Rintaro was approached by Kadokawa Shoten to direct this movie and found this part of his career unique due to how he worked with Ohkawa, Clamp's head writer, while also aiming to show a self-contained story with a style and atmosphere that might be accepted by the viewers.
After his mother dies to create a "Sacred Sword" to seal it into his body, a young man named Kamui Shiro goes back to his hometown Tokyo to understand his fate.
Shortly after Kamui's arrival, Subaru Sumeragi from the Heavens and Seishirō Sakurazuka from the Earth kill each other, resulting in a moment in the destruction of part of the city.
Seichiro Aoki and Karen Kasumi from the Heavens face Nataku and Shōgo from the Earth respectively but all four fighters are murdered.
Upon meeting a man named Kusanagi Shiyū from the Earth, Kamui tries to get him to tell him Kotori and Fuma's whereabouts but he tries to kill him alongside Yuzuriha.
Despite being the winner of the war, Kamui is completely grief-stricken over what transpired and cries while holding Fuma's head in the remains of Tokyo.
Based on the style he employed, Rintaro expected that multiple viewers would reject his work as the narrative gave Kamui a tragic ending which would impact people's personal taste.
In retrospective, Rintaro is glad with how the movie was completed, specifically due to the focus on fight scenes.
[12] The X Character Files (キャラクターファイル, Kyarakutā Fairu) were released from June 1996 to December 1996 by Victor Entertainment.
The seven audio dramas, scripted by Nanase Ohkawa, focus on the thoughts and motivations of the individual Dragons of Heaven and Earth.
[16] An alternate version of Shogo Asagi went to appear in Clamp's manga Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle as a gang leader who often encounters the series' protagonist, Syaoran, in the first story arc.
[19] Bamboo Dong from Anime News Network praised the Japanese cast, pointing out the lead Tomokazu Seki's role voicing Kamui due to how he displays the character's emotions.
As a result, he awarded the DVD a "B+"[21] THEM Anime Reviews called it a poor adaptation of Clamp's manga compare to the anime series, while the concept of a war destined to decide the planet's fate was interesting, it was difficult to care for the characters, based on the fact almost everybody is in danger in the film, regardless of well coordinated battles.
As a result, THEM gave the film three stars out of five and recommended the viewers to skip it and instead watch the anime television series.
[24] In the book Animation: A World History: Volume III: Contemporary Times, Giannalberto Bendazzi regarded X as one of Rintaro's "outstanding" works based on the visual presentations he created.