CLAMP - Legal Drug, vol. 01-03 (Eng. trans.)

[oyceter]

Lalalala I am so susceptible to CLAMP!

Much like Her Majesty's Dog, I very much enjoyed this, despite the very thin veneer of plot. Actually, I don't even remember the characters' names.

I think I may have read too much manga this weekend.

Or: since there is no such thing as too much manga, I think all the cracktasticness may have addled my brain.

Anyhow, there's a Pretty Blonde Boy, rescued by a larger Dark-Haired Guy. There is a beautiful panel of the rescue in the snow. Pretty Blonde Boy and Dark-Haired Guy become roommates and work together at a drugstore (legal! Not crack!) run by a blonde guy with glasses (hereby known as Glasses). Glasses seems to have some sort of relationship with a tall, dark-haired guy who always wears shades (hereby known as Shades).

When introducing the manga to me, rachelmanija mentioned that the relationships in the series were very subtext-y. Then there was the page in which Shades was nearly licking Glasses' ear, pulling down his turtleneck, and turning Glasses' face toward him. We both decided that that was very much text.

Glasses has some weird jobs on the side, which he frequently sends Pretty Blonde Boy out on. These jobs frequently involve cross-dressing, prettification, and very revealing situations which enable Dark-Haired Guy to come to his rescue.

Oh yeah, Pretty Blonde Boy is somewhat psychic.

Obviously, this is all a ruse to get pretty boys together, but since they are so pretty, I don't mind very much at all. In fact, I feel rather bad for Dark-Haired Guy, who is quite obviously pining away in a very Gothic but non-bloody fashion, since Pretty Blonde Boy has the emotional maturity of a mushroom. I must specify that Dark-Haired Guy does not want to possess Pretty Blonde Boy's eyeballs, stalk him, kill him, torture him, torture his friends, be his twin star, steal his destiny, steal his organic sword (literally! No phallic symbols involved!) or drive him insane. I say Gothic just because it is CLAMP and because the romance between Dark-Haired Guy and Pretty Blonde Boy is pushed forward by things like possession.

While I am enchanted by Dark-Haired Guy's silent angst (he doesn't actually angst, but I imagine that he must angst a whole lot. See above re: Pretty Blonde Boy and mushrooms), I am even more entranced by the love of the two guys with glasses. I think they should get their own series called Framed and have many perfectly innocuous conversations that would be completely devoid of innuendo if they weren't pulling down each other's turtlenecks and licking fingers.

Comments

[greenapple2004.livejournal.com]

Oh, how I love Legal Drug. :-) It has so much potential, and actually uses its three short volumes to fairly good effect. I was just re-reading vol. 3 this past weekend, which is the only CLAMP volume I really worked on (I have an assistant editor credit for kind of undoing some of the rewrite--Jamie is usually great, but he gayed that one up a bit too much, and it's plenty gay on its own), and I was reminded how talented those ladies are. It's been a while since I read their older stuff, and the pacing problems of Tsubasa and the heavy stylization of xxxHolic had kind of made me forget how great their stories are. The art is so simple but so effective, and the lack of real plot just makes the character interactions that much more important. *sigh* If only they'd finish it...

[oyceter]

Jamie gayed it up? Wow. Not like the images don't stand on their own ;).

I really love the stylization of xxxHolic, but it's really interesting reading their older stuff, particularly because the only thing I've followed of theirs had been X.

If only they'd finish that too!

[greenapple2004.livejournal.com]

It'll be interesting to see what CLAMP's next step is. They certainly haven't lost their touch, but it has changed quite a bit in 15 years.

But yeah, Jamie got a little jokey in the rewrite, and the original is plenty hilarious just the way it is. :-)

[minnow1212.livejournal.com]

I'm loving you and Rachel doing manga--I think you two should do a regular column together. Or just go on vacation together a lot and report back *g*

[oyceter]

Oh, I'm glad you find it amusing! I feel horribly bad about the swamp of manga and anime posts lately, particularly because I know quite a few people on the flist don't read or watch it.

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

I love how Pretty Blond Boy is sooooooo suspicious of Tall, Dark, and Close-Mouthed, but completely trusting of Glasses, who keeps blithely sending him off into dangerous situations and tricking him further and further into debt.

But yes. I said, "My god, CLAMP has NO SHAME" when I got to the chocolate bar, and then "NO SHAME WHATSOEVER" when I got to the wedding dress. I kept breaking out in incredulous laughter.

[oyceter]

Pretty Blonde Boy is so not clever. Particularly when it comes to gambling. Or, you know, even asking what a mission is about.

The wedding dress! Oh my god! I think that was when I started cackling maniacally, because... you are right! NO SHAME WHATSOEVER!

[umadoshi.livejournal.com]

I must specify that Dark-Haired Guy does not want to possess Pretty Blonde Boy's eyeballs, stalk him, kill him, torture him, torture his friends, be his twin star, steal his destiny, steal his organic sword (literally! No phallic symbols involved!) or drive him insane.

. . . and this is CLAMP? What? *hunts for the exit of this strange otherworld*

I keep meaning to check this one out, but I don't think any of my CLAMP-fanatic friends have a copy. Hmm.

A friend who adores all things CLAMP but always buys her manga in French was grumpy about needing to buy this one in English--apparently there's some strange factor in French law (and I'm totally going from memory on this, so my recollection may be a bit wonky) that meant they had to someone remove all the drug references. Or some types of drug references. So my friend took one look at the result and ran far, far away.

It sounds delightful

[vom-marlowe.livejournal.com]

I think I will have to pick this up at the Borders over lunch today. Between you and coffeeandink, my book buying budget is tripling. But am I sad about this? I am not. Wanders off to the bookstore...

Re: It sounds delightful

[oyceter]

It is very delightful, if a bit fluffy.

[oyceter]

I know! It was very odd!

It's sort of funny, because despite the name and the marijuana leaf logo, there isn't that much about drugs. I think they just came up with the name because of Glasses' drugstore? Or his rather shady dealings with what may or may not be a criminal underground that is deeply invested in spiritual happenings?

Truly, it is a mystery.

[seajules]

Kazahaya's(Pretty Blond Boy) forced cluelessness actually drop-kicked me right out of this series, which is a shame, because everything else about it was designed to draw me in. Well, almost everything. My ideal series tend to feature the blond (or redhead) as the brooding/violent one.

::uses icon advisedly::

[oyceter]

Mmmmmmmmm Saaaaaanzooooooo.

Oh yeah, you were saying other things! ;) Gah, but that picture of Sanzo is pretty.

Pretty Blonde Boy is indeed very, very, very clueless, which is why I like Glasses and Shades together better. Also, I seem to have a bit of a thing for manipulative yet innocent-seeming guys in glasses (see: Tenpou).

[seajules]

Well, it's not like the other things I was saying were as important as Sanzo. ;-)

I do like the boss and his boyfriend quite a bit (and it cracks me up that the boyfriend is looming, dark, sunglass-sporting, and domestic like whoa). If Kazahaya were allowed even half a clue (and something resembling a libido), it would be a favorite series.

[oyceter]

Oh, I love the looming dark boyfriend!

Poor Kazahaya. He should hang out with Sanzo, and then he would be forced to get a clue! Or he'd just be shot. But that would be funny...

[seajules]

Really, part of my problem is so much of the cluelessness seems externally inflicted. It doesn't make sense for the character and what he's been through, and that's what booted me out.

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

Did you get past V1? Because there are hints later on that Kazahaya had a very ... strange upbringing. One of the reasons I'm sad CLAMP hasn't done anything with the series lately is that I was looking forward to the revelation of his backstory.

[seajules]

I know I at least started volume 2, and I do recall something of his upbringing. I still found his naivete troublesome, though, but now I'd have to read the volumes again to pinpoint why.

Legal drug

[(Anonymous)]

Well, it's true that the plot is quite undevelopped through the 3 volumes and that there really is nothing going on. However, CLAMP did say that they would be resuming it (which i dearly hope is not a lie). So far, xxxHolic is my favorite from CLAMp, but i kind of find their art is going a little weird recently... or maybe it's just me..

Re: Legal drug

[oyceter]

I am dearly hoping that they resume it as well, though not as much as I want them to finally finish X!

I think xxxHolic and Tsubasa together are my newest favorite CLAMP. I actually love their recent art because of the heavy stylization, but that may be because I didn't really like early CLAMP art much.