To protect and serve women all around, is CLAMP's detectives' noble goal.
Clamp School Detectives is a shoujo manga series by CLAMP, which was serialized in Monthly Asuka from 1992 to 1993 and compiled into three volumes. It was later adapted into a 26 episode anime in 1997.
It tells the adventures of the Elementary School Student-board, solving cases and easing the life of all kinds of women. Aiding them are the Kindergarten Class President Utako and her best friend Nagisa, who are sorta smitten with them. However, their hardest case will be one regarding Nokoru's past...
It is connected to CLAMP's manga Man of Many Faces (a Prequel which stars Akira as the elusive thief 20 Faces) and Duklyon: CLAMP School Defenders (which happens at the same time and has guest appearances by the cast), while X1999 is also partially set in CLAMP School and serves technically as a Sequel.
Tropes within:
- Actionized Adaptation: Not to a huge degree, but the anime adds some drama and action in its original content in contrast to the manga's more relaxed atmosphere, and it also turns into literal fights a few moments that were verbal confrontations in the manga.
- Adaptation Amalgamation: The manga continuity doesn't show a clear timeline, but Man of 20 Faces (excluding its Distant Finale) is roughly a prequel to CLAMP School Detectives, given that Akira starts officially as a third grader in the former and as a fourth grader in the latter. In the anime, however, some of his life in 20 Faces takes place directly during the series's events and gets modified to tangle with them.
- Adaptational Heroism: In the manga, the girl who wanted to prevent the school dance from happening intentionally throws Nokoru off a balustrade, hoping to injuring him enough to make him skip the dance. In the anime, he falls by accident while they were struggling near the railing.
- Adaptation Expansion: The original 3-volume manga series was basically a series of vignette stories about the boys solving crimes and had no proper ending. The 26-episode anime gave more insight into the backstories of the heroes, paid significantly more attention to the two main couples (Suoh/Nagisa and Akira/Utako), incorporated events from Man of Many Faces, and even introduced a nemesis for Nokoru test his might in the finale.
- Adapted Out: Although the anime adapts a portion of Man of Many Faces as part of Akira's backstory and personal arc, Dr. Shigetaka Akechi doesn't appear, being replaced as the head of CLAMP School's infirmary by a female doctor named Manabe. Ryusuke Kobayashi, whose role as 20 Faces's Inspector Javert would have been natural in the episodes concerning him, is also absent. Akira's mothers doesn't appear either, although they do get to be mentioned in an instance.
- All-Loving Hero: Nokoru has shades of this, though it comes out mostly in relation to the ladies.
- Beach Episode: One involving a private island.
- Black Comedy Burst: In the manga, Akira panics believing that Nokoru just committed suicide for the sheer amount of paperwork when he sees him jumping off the window. It Makes Sense in Context.
- Bodyguard Crush: True for the anime. The manga, however...
◊ - Broad Strokes: Some backstory events of Man of 20 Faces are brought to present time in the anime and modified to fit the episodes's plot. The rest, as seen in flashbacks, apparently goes exactly like in the manga universe.
- Canon Foreigner: The two main villains of the anime, Cliff Edmond and Idomu Yudaiji, are original characters.
- Chick Magnet: All three of the detectives, but especially Nokoru.
- Combat Parkour: Akira's (and in a lesser extent Nokoru') form of hand-to-hand combat, as opposed to Suoh's martial arts.
- Cross Dresser: In an episode, Nokoru dresses as an Elegant Gothic Lolita, and very convincingly...
- Crossover: Nokoru plays an important part in Duklyon: CLAMP School Defenders, and Suoh and Akira also show up. More notably, the three of them show up in X1999, as adults, and help Kamui seal the Holy Sword. Also, Miyuki-chan shows up often in the anime.
- Declaration of Protection: Suoh to Nokoru, in a somewhat platonic version. So far, not many complications.
- Dramatic High Perching: Strangely enough, the Chairwoman of all people is shown standing on the school's pole during the opening, apparently for no other reason than to try to present her as the Big Bad of the series, or just for Rule of Cool. As she is never noted to be anything more than a regular old lady, it would pretty incredible for her to get up there in the anime proper.
- The Faceless: Possibly parodied: the Chairwoman aka Nokoru's mother frequently hides her eyes on purpose with a fan or a set of blinds whenever the camera could have gotten a good shot of her upper face.
- Captain Ersatz / Lawyer-Friendly Cameo: The Chairwoman is based on a character named Rarisa Imonoyama, who appeared in some of CLAMP's old Shoten doujinshi. However, some of CLAMP's members split in the interim, and one of them, Kazue Nakamori, took the rights to the character Rarisa with her. So the face hiding and general crypticness surrounding the Chairwoman is basically in order to Writing Around Trademarks.
- Fiction 500: The Imonoyama family founded the CLAMP Academy, which acts as a self contained city, and doesn't actually charge any tuition.
- The Ghost: Akira's mothers. He mentions them, but they are never shown offscreen.
- Green-Eyed Monster: One of Nokoru's admirers in the manga, who sent threats to the Elementary Division Council so they would cancel an upcoming ball... because she didn't want to see Nokoru dancing with anyone else. At one point, she actually acted on the threat and pushed Nokoru off a high place — although she regretted it later when Suoh got hurt catching Nokoru's fall. In the anime, it's much more complicated...
- High-Speed Missile Dodge: Suoh saved Nagisa from them.
- I Kiss Your Hand: Nokoru, more than once, to one-shot females.
- Improbable Age: Nokoru, who is responsible for a whole sector of the Imonoyama Zaibatsu and has been coveted by NASA at the age of eight. And Suoh, who managed to take down a houseful of adult men, trained in martial arts, working for the woman who had kidnapped Nokoru... at the age of seven. And, of course, Akira, a highly skilled chef, and a very famous thief, at the age of nine/ten.
- Karma Houdini: Some girls get away with things they really shouldn't, because they're girls and Nokoru's a gentleman.
- Last Episode, New Character: Appeared where there were only five episodes left...
- My Significance Sense Is Tingling: A variation in Nokoru's case: he has an uncanny ability of knowing when there's a damsel in distress close by. It also gives him Super-Reflexes.
- Named by the Adaptation: The woman who kidnaps Nokoru is given a codename in the anime, Casablanca, while in the manga she goes completely unnamed.
- Nonchalant Dodge: Akira's specialty.
- Official Couple: Suoh/Nagisa and Akira/Utako.
- One Head Taller: Both in Suoh-Nagisa and Akira-Utako.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: The one time Nokoru ever treats a lady with less than infinite patience is when he and Suoh are kidnapped in the Escape for Victory storyline. It's stated it's because Nokoru is worried about endangering Suoh... and when the lady in question actually threatens Suoh, Nokoru sends her the nastiest glare he's ever sent to a woman in the series. It's quite telling that she's the only woman in the series who is punished for her evil acts.
- Princely Young Man: Nokoru is a Prince Charming type, with Suoh standing in for his Battle Butler.
- Suspiciously Specific Denial: In the manga, after the disappareance of the Chairwoman's list, Akira immediately and rushedly dismisses 20 Faces as the perpetrator despite nobody suggesting the idea.
- Those Two Guys: Kentaro and Takeshi, who are really Crossover characters.
- Tsundere:
- Utako type B, sometimes.
- Also, Midoriko Kyougoku from the My Fair Lady storyline. She's in love with Nokoru, but, as she doesn't know how to make him notice her, she retaliates by being extra mean to him.
- Tokyo Tower: The very first setting.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: Utako is a Plucky Girl tsundere, Nagisa is a pint-sized Yamato Nadeshiko.
- Turn the Other Cheek: Nokoru's policy when it comes to ladies; no matter what they've done, he will usually forgive them.
- The Unfair Sex: Women who do wrong things rarely ever get proper punishment for their acts (
unless they threaten Suoh), but men who do wrong by women will be punished without fail. - Wise Beyond Their Years: These are supposed to be 4th to 6th grade boys. Not to mention Utako and Nagisa can hold rather sophisticated conversations when they're kindergarteners. Then again, this is usual in CLAMP works.
- World of Technicolor Hair: Most characters have normal hair colors, but Suoh has blue hair and Nagisa has lavender hair in the anime (and blonde hair in the manga). Naturally, this is never commented on.
- Yamato Nadeshiko: Nagisa is a kindergarten version.
