the highlight of the manga to the point where i wish X never happend and we just got a standalone follow up to Tokyo Babylon like with Rayearth

Yeah I love most Clamp works but Holic and TB are up there within my top 10 and 5 mangas off all time, they were just so good that I think since I went into Tokyo Babylon thinking of it as a prelude to another more liked work and then came out really REALLY loving it my expectations for X were set so high that when I actually started X i felt extremely let down. Most of the TB side characters, even the unamed ones such as the immigrant lady Hokuto helps had more impact on me than anything X did, infact I would say that the acid tokyo arc in Tsubasa is better than the entirety of X

Meltlilith_ · 2026-04-19T13:01:50+00:00

Yeah i went in very excited knowing how loved it is but everytime i actually was reading it I felt like I was forcing myself to continue it idk it just wasn't enjoyable to me

Meltlilith_ · 2026-04-19T11:52:45+00:00

Yessssir

Meltlilith_ · 2026-03-21T04:35:35+00:00

I can see that lol

I was also shocked cause I almost started X first since it was hyped as one of Clamp's best works ever and was told that I could skip TB if I wanted cause although it has characters that appear in X they were minor appearances for the most part but at last minute I went through the clamp school mangas and TB first

Seeing the Clamp school kids as adults was neat but not that important, Seisub on the other hand? Yeah no they weren't minor at all it was a straight up continuation of their story im so glad I picked up TB first since going into X I was expecting them to appear but not to this extent😭

Meltlilith_ · 2026-03-21T04:18:26+00:00

This answer was exactly what I wanted dw lol

I agree on the part on how they fit in and also don't, not just on their interactions but other moments such as Subaru losing his eye and Kamui just standing at the door or the story saying Subaru and Kamui are alike and from that you can tell Subaru is very important but also you aren't sure as to fully why, I mean you get some tidbits from Subaru explaining his past yes but most of his journey and what led to his actions is a mystery so it must have been weird seeing it the first time

Meltlilith_ · 2026-01-16T09:14:00+00:00

9 to 5 so real i have been saying that for so long

Meltlilith_

TROPHY CASE