Is CLAMP anime mostly for girls?

I was considering watching the anime series X and then I found out that CLAMP made it and I have heard that they produce stuff mostly for young girls. I have never watched any CLAMP anime or have anything against female anime/manga creators(I love Black Butler!!!), but I don't want to watch something that is going to be too girly.

I myself am a college student and I love anime like Hellsing, Trigun, Death Note, FMA, Trinity Blood, Naruto(Mostly Shippuden), etc. X, xxxHolic, and Tsubasa all look interesting to me, but I don't want to buy something I won't enjoy.

So can someone explain what makes these series known for being mostly girl stuff? I know that they are marketed towards girls and made by girls, but are they really that girly?

Anyways, Im not trying to be offensive, I just want to know if I would enjoy these series being a guy who mostly watches mature, bloody action anime.

Thanks in advance for any advice

CLAMP is composed of 4 middle-aged women who have been making shoujo manga together for the last 2 decades. The only manga they have made that aren't targeted at girls are Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, which was their attempt at making shounen manga...it didn't go to well because they focused entirely on typical shounen tropes, and Chobits which was targeted at a mixed but slightly older demographic.

Most of their series focus of younger girls, having themes such as fantasy romance, emotional drama, magical-girl characters or concepts, and focus on the challenges faced by younger girls as they are growing older; similar in fashion to how shounen manga focus on action, adventure, rivalry, and challenges faced by younger boys as they are growing older.

What about X? By the looks of some of the trailers and stuff I saw, it doesn't look very girly.

X does contain some action, but it's still very female-oriented. There's a lot of emotional drama, bishounen, and a considerable amount of down-played BL themes.

Okay I will probably give X a chance anyway, hopefully the action will be enough. xxxHolic is actually listed as a seinen manga on wikipedia, though I know that means nothing.

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Originally Posted by STEAMedtodeath

Okay I will probably give X a chance anyway, hopefully the action will be enough. xxxHolic is actually listed as a seinen manga on wikipedia, though I know that means nothing.

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Well, xxxHolic is more for older teens and adults (hence the reason why its listed as "seinen"). It's not girly and its a mature series, but I don't think its what you are looking for. CLAMP is a very diverse group and they have made manga/anime of different styles, but if you are a guy looking for blood and violence, you are not going to get it from CLAMP...from ANY of their series.

lol. Im not really looking for blood and violence. I enjoy story above all, what I basically meant was I just don't want to watch a chick flick anime.

I'm a guy and I've loved the CLAMP stuff (with one exception sorta) I've been exposed to so far:

Anime:

xxxHolic (very cool supernatural anime. Young boy is being tormented by spirits, and makes a deal with a "witch" at a local shop to have them removed if he works for her, and finds that her line of work involves some very odd and supernatural elements. Not necessarily scary, but if you dug the mysterious/creepy vibe some animes throw in, you'll like it. Fairly episodic though)
Tsubasa (AVOID. The music is awesome, but that's all it has going for it. The pacing is horrible thanks to Bee "let's go slower than even DBZ" Train being the animators, and the filler ruins the themes and even tries to underplay a very obviously establishing relationship (from how it went in the manga) between two characters. Now the OVAs started to get things right, but then they started skipping manga arcs so it kind of became pointless. Basically, stick with the manga)

Manga:

xxxHolic (same with anime, but more of an overall story eventually with this version. Also, unlike the anime versions, both this manga and Tsubasa's stories tie into each other, whereas the earlier parts merely allude to each other often)
Tsubasa (miles better than the anime version. The 4 characters travel to very different dimensions finding feathers to restore one of the character's memories, giving a very adventurous "Sliders" feel to it. Eventually, the story takes a darker turn when building subplots and twists are finally unveiled)
Chobits (very entertaining and deep story regarding a boy who finds a "very human-like" robot girl and takes her home to live with him. Plenty of laughs and sad moments to be had)

I've got the anime of Angelic Layer but have yet to watch it. Also want to see the anime/read the manga of Cardcaptor Sakura and X eventually.

The only one I would really call "girly" of the ones I've seen/read are Chobits somewhat and the earlier parts of Tsubasa, but both get more serious as they go on.

Thanks for all the advice. I will try out xxxHolic next then. If the anime gets me interested then Ill start reading the manga.

"targeted" does not imply "meant only for".

Just felt the need to point that out.

imo chobits is kinda targeted to perverted male viewers though. Chii is basically used as a mannequin for cute clothing, and the protagonist is just the average perverted loser guy.

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Originally Posted by Desulishor

imo chobits is kinda targeted to perverted male viewers though. Chii is basically used as a mannequin for cute clothing, and the protagonist is just the average perverted loser guy.

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Considering how the series takes great length to contemplate the morality/effects/etc. of the protagonist (and others like him) doing what he is doing, I think you're not giving Chobits enough credit. Cute little Chii may have been used to lure in that portion of anime/manga fans initially, but that doesn't mean it's ultimately what the series was for. Otherwise, we can say Evangelion was made only to appeal to mecha fans or something nonsensical like that.

But you have to be careful of almost all Clamp works. Not so much Chobits. But Clamp has some underline BL in their stories. Like nearly most stories have some sort of BL.

Carcaptor Sakura

 

Toya and Yuki/Yue

X 1999

 

Fuma and Kamui. Especially that seen where Fuma licks Kamui's neck O.o

Tsubasa Chronicles

 

Kurogane and Fai

Legal Drug - manga only

All the characters in legal drug

Wish - manga only

This is probably the worse offender. The main characters are angels and clamp explains that they are basically hermaphrodites. Most of the angels have boyish and girlish features. Something like bishounens gone wrong. Clamp gets away with it not being called BL because their characters are essentially hermaphrodites. But it might as well be BL.

There is more on the list. But I won't scrounge around.


Edit: Oh and also all the characters in Clamp look the same. They all are the same character models. I swear in Wish one of the older characters looks like a mixture of Kakyou Kuzuki and Karen Kasumi.

Unless one is homophobic, who would be upset about a homosexual couple being present? I can't speak for the others, but Tsubasa is pretty conservative with the two characters in question, and develops it in a believable manner as opposed to being cheap, pandering stuff.

but CLAMP also made code geass

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Originally Posted by otakuken

but CLAMP also made code geass

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No, they didn't. They were hired to design the character models. That is all.

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Originally Posted by Doom85

Unless one is homophobic, who would be upset about a homosexual couple being present? I can't speak for the others, but Tsubasa is pretty conservative with the two characters in question, and develops it in a believable manner as opposed to being cheap, pandering stuff.

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I have no problem with it. I just they would be honest to say that its an open relationships.