X (anime)
X/1999, an early work of the hit all female manga-ka group CLAMP, details the apocalypse in a very literal adaptation of the Book of Revelation. The manga was adapted for a movie (X/1999) and an anime TV series.
Plot description
Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow.
The story is set in Tokyo. Six people, most of them young people raised in temples, and all with magical powers, converge on the city. They are prepared to do battle as the "Seven Seals," the "Dragons of Heaven," to save the human race against a rival group (the Dragons of Earth or Seven Angels) who wish to destroy the human race in order to reverse the devastation of the environment.
Tokyo, it emerges, is the nexus of magical energy that protects the human race. It is itself protected by seven barriers, namely buildings such as the Japanese Diet building and Tokyo Tower. By defeating each of the Seven Seals and destroying the barrier fields they can generate, the Dragons of Earth intend to destroy the magical protection and thus the human race.
A seventh young person, Kamui, has been sent to Tokyo by the last words of his mother, who burned to death in their home in Okinawa. He meets the other members of the Seven Seals. In conferring with Princess Hinoto, a mysterious seer who resides in the Diet building, he discovers that it is his choice whether to become a Dragon of Earth or a Dragon of Heaven.
After much confusion and soul-searching, he decides to become a Dragon of Heaven, so as to protect the happiness of his best friends, Fuuma and his sister Kotori. But he is horrified to discover that Fuuma -- his "twin star" -- is "awakened" by his choice into becoming a "second Kamui." He kills his sister and becomes a Dragon of Earth, whom Kamui must destroy if the human race is to be saved.
Battles ensue, and a number of the Dragons of Heaven must kill their love interests and otherwise win pyrrhic victories. Fuuma destroys them one by one, in deeply ironic and tragic ways, by granting their inmost wishes.
All the Dragons of Heaven are eventually defeated, and their barrier fields fall; likewise, all the Dragons of Earth are put out of the fight -- all but Kamui and Fuuma. They fight in a great climactic battle at Tokyo Tower.
All seems lost when Fuuma runs Kamui through. However, Fuuma, as a granter of wishes, cannot prevent Kamui from realizing his inmost wish: to live on in Fuuma's heart. With Kamui dead, Fuuma ceases to be a Dragon of Earth. Kamui's barrier field, never before seen, expands over the whole earth, preserving humankind.
Characters
Dragons of Heaven (Ten no Ryuu)
- Shirou Kamui: a young, brooding bishounen, who possesses powerful magic which manifested at an early age. He is a childhood friend of Fuuma and Kotori. His mother burned to death as a spirit sacrifice to turn fate in his favour.
- Kishuu Arashi: a foundling girl raised by Taoist monks, her speciality is swordfighting. Sorata falls in love with her, and she comes to reciprocate. But she is convinced by Fuuma that she must kill Kamui in order to release Sorata from his obligation to defend him. In so doing, she ends up killing her lover.
- Arisugawa Sorata: a lascivious, irreverent teenager raised by Buddhist monks and also possessing considerable magical abilities. It was prophecied that he would protect Kamui but die for a woman; indeed, he is killed by Arashi while protecting Kamui.
- Kasumi Karen: A prostitute and devout Catholic, she was abused by her fundamentalist mother when her power to manipulate fire manifested in her childhood. She comes to admire Aoki, and loses her life saving him from Yuuto.
- Nekoi Yuzuriha: A fourteen-year-old schoolgirl, attended by a dog-spirit named Inuki who can transform into a sword and which only dragons of heaven and earth can see. Inuki is later killed by Satsuki, but resurrected. Yuzuriha falls in love with Kusanagi.
- Sumeragi Subaru: A character imported from the earlier brief series Tokyo Babylon. He is a member of a clan of spiritual detectives, and a master with Taoist spell cards. His sister, Hokuto, was killed by his lover, Seishirou. He intends to allow Seishirou to kill him as well, but due to a spell cast by Hokuto at the moment of her death, he kills Seishirou instead. This final blow sends him into catatonia, from which he only emerges in time to contribute to the battle between Fuuma and Kamui.
- Aoki Seiichirou (not to be confused with Seishirou): a mild-mannered copy editor with a wife and child, who is also a wind magician. Upon discovering that the battle between the Seals and Angels is at hand, he secretly divorces his wife in order to spare her grief should he be killed. He impresses Karen, who eventually dies saving him.
Other characters on the side of the Ten no Ryuu
- Princess Hinoto: a dreamseer in the employ of the Japanese government, she is blind, deaf and lame, but her dreams have never failed to come true. She foresees the battle between the dragons of Earth and Heaven and the advent of Kamui, but cannot tell which path he will choose. Either way, she foresees that the Dragons of Heaven will lose, but conceals this from them. For a time, she is possessed by the Dragons of Earth, which causes a disastrous battle. In the end, she kills herself to end her possession and save Kamui. This precipitates the final battle.
- Monou Kotori: Fuuma's younger sister. A delicate child with a severe heart condition, she is developing her power as a dreamseer when she is killed by Fuuma. Her spirit stays with Kakkyo for a time, to tell him that the future is not yet determined.
- Monou Saya: Kotori and Fuuma's mother. When they are children, she dies when one of the Divine Swords (shinken) bursts forth from her body. This sword is intended to be wielded by Kamui; instead, it is stolen by Nataku and taken by Fuuma.
- Shirou Touru: Kamui's mother. She burns to death in a fire as a spirit sacrifice to protect him.
- Tokiko Magami: Kamui's aunt, Touru's little sister. After meeting with Kamui, she dies giving birth to the other shinken, which Kamui will eventually wield.
- Sumeragi Hokuto: Subaru's sister, who was killed by Seishirou several years ago. She appears in Kakkyo's dream, and along with Kotori, persuades him to turn against Fuuma.
Dragons of Earth (Chi no Ryuu)
- Monou Fuuma: a dear friend of Kamui's, tall and athletic, who has sworn to protect him. His dying father tells him that he is Kamui's twin star. Accordingly, when Kamui chooses the Dragons of Heaven, Fuuma is forced to become a Dragon of Earth, immediately attacking Kamui and killing Kotori. He proceeds to grant wishes to the characters with whom he interacts, in a way that leads to their death or that of a loved one.
- Kuduki Kakkyo: a dreamseer in a permanent coma, appearing as a tall man with a sad expression and long, pale hair. He is coerced into manipulating Hinoto, but finally turns against Fuuma.
- Yatouji Satsuki: a young girl with a preternatural ability to interact with computers. She is an extreme rationalist, and attacks Nekoi when she cannot explain why killing humans is wrong. She spends much of her time physically attached to a massive computer named Beast, through whom she can physically control cables across Tokyo, using them to attack. She develops feelings for Yuuto; this causes Beast to become jealous and kill her.
- Kigai Yuuto: a water master, a polite but largely amoral bureaucrat in a sexual relationship with Kanoe. He sees Satsuki as a sort of protégée and attempts to educate her about emotions. He is killed by Aoki and Karen, but not before mortally wounding Karen.
- Nataku: a sexless clone of extreme magical ability. It is sent to retrieve the shinken from Fuuma's father, killing him, and later battles Karen and Aoki. After Fuuma is badly wounded by Sorata's dying spell, he absorbs Nataku's lifeforce into his own and is healed.
- Sakurazuka Seishirou: Subaru's ex-lover, who killed his sister. His clan serves a demonic cherry tree, doomed to kill to feed it but to be killed by, and pass the curse on to, the one they love. Thus it happens, and he passes the curse on to Subaru.
- Shiyu Kusanagi: an soldier who meets Yuzuriha and takes a shine to her. He is the least anti-social of the Dragons of Heaven, and eventually turns against them. He is grievously wounded by Arashi, who is attacking Nekoi.
Other characters on the side of the Ten no Ryuu
- Kanoe: Princess Hinoto's younger sister, a partial dreamseer who supports the Dragons of Heaven mainly to spite her.
