Akira, a student at the prestigious CLAMP School, lives an interesting life to say the least. For one thing, he has two mothers and no father, who love to have him cook for them – and steal for them! What they want stolen is really a whimsical thing, but obediently Akira dons a tuxedo and a mask and becomes “20 Faces”, the notorious and seemingly uncatchable thief who steals the unstealable. What’s a third-grader who loves his parents to do?

On one hand, this is a genre I’ve seen many times before, On the other hand, this is CLAMP. I had to pick up the first tonkuban, and boy was I rewarded. CLAMP, for those who are less familiar with manga than the norm, are four young ladies from Osaka who have created an entire universe centered around CLAMP School that ties into much of their other work. “Man of Many Faces” is the first CLAMP School title I’ve read, but I’ve read a lot of CLAMP -- “Magic Knight Rayearth”, “Card Captor Sakura” and especially “Wish” stand out in my memory. These ladies are geniuses – and they must be taking the GOOD drugs to come up with some of the ideas they come up with.

At the same time as Akira is carrying on his crime sprees, a kindergartener at CLAMP School named Utako is shocked – SHOCKED, I tell you! – that kindergarten teachers don’t reciprocate their student’s crushes. The heartbroken Utako doesn’t know what to do – until “20 Faces” comes in through her window hiding from the police. Out with the old crush, in with the new – and this time it’s reciprocated. Utako may be naïve enough that she doesn’t know not to overindulge in alcohol-filled chocolates, but once she sets her mind of something she sticks to it.

This story is twisted even by CLAMP standards. The school doctor is a literal found of wisdom who can always be counted on for lengthy, long-winded advice. Akira doesn’t know it, but he’s also his uncle. The traditional pursuer-from-the-same-school is a male high school student (CLAMP School is an elevator school that includes all grades from preschool through university – perhaps that’s how CLAMP comes up with so many stories from this setting.) Akira actually did have a father who married two women who look so much alike they could be twins – both of whom are certifiably insane. It’s unclear how two women can actually give birth to one baby! Everyone in the series is rich, but Utako’s family is wealthy beyond belief.

All in all, “Man of Many Faces” is a simple case of a team that usually writes more serious fare setting out to create a manga that just plain fun to read. The artwork is brilliant as usual, the storyline is as serious as a herd of weasels (i.e. not very serious at all), and there will be times when you will be tempted to laugh out loud in places where laughing out loud might not be such a good idea. But CLAMP’s gift for characterization has not deserted them either. Akira and Utako are very interesting characters who have an extremely interesting Romeo-and-Juliet dynamic, especially for their age (Utako is 6, Akira is 9). This is evidently going to be a short series – only two volumes long – and while the second volume has not been translated yet, it will apparently finish the series with the characters much older. An interesting trick, but if anyone can pull it off it’s CLAMP.