Clamp School Detectives, Vol. 03

CLAMP学園探偵団 [Clamp Gakuen Tanteidan] #3

by Clamp

It's tough being Nokoru Imonoyama, the smartest kid at a school for geniuses. There's not a lot that can stimulate his mind. So what does he do? Start a detective agency to help damsels in distress! Nokoru's partners are his two best friends and fellow class board members: South Takamura, a master of martial arts, and Akira Ijyuin, detective by day, thief by night. And when Nokoru isn't trying to replace himself with a robot to get out of his paperwork, he's searching for the owner of a lost silk stocking (obviously a damsel of the highest class), investigating an elaborate surveillance system, and recalling the time he made his first real friend during a daring kidnapping escape.

Genres: Manga, Mystery, Shojo, Comics, Graphic Novels, Humor, Fiction

200 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Ōkawa Nanase 大川七瀬
[born: 2 May 1967; Ōsaka, bloodtype: A]

Mokona Apapa もこなあぱぱ
[born: 16 Jun 1968, Kyōto; bloodtype: A]

Nekoi Mick 猫井みっく
[born: 21 Jan 1969, Kyōto; bloodtype: O]

Igarashi Satsuki 五十嵐さつき
[born: 8 Feb 1969, Kyōto; bloodtype: A]


CLAMP originally began in 1989 as a twelve-member dōjinshi circle, but by 1990, the circle had diminished from twelve to seven. Of the remaining seven, Tamayo Akiyama, Sei Nanao, and Leeza Sei left the group during the production of the RG Veda manga. Other former members of CLAMP also included Soushi Hishika, O-Kyon, Kazue Nakamori, Yuzuru Inoue and Shinya Ōmi. Currently, there are four members in the group.

In 2004, CLAMP's 15th anniversary as a mangaka group, the members changed their names from Nanase Ohkawa, Mokona Apapa, Mick Nekoi, and Satsuki Igarashi to Ageha Ohkawa, Mokona, Tsubaki Nekoi and Satsuki Igarashi (her name is pronounced the same, but written with different characters) respectively. The August 2004 issue of Newtype USA, a magazine specializing in events of the anime and manga subcultures, reported that the members of CLAMP simply wanted to try out new names. In a later interview with Ohkawa, it was revealed that initially Mokona wanted to drop her surname because it sounded too immature for her liking, while Nekoi disliked people commenting that her name was the same as Mick Jagger's. Ohkawa and Igarashi, wanting to go with the flow of Nekoi's and Mokona's name changes, changed their names as well.

In 2006, they made their first USA public debut at Anime Expo in Anaheim, California. They were well received at the convention, with 6,000 fans in attendance at their panel.

Reviews

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Given the episodic nature of most of the chapters and the frequent recounting of the premise the earlier volumes aren't a prerequisite to read/enjoy this one, but it is the finale of the series and features previously introduced characters.

The unimaginably perfect trio of sixth graders is always willing to aid any and all "damsels in distress," but things are a bit different when one of their own is in jeopardy.

CLAMP varies the formula in these chapters, to good effect. The first is a ridiculous little "case" played entirely for comedy. Since it focuses on the personalities involved it was amusing. The second is an ok story that sees Suoh with an uneasy feeling that he's being watched.

The long awaited backstory of Suoh and the chairman is told in the penultimate chapter. It's over-the-top and riddled with cliches (one of which I was just mocking for unrelated reasons yesterday, only to come across it here), but still entertaining. Part of the explanation of things hinted at in previous volumes was very disappointing though.

The closing tale is fitting for the manga and sees cute cameos from earlier stories.

Despite an extremely rough start Clamp School Detectives turned into an enjoyable little series. It never quite put enough of a spin on the cliches and tropes it used to feel like proper parody, but was still amusing overall.

[Bibliothecat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review for complete series



The CLAMP campus offers education from kindergarten all the way to university. The campus includes all kinds of facilities which almost gives it a city-like atmosphere. The Elementary School Student Board consists of the three bright students Nokoru, Suoh and Akira who, following Nokoru's lead, decide to found the CLAMP school detectives - helpers for all the female students in need!

This is a cute manga as long as you keep in mind that it's a comedy - the way the school board is run is far from realistic. Nokoru, who despite being very intelligent, is actually pretty lazy. At least until a girl is involved - he seems to have made it his priority to make sure all girls are happy and will develop incredible strength and speed to be at the ladies' rescue. Akira, who also stars in CLAMP's Man of Many Faces, is beyond proud of all that Nokoru does and is always cheering him on. Suoh is about the most normal among these characters and tries hard to maintain order while keeping up with his friends' antics.

CLAMP School Detectives is a very episodic manga without much of an actual story behind it. For better or for worse, this is a short series consisting of only three volumes. Given the episodic nature and the lack of actual plot, a longer series would probably have been too much. But the CLAMP campus is actually a really neat crossover of at least a handful of CLAMP's works. CLAMP, of course, loves to make crossovers with all their works - unfortunately, this work was made before most of their others. I think it could have been a great series if characters from more of their other works would have had a cameo - seeing nudges to other works was really one of the best parts of this one.

It doesn't come as a surprise that CLAMP's art is also lovely in this one. The characters, all silliness and antics aside, have a lot of charm and it just delivers a beautifully drawn series with nice characters and humour that leans into the parody genre. It's neither deep nor an essential read - but it is a nice and cute story for in between or simply for those who love CLAMP.

[Vilma Diaz · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the last volume in the series. It was a good ending, I think. It didn't necessarily feel like an ending, and given that I've seen characters from other CLAMP works in this manga, I'm fairly sure I'll be seeing Imonoyama, Takamura and Ijyuin again. It was a mostly funny and ridiculous read. The art is cute, our trio of detectives are sweet, and their interactions tend to be amusing.

The only thing that made me uncomfortable was seeing teenage girls chasing after and swooning over elementary school boys. This has happened throughout the series. Our boys (literally elementary school boys) each have fan clubs, with members ranging from elementary school age all the way to the college age. This is really gross, but it's mostly treated as silly. I didn't always find it funny, but I didn't pay it much mind.

Then Imonoyama was kidnapped and I got some major predator vibes from that lady and honestly it was no longer even a little bit funny. It was actually really problematic and kind of upsetting. And though I was fairly sure nothing would happen to him, CLAMP has portrayed "romantic relationships" between adults and children in a positive light before, and I was very concerned. I get this is an older manga. And it's not like it was a total shock for a CLAMP work.

But still, it was not fun. It is what it is, though. And I give this volume three stars because it is what it is. On to the next CLAMP work, I guess. A while back I decided I wanted to read all of their works because of my love for Cardcaptor Sakura. I must say, it's been a learning experience.

[Shin Donghae · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sebagai serial pendek, kisah trio SD Osis ini cukup baik dg endding yg lumayan.
Terlepas dari kasus2 (tentunya di tingkatan SD) penyampaiannya cukup menarik dibalur dg artwork khas Mokona Apapa sensei yg selalu memanjakan mata. Kawaiiii!! Sayangnya unsur romans yg terkesan dipaksakan agar menambah kawai(??) membuat tidak sreg membacanya.
Setidaknya utk fans CLAMP tentu ini menjadi bacaan yg must read

[Lori CucVig · Rating 5 out of 5]

Arriviamo alla pubblicazione tre su tre, ma, per fortuna, ci regalano la storia sull'incidente e il misterioso legame tra vice e presidente. Nessun caso viene proposto alla Clamp Detective, ma loro sono comunque sotto osservazione. Ci stava, niente dispersioni (tranne quelle del presidente nei confronti del lavoro), ma solo i nostri protagonisti. Questo volume è stato molto scorrevole e facile da leggere.

[Rahmah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seri terakhir dari komik Clamp School Detective. Hampir setengahnya bercerita tentang pertemuan pertama Nokoru dan Suoh. Dibagian akhir gemas banget Nokorunya tidur XD. Kayaknya di animenya diceritain tentang OSIS dari setiap tingkatan, tapi dikomik cuma dilihatin OSIS TK dan SD aja. Ceritanya ringan dan lumayan buat melihat kehebatan anak-anak SD dan tidak ada (belum) di dunia nyata hahaha ^^.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

A nice ending to a volume, and very nice introduction to the world(s) of CLAMP. One of the things I love about CLAMP works is how their books are all connected. And even though the series was ending, your favorite characters show up in other works. This might not be everyone's cup of tea, but it shows how CLAMP fits into their own universe, and most importantly, how the story fits.

[Adrian Santiago · Rating 2 out of 5]

No lo odié tanto como el tomo 2, tampoco pasó mucho fuera de lo normal pero bueno, estuvo entretenido y supongo que la historia de cómo se conocieron no está tan mal.

Apenas y unas menciones a Duklyon, y el ladrón.

[Vera City · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sigue en la linea de los anteriores. La amistad entre los tres es genial

[Phi LE · Rating 5 out of 5]

Một kết thúc trọn vẹn.

[Myz · Rating 1 out of 5]

J'ai totalement décroché, l'univers proposé semblait pas mal au début mais ça tourne vraiment trop en rond et traine en longueur.

[Léa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un chapitre = un enquête de la part de nos écoliers. Sympathique mais oubliable.

[~Cyanide Latte~ · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's nice to bring this series re-read to its conclusion, and I feel like the CLAMP School Universe never fails to put a smile on my face with how lighthearted and absurd it tends to be. I'm so happy that I worked on collecting all of CLAMP School Detectives volumes some years back, because these stories have stuck with me for years and they still help me to unwind.

While the series is meant to be lighthearted and silly for the sake of cute, I will say that the second-to-last chapter (which is also the longest one,) is actually fairly serious and intense. It covers the past history between Nokoru and Suoh regarding how they came to be friends, and why exactly Suoh is often glued to Nokoru at the hip. The other chapters in this book feel rather underwhelming by comparison, and the final chapter feels more like it serves as a series summary to briefly cover some interactions with "clients" of the Detective Agency and what their "cases" were, before reaching a slightly sweet and melancholy conclusion.

Again, I absolutely love this little series, absurd though it gets, and I do completely recommend it to all die-hard CLAMP fans. This title especially serves as a good gateway into the CLAMP School Universe, in my opinion, so if you ever wanted to get into that 'verse, definitely start here!
And now that I've finished this re-read, it's time to venture on to CLAMP School Paranormal Investigators at last. (Took me forever to collect those light novels, and I've never read them before, so hopefully they're decent and I can do a total wrap-up of the CLAMP School Universe ending on a high note!)

[Lissibith · Rating 3 out of 5]

The final volume of Clamp School Detectives is also, to me at least, the best one. It's here where we get to one of my favorite parts about Clamp - them writing about the interactions of two good friends. They can *really* do this well, and in this volume, we get a story about how Nokoru and Suoh met and became friends. It's a bit over the top, a bit harrowing and a bit uncomfortable (Yeah, that grown-up adult lady person is totally propositioning that elementary schooler...) but the interplay and the concern between the two kids is really nicely stated.

It also features a floating penguin. So there's that.

All in all, this doesn't change anything about the series overall, but if you've stuck with the series to this point it's a strong capstone on the experience.

[Martine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Soooo, the last Volume of this lovely mini-series made me understand why people ship Nokoru and Souh.
(Because they're soulmates XD. Seriously, chapter 11 proved that their relationship is similar to several other canon CLAMP pairings. Sure, Suoh has a girlfried. But the same can be said about Touya from Card Captor Sakura, that doesn't necessary make her his soulmate.)
The whole series was a lovely and quick read and it was incredibly funny - surprisingly no angst, loss of eyes or limbs or character death, just super perfect boys in their little shorts. I wish more book main characters would be like those three.
Yay, CLAMP!

[Starbubbles · Rating 5 out of 5]

2022: Honestly, this is the best volume in the series. I am sad it ended here, but there are other stories that are part of the same school universe.

2009: i loved learning about how souh and nokoru became friends. it was darling! it was also fantastic to learn about why souh has such great athletic abilities.

[Jenn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Clamp School Detectives, Book 3 by Clamp (2003)

[Brianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good. I wonder if there is another book.

[Dony Grayman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Edición española, tomo 3 de 3.

[Ricardo Marín]

3 / 5