Man of Many Faces:
Manga-ka: CLAMP
Translated by originally- Tokyopop in 2002. Sadly discounted.
Rating: All Ages
First Published: 1990
Genre: Romance, School Life, Light-Hearted Comedy, Detective, Art Thief.
Cover Price: It was originally $9.99. Sadly, you can only find the paperback used. You can get each volume for $5 on Kindle.
Blurb: “By day a top student at the Clamp school, by night a master of disguise and a thief, stealing objects at the whim of his two mothers, Akira Ijyuin’s life is changed when he meets lovely young Utako Ogawa.”
*I chose this one now because it is my wedding anniversary month. 🙂
“A person is judged by how they make the love of their life happy.”
This paraphrased opening quote from this month’s manga pick encompasses the deep feelings of it exceedingly well.
“Man of Many Faces” was one of my first mangas and the first in their “Clamp Schools Trilogy,” I recall vividly reading it for the first time in high school between customers at my mom’s retro clothing store. It’s adorable, quirky, charming, and deeper than it should be for a two-volume series.
We follow Akira, a nine-year-old cooking prodigy. He’s cheerful, bright (being the accountant for the student council), amazing at domestic skills, and kind. When not a student at Clamp School during the day, he has a secret role; he is the Phantom Art Thief, 20 Mask, taking on the legendary job and title that was once his father’s. Why does Akira do this? Because his two mothers demand he steal rare and beautiful things to make them happy, since his father did it for them. In other words… they are spoiled and high maintenance! lol!
One night, after trying to escape the police from a heist (and an aspiring high school detective who is Akira’s friend, and determined to unmask 20 Mask…oh boy,) he lands on the balcony of five-year-old Utako. What a little spitfire! Before encountering our phantom thief, she was yelling and tearing apart her room with her stuffed animals because her kindergarten teacher rejected her love confession!
The two begin to have a pleasant conversation for a few moments until Akira excuses himself. But Utako isn’t having it! She steps on his cape and declares he is her new love and boyfriend, and if he refuses and doesn’t visit her every Friday night, she will turn him in to the police!
And thus an innocent first love begins.
Something you have to understand with early Clamp is that they often have couple dynamics that look strange to Western audiences, such as high school student and teacher couples or large age gaps. Here, we have a very young couple, a five and a nine-year-old, who promise themselves to each other.
If you didn’t grow up with Clamp or in this era, this concept might not age well, even if the manga is written for all ages.
A lot of modern reviews also state how they were annoyed by how deep and mature these children are. I can understand this, but also, the Clamp School is full of exceedingly gifted students. And I just easily accepted that’s how these kids are, vessels to teach the audience what true love is. If you respect it’s a part of Clamp’s special writing style, you’re in for a treat.
The lessons in this series have spoken to me since my first read. How to love yourself. To be selfless. Be honest with your feelings. And even if you know someone well, if you do not speak your mind, they may not know. The ‘lecture’ on love, as Clamp calls them, ha, grew and grew as Utako and her powerful love asserted herself into the story. But they are beautifully composed.
But let’s get back to the shining!
The series initially started as a sweet phantom art thief; the team was inspired by a movie about a similar topic that the ladies enjoyed. Utako was one of their first original characters after their doujinshi time, a background character at Clamp school who would hit things violently with hammers. Lol! They kept some of this original trait between Utako angrily whacking things with her stuffed animals and her mother hitting her papa with a rubber mallet. I love this random manga/anime troupe!
We talked about the darling romance, impassioned lessons, and classicism of Clamp. But there are also amusing scenes! Utako tries desperately to cook for her man (who is a master of it himself), but it’s difficult. Like her mixing sugar and salt! He doesn’t even notice since she made it with all her soul for him. ^_^ But after the laughs, it does lead to an awww moment.
Her elder sister, Mako, is a scream, too! The perfect blend of comedic and clever. Wishing the best for her.
Akira’s mothers are riots, too! Whiny, but funny. The mysteries are entertaining too. The biggest one for fans is why he has two mothers who both claim they gave birth to him (lovely twins?) FYI: you’ll get no answer to this one! Then there is the question of why the school’s pediatrician always helps Akira with advice or secretly escapes from the police. What is the reason Akira’s dad is not with them right now?
But you will get a proper and delightfully satisfying ending for our pair.
This second full original series of our manga muses, which had 7 of their 11 memories, is able to focus on this gem and their first series, “RG Veda,” very different in tone, at the same time. “Man of Many Faces” became two drama CDs. The artists said the actors and staff worked hard on it, and it’s very good, especially the music. To this day, Ohkawa listens to it.
“Clamp School Detectives,” where Akira returns as one of the main three, has a two-episode anime arc that decently follows the plot of this manga. Utako is also an important character in the series.
He may steal curtains, ice sculptures, and tickets to balls, but both Akira and Utako will capture their readers for ages to come.
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Educator of young minds by day, super nerdy savior of justice, and cute things by night, Morgan Straughan Comnick has a love for turning the normal into something special without losing its essence. Morgan draws from real-life experiences and her ongoing imagination to spark her writing. In her spare time, she enjoys doing goofy voices, traveling to new worlds by turning pages, humming child-like songs, and forcing people to smile with her “bubbliness.” It is Morgan’s mission in life to spread the amazement of otaku/Japanese culture to the world and to stop bullying; she knows everyone shines brightly.
For more information about Morgan and her works, check out her website, which also has links to all her social medias: http://morganscomnick.com
