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Article
date: August, 2001
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Gouhou
Drug
Author:
CLAMP
Anime:
(not yet)
Manga book series: 1 (still running)
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A
new intriguing
and complex story from CLAMP.
Which I will
now attempt to make some sense out of!
"Gouhou" is
Japanese for "legal" and on a superficial level this is appropriate as
the story is focused around a drugstore. But of course a lot more is implied...
The first scene
is a rather dramatic one - we come across one of the main characters Kudou-kun
lying down in the snow, very close to death. Just when it looks like he's
going to snuff it, along comes Rikuou-kun and saves him.
This is the
first of many times that he does so. One month later and we see that the
boys are sharing an apartment in Tokyo and both doing "arbeito" (part
time work) at a drug store.
Both of them
are 17 years old - but very different in looks and personality. Kudou
is quite weak and feminine - and displays quite a level of immaturity,
he's very child-like, unsure of himself and quick to lose his temper.
Rikuou is more of the strong silent type - he doesn't talk much and is
quite serious.
Even though
Kudou freaks out at the slightest "advance" or touch of the other male
characters, there is undeniably a lot of sexual tension between them.
Apart from this
slight sexual disorientation the story sounds pretty normal - except the
drugstore owner, Kakei-san, is a complete androgynous fruitcake, whose
new hobby is requesting the weak, slightly feminine Kudou to do extra
part-time work. No it's not what you think ... but it's pretty darn weird.
The first assignment
he sends Kudou and Rikuou on is to go to a nearby house in Shimokitazawa
to fetch a book. Seems pretty simple enough doesn't it? But no-one answers
the door when they knock - it unlocks seemingly by itself and they enter.
Kudou walks through a glass wall into a strange garden where he sees fish
swimming in the air around a tree. Underneath the tree is an elegant woman
in a kimono, who he talks to and is eventually embraced by, while Rikuou
pounds at the glass wall - something is very wrong with Kimono-lady and
Rikuou has to save Kudou again...
They manage
to bring the book back to Kakei-san, but it's not to be the end of the
extra jobs - Kakei-san nexts asks Kudou to go to Inokashira Park at night
during the full moon to catch fireflies (in winter) that you can't see,
and gives him some water which he drinks ... and wakes to find himself
in Rikuou's arms - rescued from drowning in the Inokashira pond - yet
he somehow manages to retrieve some of the "fireflies".
But in doing
so has come down with a bad cold, which doesn't prevent Kakei-san from
asking him to do another job - to go to the movies and watch a particular
scene in a film. He does so and is joined by Rikuou who keeps holding
his hand...
Just who is
the Saiga-san the guy who always wears dark glasses and sleeps in the
drugstore office - is he only Kakei's lover?
Why does Kudou
see things which others can't see?
What is Rikuou's
involvement in all of this? Who is he? And what is the significance of
his strange tattoos (which we see at the end in a shower scene)?

28) ARMS |
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26) Comic Party
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