Episode 22 of CLAMP’s podcast, CLAMP Kanbukai, is out! You can listen to it on YouTube and all major podcast platforms.

This episode’s theme is “Various things we did and XXXHOLiC Rei“.

They started the episode explaining that the reason why this episode came out a little later than usual is because they all took turns in catching a cold. First it was Mokona-sensei (and she recommended a very interesting homemade medicine using a solution made of radish and honey), then it was Nekoi-sensei, Ohkawa-sensei and finally Satsuki-sensei. Ohkawa-sensei said catching a cold is a rare thing for her and that the last time was probably around 10 years ago (!!). They ended this segment wishing everyone to take care of themselves.

Next, they changed to the main topic: the XXXHOLiC Zoku Sai stage play. They were able to attend the opening day performance (January 24th) and they shared their impressions. They pointed out that the entire cast is back with the exception of Maru and Moro because the previous actors aged a little in the past two years so they had to be replaced. Ohkawa-sensei was surprised when she saw one of them in a Kamen Rider thing while she was browsing X and she pointed out that he looked older.

Nekoi-sensei was impressed that the cast came together and they were all able to perform despite the two years hiatus that the play took, that they were as involved and committed as they were two years ago. When asked which character left a strong impression, Nekoi-sensei answered Neko Musume, whom according to her looked “sharper”. They mentioned that her abs looked toned (it was possible to see because the actor was wearing clothes that showed his belly).

For Mokona-sensei, the character that left the biggest impression on her was Yuuko, played by Motohiro Ohta. She mentioned she also enjoyed Shougo Sakamoto as Watanuki, even though his Watanuki was more “composed” than the one in the manga and anime.

For Satsuki-sensei, the character that left the biggest impression on her was Haruka, played by Yuunosuke Matsushima (who also plays Doumeki).

They also mentioned Ryotaro Akazawa’s Himawari performance as one of the play’s highlights. In particular, the moment where she cries, the audience lifted their opera glasses to see her tears from up close.

Ohkawa-sensei mentioned that she would like to do a live commentary session with one of the play’s online streamings, but she said it might be tricky to coordinate all the technical aspects and having the four of them commenting. She hopes it will come to fruition and she asks us to participate if they manage to do it.

Next, while they were still in Tokyo to see the XXXHOLiC stage play, they also went to see another play called Spoon no Tate, a musical reading drama featuring several voice actors as cast members, such as Nakai Kazuya (Doumeki and Haruka in XXXHOLiC) and Kikoku Inoue (Yelan in Cardcaptor Sakura).

Before going back to Kyoto, they also went to see a Monet exhibition. They mentioned it was very crowed so they barely could see the bottom part of the paintings (specially Mokona-sensei, being the smallest of them). Nekoi-sensei mentioned that while she doesn’t dislike Monet, she’s not particularly interested in his work. On the other hand, Satsuki-sensei likes his work a lot.

Before moving to the next topic, Ohkawa-sensei mentioned she would like to visit Mika Ninagawa’s NINAGAWA Mika with EiM: Lights of the beyond, Shadows of this world exhibition at Kyoto City Kyocera Museum of Art.

Finally, they talked a little about resuming XXXHOLiC Rei. They are working hard on bringing back XXXHOLiC‘s art style. Mokona-sensei briefly told Ohkawa-sensei “I know you’re going to tell me Yuuko looks younger”, to which Ohkawa-sensei replied back “that means you’ll just have to keep drawing then” xD

Mokona-sensei mentioned that Yuuko’s gaze, joints and fingertips are very particular and she’s doing her best to bring them back (she mentioned that she keeps forgetting about making Yuuko’s arms look like “noodles” like they used to xD) Nekoi-sensei said she’s paying extra attention to Watanuki’s bangs and on his facial expressions, since now that he is the shop owner, he cannot keep doing the same facial expressions as when he was a student, so she’s trying to express the difference through the facial expressions.

Ohkawa-sensei said that final touches are done digitally now, but everything else is done manually, including the straight lines used to fill backgrounds, which are done by Satsuki-sensei, scanned and then placed digitally.

The colored title page has been already submitted to the Young Magazine editorial department. They asked everyone to look forward to seeing a new XXXHOLiC colored illustration after a long time.

They said that given that several years have passed, it’s likely that some art style changes will be noticeable, but they are trying their best to bring the original XXXHOLiC style back. They also mentioned they have to practice the “smoke” that appears in the manga.

All in all, although the hiatus started in the middle of volume 5, they assured everyone that by the time we read the compiled volume 5, the reading experience will be seamless, because they are picking from where the story left off, but they also hope readers will be able to follow the installments as they are published in Young Magazine.

---

Thank you for reading this post!

Special thanks to Claudio for helping me proof checking this translation! ♡