Angelic Layer is a Japanese manga series created by Clamp. The manga was published in Japan by Kadokawa Shoten, and in English originally by Tokyopop, but has since been re-licensed by Dark Horse Comics. It was the group's first work using a significantly pared-down style, which lowered emphasis on detail and accentuated posing and gestures. It would later be repeated in series like Chobits and Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle.
Manga volume 1 cover (English edition), featuring Misaki Suzuhara (left) and Hikaru
Clamp is an all-female Japanese manga artist group, consisting of leader and writer Nanase Ohkawa, and three artists whose roles shift for each series: Mokona, Tsubaki Nekoi, and Satsuki Igarashi.
Clamp at Anime Expo 2006. From left to right: Satsuki Igarashi, Nanase Ohkawa, Tsubaki Nekoi, and Mokona.
Clamp's cross-referencing and storytelling led to characters being re-used in different ways. Left: Syaoran Li, originally from Cardcaptor Sakura. Centre: Syaoran as he first appears in later work Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle. Right: an alternative Syaoran who appears later in Tsubasa.
A group cosplaying three Clamp characters: Sakura (top left) and Syaoran (top right) from Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle; and Yuko Ichihara (bottom) from xxxHolic.