Manga Entertainment has announced the release of the feature length anime X on DVD on September 25.  Based on the popular shojo manga title by Clamp, X is a fascinating take on the post-apocalypse science fiction/fantasy adventure.  Clamp is a collective of four female artists who have enlivened the shojo genre with a wide range of efforts including epic fantasies like Magic Knight Rayearth and wild excursions into the occult like X.    The first five graphic novel collections of the X manga are all currently available from Viz (under the title X/1999), and represent an excellent example of a more mature shojo series.

 

X is basically the story of Kamui, a man of almost limitless power, who returns to Tokyo to protect his childhood friends.  Unfortunately his arrival in Tokyo starts an all out war between two mystical factions--one committed to destroying mankind and the other to saving it.  The San Francisco Bay Guardian called X 'a narcotic experience of towering artistry...pumped-up full of feminine symbolism and beautifully imagined traumatic fantasy.'

 

The X anime is just as visually stunning as the original manga. Mad House Studios (Ninja Scroll, Perfect Blue) provides the superb mise-en-scene for the X anime with a mixture of drawn and computer animation and an evocative score that make X one of the most interesting shojo anime titles ever released in the U.S.  The X DVD includes a letterbox format, 5.1 English Dolby Digital surround sound, 2.0 English and Japanese Dolby surround, special Tarot card character bios, theatrical trailers, an interview with the director, a photo gallery, and weblinks.  Since Manga did release X theatrically, the film does have an MPAA rating of 'R,' which testifies to its adult themes.  X is a long way from Sailor Moon in content, and a testament to the diversity of the shojo genre.