June 27th, 2014 
AstroNerdBoy CLAMP: The Hiatus Masters!
A couple of days ago, I reached into my stack of manga volumes that I’ve not blogged about, and I grabbed Gate 7 volume 4. I thought I had read it, but in fact, I had not. So I read it and started prepping for a blog entry (coming soon). I then thought, “You know, I don’t think I have volume 5 on my order list.”
So I went out to find out when volume 5 would be coming out. To my great surprise, there was no volume 5 for Gate 7. I was a bit surprised by this since I had remembered that Dark Horse had promised to publish new volumes immediately after they were published in Japan, an action that I rewarded Dark Horse with by purchasing the manga when it came out. Then I remembered a fan making comment on one of my posts here (or on my Facebook page or my Twitter feed) that alerted me to the fact that CLAMP are bringing Tsubasa back from the dead. I suddenly had a very bad feeling about all this.
I look online, including the folks scanlating Gate 7, and my bad feeling came to fruition. Somehow, I missed the announcement back in November 2013 that the manga is going on hiatus…indefinably. *_*
Gate 7 hadn’t been a manga that had gripped me hard, but I found that volume 4 was making things more interesting. As things get interesting, I’m left hanging. I’m not happy about this.
In my annoyance, I got to thinking about how often CLAMP puts titles on hiatus. Let’s take a look.
X/1999 — This series started in May 1992 and was put on hiatus in March 2003, where it remains to this day. Officially, it is because the content of the manga, dealing with a gruesome, violent world, including one where there are terrible earthquakes, apparently caused concerns. I rather doubt this series ever gets finished.
Clover — This series started in 1997 and was put on hiatus in 1999 when the magazine Amie shut down. Supposedly, there are two more volumes of story to tell according to CLAMP, but no sign of that ever happening.
Legal Drug — This series started in 2000 and was put on hiatus in 2003 when the magazine Asuka went under. The manga was relaunched in November 2011 under the new title, Drug & Drop. However, I believe that Drug & Drop has been through a couple of short hiatuses since its launch.
xxxHOLiC — While this series did make it through to a completion, it was put on hiatus for a time. Its sequel, xxxHOLiC Rei, was also put on hiatus for a few weeks, and it isn’t even up to 40 chapters.
Gate 7 — CLAMP had this series on a brief hiatus in 2012, but this latest (2013) hiatus feels much more long term in nature, especially since CLAMP is moving ahead with a Tsubasa sequel. *_*
It wouldn’t surprise me if some of their other titles also had weeks of hiatus in them as well, but at present, I’m just unaware of them.
I realize that some of this was out of CLAMP’s control, especially when it comes to a manga magazine going under. If they didn’t have the copyrights to that manga, they may have no choice and even if they do have the copyrights, those who’ve licensed them in Japan would likely try to tie up things legally so that CLAMP wouldn’t be free to move their manga to another publication for completion.
Still, I think the reason this latest hiatus annoys me is partially because they are bringing Tsubasa back to life. Tsubasa started as a light adventure manga, then it got boring, then it turned unexpectedly dark and interesting, then it morphed into a jumbled mess of senseless plot twists, causing destructive spillover to the partner manga xxxHOLiC , which would have been fine were it not linked at the hip with Tsubasa.
Seeing how xxxHOLiC Rei hasn’t been that gripping (I should catch up, but I’m just not motivated to do so), and is a poor shadow of its predecessor, I can’t imagine a Tsubasa sequel being anything different. In the meantime, I’m left without new Gate 7 material, and I’m thinking it will be years at best before anything new comes, assuming anything new comes at all.
Update (July 5): CLAMP puts xxxHOLiC Rei on hiatus. (source) Well isn’t that deliciously ironic since I just ranted about the Hiatus Masters putting titles on hiatus all the time. Thanks to O-chan for the alert. ^_^
Posted in 
Tags: 
Looking forward to Tsubasa coming back.
Really? Wow. I was so irritated by how the manga ended up, I got removed the manga volumes from my bookshelf with the idea of giving them away or selling them cheap. ^_^;
Out of curiosity, what has you looking forward to seeing Tsubasa again?
I wanna see if they found a world where they could all live in peace. That and any possible future connection of seeing Sakura Kinomoto again.
I think Sakura is coming back. The new xxxHOLiC seems to imply it.
[…] which was formed from the Legal Drug manga, which itself went on hiatus for several years. However, I’ve already ranted about the hiatus stuff, so I’ll move […]
I honestly think CLAMP has just flat out run out of ideas at this point and possibly can’t do they same output of quality and quantity like they used to. Why bring “back” Tsubasa and xxxHolic which were their longest running manga that both ran out of steam by the end of their original runs. At least Tsubasa got some form of closure, while xxxHolic got a time skip that completely dropped all the potential plotlines.
As far as their other hiatuses are concerned it always seems it always has to do with some bigger controversy. I’ve seen a pattern that when Japan wants to sweep something under the rug it tends to be for the long term. Legal Drug is just now getting some form of continuation but X seems to be dead in the water.
Still I think the bigger problem with CLAMP is that overall they can’t seem to keep up with their ambitions for their storylines and that has been really apparent for the last couple of years.
I agree for the most part. Initially, I liked Tsubasa for bringing up alternate versions of established characters, but by the time it ended, I obviously wasn’t so thrilled. Kobato was a sequel of sorts to Wish, but it just didn’t do it for me. However, Gate 7, though initially tougher to slog through, had started to gain traction with me in terms of interest. I rather liked the idea of waring states legends being reincarnated in modern times to settle old scores.
I get the feeling they know that what they did wasn’t widely pleasing to fans and are attempting to “correct” it. But that’s just my opinion.
And I doubt that X will ever return at this point. Ditto Clover. I have high doubts about Gate 7 returning.
I think you’ve nailed it there.
omg. I completely agree with you! I am a huge xxxHolic fan, and I also think that CLAMP made a huge mistake linking the two together. The moment xxxHolic crossed w/ TRC, the plot plummeted.
And yet they are back up to linking the two series, which is (partially) why xxxHOLiC Rei is on hiatus.
Don’t get me wrong, I love most CLAMP manga with XXXHolic being my favourite but I’m really disappointed in them. The endings to both Tsubasa and XXXholic were really rushed and didn’t make sense in some parts. I was looking forward to moving past those manga and enjoying something fresh when I started Gate 7. And I was enjoying it, the artwork was beautiful and there were so many mysteries and problems to solve. I’m quite saddened that they have “put on hiatus” *cough cough* cancelled yet another series. Also, I’m not happy about the reboot of Tsubasa and XXXholic, CLAMP- let it go to rest.
Yeah, it is disappointing all the way around.
CLAMP and their constant hiatus with their manga really ticks me off.
I hear ya.
I think most of hiatus is related to publishing/licensing issues.
Except: X dropped (planned to have 21 volumes in total) because of social matter; Shin-Shunkaden dropped as the story itself doesn’t have any plan on how it will continue (CLAMP think about going on and then cancelled that idea once); Hagunsei Senki dropped because CLAMP saw the similarity in the motif between their story and another popular series. But I believe Gate 7 dropped of because some disputes between the group and Shueisha (it might even a war); and as it’s licensed, I believe it out of CLAMP’s control now and they can’t even continue it, except let it go live on JumpSQ again in peace – thing that might so hard to happen!!!
I hear that CLAMP intend/have plan to give Clover an end, but who know?!
CLAMP seems to be the worst though when it comes to titles going on hiatus and such, no matter what the core reason. I did note that CLAMP used the Gate 7 characters in the new Tsubasa, which I stopped reading.
Thanks for keeping us posted. I love Clamp and I was really getting into Gate 7. Sorry to hear that this too will be another that sits on my shelf without an end. I have to agree about xxxholic and Tsubasa. I love that the two stories, although stand alone in their own right, intertwined. But yes, I was very disappointed in the quick ending. There were many things left hanging. I had to re-read both series thinking that I missed something. Come on Clamp – get it together.
I need to follow up on this and see what is happening.
As to xxxHOLiC and Tsubasa, I read the relaunch of xxxHOLiC, but quickly grew weary of it. I never did read the relaunch of Tsubasa.
xxxHOLiC Rei restarted this past May (apparently).
Tsubasa WoRLD CHRoNiCLE – Nirai Kanai-hen has been going for a year now, it seems.
For the new Tsubasa, It seems after years of hiatus, they’re coming back to finally answer some of those questions.
A slow start to the plot, though it really depends on what you liked about Tsubasa to start with really. I always enjoyed the ‘family’ coming together as one so it always appealed to me to see them together again.
I need to read more of this. I did read several chapters and saw the characters from Gate 7 showed up. But I haven’t read it in quite some time.
[…] Secondly, when will CLAMP put on Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card Arc hiatus? After all, they are the hiatus masters. […]
Well that’s quite the dilemma. It certainly is hard getting invested in series that constantly go on hiatus.
At the same time, it is hard to get invested in a series from authors who are constantly putting their works on hiatus.
Hi there,I read Gohou Drug in a manga online website coz it stated that this manga is already completed. And I’ve fallen in love with Kazahaya-Rikuou couple already ?. But then I found about the hiatus and I desperately looked for the sequel Drug and Drop. Fortunately there’s a web that provides the English sub. I hope this one is completed already,but eventually it’s also stopped in vol 19 ?. I wonder whether they’re on hiatus again or there’s no English sub yet. I hope you can share the information here. Thanks in advance.
Legal Drug only had 3 volumes. Drug and Drop only has 2 volumes. Technically, Drug and Drop isn’t canceled, but it is still on hiatus and has been for years.
I’m a big fan of Legal Drug / Drug & Drop and I’m really wondering if they are ever going to give it an ending??? I own all the books so far and I recently just reread them. I found two chapters online I haven’t read yet, so at least I got that. It’s just so depressing because that is one of my favourite manga series and I just don’t ever see them picking it up again. It’s been what, six years already? I literally just got done with the last book so far and immediately went on the internet trying to find recent news on the series, trying to find out when they are going to start up again. Do you know of any news on D&D? This blog is the most news I can find about this, sadly.
Sadly, I’ve heard of no plans to restart any of CLAMP’s series that are on hiatus. It really is a shame too. I don’t know why they start series like this, only to just put them on the shelf.