CLAMP School Detectives

CLAMP School Detectives is a 90s anime based on a CLAMP manga. And it is, in my opinion, a very entertaining show. I just finished this series and decided to write a review about it - my first review, actually. Here we go. • Story - 9/10 In the first 20 episodes there isn't a story. We follow the lives of three elementary school boys that happen to be in the Elementary School Council and are also (self-proclaimed) detectives. They - well, mostly their "leader", Nokoru, wants to help all the ladies he sees in trouble. He doesn't want to see any girl crying and is willingto do anything to help her. So the boys get in a lot of situations, some funny ones, some troublesome ones, and some actually dangerous ones. To achieve their goals they do things that real children aren't able to do - that most people aren't able to do, actually. In some episodes they actually have to solve cases, follow clues to find things, and they have the help of other characters, especially two girls from the school's kindergarten. Those two girls are also supposed to be the romantic interests of two of the main boys, but of course, they are all children, so the "love" in this show is represented as the most pure thing in the world, and nothing is sexualized, in case there was someone worried about it. Later in the series, the "villain" makes his appearance, so we have a more serious atmosphere and an actual plot. • Art/Animation - 9/10 CLAMP 90s artstyle, it's simply gorgeous. I don't have much to talk about it, I just have a soft spot for oldschool art. • Sound - 8/10 The soundtrack, all composed by Ali Project, isn't very memorable, but it wasn't bad at all; it did its job perfectly, fitting the show pretty well. The opening song is very catchy, and the endings were both good, especially the second one, but also not very memorable. The voice actors were great at their roles, I have nothing to complain about them. • Characters - 10/10 All of them have different personalities and are very likeable. Our protagonists are all children. Three boys at age 11~12; Nokoru Imonoyama, who is the president of the ESC, is a bit irresponsible, but very kind, and really cares for the people he loves, and for the whole CLAMP Academy; Suoh Takamura is the serious type, he really respects Nokoru but also gets really mad at the his lack of responsibility; and Akira Ijyuin, who is also the main character of the manga 20 Mensou ni Onegai!!, is the youngest one, he enjoys cooking and is probably the most childish of the three boys. The two girls, Nagisa Azuya and Utako Ohkawa, are members of the Kindergarten School Council, they often help or are helped by the main boys. Some characters from other CLAMP manga series make some appearances, like Kentaro, Takeshi, Eri and Sukiyabashi, from School Defenders Duklyon and Miyuki from Miyuki-chan in Wonderland. Other characters usually show up in only one or two episodes. • Enjoyment - 10/10 I loved it. I thought the manga was a good series to pass time, but nothing actually special, but I had a lot of fun watching the anime. It was really cute and amusing. Even though it's mostly episodic, the cases never get boring. • Overall - 9/10 If you are into light-hearted stories, isn't worried about realism, and enjoy episodic series, I'd suggest you to give CLAMP School Detectives a shot!

The kingdom of Clamp has been extremely well known in Japan. I originally came upon this show because i am a huge fan of clamp and i really enjoyed alot of their other works such as Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles one of my favorite clamp manga's. Other works include X/1999, Chobits, Card captor sakura, Magic Knight Rayearth, XXXholic. Initially i was very excited to watch this show seeing as how i loved all of clamps creations how ever i was a bit let down. The setting for this series revolves around this large school comprised of bout 10,000 students with many different divisions and many activities, academics,athletics, and just bout anything you can think of. Nokoru, Suoh, and Akira are the 3 main protagonists of the series and are also the lead council members of the elementary division. These three kids must solve many cases around the school of certain mysterious happenings, usually involving a damsel in distress. Later on as you get a little further into the show, some of the main players of the series start to develop relationships with these elementary kindergarten females which is a nice touch, and the romance is not shown as true love which it shouldn't be given the fact that these characters are pretty underage. But i do appreciate how each relationship with these two female casts grow as you get further in the show and they start to be a part of the clamp school detectives. I think the strongest aspect of this show is the characters. The nice thing about the trio of protagonists is that they each bring something different to the show. Nokoru is the youngest son of the founders of the Clamp School and is essentially a prodigy in every sense of the word. Suoh is nearly as sharp as Nokoru, but where he lacks in the powers of observation he makes up for with his physical attributes. Akira is the youngest of the three. He's a little more naïve, a better cook, and sees things more optimistically than his friends. They play off each other quite nicely and right from the very first episode they have a chemistry that easily carries the weight of 26 episodes. At first glance i thought this would be a series that focuses more on like mysterious happenings and murder cases, because the first episode kind of gives you that impression, but really most of the cases they solve are trying to help some lady that is in trouble, because of the episodic nature of the show, each case involves a different scenario. Although their is one particular plot in the show that takes place towards the end, the last 6 episodes with a more straightforward story and the introduction of a rather intriguing character. This story really caught my attention. It was much different then former episodic nature of the plot and a little more on a serous level, though the idea behind it was rather predictable, it still held my attention. Which i thought was really the only thing that redeemed this anime series as far as the simplistic progression of the story. Which is why i rated it a 6 and not lower. If your a fan of clamp though, this series may be enjoyable, but if you have not seen other clamp works, i highly recommend you pass on this one and watch other great works from clamp. Other wise if you have nothing else to watch and are a clamp fanatic and want to watch every clamp in existence then give this one a shot as a last resort, then you may enjoy this series to an extent depending upon your tastes.