This week Lucy and Robin discuss the first volume of one of CLAMP’s most distinguished works, which sets the stage for a lot of their future projects: Tokyo Babylon!
CW: we will lightly discuss themes of suicide, violence, sexual violence, rape, death, and other unpleasantness.
For Man of Many Faces, we wanted something light and fun. I took inspiration from the lavish lifestyles of the characters—I wanted something that looked like a fancy cocktail, or the finest champagne. But, since our characters are all in elementary school, I also wanted something nonalcoholic.
I went with a ginger ale base, since it has a similar color and texture to champagne, and combined it with limeade for a more complex flavor. I floated a few raspberries on top, for an elegant twist that definitely makes it worthy of a Friday night date.
Join Lucy and Robin as they embark on their epic reread/rewatch of all things CLAMP. In this inaugural episode, we talk about how our nerdy origin stories led to our nerdy careers, our favorite CLAMP titles, and most importantly, this crazy journey we’re undertaking.
Robin: CLAMP, the four-woman mangaka supergroup, originated in 1987. Coincidentally, that was about the time both of us originated. It is less of a coincidence that the two of us have been friends as long as we’ve been CLAMP fans, since that had a little something to do with how we met. Is it destiny? Is it hitsuzen? Or is it just a sentimental origin story for a podcast?
Lucy: Hi, we’re Lucy Softich-
R: and Robin Kaplan—
L: —and we’re here to be your guides through CLAMP’s Wonderland.
When we started this podcast, we realized pretty quickly that we weren’t content just recording our thoughts on each series—we wanted to get in the mood by making ourselves themed drinks each time we recorded. And we figured, why not share them with all of you?
For RG Veda, Robin wanted to capture a bit of it’s Hindu inspirations with a flavor popular in India: rose water. It can be especially lovely in sweets, so we chose a milkshake, making this a great treat for a summer day, even if you’re not reading all of RG Veda in one sitting.
Ingredients
1 part ice cream
1 part milk
rose syrup to taste & pinkness
Instructions
Combine your milk and ice cream, and slowly blend.
Add rose syrup to the milkshake and blend to incorporate. Taste, and add more as needed!
If you’re tired of blood and gore, you’re in luck! This week Lucy and Robin dig into sweet ruminations on love, the worth of a man, and culinary mastery, with Man of Many Faces.