The Japanese manga supergroup CLAMP will make their first U.S. appearance at Anime Expo in Anaheim California over the July 4th weekend.  The four female creators who make up CLAMP are responsible for a host of hit manga including Card Captor Sakura, Magic Knight Rayearth, Legal Drug, Chobits, Tsubasa and xxxHolic, to name just a few.  FUNimation Productions, which has acquired the rights to distribute the Tsubasa anime series (see 'FUNimation Has Tsubasa Chronicle TV Series'), is sponsoring CLAMP's appearance along with Del Rey Books (publisher of Tsubasa and xxxHolic) and Tokyopop (publisher of Chobits, Legal Drug, Card Captor Sakura and CLAMP School Detectives).

 

Satsuki Igarashi, Ageha Ohkawa, Tsubaki Nekoi, and Mokona of CLAMP are among the most popular creators in Japan.  The CLAMP collective began as a doujinshi circle of 12 members in 1989, which was reduced to seven in 1990 and then to four during the production of the R.G. Veda series.  Worldwide sales of CLAMP manga have reportedly topped 90 million copies and numerous anime series have been made from their works.  It is difficult to determine exactly what each member of the CLAMP team does, but Ageha Ohkawa is thought to be primarily responsible for creating the stories and plotting the episodes.  According to Jake Forbes, currently of Go! Comi, Tsubaki Nekoi is the lead artist for Wish, Legal Drug, Suki, and The One I Love; while Mokona is the lead artist for Cardcaptor, Rayearth, X, Chobits, xxxHolic, Tsubasa, and their other titles.