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Clover: visual poetry
Minimalism is the name of the game when it comes to CLAMP's four volume manga Clover. On the surface it looks a lot like their other work: cute girls, beautiful men, interesting clothes, lovely details, and whimsical themes. It even shares CLAMP's characteristic dark spin on the stereotypically happy-go-lucky magical girl. In my opinion, really good magical girl stories include a bit of darkness, but CLAMP's style has always been quintessentially so. A great example of this is the ending to their stories, which are generally happy endings, except you cannot understand why they are happy until you have seen everything that has happened up until that point, since usually the characters' goals are very different from where they end up. What is drastically different in Clover is not how the characters are drawn or how they act, but how the world they live in, as well as the story, is drawn and built.
Each "chapter" (if you can call them that) of Clover is very, very short and has an individual title, like a poetry novel would. For example, the first chapter is called "Leaf" and is only 8 pages long. There is really no introduction; you simply find yourself in the scene with the protagonist Kazuhiko and a smiling old woman giving him a job to do. Immediately the manga's style is apparent: dramatic use of black and white, as well as empty space. This is actually a very traditional Japanese aesthetic, analyzed and appreciated in books like Jun'ichirō Tanizaki's 1933 In Praise of Shadows. The whole of the four short volumes are written and arranged in this way, with minimal backgrounds, black boxes, and wide spaces. Additionally, the pages are not set up the way typical comic book panels are. Each page has a flow and direction you are meant to read it in, the boxes of text and images draw your eye all over the place rather than walking you through the story. It feels a little strung together, but in a very intentional way. CLAMP has always liked visual clues, motifs, and throwbacks spread throughout a piece or work. Speaking of strings, there is one central piece of text—a verse, if you will—that ties the whole piece together and that is a song, so perhaps Clover is more of a visual song than a poem.
So, does all this unusual visual storytelling help with the important part: actually telling the story? While it can be a little surprising to seasoned manga lovers, I think it does. You adjust and appreciate the flow of the format. Any initial discomfort turns into curiosity about the story. And with that, let's get into what the books are actually about. To start with, in the English copy I have that was released in 2009, the four books are combined into one large volume, with each book ending with several color pages and a cover page. These cover pages indicate which volume of Clover you are reading and say at the bottom of the page "I want happiness." Next, the first page of each volume has a poem for you to read.
The setting for the story is set immediately. The staunch white and black of the art really brings out the chill, industrial feel of the futuristic world. Everyone has some sort of technology hanging off them, cities are big and sprawling, and there is very little life aside from human beings. Throughout the course of the story, only one living animal besides a person is ever seen, and it is a cat. All other pets, mainly birds, are robots. You feel a sort of longing for nature, for anything organic, a feeling which is made stronger when you see the holographic fairy singing with insect wings and vines wrapped around her dress. These vines can be seen in one or two other places and are wrapped around those symbols of what the characters want and long for. Most notably, the cage of one of the aforementioned "pet" birds. Frequently we see characters with robotic wings on their own backs, and those too are a symbol of longing; wanting to get off the ground yet still being tethered to this world of technology.
- Spoilers -
Volumes 1 & 2: "Clover"
They say
A four-leaf clover
brings happiness
But
Don't tell anyone
Where the clovers
bloom white flowers
Or how many leaves
From its stem extend
A four-leaf clover
I only want your happiness
But I cannot be yours
Kazuhiko is a retired military hero who has been called out of retirement for one last job by General Ko, one of the five ruling wizards. In the distant future of concrete and technology, society is governed by those with power over the mechanical workings of the world and their military government. The old woman gives Kazuhiko a leaft tattoo on his hand that will work as a key and allow him access to those places he must go to fulfill his mission: take a young girl where she wants to go. Sue is the girl in question. She has lived by herself for a long time in a place called "the cage" guarded by high tech Killer Dolls. Although there are trees, water, and mechanical birds there, it is clearly a very lonely place. Kazuhiko first takes Sue to the home of the stoic Commander Gingetsu, his former colleague, and his young roommate Ran. Gingetsu gives Kazuhiko a weapon patch and Ran attempts to teleport them to Fairy Park, Sue's destination in a hostile region, but they are intercepted by an underground Shiao Mao military group. Fortunately the leader sees fit to let them go, but by now an old enemy of Kazuhiko's is on their trail with the Azaiean army, obsessed with getting both Kazuhiko and Sue. During this time it is revealed that Sue was not a prisoner in the cage, but a willing resident. We also learn from a brief flash back to Ran that there is something called a "Four Leaf Clover" and begin to notice that Sue might be more that she seems, possibly stopping a phone call on purpose. This keeps her and Kazuhiko stranded for longer, and they run into Bols, the creepy commander of the Azaiean force. Gingetsu comes to their rescue, and they continue on by car. Kazuhiko is a good soldier who doesn't ask many questions, but he is learning more about Sue, although she is still being secretive. He really begins to learn more after another attack when Sue has them jump out a window and materializes a set of huge mechanical wings that carry them to the ground. At this point it becomes clear that a "clover" is something special, a sort of hyper powerful wizard over metal. Ran admits that he is a three leaf clover, which is why he is somewhat free, and that he is sad for the more powerful four leaf clover, who must always be alone. At this point, Sue explains the Clover Leaf Project to Kazuhiko. It was a government initiative to find sorcerer children and rank them, the weakest being one-leaf clovers and the strongest being four-leafs. She says there was a time when there were 3 three-leafs, but now there are two. It would take all five high wizards to try and defeat one. As for one-leafs, there can only be one and she must always be alone because no one truly knows what she is capable of. They are attacked again as they arrive at Fairy Park, an old amusement park with the fairy's image sitting at its peak. Sue greets it as Ora, the name of Kazuhiko's deceased lover, and Sue admits that she knew Ora from a distance, that they spoke on the phone. The statue of the fairy is how Sue imagined Ora to look and the voice for the song "Clover" is her and Ora together. She wished that she, Ora, and Kazuhiko could come to Fairy Park together, where the fairies sing the song in Ora's place. Instead, she spent a few days with Kazuhiko and learned what love might be like. In the next moment, the wizards use their powers to bring down the park on top of them, the other four going against General Ko's wish to save Kazuhiko, who was something of a troublemaker. Sue's Clover Leaf Project brand is revealed. Gingetsu comes for Kazuhiko, saving him from falling into the Azaiean army's hands, and Sue is killed in the proceeding explosions. Briefly we hear the wizards discussing the situation, how they feared Kazuhiko might inherit Sue's powers due to her feelings for him, but it is not implied that that was the case. Kazuhiko lies in bed later, healing, and realizes that Sue only said she wanted to go to Fairy Park; she never spoke about coming back.
If you find a four-leaf clover
It will bring you happiness
But
Don't tell anyone
Where you found
The four-leaf clover
Or how many leaves
from its stem extend
A four-leaf clover
How I wish to make you happy
But I won't be there to see
Volume 3: "Love"
They say
A four-leaf clover
brings happiness
But
Don't tell anyone
Where the clovers
bloom white flowers
Or how many leaves
From its stem extend
A four-leaf clover
I only want your happiness
But I cannot be yours
In this book we go back in time to see the days when Kazuhiko was still in the military alongside Gingetsu and when his lovely girlfriend Ora was alive. She looks nothing like what Sue imagined with fairy wings, light hair, and a white dress, yet she is stunningly beautiful. Her hair is dark and super curly, she wears slinky black dresses, and her face is both sweet and seductive. She also happens to have a four leaf clover tattoo on her chest. She is a singer at a club and Sue listens to her from afar via radiowaves. From the beginning it is clear that she adores Kazuhiko more than anything. At the same time there are strange pages mixed into the story that shows the scene from the perspective of some other creature, such as "Bug Eye." Her birthday is coming up and she asks Kazuhiko for a bird, because she "can't fly." Soon after, Sue calls her on the phone for the first time and they start a long distance friendship, discussing life, loneliness, love, and lyrics. Sadly, it is revealed that Ora, too, is a clover. Her one and only power is to know the day of her death: her upcoming birthday. After saying goodbye to Sue, she spends her last moments on stage wearing a white dress and mechanical bird wings singing "Clover" until we see the perspective of a sniper from afar as he shoots and kills Ora.
They say
A four-leaf clover
brings happiness
But please
keep it a secret
Don't tell anyone
whrere you found it
Or how many leaves it has
A four-leaf clover:
How I wish to make you happy
But I won't be there to see
Volume 4: "I Will Be Reborn"
If you find a
four-leaf clover
You will
discover happiness
But it can
Never be found
Happiness lies inside
A secret cage
No one can possess
The four-leaf clover
But then,
What of the three-leaf clover?
Once again, the story begins from Sue's perspective. She knows much of what happens to the three leaf clovers in their separate cage. At the moment, there are 2 three-leafs left: A and C. It is revealed that A killed B, and he will probably end up doing it again, possibly to C or possibly to the wizards. So, C decides to leave, to take power away from his triplet-turned-twin. Commander Gingetsu is sent to retrieve him, as a whole platoon of soldiers have already failed. In Gingetsu's apartment, C insists he is not going back to the lab. There is lengthy discussion about what to do, as C cannot live long outside the cage he grew up in. However, the wizards agree that keeping the three-leafs together is too dangerous, and that is best to let the docile one be somewhat free outside where he will die at a young age. He stays with Gingetsu. His bond with his brother is not broken, but the separation is enough to keep dangerous A under control. This insistant separation makes A angry and he easily breaks free from the cage to visit C. He threatens to kill Gingetsu if he is the cause of C's running away, but he calms down when C says he will kill himself before he lets A kill again. The brothers part ways, agreeing that they will love each other more than anything forever, knowing it is impossible to be together anymore. A goes back to the cage. It is revealed that Gingetsu is a two leaf clover, allowed to serve in the military possibly due to his no nonsense ability to take orders. He volunteers to be the three-leaf's permanent home, suggesting that the wizards implant a kill switch in his head to ensure their cooperation. On top of that, he is reminded that a three leaf clover outside the cage will only live about 5 years. All this understood, C is renamed Ran and stays. In the end, we know that it is possible A will get out again someday. We also know that Gingetsu will forever be in the service of the ruling wizards and that Ran will die before too long. We also know that Sue is still alone, destined to find someone to care for only in her last days, and Ora, too, has only months to go. Yet there is some sense of peace, for everyone will find some essential thing they were looking for, if only for a short time.
If you find a
four-leaf clover
You will discover
happiness
But
It can never be found
Happiness lies inside
A secret cage
No one can possess
The four-leaf clover
But then,
What of the three-leaf clover?
As stated before, each plot arch features a song that gives us clues to how the characters are feeling. Lines of these songs are placed throughout the story, whether or not the characters are listening to the music, much like the refrain of a song appearing again and again, reiterating the main message.
Throughout volumes one and two, which tell their story in order, we repeatedly are confronted with a song called "Clover" sung by a woman on the TV screen who has long hair and fairy/insect wings. Over and over again, the singer states that her dream is to find happiness with a special person, yet there is something sad about the way she looks singing it. The title has nothing to do with the lyrics, instead indicating that the song is about how all the Clover Leaf Project children have felt throughout their lives. This fairy is the embodiment of Sue's imagination, the beautiful Ora imagined by a young, innocent, inexperienced mind confined a cage where her only wings are mechanical. In a way, the fairy Ora represents the angel that we hope Ora got to become when she died and was, if only in a small way, freed from the painful existence she lived while being aware of her own death day. She, too, wheres mechanical wings before the end, even wearing white on stage for the first time in preparation for the only version of freedom besides love she will ever know.
In volume three, when the reader meets the real Ora for the first time, we hear her song about love again and again up until she sings the entirety of "Clover" at the end right before she dies. Before meeting Sue over the phone, her only desire was to spend as much time enjoying Kazuhiko as much as she could. Ora's little black dresses, chest tattoo, curly hair, and plump dark lips ooze sensuality and she uses them to love Kazuhiko, but something changes a little bit after she writes "Clover" with Sue. She also met Gingetsu, a two leaf, but he chose not to reveal his knowledge about her, as the books state all leaves can in regards to those with fewer leaves than them, and so it is likely she was never aware of his magic; meeting him had no real effect on her life. Knowing when she will die, she prepares herself for the stage by dressing in angelic white, vaguely reminiscent of what Sue imagines she looks like, yet artificial. Just as Sue, a four leaf clover, was never able to break away from this world, Ora cannot escape her fate. She lives on through Sue's fairy creations, although in a way that Kazuhiko never knew her. Therefore, Kazuhiko does not recognize her essence in the fairies until Sue explains it.
Finally, in volume four when we learn about Ran, we are confronted with a song that says "In your arms I will be reborn." Just as Sue the four-leaf and Ora the one-leaf connected in their grief over their knowledge of how they will die (alone: Sue by the sorcerers, Ora by military force), Gingetsu the two-leaf and Ran the three-leaf connect as those uncertain of their fate, yet determined to go purposefully to their death. Both make the intentional decision to cripple their magical powers. Gingetsu has done it for years, only revealing his power in rare moments of battle by building a gun from nothing, and takes it to the next level when he volunteers to have a kill switch placed in his head to keep him from ever teaming up with Ran against the five sorcerers. Ran, too, has kept his powers under wraps, which may have led to the death of his triplet known as B. During his days as "C," it is made clear that the three-leaves, like the four-leaf, were imprisoned by choice rather than force; he leaves the lab without exerting any real effort, killing a dozen people who try to stop him. His brother A does the same when he goes after C, and then goes back into the cage in defeat. To avoid a war with A or with the sorcerers, C chose to leave the cage where his aging was stalled. (It is possible that Sue's age is also be greater than appearances would suggest, for she has lived in a cage for an unspecified amount of time.) Gingetsu is a loyal friend to few, and his desire to look after C may come from the fact that he realizes how fortunate he has been to work for the government rather than be considered a threat to it, and because he sees a bit of himself in Ran in the way the boy uses his powers to keep things as they are, keeping as many people satiated as possible. Two years later, Ran is no longer a boy, but a young man. Unfortunately, this means he will die sooner than his brother A, so there may come a time when Ran dies before A and the oldest triplet goes on the rampage. The five sorcerers would prefer to keep the three-leaves somewhere contained, but they cannot deny that A and C are more dangerous together than apart, and that a kill switch is good enough to protect them from Gingetsu. For a few years, Gingetsu and Ran will be able to live freely in terms of work and activity. Sue and Ora both knew for a fact they could not have such things without knowing when the end would come, so the last moments of volume four are spent in celebration and lamentation of Ran's small freedoms.
So, is there anything else to know? Well, there is a very short Clover anime, and by short I mean about 7 minutes long. It is easy to find online and is sort of like a quick review of the first two volumes for those who have already read it. I would not recommend taking it as an introduction to the series. And really, if you love the manga to death, do not go into the anime with high hopes because it is too short to do anything besides put some voice and music, as well as color, to exact scenes from the books. It is interesting in its own experimental way, but is no match for the manga. Perhaps if the art style had been a bit more experimental.
