CLAMP is a creative group of four women who have produced a range of iconic manga across a variety of demographics, from shoujo to seinen. Their body of work was recently celebrated with a showing at the prestigious National Art Center.
While the currently airing sequel, Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card was created roughly twenty years after the original series, it so far seems less actively progressive than its predecessor. Specifically, it’s missing the original’s focus on explicitly representing LGBTQ characters as well as the way it sensitively portrayed their lives and emotions.
During the Chatty AF Fushigi Yugi watchalong, Caitlin, Dee, and Vrai would frequently chat privately about the show. While watching the OVAs, the conversation turned to the relationship between a pair of supporting characters, which in turn developed into a spontaneous discussion about age-gap romances in fiction. As the subject is a complicated one (and particularly topical given recent anime), the team thought it worthwhile to expand it into a roundtable and publish it for the site.
