Clamp (, Kuranpu?), stylized as CLAMP, is an all-female Japanese mangaka group that was formed in the mid 1980s. Many of the group's manga series are often adapted into anime after release. It consists of their leader Nanase Ohkawa ( , Ōkawa Nanase?), who provides much of the storyline and screenplay for all their works and adaptations of those works respectively, and three artists whose roles shift for each series: Mokona (, Mokona?), Tsubaki Nekoi ( , Nekoi Tsubaki?), and Satsuki Igarashi ( , Igarashi Satsuki?).

Almost 100 million Clamp tankōbon copies have been sold worldwide as of October 2007. Beginning as an eleven-member dōjinshi circle in the mid 1980s, they began creating original work in 1987. By the time they debuted with RG Veda in 1989, their numbers were reduced to seven.

In 1993, three more members left, leaving the four members currently still part of the group. In 2006, each member decided to change her name, however later Nanase Ohkawa decided to change her name back (from Ageha Ohkawa back to her original name Nanase Ohkawa). Clamp originally began in the mid 1980s as an eleven-member dōjinshi circle.

The three artists of Clamp, Mokona, Tsubaki Nekoi, and Satsuki Igarashi first began drawing Manga when they were either in middle or high school, inspired by friends. The three artists were good friends in the same school. They met Nanase Ohkawa when one of her friend befriended Mokona after buying a comic that she was selling, and through that connection, the four of them became friends.

The group of twelve original members began tried to meet at every event held in Osaka and Kobe, which usually occurred once a month. Before they began creating original work, the group produced dōjinshi of Captain Tsubasa. However in 1987, the group stop dōjinshi and began creating orignal work; it was at time they began working on RG Veda.

Their first work as a group was a collabrative work entitled "CLAMP" that they continued to work on until shortly after their debut.

Similar to 0 things you like: