The beginning of things.
The start.
The origin.
Set in 1999, X follows the story of Shirou Kamui, a young man with supernatural powers, who returns to his home in Tokyo after six long years to fulfill his mother's dying wish. Kamui's homecoming, however, sets in motion a series of events that will ultimately determine the fate of the world.
While Kamui is both catalyst and key to this apocalyptic tale, he is but one man in this destined conflict. On the one side is the Dragons of Heaven, who aim to protect the kekkai that hold the world together and prevent the end of humanity. On the other is the Dragons of Earth, who seek to destroy the kekkai so that Earth can be renewed, free of the scourge that is mankind.
With the power to either save Earth or destroy it, to protect humankind or cast them aside, Kamui's actions will decide the outcome of the final battle as the "promised day of 1999" draws closer and closer.
First published in May 1992 in Kadokawa Shoten's Monthly Asuka manga magazine, the series went on hiatus in March 2003—a hiatus that continues to this day.
Over the years, the series has been published as eighteen tankĹŤbon volumes, with the last five published chapters being excluded. More recently, however, X was republished as part of the CLAMP PREMIUM COLLECTION in Japan, and these chapters, alongside some old comic extras, were released as a new 18.5 volume.
In North America, X is currently available as three-in-one volumes, totalling in six books altogether, by Viz Media. Hopefully, with the release of the new 18.5 volume, the last five chapters will finally be made into its own book overseas as well!
Apart from the manga, X was also released as a movie, titled X: The Movie, in 1996, and, from 2001 to 2002, ran as an anime series consisting of 24 episodes and 1 OVA. While both the film and anime series give definitive endings to the story, neither are a true reflection of what the manga ending will ultimately be. Although CLAMP's head writer, Ohkawa Nanase, assisted in the script, the film veers sharply from the original story. Similarly, following old interviews Ohkawa has given regarding X, including this interview from 2001 and another in 2002, the anime storyline was decided by the studio, with Ohkawa uninvolved.
Wait, you may be thinking. This series is unfinished and will remain unfinished for who knows how long—?! Why should I bother picking it up? An excellent question! I won't pretend that I have even a decent answer to that, given that when I picked it up myself, I had no idea it was on hiatus—or even how long that hiatus was up until then (which turned out to be a few years!).
My earliest encounter with X occurred back in the early 2000s, when I stumbled upon all the myriad fansites and fanlistings dedicated to it and its characters. Prior to all this, the only CLAMP series I ever read—and only partially at that—was Cardcaptor Sakura. A few years later, for one reason or another, perhaps after admiring all of the various X illustrations that seemed so different from Cardcaptor Sakura's in their somberness, I decided to look up the series at last. Once I discovered it was an apocalyptic tale, I was instantly intrigued.
I sought out the manga chapters and began devouring them all, immediately drawn into the world and swept up in the story. I fell in love with the fantastical elements of it—the magic, the battles, the way it incorporated various esoteric knowledge from multiple parts of the world—and the human parts of it, too—how the series explores desire, happiness, the meaning of sacrifice; how it also challenges the supposed nobility of the lattermost; and how it questions what it means to be a part of this world.
Now imagine the face I made when I made it to the very end and searched for the next chapter—only to find out there wasn't a next chapter. Goodness... How my hopes were dashed and I was left in agony. Dramatic—I know! Listen: I was a young teenager who had their heart broken that day. Even so, knowing what I do now, I don't regret picking up X. There was a time when I was desperate to see an ending to X, but nowadays, I'm finding that I've made my peace with the situation. Whether or not there is a finale, whether or not I would enjoy it even if it were to surface somehow—fully chaptered or just as a throwaway something mentioned in some interview somewhere—I'm appreciative of all X has contributed in general: the influences it has left on manga and beyond that, the philosophical questions it posits—ones that are worth ruminating over even now, many years later, and the impact it's left on my own life.
Even small things, like finally picking up cartomancy recently, just because I remember being curious about the tarot card associations for each character way back when. (I'm due for another X reread soon because I don't know who I'd pick for The Sun major tarot card at the moment. Hokuto maybe? As for Judgement, for me it's Fuuma; for The World, perhaps Kamui and Fuuma together? Watch this space because I may change my mind!)
As a last aside, X is also the sequel to another of CLAMP's works, Tokyo Babylon. As someone who didn't read Tokyo Babylon before X, I didn't find the latter hard to follow at all. That said, Tokyo Babylon is also fantastic, and provides a more in-depth look into Subaru, Seishirou, and their relationship, the two of them being the main characters of the series. (There's also more Hokuto! Which everyone should appreciate because she's an absolute sweetheart. )
