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エックス
(Ekkusu, "X")
Genre: Drama, Action

Manga
Authored: by CLAMP
Publisher: Kadokawa Shoten
VIZ Media
Tonkam
Chuang Yi
Planet Manga
Editora JBC
Carlsen Verlag
J.P.Fantastica
Level Comic
Planeta de Agostini
Grupo Editorial Vid
Serialized in Monthly Asuka
Original run May 24, 1992 – ON HIATUS
No. of volumes 18 (current)

Movie: X: The Destiny War
Directed by Rintarō
Studio Madhouse Ltd.
Released August 3, 1996
Runtime 1:37:00

TV anime
Directed by Kawajiri Yoshiaki, Apapa Mokona
Studio Madhouse Ltd.
Network WOWOW Channel
Original run October 3, 2001 – March 27, 2002
No. of episodes 24

Related works

Tōkyō Babylon
CLAMP Campus Detectives
Please, Twenty Faces!
Hagun Seisenki

Theatrical Film

An X/1999 theatrical film titled X: The Destiny War and directed by Rintarō was released in Japanese theaters in 1996. Because the manga was less than half complete at the time of the film's conception, many elements of the plot and characters were simplified, and the primary focus of the story became the build up toward the Final Battle between Kamui and Fūma. As a result of this simplification, most of the characters receive little-to-no on screen development. Overall, the film is regarded more for its highly artistic fight scenes than its representation of the plot.

In the movie, Kamui kills Fūma, and all the Dragons of Heaven and Earth die before the final fight. The bedridden dreamseer Kuzuki Kakyō is removed, because his character's abilities were too static for the duration of the action-packed film. He is replaced by Asagi Shōgo, a water master (Kigai Yūto's ability to control water had not been revealed in the manga yet, so there is no conflict of abilities in the movie between the characters). At the climax, Kamui kills Fūma by breaking Fūma's blade in a swordlock and cutting through Fūma's neck in the process. This leaves Kamui heartbroken as he has lost all whom he's ever cared for, with the symbolic sakura petals flowing in the background.

The soundtrack for the 1996 movie was composed by Shimizu Yasuaki. The ending theme for the movie, Forever Love, was written and performed by X Japan. The X/1999 film received a U.S. theatrical and DVD release in 2001, distributed by Manga Entertainment.

Trivia

In the movie, the inscription on Kamui's sword is written in Hebrew using the Hebrew alphabet and the design on the hilt of the sword is a Star of David. It reads: "ברוך אתה יי אלוהינו מלך השלם שהכל נהיה בדברו", which translates to "Blessed be you, lord our God, King of peace, that by your word everything comes to be."

Wow...... that's a lot of information on X. sweatdrop But if Asuka felt that the plot is "too violent," then wouldn't it be easier for Clamp to just go to another publishing company instead of waiting for "the right time?"

In the anime, there are two parties with different objectives. One is the Dragons of Heaven, bent on protecting the people of Earth from destruction, and the other is the Dragons of Earth, bent on protecting the Earth. Each party consists of six members and a see-er. However, the destined one, Kamui, has a choice to make, as he can only choose one side to be on.

Though he is cold and uncaring at first, deep down inside him the reason he came back was to protect the two people he cherished and loved most, Fuuma and Kotori. However, destiny is ever cruel, and Fuuma is the companion star of Kamui to balance the scale. Being consumed by the evil of the Earth Dragon, his first is to kill his own sister, Kotori, and retrieve one of the Holy Swords. The final battle ensues as Kamui battles Fuuma for the destiny of Earth.

Anime Description: X (Episode 2- A Nightmare)

Kotori remembers a time playing with Kamui in times past... he saved her from falling from a tree even though he was frightened himself. He held her there all day, until he was even falling asleep. And from this came Fuuma's promise to Kamui that he would always protect him.

While walking, Kotori finds some bullies trying to beat up on Kamui... and then watches Kamui get out of the jam himself. Anyway, Saiki Daisuke later approaches Kamui, having observed him, not believing it was the real Kamui. A fight ensues, and while Kamui wins, he does get a nasty wound. Fuuma spots him while playing basketball, and of course worries over him, for they WERE childhood friends.

Arashi, Daisuke, and the Dreamgazer Princess Hinoto speak on him being the real Kamui, and the princess asks Arashi to look after him. Kamui makes his way home, bleeding all the while. Arisagawa Sorata, a junior in high school, sits atop a roof, pondering the situation when Kigai Yuuto initiates a fight with him.

Sorata casts Kekkai, or a barrier, in which the world encased in this barrier becomes an alternate dimension so the real area and people are not damaged. It is explained that the Kekkai will not lower until the caster is dead or badly injured, in which case the damage WILL be incurred to the real world. But the fight breaks off as Fuuma breaks through the barrier accidentally, just bicycling over towards Kamui's house to see if he was okay. Sorata was standing outside the door, and Fuuma finally opened it... to see Kamui collapsed on the floor.

Dragons of Earth

In the manga series X created by the popular mangaka circle CLAMP, the Dragons Of Earth (地の龍, Chi No Ryū?), also known as the Seven Angels (七の御使, Shichi No Mitsukai?), are a group of seven individuals who are fated to stand against the Dragons of Heaven in the apocalyptic battle on the Promised Day to determine the fate of the Earth and humanity. The Dragons of Earth ideologically represent the belief that conflicts between man and nature cannot be resolved peaceably, and that humans are on an irreversible path that will ultimately lead to the murder of the planet itself unless they are stopped. Unlike the Dragons of Heaven, the Dragons of Earth seem to have no common rationality for their acceptance of their roles as the destroyers of humanity. Many of the Dragons of Earth are textbook cases of antisocial, narcissistic, or avoidant behavior. They either lack the ability or desire to form meaningful bonds with other humans, or tend to form unhealthy relationships. Many of them seem to be amoral, not truly understanding why killing is intrinsically wrong. Although they all realize that humanity is destroying the Earth and that by removing humanity, they would be allowing for the Earth to be revived, they seem genuinely indifferent to this matter. Again at odds with the portrayal of the Dragons of Heaven, the Dragons of Earth lack the ability to create kekkai (barrier fields), and it seems to be the case that whenever a Dragon of Earth finally forms a sincere bond with another person or realizes that they wish to protect someone dear to them, they are shortly thereafter killed.

The Dragons of Earth are also known as the Seven Angels (translated also as the Seven Harbingers and the Seven Minions). Regarding the multiple translations for the title of the Seven Angels, the kanji 御使 is often translated into English as "angel", however, it's literal meaning is closer to a "messenger of authority" or a "servant of authority". While this ties in rather well with the etymological origins of the world angel (Ancient Greek, αγγελος, meaning "messenger"), the literal meaning of the kanji made for an awkward translation in the VIZ manga, resulting in the Angels being called "Harbingers". To add to the confusion, the official merchandising of the X movie in Japanese translated 御使 into "Minions" in English. The official translation, as per CLAMP's final word, stands as "the Seven Angels".

The sigil of the Dragons of Earth is a stylized representation of the Menorah.

Monō Fūma桃(もの) 生(う) 封(ふう) 真(ま)

The primary antagonist, who, before his dark ascension, was a dear friend of Kamui's. Fūma is initially a kind and gentle person who helps his father dutifully and dotes upon his younger sister Kotori, and excels at high-school sports. After Nataku attacks Kyōgo and steals the first Shinken, Fūma's dying father tells him that he is Kamui's twin star. Accordingly, when Kamui chooses the Dragons of Heaven, Fūma is forced to become a Dragon of Earth, immediately attacking Kamui and killing Kotori. He proceeds to grant wishes to the characters with whom he interacts, in ways that often lead to their death or that of a loved one. Though he is portrayed as sadistic in the movie and TV series, the manga portrays Fūma in a less fiendish light.

Interestingly, it seems that Fūma (as the Kamui of the Dragons of Earth) can view, or in some other way sense, the true, heart-felt wishes of others—and even more strangely, it seems as though he is (at the very least) strongly compelled to grant the wishes of others, if not outright-forced to. Due to his perverse fixation with making his twin star suffer, and Kamui's acceptance of the treatment, it would suggest that Kamui wishes (or believes he deserves) to be tortured by Fūma. It should also be noted that Fūma does not always work in purely destructive ways; for instance, in volume fourteen of the manga, Fūma spares the life of a young girl and her mother before blasting Ebisu Garden Place to bits. His explanation for this seems to be that the young girl still truly wished to live.

As if to add to the complexity that is Fūma's character, even before his awakening, Fūma reminds whoever is looking at him of the person they care most about (to Nataku, Fūma looks like Tōjyō Masaki, the father of the girl Nataku was cloned from; to Subaru, he looks like Seishirō; to Yuzuriha, he looks like Kusanagi; to Karen, he looks like Seiichirō).

After Fūma's drastic transformation into the Kamui of the Dragons of Earth, he is referred to in the manga solely as "Kamui" (which sometimes makes for awkward translation, due to confusion with the actual Kamui). In fanon, Fūma is often referred to as "the Dark Kamui" or "the Shadow Kamui" in order to distinguish him both from his former personality as Monō Fūma and from Shirō Kamui.

Fūma makes an appearance in CLAMP's crossover work, Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE, where he is Seishirou's younger brother and a hunter of precious things.

Power: powerful psychic, demonstrating both telekinetic and telepathic ability, the proverbial "power (authority) of God", the ability to sense a person's true wish, the obligation to grant a person's true wish.

Trivia: The given name "Fūma" is meant as a play on words to be interpreted as "sealed truth" — which is very appropriate, given his character's nature.

Relatives: Monō Kyōgo (father), Monō Saya (mother; deceased), Monō Kotori (sister)
Romantic interests: Shirō Kamui
X Tarot Card: The Sun, The Judgement? (speculative)

Kigai Yūto麒(き) 飼(がい) 遊(ゆう) 人(と)

Yūto is a polite but largely amoral young man who originally appeared in the CLAMP dōjinshi work Hagun Seisenki, as a college student at CLAMP Campus and a comrade of Takamura Suō. A bureaucrat working at the Ward Office, he never lets on to any of the happy couples turning in their marriage licenses that he is seeking to destroy humanity, assuming an air of bland cheerfulness which he maintains even in combat. Usually sporting a pink shirt and white overcoat, people have been known to remark that he looks like a pimp (except in the American translation of the manga, where this is softened to "someone in showbiz"). He is in a sexual relationship with Kanoe, but is amused by the knowledge that Satsuki has a crush on him; he sees the latter as a sort of protégée and attempts to educate her about emotions.

In combat Yūto wields a vicious sai dagger capable of severing human hands with one swipe, and which bears a powerful whiplash attachment that can smash through concrete. He is also a water master (an ability that in X he had not used for some time), capable of summoning floods and hurling water bolts, as well as arranging more benign fountain displays for the amusement of others. He can even transform himself into water and travel in this form (on one occasion entering a room through fire sprinklers). Fire is his natural enemy, and thus he comes up against Karen on more than one occasion.

In the anime, he dies from wounds sustained after a mortally-wounded Karen incinerates him, while in the movie he is killed by Fūma. He has not yet died in the manga.

Yūto makes an appearance in CLAMP's crossover work, Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE.

Power: mizutsukai (water master): hydrokinesis, generating water and controlling flows of liquid, specifically in the form of water balls and pillars, fights with a dual pronged whip.
Relatives: Kigai Tomoe (sister)
Romantic interests: Kanoe, Yatōji Satsuki
X Tarot Card: The Devil (Volume 15)

Yatōji Satsuki
八(や) 頭(とう) 司(じ) 颯(さつ) 姫

A complex and ingenious young woman with utter contempt for humans, and a love for the digital world. At a young age she developed the uncanny ability to interact with computers through cables inserted into her skin, and to hack into any technological system. This led to her father sending her to a lab for further study; she amazed the scientists by mastering the Sephiroth at the age of 14, and they planned to use her ability to conquer the world. However, she rebelled against the boredom she felt and in the anime TV series, through her "friends" in the computer world, arranged for the death of her father (in a road traffic accident), along with anyone else who stood in her way. While escaping from the lab she encountered Kanoe and joined her cause, having learned from the digital world that she was one of the Dragons of Earth; later Yūto forcibly convinced the scientists to never bother her again. In the manga, she kills the people in the lab (who are implied to be Freemasons), but it is unknown if complications arose from this or when and where she met Kanoe.

Satsuki is an extreme rationalist, and attacks Yuzuriha when the latter cannot explain why killing humans is more wrong than the killing of the natural world. She spends much of her time wired into a massive supercomputer named the Beast (provided for her by Kanoe), through whom she can physically control cables across Tōkyō, using them for reconnaissance and offensive purposes. She develops feelings for Yūto; in the anime and movie versions, this causes the Beast to become jealous and kill her by invading her entire body with its cables. For now she remains alive in the manga.

Satsuki makes an appearance in CLAMP's crossover work, Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE.

Power: the ability to communicate with any computer and (via The Beast), control any cable within Tōkyō and hack just about any computer (excluding, perhaps, the network of CLAMP Campus).
Relatives: Name Unknown (father; deceased)
Romantic interests: Kigai Yūto
X Tarot Card: The Hermit (Volume 9)

Shiyū Kusanagi
志(し) 勇(ゆう) 草(くさ) 薙(なぎ)

A member of the Japanese Self-Defense Force (JSDF) who is telepathically linked to the plants and animals of the Earth, and thus strongly resents humanity's pollution and destruction of the natural world. Although his punch carries the force of an earthquake, he is the least antisocial of the Dragons of Earth, and the least active in the destruction of Tokyo. He meets Yuzuriha (and is the first man she ever met who can see Inuki) and develops an affection for her; although she falls in love with him, his intentions remain platonic as she is still a child. He frequently rescues Yuzuriha from death at the hands of other Dragons of Earth, and indeed in the anime threatens Fūma and ultimately switches sides; as a result he is attacked and grievously wounded by Nataku and Arashi, the latter having also defected to the other side. In the manga, he has, at the very least, expressed personal opinions that run contrary to the goals of the Dragons of Earth—specifically that life is sacred and should never, under any circumstances, be willfully destroyed. He also seems to think that conflicts between nature and humanity should be resolved with as little harm to either as possible. In the movie, he does not show these pacifist qualities and instead actively attacks the Dragons of Heaven without hesitation and is a very violent character. Additionally, his relationship with Yuzuriha Nekoi does not exist in the movie.

Kusanagi makes several appearances in CLAMP's crossover work, Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE.

Power: the ability to communicate with plants and animals, the ability to channel energy into powerful blast attacks.

Trivia: "Kusanagi" is an epithet of Ame no Murakumo no Tsurugi, the sword of the Japanese Imperial Regalia (literally referring to it as the "grass-cutting blade").

Relatives: unknown
Romantic interests: Nekoi Yuzuriha
X Tarot Card: The Star (Volume 17)

Sakurazuka Seishirō
桜(さくら) 塚(づか) 星(せい) 史(し) 郎(ろう)

Originally from Tōkyō Babylon, in which he appeared to be a kindly, magically-aware veterinarian, Seishirō is in fact the Sakurazukamori, a lone assassin whose signature is cherry blossoms and the symbol of an inverted pentagram. The Sakurazukamori is supposedly unable to love, but in Seishirou's side story, his mother (with whom it is implied he was romantically involved) contradicts this, saying that Seishirou will be killed by the one he loves the most. Seishirō himself became the Sakurazukamori at the age of fifteen by killing her, after a lifetime of training. A powerful onmyōji, Seishirō can attack in many ways, including shikigami (spell servants), energy blasts and more direct physical combat. He can also create elaborate illusions in which people are trapped (separate from the physical world), and in which the dangers are all too real; these are heralded by sudden, uncanny showers of cherry petals. Seishirō is a bon vivant, enjoying what he regards as Tokyo's decadence and moral corruption. In the manga, he and Fūma seem to get along well - in X14, they invited one another to eat at all the best restaurants in any area they are about to destroy.

In Tokyo Babylon Seishirō claimed to be in love with the young onmyōji Sumeragi Subaru, and on many occasions protected him from harm, even losing his right eye to a knife-wielding attacker. However, he ultimately revealed his true self, a ruthless, cold-hearted assassin who could never feel any emotion for anyone, and would have killed Subaru had the latter's twin sister Hokuto not intervened at the cost of her own life. Seishirō defeats Subaru in battle when they meet for the very first time since the events in Tokyo Babylon nine years ago, but leaves the younger man alive. Subaru at first believes this is because he isn't worth killing, but in their final battle at Rainbow Bridge, Seishirō arranges for Subaru to kill him -- his last words (of which the readers only know "I... you...") strongly implying that he loved Subaru after all. This also means that Subaru becomes the new Sakurazukamori, as Seishirō's mother prophesized.

In the movie version, Subaru and Seishirō annihilate each other in magical combat during the first 10 minutes.

Seishirō makes an appearance in CLAMP's crossover work, Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE. In this manga he is searching for vampire twins, one of whom is Subaru. By paying with his right eye, he received the power to cross dimensions from Yuuko Ichihara, the Witch of Dimensions. He was also the one who taught Syaoran how to fight.

Power: onmyōjyutsu (Tao sorcery): oftentimes carried out through the usage of ofuda (paper amulets) and shikigami
Relatives: Sakurazuka Setsuka (mother; deceased)
Romantic interests: Sumeragi Subaru
X Tarot Card: The Death (Volume 13)

Nataku那(な) 吒(たく)

An androgynous clone of extreme psychic ability, born of genetic material of Tōjyō Kazuki, the deceased granddaughter of the president of Tōjyō Pharmaceuticals and her father Masaki. It is sent to retrieve the Shinken by the Chairman Tōjyō who wishes to destroy the sword so that Nataku cannot become entangled in the matter of the Promised Day. In the process of stealing the Shinken, Nataku mortally wounds Kyōgo, Fūma and Kotori's father, who was attempting to protect the Shinken. Nataku later battles both Karen and Aoki, the former refusing to believe it can possibly be unemotional and regarding it as a "lost child". Nataku is haunted by the memories of its previous life as Kazuki, and follows Fūma unquestionably as Fūma resembles the person Kazuki cared most for—her father. In the anime, after Fūma is badly wounded by the spell Sorata casts as he dies, he absorbs Nataku's flesh into his own and is healed. In the manga, Nataku dies when Fūma realizes its greatest wish, to die by the hand of the one it loves most (Fūma, who resembles Kazuki's father) while protecting the person most important to it (Karen, who resembles Kazuki's mother).

Nataku and Kazuki both make appearances as separate beings in CLAMP's crossover work, Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE.

Power: the ability to control specially designed silk scarves in order to attack others and defend itself

Trivia: "Nataku" is the Japanese name for a Chinese god who descended to earth with a body but no soul.

Relatives: Tōjyō Masaki (father; deceased), Name Unknown (mother), Name Unknown—the head of Tōjyō Pharmaceuticals (grandfather)
Romantic interests: Monō Fūma/Tōjyō Masaki (Fūma states that as Kazuki, Nataku made its father the love of its life, although this is most likely the simple and childish way in which a young daughter loves and idly wishes to marry her father one day.)
X Tarot Card: The Moon (Volume 1 cool

Kuzuki Kakyō玖(く) 月(づき) 牙(か) 暁(きょう)

A dreamseer in a permanent coma, appearing as a tall man with a sad expression, golden eyes, long, pale hair, and almost always dressed in white. His ability to see the future in dreams was discovered at an early age, and as a result he was kept a prisoner by an unknown political group. Having never seen the outside world, he drew Sumeragi Hokuto into his dreams and fell in love with her after she showed him the sea through her own imagination. However, he foresaw that she would go to her death at the hands of the Sakurazukamori (as seen in the last volume of Tokyo Babylon), and broke out of his room in an effort to stop her; shot by one of his guards with a sniper rifle, he failed to reach her in time and sank into the coma in which he spends X. He came to believe that the future was immutable, and began to wish for his death.




In X he meets and befriends the fledgling dreamseer Monō Kotori within the dreamscape, but realizes that she, too, will soon die at the hands of her older brother Fūma. To grant Kotori's last wish that Kamui should be spared, Kakyō possesses her corpse during its "death dream" and clings to the Shinken, preventing Fūma from removing it from Kotori's body and using it to kill Kamui. However, in doing so Kakyō alerts Fūma to his presence, and the Dragon of Earth hunts down the dreamseer and convinces him that he will grant his wish to die in peace, provided Kakyō aids him as one of the Seven Angels.

In the anime, Kakyō is coerced into manipulating Princess Hinoto's own future-seeing dreams, but finally turns against Fūma after encouragement from Hokuto and Kotori that the future is not, after all, unchanging. He enables Hokuto to enter her brother Subaru's dreams and talk him into helping Kamui during the crucial moments of the final battle. At the end of the series he dies peacefully, and his spirit is finally able to join his beloved Hokuto and "go outside".

Kakyō makes an appearance in CLAMP's crossover work, Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE.

Power: yumemi (dreamseer): can forecast future events through the dreamscape, can also communicate with other dreamseers
Romantic interests: Sumeragi Hokuto
X Tarot Card: The Wheel Of Fortune (Volume 10)

Asagi Shōgo浅(あさ) 黄(ぎ) 笙(しょう) 悟(ご)

A character who appears only in the movie to complete the numbers of the Dragons of Earth in the place of Kuzuki Kakyō, who had not yet been introduced in the manga. He's a smart aleck teenager as brash and cocky as Sorata and a water master (Yūto's ability to control water had also not yet been revealed in the manga).

Shōgo makes several appearances in CLAMP's crossover work, Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE.

Power: mizutsukai (water master): hydrokinesis, generating water and controlling flows of liquid, specifically in the form of water balls and pillars
Relatives: unknown
Romantic interests: unknown
Relatives: unknown