Home > X (anime)

X/1999, an early work of the hit all female manga-ka group CLAMP, details the apocalypse in a very literal adaptation of the Book of Revelation. The manga was adapted for a movie (X/1999) and an anime TV series.

The manga is published in North America in English by Viz Communications. In Singapore, it is called "X" and is published in English by Chuang Yi.

1 Plot description

The story is set in Tokyo. Six people, most of them young people raised in temples, and all with magical powers, converge on the city. They are prepared to do battle as the "Seven Seals," the "Dragons of Heaven," to save the human race against a rival group (the Dragons of Earth or Seven Angels) who wish to destroy the human race in order to reverse the devastation of the environment.

Tokyo, it emerges, is the nexus of magical energy that protects the human race. It is itself protected by seven barriers, namely buildings such as the Japanese Diet building and Tokyo Tower. By defeating each of the Seven Seals and destroying the barrier fields they can generate, the Dragons of Earth intend to destroy the magical protection and thus the human race.

A seventh young person, Kamui, has been sent to Tokyo by the last words of his mother, who burned to death in their home in Okinawa. He meets the other members of the Seven Seals. In conferring with Princess Hinoto, a mysterious seer who resides in the Diet building, he discovers that it is his choice whether to become a Dragon of Earth or a Dragon of Heaven.

After much confusion and soul-searching, he decides to become a Dragon of Heaven, so as to protect the happiness of his best friends, Fuma and his sister Kotori. But he is horrified to discover that Fuma -- his "twin star" -- is "awakened" by his choice into becoming a "second Kamui." He kills his sister and becomes a Dragon of Earth, whom Kamui must destroy if the human race is to be saved.

Battles ensue, and a number of the Dragons of Heaven must kill their love interests and otherwise win pyrrhic victories. Fuma destroys them one by one, in deeply ironic and tragic ways, by granting their inmost wishes.

All the Dragons of Heaven are eventually defeated, and their barrier fields fall; likewise, all the Dragons of Earth are put out of the fight -- all but Kamui and Fuma. They fight in a great climactic battle at Tokyo Tower.

All seems lost when Fuma runs Kamui through. However, Fuma, as a granter of wishes, cannot prevent Kamui from realizing his inmost wish: to live on in Fuma's heart. With Kamui dead, Fuma ceases to be a Dragon of Earth. Kamui's barrier field, never before seen, expands over the whole earth, preserving humankind.

2 Characters

2.1 Dragons of Heaven (Ten no Ryu)

• Kamui Shiro (Shiro Kamui): a young, brooding man, who possesses powerful magic which manifested at an early age. He is a childhood friend of Fuma and Kotori. His mother burned to death as a spirit sacrifice to turn fate in his favour.
• Arashi Kishu (Kishu Arashi): a foundling girl raised by Taoist monks, her speciality is swordfighting. Sorata falls in love with her, and she comes to reciprocate. But she is convinced by Fuma that she must kill Kamui in order to release Sorata from his obligation to defend him. In so doing, she ends up killing her lover.
• Sorata Arisugawa (Arisugawa Sorata): a lascivious, irreverent teenager raised by Buddhist monks and also possessing considerable magical abilities. It was prophecied that he would protect Kamui but die for a woman; indeed, he is killed by Arashi while protecting Kamui.
• Karen Kasumi (Kasumi Karen): A prostitute and devout Catholic, she was abused by her fundamentalist mother when her power to manipulate fire manifested in her childhood. She comes to admire Aoki, and loses her life saving him from Yuto.
• Yuzuriha Nekoi (Neiki Yuzuriha): A fourteen-year-old schoolgirl, attended by a dog-spirit named Inuki who can transform into a sword and which only dragons of heaven and earth can see. Inuki is later killed by Satsuki, but resurrected. Yuzuriha falls in love with Kusanagi.
• Subaru Sumeragi (Sumeragi Subaru): A character imported from the earlier brief series Tokyo Babylon. He is a member of a clan of spiritual detectives, and a master with Taoist spell cards. His sister, Hokuto, was killed by his lover, Seishiro. He intends to allow Seishirou to kill him as well, but due to a spell cast by Hokuto at the moment of her death, he kills Seishiro instead. This final blow sends him into catatonia, from which he only emerges in time to contribute to the battle between Fuma and Kamui.
• Seiichiro Aoki (Aoki Seiichiro, not to be confused with Seishiro): a mild-mannered copy editor with a wife and child, who is also a wind magician. Upon discovering that the battle between the Seals and Angels is at hand, he secretly divorces his wife in order to spare her grief should he be killed. He impresses Karen, who eventually dies saving him.