Episode 25 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 “Information dissemination and LINE wallpaper”.
At the beginning of the episode, they gave some general information about the upcoming Sapporo leg of CLAMP Exhibition -SELECTION-.
Now, on to the episode’s main theme. They mentioned that since their debut, CLAMP have had various ways to disseminate information about their activities, like the print newsletters and newspapers they did back in the day as a subscription-based system (like a fan club). Some of them came with special goods that they produced themselves and Satsuki-sensei recalls a Duklyon handkerchief that the colors did not come off in the fabric the way they hoped since at that time the technology to print on fabric was not as great as today.
Nekoi-sensei mentions a small bag (pouch-like) that was supposedly meant to store a cellphone shaped like a penguin, but apparently it’s too small to fit one. She could not remember if it was something that was sold or something that came as a bonus item. None of the other members seem to remember of it. Ohkawa-sensei asks her to send a picture of it if she happens to find it so that it can be shared on the podcast’s instagram account (Nekoi-sensei doesn’t know where it is, but it’s somewhere in her house).
Mokona-sensei talks about a hanger, but Ohkawa-sensei doesn’t remember it at all. Mokona-sensei then says that back then a lot of “weird” goods were being produced and Ohkawa-sensei interjects her and scolds her fondly “hey, don’t call them ‘weird’, Sa-chan and I worked really hard to create them!” xD
Ohkawa-sensei talks about a Tokyo Babylon tissue, akin to those that are given away on the streets to promote a certain brand or shop in Japan.
They talk a bit about some of the hardships and limitations of that time such as having to produce goods that would fit within the delivery package (otherwise the delivery fee would cost more) or the fact that they had to use word processors to do all the typography work in a time where computers were still not around. They did not have a copy machine at the time of their debut so they had to go to the nearest convenience store to make copies.
Next, Ohkawa-sensei mentioned that the curation team for the CLAMP Exhibition had the complete set of CLAMP NEWS and CLAMP Laboratory and she was amazed by it (hey, I have them all too! xD) Mokona-sensei said that not even themselves have them anymore! =O They were checking all the materials during the planning stages of the exhibition and going “Ah, so this is what was happening at that time!”
After the print services, they had a FAX and telephone services, in which you would call a number and listen to the news/information. Mokona-sensei says it was common to have a service like that back in the day.
Then, their official website was launched (in 1997) and for a few years (before it was renamed “CLAMP-NET.COM”) all the contents published on the website were compiled and released later in a CD-ROM format. They remember that there was some original content created only for the website and only for the CD-ROM release. It’s a bit funny and completely understandable to see them trying to remember where and when this and that was published and while listening I kept thinking “no, that’s not the case” or “yes, that much is true” xD Somehow it amazes me that I know more about those things than they do, but at the same time, again, completely understandable since they have done so much in so little time and they probably did not revisit all those contents as much as I did, lol
Next, Ohkawa-sensei mentions that in today’s age they have a website, social media accounts (so cute to hear her mentioning Bluesky!) and a podcast, and how these are all of CLAMP’s current forms of sharing and disseminating information. For LINE, she says that it was her idea to have a system for CLAMP since she learned that it was possible and that some businesses had been using it. However, she understands that it can be annoying to keep receiving too many messages so for the time being the service is only notifying when a new podcast episode is released and when a new “full moon” wallpaper is released.
Then, they started talking about the wallpapers released monthly through their LINE channel by every Full Moon:
They had been aware of the Full Moon names and using that to decide which character to draw and how they would be drawn. But at the same time, they also were aiming to draw characters in pajamas/loungewear. Seishirou from Tsubasa was chosen for the Hunter Moon because he is a hunter in the story, but he is not wearing pajamas or loungewear (it seems they debated over it). Since it was around halloween, he is shown with a pumpkin. All the other characters that followed are wearing pajamas or loungewear (even Kohaku, who is wearing a dress, since they can conjure any type of clothes for themselves). Later, they started drawing characters with an object or cushion, and that became the pattern for a while. For Pink Moon, it was Haruka and they said they “cheated” a little because only the background is pink. Oh, and they said they asked permission to the animation studio in order to draw Meiling since she is an anime-only character! =0
For the following Hunter Moon, with Ferio, they dropped temporarily the pajamas/loungewear pattern, only to resume again by the following months (but it seems to be less focused on “pajamas” and more about loungewear).
For this year’s Snow Moon, Ohkawa-sensei thought about Yukito and therefore Yue as well, so she decided to try a new pattern by having pairs of characters for two consecutive months. She says they will be doing this pattern throughout this year — so we should expect more pairs!
Ohkawa-sensei asked each member to list their favorite wallpapers. Mokona-sensei chose Kazahaya (I love this one too!), Nekoi-sensei chose Shirahime (she loves the colors) and Haruka (she said she would like to have the same Mokona-shaped incense holder thing), Satsuki-sensei said that even though likes Yuzuriha, she thinks Miyuki-chan’s one is cute and Ohkawa-sensei chose Koryuu (the latest one).
Thank you for reading this post!
It was fun seeing them explaining and confirming some of the things we’ve been theorizing about these wallpapers for the past two years xD And it’s interesting to see how much thought and care to details they put into making them!
Chibi Yuuto's CHRoNiCLEs 