Article date: August, 2001

Gouhou Drug Author: CLAMP Anime: (not yet) Manga book series: 1 (still running)

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

26) Comic Party