Clamp (stylized in all caps) is an all-female Japanese manga artist group, consisting of leader and writer Nanase Ohkawa (born in Osaka), and three artists whose roles shift for each series: Mokona, Tsubaki Nekoi, and Satsuki Igarashi (all born in Kyoto).

Clamp are noted as among the most critically and commercially acclaimed manga artists in Japan, and as of 2007, have sold nearly 100 million books worldwide.

[2] This is referenced in Duklyon: Clamp School Defenders, where a teacher is observed saying: "The name 'Clamp' incorporates the words 'hinge,' as well as 'potato mountain,' within its definition.

"[3] Clamp originally began in the mid-1980s[4] as an eleven-member dōjinshi circle, to fill a booth vacancy at Dream Comic, a doujin event in Osaka.

The original group of twelve members began to meet at every event held in Osaka and Kobe, which usually occurred once a month.

[citation needed] RG Veda was originally planned to be a single story rather than a series, although because of good reader response and higher-than-expected sales for its first volume Shinshokan permitted the group to create more volumes,[5] however after each chapter of the manga was released, Shinshokan threatened that it would cease serialization should its popularity fall.

[10] Tsubasa marked the first time Clamp had ever tried writing for a younger male audience, although their first work published in the Shōnen demographic was Angelic Layer.

[11] In 2004, Clamp's 15th anniversary as a manga artist group, the members changed their names from Nanase Ohkawa, Mokona Apapa, Mick Nekoi, and Satsuki Igarashi to Ageha Ohkawa, Mokona, Tsubaki Nekoi and Satsuki Igarashi (her name is pronounced the same, but written with different characters) respectively.

[13] The August 2004 issue of Newtype USA, a magazine specializing in events of the anime and manga subcultures, reported that the members of Clamp simply wanted to try out new names.

In a later interview with Ohkawa, it was revealed that initially Mokona wanted to drop her surname because it sounded too immature for her liking, while Nekoi disliked people mistakenly commenting on her as a Rolling Stones member.

This also marked Clamp's first time being requested to provide a character design for an anime series not originally created by them.

[14][15] Ohkawa made her first appearance overseas at the Taipei International Book Exhibition sponsored by Production I.G that same year.

[16][17] They were well received at the convention as fans completely filled all 6,000 seats present in the auditorium of the focus panel in addition to more on the waiting list.

[19] Clamp collaborated in the Blood: The Last Vampire spin off anime, Blood-C, as they are responsible for designing the characters and providing the story.

[24][25] Clamp also provided character design for Studio Deen's the anime adaptation of Kabukibu!, which aired in April 2017.

[26] Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card began serialization in 2016 with an anime that aired from January to June 2018 on NHK.

[5][12][38][39] Ohkawa provides a rough draft for each chapter detailing things such as dialogue, panel size, props, movement, and character's emotions.

[39] Unlike most manga artists who specialize in a single genre, Clamp has created a diverse body of work.

[41] Although most of their manga are female-oriented, Clamp has also attracted male readers in their early works through their handling of fight scenes in X and Tokyo Babylon.

[42][43][44][45] Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle is a male-oriented manga but Clamp still added multiple motifs to attracts readers such as Syaoran's romantic journey.

Although Clamp often writes romantic works, Ohkawa has mentioned that she feels that it is more putting one's life on the line than love that causes women to grow or change.

[49] Perhaps drawing inspiration from Ohkawa's own poor right-eye vision, Clamp frequently features one-eyed characters or characters that lose their sight in one eye as means to express the feeling of loneliness (for example, Subaru and Seishirō in Tokyo Babylon and X and Fay in Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle).

[12] In polls conducted by marketing research firm Oricon, Clamp was elected ninth most popular manga artist from Japan in 2007, while they were eighth in 2008, sharing the spot with Fujiko F.

[51][52] Gen Fukunaga, the president and CEO of Funimation, has praised Clamp as being "one of the most acclaimed groups of artists in Japan".

[17] According to Charles Solomon, a journalist for The New York Times, Clamp "ranks among the most successful creators of manga ... in Japan and the United States".

He also praised the group's artwork and storytelling style as having "struck a strong chord with male and female manga readers".

[55][56] When asked about the universal popularity of Clamp's works, John Oppliger of AnimeNation stated that although it is "not based on originality [or] their artistic skill", they possess a distinct style that "perfectly mesh[es] the conventional attributes of shōnen and shōjo manga".