Ruminations on CLAMP couples
Oct. 5th, 2006 02:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
branchandrootSo it seems to me that Yasha and Ashura are a sort of ur-couple for CLAMP. And ur-male-couple, anyway. They aren't the only pattern CLAMP uses, of course, there's also the Freaking Scary Couple, a la Subaru and Seishirou, but Yasha and Ashura are, if I'm not mistaken, the first example of CLAMP's most common male-couple pattern.
We have the delicate-looking, pretty one with phenomenal cosmic power, who comes with pre-filled buckets of angst and a certain amount of identity issues. Other examples of this include Yukito, Kamui, Watanuki, Fay and, to an extent, Eagle Vision.
We also have the strong, silent, possibly grumpy type, who guards and protects the first one and is supernally devoted to him. Other examples include Touya, Fuuma (normal Fuuma, not Dark Kamui, he's a Freaking Scary type and gives CLAMP two for the price of one), Doumeki, Kurogane (only just lately, of course, and rather by deus ex machina) and, to an extent, Lantis.
And, if you take out the angst and Issues, then you have Nokoru and Suoh.
Ashura and Yasha are also the most extreme examples of this pattern I can think of. While Kamui and Fay may have much the same levels of power as Ashura, I can't think of anyone but Doumeki who even comes close to Yasha's unswerving, unquestioning devotion, no matter what and really... Yasha wins hands down. Yasha goes beyond "devotion" into some other realm, the name of which may include "psychotic". *loves on Yasha*
All of which suggests two things to me. One, CLAMP really likes semes who are sub. And two, the reason RG Veda was so far and away the best thing CLAMP wrote for so very long was that it's their One Story and they'd already told it as best they could. With bells on. *pets RGV*
We have the delicate-looking, pretty one with phenomenal cosmic power, who comes with pre-filled buckets of angst and a certain amount of identity issues. Other examples of this include Yukito, Kamui, Watanuki, Fay and, to an extent, Eagle Vision.
We also have the strong, silent, possibly grumpy type, who guards and protects the first one and is supernally devoted to him. Other examples include Touya, Fuuma (normal Fuuma, not Dark Kamui, he's a Freaking Scary type and gives CLAMP two for the price of one), Doumeki, Kurogane (only just lately, of course, and rather by deus ex machina) and, to an extent, Lantis.
And, if you take out the angst and Issues, then you have Nokoru and Suoh.
Ashura and Yasha are also the most extreme examples of this pattern I can think of. While Kamui and Fay may have much the same levels of power as Ashura, I can't think of anyone but Doumeki who even comes close to Yasha's unswerving, unquestioning devotion, no matter what and really... Yasha wins hands down. Yasha goes beyond "devotion" into some other realm, the name of which may include "psychotic". *loves on Yasha*
All of which suggests two things to me. One, CLAMP really likes semes who are sub. And two, the reason RG Veda was so far and away the best thing CLAMP wrote for so very long was that it's their One Story and they'd already told it as best they could. With bells on. *pets RGV*
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Date: 2006-10-05 06:39 pm (UTC)*considers* Can't say I disapprove of the semes-as-sub motif, though. *grins*
Sanada: *quietly ignores his author*
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Date: 2006-10-05 06:49 pm (UTC)I do think you'd like RG Veda, and it's actually, you know, completed. The comm has all the scans for download if you're a member to see the locked posts.
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Date: 2006-10-05 10:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-05 07:40 pm (UTC)Now you have me wanting to reread CLAMP School Detectives and catch up on my Tsubasa and HOLiC. Damn you. D:
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Date: 2006-10-05 07:48 pm (UTC)Now, if Watanuki would just /realize/ he has Doumeki wrapped around his little finger...